Name of business: Way of Life Farms
Type of business: Fresh produce seller
Specialty: Soy-free, non-GMO, free-range eggs
Location: Based in Snelling, selling at Turlock, Ripon and Angels Camp farmers markets
Contact: (209) 500-7292

History of business:
One of the missions for the Turlock Certified Farmers Market is to supply fresh, local and healthy foods to Turlock and the surrounding communities. In their first year selling at the market in the heart of downtown Turlock, Way of Life Farms has already become a staple, located at the corner of Main and S. Thor Streets.
In just over three months selling at the farmers market, they have not only gained a fan base consisting of everyday Turlock strollers, but of fellow vendors as well, including the folks at the Freckled Gem Café.
What makes their produce different from the rest? Let owners Jake and Sandy Brannan explain.
Jake has worked most of his life in the agricultural industry while Sandy was a longtime nurse. Together, they feel as if they know what’s best for the human body. And what’s best for the human body is the freshest and most natural produce.
“We are both very much interested in nutrition and health,” Sandy said. “We know what's been sprayed on crops. We know what we're putting inside of our bodies. With his background and mine, we're very much aware of chemicals and things that are unnatural. And we know, there's a lot of ambiguity with labels.”
“There are so many additives and preservatives, and it’s all just to extend the shelf life a bit longer, not even a huge time,” Jake added. “So many things and chemicals that are so bad for the body, that isn’t natural and that the body isn’t used to.”
The idea of Way of Life Farms began in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With healthy growing and eating at the top of their list, they realized an opportunity to share their knowledge with the public through their eggs and produce.
“I'm not really a rule follower. I don't like being told what to do by authority, so I did my own thing when the supply chain went down,” Jake explained. “You couldn’t get milk. You couldn’t get eggs. So I said, ‘Well, why don't we get a chicken?’ One chicken turned into 20 chickens turned into 40 chickens. Now we have 440 chickens.”
The couple’s chickens lay soy-free, non-GMO, free-range eggs – a top seller at farmers markets.
Aside from eggs, the couple planted crops of all kinds, transforming their backyard in rural Snelling into a full blown garden and orchard.
“I'll be honest, I wasn't always conscious of not being wasteful in my life,” Sandy admitted. “But then when things started happening where you can't hardly get toilet paper, you start rethinking things like, ‘How can we take care of ourselves and how can we be resourceful here?’”
The couple has grown peaches, plums, nectarines, avocados, mulberries, cherries, tomatoes, artichokes, asparagus, onions and garlic, just to name a few products. Almost each fruit and vegetable is grown in different varieties. And as Sandy alluded to, they don’t waste anything. Whether they freeze fruits to make their popular jams, or experiment with meals in the kitchen.
Flavor is a huge point of emphasis for the Brannans.
“When people taste our stuff, it's always going to taste better than the next guy because we're picking it when it's actually ready to eat. It's not being harvested two and a half weeks earlier because they need to be in transport,” Jake explained. “The other guys pick them early, they put them in cold storage and take them out to resell… It makes you that much more determined to do things the right way. We want to be the best. I want the most nutritionally dense food that the world has ever, ever eaten before.”
Considering their backgrounds, the Brannans want customers to know that they aren’t just upselling or hyping up their products.
“This is actually what we eat and what we trust to put into our bodies. This is quite literally our way of life,” Sandy said. “This is what we believe in, and from a spiritual standpoint, we're Christians, there's also something biblically about the way of life. This is truly what we believe in and what we want to give to people.”