Cindy Ayers is Middle Tennessee through and through. Raised on the very farm she calls home today, her connection to this land is not something she chose—it is something she was born into, grew up inside of, and never left. She and her husband are the proud stewards of two Century Farms—a distinction honoring more than a hundred years of continuous agricultural ownership and operation by a single family—a legacy she does not take lightly.

Cindy wears many hats—mother, wife, farmer, and faculty member—and this orders shifts almost daily. Married for thirty years, she and her husband have raised two sons, and recently welcomed a daughter-in-law into the family. Farming is not a hobby or a side project; it is a way of life she was raised in and chose to stay in. She and her family raise cattle on land that has been in the family for generations, and there is nowhere else she would rather be at the end of a long day than right here, on this ground, doing this work.

After thirty years in the food industry, she landed what she calls her dream job: teaching food science at Middle Tennessee State University, where she connects students to the deeper story behind what we grow and what we eat. It was a long road to that classroom, and she has not forgotten it.

More than anything, she is grateful. For the land, the cattle, the community and the life she gets to live every day—she does not take any of it for granted.

Connect with Cindy online at:

Stoneduck.farm