Miracle Farms Market

When Jack and Sunny Daniels married in 1999, the couple set a goal – to raise their family on a farm.

Today they are living that dream with their six children. Yes, you read that right, six. Katherine (21), Emma (19), James (17), AJ (12), Charlotte (11), and Maggie (9) complete the large Daniels family.

Jack grew up in Bodcaw, Arkansas on the 138-acre plot he still operates today. The farm first belonged to Jack’s grandpa, then his father, who christened it Miracle Farms because “God provides the miracles. We just do the work.”

Sunny grew up in nearby Magnolia, and while she didn’t grow up on a farm, she’s always been attracted to the lifestyle.

“I’ve always said I’d marry a farmer,” Sunny says. “Raising our family here has been everything I hoped it would be and more.”

“My wife and I started having a large family, so we started trying to homestead and feed and provide for ourselves as much as possible,” Jack says. “We quickly realized how good the products we were raising were.”

In 2016, the family added a building where customers could easily shop, and thus Miracle Farms Market was born.

Today, their market building is central to the farm's bustling activities. It carries beef, pork, eggs, milk, and produce from Miracle Farms, as well as produce and locally crafted goods grown and made by farmers in Nevada County.

From May to November, Miracle Farms Market is open on Saturdays for customers. Jack says they often see more than 50 visitors every Saturday throughout the operating season. Still, October sets record-breaking attendance on the farm.

During October, visitors drive past pine thickets and dirt roads as Miracle Farms Market becomes a hot-spot tourist destination for their Fall Family Fun Days.

The seasonal event features mountains of multi-colored pumpkins, a challenging cover crop maze, hayride farm tours, a petting zoo, pony rides, and much more. The market is also open to shop, allowing visitors to take home a supply of Miracle Farms’ grass-fed beef, Berkshire pork, pasture-raised chicken, raw jersey milk, or other locally made goodies.

Fall Family Fun Days require all hands on deck, as they’ve hosted nearly 1,200 visitors in one day during the event. Everyone puts their talents to work to keep things running smoothly.

The two youngest daughters, Charlotte and Maggie, help their mom bake fresh cupcakes to sell in the store and love welcoming visitors to the farm. AJ is responsible for the twice-a-day milking of their three dairy cows. Jimmy works behind the scenes with essential maintenance tasks such as putting up hay, fixing fences, and bush hogging.

Katherine, the oldest of the Daniels children, has an off-farm job as Technical Director at Hempstead Hall. Emma, the second oldest, works as a kindergarten teacher. Despite their busy schedules, both often come back to the farm to pitch in where needed during Fall Family Fun Days.

The two contribute innovative ideas as Miracle Market Farms expands its agritourism offerings. Katherine hopes to reintroduce a concert series on the farm and is working to create an on-farm bistro and coffee shop. Emma, who is quite the cook, oversees concessions in October and has many tasty ideas for entrées. 

One could easily attribute Miracle Farms Market’s success to its operation’s uniqueness and willingness to adapt and change.

“We’ve worked hard over the last 20 years to work toward a more sustainable type of agriculture. More regenerative, where we do not have as many external inputs into the farm,” Jack says. “We’re by no means experts on that, but we continue to learn every day.”

Miracle Farms raises 100 head of Red Angus and South Poll cattle and 80 head of St. Croix/Katahdin cross hair sheep. Each breed is intentionally selected for its grass finishing genetics and parasite resistance.

“We’re proud that the animals on our farm go from birth to finish with nothing but grass, water, mineral, and sunshine,” Jack says.

The customers who line up with coolers to stock up on Miracle Farms Market’s homegrown meats are evidence of the high-quality results of their farming practices.

In the spring of 2022, Miracle Farms Market launched online ordering to share its grass-fed beef with a broader fan base.

Customers can visit their website to purchase in 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and whole beef portions. It’s sold by presale twice a year, in the spring and fall, and comes complete with two-day shipping.

While the beef might be Miracle Farms Market's most popular product from the farm, Jack says their children are the most important thing they are raising.

“Our goal with our kids has always been to raise producers, not consumers,” he says. “We think that we’ve instilled hard work values, family values, as well as church and Christian values. We want to be the number one influence in their life until they go out into the world.”

Jack and Sunny say their future goals are to continue raising their family on the farm and to share the experience with others.

“I hope to see the business continue to grow and to see more families visit, see where their food comes from, how their food is raised, and to experience country life,” Jack says. “That’s one of the biggest rewards for us.”

Read the full story featuring Miracle Farms Market in the last issue of The Rural Scene magazine.