My Story

Hola! My name Natasha, founder of Meadhill Market. I am a first-generation Colombian that grew up in New Jersey in a small town on the shore. My parents came here from Colombia looking to live the American Dream. With a mix of cultural backgrounds, we grew up in a very distinct way of living the American life while adopting all of the Colombian traditions. My parents were very health conscious in how they raised my two brothers and me. One of the biggest impacts that the culture had on me while growing up was our nourishment.

In my Colombian culture, there is an abundance of fresh, healthy foods, connection with the land, and with each other. Sitting down as a family during mealtimes, eating together, and enjoying the freshness of the food that was just cooked. These were non-negotiables growing up and they continue to be to this very day.

We used to love traveling to Florida to visit our apartment on the beach. I remember looking at the beautiful buildings, the architecture, the culture, and thinking “this is the life I want to live someday”. It was a perfect combination of how I grew up, but the culture was already well established here, since Florida is so close to Latin America. In 2015, after my post graduate degree, I decided to up and move to Hallandale Beach, FL after a successful job interview. This is when my adult journey really began as I had gained the courage to move here by myself.

Unfortunately, a few years after, I had developed a personal health diagnosis that threw my life for a spin. I had to start looking from the outside in and inside out to develop a healthier lifestyle. In 2022, I decided to buy a property in Loxahatchee, FL, where my partner, two kids, and myself, could live a life more closely connected to nature. I realized that health is wealth and food is medicine, therefore I wanted to know the source of our food and have a better sense of control of what we were eating. This was when we officially became “homesteaders”. Which is a lifestyle towards self-sufficiency. I like to say I am a “shore girl gone farmer”.

Looking back, the biggest issue with my previous lifestyle was the unawareness of properly fueling my body for long-term health. That’s an unawareness many of us have in our society. There is a lot of misinformation about what goes into our bodies: food, skin products, water quality, etc. That was a lifestyle that I knew could not be sustained in the long term as a mom, in my career, and in my community. 

At this point, I was eager to learn more, so I became a Certified Nutrition Coach. In the last few years of living here, I applied all those lessons and began growing healthier food options such as herbs, fruits, and even raising our own chickens for pasture raised eggs! Not realizing that growing food, cooking, baking from scratch, and raising animals was a hidden passion of mine.

Shortly into this journey, I decided to start homeschooling my kids. I felt a loss of connection between the life I was trying to live and the life they were experiencing outside of the homestead. Now my kids are mini homesteaders themselves. They tend to the garden, take care of our animals, and are an essential part of the operations on our 1.5 acre homestead.

Then came Meadhill Market, a business to share that homestead wholeness and abundance with my community. To teach the joy of growing your own food and cooking / baking from scratch. 

Right now, Meadhill Market is in a development phase: our artisan bakery is being built out so we can offer our Sourdough breads and specialty beverages such as coffee and cacao, sourced directly from our hometown in Colombia. We’re simplifying our process, connecting with organic farmers across the globe, prepping to open the homestead to the public and developing a “food forest” where members of our community can pick their own fresh foods!

Living a slower lifestyle has brought my family a sense of accomplishment and gratification, a sense of ownership over our food sources and quality. We are now aware of the full process and patience it takes from seed to food on the table. There is a satisfaction in that process that we are honored to share with our community.

It is my hope that you find inspiration in this article and thank you for taking the time to read My Story. I welcome you to join us and be a part of our journey. The best is yet to come!