STEFANIE & CASSANDRA

Cassandra (32)

Stefanie (28)

Rivers, Manitoba, Canada

The Simple Life

Just an hour and half north of the North Dakota boarder lies the rural town of Rivers in the province of Manitoba, Canada. There, near the glow of the Northern Lights, sits a 2200 acre farm operated by two extremely close sisters, Stefani and Cassandra. The nearest “city” is forty-five minutes away and winter weather drops to -30 degrees. The property itself has been in the family for generations, dating back to the sister’s great, great Mennonite grandparents who immigrated from Russia. Farm life is all these sisters’ have known. They were raised amongst barley, silos, horses and with an undeniable connection to the land and of course, to each other.

As adults the sisters have chosen to do life together. Not only are they planning to legally inherit the family farm and run it together, but they also live together in a cedar cabin, they show horses together, they are starting a business together and they also water ski together. Like a married couple, these sister’s lives are so intertwined as a partnership that separation is not a choice. Their lives and livelihoods are built upon one another’s. A disconnect not only impacts their personal lives, but their professional lives and also the stability of the future of the family farm.

Stefanie and Cassandra live on 160 acres in their picturesque hometown surrounded by a smorgasbord of wild animals, including moose, beavers and bears. The two sisters also have their own menagerie of pets including, two great Danes, horses cats and small dogs.

The farm has been in the family for four generations. Now that their father (John) is ready to retire the sisters are currently preparing to transfer ownership. This means that the sisters will be the first female owners of the farm. Farmer John will take a step back and focus on his aerial crop-dusting business so the girls have a limited time to learn everything they can before he steps away completely. Their father, a unique, “mad inventor” type, who always seems to have a new idea or invention up his sleeve, loves that his daughters have shown the initiative to take things over from him, but he also worries about the future. Running a farm is extremely difficult. It’s physically demanding, it’s complex and unpredictable and expensive. The sisters have to maximize this time with their father to learn as much as possible so that they can successfully run it themselves. Naturally, a family succession doesn’t come without its share of emotions. Who will inherit what? Who will be responsible for what? How does dad really feel about stepping down?

While taking over the family farm wasn’t always the desired goal for Stefani and Cassandra, they quickly fell in love with the idea of putting in the hard work to continue their family’s legacy. It’s not a walk in the park. The sisters wake up together at 6am and are at each other’s sides until long past sundown during the busy season. They are together seven days a week for well over twelve hours a day in harsh and merciless conditions. Together they have to endure getting rashes from exposure to barley grain, they get muddy from head-to-toe during the rainy season and have to change in their mudroom together at home. If a piece of equipment breaks down, it’s one of the girls who is under a tractor fixing it herself. Dirt, mud, sweat, hard work and extreme conditions have cemented these two women together.

While the day-to-day demand of the farm makes it difficult for the sister to do much outside of it, they do have a variety of interests and passions that help strengthen their bond. They are both passionate about breeding and raising horses, something they have done for almost ten years. They don’t mind communing with their animals, shoveling horse manure or cleaning the male horse’s sheath (yes, it’s what you think it is). It’s not fun or glamorous but it has to be done!

What makes these sisters also stand out in the farm world is that they’re not afraid to embrace their femininity. They love to get dolled up in cute outfits, have a glass of wine and pose for portraits with their adorable pets. They absolutely love to take eccentric and odd photos of one another… Sometimes in scantily clad outfits, like when they took off their tops and posed for a holiday photo in top-hats with just pine branches covering their breasts….

Cassandra is married to a professional water skier named Casey. He and Cassandra met during one of the family’s yearly trips to Orlando, where they go to take a break from the farm to enjoy the relaxingly warm Florida waters. After spending three years dating long-distance, they were married and Casey moved to Manitoba to be with his bride. The sisters are still a bit shocked that he did, considering how rural their property is, but Casey loves it. Stefani is currently engaged to Jason, an engineer who oversees the repair of elevators across multiple regions of Canada. The two plan to marry in 2022, which means Stefani may have to be moving away from the farm – but not if Cassandra has anything to say about it.

Because a farm in and of itself doesn’t generate enough money to be a reliable source of income for both sisters, their father has encouraged them to start their own side business. They have started a manufacturing business making farm equipment, something they hope will someday exceed the revenue they are currently pulling in from the farm. Starting a business together is not only expensive, but it’s complicated and stressful. The sisters hope that they can get their business off the ground, without a hitch! And as if their lives weren’t busy enough, the girls are also both interested (like Cassandra’s husband) in competitive water skiing, and see a future in which the two of them try their hand at qualifying at competitions, and perhaps, like their show horses, possibly compete in a serious way.

The sisters face many challenges ahead, but their strength and passion for farming, for family, for tradition and for spreading awareness about everything important to them, almost all but guarantees their success down the road. It has been said that mixing family and business can cause fires, but with Cassandra and Stefani, their bond as sisters is the secret ingredient to keeping their family’s legacy afloat for generations to come.