We’re Ryan and Chané – two people who are getting ready to trade “farm-life” in Middle Tennessee for a 20-foot pull-behind camper, open pastures for the open road, and the illusion of “someday” for “in 5 months”.
In 2023 we sold everything that wouldn’t fit in a 84-square-foot trailer, kissed small town USA goodbye, and moved to Tennessee to start farming. Since then we’ve claimed back an old horse farm from nature, bought 3 Angora goats, 3 Idaho Pasture pigs, 2 American Border Leicester sheep, and now 8 cows. We raised and had 150 meat chickens and 30 turkeys processed. We raised a flock of egg layers, lost more birds to wild life than we can count, incubated and raised about 70 layers, lost more to wild life and now have about 40 chickens.
According to our customers(and ourselves) we had the best pasture raised poultry, turkey and pork, also our free-forest-range eggs were incredible. We bought and have raised honey bees and extracted honey twice. We grew tons of pumpkins and learned to forage native plants and mushrooms. We sheered, processed and I spun our fiber animals fleeces. We baled hay 3 times in the past two years and survived the heat and bugs of Tennessee.
As our season here comes to a close, we are preparing to sell everything again and this time to become full-time travels.
It’s time to dream with God again!
And that’s what lead us to this decision.
When we met in 2022 we birthed YoDad, a God-inspired idea of a shoe to make a difference. We saw firsthand what happens when good intentions meet broken systems: too much overhead, too little impact, and far too many people left waiting for help that never quite arrives. That is why we felt lead to start a company, selling a product of which all our profits directly funded missions.
Chané, being from South Africa, lead us to sowing financially into missions there. We were blessed to make a difference in the lives of people in need in Chané’s home town and partnered with our church in Kleinmond, Christ Gen.
We then partnered with Life Church in Indiana, in 2023 just before we moved to Tennessee, did markets and donated shoes to those in need and just recently partnered with Soles of Hope to send the remaining 794 YoDad shoes to donate to people in Ghana.
With all the flagship YoDad shoes gone, we are shifting gears and going on the road to explore the world, make kingdom impact wherever we go, to bless people in need and still be able to fund missions and help people all over the world.
Walking out Deuteronomy 11:24 in our YoDads.
Every mile has a mission.
Every campsite has a cause.
We dream of spending weeks (maybe months) embedded in the communities we’ll write about – volunteering on regenerative farms, exploring the unknown hidden gems all around the US, learning, growing and teaching as we go.
Then we’ll come here – to this newsletter – and tell you the unfiltered truth: the wins, the setbacks, the exact dollar amounts that actually moved the needle, and the small-but-mighty organizations you’ve never heard of that deserve your attention (and your support) today.
This Substack is part field report, part love letter to America’s quiet changemakers, and part rallying cry for a better kind of philanthropy – the kind that’s transparent, relational, and relentlessly human.
When you subscribe, you’re not just getting pretty pictures of sunsets over Canyonlands (though you’ll get those too). You’re getting:
• On-the-ground stories from the front lines of hope
• Vetted, high-impact giving opportunities with 90-100% of your donation reaching the cause
• Behind-the-scenes budgets of our own travels so you see exactly how lean, intentional full-time RV life can be
• Practical toolkits for anyone who wants to turn wanderlust into world-change
• Resources we’l
l use for learning how to live off the land, forage and boondock
We believe the future of doing good isn’t bigger institutions – it’s better-connected individuals.
If you’re tired of charity theater and ready for charity that actually works…
If you believe adventure and activism aren’t mutually exclusive…
If you’re curious what America looks like when you slow down long enough to listen…
Pull up a camp chair.
You’re in the right place.
Welcome to the journey,
Ryan & Chané
Somewhere down the road
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