Our Story
In 2022 we made the decision to uproot our Texas lives to move to Missouri!
Both of us were in demanding corporate jobs, leaving very little time for family and life outside of work. Even though we had a fantastic support system around us, it was taking a big toll not only on our own health and happiness, but it affected our kiddos as well. Markie was suffering from multiple health issues, mental fatigue, and "mom guilt!" Ian was also suffering from health struggles, mental exhaustion, and the frustration of not being able to provide for the family in the way he wanted to. Even though we lived comfortably, he wanted to provide the family with healthy food.
That's how it started. We both felt the effects of eating processed foods, meals from a to-go window, and fast paced food just like our lives. An idea started to grow in Ian's mind, that turned into a want and eventually turned into something that was all that consumed our family. We were desperate to find a better way of living. A quality of life that we knew existed. After a lot of conversations, endless prayers, and a little bit of patience, things started to fall into place. First with Ian's family homestead coming into the picture, Joel Salatin's seed of inspiration, and the housing market on the rise we made the decision to put our house on the market!
Ultimately, we landed at our new home in September of 2022. We brought as many animals as we could with us and then franticly started adding as went. The first purchase we made were broiler chickens quickly followed by hogs and the rest is history!
Meet Our Farmers
Who We Are
Our ranch has several animals and family members. Ian's parents still live on the property in the house that they built from the ground up. The animals are spread around the farm. We currently have the Texas transplants, Scout (Our Paint Horse), Mocha, Salted Caramel, and Midnight (Our 3 Nubian/ Toggenburg Goats.) Then our new members, close to 80 laying hens, 9 hogs (red waddle / Magalettas mixes), poultry broilers (30 - 50 at a time) blue slate heritage turkeys, and our Aussie pup, Cimarron.
Ian Cresswell
Owner / Farmer / Visionary
Ian is a born and raised Missourian. He temporarily left Missouri to pursue his higher education in the music industry. He graduated TCU, continued his education in Arizona and then in California where he interned at Sony... working on movies like Monsters Inc., and Ratatouille. After getting his fill of sound engineering, he moved back to Texas to work at a cattle ranch. He then changed careers that followed his college degree and became a project manager for a commercial audio/video company. He worked on projects like Dickies Arena, TCU football stadium, and countless churches. It was during this time he met Markie, his now wife. Together they have two young boys that keep them busier than the animals tend to.
Markie Cresswell
Farmers Wife / Mama / Chaos Coordinator
Markie works day and night to make sure that Oxbow Ranch, LLC produces tasty, nutritious food year-round and educates our community on the benefits of sustainable agriculture. She was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX but loves to visit the ocean any chance she can. After she graduated college she started her career in the oil field fleet department. She eventually transferred to HR and Safety. She is the mama to two handsome boys and the wife to Ian.
She loves this new life and is learning as much as she can as fast as she can!