I was born and raised in Guernsey County and graduated from Buckeye Trail, where I was active in 4-H and FFA before heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to pursue a degree in Animal Science at Oklahoma State University. During my time in Stillwater, I became passionate about meat science and food technology, with an emphasis on value-added products.

After earning my Bachelor of Science degree, I stayed on as a research assistant at Oklahoma State, participating in various research projects and learning catering and batch food prep along the way. I then earned my Master of Science degree in Food Science and accepted a job in the Research and Development division at Smithfield Foods.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that the corporate world wasn’t for me. After nearly ten years of living outside Ohio, I moved back to Guernsey County with my husband, Tim, whom I met at Oklahoma State. After starting my family and briefly working with Noble County Extension, I took an opportunity at a startup online auction house, which lasted about a year before folding.

During this uncertain time, I became more focused on my nutrition and started seeing great results. Friends began asking me to cook for them, and through word of mouth, my small endeavor quickly grew. Before long, I had outgrown my home kitchen and decided to take a risk—turning Fit Meal Prep into my primary source of income.

It’s been almost eight years, and while running my own business is challenging at times, the freedom of controlling my time each day is unmatched. My vision and goal with From Scratch Co-Op is to locate and uplift members of our community who are producing amazing local food products and connect them with consumers. I want to help nurture not just growing food businesses but also the health of our community as a whole.

Hi there! I'm Sara Burris, a transplant to the Guernsey County area. After meeting my husband, Doug Burris, at Muskingum University, I took a Kindergarten teaching position with Cambridge City Schools—and the rest is history.

In 2015, Doug and I purchased our first Longhorn calf, Smiles a Mile (Miles), and began leasing grazing pasture in Old Washington, OH. As our herd and family continued to grow, I stepped away from several years in the education field to be with our children and jump into ranching full-time.

Our beef program started simply as a way to provide for our family and close relatives. We felt it was so important to know where our beef was coming from and to give that gift of food stability to those closest to us. In 2023, we decided to take a more public approach to beef sales and ventured into the niche market of local farmer's markets. After becoming fully licensed with our ODA Warehouse and Guernsey County Mobile RFE, we joined the Route 40 Cambridge Farmer's Market. We absolutely loved our season selling at the market and enjoyed having our children alongside us.

In the fall of 2023, so many people encouraged us to reach out to local businesses, such as Fit Meal Prep, to provide our nutritious Longhorn beef to an even bigger pool of consumers. We have loved every minute of this partnership and stand in awe of how many delicious recipes Mrs. Bre Pye has created using our most popular product—ground beef.

Now, we are committed to delivering grass-fed, lean Longhorn beef to the rest of our community. We are set up for delivery services and can meet the beef needs of so many others. We feel blessed to support local families in eating healthy, locally raised beef in Guernsey County.

I am excited for From Scratch Co-Op to bring together a community of producers from our area so we can learn and grow together. The "support local" movement is here, and we, as producers, are eager to support one another as well.