Dairy woman mails hand-written encouragement

FARMINGTON, Maine — During a community service project in high school, Mariah Johnson helped mail handwritten cards to children in challenging circumstances for the nonprofit, Cardz for Kidz.

“I was like, ‘That’s such a good idea, but there’s no project like that for farming,’” Johnson said.

This past fall, the 19-year-old dairy farmer decided to start her own card movement, Thank A Farmer Letter Project. Already, she has mailed out almost 60 handwritten cards she and others have made by hand.

“They really don’t get the thanks they deserve,” Johnson said. “They spend endless hours working through conditions that a lot of people don’t want to work in. … I hope that they feel like people are out there (and that) they really do appreciate their work. … There’s a lot of darkness and a lot of struggles, and so it’s just a little light to brighten their day.”

Johnson is an online engineering student at Liberty University. She and her older sister, Erika, milk about 20 cows in a 60-stall tiestall barn on their family’s farm near Farmington. The pair bottle their raw A2A2 milk and also make yogurt and butter and sell it in their family’s farm store. Johnson’s dad, Erik Johnson, raises hay, corn, oats, soybeans, barley and wheat on 800 acres. The family also has a wood pallet hauling business and a feed mill where they do custom blending and sell certified-organic, non-GMO grain.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of commitment, but it’s all worth it in the end,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she hopes the notes she sends will be an encouragement to receive compared to the usual bills.

“I just saw the struggle that we’re having here (in our community), and I imagined that it was the same pretty much everywhere,” Johnson said.

Johnson has mailed her cards to a variety of farms, including dairy farms. Many of the recipients are in New England, although she has also mailed notes to Wisconsin and other states. She includes an insert in each card explaining the project, along with an email address if they want to correspond with her.

“That’s been pretty cool seeing responses,” Johnson said. “It is getting to people, and they are grateful for it.”

She said these emails have said that the card received was an out-of-the-blue surprise.

“It is making an impact and a difference that I was hoping that it would make,” Johnson said.

In January, Johnson had a booth at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show, where students stopped by to make cards or write notes, and attendees could anonymously recommend a farmer to be a recipient.

“A lot of people were in love with the idea, so that felt really good,” Johnson said.

When Johnson first came up with the idea, she approached her 4-H leader, who encouraged Johnson to try to get the project into after-school programs and 4-H programs. She has done two events outside the trade show thus far and hopes to get connected to more in the future.

“Kids really aren’t educated as well about where their food is coming from (or) how important farmers are for feeding America, and a lot of (other) things, like their clothes,” Johnson said. “So, it’s been really cool to let kids know all that farmers are responsible for.”

Johnson’s farm education started on her family’s farm, Sandy River Farms, which was started by her grandparents, Bussie and Brenda York, and passed down to her parents, Erik and Trudy Johnson.

Initially, Johnson’s parents milked about 160 cows, until they reduced their herd and started processing their own milk after their milk processor left Maine. However, processing their own milk was not as economically viable as they hoped, so they sold their processing facility and much of the equipment. After reducing the herd again, Johnson and her sister took over the dairy from their parents in early 2025.

Right now, the sisters’ herd is predominantly Guernseys, as well as some Holsteins and Milking Shorthorns. Johnson started her portion of the herd with one Guernsey and has built it up from there.

“I just love the genetics,” Johnson said. “I love breeding cows. … You have taken care of them since birth, so it’s like your extended family.”

Her cows have appeared and placed on the shavings of national shows, and last year one of her animals was nominated All-American.

Johnson is tailoring her education towards engineering expertise that would be compatible with her agricultural background.

“I always want to work ag,” Johnson said. “(On our farm) we do a lot with precision agriculture right now. … We are looking into robotic milkers … I’m really specializing in technical and industrial. So, it works with those fields where … I could go to do a precision agriculture job or robotic milking job.”

Outside her career, as Johnson thinks about the future of the Thank A Farmer Letter Project, she said she hopes to connect with more after-school programs and 4-H programs. Johnson also would like to have a website to gather farmer nominations and people can send notes to be distributed. She also wants to find funding to help pay the postage and other costs she currently is paying herself.

“The goal is to reach more people,” Johnson said. “We want to reach more farms, more kids. I always love teaching kids about the industry.”