Farm Star Living, a national lifestyle brand highlighting farms, farm-fresh foods and the farm-to-table food movement, is celebrating its one-year anniversary. The company’s mission is to elevate the image of farmers and support their world, making farmers and farms more accessible to the public by creating a new lifestyle that’s easy for anyone to embrace. Farm Star Living, which launched October, 2013, now enters its second year of business and is growing strong.

“Whether embarking on a farm visit, dining at a farm-to-table restaurant, or purchasing more farm-fresh food, it’s easy to support our farmers simply by embracing this way of life — a lifestyle we call Farm Star Living,” Mary Blackmon, company founder, said in a press release.

Farm Star Living's website offers an ever-changing array of monthly contents, lifestyle interviews with all kinds of farmers (Blackmon’s “Farm Stars”), plus a large directory of farms across the United States. Some 700 farms listed under “Farm Fun” can be visited, searchable by activities. The site’s Farm-to-Table resource profiles more than 700 farm-to-table restaurants across the 50 states, including chef interviews, recipes and videos. There’s also a new A-Z Farm Food guide providing health, nutrition information, and fun facts on more than 100 fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables.

Farm Star Living also offers the first mobile app showcasing farm-to-table restaurants and farms all across the country that are open for fun — searchable by location, name or by proximity. The Farm Star Living app is a free download for Android, iPhone, and iPad.

In 2009, Blackmon left her career in publishing and Internet media in NYC and LA in order to take over her family farm.

“I was sitting in the middle of one of my rice fields one afternoon as the sun was setting, realizing how inspired I was by everything — the environment, the way of life, but mostly the farmers’ passion and devotion to what has too often been seen as a thankless job," she said. "I was moved by the farmers’ commitment to growing food for our country and the world, and I began to see, first-hand, the courage and devotion farming requires and how there really are no dull moments, ever. Over time, I began to feel sad that so many people might not ever see this world up-close and personal — and that’s when the idea for Farm Star Living was born. I realized that I wanted to create a lifestyle that others could easily embrace — if only for an afternoon or weekend, and, if so, lives would be enriched and empowered in new, meaningful ways. I wanted to connect farmers and non-farmers in a way that would be entertaining, relatable, and positive for everyone.”

Blackmon envisioned an Internet destination that would provide entertaining and impactful content to help acquaint people with who’s behind their food — whether purchased at a grocery store, a farmers’ market, or a farm-to-table restaurant.

“Americans, especially our young people, are getting more and more interested in where their food comes from and are re-discovering the importance of farming,” she said.