Mary Britton Cummings | West Glow Farms
Owner of West Glow Farms
Mary Britton Cummings owns and operates West Glow Farms in Kingston Springs, TN: a vegetable operation, beef cattle and event space. Her mission is to reconnect the community with their food sources and encourage people to support their local farmers.
What businesses do you run?
At West Glow Farm, we run a multifaceted operation focused on three main areas: vegetable farming, raising beef cattle, and operating an event venue. What started as a simple desire to return to the land and grow our own food has evolved into something much larger. We saw an opportunity to buy a piece of land in Kingston Springs, and that’s when West Glow Farm came to life.
But it's not just about crops and cattle for us—it’s about building a space where people can connect. Whether that’s by supporting local agriculture, coming together to celebrate life’s milestones at our event venue, or simply gathering to enjoy the beauty of the land, Westglow Farm is about community. We wanted to create something that brings people back to their roots, both literally and figuratively, by supporting local food and fostering meaningful connections.
How did you get started as an entrepreneur?
The journey to becoming an entrepreneur began with a deep longing to get back to the land. My family and I wanted to learn how to grow our own food and live closer to nature. Once the opportunity arose to purchase land in Kingston Springs, we jumped on it, and West Glow Farm was born.
For me, the excitement came not just from the act of farming itself, but from the idea of supporting local economies. People understand the importance of supporting local businesses, but often overlook their local farms. So much of what we eat comes from faraway places—a chicken from Mexico, berries from Argentina—and there’s little connection to the source. We wanted to change that narrative. By creating Westglow Farm, we aimed to remind people of the value of local agriculture and the importance of investing in what’s grown right here in our community.
Entrepreneurship for me has always been about asking, What’s missing in the marketplace? and then figuring out how to fill that gap. Along the way, I’ve relied heavily on relationships. I didn’t come into this as an expert farmer, so I leaned on people smarter than me. Success in entrepreneurship, I’ve learned, is about staying humble, asking for help, and recognizing that your team and your community are your greatest assets.
How do you think about growth in your current business? How do you plan for the future?
When I think about growth, it’s about much more than just the financial side of things. Of course, we want West Glow Farm to be successful in that way, and we’re working toward that. But the real growth for me is about how we, as a community, are transforming through this experience. Every day, I see how this farm impacts the people around us—whether it's someone picking fresh vegetables from the farm stand or a couple hosting their wedding at our venue.
As we plan for the future, we focus on fostering these deeper connections. Growth isn’t just about scaling the business or adding more services; it’s about deepening our roots within the community. We want to continue providing a space where people can come together, step away from their screens, and reconnect with nature and each other.
I’ve also learned that planning for the future involves a lot of trust in the process. I don’t have all the answers, and I rely on my team’s expertise to help guide us. At the same time, I believe that when the right doors open, we should walk through them. My faith plays a big role in this. I pray for direction, for the right people to cross our path, and for doors to open or close as needed. So far, that approach has served us well.
What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
The best advice I can offer to aspiring entrepreneurs is this: trust your instincts and listen to the ideas that keep coming back to you, no matter how many reasons you think they won’t work. We all have a tendency to talk ourselves out of pursuing something new—whether it’s because it doesn’t align with our education, our lifestyle, or what society tells us is the path to success. But if that idea continues to resurface, there’s probably a reason for it.
In my experience, entrepreneurship is as much about faith and persistence as it is about strategy. If the door keeps opening, if the opportunities keep presenting themselves, it’s a sign to keep pushing forward. Even when the journey is challenging, and it will be, it’s worth it.
Remember, success isn’t always about making a lot of money or achieving fame. Society tends to define it that way, but real success is about how you and your community are transformed in the process. Even if you don’t reach the financial goals you initially set, if you’ve grown as a person and positively impacted the people around you, it’s still worth doing.
And one more thing: don’t overlook the little moments. They often turn out to be the most meaningful part of the journey.
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Mary Britton 0:00
Hi. My name is Mary Britton Cummings, and I'm the owner of West globe farm, and we are running a vegetable operation and beef cattle and also an event venue. We just really had a longing to get back to the land and learning how to grow your own food. So we had an opportunity to buy a piece of land in Kingston springs, and so we decided to name the farm West glow farm. When we started farming, I think that it was so exciting to me. Everybody really understands supporting local business, and because food is so available to most of us in our area, people forget about supporting their local farm. And in our country, really and truly, the food that you're getting in a chain grocery store could be a chicken from Mexico or people in Argentina for berries, let's support our local economies. First, for me, what I've learned as an entrepreneur is to just keep connecting with the stories. What is our why for doing this? And so I believe that for me, I always come back to Okay, what do I want as a consumer and what's missing from the marketplace? The thing that has been the most successful is the people that are smarter than I am. They. I have trust, so much trust in them. I look to them for guidance. So I think that being an entrepreneur is mostly about the relationships, and it's the relationships with your team and the relationship with your customers, and so staying humble in both of those relationships and recognizing, for me, it's easy, because I don't know farming as a trade, so it's been really easy for me to ask for help, to know that I don't have the answers. I have to lean on on my team. Really, to me, a successful entrepreneur is just somebody who understands their community and their team and marries the relationship between both society and culture. Always says, well, success looks like this, and it always looks like a lot of money, a lot of fame, a lot of recognition, a lot of likes on your social media. And I would just say that even if you don't get all those things, but you are changed as a person, and your community has changed. It's worth doing. And I think even the word entrepreneur can sound like a successful entrepreneur means a successful bank account. And obviously I hope for that, I really do, and we're working toward that. But what we've learned along the way has been bigger than the amount of money that we've made. So I think the advice that I would have to somebody is, if you have an idea and you think, Gosh, that doesn't feel like it fits within my college education or my family lifestyle, or fill in the blank, there's always a reason we can talk ourselves out of something, and I believe that for me, the idea just continued to come back. And I have a deep faith, and so I continue to pray for direction. I continue to pray for people to come into our path. And I always pray for doors to open, that need to open, and doors to close, that need to close. And so I think my advice would be, if the door keeps opening and there's still a way to be made, then keep pushing through and keep trying it. A farm is really such a beautiful community gathering space, and this time in history, I think it's been such a beautiful way to say, Let's get off our devices and let's get our families together and let's celebrate community. So I would just say the little things that surprise you are the things to pay attention to the most you.
