Meet Sunny Anthony | Agritourism Entrepreneur & Sustainable Rancher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sunny Anthony and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sunny, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
After COVID left a lot of Americans jobless, penniless, and even homeless, coupled with the fact that homelessness has grown exponentially with the rising cost of housing and out of control inflation; I realized I had to share my knowledge of off-grid, sustainable, smaller ( and even tiny) more practicable living, with others. Even in Arizona, housing and basic necessities are becoming a struggle for many families; this, coupled with the problem of consuming fast, cheap, and disposable/single-use items ( mostly from overseas/imports; thus shipping production jobs overseas), I just felt this desire to bring peoples attention to a better, healthier, easier and more sustainable and earth conscious way. In essence, obtaining an alternative way of living that is sustainable and friendly to our surroundings.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Well we had a lot of bureaucratic details with zoning and business insurance and defining agritourism to overcome to get where we are now which is Whispering Wind Ranches LLC, an Agritourism experience sustaining the environment culture and history of the Grand Canyon Mesa. We also have an 501 (c) 3 side to this business, Grand Canyon Mesa Preservation Foundation, We basically have an Off Grid ranch, which produces vegetables, fruit, herbs, starter plants, honey, nuts and berries. We harvest everything we can from nature (sun, wind, water, food (foraging and hunting). We also sell services such as equipment repair and land clearing, teach people basic life skills such as building a fire, land navigating, how to track and hunt animals, cooking on open fire, how to harvest the sun with modern equipment, preserving food, composting, harvesting and recycling water for other uses, and how to look back at the history and culture of the area you live in to realize how things were done by people before all the “modern amenities” came into place. We also want to preserve our area ( the Grand Canyon Mesa)by leaving nothing behind. We do not use single-use plastic at all on our property, we also try not to use any plastic which is not durable and or long lasting, we try to avoid plastics generally unless it is built to last. We recycle/upcycle anything we can and use local crafters, farmers and other providers of resources within our own community in an attempt to refuel the local economy. We also make and sell items locally crafted, sustainable and eco-friendly on our website and soon we hope to have a “Ranch Store” for our small community of off gridders to purchase/barter or trade with us and each other.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The Grand Canyon Mesa has everything I would want to show my guests. From small farm-to-table restaurants, farmers markets, wineries, breathtaking views, snowcapped mountains and prehistoric canyons….and the people.. The interesting people of the Mesa from Native Americans, to Ranchers to Saloon owners and tourists. It’s such an amazing place.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Besides, of course, my family ( my husband Jordan and grown children John and Gabi) who support everything I do and see my visions.. Agritourism is a brand new industry in the State of Arizona. When we purchased the property ( 7 years ago) that now is home to Whispering Wind Ranches, we continually pressed the idea of a sustainable, tiny off grid living ranching experience where people could come learn techniques to utilize the environment around them, no matter where they lived, to be, not only more economical, but also more environmentally responsible,.. to learn to be more at one with their environment, and how to use it, no matter what that environment may be, to be more self-sustaining, by allowing others to come and see how these off grid, self-sustaining systems work and what life is like on a property that was completely self-sustaining/off grid.. The county was very much against that. They told me that is not Agriculture, it did not fit into what the state considered Agriculture.. in so many words.. No No No No. The real heroes were other Ranchers/Farmers and those in the Ag industry along with the Arizona Farm Bureau who really championed for Agritourism to be defined by statute. It is truly because of other industry people that made agritourism possible in Arizona, and these hard-working folks deserve all the accolades for their tireless effort.

Website: www.whisperingwindranches.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whisperingwindranches/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RanchesWind

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhisperingWindRanchesLLC