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Wearing many hats isn’t new to entrepreneur, wellness brand owner and former music tour manager Dreka Gates. In fact, this woman of many talents is adding one more to her collection: a farmer’s hat.
It’s an unexpected lifestyle shift for the glamorous mother of two and wife of rapper Kevin Gates. It all came about when the opportunity to purchase a small family farm in Mississippi presented itself. Dreka’s instincts told her it was the right move to make—and along the way, she not only created a sanctuary for herself and her family but also found a way to share the land’s bounty with others.
Finding a Small Family Farm
“I spent a lot of time in Mississippi because I had family there…And my dad is the one that actually found the property for us,” relates Gates about the small family farm she and her husband purchased located just 15 minutes away from her parents’ property.
“It was previously a 60-acre blueberry farm way back in the day, and it had mature bushes and all that good stuff.”
Prior to purchasing the property four years ago, Gates and family lived in Calabasas, California. With her husband’s work in the entertainment field and her career as a lifestyle entrepreneur, it just made sense for them to make their home in the Golden State.
“Never, ever, ever in my life, had I any intentions of actually spending more than maybe a month at a time there,” she says about the small family farm in Mississippi.
But life has a way of nudging us toward change and the entrepreneur’s instincts told her that it was a good time to put down new roots and move to the blueberry farm in Mississippi.
“People thought that I was absolutely crazy, but my husband, kids, they were all on board. So we were getting rid of stuff in California, closing that chapter, and then lo and behold, COVID hits.”
Finding Her Authentic Self
During pandemic lockdown on the farm, Gates sensed change blossoming within her. “I’m on the farm, and something magical happened to me while I was there. I call the property my sanctuary [and] it completely transformed me,” she shares.
“My life prior to [living] on the farm—being outside, with animals, in a garden—that was not me at all. But just being there [on the farm], I literally started to commune with the land and it brought me back to what I call my authentic self, to the root of who I am.”
A Family Bond
Gates’s innate love for the land can be traced back to summers spent with her grandmother, who owned property in Mississippi. There, her grandmother raised chickens and pigs grew blackberries and a variety of vegetables.
She shares, “The majority of the foods that she [my grandmother] prepared for us to eat were grown by her…It was beautiful for me to remember that because I had completely forgotten about it. It was almost like I had reclaimed a part of my history by purchasing this farm, by being on the farm and building it out.”
The Gates Family Farm consists of 43 acres (from the property’s original 60 acres). “It’s not super isolated…There’s civilization very close by,” describes Dreka about the small family farm she transformed into a personal Eden.
A variety of fruits and vegetables—pears, pomegranates, figs, bananas, apples, kale, cauliflower, along with various herbs and more—grow abundantly in the rich Mississippi soil. “Pretty much anything you can think of, I have grown it on the farm,” attests Gates.
The mature blueberry bushes remain abundant on the land, too. “We have a little family section where we eat blueberries off [the bushes],” she says. Though the small family farm remains private property, she shares that there’s also a larger blueberry patch where extended family and friends are invited to pick blueberries when in season.
Of course, a farm wouldn’t be complete without animals. “We have peacocks, ducks, chickens, tortoises, alpacas, goats, dogs and camels,” lists the newly minted urban farmer about the unusual farm menagerie.
“I have three camels; one of them is a bottle baby. I raised her from six weeks old until now. She’s four. That’s my baby,” she says proudly.
To keep it all running smoothly, Gates isn’t afraid to enlist help. “ I have two guys that are on the farm like 24/7…keeping up the property, maintaining the blueberry bushes over five acres,” she details. “We have a few other people that will come throughout the week to help with the animals, making sure they’re fed and that everyone’s happy and thriving.”
As for the food produced on the small family farm, the mother of two feels it should all be enjoyed, and she’s proud that she has the means to grow it on her land.
“I feel like it’s one of the biggest pleasures in life,” she shares. While the lifestyle entrepreneur admits a more complicated cooking style is not her thing, she does love preparing simple meals. “Give me some raw, whole foods, and I will throw something together. I love tasting and trying different foods. That’s me all day.”
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About The Love Tea
“It’s not a business, but it’s my intention to actually have visitors and open it up to the public,” shares Gates about future plans for The Gates Family Farm. “My intentions are to have a retreat there, do educational classes with kids and adults alike about gardening, cooking, healthy eating and things of that nature.”
Meanwhile, for her latest project, a tea line in collaboration with Yaupon Brothers, Gates drew inspiration from a native Mississippi tree found on her small family farm.
“We’re using the yaupon holly trees…they just grow in the wild and they’re everywhere,” she shares. “I actually created some tea from the leaves years ago. I met the Yaupon Brothers last year at an expo, and we decided to do a collaboration.”
Love Tea by Dreka Gates with Yaupon Bros is a naturally caffeinated tea blended with organic yaupon, cinnamon, hibiscus, ginger and peach. It’s described as transforming to a blush pink as it steeps, mirroring love’s hues and helps promote relaxation, calmness and stress release.
Expected to launch in February 2025, the tea represents a full-circle moment for Gates, bridging her entrepreneurial and wellness endeavors with that of her new lifestyle.
“It’s been quite the journey. I went from literally one extreme to another—being on the farm 24/7, outside with my farmer’s hat on gardening, taking care of animals, to now where I’m in a space of balancing it all,” she observes about how far she’s come and how her lifestyle has changed.
“I’m kind of balancing being in the world of entertainment and also on the farm—and it’s been a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful transition.”
For more information about Dreka Gates and her projects—including her new Love Tea—visit online and follow her on social media.