When not tromping through the 640 acres of Cloverhill Dairy Farm, Nathaniel Carter, 33, is gliding across the dance floor at a local ballet studio. His love of ballet took Carter, a midwestern kid raised on two-stepping, by surprise. He tried it on a whim three years ago and hasn’t stopped since.

“Here and on the dance floor is where I find peace,” Carter said, overlooking one of the fields he and his father, Dale, own.They run 200 cows across their land and have recently switched to organic production, which fetches a higher price. This has allowed them to keep going during a trying time for area dairy farmers, Carter said. Hours fill with mowing, fixing tractors, moving cows — the choreography of a farm. Carter takes as much pride in tending the land as he does in learning routines at the ballet studio alongside his wife, Chalaé.