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When I first started farming as a teenager and into my twenties, I learned to work hard. And I learned to love it. My boys are learning that now. For the last few months, they have been getting up between four and five in the morning to milk, move cows, feed chickens, and do the …

When I graduated from high school and started my farm business, a family friend gave me an Australian Shepherd puppy to be my farm dog. I named him Blake. He followed me every day as I did chores, always eager to help. One of his favorite jobs was chasing down escaped chickens and pinning them …

A thousand miles from my farm in Alabama, I was in upstate New York teaching a horticulture course at a week-long guild hosted by a Christian publishing ministry. Professionals from all kinds of arts and crafts had gathered for a week of work, worship, and spiritual growth. Around a hundred students, most of them young …

A farmer thinks through food regulation When I first started my farm business back in 2009, I was excited about serving people with good food. I wanted to give them the very best veggies, meats, and eggs possible. As I told a newspaper reporter interviewing us at the farmers market, “Our goal is to love …

The farmers who settled homestead land were drawn by the lure of free land. But free is often the most expensive thing to base a decision on. The result was a landscape known for ghost towns, abandoned farms, and dust bowls from plowed-up ground that should have stayed in grass and cattle, as it was before the Homestead Act.

Home.​It is a place made sacred by memories, familiarity, love, and dreams.​It is both place and people, a space for work and rest, refuge and reception, the hidden life and hospitality.​A real home is worn but cared for, tidy but often messy, loud at times, and still at others.​You can manufacture a house, but a …

The murder of Charlie Kirk was a shock and a wakeup call to me yesterday. Just in the past few weeks my wife and I have enjoyed listening to some of his talks to young people, so the loss felt more personal and real. Death is a true thief, something that brutally shatters the illusion …

When our family purchased our farm in 2008 it wasn’t a farm. It was undeveloped land with pretty dense forest regrowth from recent timber harvesting. It had a few dirt trails and a shed and city water hookup (which we didn’t plan to use), but the rest was forest. Over the course of the past …

A few years ago, a friend of mine challenged me with this question, “How many second-generation homesteaders and small farmers do you know?” This came as a result of his observation that many children of Christian ‘back-to-the-landers’ become part of the ‘back-to the-city’ movement as soon as they leave home. I know of exceptions, but …

Do you want to use gardening to feed your family, serve people in your community, and share the hope of Jesus with others? If so consider praying about joining us for our Foundations for Farming Trainer’s Training this fall, October 7th-11th, 2024 where you will get personalized training in the Well-Watered Garden Project, feeding a …