busy bee

We've moved out of the Happy Camper and found our way to Hampton, SC. Boxes are full of our things. Walls are almost all painted (thanks to Emily's help) and we are settling into our new farm life. Don and Susan sent Andy home with Mama hen and chicks yesterday and the dogs are now all acquainted and getting along. Strawberries and onions are in the ground; tool shed is being cleared out; Elijah's settling in and I have an oven!!! Life is Great!

Hen & Chicks Delight!

On Sunday night I was going to move the chicken feeder out of the woods, because I spotted a raccoon. I stopped next to the woodpile, because I heard clucking...

Susan came out to lift up the tarp, while I held the flashlight and we discovered this little lady. We'd been counting 42 chickens for at least a month now and never could figure out where #43 was hiding...

Andy picked her up and to our surprise... CHICKS!!!!!!

We'd been trying to figure out when and where to hatch out chicks for weeks now and God was taking care of it right under our nose this entire time!

We decided to move mama and babies to protect them from predators (cats, raccoons, snakes, fire ants,etc)

Transporting eggs to the "safe house" one little chick is on it's way out (it hatched out the following day)...

Can you see the little biddie peeking out?

She's got quite a few under there!

a tidbit of encouragement

"She perceives that her merchandise is profitable." (Proverbs 31:18a)

 I've been overwhelmed these last few days, with business plans and hopes and dreams and doubts. Not sure if this farm will succeed. Not sure if we're on the right track. Not sure what our 'Veggie Share' flyer should look like. Not sure if food will grow. Not sure if anyone will buy the food that grows...in advance. Then, I remember that it's not us who bring life. It's not us who makes the rain or causes the plants to bring forth fruit. It's not us who we are depending on...

   Lacking confidence, I turn to The Word. There I am reminded. There I can trust.

I know that this great big dream of ours isn't only ours. It's God who brings the growth.

It's God who brings the rain. It's God who brings the customers for our food... in advance. It's God who directs our steps. It's God who gives us the desires of our hearts. It's God who brings life. It's God who reminds me...

the farm's namesake

 Urbanna Farm, which we named after Lennis Urbanna Gay who was born and raised on the property and the last 'caretaker' of the place at 93 years old, has a ton of potential and charm, but we certainly have to look past the obvious obstacles. The obvious obstacles being: getting the property cleaned up and raising capital for farm supplies (seeds, irrigation, tools).
 Aunt Urbanna (not our aunt, but somebody's aunt) grew up during the depression thus resulting in her becoming a hoarder. I'm talking STUFF!!! The 100 year old farm house and the 3 bed, 2 bath, 4.5 porch mobile home, 5 school buses, and dozens of other sheds and outbuildings are full of STUFF!!!
 Aunt Urbanna was in her 70's when she got married for the first time and she and her husband put a mobile home on the property next to the farmhouse. The mobile home will be our home, but right now it needs to be cleared out, cleaned, and painted. Boxes and Boxes and Boxes and Boxes and Boxes full of STUFF!!!

                              

Urbey: The dog that found us!

     Here's Urbey. He showed up last Friday, while Elijah and I were cleaning up our new house. I walked out of the front door to pack up our car when I noticed the dog running off of the porch. I went around to look for him and he was on the side porch. I coaxed him down with some ham and cheese (I had it here to make sandwiches) and he warmed up a little bit. I had to go home, so I left the dog with a blanket, water, and some bread (the remainder of my lunch) and hoped he'd stay.
     The next day, Andy and I came back to house to meet the owner for a walk through of the property and the dog was still at the farm. We brought him some food and soup bones just in case he was still around. He's skin and bones and has a collar with no tags and he doesn't seem to want to leave. We didn't come to the farm on Sunday, so I was a little anxious that he wouldn't be around on Monday... Well, he's still here!!! So, we named him Urbey. He's the farm's german shepherd. Let's hope he gets along with the rest of the pack when they show up, November 1st. :)

Eggmobile Plea

       Urbanna Farm is a go on November 1st. That gives us a few weeks to get the house cleared out, so we have a place to live and to start prepping the fields. We've been busy. The Brant Family Farm has been full swing too, which has been keeping both of us occupied. While I've been taking care of Elijah and working at the new farm (about 25 min. from the Brants) packing boxes and cleaning out rooms in the 3 bed 2 bath 4.5 porch mobile home, Andy's been pulling weeds, pruning asparagus beds, and cleaning up around the fruit trees at the Brants, all while planning a CSA, doing his agriculture entrepreneur class homework, making a harvest schedule, pricing seeds/supplies and planning a fundraiser/barnraising to get us going. We even entered a contest from Nature's Harmony Farm in Elberton, GA. Nature's Harmony is giving away an eggmobile and 200 laying hens to an up and coming farmer. It took us days to finally agree on a video and then it took 5 hours to upload the ten minute clip of us pleading for the hens. We won't know until Sept 30th what kind of impression our home video made and if we won the contest, but we're hoping and praying for the best.

Here's our Eggmobile Plea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhhiDlr8bhk

We got ourselves a farm

Two weeks ago today we were looking at a property in Hampton SC. We were going more out of respect to the family that wanted to show us the place, because South Carolina was not on our list of desirable places to settle down and start a farm. We'd just gotten back from our month of research and development and we were narrowing our choices  down to VA and IA. Neither VA or IA opened up to us, despite our major attempts to network and find a place.
So, there we were looking at an abandoned old family farm. It had two houses (one of which is a hundred year old farmhouse), tons of outbuildings, pump wells, sheds, old school buses and more. Every storage facility on the property (including the houses) are full of stuff. Some of it useful, some of it rare, some of it junk, but all of it just sort of sitting there begging for some TLC.
Now, its ours. We agreed to lease the place, including the houses, outbuildings and 40 acres attached to it all. Are we crazy?? Are we out of our minds??? Do we have our work cut out for us???
It's a project to say the least, but we are incredibly thankful, that after a month of shut doorsdisappointments, and bleak opportunities: we've found our place.
We've deemed it Urbanna Farm, after the family's Aunt Urbanna who lived there all 93 years of her life. It's a gem in the rough and we're ready.