Welcome to Our World 

Webster defines farming as the practice of agriculture. Believe me practicing at agriculture fits if our family well, because we are a long way from perfection. Our family's journey began in 2002 when my father passed away, and being an only child I inherited the farm which consisted of mainly raising cows to sale their calves. Keith, my husband, and I are quick to tell anyone we were smart enough to know we were stupid when it came to farming. I had never really been involved with the farm. In the past he had grown water melons and truck farming, but I was too young to remember any of that. Also, being a girl my father didn't impart any of his wisdom on how to do things. So, here we were three children living in the upstate, very comfortable and predictable I might add; now we have this farm. What should we do?  Raising trees for timber sounded like a good option to me, you plant them and then they grow (I'm sure there's more to it than that though). But, you don't have to worry about cutting hay, keeping up fences, feeding cows and knowing when to sale or keep them depending upon the current livestock market. Basically, no hands on experience required. We did know we wanted to keep the land and the heritage of farming. After all my father had entrusted me with this legacy, but how and what was to be determined.

                Progressive Farmer, a farming magazine, to the rescue. My husband, Keith, read an article about grass-fed beef and the niche market that supported it. We thought well, here's something interesting. Pasture – we had a lot of that. Thus began the intense journey of research on the internet, reading articles, and visiting other workshops with farmers doing pasture based farming. Keith even went to visit a farmer in Georgia he had read about. Maybe this idea would work after all. We were already interested in healthy eating habits and the benefits of eating better due to our daughter's health issues. We made the decision to sell our home in Laurens and as the Clampets said “loaded up the truck and came to Beverly Hills”. Well Lugoff is not Beverly Hills, but we did look like the Clampets.   Lugoff was and is home, the place were I had lived until I left for college. About three months after we had settled in, if you can call five people sleeping in a 27 feet travel trailer while we remodeled our home settling in, we ordered our first 25 layers and began to brood them out. In case your wondering that means keeping them under heat lamps for three to four weeks. Keith researched what type of chicken house we should build for the precious babies (the internet is such a wonderful invention, you can research just about anything, even plans for chicken houses). Thus the plans for the A-frame, the high dollar chicken house, labor intensive, expensive to build, and hard to move around the pasture. Not to mention, almost injuring his then very pregnant wife while constructing this structure. (Note: Men, you should never ask your wife who is eight months pregnant to climb to the top of a step ladder and hold a ridge pole while you nail it in place. The ridge pole collapsing on her is not conducive to your wife's well being or yours). There had to be a better way (there is). We have since then developed our version of the chicken tractor, portable houses which can be moved all over our fields where hens deposit their “liquid gold” premium fertilizer all over our pastures.

                We have come along way from our first twenty-five chickens; we now have 1,000 layers who provide us with the freshest, high quality eggs that are served in homes, restaurants and Bed and Breakfast's not just in the Midlands but from the beaches to the Piedmont.

                Life is a journey, and we're still learning. It is our plans for future articles, that is if we don't get canceled after the first one, to share lots of fun filled and hopefully helpful stories about our adventures in the quest to provide a healthy and meaningful life for our family and those we come in contact with. Just remember, life is good on the farm, or any place where you make the most of the opportunities in front of you.