A Restoration Acres Farm Memoir (Part II)

If you haven't read part I yet, be sure to do that here

Fall 2014: Our time in New Castle was coming to a close, and it was time for us to move our farm closer to where our customers were: Lynchburg. The Saturday drive to the Lynchburg Community Market was getting harder and harder, especially having to leave the farm for an entire day. We wanted to be closer to family (my sister and her family were in Lynchburg) and to the community we were investing in. A wonderful land opportunity presented itself, thanks to a God-ordained encounter our brother-in-law had with an old friend of his, and we made the big move.

The new 90 acre rental farm came complete with a one-room apartment in the back of a huge pole barn. And the best part? It had running water and an actual toilet! We made reservations to rent a flat bed truck to move the 4 brand new chicken shelters we had just made, plus the various other equipment we had acquired that summer. When we showed up to get the rental, they informed us they only had box trucks. We took some measurements and were certain we could fit the shelters inside. You know where this is going, don’t you? We arrived at the farm with the box truck and Matt’s parents to load up the first set of shelters. We had just found out we were pregnant with our first child! Thankfully, I felt great. As the first chicken shelter rides up the truck lift to be loaded in, that sinking feeling sets in as we realize our measurements were off. These shelters are about 2 feet wider than the truck and we can’t even get them in crooked like we had planned. After much…”discussion”…head scratching, and flipping those heavy pens every which way, we decided we would have to cut the bases and essentially squeeze them together to get them in the truck. It was not easy cutting into those shiny, brand new chicken pens, knowing that the structure would forever be weakened from these cuts.

Nevertheless, we remained bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and excited for the next part of our adventure! As we arrived at the new farm with our final load of stuff, the future looked brighter than ever. That is, until Matt accidentally backed that 24 foot box truck into the front of the pole barn. What a stressful move that was. But…we had our own space, our first child was on the way, and life was good.

2014-2017: We remained at that farm in Forest, VA for 2 1/2 years. We developed a great friendship with the landowners, with whom we are still friends to this day. On May 5^th, 2015 we welcomed our first child, Jackson, into our arms in that humble little apartment in the back of the barn. Becoming parents was, by far, our greatest blessing and achievement yet. Within a few days of Jackson’s birth I was back to sorting eggs, and within 2 weeks I was back to chicken processing (I know…I should have rested longer but I felt great and there was much work to be done!)

We lived simply. Old vehicles, old clothes, wearing boots out until a piece of rope literally couldn’t hold the sole on any longer. But God provided for our every need, including the will to go on even when we were exhausted, sleep deprived, and discouraged. The 3 of us (Jackson included) were quite the force. A team who did everything together. During our time there, our farm grew and more importantly, we grew. More animals, more customers, more opportunities, more failures which turned into new lessons learned. Many humbling moments, many frustrations, many achievements. Late nights packing eggs and figuring out farm accounting. Matt, Jackson and I worked together 24/7/365, no matter the season, no matter the weather. We worked in rain, hail, snow, windstorms, mud, droughts, extreme heat, extreme cold. You name it, we did it, together!

It was at this farm where we experienced our first great tragedy in our business. One that almost broke us, almost made us quit. We came home from an appointment one afternoon. Matt went out to check on the chickens that we were planning to process the following day. He saw some commotion going on in the pen and as he got closer realized there were two hound dogs inside the pen, tearing the chickens to pieces. In a moment of panic, he hollered and flung the door open which startled the dogs and out they came. He chased them, screaming, across the whole farm until they eventually outran him and disappeared. He raced back to the chickens to find an awful, bloody scene. Many chickens were already dead, many were half alive, and the rest alive but not a single one without at least a bite mark. This catastrophe was so incredibly crushing to us at that time. We were already struggling to rub two pennies together after all the bills had been paid. These were fully grown chickens which were supposed to be processed the following day and bring much needed money to our pockets. And now all that money was gone. A chew toy for a couple of bored dogs. We went ahead with the processing of the ones that were still living, but none of the meat was suitable for selling with all the bite marks. We did find out whose dogs they were, and we did have to get animal control involved. The owners initially offered to pay us for the loss, although they scoffed when we told them what the chickens were worth. But, they never did and we never heard from them again. After that incident, we decided to invest in a livestock guardian dog. 

We bought Mandolin, a Great Pyrenees, when she was 7 weeks old. She was the best dog. When Mandy was a few months old (so roughly 6 months after the hound dog chicken slaughter) she unfortunately found herself caught under the tire of our egg mobile while it was being moved. This ended up in a $1200 vet bill to repair her hip, adding insult to injury (or is it injury to insult in this case…?) to our already hurting bank account from the chicken loss. But as always, God provided for our needs and we slowly recovered; financially and emotionally.

Early 2017: Fast forward to the end of 2016, beginning of 2017 and once again, we found ourselves needing to move the entire farm. We had received an email shortly before learning we needed to move from a couple we did not know. They were offering us an opportunity to come farm on their 200 acres on the other side of Forest. We reached out to them and through a series of conversations and events, decided this was to be our next farming location. But by then, almost 2 years since our last move, we had more stuff. And more animals. Thankfully, it was a shorter move. Thirty minutes away instead of 90 minutes. The wonderful land owner from the farm we were leaving let us borrow his flatbed truck and trailer, so thankfully there was no cutting of chicken pens this go around. We had, however, built a platform for our chicken processing area that weighed about 500 pounds. With nothing but our farmer ingenuity and 2 rounded fence posts, the 2 of us moved that 500lb platform about 20 feet and loaded it onto the trailer. We were pretty proud of that one. 

We also had pigs now, plus an old camper we had converted into an egg mobile. I wasn’t pregnant during this move like I was the last one, but this time we had to move an entire farm with a 1 ½ year old. Thankfully, Jackson was so easy going and always happy to be along for the ride. I can’t remember how many trips this move took, but it was a lot. All the animals, equipment, freezers and meat, plus our house stuff. We were excited about the new place, even though we didn’t necessarily have a house to move right into yet. We lived in the owner’s basement for a couple of months while we fixed up the inside of a 200+ year old cabin. And while that may sound dreamy and romantic, it was anything but…

We'll be back later this week with part III...the final post in our Restoration Acres Farm Memoir series!