Faithful Spring Farm

Greenhouse and garden design, not where we thought we would go as the story goes below, but after the girls graduated, this is where God has led us. We have always been rooted in beautiful, outdoor settings, so grateful we have the opportunity to do what we love and help others along the way. There are moments in your life where, if you are looking, you can actually see how God has worked in your life. This is how our story starts, not just the year that we moved here, or the years since we first laid eyes on the property in Missouri. No, our story started long before. When we were first married, we would vacation to Table Rock Lake with my family. Eddy and I would take a day from the lake and venture off touring the countryside. I can remember specifically stopping at the end of one driveway with a weathered wood fence, and us pining for a ranch of our own someday. Little did we know that God was, and still is, listening to our murmurings. Eddy and I have always had a love for farming and working with our hands.   Those days of our early 20’s we figured out not only did we like farming and animals but we loved to garden, design, and build. We bought 34 acres that had a cement block building, a well, and a gravel drive; we thought we had hit the jackpot. We spent the first 10 months of our marriage turning that dirt floor building into a one bedroom home. Our can-do-eager-to-learn spirit encouraged us to try almost anything related to farm and home. This lead us down a road of desired self-sufficiency as time allowed. We were both working full time off farm jobs and going to college, but we decided to start with a few beef cows. Can I just say, we grew up on farms, we knew some about animals, but we had so very much to learn. Eventually we progressed into growing crops. In 2001, our lives took a 90 degree turn as we were blessed with twins. We honed our building skills as we put an addition on our tiny little house. In August 2006, our son was born and through testing when he was two weeks old we discovered a heart defect.  Six months later, a letter arrived from the University of Iowa which explained he was on the National Register for Birth Defects, and a nurse would be calling for research.  Sometimes there are pivotal moments in a person’s life, and this was mine. When the nurse on other end of the phone line inquired about what we ate, cleaned with, and was exposed to not only during my pregnancy but including the six months prior to conception it makes you wonder the why and how of everything around you. Those few months changed our entire way of thinking, and in the winter of 2006, we read everything we could get our hands on about organic farming and food. Once we realized how healing the land can heal our bodies it set us on a path of change, slow and gradual, but different.  We were certified organic for one year in Iowa, but bureaucracy kept us from continuing. Despite not being certified, those moments in 2006 are forever etched in our memory and compel us to learn more, expanding our organic practices in all areas of our lives. I remember driving down my driveway in Iowa a few years ago and praying, “God, please let Eddy and I farm together before we retire.”  We were exhausted from working 16 hour days and burning the candle at both ends. Little did I know that God would be answering those prayers when and how He did…. Fast forward a bit and events in our life started a chain reaction. Driven by the passion of supporting and operating a family farm, we craved the farm life, which once populated the country. After all our reading, we had a desire to start learning and meeting these authors in person. Our next step in the learning curve involved attending the Mother Earth News Fair,Acres U.S.A.conference, becoming members of Practical Farmers of Iowa, and eventually traveling to the on farm class at Joel Salatin’s farm,Polyface. An opportunity to convert some neighboring farm ground to organic for SILTarose sh