Family Faith:

We believe that God has entrusted us with this beautiful piece of property for a purpose. We hope to honor Him in everything we do, be it cleaning fencerows, taking care of the animals, or just “chillin'” on the farm after a long day’s work.

Our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior keeps us grounded and focused on what really matters in this life and the next…that final Encore Life.

Farm Family:

Our farm family consists of my husband, Rick, and me, our gregarious four-year-old Great Pyrenees dogs, Zeus and Xena, and our 19-year-old slightly senile and arthritic (but lovable) cat named Sugar.

The dogs patrol the farm and watch out for interlopers and protect our chickens…and us.  Especially “Mama.”

As far as their eyes can see, they believe they own the land. They are majestic animals; we couldn’t have picked a better breed for our farm.

Sugar’s main job is to hold the couch down. She does a great job; it hasn’t moved in years.

Farm Location:

Hills of East Tennessee in a small town called Kingston.

Farm Legacy:

I was raised, along with five siblings (four brothers and one older sister) on a 40-acre beef cattle farm in the small community of Halls Crossroads in East Tennessee. 

My Daddy was a third generation farmer who liked red limousines — cattle that is — not the cars.

He also raised registered black angus and maintained a large apple orchard that included winesap, yellow delicious (my favorite), and other varieties of apples.

Daddy also worked a full-time, off-the-farm job, and Mama did as well.

Daddy loved the land! He was happiest when he was working on the farm. It was his love of farming that drew me back to it.

He would be proud to know that his “baby girl” is carrying on the farming tradition. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of eating home-grown green beans, sweet corn, and watermelon from our garden.

Farm Future:

On our farm, we have raised several varieties of chickens and Pilgrim geese and plan to expand to a few cattle and possibly goats.

We know that we want to have heritage breeds; that is, breeds from a bygone era, before industrial agriculture became a mainstream practice.

We also hope to raise heirloom produce without the use of chemicals. Heirloom vegetables are typically vintage varieties that have been preserved by passing seed down from generation to generation.

Wanting to have ample fruit on the farm, we ambitiously planted 40 trees not long after purchasing the farm, but unwittingly picked a year that Tennessee experienced a terrible drought.  As a result, only about 10 trees survived.

Which brings me to our site tagline, “ENCORE LIVING: Embracing the Joys and Challenges.”

It suits us just fine…taking the bad along with the good, but enjoying the journey.

We are SO happy to share our journey with you. WELCOME!