Year 2020 marks our third year in business!
2019 was a little rough, moving from Madison, GA two hours west to my ancestral homeland in the Appalachian foothills of Carroll County. Last season saw ups and downs. Ups like a small loan from West Georgia Slow Money Club for seeds and poultry stock, and donations from friends for some construction supplies. Downs like fence failures, crop losses, and a broken down truck. But we’ve made it out the other side of the dark days of winter, approaching the first light of Spring, with a continued focus on our mission and a few changes that will help us maintain that focus.
Our Farm-share has a pay-in-full deadline now, but also double-share and delivery options! We’ve also added a Discount Club, for both individuals and organizations, that assists with the high-cost of natural foods.
This fall and winter has also seen the establishment of the Wobbly Farm Day, the 2nd Saturday of every month, where IWW Atlanta Branch members and friends come and help on the farm and learn about folk-ways and farmstead agriculture.
And we are happy to announce that beginning in February, we will be hosting more regular volunteer hours with the South Bend Commons! On the 2nd and 4th Fridays of each month, volunteers from the South Bend Commons will visit the farm to volunteer and start small side projects that will benefit the farm and produce an abundance of food! These volunteer visits are also coordinated with their Free Grocery Program, bringing any extra food for our livestock, and cardboard for fence-line mulch and barn-floors, completing cycles in our food systems and eliminating waste.
Here are some of the projects we are recruiting regular volunteers for:
- “Weeding and reading”
- Seed saving and “a living seed bank”
- Poultry breeding and production
- Mushroom cultivation
- Ecological restoration
- Forestry, tree, and perennial propagation
- Wild-crafted food and medicine
- Hunting, hide-work, and game processing
Plans for this year include continuing to provide fresh vegetables and eggs to local communities, adding poultry to what we offer to our communities, and…
to start the first and only Buckeye chicken breeding program in Georgia! This is probably the most exciting project. I am currently talking with a few other farmers about developing a line breeding program which would basically entail rooster rotation between a few different farms. This will be a huge step in self-reliant farming, and the restoration of an endangered breed, in Georgia and beyond!
All this, and more, for the year Two thousand and twenty, so keep an eye out here and on our social media pages for updates, photos, videos, and info on how you can get involved!
Love, piece, and elbow grease
Slim
Feed the People Farms 