We started with a garden. A community garden planted behind our apartments in ground covered with trash. Baby diapers, couches, car parts and everything in between. Took us a year to clean that place, even Fred, our community garden expert, thought we would never turn around that piece of dead earth. To tell you the truth, we didn’t. We just gave that ground proper care and stewardship. We just picked up the trash and looked at it as a gift. While we did the possible, God did the impossible. The most important ingredient of fertile land is the blessing of God, using His principles of agriculture. By being faithful to His program we’ve grown from that tiny community garden on the south side of Atlanta to stewarding over 95 acres. Faithful in little things and that faithfulness started with soil. Someone once said, “all you’ve grown is soil.” That comment set in motion the mission we have for every piece of land we steward; leave the soil better off than when we arrived. That person was right, we grow soil, because the heart of anything grown comes from a healthy, vibrant, life giving soil. We like to say we’re a slow farm movement. Producing quality, ever working to balance, replenish, moving at a pace that refuses to sacrifice the vision for our soils. Nutrient dense soil is the most precious commodity we have, and the greatest defense against disease and poor health. On our production farm we practice an extensive soil regeneration program. Using multi-species cover crops , no-till, water conservation practices and paying attention to the micro nutrients in our soil we grow a soil that is rich in life giving properties. We produce eco-systems. Our farm is alive, an educator of the highest order, and a veritable school for all who take the time to be still. Perennial & annual herbs (mint, oregano, sage, rosemary, lemon balm, chives, stevia, fennel, basil), heirloom seasonal vegetables bred for deep, antioxidant rich colors and stunning flavor; tomatoes, okras, peppers, squash, cucumbers, thornless blackberries trellised and pruned for the highest nutrient content, multiple varieties of blueberries, serviceberries, bush cherries, razzmatazz grapes, fruit trees, and extensive pollinator habitats. An ecosystem all to itself, surrounded by 60 acres of woodland. UCLife!
“All over the country [some soils are] worn out, depleted, exhausted, almost dead.But here is comfort: These soils possess possibilities and may be restored to high productive power, provided you do a few simple things.” CW BURKETT, 1907
“God would be glorified if men who have acquired an intelligent knowledge of agriculture, would teach the people, by precept and example, how to cultivate the soil, that it may yield rich treasures. Men are wanted to educate others how to plow, and to use the implements of agriculture. Who will be missionaries to do this work, to teach proper methods to the youth, and to all who feel willing and humble enough to learn?” EGW, 1897
