A journey starts with a single step...

Maybe I'm retracing the steps of my father or starting something new that will be my own, I'm not sure. This farm, my home, has been in my family for generations. Like so many young adults I left home ready to take on the world and leave this small town behind me. The older I got, the more this place I ran from became the place I ran to for peace, comfort, and silence. The familiarity made everything so much easier and daydreams of one day coming back here to retire became more of a goal than a wish.

2020 changed everything for everyone, but it brought me home. My elderly parents were already declining both cognitively and physically. My father is in his 80s with Alzheimer's Disease and my mother is in her 70s with Frontal Lobe Dementia. I knew they would continue to need my help and 2020 accelerated that need with lightening speed. In August 2019 my mother came to live with me in Georgia because my father has become increasingly aggressive towards everyone. In January 2020 my father had two strokes and leaving him in a nursing home once Covid became a threat wasn't something I wanted for my father. I set up a hospital bed at their home and established a care team. In March, my mom, my toddler, and I moved back to NC to hunker down for what we thought would be 2-4 weeks.

Six months into this and we are here restructuring our lives and trying to envision a new journey for our family. This farm, this land is our heritage and holds an opportunity for us to reconnect to who we are and understand where our food comes from and impact on our community.

I'll be honest, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm doing it anyway.