Save our Homestead and Farm
"Take what you need. Leave what you can." - Imagine a produce farm with that pricing structure. We have been working towards that goal for several years. Fresh produce people could afford with extra going to a food pantry. But after three long years of illness, onging medical challenges and a recent death in the family, we are looking for outside help.
My name is A.J. Drew. My wife's name is Aimee. We would like to say we are not looking for a hand out. But at this point, we will accept any help offered. My ongoing medical challenges have prevented my wife Aimee from working. A family death has left us with additional debt we were not previously aware of. We could very well loose our home and farm. But we do have a plan to repay folk who donate, continue the farm, and give back to our community.
Plan 1 - New Nersery - Our homestead based farm has been growing produce for some years. We hope to become a certified nursery by spring of 2017. We hope to repay any donation at a rate of $2.00 per plant beginning in April of 2017 and continuing for as many years as necessary. We have already erected our first high tunnel and hope to build a heated green house towards this goal.
If you help us save our farm, we will do our best to continue the nursery and offer healthy plants each spring at well below typical prices.
Plan 2 - Honor Produce Farm - Let us provide your produce this year. I will work my ass of this year to produce as much as I can from our home stead gardens. Starting mid to late July of this year, I will post pick up dates and plant o use them as social events. Each week, I will harvest what is ready and make it ready for pick up. Folk who donate are welcome to take what they think is fair each week.
Any produce not picked up will be donated to the local food pantry.
Visit us on Facebook for social events, updates, photographs, videos, and other information about this effort.
If you help us save our farm, we will do our best to continue this practice as a more conventional farm stand or CSA in the years to come. Staffed by the kids, the plan is that future pricing will be:
"Take what you need. Leave what you can".
The Medical Challenges – About ten years ago, I suffered a moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). In addition to stroke like symptoms, damage to my pituitary gland left me insulin dependent. Unable to afford insulin for much time, my legs and feet were ravaged by infection and nerve damage. In 2014, I became septic with an antibiotic resistant staph infection. It started in my right leg and left me unable to walk for much time. After a hospital stay, I was couch locked with IV antibiotics. In 2015, I again became septic, returning from the hospital without the greater toe on my left foot and some of the bone down the right side. I survived my third battle with sepsis in early 2016. This time, I returned home with less of my left foot and more need for home care. I am again walking, but not well.
Although today there is much pain in walking, as the amputation site heals the pain will subside. But the amputations combined with the nerve damage will forever cause my balance to be horrible. Without assistance, I tend to fall a time or two each day. The new green house will be built with grab bars, rails and other features which will allow me to work safely. I also hope to improve the accessibility and safety features of my workshop. Our plan is obtainable.
Unfortunately, each of these hospital stays was followed by weeks of recovery and months of follow up care. Caring for me, my wife has been unable to work, our savings are all but gone. Complicating matters, upon my mother’s passing we seem to have inherited debt leaned against the family property.
We have high hope of finding a mortgage to address that debt. However, being much smaller than most mortgages, Aimee being off work for so long, and with me being disabled: we are scared to death. I know we can repay it if just given enough time, but we fear we will not be given that time.
So we are swallowing our pride, admitting that my illness has completely ruined our financial security, and asking folk to help. We will continue to look for a mortgage solution and continue attempting to expand the business, hoping it will become profitable, and we will do our level best to repay donations with the fruit of the expansion into the nursery business and honor produce farm.
Please, just give me a chance and I will build a fantastic alternative business which offers food and the abuility to produce food at an affordable price.
Thank you for your consideration.
For updates, photos, and more information please visit us on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/pleasesaveourfarm/
