Help Harcum Family Save Farm

UPDATE UPDATE: By the grace of God and the kindness of the community, we've managed to get the business moving in a positive direction. Your donations helped pay down some of our old debt, enabling us to keep the business moving forward. Despite our progress in paying down outstanding debt, my Grandfather's estate, decided to move forward with selling everything. As such, yesterday, my father and I watched nearly all of our family's farming equipment be sold at auction. And this coming Saturday, if I can't win the bid, we will have to watch our 15th generation family farm be sold at auction. While this weekend was difficult to get through, I can't imagine the heartache my family will experience if we lose the home farm. I'm qualified for a loan but don't know if it will be enough and the scares me to death. We are desperate for any and all help possible. We've reached out to multiple lawyers to try stopping the equipment and real estate auctions, but weren't even able to get advice. We tried reaching out to some of the many politicians advertising their support for farmers, but unfortunately, we haven't had any success there either. This is the last chance we have to save the home farm, which has been in our family for over 350 years. We are one of only a handful of farms in the U.S. that are still owned and operated by the original family line. Please help us save a piece of history for many more years to come. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Help Harcum Family Save Beechnut Farm My Family’s Plea by Rebecca Harcum CAUSE FOR ACTION:     If my family is unable to pay off the dairy debt owed by Beechnut Farms, (approximately $750,000 when my grandfather, William Blan Harcum Sr., passed away in February of 2016), my grandfather’s estate will start selling our family’s heritage piece by piece.         (Family Picture with 13th, 14th, & 15th Generation) In addition to losing nearly 400 years of family history, losing the family farm means my parents would be homeless and the decades my father, William Blan Harcum Jr., sacrificed busting his back, dusk to dawn, 365 days a year, living an EXTREMELY frugal lifestyle, would leave him with very little to show for it.                                       (Blan Jr., my dad, Milking the Cows) As the 14th and 15th generation of farmers in our family, Dad and I continue to work as hard as possible to save our family’s farm; however, this truly seems to be our last hope!!!  Please help my family save our home and preserve our heritage! All donations will go directly to paying down Beechnut Farm’s outstanding debt (paid down to $600,000 over the past two years).  If we can pay down enough of the outstanding debt, hopefully, another lender will provide us with the rest of the money we need to save our land and my family’s livelihood. 4-H FARM TOURS:     Ask anyone that went to elementary school in the Delmarva area from 1989 through 2015 to name one of their most memorable field trips and almost all will say their field trip to Beechnut (Dairy) Farm.  The “Farm Tours”, as we most commonly referred to this annual event, took place over three days every May and was completely FREE of charge for all participants.                                  (Thank You Letter from Student) With assistance from the University of Maryland Extension – Lower Shore Office, the Wicomico County Extension Office, and numerous volunteers, Beechnut Farms opened their barn doors to tens of thousands of local nursery and elementary school children.  For over 25 years, this educational and entertaining event introduced numerous children (and their adult chaperones) to the world of agriculture and the importance farms have in everyone’s daily lives.                                 (Thank You Letter from Student) Over the years, finding volunteers to work the event became more and more difficult and the cost of cleaning up and safeguarding the property for this event each year wasn’t something we could afford moving forward.  Sadly, the last Farm Tours occurred in 2015.                             (Puppet Show at Farm Tour)                           (Learning to Milk "Cows" at Farm Tour) Coming Soon... Family/Farm History           (2006 News Clipping of Blan Sr., my grandfather)