Heirloom fruits & vegetables grow alongside a buzzing beehive and our storybook creek.
Our farm oasis.
the hives
Bees were our first priority on the farm! We love honey around here, and we need bees to help us keep the gardens growing strong. Our girls are the hardest workers on the farm. Not to mention, bee society is so cool to watch. Clover, buckwheat, and an array of native flowers & trees help our bees succeed in creating delicious honey. In 2 years we have grown from our starter 2 hives, to 5 hives, and growing…
Fun Bee Facts:
The ancient Greeks and Romans viewed honey as a symbol of love, beauty, and fertility.
The practice of beekeeping dates back at least 4,500 years.
Approximately one third of the food we eat, is the result of honey bee pollination.
the fruits & vegetables
Farm to table, every meal. We strive to create a sustainable system by using organic practices, biodiversity, and non-GMO, heirloom variety seeds.
We are often asked what all we are growing. My answer is usually, “what aren’t we growing!” We grow 20+ varieties of heirloom tomatoes, squash, beets, kohlrabi, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, and greens… And did I mention our stone fruit orchard?
Our advice to new gardeners - Keep trying. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.
Good seeds + soil + sun + water + love = endless possibilities. Gardening is good for the soul!
the herbs
If we were limited to just one thing we could grow on the farm, it would be herbs.
Herbs offer health benefits, medicine and a huge flavor profile! If you have space on your patio, a sunny window, or a sprawling garden, grow fresh herbs. You will not regret it!
Here on the farm we grow every herb we can get our hands on by seed or by plant for both culinary and medicinal uses.
And no, herbs are not just a garnish. You have never smelled or tasted flat leaf Italian parsley, cilantro or dill until you have had them freshly cut!
Plant medicine lore ~ eat a little something you grow everyday. It’s nourishing to the spirit. You’ve loved & cared for that plant, now the circle meets itself.
the cluckers
Eating fresh eggs daily, waking to a rooster’s crow, and listening to the ladies chatter, you know you are on the farm!
Our mother cluckers are a variety of dual purpose breeds including Lavender Orpingtons, Austrolops, Plymoth Bardrocks, and Olive Eggers.
We wanted chickens with a sweet demeanor (obviously), but we also wanted them to be excellent layers and climate hardy for our four Blue Ridge seasons. We couldn’t help but choose fun egg colors too, because colored eggs shouldn’t be reserved for just Easter!
Our girls get non-GMO, organic feed as well as all the grass, bugs and vegetable scraps they’d like to eat.
the waddlers
Our waddlers are Khaki Cambells. They are known for their excellent foraging skills and climate hardiness. Also, like a lasagna, they are great layers!
Everyone on the farm has a job to do, and our ducks’ number one job is foraging in the orchard. They will eat slugs, snails and any other bugs they can catch, turning pests into natural tree fertilizer.
Duck eggs are delicious and nutritious! Did you know that duck eggs are higher in vitamin A, protein, and omega 3 fatty acids? Baking with fresh duck eggs has taken our quiches, pies and breads to another level!
the goats
Goats are extremely intelligent, curious and loving creatures!
Our sweet brother and sister duo act more like puppies than goats. They love to be loved on and one day in the not too distant future, our girl Reese, will provide us with ample milk, we hope.
Our goals are to have enough milk to make cheese, caramels, lotions, soaps, candles and about anything else we can dream up!
the guinea fowl
Part of our mission is to be as biodiverse as possible within our farm. We decided adding guineas would help promote this idea.
Guineas are known for their pest control abilities. Eating ticks and other insects, such as grasshoppers, flies, and crickets. That make them excellent pasture keepers!
Guineas are also an excellent alarm system. They let us know if a predator is near or when the mail gets delivered, ha!
Jake the farm dog
We often joke that Jake is our city dog in farm training. We adopted our Aussie in December of 2016 in Dallas, TX. While he will likely always want to eat the chickens and ducks(we hope not!), he is our ever loving, faithful, family companion.
We’ve seen him bow down to horses, I guess it helps they out weigh him by about 1200 lbs… so maybe there is hope for when we get cows! Our sweet Jake keeps us on our toes, alerts us to any and all animal life on the farm; squirrels, rabbits, moles, deer, bears, the UPS man, lol.
Most importantly Jake always keeps a keen eye on our sweet boy and reminds us to love daily.
Luke
Heirloom Springs welcomed Luke in October 2022 just before our first Signature Retreat. Luke is a Dutch Warmblood and basically a huge(16.4 hands!) puppy dog. When he came to us, he was skin and bones, and had very little muscle tone… We have fixed that! We are happy to report that in his lush pasture, with high quality grain, an exceptional equine vet and love, he has put on at least 200LBS! If you come visit he will allow you to love on him :) and prefers peppermints, carrots, and apples. Just don’t show up empty handed!
