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About Us
Without going too far off the deep end, we see an ever-pressing need to be able to economically provide as much untainted, untreated food for our family as possible. We will reduce our dependency on the public food supply while reducing the myriad of pesticides, preservatives, and growth chemicals that we consume through our food. Simultaneously we will decrease our food bill while drawing us closer to God and His creation, and also creating a sense of security should something catastrophic happen in the future. Beyond meeting our own needs, we intend to sell select items to the public and also donate a portion to church functions and local homeless shelters.
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Each of us has at least one chronic medical condition that benefits from a reduction in processed foods and an increase in quality whole foods. Our family lives with a wide range of ailments including seasonal and food allergies, asthma, cold urticaria, eczema, high cholesterol, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, and even the loss of a gall bladder. Naturally grown and raised food sources help us reduce the impact these medical issues have on our lives. Providing for our own needs is an integral part of that, as we transition from a mostly mass-produced diet to one where we control the content of what we consume. It will not cure all of our ills, but the difference is noticeable and the satisfaction is incalculable.
We value logical planning, hard work, determination, smart budgeting, open communication, honesty, fairness, family time, humor, humility, and faith. We strive to be better at each of these things every day. We aim for synergy within the family structure and, realizing that this is sometimes impossible, we also work to remain flexible. We love to spend time with extended family but, unfortunately, we do not live very close to any of our relatives. Hopefully, one day we will be able to realize a longstanding dream of living closer to our families. Until that day, we will make the most of what we have, where we are.
Who We Are
Geoff works on the farmstead full time. Daily animal husbandry chores, equipment maintenance, home remodeling, and farmstead improvements fall under his purview. He occasionally does home improvement projects outside the home, as time allows. He spent six years in the Navy as a mechanic, six years in new home construction, eleven years in manufacturing, and has a Bachelor of Business degree. These experiences taught him nearly all of the valuable skills needed for life on a farmstead. He enjoys target shooting, fishing, motorcycle rides, researching, challenges, and finishing projects. He is extremely focused and driven, and can always find a reason to make a detailed Excel spreadsheet.
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Casey works outside the home to keep sane and help the farmstead get established. Despite popular sentiment, small-scale farming requires considerable capital outlay. She is a retired Navy electrician, and has Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Nuclear Engineering Technology, and Master of Divinity degrees. She enjoys her employment, as it is in a downtown office building (a childhood dream) and requires frequent travel (an extrovert’s dream). She is also an online collegiate adjunct professor. During her free time she enjoys running, writing, and fundraising for the American Cancer Society. She has a keen eye for interior decorating and a love for experimentation in the kitchen.
Anastasia is a senior in high school. She attended public school through her sophomore year, but is now home-schooled. This affords her the opportunity of spending more time with Dad, helping with the animals, setting her own schedule, and avoiding the chaotic lunacy of the public education system. She works at a local movie theater and babysits when she can. Like many young girls, she loves going to the mall to shop for shoes and make-up. Her dream is to obtain an accounting degree and work as a forensic accountant for the FBI or some other law enforcement agency. She loves to bake, and always has a word of encouragement and a hug for anyone who needs it.
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Our History
As Geoff tells it, our story began with the purchase of a John Deere lawn tractor. But, in reality, our journey began almost twenty years ago while stationed onboard the USS NIMITZ (pictured here). He was a mechanic and I was an electrician. We each worked in one of the nuclear power plants that provided the electricity and propulsion for the rest of the ship. Life on an aircraft carrier is like living in a small city of 5,000 people. Even though we worked in the same department, we had never met until two of our friends decided that we might be perfect for each other. Surprisingly, they were correct!
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We were an unlikely pair, or so we were told. I liked having all the attention and he wanted none of it. He was a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I was a vegetarian. I was a city girl from California and he was a mid-Western boy. Oh, and I will not even try to explain our differing views on politics and religion. We did, however, agree that lemon flavored yogurt was our favorite. This leads to a funny story about how I knew Geoff was the one for me. Stop by sometime and ask us about it. We have lots of funny stories including one about Geoff peeling shrimp for me.
The years have gone by, and we have grown together. Many of our differences have become similarities. Now, the areas where we still differ have become areas where we complement each other. And, for me, that is what Second Journey Farmstead is all about. It is our life after retiring from the military. Our focus is completely on God and the life that he would have us lead here on 3.5 acres of his beautiful creation. This is our second journey….
Our Plan
Our property is rather odd in that it is triangle shaped and has an average downward slope of 12 degrees from front to back. There currently are no earthworks to control water runoff, and there is a storm drain in the street at the front right corner of the property that dumps precipitation out near the swimming pool. We are on the North side of a hill, which receives more shade and further complicates our ability to grow some of the crops and trees that we desire. The red area is a permanent easement of the Columbia Gas Pipeline, on which we are not allowed to build any permanent structure.
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The picture to the right is of a 3D model that I created to depict how we want to utilize our property. It is beneficial to helping us plan the order in which changes must be made so that no effort is wasted, duplicated, or done prematurely. The area behind the barn, located at the center of the property, is yet to be developed. Our plan is to divide the area up into equal sections, or paddocks. A paddock system will effectively increase the property size as rotational grazing allows unused sections to recover more quickly. The areas with ponds are currently forested and the areas behind them were clear-cut and graded by the pipeline as a temporary easement.
The goal is to be able to manage chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, peafowl, and goats on the property in a paddock system and utilize the barn for raising quail and rabbits. We will do everything we can to minimize feed costs and waste, such as planting an orchard, planting edible forage within the paddocks, growing some of our own crops more abundantly as supplemental intake for the animals, sprouting grains as fodder, and composting. We also plan to keep bees on the property to provide a natural source of sweetener and to help with pollinating. The ultimate goal is to create an ecosystem where the individual parts work together in symbiosis for our benefit; basically, to make a thriving micro-farm.
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Our Motivation
In the past, Geoff and I have worked demanding jobs with long hours and high stress which only left us with conflicting priorities, poor communication, and always a desire for more time, more money, and more things. Our focus has shifted. We now desire to draw closer to God by being more connected to His creation.
God’s plan is first revealed in the Garden of Eden when He picked up the dirt and breathed life into it creating Adam. We do not have God’s power, but we can tend the land with the same care and compassion. The soil can be maintained to bring life to fruits and vegetables and, in doing so, provide sustenance for our family and our animals. |
Geoff and I often joke that my extra rib was originally part of his body. However, we both know that is not actually how I came to have one more rib than him. But, like Adam and Eve, we were created to work together: Geoff, as the leader and me, as his helper.
God gave Adam dominion over the animals and after the fall he added the arduous task of working the land. Geoff is the mastermind of this new life. The planning, the preparation and, to be perfectly honest, most of the actual labor will be his doing. Of course, he will have Anastasia around to help him during the day.
After the fall, God punished Eve with painful childbirth. I have done that once and, thankfully for me; we are now past that point in our lives. God also gave Eve the responsibility of being her husband’s helper. My responsibility is to help him achieve the desired outcome through financial backing and to occasionally assist him around the farmstead. I am to be his cheerleader and his strongest supporter.
We have almost 3.5 acres of beautiful Pennsylvanian land. To do nothing would be a pure waste of what has been provided to us. We are jumping off the hamster wheel and returning to a more agrarian lifestyle. We are a family focused on God’s plan for our lives while working together to care for the blessings that He has provided.
Our Hope
We will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary this summer. Looking back, we can see the ebb and flow of life. We have lived together in seven different homes in five states. We have started a family and enjoyed watching our beautiful daughter grow into a smart, caring young woman. Through the years, we celebrated times of great joy and struggled through periods of devastating sorrow and heartache. But, despite life’s changing seasons, one thing has remained the same. We have, and will continue to, place our trust in Jesus Christ.
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Hebrews 6:19 tells us that “we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure”. As a Navy veteran, I love the picture that this verse uses of the anchor. Every ship has an anchor to hold it in place at the end of a day’s travel or to hold it steady during great storms. And, that is what we have done. We have placed our trust in Jesus Christ so that he can keep us grounded during the ups and the downs of life. He is, and always will be, our strength and our comforter.
We daily place our trust in God, the Creator of all things who knew us before we were born. We are so very thankful that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. A loving act, that has saved us from eternal judgment. Our relationship with Jesus allows the Holy Spirit to dwell inside us and to teach us how to be more like Him. We look forward to the day that we get to see Jesus face to face. But, until that day, we will do our best to follow Him and take care of all that he has provided.