Scratching a living from the soil has always been a gamble. The weather, the locusts, the woodchucks and the market make for a volatile mix that can just as easily mean boom or bust for those who work the land. While farmers may achieve prosperity “living off the fat of the land,” money alone is rarely an inducement to till. Feeding oneself is the base line, of course, but beyond three squares a day and some measure of security into old age, there are the intangibles: close contact with nature, working outdoors, self-employment and self-reliance, and maybe even a sense of elemental magic in the alchemy of air, earth, fire and water that powers all life.
Some are born to farming; others come late. Among the latter are Judie Hansen and Tom Hare. In 1994 they took early retirement from their work in upstate Illinois and bought a farm in western Madison County. Tom had some boyhood farm experience and had acquired a good working relationship with mechanics and construction along the way; Judie was a nurturer, a nurse and a handicrafter.
Briar Rose Farm was a rundown piece of a holler with some aging buildings, a bold stream, a plot of tobacco and a good bit of falling-down fence. In other words, it was just about perfect. Scrounging was something of an art form for Tom, a wheeler-dealer when it came to old machinery and undervalued tools, and the pair quickly set about restoring the old place. Soon enough a flatbed truck, a tractor and a sawmill were all up and running. Later they added a greenhouse. “It was all in a pile when I went to see it,” Tom recalls, “but a friend of mine told me if I didn’t buy it at the advertised price, he would. It was a bargain.”
The original homestead cabin, long prey to bugs and rot, sagged on its stone foundation. The couple ripped out, restored and salvaged until it grew into something more than it had ever been—a charming, rentable country cottage with a covered front porch overlooking a newly built pond. With sleeping space for up to seven, a copper-and-pine kitchen, a hot tub and modern plumbing, the unit quickly became the farm’s financial mainstay. Operated as a B&B, the cabin generates “about $3,500 per month through the season,” says Tom.
Meanwhile the couple fixed up the main house on the property, along with barns, coops and sheds. A flock of chickens, goats and belted Galloway cows joined cats and dogs to populate the acreage. Tobacco gave way to hay, and a wooded slope was turned to pasture. Judie began to produce goat’s milk soap and wild-berry jam for sale at the Waynesville tailgate market.
When Golden LEAF grants became available beginning in 1999, the two took advantage of the program to help fund hydroponic equipment, a planned U-pick raspberry operation, and a farm-tour project. Today the couple’s principal agricultural income is from Judie’s hydroponic lettuce (sold to restaurants and via tailgate markets), along with seedlings, tomatoes, jams and jellies, and soap. There’s also some timber and beef (the livestock are essentially subsistence operations, though the eggs contribute to the B&B rental, which provides fresh-baked bread, homemade jam or jelly and eggs to start the day).
Tom says his ability to maintain and repair machinery has been essential to the couple’s success over the years; he proudly shows off wooden hinges on a door in the “country store” he’s been working on. “When I finished the door I needed hinges, and I realized that a roundtrip to town would take me two hours and I’d still have to pay for the hardware. I made these myself in less than two hours, from wood I milled, and I didn’t have to go anywhere.”
Today, Tom and Judie have a little less than 10 acres under cultivation: six acres of hay, plus pasture for cattle and goats. They’ve purchased another used greenhouse, which is being reassembled. The cabin rental still generates the household’s principal income, and they’ve bought an adjacent farm where they’re creating two more rental units.
This season, they’ll start hosting farm tours, advertised with help from Golden Leaf. The tour will include an explanation of farm life; Tom will demonstrate splitting fence posts and running the sawmill, and Judie will show how she uses her spinning wheel, loom and hydroponic greenhouse. The country store, complete with antique cash register and an amazing collection of old-timey tools and gear, will offer jam, jelly, handicrafts and furniture made on site. There’ll also be picnicking and hiking (they’ve built a one-mile nature trail for folks who want to get out in the woods).
True, Tom and Judie were substantially capitalized when they arrived, and a later inheritance paid for more land. But in this they’re not so different from folks born into farming an old family place. Briar Rose Farm has been self-sustaining since 1994, they report, except for health insurance (which they’ve carried over from previous careers and funded via savings). All in all, they’ve crafted a life in Madison County that’s longer on roses than thorns.
For more information about Briar Rose Farm, visit www.briarrosefarm.com or phone (828) 622-7329.
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