I had been eyeballing my future farm parcel since last summer when I decided to list my vacation rental for sale. I had a silly thought of starting a farm that I kept to myself :) My husband wanted a chunk of land, so I proposed the idea of an elderberry farm to make it profitable. Many people I sought advice from thought it was a crazy idea to sell the rental. It provided well and I could have expanded to other properties. "Why sell it?" But something inside of me kept urging me to get back to helping others and the environment. I had taken a long hiatus from assisting others (in another field) but my passion for holistic (whole-body) healing and medicine has stayed with me since I was a child. When I was a kid I wanted to be a veterinarian. Later, I attended Michigan State University's "vet camp" in eighth grade and loved the program. I eventually let fear override my passion for medicine as I was terrible at doing math in my head. In my mind, I worried I would make a miscalculation and end up hurting a patient so I turned towards my creative pursuits. After graduating from MSU and while running my production company, Timeless Media Productions, I started a mini-farm and loved caring for my dairy goats, chickens, Bulldogs, snake and cat. It was a lot of hard work but so rewarding! Milking, collecting eggs, making goat milk soap, and harvesting from the garden fulfilled my soul. After relocating to Traverse City in 2014, I put most of the farming pursuits on the back burner but still made time to plant fruit trees and a garden at every home I lived in. I missed the simple yet intensive work of farming but knew I would revisit it in the future when the time was right. I still kept up on learning plant-based approaches for treating illnesses but wanted to grow my own plants one day. I can thankfully share that I haven't had the flu since 2006/2007 since incorporating elderberry syrup along with other natural options into my regimen. As soon as I start to feel a scratchy throat, I'll take elderberry syrup and some other immune boosting supplements...at worst, I may have a runny nose and feel a little tired but that is it. No laying in bed, no vomiting, no feeling incapacitated or that I had been hit by a bus. My friends and family now swear by it. When you learn about something so helpful, you naturally want to share it with others.
I had also reversed 90% of my autoimmune disease, vitiligo, with other functional medicine methods and enjoyed sharing the protocol with others who then began re-pigmenting their skin...of course I have to always state "Consult with your doctor" but it was truly amazing to see how many people had success and a renewed hope for the future. Vitiligo is very isolating and comes with a high suicide risk...people stare at you and ask if you've been burned by acid or a fire. You look different and it follows you everywhere you go. It's the reason Michael Jackson began bleaching his skin. Thankfully once my vitiligo started to spread on my face, I ignored the many specialists "there is no cure, it'll get worse" prognosis and began researching on how to heal. From there my passion and faith in natural medicine was renewed. There is always a time and place for allopathic/Western medicine options...i.e. if my legs get chopped off in a car accident, by all means take me to the hospital. ;) But when it comes to resolving root causes, we often only offer bandaid solutions like immunosuppressants and synthetic drugs that mask the symptoms of a serious underlying issue. We ignore our bodies and try to silence them with a pill. Fast forward to the winter of 2019/2020 and I finally closed on my vacation rental - woo hoo! And thank God I sold it. With how many bookings I would have lost due to the Covid19 lockdown, I would likely have lost my property. I now had funds to purchase the land I was keeping an eye on and I sat down with my husband to propose the idea of an elderberry farm...I showed him the numbers, ran some scenarios by him, and eventually he was on board. He was a fan of elderberry syrup since I introduced him to it and believed in it's abilities.
Starting a farm right before the pandemic made each step a major hurdle. Townships and departments were closed, utility companies had restrictions, and most resources were no longer available. The tedious steps you have to take while developing land were now daunting tasks with restrictions. So many hurdles and hoops to jump through. I made sure to notify the governor's office, local police departments, and the prosecuting attorney's office of the farming activities in case we encountered any issues. I followed the CISA guidelines and pushed forward to get the well, irrigation, and electric in. I had ordered thousands of plants over the winter that were going to arrive, regardless of the lockdown. Needless to say, thousands of dollars were also on the line and I had to get to planting. Rain or shine, I had to get these plants into the ground. I saw so many individuals and families who still hadn't received unemployment payments after six weeks. Credit cards were maxed out. My worry for our people grew each day and for various reasons. I put up some labor job postings and paid our community members to help plant and prep the land. I have been very happy to help provide work to those who desperately need it. Farming is a safe environment, if not the safest environment to work in regarding Covid19. It's spread out over acres and out in the fresh air. It was an honor to see our community members come together to help establish our first plantings. With the delays from the well and irrigation installation setbacks, our blueberries took a hit - they're trying to recover from transplant shock but our elderberries (surprise, surprise) are doing amazing. They are some of the hardiest and toughest plants you'll encounter. Oorah!
Cheers to having plants in the ground! I decided to add in produce in case our community experiences a food shortage. I plan to donate some of our produce to the local food pantries and I'll be transplanting our produce into the ground once the threat of frost is over with. I can't wait to share our bounties with you!
-Samantha
Comments