About Us

The arrow needs to be drawn back to find its fullest potential. We believe that the challenges given to us in life have a way to shape us and propel us forward in life. This can send us forward to greater things. We also believe in “walking to the horizon”. Explore, seek the boundaries where discomfort begins to stretch ourselves, our skills, and our ability to benefit this world through our work and care.

We are rooted family, settling just outside of Green County, where we enjoy the open air, the hard work that comes with living in the country, and consider the best payments the laughter of our children and evening sunsets. When we moved to our property, we believed that the simpler living, home-grown nutritious food, and open space would be ideal for our health and well being individually and collectively as a family.

Mat and Susan are teachers. Mat teaches choirs, voice, guitar, directs musicals, and sings with several groups in the South Central area. Susan serves as a teaching and technology coach. She specializes in assessment and grading practices. She’s an amazing teacher.

Our three kids keep us busy and love to help out around the homestead!

You might be asking yourself: “Why farming and woodworking?” Read on.

Mat’s dad, Harlan, instilled a lot of woodworking memories when Mat was growing up. Mat’s dad was a Navy Seabee, a skilled carpenter, and built several houses in his time. Mat knew his dad as a hard worker and a driven (dare say stubborn) learner who was particular about the details. Mat grew to enjoy woodworking with his dad and learning not only the skills but finding connection with him in the process. When Harlan passed in 2014, Mat took on the woodworking and sought to carry on a legacy of building for others and carrying on the skill his father taught him.

That explains woodworking but what about Farming? Susan remembers her Grandma Nancy (also a teacher) having chicks in her elementary classroom. Her father also enjoyed gardening, as did Mat’s Grandfather as well. The love for the outdoors and the joy of growing our own food for our family is rooted and strong. So, we jumped in and began doing all we can to carry on and fulfill this joy. We purchased several laying hens once we moved onto our property - only six to start. We now have over 16 laying hens for eggs. After that, we began beekeeping - more for supporting the bees population and the pollination of our plants. This has been a joy and a unique learning curve. Lastly, we moved into pastured poultry. Since then, we have refined our practices to produce some of the best food one could ask for while using sustainable practices. As teachers we value learning and continue to learn ourselves. We add new skills each year to get more from our property, better care for our land, and produce artisanal products in the woodshop and pasture.