Meet the newest members of the Cole-Tyson family, Edgar and Julie! We worked this weekend to complete the work that began last weekend with family and friends. We are far from finished, but the "kids" now have a safe and warm place to sleep complete with skylights! Andrew made the journey late Sunday night to see our new friend Ms. Donna and to pick up the goats. Andrew is always mindful of being a good steward of his resources so he naturally wanted to take Phoebe (the Fiat) to pick up the goats because she uses less gas than the Rig (that would be the van AKA: Mobile Design Studio). :) So, around midnight Ruger, Fritz and I awoke to find that Andrew had finally arrived home with our new family members. Above is the sight I saw when I sleepily walked into the garage. Two goats in the back of a Fiat...Now that is something you don't just see everyday. :)

We are excited about these two new family members and are looking forward to the lessons we will learn from watching these two animals and observing their interactions with one another. As I mentioned in my last post, we are excited about The Farm being a place to build and grow relationships. Already through our research of goats we have come to learn that goats are companion animals. You have to have at least two goats because they were made to be in relationship with one another. We find that so COOL that God designed them this way and think that there is so much to be learned from these precious animals. This factor of companionship is just one reason that these are perfect animals for The Farm!

ETTT"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor." Ecclesiastes 4:9 We


We are so thankful for family and friends who selflessly gave of their precious weekend time to come out to The Farm to work and help Andrew and I prepare for the "kids". The workday was so productive; not only did we get the barn secured, we also got the waterline run from the creek to the barn so that the "kids" can have drinking water when they arrive. Once again, the whole family participated, two year old and dogs included. :) I think the most important thing about the weekend was that through working on the barn and other projects we were also building relationships and memories that will last a lifetime. This restoration project is not only about restoring the land, it is also about restoring old relationships, creating new relationships and cherishing the time we have when working together alongside our family and friends. The land is great and the farm project is fun, but it is really our vision this farm  be a place where relationships blossom and grow.  

Since the beginning of the year we have had several workdays at The Farm. We are making progress in cleaning up the old barn for the "new additions" that are coming to The Farm in March. The whole family, dogs included, has been involved in the clean-up. Great progress is being made!! We are so blessed to have this opportunity and thank all who have been instrumental in helping us to begin to carry out the vision the Lord has given us for our community. Stay tuned... 

On January 1st of this year we began the journey of restoring
a small farm that sits in the flood plane along a creek in Shelby County Alabama. 
 This property has great potential for becoming a place of respite from the hustle and
bustle of modern day America.  We see great
opportunity in this property that supposedly is dilapidated and has been sitting
for years untouched. This site will allow us to be connected closely to several suburban
communities while having enough fertile soil, fresh water, sunlight, trees, and
pasture land to continue the various agricultural experiments that we are
becoming passionate about with our family and friends!  After 6 months of
research, patience, and prayer, we are realizing our first farm
investment to continue to share with our community of creative and financially
responsible ways to cultivate and inhabit land that encourages a well balanced
life nutritionally, physically, and spiritually. We look forward to sharing this
journey with you, and many thanks to our faithful customers of 2013 who made it
possible for us to be able to realize this investment!