The Story of Chickadee Springs Farm
A few years ago, we made a decision that changed everything.
We decided to stop measuring our lives by what we accomplished, and start measuring them by how we lived — and by how we might make the world just a little bit better. That decision led us here. To 72 acres of fourth-generation family land in Columbia, Tennessee. To Chickadee Springs Farm.
I hadn't felt a sense of home like this since I was a kid.
Armed with determination, optimism, and a community of friends and advisors who thought we were at least a little bit crazy, we sold our house in the city and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.
John's family has worked this land for four generations. But many of the fields had been left to go wild for decades, and the land had quietly changed. Even just 15 years ago, when there were still cattle on the hillside, we had easily ten times more birds and bats than we see today.
Our answer is to bring life back in all its forms. A variety of livestock. Diverse plantings of fruits and vegetables — food that actually feeds families. Native wildflowers to bring back the pollinators, who bring back the birds, who bring back everything else that follows up the chain. One small farm, doing its small part.
We won't pretend it's easy.
Every day can feel like two steps forward, one step back, uphill in the mud. It's not until we stop — once in a great while — and look back at what we've actually done that we can see it clearly.
We've done so much. And still not enough. But the projects will never end, and that's part of the point. To make it a little bit better, every single day.
There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.
But it kicks my butt every day.
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