timeline for Spring Creek nursery and preserve

55 acres across the street from our home will go on the market for potential development unless we secure it. We are pre-qualified for a land loan if we can raise the down payment by the end of April 2025.

As soon as we secure the land, we intend to work with The Land Trust for Tennessee to establish a conservation easement that will provide wetland and farmland protection in perpetuity, even after we are gone or if we sell the land.

This will generate cash flow and help manage grasses and brush. Keeping livestock in quantity on the land is required for a farmer to qualify for Tennessee Agriculture Enhancement Program funding to help establish regenerative grazing practices. 

State and federal monies are available for farmers to improve their grazing practices for healthier livestock, and protection of fragile ecosystems like streams and wetlands. Fences, gates, watering troughs, native plant restoration, and even hiking trails can be funded!

Generate cash flow by earning short term rental income, while providing the public with opportunities to stay on a working farm and preserve (safe from livestock!). We love hosting and own a 1960's Nomad camper, a 1970 family heirloom tipi, and will construct a third dwelling as part of a workshop like the "Protopod" tent cabin at the Vuck Farm (pictured here with Tea Jay and Rose)!

Production farming of vegetables, berries and flowers on the high meadows requires a 4x4 tractor with brush hog, disc, compost spreader, spader and bed shaper. These implements are a part of ecological tractor scale farming, preserving soil structure and making it easier to avoid herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. Crops grown will be for sale and part of our U-pick program.