The Theys Family Farm: 1

I don’t know if it was the Doberman, the attack pigeon or the roaming peacocks that scared me the most the first time I visited the farm. The combination though, not to mention the rooster, the Guinea Hens and the rest of the dogs, was enough to keep a New York girl like me in a state of anxiety pretty much around the clock. It was 1976, I was 24 and it had been perhaps two hundred years since the first clearing of the farm’s woodlands. That’s a long time by American standards. Thirty years later, that visit remains vivid for me not only as the first time I met my future in-laws, but as the first time I set foot on that very special place—the Theys family farm in Raleigh, North Carolina. On the map, that's North Carolina in red; Raleigh is just about in the center.

A lot has changed over the years, and like many families, we know the day will come when we can no longer afford to hang onto the farm, but we don’t want to let it go either. So, we have a plan, or at least the beginnings of a plan. We'd like to build a small community of sustainable housing adjacent to the farm, and to incorporate within that community access to the farm and all it has to offer. We envision a community of homes whose owners share a common interest in green, sustainable living, and a love of the vanishing American family farm. We’re calling this “farm-front property.” Just like ocean front and lake front property, American farmland is not only limited, it’s disappearing fast. But our farm is guaranteed to be preserved, as I will explain in later posts. We have just begun, and this blog will record our progress as we continue, and hopefully succeed. There’s a lot to tell, and I hope to post every day, recording not only our progress, but some of the history of the farm and the family.