Gibbon Glade farm leaves own ‘footprints’
A footprint is an indentation or impression made by a foot, or in this case, a hoof, paw or claw.
A footprint is also a guide, leading little Hannah, Isaac and Elsie to follow their parents through the bountiful, green fields of the farm they call home.
The Swartzfager family operates a sustainable farm, tucked away on a hillside by the Mason-Dixon line in Gibbon Glade, affectionately known as the Footprints Farm.
“‘Footprints’ are three things. One, we want everything that is here to literally impact the Earth with their footprint. Two, it’s a green footprint. Three, it’s basically the poem, that God didn’t abandon you during the hard times – He carried you. Another part of this is stewardship. This Earth is meant to be cared for, not destroyed,” said Ellen Swartzfager.
Ellen, 35, and her husband Jeremy, 38, work the farm full time with their children: Elsie, 6, Isaac, 4, and the latest addition, Hannah, who is just over 1 1/2 years old.
“It is hard work to be a farmer, but it’s vital to us,” said Ellen Swartzfager. “People are excited about the health aspect, knowing where their food is coming from.”
The family places a large emphasis on pasturing. Jeremy used an analogy of a chicken and its diet. “If you feed a chicken a bag of Doritos every day, think of how unhealthy it might be. But if you feed it spinach and oats every day instead, think of how much healthier it is. Same thing goes for humans. And of course, for our animals.”
While the farm consists of roughly 400 acres, they only farm three to five acres of it. Each year, they use about 50 acres for grazing. The grass comes up in lush, green stripes down the field, following the path of chicken coops from previous years.
Every day, the portable chicken coops are pulled farther down the field to provide fresh ground for the chickens, allowing them to peck out bugs – and leaving the trail behind them freshly fertilized.
While they have a large amount of livestock, vegetables and their byproducts, the farm’s largest success is their poultry, bringing them fresh chickens to cook and dozens of fresh eggs.
“All those years of tenant farming left the soil really depleted,” said Jeremy Swartzfager. “Planting the same thing in the same spot year after year kills the nutrients in the soil. That’s why we rotate our vegetables and work so hard to replenish the soil.”
Also part of their mountain family are two large, furry protectors. Patches and Little Lady, both Great Pyrenees, serve as predator control for the farm. Their presence keeps potential threats like coyotes and bears away. Though they had a small problem with a fox and a weasel this year, Jeremy said they usually don’t have any problems.
By day, Jeremy works at Penatron selling equipment and concrete. But just about any other time, he’s home, regardless of the weather, working the farm with his wife and kids. Daily chores consist of feeding the sheep, pigs, horses and cows, replenishing everyone’s water, collecting eggs, cleaning and feeding the chickens and any number of projects including plowing with the horses or repair work.
Growing up on a gentleman’s farm, Jeremy was familiar with the farming trade, but it was considered too dangerous to work it as a child. Ellen grew up in rural West Virginia, but the farm belonged to her step-grandmother. They met at Westminster College, where he studied biology, environmental science and music and she studied youth ministry, and went on to marry and start a family, knowing they wanted to pursue sustainable farming.
After deciding to lease the farm from Ellen’s step-grandmother, the Swartzfagers launched their dreams with the help of their faith, the community, family and friends. They’ve been a working farm for five years now.
“I’m a full-time mom, and a full-time farmer,” said Ellen Swartzfager. “The harvest doesn’t wait. I’m thankful for it, but it means you work hard.”
In addition to investing in the Earth, the Swartzfagers want to invest in the local community. During the summer, they encourage farm helpers and would eventually like to accept interns.
“This is hard work, and we’re in a generation where a lot of people don’t understand the idea of hard work, or taking pride in that work,” said Ellen Swartzfager. “We’re stepping in, teaching them and taking care of them. We want to continue to call people into great work. Now we will expect a lot, but we’re also going to care for them, too.”
“I also love inviting people into our space. Most people just don’t know what a small family farm looks like anymore,” she continued. “To be able to share that, letting them see the pigs outside, the sheep coming to visit you, the chickens following you for food – you’re stepping into a different world.”
For the Swartzfagers, farming is their way of life — their sustainability.
It’s not so much about the quantity of the products, but the quality. Today’s traditional farmers may use sprays and pesticides, but their family takes pride in caring for the Earth and ultimately surviving off of their products.
“For instance, the manure from the animals here is a blessing, not a curse,” Ellen Swartzfager said. “On a lot of major or traditional farms, manure is a curse because they can’t get rid of it because of animals are in such small spaces. Here, it adds fertility and that’s immediately where the horses go, for that lush green grass.”
Being sustainable also means fully committing to the demands of the farm.
“The hardest part is all the time and hard work that goes into the farm every day,” said Ellen Swartzfager. “My kids are awesome at helping, but there is no time to sit and read a book or wiggle room to do other things. It’s very tiring. We just pray that God gives us the strength to get through the day because we’re physically exhausted.”
“It’s so easy to get caught up in all of this. At the end of the day, the biggest challenge is, ‘Can I be a farmer?'” said Jeremy Swartzfager.
“Watching my family grow on the farm — that’s my favorite part,” his wife said. “We want to continue to raise our family so they know the value of hard work. And we want to make this our living.”