We’re on the first stop of our Southern US filming tour, visiting with Noah Sanders of Rora Valley Farms, and the author of Born Again Dirt.
Noah gave a fantastic tour of his homestead and farm that was inspiring and encouraging. It was amazing to see all the progress his family has achieved in just a few years in creating this productive farm out of nothing but woodland. Noah’s family bought raw land and have in a short span of only 7 or 8 years have fashioned it into a highly productive homestead that feeds their family and provides fresh produce, meat and dairy products to their local east Alabama community.
Noah began building this farm as a young man, after graduating from his home education program. He had already experimented with gardening and finding a love for agriculture, sought to build a working farm. The first step was clearing a spot to build the first building – a barn that would serve as living quarters for Noah and his family while they built their house. His family lived in half of the barn for nearly a year while they built his parents’ permanent residence, and Noah and his wife have continued to live in the finished side of the barn while they build their own house.
The first agricultural element of the Sanders’ family homestead was building a pond to collect water and to be the focal point around which they build homes for their family members. They cleared many acres of woodland to create pastures for grazing animals, and have been raising pastured poultry (both meat and eggs) along with pigs and cows.
The family recent finished building a barn that includes a milking parlor, storage for feed and hay, and several stalls for larger animals like the two young mules that they currently have.
Noah has designed and is currently building his house in such a way that it can function without electricity or running water, though it will have those amenities. By optimizing the design for natural airflow for cooling and capturing sun energy in the winter to heat the house, he plans to need little supplemental air conditioning (and he lives in Alabama!).
Dual purpose tools like a wood cookstove and backup systems like manual laundry equipment will make it much easier to function if they ever experience a loss in electrical power. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the house is the two story greenhouse on the south corner that will enable his wife’s dream of being able to grow tropical plants and trees inside!
Our visit with Noah Sanders was inspirational – to see what one family has done in the space of only a half dozen years to carve a homestead of farm out of a woodland wilderness is truly remarkable. They give all credit and honor to God as their provider and sustainer through this journey.
Look for soon-to-come video clips of our visit and interview with Noah to get his perspective on going back to the land, becoming a productive family economy, and much more.