Our Chosen Heritage

     We, Todd and Lisa, met in Richmond, Virginia at Meadowbrook High School. Both of us attended Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Todd studied Human Nutrition and Foods with an emphasis on Hotel and Restaurant Management. Lisa studied Education with an emphasis on Physical Education, General Science, and Nutrition. During that time, Christ became real to us both, and we committed ourselves to following His ways as outlined in the Bible.

     Lisa furthered her studies in nutrition while living with a family in West Virginia where she learned about natural health and chiropractic. In our later years of college, we began dating and were married in 1986 when Todd finished his studies.

     As children, we were both weak physically -- Todd with severe asthma and allergies and Lisa with chronic illness. As we began applying the principles of health that we learned while Lisa was living in West Virginia, we both gradually became healthier.

    Todd worked for colleges and universities as well as a nursing home and a rehab center in many capacities: manager, associate director, senior production manager, and chef. Lisa worked at home raising and teaching our three children, Cora, Lily, and Aaron. During that time, we also served in kitchen ministry and small group leadership.

     As a family, during our family devotional time, we studied a leadership program that began our family thinking about the gifts and abilities that God has given each one of us. In addition, we attended two conferences: The 200 Year Plan and Entrepreneurial Boot Camp. These conferences were a catalyst for us thinking about starting a family business that used the gifts and abilities that God has given each of us.

   While we were studying leadership and attending these conferences, we were spending time helping at a small sustainable farm, Creekside Meadows in New York. Todd was also becoming aware of the distance the food that he was serving where he worked was traveling and then realized just how nutrient deficient the majority of the foods are that we are sold in the grocery store. A further realization occurred just as we had followed God's design of our anatomy in determining its care and feeding and our health improved, we discovered that if we follow God's design of the animal's anatomy and unique characteristics, then we can grow and produce the healthiest and most nutrient dense food possible. In addition, following God's design for a relationship with Him and with others results in a "healthy" life.

     During that process of awareness, the land that we are now living on, which had been in Lisa's family since the 1930s, became available for sale. As a family, we came to visit the land and unanimously decided to move to North Carolina.

     Thinking that it would take about a year for our home to sell giving us time to prepare for the move and change in lifestyle, we put our home on the market shortly after returning from our visit to North Carolina. Much to our surprise, it sold to the first couple who looked at the house! The house was put on the market in March 2009, and we were living in North Carolina by June 2009.

     Because Lisa's family's roots run deep in Pilot Mountain, the family desires to establish its family roots in the community and to continue the family heritage that began here many years ago.

Over the past three years, the foundations of a new business and family venture have been laid in Pilot Mountain. As a family, we have built a home, bed and breakfast, and established a sustainable farm.

  The unique and refreshing quality of the our endeavor is the purpose of living every area of life according to God's design -- animal husbandry, food and nutrition, and relationship.

  Our Chosen Heritage -- Creation's Intended Way for Purposeful Living