Fresh Produce and Friendly Animals
Visit our family farm for fresh food, fun events, and friendly animals.
Fresh Produce and Friendly Animals
Visit our family farm for fresh food, fun events, and friendly animals.
Welcome to The Brown Family Homestead Farm
Our Story
We purchased the property at 1601 Shillelagh Rd. in January of 2022. Two old houses are currently being renovated to provide a retirement home for Charlie and Glenda. The second home is being remodeled as a home for Greg and his two sons, Lance and Brett. Since moving in, the barns have been turned into dry space for goats, pot bellied pigs, and our hard-working barn cats. Other workshop space houses Greg’s foundation business, The Foundation Guys, and grow rooms for our veggie annd flower gardens, and rooms for Greg’s reptile collection and feeder mice farm.
Since living here, it has become clear to us that God has a plan and a purpose for our homestead and for our lives. Even though we were new to Chesapeake and did not have an instant circle of family and friends here, we have been blessed to get to know many families who have opened their lives and hearts to us. We have opened our 11 acres to Brett’s school friends for exploring and adventuree while getting acquainted with their parents as well. Lance regularly invites his special needs classmates and teachers for parties, celebrating every holiday and important televised sports events.
Our chickens have produced more eggs than we can eat. We have been able during the current “egg crisis” to share these eggs with neighbors for a below grocery store price. Our chickens have opened doors for us to know many of our amazing neighbors. Each has a story that makes our community really cool. Glenda offers piano lessons in our home and in our church. Through her small business we have gotten to know some of the world’s greatest parents raising remarkable kids! Some of her students, with their siblings and parents even help us to remodel our home and care for our animals. Our churches support us as we invite others to a home study group exploring life’s biggest questions through the lens of the Christian faith. Greg‘s foundation business has brought professionals and laborers in the real estate and construction business into our lives. These people are not only strong supporters of his business, but are also good people who offer us friendship and support as we navigate the challenges of our new farm life.
So it is clear that it is time for us to “Give Back” to our community. It is with great humility and thanksgiving that we launch this project we are calling THE BROWN FAMILY HOMESTEAD.
We want to make it our mission to open our homestead for our neighbors and for others in need. We are starting with our egg business. In summer we hope to have a bountiful harvest of fresh vegetables and flowers to share for a reasonable price that helps cover the costs of production and labor necessary to keep our farm going. Eventually we hope to offer healthy protein products such as poultry and pork.
We believe that God wants our Homestead to be a place of community offering refuge, renewal, and hope to all that enter our “gates”. (A proper entrance is somewhere on the to-do list.)
Family Tradition
At The Brown Family Homestead, we are proud to be a three-generation family farm. Our commitment to our local community has led us to grow nutritious produce and raise grain fed livestock for our family and for families along Shillelagh Road and our Grassfield neighborhood.
Farmers Market
Farmers Market
We hope to be able to open a market store with limited shopping hours. There will likely be an honor system market as well, offering not only eggs, but also healthy vegetable transplants for home gardens in our Grassfield community. By late spring, we hope to add beautiful fruits and vegetables to our market. Perhaps we can collaborate with other gardeners, crafters, or bakers along Shillelagh Road who want to make life better for others in our community. Let us know if you offer a product that can make life better for our community.