Our Farm Story… After Hours
4G Farms
by Stephanie Guffey
January 3, 2022
Our farm story is one that has taken place after hours. You see, my husband and I are like many other farmers these days. We work regular full-time jobs and run our farm after hours. I am a middle school science teacher, and my husband is a foreman for a landscaping company. We have two precious little boys, Ranzy (7) and Boyd (5). We have also been blessed with the best family and friends who continue to support us along this journey. So, let’s get on to our story!
It was 2017 when my husband and I decided to stop talking about the dream and to start building it! We listed our first home for sale to start building our dream farm. We started with nothing but a dream. No land, no equipment, no tractors, and no clue as to how we were going to make this dream of farm work. We both had animal and small garden experience, but nothing on the scale for which we were aiming. I am sure many thought we were crazy!
In 2018, I was finally able to convince the daughter of Joe and Sue Dobbins to sell 24 acres of their family farm she had inherited. At the time of our purchase, she had decided to keep the remaining 15 acres and the family home that was across the street from our 24 acres. Several months passed after purchasing the 24 acres, and we were working day and night clearing the land. One day, my husband was over at our farm, and he ran into her husband who had been traveling from Tennessee every other weekend to work on repairing her parent’s house that had been vacant for so long. Not long after that, she and her husband agreed to sell us the remaining family farm in 2019.
2019 marked the planting of our first large market garden and our first time selling at a farmer’s market. It was in that same year, my husband's grandfather (Ranzy Evett) passed away and we purchased his small horse farm which is now known as Evett Stables @ 4G Farms, named in his honor.
In May of 2020, a friend suggested I start a Facebook group for the farm to sell our produce, and at that moment, 4G Farms was born. The year 2020 brought people to our farm to buy produce off the back of our trailer. It also brought people in to talk for hours on end about farming and life in general. The pace was slow, but it was just what we needed. We met so many wonderful people in our own community and have made so many new friends.
This year we introduced our CSA program, and the support we had was overwhelming. The program really allowed us to dial in what and how much we needed to grow for the year, and it eliminated the waste we had in previous years.
As we wrap up 2021, our farm currently produces fresh locally grown vegetables from May to November, horse hay, and we provide horseback riding lessons (Evett Stables @ 4G Farms). We are so very thankful for our little farm, and we look forward to making our farm a farm with a story that is not only after hours but one that has a past, present, and future!
