Virginia farm has unique price tag

Aug 04, 2015

Requires $200 and a written component

Between the machinery, support system, advances in technology, the farmland itself and other costs associated with agriculture an aspiring farmer could end up spending nearly $1 million before a seed touches the ground.

A couple who own a farm in Champlain, Virginia is offering their farm for a more modest price.

For $200 and an essay of 1,000 words, you could own the 35-acre Rock Spring Farm, located a few hours south from Washington.

Essay

The farm comes equipped with a three-story, four-bedroom house, a five-stall barn, an air conditioned workshop and a two-story cottage. Not to mention the two miles of trails and acres of loamy soil.

A diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis last year is one of the reasons why Randy Silvers and his wife Carolyn Berry are giving up the farm. Weeding and other duties take a toll on Silvers to the point where swinging a hammer for longer than five minutes can be too much.

The essays must be received by Thursday, October 1^st. After they’re reviewed, the couple will select 25 entries for final consideration. They must pass the essays to a three-member panel consisting of an educator, a hobby farmer and a horse enthusiast.

The winner will be announced on Thursday, November 26^th.

The essays must be well-written, too. Berry said no spelling or grammatical errors and that the first paragraph should pull them in.

If the farm essay contest doesn’t generate the kind of interest the couple hopes, they will put the farm up for sale, valued around $600,000.

The entry money would also be returned.

Join the conversation and tell us your thoughts about the essay contest. Would you enter the contest? What kinds of things would you put in your essay?

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.