|
Farmers Shed.
We invite you to tour the Chatt Hills Barn Quilt Trail and learn more about the rich rural heritage of beautiful Chattahoochee Hills. Visitors are welcome to take photos from the public road, and are invited to shop in the local businesses.
|
|
|
Farmers Shed (#36)
10975 Hutcheson Ferry Rd 
|
A road trip leads to a new home
Daron Joffe & Stephanie Bernstein loaded up their RV and kids in 2020 and embarked on an extended trip to visit their families and scout for a new home. Their wanderings brought them back to Chattahoochee Hills where Daron had established the Serenbe Farms in 2002. Travel-weary and ready for a break, they rented a home for a few months. Then a chance meeting of a new friend offered them a 5 acre-farmstead and a new home in Chatt Hills.
The couple requested a barn quilt that would inspire them and pretty up their place as they planned and created their new farmstead. They selected a "Prism Star" pattern for its many colors and multi-dimensions. |
Farmer D and Family Hit the Road
|
After months "hitting the road" the family settles in Chattahoochee Hills and looks forward to "hitting the dirt."
|
|
Daron "Farmer D" Joffee shared his Citizen Farmer Adventure that brought him and his family to Chatt Hills. In his 2020 blog he wrote. . .
After 6 years rooted down in Encinitas at Coastal Roots Farm, we moved up north to Sonoma County and have been living at Green Valley Farm and Mill for several months, which has been a wonderful experience. Friends, farming, and community. However, work and family were calling us to the East Coast. Once fire season arrived and we knew school wasn’t happening, we decided to uproot and go for an epic cross country adventure in our RV, Daisy.
The decision to leave happened quickly. I was getting ready to travel East to visit many of my agrihood consulting projects through my business, Farmer D Consulting, when I realized I couldn’t leave my family in such a precarious situation next to massive fires. On top of that, our kids were being homeschooled. A blessing in disguise as it gave us the opportunity to make a decision to get on the road, together.
There’s a part of us that longed for an adventure and a taste of the nomadic lifestyle. With fires, bad air quality, floods and earthquakes looming, we felt it would be a good idea to have some backup options to our beloved, yet precarious, California life. It’s a journey to figure out what the next chapter of our life looks like. Some of the questions we are asking ourselves are: Where is our agrihood? What does it mean to be more nomadic? How do we design our life for optimal community and resiliency?
Additionally, we value family above all else and believe this trip will allow us to get closer as a family unit, while also getting some good, old fashioned family time with our relatives. This year is rough but we are trying to look for opportunities to make the best of it.
Our situation is similar to what a lot of people are experiencing right now. Many are asking themselves how they can re-design their life, better educate their children, and make the best out of this changing world (or better yet, this opportunity). This is our first step on our journey.
# # #
After many months, their journey ended in the Serenbe Community of Chattahoochee Hills, where Farmer D had been hired in 2002 to be the founding farmer and establish the Serenbe Farms. They rented a home there and enrolled their children in school, hoping to take some time to consider their next steps.
As luck -- or fate -- would have it, they met a neighbor who lived on a 5-acre farmstead across the street from Serenbe. The neighbor had been thinking about selling his property, and after meeting Farmer D and Stephanie, he offered it "off-market" to them.
The couple purchased the farmstead and moved their family there in 2021. Their new-old farmstead has everything they dreamed about including an older home with character, enough acreage to cultivate and teach citizen farming, a nearby diverse community where their kids attend school and Stephanie teaches yoga, and a small town that values agriculture.
After 6 years rooted down in Encinitas at Coastal Roots Farm, we moved up north to Sonoma County and have been living at Green Valley Farm and Mill for several months, which has been a wonderful experience. Friends, farming, and community. However, work and family were calling us to the East Coast. Once fire season arrived and we knew school wasn’t happening, we decided to uproot and go for an epic cross country adventure in our RV, Daisy.
The decision to leave happened quickly. I was getting ready to travel East to visit many of my agrihood consulting projects through my business, Farmer D Consulting, when I realized I couldn’t leave my family in such a precarious situation next to massive fires. On top of that, our kids were being homeschooled. A blessing in disguise as it gave us the opportunity to make a decision to get on the road, together.
There’s a part of us that longed for an adventure and a taste of the nomadic lifestyle. With fires, bad air quality, floods and earthquakes looming, we felt it would be a good idea to have some backup options to our beloved, yet precarious, California life. It’s a journey to figure out what the next chapter of our life looks like. Some of the questions we are asking ourselves are: Where is our agrihood? What does it mean to be more nomadic? How do we design our life for optimal community and resiliency?
Additionally, we value family above all else and believe this trip will allow us to get closer as a family unit, while also getting some good, old fashioned family time with our relatives. This year is rough but we are trying to look for opportunities to make the best of it.
Our situation is similar to what a lot of people are experiencing right now. Many are asking themselves how they can re-design their life, better educate their children, and make the best out of this changing world (or better yet, this opportunity). This is our first step on our journey.
# # #
After many months, their journey ended in the Serenbe Community of Chattahoochee Hills, where Farmer D had been hired in 2002 to be the founding farmer and establish the Serenbe Farms. They rented a home there and enrolled their children in school, hoping to take some time to consider their next steps.
As luck -- or fate -- would have it, they met a neighbor who lived on a 5-acre farmstead across the street from Serenbe. The neighbor had been thinking about selling his property, and after meeting Farmer D and Stephanie, he offered it "off-market" to them.
The couple purchased the farmstead and moved their family there in 2021. Their new-old farmstead has everything they dreamed about including an older home with character, enough acreage to cultivate and teach citizen farming, a nearby diverse community where their kids attend school and Stephanie teaches yoga, and a small town that values agriculture.
Heritage story . . . Rumors of a School House
There is little history written about the home purchased by Farmer D and Stephanie.
The land was originally awarded in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery to William H. Bearden of Hall County, Georgia as part of a 202 ½ acre-parcel listed as District 8, Land Lot 0053. Many winners of Georgia’s Land Lotteries never actually lived on the parcels they won, and it is not known if William Bearden lived here or directly sold the property.
Some residents in Chatt Hills, including the previous property owner, have said this property was once a school house. No records were available to confirm this, however, there was a school house approximately one mile east of this location at the intersection of Hutcheson Ferry, Rico, and Atlanta Newnan Roads.
The land was originally awarded in the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery to William H. Bearden of Hall County, Georgia as part of a 202 ½ acre-parcel listed as District 8, Land Lot 0053. Many winners of Georgia’s Land Lotteries never actually lived on the parcels they won, and it is not known if William Bearden lived here or directly sold the property.
Some residents in Chatt Hills, including the previous property owner, have said this property was once a school house. No records were available to confirm this, however, there was a school house approximately one mile east of this location at the intersection of Hutcheson Ferry, Rico, and Atlanta Newnan Roads.