A friend recently said to me that Foxhollow is the matriarchal version of a farm. The comment struck me in its simplicity and brevity. But she’s right: Foxhollow is a community built on partnerships not domination, cooperation instead of control. We are deeply engaged in reciprocal relationships with the land, the animals, and the people standing strong on this 1300 acre corner of Oldham County, Kentucky.
We are an inherently mother-centered society here, and I begin every tour of the farm sharing these same matrilineal stories that have shaped my own life: My great-aunt, Margaret, and her flock of doves; my grandmother, Mary, and her dedication to holistic health of the mind, body, and spirit; my mother, Janey, and her life-long devotion to studying the works of Rudolf Steiner; and of course, the chestnut-coated momma cows reigning over us all.
It is because of these strong women – these mothers – that Foxhollow Farm was intentionally restored to a regenerative biodiverse landscape. The women stewarding the land before me were invested in radical change, and by the time my mother and I were working alongside each other, we recognized that a herd of cattle could heal the vast swaths of pastureland throughout our farm. We also knew the inherent value and medicine nestled along the edges of grazing acres, situated within woodlands and fields with their silt loam soil perfect for cultivating vegetables, flowers, fruits, and nuts.
In addition to the land, there was plenty of infrastructure ripe for renewal: barns and livestock buildings from previous generations of farming; an array of tenant houses; a centralized hub of administrative buildings once part of an alternative health clinic, spa, and bed & breakfast run by my grandmother in the early 1990s.
By 2005, Janey’s mind was full of vision and her bones full of conviction to invite likeminded folks onto the farm. Early in our imagining, Janey and I held close the proverb that ‘the best fertilizer is the farmer's footprint’. The only problem? Janey and I weren’t farmers, and we couldn't possibly cover enough ground daily to have our four footprints throughout this farmland.
A great example is found in the application of “Three Kings Spray” - a biodynamic preparation which requires walking the perimeter of the land while spraying a mixture of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that creates a protective spiritual shield around the farm while also expressing gratitude to the land. The perimeter of our land is roughly 8 miles. We needed more feet.
I had the raw enthusiasm but was not yet versed in the steady, time-rested rhythms of traditional stewardship and generational farm knowledge. We needed partners to walk alongside us, grounding us through storytelling and seasoned wisdom. Wendell Berry’s fiction gifted me a glimpse into what a farming community had once been and still had the potential to become, and I was hungry to participate with families working together across generations, meals shared around a table, and genuine neighborly interdependence.
It was time to find our people.
