Meet the Landefelds
Welcome to our website! We are the Landefeld family. Our dream has always been to make a living on our farm. We bought our place in the beautiful Appalachian foothills in 2005. Our roots run deep here - Cindy's family has lived in the area for over 200 years. The Daniel Boone National Forest and Red River Gorge are nearby, but the closest Walmart is an hour away. That is exactly how we like it. We want our children to grow up with freedom to roam and respect for hard work. We love our quiet country life.
History has always been important to our family. We are active participants at Fort Boonesborough in Winchester, KY and we travel to living history events in surrounding states. It is important to us that our children have an active knowledge of the old ways of doing things. Food preservation, blacksmithing, animal husbandry, cooking over a fire, and hand sewing are just a few of the skills our son is learning. Our daughter is sure to follow in his footsteps as she grows up. More and more, as we talk to elderly farmers in our community, read books, and actually try the "old ways", we find ourselves saying, "Those old timers really had things figured out, didn't they?" That is what led us to the realization that our family's future lies in the past.
We spent 10 years trying to use "conventional" methods on our farm. Every day it became more clear that the ways of the past would work better for our family and our farm. Draft horses are less expensive to own and maintain than a tractor. They are better for our ground, and the environment in general. They are safer on a hillside. Plus, they can reproduce. When was the last time you saw a tractor do that? Modern agriculture generally relies on raising one or two kinds of crops and economies of scale. That means bigger farms, bigger equipment, bigger reliance on fossil fuels, and bigger debt. We have great respect for our family and friends involved in conventional ag, it just doesn't make sense for us and our situation.
We want our family to eat only the best, healthiest foods possible and we want to know where it comes from. You probably feel the same way. Please join us on our journey as we work toward our goal of making a sustainable living on Simplicity Mountain Farm.
History has always been important to our family. We are active participants at Fort Boonesborough in Winchester, KY and we travel to living history events in surrounding states. It is important to us that our children have an active knowledge of the old ways of doing things. Food preservation, blacksmithing, animal husbandry, cooking over a fire, and hand sewing are just a few of the skills our son is learning. Our daughter is sure to follow in his footsteps as she grows up. More and more, as we talk to elderly farmers in our community, read books, and actually try the "old ways", we find ourselves saying, "Those old timers really had things figured out, didn't they?" That is what led us to the realization that our family's future lies in the past.
We spent 10 years trying to use "conventional" methods on our farm. Every day it became more clear that the ways of the past would work better for our family and our farm. Draft horses are less expensive to own and maintain than a tractor. They are better for our ground, and the environment in general. They are safer on a hillside. Plus, they can reproduce. When was the last time you saw a tractor do that? Modern agriculture generally relies on raising one or two kinds of crops and economies of scale. That means bigger farms, bigger equipment, bigger reliance on fossil fuels, and bigger debt. We have great respect for our family and friends involved in conventional ag, it just doesn't make sense for us and our situation.
We want our family to eat only the best, healthiest foods possible and we want to know where it comes from. You probably feel the same way. Please join us on our journey as we work toward our goal of making a sustainable living on Simplicity Mountain Farm.
-Tom, Cindy, Silas, & Heidi Landefeld