We're back on the move again!
We just discovered black mold coming up through the floor and wall right where Sammy spends most of her time nursing our 3 month old daughter! Gotta go!
Most everything is the same as the prior post above, still looking to be within a 30 minute drive of Oak Ridge National Laboratory at 5200 Bethel Valley Road in Oak Ridge, TN.
A photo of us (yes, we are real people!)
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Family seeking semi-rural homestead opportunity in East Tennessee!
We are a family looking to rent or work on a homestead-friendly property in East Tennessee (Oak Ridge/West Knoxville area).
Interested in full or part time regenerative farm, ranch or homestead management position, ideally with housing included. I (Casey) would be the one performing all work on the land, Sammy works full-time at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
**NOTE: This posting was written BEFORE we had our daughter in May of 2024 - we are now looking for a place to live only. We are still open to a work trade arrangement, however time available for work trades is now dramatically reduced due to the arrival of the little one, but if a beneficial work trade arrangement does emerge we are open to it! The rest of this post at least gives a bit of flavor to who we are and what kind of tenants we can be.
I (Casey) have a range of skills and experience in the regenerative agriculture space, and am a quick study for learning new things. I’m hard-working, responsible, thoughtful and good at taking ideas and visions, developing implementation plans for them, and then executing those plans to bring them to life. Beautiful, productive and regenerative ecosystems are what I’m here to create and share.
Skillsets/Experiences
Equipment Operation (small farm tractors, mini-excavators, skip loaders, skidsteers) - water harvesting earthworks, mowing, brush hogging, general land maintenance etc.
Water and Irrigation Systems (design and install) - for market gardens, nurseries, plant propagation, mushroom propagation, multi-species orchards etc.,
Plant and tree propagation & cultivation - former market gardener, but really prefer working with perennials, and have been propagating trees and other perennial plants for 10+ years now :)
Outdoor Log-based Mushroom Cultivation
Forest and Orchard Management - tree felling and forest clearing, forest gardening, orchard retrofits (conventional mono crop to multi-species w/ animal integration).
Holistic Ecosystem Design and implementation (see portfolio of work at and https://thesovereignhomestead.com/ )
Tech stuff: Competent with Google Sheets / Excel / Numbers. I have built and maintained all of my own websites for the past ~ 10 years using Wordpress. Video production - see 7th Generation Design and Sovereign Homestead Design YouTube channels). I prefer getting my hands dirty outside, but I also recognize the importance of good planning and the power of spreadsheets in said planning, and that working with tech is part of our world these days.
Animal Husbandry (experience with caring for chickens, ducks, and pigs; very interested in gaining experience with rotationally-managed grass-fed ruminant livestock and aquaculture systems - I’ve been studying Joel Salatin, Greg Judy and Jim Gerrish’s work for years, took two of Jim’s courses in the last 18 months, and attended Greg Judy’s Cattle & Sheep Grazing workshop in May of ’23 - just looking for a place to put it all into practice).
What We Are Looking For
A quiet semi-rural/urban fringe property with a 2-3 bedroom/2 bathroom house. We are especially interested in areas within a 30-40 minute drive to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, since that is where Sammy works these days.
We need a bathroom (toilet, shower/tub), full kitchen (we cook a lot), and in-unit laundry facilities or hook-ups (we have our own W/D, also a chest freezer and stand up fridge, and natural gas oven range for appliances). We have a dog (~9 year old black lab that was abandoned at the first place we lived in TN) and would need a fenced-in yard or the ability to put up some fence (we are working to find home a loving long-term home). We’d love to have enough space to plant a garden, have some sort of backyard poultry (ducks or chickens) and a small greenhouse (300 square feet or so). We will take excellent care of your property, and leave it in as good or better condition when it is time for us to go. We could furnish our own place, but don’t have a ton of furniture so if your place is already furnished, that could work for us, too. We do need high-speed internet access (or capacity to get it). We don’t watch TV, so don’t worry about cable hook-ups. We don’t drink or smoke or do any drugs. We are quiet people, likely to be found reading at night and going to bed around 9 or 10pm. We wake up early and like making the most of our days.
A little about us…
We are Casey and Sammy, and we love creating and working with living things; growing, preparing and sharing great food; our families, building community, and each other.
More About Casey
I (Casey) been self-employed since finishing college, and have been a fitness trainer and CrossFit gym owner (2008-2015), farmer (Casitas Valley Growers 2015 - 2017) and now I design and implement regenerative ecosystems, production systems and landscapes for homesteads, farms and ranches. My business is Sovereign Homestead Design (see footer in my bio for link).
More About Sammy
I am a recovering university academic (I earned my PhD studying coral reef resilience and taught college students for 10+ years). I love solving problems and helping people, and all of my work must return to this basic idea, though I have interests and skills that span a variety of subjects. I love teaching and mentoring, especially ecology and other natural sciences, and I focus on instilling a self-directed, independent, and resilient learning style in my students. I love deep conversations with small groups of people, cooking large meals to share with others, studying interconnectedness between people and places (history, ecology, languages, mythology, etc.), and reading quietly by the fire. I am a natural with kids and animals (not as much with plants), and I enjoy care-taking and nurturing. I have also been told I am a natural at sales, as I love to share the things I love with other people!
Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we look forward to hearing from you if this might be a good fit!
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