In 2019 Mike and Abby Rudy and their 2-year-old daughter moved back home to New Hampshire from an HOA community in suburban Colorado. We purchased 6 acres in Grafton, New Hampshire and inherited half a dozen chickens and a small orchard.

The homestead now includes turkeys, honey bees, a couple of cows, two pigs, and three more kids.

Our homestead mission is to practice practical self-reliance through the cultivation of traditional skills and to provide local families with access to superior nutrition.

Most of all, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we believe that faith in God is indispensable to personal peace and happiness. This is the sentiment behind the name of our farm. The phrase “hand to the plough” comes from the admonition of Jesus Christ that “no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). To us this means that pursuing the presence of God is worth our highest priorities, our truest commitments, and our best efforts.