Southern Santcuary

Erin and Brad Smith had a spiritual epiphany that led them on a journey to find peace and refuge. Ten years later, their pilgrimage to farmsteading has evolved into Sanctuary Farms. Now with 2,400 square feet of raised garden beds, a host of free-range farm animals and a passion for creation, the Smith family has created a little piece of heaven in their own backyard.

ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH MCELROY

Homesteading on a farm: a lifestyle associated to a long lost era, often romanticized and ascribed to country folk and/or the whimsical. It’s usually a lifestyle and vocation passed down through generations, but for some, it ends up a chosen undertaking.

Ten miles south of Delhi, Louisiana, a young couple moved to the country to find peace and refuge from the carefree young adult lives they had been living up to that point. Naturally, they called the land their “little sanctuary.” So when it evolved into a farm, Sanctuary Farms was an obvious choice.

“The epiphany that everything is spiritual is probably the biggest thing I’ve learned through this adventure,” says Erin Smith, wife, mother, gardener and farmer. She most likely would have never imagined saying these words fourteen years ago when she and her husband, Brad Smith, ran into financial hardships while living in Delhi. As a way to escape the aftermath and turmoil of their tribulations, they moved to the six acre plot of land in Franklin Parish that is now an affluent farmstead. “I couldn’t even mow a yard at that point,” humorously recalls Erin. At the time, the couple and their soon to be family lived in a trailer, but envisioned building a house soon. It would take Erin another three years before submitting to living the farm life. She had no idea the spiritual wellness it would bring her nor the unity it would create in her family.

When Erin’s youngest was six months old, her husband went to work in the oil fields. Those years sparked her internal conflict with why she lived out in the country. Overwhelmed one day and feeling lost, she asked God for guidance. She declares, “I heard him tell me to plant a garden, and that I would find my answer there.” She resisted at first, but when she was pressed by the same emotion again in 2008, she planted a garden with the help of her husband, who had a background in commercial farming, and an older couple who took her under their experienced wings. “I’ve always felt closer to God in nature and creation throughout my whole life,” says Erin. “You have to have faith and hope that a seed will grow into something.” And Erin’s seeds did indeed grow. Her original garden was nearly 200 square feet of corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and butter beans—which she only grew once, because they are not fun to pick or shell. Fast forward ten years later, she now has 2,400 square feet of raised garden beds, additionally growing snap beans, “all kinds” of tomatoes, herbs, medicinal herbs and flowers, all of which are grown from heirloom seeds and as organically as possible.

One buggy ride away is a “full-fledged farm,” home to six Nubian dairy goats, a Jersey milking cow, about forty laying hens, three “rambling” peacocks (that are welcome to a good home), and a few chickens and hogs for meat (the family has not bought meat from a grocery store in two years!). Her free-range farm animals are pastured in grass and receive lots of TLC from the couple and their three daughters: Conley (16), Carson (15), and Landry (13). “We’re trying to teach our girls a different way,” says Erin, explaining that they’re not in the farming business to make money. They do it for the love of working hard and seeing projects through. Though they do sell some of their eggs, vegetables, and a plethora of bottled vegetables, they also share a lot of their harvest with the community, valuing the spirit of giving and its role in nurturing community ties.

Her steadfast connection to the land, her extensive research and constant questioning, and her ability to unlearn preconceived notions about a healthy lifestyle, has been key to the farms abundance and success. “It’s been the hardest to completely break away from the consumerism. It is so convenient,” says Erin. “My husband always says that convenience is key, and it is, but it’s not always the right key.” She now lives and abides by the idea that food is life. She knows the temptation to go and grab fruits and vegetables from the grocery but “just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it was grown pretty.” It has become important for her to know where her food comes from, and there is no better way to know than to grow it herself.

Growing about 80 percent of the food they use, what is reaped in Sanctuary Farms is “first and foremost” for the Smith family—a true farm to fork lifestyle. Their food is their medicine. “Whole, nourishing foods can and do heal us,” says Erin. She’s found it easier and cheaper to not only grow most of their food, but to also make a lot of their food. Erin is often cooking up a slew of concoctions in her kitchen. For example, a two gallon mason jar, quaintly wrapped in string lights and covered in a red-patterned cloth, sits on her kitchen counter brewing her next batch of kombucha with an intimidating scoby floating at the top. She’s always looking for new combinations for her batches, and currently, she has bottled fig, grape and lemonade. She also makes her own apple cider vinegar, which she claims is a simple but superb recipe. From the slaughtered chickens, she creates fresh bone broth. Most intriguing of her creations are her medicinal tinctures. The cleaver tincture, made with a vodka base, can lower fevers, has anticancer properties and is high in vitamin C. Aiding in digestion, reducing fevers, strengthening veins, wound washing and alleviating UTI symptoms, the yarrow tincture is a potent solution. Dissolved in brandy, her dandelion tincture is a blood builder and can act as a liver cleanse.

Learning from passed down knowledge, Erin finds fulfillment in sharing her gained experience. Not long ago, she began offering workshops at her home. The farm has its own canning room, so Erin is a profuse canner of tomatoes, pasta sauce, salsa, soups and other vegetables as well as a soap crafter and sourdough bread baker. The sourdough is a better alternative, says Erin, for the body because of the fermentation process. With all of this, she is naturally bursting with information. Yet, she’s aware that not everyone can dedicate the amount of time she is able to devote to on the do-it-yourself life. Even in a gardening class where a dozen women attended, only half of them tried and successfully kept up with a small garden. Erin still posits that it’s not as much of an impossible feat as it seems. “Start with what you like to eat,” she says. “Tomatoes are always an easy start, and three tomato plants are better than buying from the store.” While it’s hard to know where to start, Erin encourages prospective gardeners to find a community that can help harvest their motivation and ideas.

Inspired by the book The Shack, Erin allowed herself to approach her garden and the farm life spiritually. She’s learned that a garden is its own ecosystem and can be perceived as a microcosm of human existence. “Yes, there are bugs and disease and things that can go wrong, but that makes it beautiful. The garden of our souls. It helps us grow,” she explains. Recognizing the “beautiful chaos” that ensues in a garden has allowed her to better understand creation as a whole. “There is always so much going on out there. It just bleeds creation out there.” The farm and garden have aided the spiritual and emotional well-being of the Smith family. Erin encourages people to stop and observe creation, saying “[God] has given us more than enough to find our calling.”
Home should be a place you always want to go, a place of rejuvenation that makes you feel strong again. A place where you are born again morning after morning. The Smith’s, tuning into the silent majesty of nature, have accomplished that on their land. They live the best of their days together, keeping their spirits young while having fun.

Follow Sanctuary Farms on Facebook (Sanctuary Farms) and Instagram (@sanctuaryfarmstead) to keep up with their harvest and upcoming workshops. Check out Erin’s blog A Life Wholly Lived (https://alifewhollylived.wordpress.com/) and get a taste of life on the farm through the short docu-video “Smith Family and Sanctuary Farms” made by Martin Hollow Films (https://vimeo.com/247264004).

Thinking of Starting a Garden?
Erin recommends the following reads:
• Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food by Tanya Denckla Cobb
• Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin
• Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte

Try Erin’s Spectacular Old Fashioned Dill Pickles Recipe:

• 20 pickling variety cucumbers
• 15 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 ½ teaspoons mustard seed
• 1 tablespoon dill seed, or a few fresh dill seed heads
• 1 gallon of cucumber brine: ¾ cup unrefined sea salt to 1 gallon unchlorinated water
• Grape, muscadine or horseradish leaves, enough to top the jar or crock
• 4 quart size mason jars, 1 gallon glass jar or crock

Scrub cucumbers in water. Trim off stems. Be sure to scrub blossom ends, as they contain an enzyme that will soften the pickles.
Lightly mash the garlic cloves with the bottom of a small glass, just enough to break them.
Pack the cucumbers, garlic, bay leaves and spices in your jar or crock. Pour enough bring to cover everything. Tuck the grape leaves over the cucumbers. If using glass jars, tuck a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of mixture to keep under brine. If using a crock, place a fitted plate inside crock to keep everything submerged under brine. Cover jar loosely.
Reserve remaining brine in refrigerator.
Set aside on a baking sheet to ferment, somewhere out of direct sunlight and cool, for 4-7 days. During this time, keep an eye on the brine level, topping off with reserved brine as needed. You may see scum form on top. Simply skim it off and make sure everything remains fully submerged under brine.
You will have full sours on day 6-7. Taste until they’re as sour as you’d like them!
When ready, screw on the lids and store in the refrigerator. These will keep for one year while refrigerated.