Singing Spring Farm: A Soil for Water Case Study

Craig County, Virginia

Adam Taylor and Elizabeth Spellman-Taylor co-operate Singing Spring Farm, which is in the Sinking Creek Valley in Craig County, Virginia. Adam’s and Elizabeth’s goal is to be a whole, complete-diet farm that offers heirloom fruits and vegetables; goat milk, kefir, and cheese; culinary and medicinal herbs; eggs; and pastured, lamb, goat, and poultry.

Agroforestry and permaculture are important themes on their farm as they seek to protect the Singing Spring on their farm, create community, and live out paradise gardening. Adam’s experience interning on a farm in southwest Virginia and being a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia profoundly impacted how he views farming, while Elizabeth has a deep conservation ethic in agricultural land protection and agrarian commons. For each of them, Joe Hollis’s essays and musings on Paradise Gardening were instrumental for their vision of a family lifestyle that was balanced with everyday practices.

This project material is based upon work that is funded and supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31521 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program under subaward number LS21-345. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.