BAILEYTON, Ala. – Welcome Homestead, a locally owned regenerative farm and health store in Baileyton, is hosting classes for the community.
Owners Michael and Jaclyn Bailey said they have grown most of their own food for a while, but God called them to grow it into something more a few years ago.
“It took a little while for us to learn and start growing,” Jaclyn Bailey said. “Now we produce raw milk for pet consumption only, forest raised pork and pastured chicken. All our animals are rotationally grazed and fed a non-GMO grain. In our farm store, we love to support all of our local friends who are makers and other farms. We have a wide variety to choose from with more being added regularly.”
Bailey shared that having a bunch of milk cows doesn’t leave much time to go and travel.
“We milk twice a day, but I missed the community,” she said. “So about four years ago some friends and I started meeting regularly to do things together. It’s grown and changed through this time. We now do different types of projects together, but also focus on teaching those who want to learn. We have done everything from inoculated logs that grew mushrooms, to teaching other women to can to basic sewing.”
Bailey said they meet every other Thursday from 10 a.m.-noon.
“For this week’s meeting we are going to have a soup tasting where everyone brings a soup to share,” she said. “Plus, we are going to demonstrate how to make your own cranberry juice at home with just two ingredients. We meet every other week year-round. Hardly ever have we had to cancel, thankfully. We are starting to plan new group topics for next year now and plan to do many more hands-on projects together as well.”
Bailey said attendees only need to bring a chair.
“Kids are welcome,” she said. “The yard is fenced to keep all the feral ones contained, including my own. We post the events on our farm Facebook page with any updates or reminders for things to bring if it’s anything extra.”
Bailey said they teach a lot of other adult and kids’ classes on the farm as the seasons allow.
“We offer themed field trips for different seasons, too,” she said. “Once a month we have a preschool story time. We also have a sit and stitch. We work on any hand projects we are doing together. Sometimes someone needs help learning what’s going wrong in their knitting project or how to spin their own yarn. This group meets at 6 p.m. one Tuesday night a month. For December we will meet on the 30th.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/BlueMasonFarm25. Welcome Homestead is located at 622 Holcomb Road in Baileyton. Store hours are Monday and Thursday, 3-6 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-noon; and weekends by appointment.
