farm

Susan Shaw (top left), her daughter Jennifer Johns (top right), and son-in-law Josh Johns (center) pose with grandchildren Madelyn and Levi Johns (bottom left and right) for a photo at Hickory Hill Farms. (Photo/ Lilly Stone)

Susan Shaw (top left), her daughter Jennifer Johns (top right), and son-in-law Josh Johns (center) pose with grandchildren Madelyn and Levi Johns (bottom left and right) for a photo at Hickory Hill Farms. (Photo/ Lilly Stone)

Oglethorpe’s family-owned farms persevere through changing times

Lilly Stone and Jesse Wood
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Nine-year-old Madelyn Johns spends her Friday afternoons running through rows of crops spread across her family's 12 acres of plantings at Hickory Hill Farms in Carlton.  Across the field, her youngest brother Matthew, 6, clutches a handful of freshly pulled carrots.
Sara Micale/The Oglethorpe Echo

Sara Micale/The Oglethorpe Echo

Ag census: Number of county farms on the rise

Sara Micale
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Farming in Oglethorpe County has grown in the past five years despite a national and statewide decrease in the number of farms.  Oglethorpe County’s 2022 Census of Agriculture County Profile saw significant increases in number and average size of farms and net cash income.
Ben Brubaker (from left), his son Benji and his father Dale gather around the wheel of a combine. The Brubaker family, which grows crops on their farm on Comer Road, could see a third generation of farmers if Benji decides to continue the tradition. (Submitted photo)

Ben Brubaker (from left), his son Benji and his father Dale gather around the wheel of a combine. The Brubaker family, which grows crops on their farm on Comer Road, could see a third generation of farmers if Benji decides to continue the tradition. (Submitted photo)

Row croppers on decline

Sara Micale and Lesley Randall
Friday, March 29, 2024
Wheat is growing on 600 acres of row cropping land along Comer Road, but it’ll soon bear corn and soybeans.   The farm belongs to Ben Brubaker, who said he believes he is one of two or three others row cropping in Oglethorpe County. His father, Dale, also works on the farm with him.
Judge Tyler Arnold talks to Scarlett Harris about her breeding doe during the Oglethorpe Area Winter Livestock Show on Saturday. The event included a contest between six local "celebrities." (Photo/Sara Micale)

Judge Tyler Arnold talks to Scarlett Harris about her breeding doe during the Oglethorpe Area Winter Livestock Show on Saturday. The event included a contest between six local "celebrities." (Photo/Sara Micale)

Brubaker, students winners of livestock show

Sara Micale
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Oglethorpe County youth weren’t the only ones competing in the Oglethorpe Area Winter Livestock Show on Saturday — six Oglethorpe County celebrities also competed for the title of Champion Celebrity Showman.
Tanner Biggers highlights the different plant species that are being stored in the greenhouse at Beech Hollow Farm. It uses an irrigation system built into the greenhouses to ensure the health of the plants. JACK RHODES/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO

Tanner Biggers highlights the different plant species that are being stored in the greenhouse at Beech Hollow Farm. It uses an irrigation system built into the greenhouses to ensure the health of the plants. JACK RHODES/THE OGLETHORPE ECHO

Beech Hollow goes native

Morgan Quinn and Jack Rhodes
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Leading a group hike around Beech Hollow Farm’s 200-acre property in Lexington, Tanner Biggers calls out the name of a different plant or tree every few minutes for the group to stop and observe.
Meg Eades, a positive enforcement horse trainer and the primary trainer at ReDux Equine Rescue, works with Titan (horse), Saturday, March 26, 2022. (Photo/Aisha Schulz)

Meg Eades, a positive enforcement horse trainer and the primary trainer at ReDux Equine Rescue, works with Titan (horse), Saturday, March 26, 2022. (Photo/Aisha Schulz)

Rescue helps heal horses, find them homes

Caroline Embleau and Aisha Schulz
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Paulette Brown threw up her hand to make a bid at a horse auction and left with a large, long-limbed horse named Clydesdale, who suffered from crooked feet.   Brown attended the auction in January 2021 with a rescue group to save horses from the horse meat industry.