Foundry Farm Fuels Hope

Simply Southern Spotlight

Foundry Farm

Part of Foundry Ministries based in Bessemer, Foundry Farm in Cullman provides a yearlong, faith-based, residential recovery program for men seeking help with alcohol and drug addiction. Employment readiness is an important part of each man’s recovery process, and they take turns caring for more than 300 chickens and collecting eggs in Foundry Farm’s henhouse. Eddie Wilson is the farm’s director.

Saturday, Central Time Market Station Time Columbus, Ga. WLTZ 38 5:00 PM Sunday, Central Time Mobile WPMI 15 6:00 AM Birmingham WBMA 33/40 6:30 AM Huntsville WAFF 48 9:00 AM Montgomery WAKA 8 10:30 AM Dothan WTVY 4 10:30 AM

RFD-TV: Wednesdays • 3 p.m. Central ALWAYS ON: SimplySouthernTV.net

What happens to all the eggs from the henhouse?

Eddie Wilson (EW):

Residents cook with them, and we send them to two other residential programs within Foundry Ministries. But we also sell them. They’re used at local restaurants in Cullman County, including Urban Cookhouse, All Steak and Holly Pond Café, as well as Josie’s in Decatur and S&J Produce in Madison. We also sell them at The Foundry Thrift Store in Cullman. During summer, we sell at the Festhalle Farmers Market.

Tell us about the employment readiness portion of the program.

How do the residents change from the time they enter until they graduate?

How do eggs provide opportunities to share Foundry Farm’s message?

EW: When we go to the farmers market in downtown Cullman, our booth is usually overseen by a couple of guys who are currently in the program, and for those guys to get to share what God’s doing in their lives — that’s so much more important than the first egg we could ever sell. Anybody that’s ever had any type of addiction whatsoever has a story to tell. Some are not always pleasant. But you know what? They all need to be heard, because everybody needs to know that there’s hope, there’s freedom, and there’s a place you can come to get those things.

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EW: Some of our guys are assigned to work our retail thrift stores in Cullman and Fairfield. Others are assigned to things around the farm — the henhouse, the gardens, cooking, cleaning or maintenance. We teach 10 soft skills — things like having a good attitude, being teachable and staying in the area you’re assigned.

EW: Initially, they are broken, beaten up and have little hope. But when they come to the Foundry Farm, they know they’re going to be taught the word of God. Every day, we are going to talk about your Lord and savior Jesus Christ because he is the only way to true freedom. Once they start one-on-one counseling, going to Bible studies and attending chapel services, they start to grow. It usually takes about six weeks before they really sit back, relax and start buying in to what we do. By the end of it, we’re getting families involved. And that whole restoration process of bringing children and dads and brothers and moms and everybody back together — that’s truly one of the greatest blessings we get to witness at the Foundry.

Simply Southern’s segment about this story airs on broadcast stations June 18 and 19 and on RFD-TV Wednesday, June 22, at 3 p.m. Central. For more information, visit SimplySouthernTV.net.

Wheat & Feed Grain Checko

Sponsored By Alabama Ag Credit Walker Hornady Green

Enjoy this excerpt from an Alabama AgCast with Alabama Farmers Federation Governmental & Agricultural Programs Department Director Mitt Walker; Cotton, Soybean and Wheat & Feed Grain Divisions Director Carla Hornady; and Catfish, Forestry and Wildlife Divisions Director William Green.

Mitt Walker: Every five years, we start gearing up for the farm bill, also known as the playbook for agriculture policy. Y’all have been working on the Title I and Title II programs. Tell us what these programs are and some of the topics discussed.

Carla Hornady: The Title I Working Group is made up of American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) members from Louisiana, Montana, Texas, Alabama, New York, Wisconsin and California. As we dive in to this program, we’re looking at all the possible issues and priorities moving forward.

William Green: I’m working on the Title II program, which is all of our conservation programs, as well as some general carbon discussion.

MW: One thing we know to be mindful of as these discussions take place is funding and available resources. Carla, your working group has talked about what steps to take to ensure there is adequate funding for programs important to our farmers.

CH: One of our priorities is protecting current farm bill spending. With current climate discussions, we want to make sure funding for these programs is new and not derived from existing funds.

MW: On the conservation side, William, your working group has talked about working lands programs versus land retirement programs.

WG: For Title II, we have broken out into smaller subcommittee groups and are looking at individual programs. Specifically, I am looking at the Conservation Reserve Program with folks from Montana, Idaho, Illinois and Nebraska. We’re digging in deep to see what works and what can be improved.

Following staff-level discussions, all AFBF Working Groups will convene to finalize the upcoming farm bill priority list for AFBF’s Council of Presidents in July.

Catch the entire interview on the Alabama AgCast. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts or visit AlfaFarmers.org/agcast. New episodes available every Wednesday.

2022 COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING DATES, TIMES & LOCATIONS

COUNTY DATE TIME BUILDING

Baldwin Thurs., Aug. 11 6:00 p.m. Baldwin County Farmers Federation Building

Butler

Tues., July 26 5:00 p.m. Pioneer Electric Cooperative Building Coffee Mon., July 18 6:30 p.m. Community Room Colbert Conecuh Mon., Aug. 29 6:30 p.m. Hospitality House (NW Shoals Community College) Mon., Aug. 15 6:00 p.m. Alfa Service Center Escambia Tues., Aug. 9 6:00 p.m. Camp 31 Restaurant Fayette Thurs., Aug. 11 6:30 p.m. Fayette Civic Center

Franklin Houston Tues., Aug. 16 6:00 p.m. Best Western Hotel Thurs., July 28 6:30 p.m. Alfa Service Center

Lamar Lawrence Marion Mobile Pickens Mon., Aug. 15 6:30 p.m. Vernon City Complex Thurs., Aug. 11 6:00 p.m. Moulton Recreation Center Fri., Aug. 12 6:00 p.m. Tombigbee Electric Cooperative Thurs., Aug. 18 6:00 p.m. Greater Gulf State Fair Grounds Thurs., July 28 6:00 p.m. Cheeky’s

Pike

Thurs., June 30 7:00 p.m. South Alabama Electric Cooperative Sumter Mon., July 11 7:00 p.m. Alfa Service Center Tuscaloosa Tues., Aug. 16 7:00 p.m. Alabama Extension Office Wilcox Thurs., July 21 7:30 p.m. Gaines Ridge ADDRESS 21332 Hwy. 59 300 Herbert St. 1055 E. McKinnon St. 800 George Wallace Blvd. 534 West Front St. 222 St. Joseph Ave. 530 Temple Ave. N. 13770 Hwy. 43 1038 Ross Clark Circle NE 44425 Hwy. 17 13550 Court St. 3196 Co. Rd. 55 1035 Cody Rd. N. 129 Industrial Park St. 13192 U.S. Hwy. 231 S. 106 Marshall St. 2513 7th St. 933 Hwy. 10 CITY Robertsdale Greenville New Brockton Muscle Shoals Evergreen Brewton Fayette Russellville Dothan Vernon Moulton Hamilton Mobile Gordo Troy Livingston Tuscaloosa Camden

The grocery store is packed with tourists. There are hundreds of them. And I am stuck in a cluster of middle-aged men who wear neoncolored swim trunks and fl ip fl ops.

My wife sent me on a very important shopping mission to buy: 1. Salsa. 2. Neosporin.

The middle-aged men are laughing. I can spot a Beach Dad tan a mile away. It’s all in the nose region.

Middle-aged male tourists, you see, rarely apply sunscreen to their noses. Thus, a Beach Dad often resembles the captain of Santa’s sled team.

It’s a good thing Beach Dad isn’t ACTUALLY steering Santa’s sleigh because Beach Dad also drives like a clinically insane stuntman.

Sometimes, you can see Beach Dad weaving his minivan through heavy traffi c while singing along with a Jimmy Buff ett greatest hits album.

Back to the grocery store. There’s a small boy standing in the checkout aisle. He’s pushing a wheelchair with a woman in it. The woman is mid-70s. She has a cast on her ankle.

There is also a teenage girl with her. Because they are only buying sodas and popsicles, I insist they cut in line.

The boy wheels the woman ahead of me. The older woman thanks me.

I ask where they’re from.

“Arkansas. These are my grandkids. We’re down here for two weeks.”

She is recovering from ankle surgery. Her injury happened a few weeks ago when she was lifting a potted plant on her patio. She tripped over her dog. Her ankle shattered.

“Almost didn’t come,” she goes on. “I was so disappointed, too, ‘cause I’ve wanted to visit Florida all my life but never got to before my husband died.”

Her grandkids weren’t about to let her miss the Sunshine State. The teenager, Georgia, volunteered to be Granny’s chauff eur. Georgia just got her license.

Granny pats Georgia’s hand. “She could be having fun with her friends, but she’s stuck with boring Granny.”

“You’re not boring,” says Georgia. “I love you.”

“Me, too, Grandma,” says the boy. “I love you.”

These two kids deserve awards. Especially Georgia, who could be doing teenage things. Instead, she’s navigating Beach Dad traffi c.

Before they roll away, I ask Granny if she needs any help to her vehicle.

“No,” she says. “I got my family.”

Family. If there’s anything better, I don’t care to know what it is.

The cashier looks at my items on the conveyor belt and says, “Is this ALL you came here for today?”

No, ma’am. I came here to see something beautiful. And to be reminded of something I often forget: a person with family has everything.

Everything.

Except salsa and Neosporin. ■

Columnist and novelist Sean Dietrich shares tales of common people, the human spirit, traditional regional music and life in the American South through his podcast series at SeanDietrich.com.

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FREE CATALOG

Christjohn Joins Federation As Commodity Director

The Alabama Farmers Federation welcomed Colton Christjohn to its Governmental & Agricultural Programs (GAP) Department April 25. Christjohn will serve as director of the Federation’s Dairy, Pork and Poultry divisions.

Christjohn will advocate for and monitor policy related to his commodity divisions, as well as coordinate educational programs. He will also help provide leadership for the Federation’s youth livestock efforts, including the Jr. Swine Expo.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to be part of a grassroots organization whose foundation is built on serving Alabama farmers and youth across the state,” said Christjohn, 29, whose family raises cattle.

The Calhoun County native has two degrees from Auburn University (AU), a bachelor’s in animal science and a Master of Science, earned in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

While at AU, he gained practical animal science experience working at the on-campus beef unit and meats lab. He joins the Federation from Wayne Farms in Enterprise, where he was a processing superintendent.

Federation GAP Department Director Mitt Walker said Christjohn’s firsthand experience serving Alabama farmers has prepared him for success. As Poultry Division director, Christjohn will help farmers in

Alabama’s largest agricultural industry, which has a $15 billion annual economic impact on the state. “Colton has a heart for people and serving others, which is what we are all about at the Alabama Farmers Federation,” Walker said. “When you couple his passion for service with his lifetime of experience in agriculture, I have no doubt he will excel in this role.” Christjohn and his wife, Megan, have been married Christjohn four years and have a 10-month-old daughter, Lillian. They live in Enterprise and attend Hillcrest Baptist Church.