Georgia mother trades city life to raise children on green pastures: "Swept up in the magic"
Just over 30 miles south of Atlanta, nestled in the Chattahoochee Hills community, you will find The Good Place Farm. It is home to a host of animals with their own social media following, including a mother donkey named Dolly, her husband Kenny Rogers, and her grandmother Joleen. At the center of it all is owner BreeAnne Clowdus.
In addition to the farm animals who are like her children, she is also mother to Vivianne and twin boys Shepherd and Dashel. Clowdus traded traffic jams and hectic school schedules for tranquility and lessons from the land.
"My kids, we were kind of living a traditional suburban life where it was like rushing to school, rushing to dance lessons, and it kind of felt like we were just missing everything because it was so hectic, and I was like, I feel like I need to slow everything down," Clowdus said.
The 15 acres of green pastures proved to be the perfect place. Clowdus is part of what the U.S. Census Bureau calls the "exurban trend," where people move to more rural areas for economic factors or simply a change of pace.
"I started homeschooling; we started growing our own food, which started with a garden," Clowdus said. "They were as swept up in the magic of this place as I was."
"It was like they had no video games. My kids didn't have phones. We had TV. We weren't that hard-core," she said, laughing. "We had one hour of internet per day. That was all we could get in this location."
The farm is filled with hanging organic fruits and vegetables, from gourds and cucumbers to tomatoes and bitter melons, allowing visitors to get lost in its beauty and partake in everything grown on site. Although Clowdus holds a degree from Dartmouth, she turned to the internet when it came time to build the homestead.
"I learned everything, everything, I know I learned just watching a YouTube video," Clowdus said.
She began posting videos of her learning curve online, and now more than a million followers across social media tune in for daily updates and to check in on their favorite farm friends, including a flock known as the "disco chicks."
In just a few short years, the serene sanctuary created for a family of four blossomed into a community resource open to anyone who wants to stop by. Visitors can explore the grounds, take family photos, volunteer to care for the animals, or book snuggle time with the baby Highland cows.
The on-site farm store operates 24 hours a day on the honor system, offering whole chickens, wings, popular bone broth, bacon, sausage, beef, and lamb produced directly on the land.
"We have all of the chicken products, pork products, and beef that we produce on the farm. We got our wings right here. We got our bone broth. It's super popular. We have whole chickens, bacon, sausage, lamb, everything else," Clowdus said.
Beyond the farm-fresh food, the move brings lasting wellness benefits, as the National Institutes of Health reports that living in quieter, open spaces can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and heart rate, and even slow down cognitive aging.
For Clowdus, uprooting her family and teaching her children to work the land was all about giving them tools they can carry for a lifetime.
"I hope I have coded their DNA with an experience that will stay with them forever and that they will look back on fondly," she said.
