Heal The Land Farm launches in Elizabethtown

ELIZABETHTOWN – A very special and much needed concept was launched Friday in Elizabethtown as a “farm-to-table” store was officially opened with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Elizabethtown-White Lake Chamber of Commerce as they invited the community to welcome this business, this farm and the Shelton family to the neighborhood.

Former military couple Scott and Hillary Shelton did something courageous and daring as they left their jobs in the military and became a first-generation farm family.

According to a YouTube page that helped to introduce them and their endeavor to their friends, family and community, they published, “Heal The Land Farm is a younger farm located in Tar Heel, North Carolina. Our hearts are all in for the regenerative farming model, permaculture, and being good stewards of God’s creation, expecting that these practices will HEAL THE LAND.”

“It all started with the chickens,” Hillary said.

She said that Scott had been asking for chickens for years.

“We had just moved here to North Carolina in 2018,” she said. “But before that when we were living in Florida and Scott was still in special forces, still deploying and going on training a lot, he was asking for chickens. I’m thinkin’, no way, because you’re going to leave and I’m going to be stuck cleanin’ up chicken poop by myself.”

By 2020, Hillary was talked into chickens by a close friend who convinced her that the birds weren’t as foul as their reputation.

From Florida to a North Carolina farm, the family just continued to grow their vision and expand their experience to be able to bless not only their friends and family, but also their community. Friday was the next step in the expansion as the couple opened a type of general store at 1101 W. Broad Street in Elizabethtown.

The ribbon cutting, which was supposed to be held Aug. 9 had to be postponed as flooding from tropical storm Debby was visiting the Carolinas and wreaking havoc in Bladen County. But when the enemy comes in like a flood, or “with a flood,” the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. But just as surely as attacks shall come, the Lord SHALL lift up a standard. A standard is a battle flag, also called a banner or ensign. It serves as a rallying point and indicates the nationality of the troop.

And Friday, the banner was lifted and the vision for a local farm providing homegrown, chemical-free food at a reasonable price that hasn’t spent months in refrigerated trucks or on warehouse shelves became a Bladen County reality.

As Scott addressed the crowd at last week’s launching, he said, “One of the visions that Hillary had when she dreamed this dream, literally was that the cash register would be a couch like the one on ‘Friends’ and that this would be a place of hanging out and not just a place to come and go. When you come in, you’re going to get family. And if you need to leave, just tell us to be quiet and you got to run out the door and have somewhere to be… because we obviously do like to talk.”

The store, according to Scott was another Hillary vision that was meant to reach out.

“I would go on record here to say that she surrendered a lot coming to the farm and even starting this thing,” he said. “And then she got a vision for this store, which in turn, I surrendered a lot because I didn’t have a lot of confidence because I didn’t think we were ready. We’ve learned that marriage is all about balancing one another. Everything you’re going to see in here other than me lifting heavy things is all my wife and I want her to get the credit for that. And, obviously she’s going to say that Jesus helped her. Which is true. Also I want to throw this in, there isn’t anything in that store that wasn’t produced within 30 miles of the store. Minus the coffee. That’s unique. That’s South Carolina.”

As for the fruition of Hillary’s vision, the entire Shelton family was excited about not only the opening, but the impressive turnout of family, friends and community members.

“For us, it’s like a culmination and celebration of a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” she said. “We’ve actually only been farming a few years and we are first generation farmers. We jumped into this very blind, not knowing how hard it was going to be. The first two years, farming here in Bladen County, we were learning everything from scratch. It was extremely hard, painful, we had a lot of losses. There were definitely moments where we were ready to sell the farm and go back to the suburbs because it was so challenging.”

Neither Scott or Hillary grew up or were associated with farm life and in a time when many younger farmers have left the profession, they began running against the wind and did something that few could ever do at middle age without any prior exposure to the industry.

She was from Eerie, Pennsylvania and Scott was from Dallas, Texas. Both from urban settings.

“For us, both serving in the military, I was coming up on retirement around 2022,” he said. “During COVID we noticed that the food was starting to disappear off the shelves and not knowing when the supplies would be replenished. I knew there was a need – especially if this ever happened again. We wanted to be on the front lines of being able to continue our service – even though we were out of the military, we look at it as an opportunity to serve and to be prepared.”

“We also wanted to be self-sustainable ourselves,” she said. “We didn’t want to completely rely on the food system or even like the transportation systems. It’s just great to have things that are local.”

The couple both agree that to do something local that would make a difference is a part of their heart, their vision and their calling.

“It’s really God’s heart for Elizabethtown,” she said.

“Unofficially, the way this all started was with my mentor Joel Salatin,” he said. “I started with a book called ‘You Can Farm.’ It was basically an entrepreneur’s guide to farming. It had things like where to put your focus, how to focus and why to focus. It kind of motivates you to go in the right direction.”

Salatin’s complete book title is “YOU CAN FARM: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Start & Succeed in a Farming Enterprise,” and it was published in 1998. It can be ordered at Amazon.com.

Scott’s brother who also served in the military had read the book a few years earlier and it motivated him to buy land and farm in Texas a few years before Scott and Hillary began their journey.

“It was so inviting and I completely forgot the first paragraph in Joel’s book,” he said. “I went back and read it and sure enough, it said, ‘the hardest thing you can do is farm.’ So, I read multiple books of his which was kind of the entry point.”

The couple have branched out from the initial call to poultry and have horses and have been raising longhorn cattle.

“I wanted to make this as easy as possible on us,” he said. “I just came across the longhorn, which I am from Texas, but it wasn’t really on my radar. And then I just kind of fell in love with the idea – that’s where the American beef industry started and the longhorns carried it on their backs until the introduction of the Angus and some other European breeds.”

The couple who have had medical experience in the military have been doing most of the veterinary duties themselves and so far, it has worked out well for them. They say that the internet instruction has also been invaluable to them.

The couple started with their LLC in 2021 and had no cattle until 2022. The couple have raised four children, (15, 12, 7 and 5) who have, according to them, have adapted well to farm life.

Their vision of going back to traditional eating, getting away from chemicals, soaps that are tallow-based all have to do with their plan for healthy living. The adversity at times has been staggering, but the calling is loud and strong and the purpose is solid.

They epitomize the idea of being servant leaders in the community and the community has truly embraced them and their vision. They are bringing quality; they are bringing local and they have truly brought their hearts.