Life & Work with Cassie Chapman of Franklin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cassie Chapman

Hi Cassie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, I was raised on the family farm. We raised cattle, hogs, chickens and of course… gardens. My childhood was filled with sweaty summer days playing in the barns, fishing with my dad and grandpa, stealing fresh veggies from the gardens, riding my horses and bikes with my brother, cousins and friends till the sunset. Winters were spent “helping” my uncle feed the cattle hay, sledding and ice skating on the farm ponds. My childhood in the hills of West Virginia was glorious.
As I grew older, I also grew tired of the farm life and wanted to be a city girl. I quit riding horses and went into cheerleading. Cheerleading took me to Morehead State University in Kentucky where I won two national titles and then to University of Louisville. While I loved this chapter in my life, I was missing home. Every time I came home, either from college or later in life, I cried when the foothills of the Appalachia embraced me like an old friend. Still to this day, my heart longs to return to the family farm that is my safe place. The place where dreams were made and dreams were fulfilled. The house my great grandfather built with his hands, where my grandparents stood on that same front porch with open arms and an “I love you”. It was here, on this farm, that I learned the value of hard work, how to serve God and His kingdom, and what it meant to love people well. I have lived a lot of life from the time I was on the family farm, but God ALWAYS brings me back to my roots. He always finds a subtle way to nudge me back to the dirt. I tell people if you are having a hard time hearing or seeing God, start a garden or volunteer to help at a garden. You quiet down the constant chatter of our modern world and breathe in His goodness – all your senses are firing on all cylinders and the static begins to dissipate. Which, brings me to how I ended up in my current job with Cul2vate. I moved to Nashville in 2007 and married my husband the following year. We lived on a farm in Bellevue where we brought home our precious daughter who we adopted in 2013, filmed a TV show, and then we moved to Franklin in 2017. We joined Church of the City Franklin soon after we moved here. A few years ago, our pastor, Darren Whitehead went on a listening tour throughout our city trying to figure out how the church could best serve the community. What he found out from the leaders in our community were five issues; mental health, sound cars for people who need transportation to work, a safe house for kids in foster care, foster care wrap around, and food insecurity. This whole project, called The Village, deserves its own article. It really is a remarkable story. Every Sunday during the unveiling of The Village, Darren would have a missional partner speak to the church about each initiative. One missional partner was Joey Lankford from Cul2vate; which also needs its own article. He shared what his organization was all about and that we would be building a community garden to help those experiencing food insecurity. Obviously, my interest piqued and it was game on! Finally, somewhere I could put my God-given talent to good work. So, I started volunteering and volunteered for two seasons at the COTC garden. Last year, our precious piece of dirt yielded 70,000 pounds of food that we were able to give away to those in need. This season, Cul2vate hired me. I absolutely LOVE my job and all the people I work with. This is Kingdom work.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Building a garden, in fact, doing anything in Mother Nature is going to be rough occasionally. We took a six acre farm that hadn’t been farmed in over fifty years and made it into a thriving, well producing farm. We had to remove sheds, barns, tree lines, fencing and brush all before we started designing the plots. Then, when we started plowing the fields, there were roots and vines everywhere. We probably spent two months fighting roots. Once we finally got the plots planted, all you pray for is rain. We really needed to pray for rain, because we had no other water source ha, ha. Then, once you get that much needed rain, you get grass that tries to take over everything. Spring usually consists of planting and weeding… so much weeding. The other struggle is all our wild, furry friends that REALLY like cabbage and broccoli. The deer love to eat the tops of the plants, too… so that’s fun. Then, we have our little critters including all the bugs that make lace-work out of our plants. There are so many struggles we deal with on the daily, but you get really good at pivoting. Common sense and redneck ingenuity are two key traits one must posses when farming.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Born and raised on a family farm, farming is what I excel in, begrudgingly or otherwise. Honestly, I never dreamed this is what I would be doing at this age, but I’m loving this season of my life. I have done interior design (I have a tile collection), photography, television, I’ve been a makeup artist, but nothing quite quenched my thirst like getting back in the dirt and helping people. There is so much peace in this job. I was a volunteer for Church of the City’s (COTC) community garden for two years under the tutelage of Dr. Charlie Coffee and Jackie Shores who volunteer and work for Cul2vate. Church of the City owns the property and Cul2vate manages and works the farm. Cul2vate is an organization who employs and gives people a second chance. These employees are called Cul2vators. It’s a Christ-centered organization that teaches life skills, job readiness, and hospitality. I get to see God at work every day through these people. Their stories of redemption are beautiful. This is what I am most proud of. Taking a farm that was nothing to something that produced 70,000 pounds of food last year, with people who don’t look like me or come from a similar background. We created something gorgeous together and help feed people to boot. The only thing I hope I’m known for is the way I serve others. I want to be a light in this world. That is it.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
This is a great question! Most of my life, I’ve been known to have little, to no patience. But God. He gave me a child that is special needs and a life that needs A LOT of patience. Patience is definitely needed in farming as well. There is a lot of hurry up and wait. I know I said this earlier, but you have to learn to pivot and for people with little patience, this is excruciating. Patience is something that I had to learn, I was NOT born with it, as they say. The other characteristic is kindness. Like I mentioned before, I work with people who have seen a different side of humanity than I have. I don’t have their experiences, but I walk into the relationship with my heart and arms open. Is it a success every time? No. However, that is the human experience. We learn to ebb and flow with each other.

Pricing:

• All of our food is given away.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cul2vate.org
• Instagram: cassiepchapman
• Facebook: Cassie Chapman
• Other: https://cotc.com/village/