Hunter Family Farm: Visualizing A New Narrative
Ms. Connie Baptiste prides herself in being a southern girl from South GA, where farming and living off the land is her way of life. With family roots that run deep in farming, she was born in a share-cropper’s cabin in which she has fond childhood memories of summers spent working the land with her father and grandfather. However, her family did not own the land and they had to leave their farming roots behind.
Ms. Connie followed her family’s military legacy, which she proudly served 20 years in the United States Air Force. After retirement, Baptiste became a Chef and currently operates her catering service, Manna from Heaven, where she and her family serve many communities through their passion for food and culinary arts. Ms. Connie is now entering a new phase in life and has picked up the mantle to fulfill an unrecognized dream of becoming a farmer.
Ms. Connie has set forth to rewrite her family’s narrative and now has established Hunter Family Farm. Experiencing hurdles, stumbling blocks, and much disappointment through the journey, Ms. Connie endured and overcame a lonely and treacherous path to locate and purchase the exact land she desired to start her farming operation.
Now, Hunter Family Farm sits on 52 acres located in South Georgia.
The farm will house high tunnels for growing commercial produce, a production vineyard to produce grapes for wine producers, greenhouses outfitted to conduct cutting-edge agriculture-based research studies, and more. Hunter Family Farm is also designed to be a working farm that invites students to gain hands-on farming experiences, provides non-farmers an opportunity to learn the importance of farming, and offers a memorial garden and a community greenhouse to foster community engagement. Ms. Connie and her family take great pride in establishing their family farm as they humbly pursue their mission to be good stewards of the land. Baptiste’s vision for Hunter Family Farm is to Grow, Teach, and Repeat. She believes that the cycle of growing and teaching is essential for developing the next generation of successful African American farmers.
To learn more about The Hunter Family Farm, contact connie.baptiste@mfhservices4u.com.
