Big Way Farm

Call Directions

Big Way Farm As "Big Way Farm", we produced and sold beef for a few years.

Then prices went crazy and we sold the farm, which did nothing to my love of reading and writing stories except downsize the piece of land I get to live on for a while.

09/23/2026

***SOLD OUT!***

Paddle fast! I’ve got a great offer for you if you’re interested in getting steeply discounted family photos in before the holiday rush!

I’m doing *five* families, couples, singles, or newborns for $75 between now and October 16th.

You’ll get 16-20 shots on a thumb drive, or downloaded off of my website.

In exchange, I can display your photos on my website (you can be a model woohoo!!!).

***Side note on AI: It freaks me out. I do not use it to edit my photos, and I will not post identifiable photos of children online, ever***

I need to rebuild my portfolio. I did corporate, wedding, family, and newborn photography for pay for ten years (and lots of free stuff before that!). I had permission to display photos from most of my clients at the time. But I would not ask them now that so much time has passed and AI has changed the internet, so I am starting from scratch. It’ll be a fun challenge!

DM me on Facebook if you’re interested and we can get a date on the calendar! This is a wonderful opportunity if you’re looking for some photos for your Christmas card, that won’t break the bank.

Well I am finally shutting down the farm page AND I'm opening my new business page! Big Way Photo is what I'm calling it...
09/23/2026

Well I am finally shutting down the farm page AND I'm opening my new business page! Big Way Photo is what I'm calling it because I can't let some good things die completely, even if I should.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61594633382629

I read of a Russian myth where a prince is gifted a gorgeous thoroughbred from his father. He is bonded to the horse, they travel all over together.

One day, a giant wolf leapt out of the trees and the horse spooked, and threw his young rider. The wolf gobbled up the thoroughbred, just like that.

The prince was horrified, shocked, and grieved.

Then the wolf turned to him and said, "Get on".

The prince had a choice to make. He leapt onto the wolf's back. Off they went. It forever changed what kind of a king he became.

A melodramatic story for shutting down a farm social media page! And yet I have loved the portal it's given me into the loveliest people. You have been kind and encouraging and loving to my family all the years that I've written about us. And so understandably with that kind of feedback, I have had a hard time shutting it down even after we stopped selling meats, even when we sold the farm itself! But it's a good time to do it. And it's even better to be able to roll right in to my next project.

I hope you'll look up and follow Big Way Photo. I'd appreciate if you think of me to tell your friends if they're looking for something. I'll do family, couples, and simple wedding and elopement shoots. I'll charge a reasonable fee for those, and for small business photography and social media management.

Thank you for your wonderful words all these years! ❤🥰😍 What a good run it has been.

Our daughter had a beautiful wedding back at the farm. Justin said it was the perfect capstone for our years living ther...
09/09/2026

Our daughter had a beautiful wedding back at the farm. Justin said it was the perfect capstone for our years living there. A happy ending.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

(Photo credit to my little sister)

(I would post a pic of the bride BUT my girls tell me social media etiquette is to wait until the bride posts so…. You get our faces instead!)

We pulled into the driveway last night to this. And it was just a plain brick ranch in the listing photos! My inner Midw...
08/29/2026

We pulled into the driveway last night to this.

And it was just a plain brick ranch in the listing photos!

My inner Midwesterner will never stop appreciating a view of the horizon as far as it will go.

The colors of Heaven itself making a little shelf out of the mountain. Stretching out her arms and then rolling behind under her blanket of stars.

We put up this great big fence to keep the dogs but really to see how we liked growing out turkeys for Thanksgiving. We ...
08/27/2026

We put up this great big fence to keep the dogs but really to see how we liked growing out turkeys for Thanksgiving.

We may never know how we like it because the dogs got half the turkeys, and Ants named the remaining two 🫠.

What a special person the world just lost 💕
08/26/2026

What a special person the world just lost 💕

A girl of ours is having an outdoor wedding at the farm very soon. Of course we are so excited and all kinds of planning...
08/25/2026

A girl of ours is having an outdoor wedding at the farm very soon. Of course we are so excited and all kinds of planning is going on. She has her dress and that is the main thing. I was speechless at how beautiful she looks in it!

What is really unexpectedly getting me right now, is finding a dress for me. And as I just got an email that the dress I finally did settle on and order, is “no longer available”, I am back to square one.

The options in the mother-of-the-bride category are nothing short of insane. My current view is “Wannabe-Bride-Lite”, or “Morticia Addams”.
In the next row, it’s “Y2K Prom”, or “She’s 41 Going On 91”.

It’s worse if you type “Farm Wedding Guest” into the search bar. They think you’re after the Dutton Ranch from that awful Yellowstone show look, or you really love all things denim.

So I am back to scrambling. And my list is simple! Where can I find a dress that is:

-comfortable
-sexy
-not too sexy
-a natural fabric because chiffon makes my brain itch
-looks elegant with heels if the weather is good
-looks elegant with Crocs if the weather is not good
-dark enough to hide sweat
-not too dark
-long
-short enough to walk comfortably in potential mud
-not too short
-not white
-ideally floral print
-not with a white background
-not strapless
-doesn’t have long sleeves
-is danceable in
-matriarchal
-but not elderly
-fits
-arrives on time

It’s gotta be out there somewhere! 🦄 Send help! 👗 🚨

“A sky like good and evil”, is how Ants put it tonight from his spot at the table in the sunroom. And out the window to ...
08/23/2026

“A sky like good and evil”, is how Ants put it tonight from his spot at the table in the sunroom.

And out the window to the left, streaks of gold bursting up and out of the sky. Glory with no top on it.

Gray clouds full of lightning, boiling to the right of it. Striking at the ground like a viper.

Sunbeams taken up to Heaven. Storm clouds swallowed up by the night in the East.

(I could keep going, but, you get the idea- it was spectacular!)

That was the sunset we just had.

We sold off our handful of calves a few weeks ago at the perfect time, from the looks of things. Only a few months after...
08/21/2026

We sold off our handful of calves a few weeks ago at the perfect time, from the looks of things.

Only a few months after the USDA announced potential government funding for local meat processors, the president announced that he’s importing a massive amount of beef, to be sold at 25% below what it should sell for.

I have said and will say it again- it is a national security issue to run the small farmers and ranchers out of business. If a locality can’t feed itself and process the food it grows- what a great way to destabilize an entire nation.

The land sold by small farmers more often gets bought up as a piece of equity by a large corporation, than sold to another small farmer. Corporations don’t care about the local community or the land. They exist to make as much money as possible. Farmers exist to keep the farm operational. There’s a big difference.

I worry also because the American beef herd is collectively the smallest it’s been since the 1950’s. At the most simple level, it takes a few years to grow out a herd. But it also takes a long game mindset on the part of the farmer to have healthy enough soil, good enough hay, and a solid genetic stock of cows to produce great beef down the road.

I know some awesome small farmers out there right now, growing food for their communities. They are working their tails off! And so proud of a good product.

I am grateful to have so many wonderful options here. I hope we can all pay an extra dollar or two on a pound of meat or a bag of tomatoes, to keep our small community farms open.

It's a long game perspective and we have got to have it. Our politicians clearly do not.

Johnny drove us to his dentist appointment half an hour away the other day. Then he drove us to the farm this past weeke...
08/19/2026

Johnny drove us to his dentist appointment half an hour away the other day. Then he drove us to the farm this past weekend. He asked if he could drive to boxing last evening but I said no to that. Justin said he'll be fine. But there's so much traffic in town that time of day, and a bad turn to make. We'll get there! I'll get there:)

We are still down to one vehicle. I have kind of loved driving Justin to work this week. The sun is slow to wake up across the road from us in the mornings. It peeks up over up over the mountain across from the house like it's barely pulling down the covers to it's nose. It opens one shining eye. Is the world ready? All the creatures sing and croak and buzz- yes! We are ready!

We pass the huge clump of purple salvia on our way out the front door, a dozen bumblebees hovering and tiptoeing up into the purple blossoms growing on spires.

Justin says I drive like Cruella Deville when I have an open mug of coffee in my hand in the morning. I tell him- and who called me after spinning around on their side on 81 in the dark in the rain a few weeks ago? It wasn't me!

He says, too soon, Juli, too soon, and his eyes squint into a laugh and he sips on his coffee. It's in a travel mug, with a lid.

My mug is blue fine china from Tiffany's. Yes, Tiffany's!

He had gotten out a Tiffany blue box, a big one!, on our anniversary a few years ago. I couldn't believe it. Whatever was in that box I told him, was too expensive! He looked so pleased with himself. Then I opened it, and it was a coffee mug! He laughed so hard. But he makes coffee every morning for me and pours it into that mug. I hold it with one hand and drive with the other, every morning. Like Cruella Deville, or so I've been told.

Address

Hardy, VA

Telephone

+15402964864

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Big Way Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category