Thy Neighbors Farm

08/27/2025

03/21/2025

Thank you CT Veteran Grown for the Farmer Veteran feature! 🫡🙏

12/19/2024

Last year as a board member of, and on behalf of the Farmer Veteran Coalition of Connecticut, I designed and wrote a grant program in partnership with the Connecticut Resource Conservation & Development - CT RC&D in order to assist CT military veterans interested in farming. We applied for, and were selected as award recipients of the Connecticut Department of Agriculture's "Agricultural Enhancement Grant" program.

I (Steven) will be personally managing this "Path to Victory" grant program through the CT FVC, and assisting many CT Military Veterans across the state to start new farms, or help enhance their current farms.

This program, combined with the CT Veteran Grown initiative has made right now the most opportune time there has ever been for any CT Military Veteran to start a farm in Connecticut, or to grow their farm. You can receive free consulting, a financial stipend to help with administrative start-up costs, free marketing, free business planning, free professional photography, a free professional website developed, free grant writing assistance, and the list goes on.

If you are a CT Veteran and have ever considered starting or registering a farm. Maybe you garden as a hobby, raise some chickens, keep bees, grow cut flowers, raise other livestock, sell eggs, etc. Turn your hobby or side hustle into an official farm! Get the tax exemption, get a stipend to pay for start up fees, use these resources while they are available to really step up your game at no cost to you. You will walk away with tons of value! Don't sleep on this opportunity that will not be around forever!

I personally thank the Lord for this opportunity to serve other CT Military Veterans and help start more Veteran owned Connecticut farms. For this awesome gift to help veterans feed their community. Praise God!🙏✝️

Get Growing! 🫡 🌱

🇺🇸 👩‍🌾 CT Military Veterans: Have you ever considered starting your own farm? Now is the time! There has never before been a better opportunity or more support for you to achieve this!

Last year the Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development (CT RC&D) in partnership with the Connecticut Farmer Veteran Coalition, was awarded grant funding by the CT Department of Agriculture, specifically to help CT Veterans start their own farm and for CT Veterans who are current farmers to receive Veteran-to-Veteran technical and grant writing assistance.

Path to Victory is being offered in conjunction with the major resource of the Initiative funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration. This program offers 1-on-1 business, marketing, and website development assistance.

Everything offered and all assistance is 100% free to military Veterans. Start the Path to Victory today by signing up for your initial Veteran FarmUP and Path to Victory consultation on CTVeteranGrown.org/farmer-resources/ 🇺🇸 🧑‍🌾

.grown

06/28/2024

After months of prayer, research, emails, phone calls, video calls, site visits, more prayer, estimates, negotiating business deals and partnerships, and waiting on the Lord... 🙏

We are very excited to announce a successful full implementation of our new climate smart venture into the world of Solar Sheep Grazing! 🐑☀️🌱

Praise God for making all of this happen. Thank you Lord! ✝️

During this journey we were blessed with green pastures and still waters, and along the way we have made new friends who we were able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with!

We are also blessed by having the most incredible people as neighbors to the solar field. We couldn't have asked for more caring people! An important aspect of any farms success is the neighbors, and we are so grateful to God for ours!❤

Solar Grazing is newer to our state, but is practiced worldwide. It redeems prime farmland brought into energy production by solar development, and brings it back into agricultural production! Now the land is in dual production!

The sheep LOVE their new summer vacation home! It offers great protection from the elements with endless shade, hundreds of gallons of cool fresh water, excellent external and internal predator protection, and an endless buffet! They have been blessed through this just as much as we have! Praise God who is our Good Shepherd and takes care of all of our needs!

Shout out to St. Pierre Lawn Care, LLC a close family in Christ, who we have partnered with to help us maintain some areas the sheep can't get to inside, the outside perimeter and the front lawn of the property.🤝

Thank you to the Torrington Regional Animal Control already fielding calls from concerned residents who care. 😅 Our custom signs are now up that should help mitigate this by sharing information and our contact number!

Thank you for all you do!

The solar site is owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources

Follow this link for more information on solar grazing and our standard of our animal care: https://www.thyneighborsfarm.com/ct-solar-grazing

06/10/2024

High Tunnel drip irrigation all set up today. The wash & pack station, and walk in cooler were also all tested today by harvesting some of the seasons first lettuce. Lots of spring lettuce mix, spinach and radishes are ready to be harvested this week, and our June strawberries are growing like crazy! The Lord is also blessing us with the gift of some visitors from our online Christian ministry who are volunteering some time on the farm to help us feed others in need!

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him."
-Psalm 34:8-9 KJV 🙏

06/09/2024

This past month of May has been incredibly challenging and immensely busy getting the farm in order and everything planted. We haven't made any social media posts due to a lack of time. From sun up to beyond sun down we have been working hard on all of the seemingly endless tasks that needed to get done in a timely manner. It was difficult to ensure we never became distracted by the cares of this life (Luke 21:34-36), and instead kept our focus and eyes on Jesus and the things which really matter. Our daily family Bible studies became a staple in us staying firmly rooted and focused on Christ as a family, and God also gave us plenty of opportunities to share the gospel throughout.

-High Tunnel plastic is up
-CTG4CTK Grant Project now underway
-First succession of everything is planted
-Everything was w**ded, and w**ded again
-All 55 of our sheep were moved onto pasture
-4 new Ewe Lambs joined our flock from Stead Farm
-New agricultural business venture secured and started
-New sitework project started in the back of our property
-Wash and Pack Station is all put back together and ready to process
-Farm in general is cleaned up from the winter, reorganized and back in order

05/01/2024

Thy Neighbors Farm in Torrington is participating in CT NOFA’s Farm Share Program, which provides reduced cost Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares - also known as farm shares - to Connecticut residents in need of financial assistance. Thy Neighbors Farm’s mission is to produce as much f...

04/30/2024

We have begun the process of preparing the growing beds of our field to start this season off. This invaluable tool is called a Flame W**der. 🔥🌱 It uses a propane powered flame to destroy all unwanted growth, emergent w**d seeds, and established w**ds. It is also doing a great job at taking care of the crispy left over cover crops. After this step we will add some organic amendments and gently "tilther" them into the soil. After that they will be ready for direct seeding or transplanting.

There is so much in the agricultural process that is reflective of God and how He works in our lives. As I feel the heat on my skin and watch it curl and destroy the w**ds, I can't help but think of the sins in my own life, sneaking up like an unwanted w**d and trying to take root. The Bible states how all of our works will be tried by the fire, and how our faith at times will also be tried by fire. The Bible also talks about how fire refines and makes pure while destroying the impurities. There is good soil, and bad. You can be rooted in Christ... or in the world.

🙏 Heavenly Father, would you please Flame W**d 🔥🌱 the soil of my heart ❤️ to prepare me for growth, to be purified and made more like your Son Jesus Christ in thought, word and deed. Lord please reveal any hidden sins ☠ in me, any pride, or perhaps any roots of bitterness we are warned against. Please destroy anything in me that is not of you or your Son Jesus, so I might be more like you. Make me more righteous oh Lord, help destroy any emergent or deeply rooted sin in my life that's hidden or otherwise. Help me serve you more, be like you more, live more righteously, and love people more like you. Put a watch over my lips, and a guard over my heart, help me be a better ambassador for Christ, and please help me redeem the time I am given for you Lord. Help me raise my children and be a better, more loving husband. Lord, I pray all of this in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen. 🙏

**der