The Hoey Farm is our family’s recovery from addiction. In March of 2019, Lukas was admitted to the hospital for acute alcoholic hepatitis. At one point, during his three-month stent in the hospital, he was given 48 hours to live. The Lord performed a miracle and Lukas lived passed the 48-hour deadline, but he still had a long road to recovery. Lukas had lost a lot of weight and had a difficult tim
e walking and performing simple tasks for the first six months after his hospitalization. During his recovery time, Lukas came across information about a farmer name Joel Salatin. Joel runs a farm in Virginia, using sustainable farming. Joel has written many books and produced tons of webinars designed to promote awareness off sustainable farming. Lukas used his recovery time to research everything he could on sustainable agriculture and was constantly discussing it and its benefits with his family and friends. After a year of research and recovery, our family started a small garden on the anniversary of Lukas’ one year sobriety birthday. We wanted to celebrate the second chance at life he had been given and helping him with a small garden was the perfect solution. Our small family and his extended family made a day of it hauling in compost and prepping the soil for planting. Through the spring and summer Lukas read about sustainable agriculture and walked to water sprouting plants. His desire to grow plants became stronger and our family grew together as we shared in his joy. Our family seemed to have a renewed purpose. Lukas’ passion for sustainable agriculture helped restore his mind and body and we feel it is our responsibility to share what we have grown to love with future generations to help preserve this beautiful planet we live on.