The Rora Valley Farm sits on a few acres in east Alabama, where the hills and meadows blend and stretch forever, and the mornings are chilly but soon give way to a warmer day. The sun rises slowly over the farm, tearing through the darkness, waking up the animals, and bathing the vegetable garden in the homemade greenhouses in nourishing light. The breeze is light and airy, reminding you of what the land owns, from the tall fragrant trees to the tiny wildflowers to the bees and insects, the four-legged creatures, to nature as it should be, to life in its most root form, fundamental, quintessential.
Rising along with the sun, the Sanders family’s two oldest boys, Enoch, 10, and Patrick, 9, take on their first chore of the day: feeding the calves while their father Noah milks the cow. Then they must feed the freely running chickens. The day continues when they return to their modest home to study and do homework. Noah and Dorothy homeschool their six children in addition to tending the farm.
