Back to Their Roots: Music and Nature at Rare Bird Farm

Despite what seems to be a growing trend, not everyone seeks the fast-paced hustle and bustle of life. In fact, some are on a purposeful mission to slow down time, savor passing moments, and rediscover their roots.

That was the goal of Farrah Hoffmire and Mitchell Davis when they first sought out Rarebird Farm a few years back. “We were both motivated to get back to our roots, so to speak, with both of us having farming in our ancestry and the desire to start slowing our fast paced lifestyles down. We wanted to be in more direct contact with nature and our food source. We had been looking for a farm for a couple of years in the radius of Asheville before we found and purchased the farm in August 2019, and moved here in March 2020,” explains Farrah.

Of course it wasn’t off to the races as soon as they secured the land; a farm is just as much of a business as any other operation, and various roles needed to be filled. To do this, Farrah and Mitchell were joined by Ben Gibbons and Edwin Self, to round out the skills and passions for every facet of operating the farm. And from the start, there was lots to be done. “We bought a farm that was dormant for almost six years, so we spent our first almost three years removing accumulated junk, overgrown brush and invasive multiflora rose, uncovering and replacing outdated pipes, overhauling electrical systems, and restoring rotten and critter infested buildings. The thing that has been the most challenging has ultimately been the most rewarding and that is to slow down and trust the process.”

At the core of Rare Bird Farm is the mission to connect people to nature, to themselves, and to each other. According to Farrah and Mitchell, their process for restoring old farmland into the next generation of regenerative farming will be documented to “build an educational curriculum as we go and use it to raise awareness and empower individuals to purchase food that supports healthy soils and a balanced climate approach.”

Additionally, Rare Bird aims not only to nourish and enrich the soil, protect the water and air, but also plant seeds of connection, creativity, and sustainability by hosting free monthly concerts for the community and healing and creative arts workshops throughout the year.

Those concerts blend seamlessly into another one of their passions: music.

“We have loved music since we were children listening to records and 8-track tapes. Mitchell taught himself guitar in his early twenties after graduating from college and is a dedicated fan of jam band, Widespread Panic and started playing in bands with their music being the inspiration in the late 1990’s. I learned the basics of mandolin by watching Youtube videos during the pandemic, but my main interest remains in writing songs.”

Today, you can find Mitchell playing in a Widespread cover band called 54 Bicycles.

But playing often takes a backseat when it comes to music. Their main goal and passion in the music world is bringing musicians out to the farm to play, creating a listening environment, offering it to the community for free, and building community around the sharing of live music. “We are a listening venue that hosts free shows once a month with a full calendar of healing and creative arts workshops and live music starting in March 2023.”

Outside of upcoming music events, Rare Bird has and will continue to offer workshops such as Intuitive Weaving, Exploring Songwriting, Internal Sound Healing, Dairy Processing 101, Intentional Parenting, and more.

To this end, Rare Bird suggests guests register online at www.rarebirdfarm.org ahead of time.

At the end of the day, Rare Bird Farm is more than just a farm, says Farrah, “we are a creative, healing, and nature-based arts space driven by the desire to make the world a better place in.