ground, competing for worms and grubs. A natural herd protector, the farm’ s lone llama vigilantly watches over them all.
On most days, the farm’ s mistress can be found digging the earth somewhere amongst the 3,600 square feet of garden or tending an animal in a pen, depending on the time. Amy Cullember, a Florida native and mother of five, and her husband Mark Cullember, a Frederick County sheriff’ s deputy, moved to the farmhouse in the winter of 2006. Although instantly enchanted by the charm and rustic beauty of the house and its 4 ¼ acre property, neither Mark nor Amy ever anticipated that farming would be in their future.“ I’ d never even grown anything edible before moving here,” Amy jokes.“ I certainly never thought
that I’ d be farming.”
It was Mark who started it all when he decided to obtain their first bird.“ I thought,‘ we have the land, let’ s put up a chicken house and get ourselves some eggs,’” he says. Amy designed and built that first chicken coop using her kids’ recycled playhouse.“ I remember thinking that it was a lot of work,” she says.“ Then we started getting eggs. It was like a light bulb went off. Then we got into everything.”
Amy isn’ t exaggerating when she says everything. As a“ hobby farm,” or a farm run without the expectation that it produce an income, the Cullembers have nearly tried it all in the five years since that first fateful egg was laid. They have kept lambs, beef and dairy cattle, goats, sheep, a smorgasbord of fowl, bunnies, pigs, a llama and a miniature donkey.“ I am never afraid to try new things, and I am constantly learning,” Amy says.“ After watching over 100 births on the internet, we helped to deliver our first calf. Now we are full-fledged farmers.”
It is difficult to imagine that Amy, fresh-faced and glowing with natural beauty, has ever been anything but a farm girl. The transition from pampered city slicker to farming folk has been a rapid and dramatic one.“ I used to get a manicure and pedicure every two weeks. I spent much of my time getting my hair done, shopping and tanning,” Amy says.“ Now I wake up every morning and spend my time caring for the animals. My life has completely changed, and I love it.”
“ I’ d never even grown anything edible before moving here,” Amy jokes.“ I certainly never thought that I’ d be farming.”
44 March / April 2013 Hagerstown: The Best of Life in Washington County & Beyond