About Me

So this is me. My name is Betsy Nelson, and I'm proud to be from Augusta County, Virginia. I was raised outside a town of 200 people on a little farm, surrounded by farms and more farms. My sister and I were homeschooled and learned way more hands-on on the farm than at a desk.

My parents both work full-time on their farm and have since 1997. They mainly raise produce, but over the years we also had chickens, cows, goats, sheep, an evil pony, an evil llama, cats, dogs, ducks, turkeys, pigs, and a lot of other miscellaneous birds, thanks to the "birdbrain" of the family (yours truly.)

I was always involved in caring for the poultry that we had, and at 12 started raising my own flock of laying hens. A couple years later I talked my dad into letting me get a rooster so I could hatch eggs, and it hasn't been the same since!

At 19 I started working off the farm at Tractor Supply Company, and when I was 20 this very nervous young guy came in the store to buy socks, just so he could ask me out. For some reason I volunteered my phone number, and the rest was history. 

In 2009 Josh and I got married and bought a little house here on the edge of a bigger town. It sits on a half acre on the edge of the woods, with plenty of room to raise some chickens and a garden. The next spring I was very excited to start our first agricultural endeavors on our own, I started a bunch of seedlings for the garden, we fenced in the yard, and I brought home a lot of discounted baby chicks from work. Life was good.

And then one night in April 2010 we went out for ice cream and got hit head on by a drunk driver 2 miles from home. I had the distinction of being flown from a cattle field to a Level 1 trauma center with 26 broken bones, internal bleeding, a third of my teeth knocked out, and a 5% chance of survival.

But for some reason, I'm still here, still in one piece, still able to do practically everything I did before I got hurt. In a way its super awesome because, lets face it, I'm bad ass! But getting to this point was a special kind of hell that I wouldn't wish on anyone. 

Nowadays I work in town 5 days a week, volunteer with my heroes and friends at Stuarts Draft Rescue Squad, work with Josh at taking care of our chickens, goats, quail, ducks, dogs and cat, volunteer with our poultry club,  do clothing alterations, try and keep up with our friends, family, and other activities and hobbies, and write here. Its a lot and my mother tells me I'm crazy and I do get stressed out but I love it. 

So now you know something about me. Keep reading Cheap Farm Chick to see what happens next! :)