Gretna, VA - It's not something you hear about everyday- people leaving the big city for the farming life. But one couple and their seven kids did it. They moved to Gretna and started "Our Father's Farm". They wanted to be part of  the grow local movement.

The Fuhrmann family is just one of many across the US leaving a hectic life to take part in something they say is more fulfilling. 

It's called the simple life, but the Fuhrmann family will tell you, life on a farm is anything but simple. First Generation Farmer Jack Fuhrmann said, "There's no sleeping in, there's no running away for a weekend, which we miss sometimes, but it teaches responsibility."

It's a lifestyle Jack and Kim chose, after spending seven years doing missionary work in Africa. During the trip, their daughter Hope nearly died.

"She got very ill over there, we don't know if it was a type of salmonella over there in Africa and the normal antibiotics that normally work did not work and so she was in really bad shape," Jack said.

Hope survived. The Fuhrmann's took it as sign from above. To eat safe, natural food and provide it to others.  Kim Fuhrmann said, "There really isn't anything as amazing as raising something and getting it all the way from a seed to something that you can eat."

From baking bread, to picking eggs, the family does it all, together.  "In this kind of a life, the little ones have really important jobs to do and there are lives at stake if they don't do their job. Little things will die if they don't feed them and we won’t eat dinner if they don't pick the vegetables," Kim said.

They spend hours in the garden, pulling weeds and picking vegetables.  "They learn how to work hard at a really young age and we need them and they feel needed," Kim said.

They're small kids on a small farm, but together, the Fuhrmann's are a big family with big hopes.  "That we could make a living off of the farm, not looking to gettin rich but being able to make a living, to provide for the family, support the children," Jack said.

It's been one year since they first moved onto the farm. And they say if given the chance, they wouldn't move back to the city.

Click here if you want to find out more about the farm.

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