Written by: Alissa Flores
In 2023, Southern Adventist University’s Thatcher Farm, a space for hands-on learning in sustainable farming, closed its doors. Seth Shaffer, a history and political studies adjunct professor at Southern, ran the farm as a vital part of his sustainable agriculture class from 2015 until the closure.
Michael Weismeyer, professor and chair of the History and Political Studies Department, explained that Thatcher Farm, in addition to serving as a hands-on lab, provided students with service credit and employment opportunities.
According to Shaffer, the farm began in 2012 under the management of Mindhi Rahn, a professor in the history department, as a way for students majoring in international development to understand the rudimentary basics of agricultural growth. The department believed it would be valuable for students who might work overseas to develop the skills needed to grow their own food, preparing them for situations where grocery stores might not be available.
“The farm was always Southern’s best-kept secret,” Shaffer said.
Administration initially gave Rahn a quarter of an acre to farm on campus, complete with a hoop house, a high tunnel and a small field for students to tend once a week and apply what they learned in class, according to Shaffer. The arrangement continued until 2015, when Rahn and her husband moved away.
Shaffer, who had taken the class from Rahn before graduating in 2013, learned of the job opening from the history department.
“ I had been chomping at the bit to do this ever since I had graduated,” Shaffer said. “I have my own farm up in Cleveland, Tennessee —a vegetable operation — so I was like, ‘Sure, I know how to do this, and now I have the educational credentials to teach at Southern.’ So I accepted.”
Shaffer said prior to his takeover, the farm had been run minimally, producing and being maintained only during the semester when the agriculture class was taught. He aimed to enhance its production.
“I told them, ‘I’m not going to do that. I’m going to run this as a business, commercially, because that’s what I know. I’m not just going to sit here and let land be vacant,’” he said.
In January of 2015, Shaffer started his role as teacher and manager of Thatcher Farm. Under his management, the farm began selling the produce at local farmers markets and even to some restaurants in Chattanooga and Cleveland, he said.. This continued until 2017, when Shaffer decided to request more space due to substantial growth at Thatcher Farm.
Shaffer was given a temporary five-acre plot on Sunkist Terrace, where later, Collegedale Academy was planning on building ball fields for both the elementary and middle school. Until then, Shaffer was free to work the land.
“They eventually got it cleared, and I was able, with the income that I was generating off of the farm, to purchase another high tunnel, a tractor and a couple of implements [machinery used for agricultural tasks],” Shaffer said.
During his initial time as Thatcher Farm manager, Shaffer worked full-time at McKee Library, which put Thatcher Farm under library management. Later, it returned to the history department.
During that time, paid student workers helped Shaffer at the farm, according to Shaffer.
Thatcher Farm continued to supply farmers’ markets and restaurants, and they also started the Community of Sustainable Agriculture (CSA).
“Basically, people [would] sign up and get a box of fresh produce throughout the season of whatever is growing,” Shaffer said. “We would start late spring/early summer and then graduate into the main part of summer. They would get a box full of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc. People really enjoyed that, and we’d have pickup there on the farm site.”
Marty Hamilton, associate vice president for Financial Administration, said the school being built is the new elementary building (which is being constructed directly adjacent to the Collegedale Academy middle school) and that the main reason Thatcher Farm had to close down was because of the ballfields being developed for the schools.
“The ballfields required a tremendous amount of grading and soil removal,” Hamilton said. “So they are still in progress.”
In time, according to Shaffer, the administration offered two alternative locations for the farm to be relocated. One was too wet and surrounded by trees. The second, located on Old East Brainerd Road in Apison, was reasonable.
“It was a lot smaller than what I had when I was coming off of the five acres,” Shaffer said, “but it was still very doable for what I wanted to continue doing with the class.”
Shaffer said he waited for the location to be clear and serviceable, but communication faded. During this time, he moved back to the original quarter of an acre started in 2012 and also left his part-time job at the library.
While he began maximizing what he could at the old location, maintenance was required. Shaffer had lost the plastic to the high tunnel, and he filed multiple requests for Plant Services to cover it with new plastic. Shaffer said he explained his urgency, saying that the plastic was necessary for continuous growth during the cold seasons.
In late November of 2023, Plant Services informed Shaffer that administration told them to no longer support Thatcher Farm. Baffled, Shaffer learned that they were going to need the land he was currently on for parking and had decided the farm would have to go.
Shaffer said many in the Southern community were saddened by the farm’s departure.
“All the responses that I have gotten, whether it’s people from the market, alumni that I’ve heard feedback from, or people that have known about the farm for a while now, they haven’t liked that the farm got shut down,” Shaffer said. “They think Southern has lost a good outreach tool.”
Shaffer said administration told him that there was no issue with him teaching or running the farm, there just wasn’t space on campus. Now, Shaffer’s personal farm, Red Clay Farm, has become the new location where students spend their weekly lab time, actively working.
“We don’t have a lot of workers working the farms.”
Red Clay Farm is a 50-acre, mixed vegetable enterprise that houses a stone mill and operates in all seasons, according to Shaffer It runs a CSA program, as well.
“We don’t have a lot of workers working the farms,” Shaffer said. “It’s a family-run operation. We have one part-time guy, my parents, myself, my wife, and that’s it.”
Despite the shift in the program, Shaffer said things have been working out. The students have helped with fencing projects and other things, making it a win-win situation for all involved.
“It allows for a change of pace in the school day, as well as a chance to get some exercise and practice what we learned in the lessons.”
Jonas Caster, a senior computer science major, shared his experience being a part of the class and working at Red Clay Farm.
“Getting out of the classroom is definitely beneficial, especially for a topic like agriculture, which is very hands-on,” Caster said. “It allows for a change of pace in the school day, as well as a chance to get some exercise and practice what we learned in the lessons.”
Caster said driving to Red Clay Farm may be difficult for some, but Southern handles that with shuttles for the students who can’t drive themselves. “While some are sad or disappointed to lose this on campus, in general, there is an understanding of the space needed and gratefulness that the class can still be taught with a lab portion so the educational aspect of the farm continues,” Weismeyer said. “Pedagogically, there is perhaps more value now at a larger working farm than the one on campus. So, for students, it may be a beneficial situation.”
