By Carol Mowdy Bond
Contributing Writer
Okarche residents Cat and Matt Owen, and their teenagers Audra and Talan, live in Okarche. Their 8-acre hobby farm is featured in the May/June 2020 issue of “Chickens,” one of the Hobby Farms line of agricultural magazines.
Audra is a 16-year-old sophomore at Piedmont High School. And Talan is a 14-year-old eighth grader at Piedmont Middle School.
Matt works in the oil fields, and Catherine “Cat” is the children’s director at Light Your World Church in Okarche.
As a four-page spread, the story “Paying It Forward – A teenage visionary created a flourishing hobby farm, while giving away her profits,” tells the evolving story of Audra’s hobby farm.
At age 6, Audra told her dad she wanted her own garden. Matt created a 4-by-4 garden for her, and helped her plant tomatoes. As the years went by, Audra’s interest in gardening kept growing, Matt kept making Audra’s garden bigger, and she kept planting more kinds of vegetables. The family also added fruit trees. And they don’t use any chemicals on the foods they grow.
But Audra became interested in chickens. And three years ago she bought various breeds of egg and meat chickens. The family also added other animals. However, the project was more than Audra could handle. So her brother Talan joined in her efforts.
Audra’s plot has morphed into a massive 40-x-80-foot garden. And Matt has built raised beds, as well as an elaborate chicken coop complex.
The hobby farm is a true family affair, and the family really doesn’t have to buy a lot of groceries. As Cat says, “They grow it, and I’ll cook it.”
Several years ago, Audra’s plans took a different turn. That’s when she began selling her extra eggs, vegetables, and home-made jams. She gives all her profits to area children to attend church programs such as summer camp.
Considered one of the top U.S. agricultural publications, “Hobby Farms Magazine” has an international circulation, comes out six times annually, and is all about hobby farmers, homesteaders, and small producers. The “Hobby Farms” publishers also produce “Chickens Magazine.”
