A Thanksgiving Interview with Chiquita Berry
of The Twelve Stone Farm
by Mary Davis

Mary: Chiquita, how did you get to this beautiful farm? What brought you here?

Chiquita: I live on a very sacred piece of Mother Earth called Twelve Stone Farm. To give some background information, my husband and I divorced in 1983 after 26 years of marriage. To support my daughter and myself, I had a business baking and decorating wedding cakes for the hotels, country clubs and large caterers in Atlanta. I also loved horses and had two which my daughter and I enjoyed riding.

In 1987, my farrier (the man who puts shoes on horses) told me he had just signed a contract to buy a beautiful horse farm in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains, where he planned to breed and train horses and also run weekend trail rides. I asked if I could see it, and the next week, on his day off he took me to the farm. As we approached the farm, it took my breath away! You drive to an overlook and look across vast beautifully rolling hills and pastures, then woods, surrounded by mountains! And he said, "This is the farm!" We drove down the hill, unlocked the gate, and entered paradise!

As he showed me around the farm, and we walked and talked and looked, as we got near the back of the farm...I had a Vision...I saw people wandering all over the farm, looking for God! I told my farrier he was going to do a great work here...

Chiquita:Shortly after he started buying the farm, he had some financial setbacks. He said he was going to have to sell it. I said he couldn't, his mission was too great, and that I would make half his payments to keep him from losing it. I did this for several months, and then things went from bad to worse for him. He said that I would have to sell out with him or take over the payments.

There was no way I could make the huge payments by myself, and I couldn't bring myself to sell out either. I agonized over what to do. I felt God wanted this land for a Sacred Healing Place. My friend said he thought this was my mission, not his!

During this time, everything in my life began to fall apart, my van, my house, my business, my beloved animals...I was about to have a nervous breakdown, when suddenly I had an epiphany. This must be the Most Important Thing I would ever do in my life, and the Dark Side was throwing everything it could at me to scare me so I would not fulfill my mission! I told God, "Win or lose, sink or swim, live or die, I will hold on until the last thread is pried from my fingers..." And suddenly everything in my life got quiet and calm, and nothing else broke down. And I had nine days to come up with the full payment!

Here I was at the age of 52, facing that first payment, knowing that it was September, and that in January and February I wouldn't earn enough money to make the payments and would lose the farm. That was nineteen years ago, and I have NEVER missed or been late with a payment! So many miracles have happened during that time, and I have become an expert at "creative financing." Let me tell you, God is still in the business of creating loaves and fishes!

You told me that the farm was overgrown, with all the buildings falling down when you came. Would you share that part of your story with us? How did you feel? What was the process of clearing and cleaning? How did you learn about building a lake and pools and fountains? How did you learn to use a tractor? How did you build the "kiva" and your house, doing all these things yourself?

Chiquita: Now I have this huge 100 acre farm to take care of by myself. I'm almost penniless, and the farm is growing up with weeds and briers. It has one old falling down barn and one falling down shed. I have no equipment to maintain it. The fences are all falling down. It is a mess and getting worse by the day.

A year or so later, I happened to be talking to a friend about the farm, and I mentioned that I really needed a tractor to mow down the weeds and tree seedlings that were growing up everywhere. She said they were selling their tractor and she agreed to sell it to me over time!

This began one of the scariest times of my life! I had never been on a tractor. I got a man to help me get the tractor to the farm and teach me how to drive it. I started to mow all the weeds and briers that by this time were eight to ten feet high, and so thick I could not see the wheels. I could only see the hood of the tractor. I drove it in low gear, feeling my way along the ground, terrified that I would hit a hole or wash and turn the tractor over. I started in the level places, but soon I was having to drive on steep slopes, and it was absolutely terrifying! Over time I was able to get the whole farm cleared. I started with 95% weeds and 5% grass, and by mowing it twice a season, before the weeds went to seed, I discovered that I could eliminate the weeds and give the grass a chance to grow. Things were looking better!

One day as I was working on my fences up by the road, some farmers came driving by and asked if I could use some chicken litter for my pastures. They needed to empty their chicken houses quickly and agreed to let me make payments. This allowed me to build up the soil and give the grass a real boost. Over time my pastures markedly improved, and since these same farmers also cut hay, we worked out a deal...they would fertilize my whole farm in exchange for a cutting of hay.

With all of the buildings falling down, where did you stay while you were working on the farm?

Chiquita: I was able to locate an old mobile home, which I had moved to the farm, so I would have a place to get out of the weather, cook food and take a bath. I placed it by the old barn where the well and power were located. Over time I made a little garden between the barn and the trailer, with a little waterfall and ponds.

Were you still working in Atlanta?

Chiquita: I had to build up my cake business to underwrite the huge expenses of buying the farm and making improvements, plus keeping up my home and ten acres where I lived. I didn't have much of a life besides work, but I had a dream and a mission, and I was inspired by how beautiful the farm was becoming. I began to have people coming to the farm and finding peace and healing. I moved my horses to the farm, and they were so happy there.

In 1995, things were steadily improving on the farm. In that August, I had my 60th birthday; in September, my ex-husband died unexpectedly, and twenty-eight days later, my father died. I then was able to collect Social Security from my husband's account, and I received a small inheritance from my father.

I had developed carpal tunnel problems from all of the cake decorating, and in May of 1996, I finalized the sale of my business.

When did you move to the farm?

Chiquita:I had a neighbor friend who had been in house building. His wife died of cancer, his company was sold, and he lost his job. I asked him if he would consider helping me build my house. We sat down, drew a plan, and he agreed to help me. So in the Fall of 1996 into the Spring of 1997, using the money from Dad's estate, we dried in the house. That's all I could afford. I kept working on it as I could, insulating, running the water lines, and having an electrician friend connect the power after I had done all of the receptacles. My son-in-law helped me install the sheetrock, which I finished by myself.

About that time, the lady who bought my business declared bankruptcy and I lost that income. I was using that money to make the land payments! I had to do something right away. Since there wasn't any reason for me to remain in the house I was living in, I decided to sell it and move to the farm. Within two weeks, it sold. This gave me the money to hire my friend to come back to the farm and help me get the flooring done. My son-in-law tiled the bath, while I installed the kitchen cabinets and appliances.

My life began to fall apart again. I know when the paradigm you live in has served its purpose it falls away so a new life can come in, but while my mind understands, my heart doesn't get it. I lost five friends, two horses, almost lost my grandson, lost the income from my business, everything was breaking down and falling apart. I had to move to the farm as soon as possible.

So in November, 1999, I finally got to move to the farm.

We are beginning to get a sense of your daily life on the farm, as you maintain the farm and continue to build. What came next?

Chiquita: When I was settled into the farm I began to work on making raised vegetable beds, more flower and water gardens, and finishing the house. I took most of the wood and tin off the old barn and had the rest torn down by a bulldozer. A couple of years later, a friend wanted to be married down by the creek with her reception up here by the house. The old shed was the last eyesore on the farm, so I decided to tear it down. I took off all that I could of the wood and tin, then got a rope and pulled the posts out from under it with my tractor. I completely dismantled it by myself with crowbar and hammer. Then I hired a company to build a new pole barn over the concrete pad. What an improvement, and in time for the wedding!

Tell us about the building of the lake.

Chiquita: About two months later, an old horse died on the farm. It was July, so I had to get him buried in a hurry. I was able to locate a man with a big bobcat to do it. When he was burying the horse we were talking, and I asked him if he knew anyone who made lakes. He said he did. I asked him to look over what I had in mind and give me a price. He did, and it was about twice what I had hoped to pay. But I felt so strongly that I was supposed to have him do it, and I felt the horse had "offered himself" to see that the lake got built, that I said it's a deal. With a handshake, he began.

You built this lovely circular sacred space that feels kiva-like to me up on a hilltop. How did that happen?

Chiquita: The man had just taken down the trees along the creek bed and begun to dig for the core of the dam, when a friend brought a young lady up to see the farm. She loved it and she asked if I would consider selling her an acre so she could build a cob construction (old world type of clay, sand, straw) house. I said I didn't want to sell any of the farm, but if she was wanting just to build something, I was wanting a chapel. She was thrilled and said she would love to do it. Such was the beginning of the chapel.

I wanted the chapel to be circular, since I wanted a Native American Medicine Wheel embedded into the floor. We began with broken up concrete rubble and stacked it above the (rain) splash line, then hand mixed clay from the lake bed, sand, and hay from the pasture, and with our bare hands molded the entire building.

We started in September, worked through the winter in cold and sometimes rain, and reached a good stopping point by April, in time to have a Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday.

This wonderful young lady had met a fantastic fellow, fell deeply in love, married and moved out of town, so the chapel was mine to finish.

What do you do on the farm, in addition to maintaining it? I heard that some of the animals were orphaned, and you spoke about therapeutic horse back riding. I know that the farm is also available for small group retreats, and I heard you speak a bit about shamanic retreats.

Chiquita: During all this time, I had been working with at-risk children through the mentoring program in the schools. I invited them to the farm for field days, and had large groups of them running, playing, roasting wieners, having hay rides, petting horses, and being able to be free and just be kids. During one of these outings one of the mentors came up to me and asked if I had ever considered having a therapeutic riding program on the farm. I told her I would love it, and since she was a certified instructor we began a program to help mentally and physically challenged children learn to ride horses. We now have five horses and twelve children, plus some twenty volunteers involved in this program.

Another instructor and I have started a series of seminars and workshops on Equine Assisted Learning where we use horses as teachers to assist people to see themselves in a non-confrontational way, facilitating them in making adjustments in how they view the world, their fellow human beings, and their personal spirituality.

Will you tell us more about retreats at the farm?

Chiquita: Even before I moved to the farm I had been having individuals and groups here for camp outs, counseling, and retreats. Now that I am here, I have been having many more coming on a regular basis. Nearly every weekend something is scheduled.

It's exciting to see what happens to a person who comes to the farm! The farm has a most peaceful feeling that pervades everything! You feel a shift in energy as soon as you turn into the driveway and make your way down the hill toward the lake and house. The deeper you get into the farm, the more peaceful you become. It's like your worries and cares stay out in the road and you come into this Special Sacred Place that soothes and protects you from the harm of the world. You can relax, and unwind, and begin to feel free to just Be.

And the animals?

Chiquita: Another aspect of the farm of course is the animals. At present I have twenty-eight horses on the farm. Eight are mine and the rest are boarded here. The farm has healed many of these horses that came here abused and mistreated. They have been able to relax, unwind, and become what a horse is meant to be, friendly, beautiful and flowing, spiritual and mystical. They are great teachers and companions.

Also, one of the boarders works at an animal shelter, and she and I rehabilitate wild animals. She is a certified rehabilitator so she works with them until time for their release. Then, she brings them to the farm where they can find food and safety while they are acclimating to being free. At present I have about thirty ducks and geese of all sorts, two infant deer, a male I named John Deere and a female I named Jane Doe. Then, there's the pot-bellied pig I named Pork Chop. The children love them and look forward to petting them every time they come.

And, Chiquita, what about you — the sources of your vision, your strength, your energy?

Chiquita: Being on the farm is not all work, let me tell you…I LOVE this place. It is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. It means as much to me as my children, and I joy in the things I do here and in the people I have come here to experience the bliss.

I celebrated my 70th birthday this August, and I had a wonderful party with barbecue and a live band, and lots of cherished friends and family. One of my friends, Sheri Kling, who is a singer/songwriter, even wrote a beautiful song honoring the farm and me!

My oldest daughter and I make a point of going horseback riding at least once a month for an all day ride of 20 to 30 miles, fording streams, going cross-country, climbing mountains and exploring new trails.

In addition to maintaining the farm, I am a docent at a Heritage Museum, and I am part of a Living History vignette in the village at the museum. I also belong to a Heritage Guild that teaches and demonstrates early pioneer skills.

I have tried to give you a view of my life from the "historical" point of view, but I would be terribly remiss if I did not explain some of my philosophy of life, which is, to me: God, the Creator and Great Mystery, is everything...God is Love! And my faith and the practice of my faith is a Way of Life, not something I do for three hours on Sunday! I feel to those that much is given, much is expected; that we are given abundance to share, not to hoard. My greatest joy is sharing my farm and my life with those who respect and appreciate the value of what is here. For the purpose of my life and the farm is to be a place where people can come out into Nature and find the God of their understanding and in so doing can find healing.

Will you tell us the story of your horse, "Sug" (short for "Sugar")?

Chiquita: I have an old "used up" mare that I recently rescued. She is an old bony thoroughbred (race horse stock) that was raced, and even had pin firing to her legs so she couldn't feel how badly they hurt, until she couldn't race anymore. Then, they bred her and she had so many foals that her teats and vulva are all stretched and scarred. When she was too old to raise any more foals and was not a "money maker" any more, she became a throw away horse, considered not good for anything but the slaughterhouse.

I use this horse, who in spite of her treatment is gentle and kind, to show how life sometimes deals us a difficult hand. I have people, principally women, handle her and connect with her emotions. I let her be a mirror to them so that they can work through their issues. Realizing that everybody comes into life with issues and pain, and that the experiencing of life is to help us realize that we can be anything we want to be because of our circumstances or in spite of our circumstances. For life in all its gore or glory is completely up to you!!!

Thank you so much, Chiquita, for sharing your story and all of its lessons.

Email Chiquita if you are interested in visiting her and the Twelve Stone Farm.

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