Nearly one year ago, I  prepared my application for a Fellowship Grant with the Farmer Veteran Coalition. The program offers grants to veteran and military members that are looking to expand their farm business. After much consideration, the husband and I elected to propose to use the grant towards an unexpected source. Hops where taking off in Ohio and while we were a year ahead of many area growers, we knew that this chapter in our family wouldn't allow for rapid organic hop yard growth. The CSA trial had gone fairly well and we learned more than we ever imagined about the model and the interests of area families. Our plan was to tend our hop yard, strengthen our relationship with other growers, support the return of hops to Ohio, fine tune the option of a 2016 CSA, and seek additional revenues for our farm. To this, we sought an investment that would fuel the farm, feed our community, and strengthen our position as a family farm. We choose to expand our chicken flock carefu