Leslie and Paul Spell own Humble Heart Farms in Elkmont, Alabama. For $150 and a heartfelt 200-word essay, their 20 acres could be yours.
The couple, who started the farm 10 years ago, decided to have an essay contest to choose their successor(s), who will have to tend to 60 goats, milk and package cheese, and have the option of growing the business how they choose.
Trying to sell their business the traditional way didn't work for the Spells. Investors who didn't seem to care about farming were the only ones who could afford to buy it.
Humble Heart Farms sells about 600 containers of goat cheese per week in different flavors, both at farmers' markets and to local restaurants.
And for whoever takes over, having farming or cheese-making experience is not required.
"We’re not selling this because we’ve tapped out of what’s possible," Leslie Spell said. "We’re not young kids anymore. I would love to see some energy come in and just take this and see what they can do."
