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Former U.S. Army Chaplain in Middle East, BHS Graduate Justin Elliott Turns Focus to Farming

By Julie Perine on October 16, 2022 via Connect-Bridgeport.com

Located past Oral Lake is a working farm, home to the Elliott family, 37 laying chickens, a half dozen ducks, two bee colonies and a maple tree-tapping operation with alpacas and some pasture chickens on the way.
 
Though Justin Elliott calls it “Just Another Farm,” the story of how it came to be is quite unique.
 
“I was overseas in the Middle East in 2019 and 2020 and I came back home in the middle of a pandemic,” said Justin, chaplain of the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, 30th Armored Brigade Combat, West Virginia Army National Guard. “I had all this energy and needed to focus on something.”
 
He had read articles and seen various studies showing the therapeutic nature of farming for veterans and what is required to successfully run a farm.
 
“That includes commitment, dedication, hard work, and responsibility,” he said. “I decided to give it a shot.”
 
Justin had a little experience raising chickens and plowed into resources to learn other aspects of farming.
 
“I did a lot of online research, trying to figure it out – seeing what other people have done and I was also able to link up with several veteran organizations in agriculture, like Heroes to Hives, which teaches you how to raise and keep bees and the Farmer Veteran Coalition which pretty much covers everything and then there was reaching out and contacting different people to get information, so it was a lot of on the job training.”
 
He first enlisted in 2007, just after graduation from Bridgeport High School.
 
“I went through the ROTC program at Liberty University commissioned as an armor officer and did that for about seven years, serving as platoon leader, executive officer and commander of about 120 soldiers,” he said. “I finished up studies and was reassigned as a chaplain and I’ve been a chaplain for about five years.”
 
During his time in the Middle East, Justin served in Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait.
 
“I was chaplain for a cavalry squadron of about 600 soldiers and, of course, spread over four different countries. I traveled around doing what a church pastor would do – bible studies, church services, baptisms, and of course, a lot counseling,” he said. “I was blessed to be able to do it.”
 
Now full time with the West Virginia National Guard, it is nice to be back in Bridgeport with his wife Sarah, a realtor with Landmark Realty, and their three young children: Isla, age 5; Easton, 2 1/2 and Isla, one month old.
 
He believes the farm venture will be good for the kids.
 
“I think it will be a good opportunity to learn responsibility and grow up around animals; something our family can do together and have fun,” he said.
 
The boys are a little young yet, but Isla is already a “chicken wrangler.”
 
“She goes out there in her muck boots and a stick, puts the chickens in at night and collects eggs,” Elliott said. “She’s all about it.”
 
Sarah (Hooker) Elliott grew up on the property and said her present life on the farm is exactly what she always pictured.
 
"Seeing the hard work Justin has put into making our hobby farm dreams come to life has been incredible," she said. "Easton practically lives outside. He is obsessed with anything that has to do with our farm: Tractors, trucks, dirt, and the animals."
 
Though Isla isn't a fan of the dirt, she does love helpng with the flocks and Sarah said she has a feeling little Ezra will follow in his siblings' footsteps. 
 
"I love that our children are growing up in this environment. They spend a lot of tiime outside and stay active, all while learning to respect and appreciate our land, our animals, and nature," she said. "They're learning responsibility, accountability, and the value and reward of hard work. It also creates a lot of family time for us. We all work together to get little jobs around the farm completed. I find so much joy in knowing we are raising our children on solid ground. Life really is better with a little sprinkle of dirt." 
 
Since starting their venture in January of 2021, the Elliotts have found that there’s a much higher demand for farm products than they initially anticipated.
“We started off selling to family and friends and word of mouth spread,” Justin said. “We have a hard time keeping up. We keep adding more chickens and ducks, tapping more and more Maple trees.”
 
They tapped 55 trees lasts year and this coming season, they are anticipating around 90. The farm contains about 20 acres; 14 original acres and six additional acres purchased this past summer. This spring, they plan to move alpacas onto the new land and raise pasture chickens for meat. Their goal for 2023 is to raise and process 500 pasture meat chickens. 
 
Available for purchase at Just Another Farm are brown and white chicken eggs, duck eggs, maple syrup and will soon have lip balms made from beeswax. The farm supplies Winnie's Cafe with eggs for their menu items and duck eggs are offered for sale at Market on Main, both businesses located in Bridgeport. 



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