"If you don't know where you're from, you'll have a hard time saying where you're going." — Wendell Berry
More About the Moloney Family
Charlie Maloney grew up on a small, diversified farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The farm supplied many crops, including tomatoes for the local cannery. As the youngest of six children, Charlie manned the two-acre tomato patch at 13- a good preparation for future work. In 1968 Charlie left home for an education at Duke University, where he stayed for 10 years, receiving 3 degrees: BA in Religion, Master of Divinity, and Master of Theology in Pastoral Psychotherapy. Charlie became an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ in 1976 and completed a two year residency in Pastoral Psychotherapy at Duke University Medical Center in 1978. After the residency, Charlie and his wife, Miriam moved with their new baby, Heather, to Hampton, Virginia where Charlie worked as a pastoral counselor at the Peninsula Pastoral Counseling Center. In 1982, the Maloney family moved to Williamsburg where Charlie became the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Pastoral Counseling Services. He became a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and obtained his license as a Professional Counselor in Virginia. Following his success in the pastoral counselling arena, Charlie and Miriam moved to King and Queen County where they began to set up their farm with Heather and their new son, Jason. Within a couple years, the Maloney family grew by two more children, Paul and Katie. As the CSA grew, the farm developed and Charlie gradually cut back on his pastoral counselling career. In 2001, he became a farmer full time. In 2005 Charlie was asked to teach a course in the Environmental Science and Policy department at the College of William and Mary. The Sustainability and Agriculture class was developed and was taught by Charlie every spring semester for 20 years until his retirement in 2025. Along with the academic role, Charlie has been active in the Virginia Association for Biological Farming and the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (Southern SAWG), and has served on the Board of Directors in both organizations. Miriam, Charlie’s wife, grew up the oldest of two daughters of a Methodist Minister. After graduating college, Miriam and Charlie married and moved to Durham, North Carolina, where she also attended Duke Divinity School. Prior to working full time on the farm, Miriam worked a variety of jobs, most recently as an Early interventionist with the Rural Infant Services Program working with disabled children and their parents. Miriam spends a lot of time canning, freezing, dehydrating, and pickling all the beautiful veggies for her family and friends. Heather is Charlie and Miriam's oldest child. Ever since she was little she was interested in dance. She attended The University of Florida's New World School of the Arts where she received a BFA in Dance. Now, Heather lives in Miami, Florida with her husband Corey Silverman and their two children Ella and Mylo. She spend her time with her kids and as a dancer, choreographer, and instructor. Heather and Cory own their own business called Inkub8 an alternative studio and performance space. Cory is a truly amazing lighting and sound guru and owner of his own business Kor Media and Lighting! Jason is Charlie and Miriam's second child. Jason attended Brevard College in North Carolina, where he received his Bachelors Degree in Environmental Studies. Jason now is a Class A Contractor, and owns his own business, Tall Pine Builders, specializing in home renovations, barns, sheds, and additions. His first project when he came back to Virginia from living in Brevard was to build the huge beautiful barn at Dayspring! When not at work, one of his hobbies is playing the hand drums, and sometimes playing at local restaurants and events. Jason, his wife Amy, and their son Liam, live in Topping Va and together they have spent time working to restore an old 19th century farmhouse to be their homeplace. Amy graduated from the College of Charleston in South Carolina in 2002 with a BA in Studio Art,. In October 2004 her love of travel soon brought her to take a job as a classroom English Assistant in Southern France where she discovered yoga. Once back in Middlesex VA, Amy began teaching a yoga class in July 2007, sharing her love with her students. Amy and Liam both work with her parents at Wakeforest Farm where they raise local grass feed beef, hay, and straw which they sell locally. Paul is Charlie and Miriam's third child. Since Paul was young he loved to find out the way things worked by taking them apart and learning to put them back together. This was great for helping maintain all the farm equipment while he worked at the farm growing up! Paul attended J Sargeant Reynolds Community College, where he received his Associates degree in Automotive Technology. After spending several year doing automotive and carpentry work, he and his wife Jenny started their own flower farm, Wind Haven Farm, in King William County. Jenny grew up on a farm in King William County enjoying the outdoors by boat and horseback. She attended the University of Mary Washington for two years, then transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Craft and Material Studies with a concentration in Ceramics. She and Paul both work full time running Wind Haven Farm and would love to share their beautiful blooms with you! Check out it out! windhavenfarm.org Katie is the Charlie and Miriam’s youngest daughter. She graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro North Carolina with a BFA in Ceramics. Katie spent some time studying abroad even traveling across China, Tibet, Nepal and Japan learning new techniques from the old masters. She is currently making pottery for art shows and galleries in North Carolina and Virginia, and is an icon in her field. Her art focuses on nature and the symbolism that she expresses captures the hearts of her collectors and admirers. She has made her home and studio space right next door to Dayspring which allows her to walk over in the evenings and harvest salads for dinner. She loves to spend her free time hiking, riding her horse Shadow and attending music events of her friends. If you would like to see more of Katie's artwork check out her website! www.katherinemaloney.org "A healthy farm culture can be based only upon familiarity and can grow only among people soundly established on the land; it nourishes and safeguards a human intelligence of the earth that no amount of technology can satisfactorily replace." - Wendell BerryMATTAPONI FRIENDS QUAKER MEETING
We meet every Sunday at Dayspring Farm in the meeting house behind the barn, starting at 10:00 AM for Silent Worship (Unprogrammed) preceded by singing of Quaker hymns. All are welcome! |
A Prayer in Spring - Robert Frost
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends he will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.
And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.
For this is love and nothing else is love,
To which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends he will,
But which it only needs that we fulfill.