EST
Welcome
   Established in 2001, MJ farms is located in the beautiful and bountiful Shenandoah County, nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the ancient Appalachian-Allegany range in Virginia.

Where to buy MJ Farms Organic Shenandoah Produce
   Starting Spring of 2007, hopefully, we will begin selling healthy, organic produce in farmers markets in Northern Virginia (Kingstowne, Fairfax, Va., Fridays 4 - 7 p.m. summer through October) and the Washington, D.C. (Eastern Market, weekend mornings, year round, accessible via Orange/Blue Metro lines) area. We are planning to sell fresh Red Delicious valley apples from our orchards, with apple sauce, apple cider, apple vinegar, and soon to be our speciality, the MJ Farms Shenandoah Sampler™ gift-basket - full of country-goodness for sale in big city.

Restoration of a Century-old House

	Fore & Aft
Old pictures - winter 2001	2002	New pictures - winter 2003
Virtual 360 Tours of Kris's House (click each room)

Virtual 360 Tours of MJ Farms & Vicinity (click within for 360° VR hotspots)

Brief history

Billions of years of techtonic plate movements created the Appalachian mountians. Once much resembled the Rockies, now became rolling, gentle high hills, meandering rivers and vales surrounded by three great mountain ranges. MJ farms is located on Senedo road (name sake of itss original Native American inhabitants) in the great Shenandoah Valley (means in the Senedo Tribe language "Daughter of the Stars").

Fast forward towards British colonization of Virginia (named after Queen Elizabeth, and in turn a reference to holy Mother Mary the Virgin mother of Christ), British, Irish, Scottish and German settlers came to tame this wild and rugged, but rich land. One such family was the Göetz of high German descent in the mid to late 1700s. Berhardt Göetz purchased hundreds of acres from Lord Fairfax and his estate far west of the Potomac River and near its supposed source. Land surveyed by George Washington became known as the Blue Ridge mountain area of Virginia. Back then Virginia stretched all the way to the Mississippi River and Canada.

Records from Mount Jackson and the local Shenandoah county capital of Woodstock indicate that Göetz (Getz) sold portions, of what would become MJ farms, to the Shutters family in the mid 1800s. Cattle roamed free and during harvesting of beef, entrails were left as an offering to the birds of prey that kept vermin at bay. Eagles, hawks, Virginia gliders, crows and ravens feasted on these left overs and this humble glen was known as "Buzzard's Glory," now known as "Eagle's Glory." The spring on the great Getz ranch never runs dry, as is the hospitality shown by the Getz family.

Legend has it that during the civil war between the states or as they like to call it in the Valley "the War of Northern Aggression" (Civil War 1861-1865), most if not all of the original Shutter men were killed. Cousins came to help the Shutter's women rebuild after the tragic war that left the Valley burning. The early 1900s saw a period of prosperity for the farms and ranches as a new cistern was built in 1917. After two world wars and a great depression, the Shutter family moved one and sold the property to the Weatherholtz family in the mid 1900s.

Weatherholtz prospered on the farm, but soon their children sought different dispositions. The land was further partioned and sold as the last Weatherholtz, a venerable Virginia State Trooper, rented the land. However, prolonged civic duty would leave what was left of the farm/ranch at the mercy of vagrant tenants.

At the turn of the 21st century and a dawn of a new decade, the Weatherholtz family sold the property to the Salang-Diokno family. The Salangs found a deserted, abandoned century old farm house and a decimated ranch. With the help of neighbors, Mr. Grayson Getz (originally Göetz), Lawrence family, and John Showman's Home Improvement and his family, the Salangs was able to restore this modest farm/ranch to new glory. This is their story.