About Us
We are citizens of the world. We’re passionate about protecting and celebrating our beautiful planet and the sustenance it provides us, and about meeting and hosting all sorts of people from our incredible human diaspora. We’re major animal lovers, chefs, makers of art, growers, and imbued with boundless curiosity. While Alabama is our adopted home, we’ve fallen in love with this magnificent state. We’re also just a couple of goofballs!
Our Story
Sara grew up all over the world, primarily in Asia and Africa, and developed an abiding adoration for the remarkable variety of humans and ecosystems. She has worked in disaster response, sustainable investment, corporate responsibility, and environmental protection, and holds a BA in French and Spanish and a MA in environmental and agricultural economics. She finds happiness in dirty fingernails and bare feet. She loves cooking and fermenting and finding ways to make sure everyone–regardless of dietary limitations–is welcome and well fed at her table. She sings. Sara’s also licensed to perform secular weddings and loves it!
AJ grew up in Chicago, the son of a Haitian father and American mother, speaking French in the household. It’s possible he held a guitar before he held a fork. Classically trained on piano and cello, he developed a fascination with heavy metal and Ozzy Ozbourne in his tweens, and is now a multifaceted musician with a taste for house music, country, alt rock, and just about every form of expression. He’s a wizard in the kitchen, and a deft designer and builder. He’s got dad jokes for days, and loves a good laugh. He holds a BA in business administration, and has worked in commercial real estate finance, home remodeling, and the solar industry. AJ is also a DJ and loves tailoring sets to suit the celebrants.
Sara and AJ — together, “SarJ,” because why let Bennifer have all the fun? — met in Washington, DC at a meet and greet for Flashband, which is basically pick-up soccer but for musicians. An unlikely couple on paper, they ultimately hit it off and decided they’d like to walk through this world together. They cannot believe their good fortune to be living and working in a place like Ziggy’s, and are endlessly enthusiastic about sharing its treasures with other people.
Our Mission
Our mission is to develop and steward this beautiful land to provide a place where people from all walks of life can gather together, eat well, and stay one or many nights in tranquility and harmony with nature. We are working toward farming and managing the forest regeneratively.
Our Menagerie
We have 19 goats who enthusiastically perform their duties of fertilizing the soil and managing brush growth, and 15 chickens who provide us eggs and compost with similar gusto. We have two livestock guardian jobs who protect the herd and flock, and 12 cats who control pests in the gardens and pantries. And we have one emotional support dog who will make you smile the second you see him!