Noah, 25, and Bradie Terry, 24, purchased their Bourbon County property in December 2020, after moving from Oregon.

“We were motivated to look further into the homestead lifestyle and wanted to take the knowledge we gained to pass it on to others in the community,” Bradie said. “We quickly realized the importance of knowing where your food comes from and how it is raised or grown. We both did not grow up with any background in agriculture or farming, so everything that you see us doing is learning-as-we-go and applying our time we spent studying these things to gaining hands-on knowledge.”

The name of the homestead business is The Shire, LLC.

“The name, The Shire, derives from a region in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional book, The Lord of the Rings,” Bradie said. “In this fictionist world, The Shire is a peaceful, fruitful, community that focuses on agriculture. Which is symbolism of the type of community that we want to build upon in Bourbon County. We are also both pretty short, so we also have the whole ‘hobbit’ thing going for us.”

“Currently, we have a flock of free-ranged chickens that allow us to sell delicious eggs to the community,” she said.  “We are also growing cucumbers to produce pickles for a local restaurant.”

The farm is located on the southeast side of Fort Scott near Ellis Park.

“We both work on the farm when time allows,” Bradie said. “Currently, my husband is in school and I work a full time job from home. Our goal is to transition one or both of us to working full time on the farm as we grow.”

They are the recipient of a Healthy Bourbon County Action Team (HBCAT) $10,000 Farmer/Rancher Grant.

“Our plans for the $10,000 farmer/rancher grant is to expand to our bee and dairy cow operation as well as expanding our garden for produce,” she said. “We will have bee hives and will breed our Jersey dairy cows by April of 2023, which will produce honey and raw milk by fall of 2024. The expansion of our garden operation will be done over the course of a couple of years and we hope to have a big greenhouse built by that time. The grant funds will also help us expand our chicken operation in order to have more eggs available to sell.”

“We will jump into the world of beekeeping and milking our dairy cows within a year, which are two huge farm changes because we haven’t experience this before,” she said.

Influx Services, which was started by Fort Scottian Jake Province last year,  now offers roof, gutter, and window cleaning services, in addition to house washing and roof cleaning services.

His pressure washing and exterior cleaning service serves Fort Scott KS, Nevada MO, Miami OK, and surrounding areas

He has also been serving businesses in Fort Scott: the local Travelodge and Don’s Spirits and Wines.

Bartelsmeyer Jewelry staff  have had approximately 12 people bring in gold items to be appraised, and they are not gold, all with a similar story.

John Bartelsmeyer said he wanted to inform the public.

“I wanted to get the word out that people are getting scammed,” Bartelsmeyer said. “People have told us they are buying supposed gold at gas stations. Several local people have brought in items to be appraised in this manner since last fall.”

Bartelsmeyer did not know if they were local gas stations where the scammers were.

“They say, “This person was at a gas station and needed gas and told me they would sell me their gold ring( for money)’,” Krystal Hulbert, an employee of the jewelry store said.

The  fraudulent gold pieces have included necklaces and bracelets too, but mostly gold rings.

Often they have been stamped 18KT to indicate that they are real, which can really fool people, Bartelsmeyer said.

“The gold looks nice,” Hulbert said. “But someone like John who has been working on real gold for 50 years knows it’s not real.”

There is also a chemical test to provide proof that the article isn’t real, Bartselmeyer said.

“If people are wanting to help them out, that is one thing, but thinking they will get a bargain in gold, no,” Hulbert said.

Sgt. Tim Harper, Fort Scott Police Department, said there have been no people turn in a report to the department about this.