GRAYSON — Stephen and Millissia Owens knew they had something special in Carter County which could benefit many in these mountains and beyond.

On the 100-acre farm where he once helped his grandfather Lovell Evans harvest tobacco, their family has set up camp and are working every day to transform the land into a Christian-based summer camp for children. The residents of Goose Creek, S.C., say they believe the project will be a blessing to young people who have never had a chance to learn about things including gathering eggs, milking a cow, woodworking, fishing and life on the land within a spiritual context. For their part, the Owens say they are trying to plant seeds which will bear fruit in the future lives of many children.

“We plan to teach them how to plant seeds in the ground and how that is the same thing as it is in your life. What you put into that seed is what you’re going to get out of it,” he said, noting the former tobacco field will be planted as a pumpkin patch. The pumpkins will provide lessons and activities as well as a cash crop that can help support camp operations.

“Kids need a place where they can just be ... and get away from electronics,” said Millissia, a 1987 graduate of East Carter High School who grew up in the nearby Rush community as one of 11 children on a Davidson Branch farm. Lessons learned in that rural background are unknown to most of today’s young people, she said, adding she is confident their land is a perfect place for those children to learn more about life.

“Here they will carry buckets of water and boil it ... learn how to build a fire, plant a flower, catch a fish or identify a tree. Kids need guidance and direction,” she said, listing a few of the other basic life skills which seem to be missing in many youths.

Instead of building cabins or barracks for campers, the Owens say they want to construct separate shower facilities but otherwise keep everything as basic as possible. Campers will maintain “rustic” campsites and awake to nature each day, they said.

Owens said teaching Sunday School taught him about the need for today’s young people to learn more about self-reliance. His wife quickly adds the camp will be Christian-based, but will not be marketed solely to people who attend church. The camp already has many supporters, although the Owens are only accepting support in the form of people who want to come and help them build the camp. The Owens said people at their church in Goose Creek, The Exciting Midway Baptist Church, “are already excited about this. We’re excited too.”

The Owens say they hope to find a wagon for singing hayrides to and from Sunday and Wednesday services at nearby Wilson Creek Missionary Baptist as part of the camp’s curriculum.

With their own campsite clean and a new road carved in by Billy Arrowwood of Olive Hill, the Owens have primarily been working on clearing brush and envisioning the camp’s future. With natural features including a massive stone overhang resembling a sort of amphitheatre, as well as a rock cliff which will be an ideal setting for morning services, the Owens say they hope to find truly special aspects of the land for the camp, as well as creating new features including an easy-access fishing pond where three small streams converge.

“We came to work,” she said.

For more information about the camp, call (803) 729-7814, or write to Valley of Hope Farm, 866 Joe Branch Road, Grayson KY 41143.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.