WASHINGTON — A Virginia couple is willing to give up their farm for the “write” price.
Through a contest, the 35-acre Rock Spring Farm in Essex County, Virginia will be given to an essayist “who can convince a panel of judges his or her story is a bestseller,” according to a post on the farm’s Facebook page.
Owners Randy Silvers and Carolyn Berry told WAMU that they sought this unconventional method in order to handpick a new successor. Silvers and his first wife bought the property in the 1990s. But due to health issues, Silvers hasn’t been able to tend to the farm like he used to.
“The thought of strangers traipsing through the house, wandering about the farm, and nitpicking every flaw was too much for him to consider,” Berry said in a post on the farm’s blog. “Beloved horses and dogs that have crossed the Rainbow Bridge are buried on the farm; his wife’s ashes are buried here, and Randy had expected that he, too, would die and be buried here.”
According to the rules stipulated on the farm’s website, eligible essays must be 1,000 words or less. Entrants would be charged a $200 entry fee, which would be refunded if fewer than 5,000 entries were received.
The money from the entry fees would be used to pay the remaining mortgage, buy a retirement home, cover taxes, and establish college funds their grandchildren, according to a post on the farm’s blog.
The entries are due Oct. 17. Winners would be announced in November.
