Woodland Cottage Farms in Mississippi: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Woodland Cottage Farms is a roughly 1,175-acre forest and grazing property near Picayune in Hancock County, Mississippi, managed by Jim Currie. It won the 2025 Mississippi Leopold Conservation Award for rebuilding pine-grassland habitat with prescribed fire, native seed and a herd of heritage Mississippi Pineywoods cattle.
| Location | Near Picayune, Hancock County, Mississippi (owner lives in Pass Christian) |
|---|---|
| Land assembled | Currie began acquiring 17 parcels in 2000 |
| Sectors | Timber; Pineywoods cattle; native seed; habitat |
| Scale | About 1,175 acres across 17 parcels (Sand County Foundation) |
| Why it is elite | 2025 Mississippi Leopold Conservation Award recipient |
| Ownership | Owned by Jim Currie, with caretaker Craig Saucier |
| Official website | Leopold Conservation Award announcement (Sand County Foundation) |
History of Woodland Cottage Farms
Jim Currie began acquiring the parcels that now make up Woodland Cottage Farms in 2000. The land was a patchwork: former dairy pastures, ex-paper company forests, high and low ground, overgrown woods and clear-cuts. Before working in Mississippi he had spent about 20 years working in Belize.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed his coastal home in 2005 and reshaped his thinking. Before the storm he and his wife Laura had spent heavily removing understory plants to restore longleaf pine. Afterward he concluded that soil and groundcover mattered more than the trees for long-term site health. He went on to serve on the Mississippi Prescribed Fire Council, start a local prescribed fire mentoring program, and host field days and workshops. In 2025 he received the Mississippi Leopold Conservation Award.
What Woodland Cottage Farms Grows and Raises
Currie and caretaker Craig Saucier use prescribed fire, in both winter and the growing season, to maintain a pine-grassland ecosystem. Since 2018 the farm has grazed Mississippi Pineywoods cattle, a heritage breed that helps restore longleaf pine systems. Heifer calves are sold as breeding stock and steers go to a local processor.
The property also produces timber products: wood poles, pulpwood, sawtimber and pine straw. A Flail Vac seed harvester lets the farm collect native seed to reseed degraded understory. The land supports rare crayfish, federally threatened gopher tortoises and ponds where endangered dusky gopher frogs were released in a relocation effort.
How Woodland Cottage Farms Makes Money
Timber and pine straw
The farm's revenue comes from several wood products: poles, pulpwood, sawtimber and pine straw. Staggering products across stand ages gives a forest owner income between big harvest years.
Heritage cattle sales
Pineywoods heifer calves are sold as breeding stock, and steers go to a local processor. The cattle also serve a land-management role by grazing the pine-grassland understory.
Native seed and education
Native seed harvested with the Flail Vac supports reseeding of degraded ground. Currie also hosts workshops and field days, which build a reputation that supports mentoring and land-management partnerships.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Woodland Cottage Farms
Let one asset do two jobs. The Pineywoods herd earns sales and also keeps the understory open, much as fire does. Operators with woodland can often add a grazing enterprise that supports forest goals instead of competing with them.
Learn from a setback. Katrina changed Currie's priorities from tree counts to soil and groundcover, and his results now serve as a model for neighbors. Sharing equipment, burn crews and mentoring, as the Mississippi Prescribed Fire Council encourages, spreads the cost of fire.
Not many farms can say a gopher tortoise approved of the grazing plan, but Woodland Cottage Farms comes close. If your idea of a good evening is farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about burn permits and heritage cattle, farm.FM keeps the pasture of jokes well managed, and a Pineywoods steer who has opinions about wiregrass would fit right in.
farm.FM calls itself the nation's first satirical farm site, and between the headlines it spins Tractor Tunes, country music for farmers; a good place to start reading is this farm.FM columnist's archive.
How to Contact Woodland Cottage Farms
No official farm website was found; this page is the award announcement for the operation, November 2026. Contact the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation or Sand County Foundation for award-related inquiries.
Woodland Cottage Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Sand County Foundation announcement - Jim Currie receives the 2025 Mississippi Leopold Conservation Award
- Mississippi Farm Bureau coverage - Farm Bureau story on the 2025 award
- Mississippi State University Extension - Forestry, grazing and wildlife guidance
- USDA Farmers.gov - NRCS and FSA programs for woodland and grazing lands
- USDA Census of Agriculture - State and county ag statistics
Woodland Cottage Farms FAQ
Where is Woodland Cottage Farms?
The property is near Picayune in Hancock County, Mississippi; the owner lives in Pass Christian.
What does it raise?
Mississippi Pineywoods cattle, timber products such as sawtimber and pine straw, and native seed for restoration.
Why is it elite?
Jim Currie received the 2025 Mississippi Leopold Conservation Award for restoring pine-grassland habitat.
How big is it?
About 1,175 acres across 17 parcels, according to the Sand County Foundation.
Woodland Cottage Farms proves that a patchwork of worn-out parcels can become a working conservation business. For crops, catfish and poultry alongside forestry, return to the Mississippi farms guide and the other profiled operations.