Built by hand.
Season by season.
In August 2021 we put down roots on 10.9 acres in Huntington County, Indiana — and we have not stopped working since. What you see at Makofka's Eden Acres was not purchased. It was built: one boulder placed, one bulb layered, one path set, one season at a time.
When we arrived, this was raw Indiana woodland. We removed diseased and damaged trees, cast our own retaining wall blocks on-site, moved boulders by trailer, carved garden zones out of the forest floor, and planted every living thing with intention. Every statue has a story. Every boulder was chosen. Every path was laid by hand.
In May 2022, a cancer diagnosis changed everything. Emergency surgery followed on June 2. There was a moment in the recovery that came after where the future felt uncertain — where strength was gone and limitations had arrived that no one, not even Sofia herself, believed could be overcome.
But she made a promise. If she survived, she would make it God's Gardens. From that promise, the name was born: Eden.
She started outside on a five-gallon bucket, reaching toward the ground. Slowly she grew stronger. Eventually she was back on the tractor and they were moving. Every single living thing on this property was planted by hand — many of them with stories of their own. Some came as gifts from generous souls, each one marked with a signed stone so the kindness is never lost.
Wildlife found us before we ever found them. The red fox that crossed the drive. The corn snake in the soil. The deer that move through at dusk. The Great Blue Heron that found our pond and keeps returning. The Bald Eagles that circle our hardwood canopy near daily. When you build something that functions like nature, nature responds.
We are now formalizing what the land already is — registering as a wildlife sanctuary, pursuing conservation partnerships with Indiana DNR, USDA NRCS, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and working toward 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation so this place can do even more good.
A special tribute to Jim and Rhonda Howard of Jim Howard Farm — neighbors who became family for life.
For years people said they wanted those rocks. Nobody could move them. We moved every one of them — in six months flat, starting not long after emergency surgery. Jim, at 83, came out of curiosity to see what we were doing with the rocks nobody else could budge. He sat right down on the ones we set in the driveway and he has been part of this place ever since.
We told him they were art. They are.
His most famous words: "Sofia, I don't know about you."
Every summer we help on his little farm — he is the boss and we would not have it any other way. None of this looks the way it does without them. We love you dearly, Jim and Rhonda Howard.
