Print this pageOur Story
It all began on our LONG drive to visit relatives for Thanksgiving, 2004.
Somehow as we passed the time chatting, these two “city slickers” happened upon a discussion about “some day” perhaps owning some property and possibly even some animals. Well, needless to say, things snowballed during that drive. We returned home, began our research, and within a month, our subdivision home was up for sale and we began searching for something more appropriate in which to sow the seed we were developing. We found our farm in late December and moved in February 2005.
We then decided if we were going to be working hard outside on a daily basis, that we deserved to have a terrific home to return to. Thus began our renovation adventure. We packed up most of what we had unpacked and in late October of 2005 we moved into a travel trailer on our driveway. Spending fall & winter in a trailer was NOT the best idea, although the original plan was a 2 month stay, that somehow turned into a 41/2month stay.
All this time we were researching, visiting other farms, taking classes and trying to decide just what animals would be best suited to our novice experimentation. We were excited at the prospects, yet nervous about getting it “all right”.
We then began reserving animals.
As our trailer confinement dragged on, our barn preparations and fencing preparations got delayed.
We FINALLY got back into the house, but now unpacking anything more than the basics would have to wait.....we had animals coming! And no fencing!
WE got some amusing looks when we went to our local Tractor Supply store, bought the supplies we needed for the plan Matt had mapped out and announced that we would be back in about a week for more supplies. They were quite impressed when we did return, having completed cementing in 24 large posts, pounding down 181 T posts (now THAT was hard work!) and stretching spools and spools of 2x4 no climb fencing. Mostly a 2-3 person job done after work and on weekends, with the exception of inviting down a fencing friend and his family (Thank You, Willis') to help us get it all properly stretched. We are still admiring the final product!
We went and picked up our first two goats, yearlings Peggy Sue and Emmy Lou in late April and proudly placed them within our newly created compound. They looked like ants out there...... We were neurotic about keeping them safe.
It wasn’t long before we welcomed our Llama Guardians, Spotlight and Bode.
And then came the 24 chicks, 15 guinea fowl, 2 more pygoras - yearling Sandy and doeling Molly, and finally (for 2006) our last 4 pygoras - 2 doelings - Charlotte and Blossom - 2 bucklings - Gaston and Wilbur. Our foundation was in place.
Although we weren’t sure our bucks would be mature enough, Gaston has successfully bred Peggy Sue, and hopefully, Emmy Lou. We will be adding to our herd in late April, and then again in June.
Another set of firsts......
We finally finished unpacking in December. There are still some things that require “tweaking” inside, and those will make good projects for inclement weather days.
Our attention now is being turned to refining things outside.
One lesson we learned is that there is no set of rules that cannot and should not be broken and readapted to each specific situation. It’s best to remain flexible within the philosophy and goals you establish for yourself and your farm. There is a lot of help available, and a lot of willing teachers.
We have great pride in what we have created thus far.
We are becoming farmers!
And so far, we are still chatting.....although we have fewer LONG drives