Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to have a farm. I wanted the chickens, pigs, cows. I wanted it all. Mostly I liked the idea of raising my own meat and knowing where my food was coming from. In my entire life, I have not made any real steps to meet this goal, but it has stayed high in my life goals.
I was raised on a farm, although at that time it was not really a “functioning” farm. In other words, my dad had some land but he worked a couple of full time jobs and we didn’t have a full time farm. There were times when we had chickens. There was a time that we had some pigs, a goat, a horse, and a few cows. For the majority of my childhood, however, it was not a functioning farm.
A year ago, I met the love of my life. Luckily for me, he was like minded and wanted to make his living as a farmer. When I met him, it was in the middle of hay season and after he finished that up he got his cow herd started. We have made many changes in the last year, some of them have been trial and error. You can read here about some of our farm adventures regarding pigs, chickens, and overall farm experiences.
In the past year, our adventure has been a crazy one. We added cows in July of last year. Towards the end of August, we added some free range chickens. We bought three goats, which we then traded for more free range chickens. Sometime last fall, we bought some pigs. We have since got rid of the pigs, and do not intend to raise pigs again. This spring, we have expanded our small chicken flock and added a couple of ducks. We have also added sheep to the mix.
With each no animal addition, there is a learning curve. We must learn about diseases and illness that affect each animal, and how to cure and treat each one as well. There is a lot more that goes into farming than I ever imagined there would be.
So far the chickens have been my favorite. There is SO MUCH to learn about chickens, and their breed histories can be quite interesting. I have at times been a little overwhelmed with new information regarding the birds alone.
Overall, I am extremely excited with this part of our lives. It is a lot of work getting everything established and learning everything new. It will pay off in the future. I am so glad to have found a husband who shares my goals, and I can’t wait to raise our baby girl on the farm.
Love to all,
Tiffanie
Tiffanie Talks 