Adapting to Change

It’s officially been a full six months on the farm. In a lot of ways it seems longer. In more ways the time completely flew by. When I think about the transition, the best part for me is that we’re happy out here and enjoying our time together. We’ve had friends describe our situation as the ultimate test for a newlywed couple. Giving up every aspect of day-to-day life for a completely new set of challenges. Jumping from millions of people to just the two of us. Working separate day-jobs to working together constantly. It was no small feat and we’re more excited about the future than we ever were before.

Another area where we’ve grown is in our ability to adapt to change. In the city life was very structured, relatively easy to predict and if something went off-track it could easily be set back on track. Out here it’s a lot different. When something changes, we, as a farm, have to adapt. I see it with the animals and the plants every day. It’s a key factor in their survival. Everything out here wants to survive no matter what changes are happening around them. There is no giving up, and I love that aspect of nature.

That has to be true for us as well. Life doesn’t always go as planned. In fact, a lot about our future on the farm has changed in the past month. In the coming weeks we’ll share more, but for now I get a lot of inspiration from the farm and our wonderful companions that make each day that much more inspiring.

Bridget and Willow - The Story We Forgot To Tell

When we first took Willow in and I started bottle feeding her, I became the closest thing she had to a mother. I took that responsibility seriously and did the best I could to give her the care she needed to recover and thrive, but couldn't help but be very aware of the fact that I wasn't a goat. I wouldn't be able to teach her how to forage, show her what to eat and the right time to eat it, or teach by example, the plants to avoid eating at all costs. I wouldn't be able to nurse her and know instinctively when she'd had enough. I wouldn't be able to support her while she learned the ins and outs of the social hierarchy of our goat herd. I wouldn't be able to assure she'd ever be accepted by them. These are all things that a dam or mother goat will do for her young, and I wished I could somehow do for Willow. While wishing didn't turn me into a goat, it did seem to turn a certain goat of ours into a mother. To our amazement, Bridget has taken over that role for Willow and watching their relationship evolve over this past month has touched us deeply. I realized, while talking about it with Scrapple's Dad last week, that we hadn't shared much of their story with you. Actually - I haven't shared much at all (postcards don't count) in the past weeks! A good long update has been way overdue. This seemed like a good place to start.

Read More

Bobcat on the Night Cam - Guard Dogs Doin' Work


Our use of the night cams just got a little more interesting. The feline you see above was caught prowling the north perimeter of the farm. Fortunately, she was well outside the perimeter fence and thus far we haven't seen one inside the perimeter fence, or really even too close to the perimeter fence. 

Read More