Having grown up in the suburbs, I had dreams of owning a farm. I was the only kid in my neighborhood that had green shag carpet, a blue-painted ceiling, and a two-foot-tall ceramic cow figurine. Cows were always my first love until I met a real one when I was an adult. They are HUGE animals and I seriously had to rethink my love of them. I believed their size was unmanageable and had to switch gears. The size of a goat was more to my liking and also the fun temperament I desired.

Back in 2018, Patrick (my husband) and I purchased our first homestead of 3 acres with aspirations of being self-sustainable. We started with a small garden and quickly became bored despite the weeding after dark. The following year, we doubled our garden and agreed we should look into getting chickens. That didn’t last long - we bought 6 chickens on a weekday commute home!

Just as chicken math goes - my husband said, “What’s the difference between raising 12, than 6?” We had 6 Rhode Island Reds and the following weekend I bought 6 Plymouth Rocks. As luck would have it, we were blessed with only one rooster, Bernard. His ladies continue to lay eggs and attempt to rule the property, searching out bugs and as many tomatoes as they can find. By the way, their favorite hot meal is “Mealworm Oatmeal”. Ask for the recipe.

We decided to dip our toes into the goat world and visited a farm in the area that bred them. Months later, that same farm had a few bottle babies who had not yet found their forever home. I agreed to take three babies all while my husband was on a business trip. Dottie, Otis, and Huck came home (2023) in a single dog crate, just in time for my husband to finish their enclosure after flying home on a red-eye. Remember three while I continue my story…

Three months after in a weird stroke of luck, my husband’s father knew of another herd that needed to be rehomed quickly. Our intent was to take a few older ones to help our bottle babies at home. After a fun-loving event with friends in town, we called the owner and agreed to take all seven. “What’s the difference between 10 versus 3?” my husband remarks again! Remember ten goats now, continuing on….

As our herd was growing, so was our neighborhood area. With additional housing coming to the area, we felt the squeeze. What if I truly wanted to breed some of my girls? We reluctantly agreed to leave our homestead for a bigger and more secluded property. Our sanity, along with our goats well-being, threw us into the direction of West Virginia.

Our new homestead lacked the animal amenities we needed and we had to start from scratch with constructing shelters for the goats and chickens. Nothing motivates you faster than thinking that your animals would have to go without. We are thankful for my father-in-law’s help with moving our homestead, along with the friends and family who gave their time to help with the shelters. Our almost eight-acre homestead was now bigger than we ever imagined and we had the space to spread out. This is when we started to have serious conversations about making a goat business - what that looked like and how would we accomplish that.

My husband seems to always be on the hunt for a good deal through social media. He has followed many goat and homesteading pages, one he follows was looking to downsize their herd and business. Jokingly, as always, he sent me the link, exclaiming, “This could be something that we could get into!” A few phone calls later and a 36-hour road trip of 1,000 miles - we arrived back home with EIGHT more goats, a trailer, a business plan, and another goat-loving friend.

You see - this all escalated within one full year. I went from zero goats to 18! What’s the difference between zero versus eighteen? Everything. My heart is full and I love my family. I wouldn’t change a damn thing.

Here’s the mushy part.

Thankful for my folks, Debbie & Gary, who were honestly the first ones that drove the whole “you want to be a farmer” thing when I was a child.

Thankful for my husband, Patrick, you are the one who continues to say YES. We keep each other busy, but also enjoy working together. He continues to improve the goat houses, chicken run-ins, and equipment so we can have a more seamless operation. I couldn’t have accomplished any of this without your love, humor, drive, or help.