The phrase “Funny farm” is nastalgic for me. When I was 3 my parents bought a very old neglected Amish house on 14 acres. My mama said all she could see was pretty lace curtains hanging in the windows. I grew up amongst a myriad of ongoing construction projects and a whole lot of animals. That old Amish house quickly became our families little funny farm. Over the years we had goats, pigs, a pony and mule named Mike ( my dads name), cattle and the best STRAY Horse. Yes, a stray horse! The backstory we were told was he was an unknown payment for a debt escaped. We thought he was a dog as he came barreling up our dirt road toward the highway, dog he was not, and after posting his picture all over town we were told by the owner to keep the white Appaloosa.
In the chicken coop we had about every species of poultry, pheasants, peafowl, guineas, bobwhite quail, turkeys, ducks, chickens of course, and the meanest Goose that ever lived! I affectionately named him Ahsob… which is an explicit abbreviation A.H.S.O.B…. I’ll pause while you try decode his name..) Okay okay, in my defense this started as a joke from pre Christian teen days! But the name stuck and Ahsob lived a looong looong life (like 20+ years). They say the good die young, and Ahsob has always made me wonder if the mean die old!
I spent most of my days playing in our beautiful bank barn. Climbing up the hay chute to the second floor hay mow where you were always likely to find a clutch of eggs, or kittens in the spring time. My dad tied a swing way up in the peak of the barn, it overlooked the pasture and hayfield.
This barn housed all our 4h animals though the years with the coolest grain shoot to fill your feed bucket from the upper level to the lower level of the barn. It even was the wedding venue for our dogs.
It is fair to say there was a sense of magic between the farm and the cozy flower garden my mother made with curving paths and a sandbox next to the Lilly pond surrounded by giant boulders found on the property.
The perfect backdrop for wonderful childhood adventures. From a very young age I couldnt imagine anything else but raising my own future family in a simple country life daydream.
In fact that was a prerequisite to engagement for me. I let my boyfriend (now husband) know it was what I wanted. So much so that I forwent college and sought a trades degree in cosmetology to fill the time.
Spoiler alert he was more than ok with that, and preferred it!
In 2016 with our first baby and 4 years of marriage under our belt we bought a massive renovation on average .. and wouldn’t ya know it, it was a run down Amish farmhouse, just like from my childhood! (Read more about that house here!)
To make a long story short… that house we were called away from to seek seminary school for my husband and now we are back in the country & continuing that dream of raising our kiddos on a Funny Farm.
(Read more about our family here )
We are renevoaating a small 1800s farmhouse on a piece of acreage.
(Read more about our current renovation here)
MEET Our Funny Farm Friends
Meet Our Milk Goat Herd
The cats
The Dogs
Meet our Feathered Friends
Meet the bunnies
Raising meat & what we feed on our farm
In 2022 we raised our first round of meat birds. The topic of animal husbandry and where our food comes from are two topics I’m very serious about.
It was a great experience raising these birds to nourish our family.
I do my best to give the animals in my care the most natural environment & diet ad possible within the limits of safety and resource constraints.
I believe all domesticated animals should have a happy life regardless of the “purpose” & final destination of the animal.
On a slightly morbid but necessary thought, if we are what we eat, then it just makes sense the animals producing our foods we eat should be well cared for nurtured and free to live happy living God intended them to as much as we can safely provide them.
On our Farm this means prioritizing pastures and rotating pastures starting at a young age to break parasite cycles and limit illness exposure to create a robust immune system.
Sprouted and or fermented soy free organic feeds. (Read more about soy free feed here)
(Read more about fermented feed here)
(Read more about sprouted feed here)
(Read about Chaffye hay here)
Using these natural methods to provide our animals with more nutrient dense foods not only provides them with better food resulting in better health but it stretches our farm feed bill too! Ya can’t argue with that!
My favorite feed can be purchased through azure standard (here)
