From Yard to Farm

     As I look back on what began our farming dream I think of us at 19. I made Brandon pose for a selfie in front of a chicken coop he took care of on his buddy's property. At the time we were college students, just at the beginning of our relationship. I was living in the dorms, and Brandon in a dry cabin.  Then it felt like our life together was wide open, that we could do anything. That was almost 7 years ago, and you know what? It still feels that way.

Before the kids, dogs, and goats! (2011)

     We moved out to our property in Fall of 2013, with one kid, one dog, and a random assortment of belonging we had deemed important enough not to send to the dump when we moved out of the dry cabins. At the time we rented our property. In a desperate attempt to flee apartment life, I put a craigslist ad asking for a house, land, and a garage. That is when our amazing land lady found us. From the moment we stepped onto the property it felt like ours. An acre and a half, squeezed between a a dirt road and slough looked like heaven compared to the apartment we had called home for a year.

I'm in love with growing cabbage... until the moose eat it! 

     The following two summers we started a modest garden, quickly realizing how much potential the yard had. We could expand the garden, we could add chickens, dogs, anything. However, we were renting, so we chose not to do too much. We rented for a few years, but in 2016 we (finally) made the jump and bought the house. Before the papers were signed, we bought chicks and goslings, and built a chicken coop. When I say we, I mean: Brandon built everything, I bought everything. You'll find throughout this that I am not the builder, I am the dreamer.  That is the trait I like to think sold my husband on buying the property. "Look at all this land, and its a perfect location. We can do so much with it!" Chickens and Goslings were our start to where we are now. They were little, they were fluffy, and eventually they gave us daily eggs.

Dragon and Pig while they were still cute!

Dragon and Pig enjoying the slough.  

     By Christmas 2016, Brandon bought me a goat book and we stayed up late discussing if getting goats was our next "thing." Of course at the time I was nursing our newborn daughter, and staring out into the dark winter dreaming of summer. Baby goats, who could say no? Not me. Goats were the logical next step, in my mind, to take in expanding our farm. We had been gardening for years, each year the garden growing larger than we could weed. The chickens had been easy to keep, and man was it nice to have those eggs. So goats, of course! We did our research, managed to find exceptional breeders, and decided on exactly what we wanted for our little farm. 

     First came the outdoor dog house, then came the kids! Goat kids that is. Starla, a pure bred nubian doe, and Molly a boer/nubian doe came to our farm in May of 2017. They were stinking adorable. Everything about them was pure cuteness, oh wait, except for the part where they got sick. Their sweet little bodies were riddled with coccidia, which is common, but I as a newbie goat farmer was pretty panicked.  We were able to treat them, and with time they got better, and even cuter if you could believe it. My son adored bottle feeding them, and I couldn't help but take endless photos. 

Starla, (the black), and Molly showing me some smiles!

     However, as much fun as they were (and are), we did run into a few issues. First, as any Alaskan knows, in early May in the Interior, the ground is still frozen. Do you know what that means for my poor husband who was tasked with building the goat enclosure? It took months, MONTHS, for him to get the fencing completed. (His work schedule also had something to do with it, but I like to fault mother earth for this problem.) In the end he had to use concrete for the posts closest to the slough, because even by the end of June, that ground refused to give way to all of my poor husbands efforts. In the mean time we housed Starla and Molly in the coop run, and then a temporary enclosure next to where their large pen would eventually be. 

     The fence did eventually get built. When it did, we watched happily as our two little does ate through the enclosure greens in about three weeks. The next thing on the menu for us was to build a winter goat house. Now, we had a plan, a good plan. A plan we fully intended on fulfilling, until the moment our neighbors said to me in passing, "We are getting rid of our old garage if you want it." In my dreamers brain that was an easy yes. A perfectly good insulated structure that was the perfect size for a barn? Oh yes, we needed that. It is possible though, I didn't think of what it mean to "move" an old unheated garage from one property to the next. Brandon did, he knew, and when I told him of my idea he looked at me like I was a lunatic. (Which, I probably am, but that wasn't the point at the time.) It was a free barn! Who cares that she had already given away half the siding, a window and the doors? It was just what we needed! Look at all the possibilities we have for this barn!

(Don't worry, Brandon made sure to put the roof on!)

     In the following month, Brandon took my dreamers outlook and made it a reality. He and two friends moved the barn. It took two days, a fork lift, beer, blueberry pie, and pizza. I honestly have no idea how they did it, but it was done, and suddenly we had a barn! It was exciting. It still is exciting. Brandon built a winter goat house inside, and we organized storage of hay, feed, and straw inside. 

This is Reyn, and Malta is hanging out behind him. 

     Fall came and Brandon processed the meat chickens, hunted a moose, and generally filled our freezer so full we stopped buying meat from the store. We processed the last of our summer treats into jars and stacked them away for winter. The last of our little goat herd arrived just before Halloween and we welcomed two Angora goats to the farm, Reyn and Malta. 

     As everything settled calmly into this winter, we began our barn plans. Everything for summer 2018 seemed distant until the New Year. The calendar changed, a new planner was bought, and now as we enter March we are edgy for summer. A warm spell hit us, and we cleaned out the goat house, the coop, and did yard work. It was wonderful, and although the normal winter chill returned, it didn't turn our minds away from spring. I've done a full seed inventory, ordered chicks, and started a new organizational system for our records. Brandon has flung his mind into planning how he will perfect the barn this coming spring. My mind wanders to the farm babies we soon will have. Slowly, our plans are coming together once again.

Goldie Hen enjoying the barn roof. 

     This time of year the spring winds begin to wash away the winter. Our minds and hearts thaw as the sun rises higher in the sky each day. Soon the midnight sun will reign and we will be in the throes of another beautiful Alaskan Summer. We plan to update this blog as we grow as farmers and parents. We are, in no way professionals. Nor are we experts. We are still students. We read other blogs, endless books, and use google more than we call a vet. We have leaned on other farmers, on nursery owners, and the experiences of our neighbors and friends. This blog is our way of sharing what we have learned. Please feel free to contact us with questions, advice, or your own experiences!

Thanks for joining us, and check back for weekly updates!

Genna