About the Farm

It was 31 acres which was a dream amount of land. It already had fields that were ready so I could move my farm full of animals immediately to their new home. But it also had open fields to be able to expand the number of pastures we would have as well as having a huge barn with 14 stalls inside and 5 outside stalls plus two additional older barns that had character but were so functional as well. I worried about all of this well before the house but this one did have an old farmhouse dated back to 1850 on it that didn't need too much work with lots of charm and an amazing front porch.

My neighbor whose barn is in the distance is the 7th generation to live in their farmhouse. Our farm was originally part of their ancestors 500 acre farm.

There is cemetery on our farm which has my neighbor's late ancestors buried at. One of the cemetery stones dates 1790 to 1845.

The farm has absolute the most amazing sunrises and sunsets. They never fail to disappoint and never fail to amaze.

As beautiful as the sunsets are, our morning fogs make for beautiful scenes as well. We often get a thin layer of fog that lays over the fields and sometimes the fog is so thick, I can't even see across the property.

Pictures will never do my favorite tree justice. The trunk of the tree was massive and each branch is equivalent to small trees. It resided along the fence line between our big field and one of the original other fields. It provided lots of shade but most of all pure beauty in each of the seasons. Sadly, on a sunny day, the trunk gave way and the entire tree collapsed onto itself. Luckily no one was hurt, only the fence line. It was estimated to have been 150 to 200 years old. The tree company who helped remove the tree for us, Bennett's Tree Wrangling, surprised me a few months after the tree fell with the most unbelievable benches and stumps to make a firepit after showing him a picture of my dream firepit and wanting to have something to keep the tree alive. He also made a lot of the tree stumps from the tree and was gracious enough to cut them and place them for the goats. It lives on.

And if you read the previous caption on the tree, here is the beautiful firepit area created by the benches and stumps all made from our big oak tree that fell. I love these so much.

We love green grass here on the farm. We are super lucky to keep green grass throughout most of the summers and into the fall. Green grass means we feed less hay which saves on our hay costs.

So in the goat field is a 3 piece train that the goats love to play and lay on. How did I get this train, well it's a funny story. I came home one night from looking at farms and was scrolling through my feed and saw this train that was actually 6 pieces. As most normal people do (LOL), I say OMG, my goats would love this. So the next day I went and bought it. Moving it was extremely difficult and getting it hear from Maryland was even more so which is why I said I would only keep 3 pieces however now I wish I had all 6. :)

It is like another world on the farm! In the back corner of the farm, we have a huge pond. It is an absolute beautiful spot. I wish you could see it from the main part of the farm but there is a woods in between. But when you walk back there, you feel like you have entered a serene, fairy tale setting.

When summer storms move in, we can literally see them move across the farm. I am not a big fan of storms and the clouds we see are very cool but very intimidating at the same time.

Because of our massive skys we see, we are super lucky to see many lucky rainbows. We often get full rainbows and I absolutely love getting pictures of all them. Sometimes it is still raining and I will go around in the rain to each field.

Fall colors on the farm are beautiful. Our trees across our street provide a beautiful backdrop as well as the trees in and behind many of the fields.

Some winters we have had none but when it snows, I take full advantage of capturing the beauty. The horses love it and so do the steers. The goats once they figure it out - well they try to have fun in it. Snow on a farm with beautiful animals, well it is very special.

In the springtime, we have buttercups that line some of the fields. As they are not good for the animals, we are always trying to eliminate them. The animals are smart and know not to eat them. However, they sure make for beautiful pictures.

In October 2024, we had the rare chance to see the northern lights from the farm. It has been on my bucket list to see so getting to see them in my backyard was even more special. Seeing with the animals was doubly special. No words could really describe the beauty.

Initially I personally added 3 Run In sheds, the barn now used for Pisa & Lucca , & the quarantine barn.

With your amazing support, we have been able to add Tater & Tot's barn, an additional Run In Shed, & the big Run In Shed for the Steers and the shed that Feta now uses. These sheds and barns have allowed us to make small fields where needed for those animals needing their own special space as well as help us to be able to rotate fields better for the horses. Each of these additional buildings have made such an impact for the animals and we thank you for helping us add these additional barns and sheds.

With having a large property with a pond especially with it backing to acres and acres of woods, we certainly have wildlife visitors especially on the back part of the farm that is not fenced in. We see deer, wild turkeys, opossums, raccoons, foxes, skunks & more. We do have predators like coyotes that we hear at night. We value all their lives and we tell all the deer especially to stay on the farm especially during hunting season which is a tough season for us to endure.

We have a two spots on our driveway that get big puddles after a big rain and the one stays for a few days. The sunsets over it and it makes for the best reflection pictures.

In the fall, we get to see the magical art of spiders. Spiderwebs are literally everywhere and they get pretty elaborate. The only thing is I am constantly walking into them. That is not my favorite. :)

Our Sanctuary Store is named Bucket's Variety Store, after my Dad's Namesake store, Bob's Variety Store. Our store allows visitors to purchase tshirts, our calendars, etc.

My parents store, named after my Dad that opened in 1960 and stayed open until 2000. We grew up in the store helping and much of my business knowledge comes from working at the store. My parents worked long days and I know they instilled the work ethic I have today needed to run the sanctuary.