2023 Farm and Home Plans

We’ve got some BIG goals this year on the farm. We moved here on July 3rd, 2020, so this is our 3rd year on these 25 acres!

We have enjoyed taking our time-and planning out each year what we want to accomplish, and the farmily we want to add! The first big thing we took on when we moved here was building the Chicken Coop and getting chickens and a small herd of cattle! That pretty much was all we could do year 1! We’ve learned not to rush through making this our dream hobby farm-but thoughtfully and intentionally building it each year.

Tyson and I grabbed some coffee and spent a few hours dreaming about 2023. First we laid out the 3 main things: 1. New Farmily (farm animals we want to add) 2. Farm Projects 3. Home Projects. Then we literally listed everything that came to our minds under each category.

Let’s Start With Farmily.

We crossed off a couple big farmily goals last year by welcoming our first donkey to the farm-MERLE!!! We love him so much, and he’s been one of our favorite farm additions ever. We also added Amelia and Toulouse-our white Chinese Guard Geese!

New Animals we want to add in 2023:

1. A Jenny! Merle needs a Donkey Girlfriend ASAP. lol. And we want Merle babies. So we are definitely going to look for a Jenny (female donkey). Would love to hear some name ideas for Merle’s girlfriend in the comments!

2. Another Highland Heifer. Oatmeal (aka Oats), the full blooded baby sister of Maple came home to the farm just a few weeks ago! We are building the foundation of our Highland Herd! Our goal is to have highland babies and sell them to other hobby farmers who want a pasture pet to “mow” their grass lol. You can get on the waitlist below! I cannot tell you just how much we love this spunky, little social highland cow. She has brought so much joy we didn’t know we were missing to the farm!

Reserve a Highland calf!

By the end of this year we will be breeding Maple, and I’ve started a waitlist for our highlands! If you want to get on the waitlist, you can do so Here: Join the Waitlist

3. Dairy Cow. Another major goal this year for us is a milk cow! This most likely will not be until the end of the year, and we may decided it’s too much right now! It’s a big commitment, and we are learning all we can before we dive in. We will most likely get a heifer calf (not in milk) and that gives us time to get all set up and prepared.

4. A Tom! (Male Turkey)! I’m so excited about this one. I guess Turkeys are actually SUPER affectionate, have winning personalities, and form strong bonds with humans! Very social AND get attached to you?! YES please! He will fit right in on our farm. Although Franklin the rooster may not be happy. Am I becoming a full blown bird-lady? Maybe. If you want a Turkey for a pet-try a heritage breed, they grow slow and have a long lifespan! The two we are looking at are either the Bourbon Red or the Royal Palm turkey!

4. More Holland Lops bunnies! I’m convinced they are the best. Benjamin was adopted by us from a family because he didn’t like humans haha! So we raised him with chickens and the rest is history!! We want to get more of these delightful creatures and hand raise them! Benjamin has brought us so much joy and showed us how magical bunnies are.

5. Goslings! We added Toulouse and Amelia last year and they have been AMAZING! They are white Chinese geese! We purchased them from McMurray hatchery online. Toulouse has fully stepped into his role as guardian of the flock! He breaks up fights with the chickens LOL and walks with the flock (including ducks) watching over them! Did you know old farms always had the iconic “guard goose” hanging out for this very reason?! They are great guardians! And they are actually even credited with saving a Roman city when they woke everyone up to the invaders! We are HOPEFUL they will give us some babies this spring!

Wildcard: Pet Pigs: but Shhhhh! Don’t tell Tyson. I’ve got to massage this idea a bit more haha! I want to name them Johnny and June lol. We shall see how this year shakes out lol. Wish me luck!

Garden Project: Stone Raised Beds

This is perhaps one of THE most exciting projects we will be doing this year for me! If you have followed us for awhile, you know that we have done the traditional market garden style! This year, we will start the process of building a more permanent garden, with raised stone beds! You know me, I want all the European farmhouse charm. Think walking in to an old world garden in Italy. Yes, please. And if we ever sell, I would the next owner will inherit a gorgeous turn key garden, ready to plant! I’ll be pairing back a lot of what I plant this year, just focusing on the must haves while we make this transition! Here’s some Inspo pics, although I’ll be doing white mortar!

Click Here to check out my: Pinterest Garden Board!

Home Project: New Shake Roof and Paint

I don’t think I have EVER fully shown a picture of our 4,000 sprawling ranch haha! Here she is, in all her glory. And I can’t WAIT to get my hands on her!

as you can see, we need a MAJOR overhaul! Turns out, the insane hail storm from hell last year on October 15th (who was here for that in my IG stories?!) was so intense we are getting an entire new roof! Which is what I had already planned, so although the hail tried to murder my chickens and rune our cows through the fence, I’m grateful lol. We will have to come up with a little money (about $5k) since I chose to go with Synthetic Cedar Shakes-but the aesthetic and curb appeal will be worth it! They are gorgeous and match the chicken coop roof! The product we are using etc will be in another post. We will also be painting the home, and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) we will also get to cladding the fireplace with STONE! Inspo below and my Pinterest Renovation Inspo Board HERE!

This gives the overall aesthetic/impression I want our place to embody. Creamy white brick, shake roofing, layered architecture and stone elements! This year we will tackle the shake roof and the paint! Very excited about this year and so thankful you are on this journey with our family!

Living like everything is extraordinary, because it is.