Awe-Struck!
As I looked out my kitchen window while washing dishes tonight I felt overwhelmed with a sense of awe. Not 100 feet from my window stands our latest accomplishment, a real greenhouse! My hardcore other half, ever devoted to improving and growing our farm, spent countless hours during the past winter researching the best strategies and materials for erecting a small greenhouse that will meet the needs of our farm. With the help of family and great friends (Dale, Megan and Ben—we appreciate your hardwork and support so much!!), our new greenhouse, which now stands sturdy and HOT, staked with rebar and fitted with high-end light penetrating plastic, is ready to grow food!
The frame of the greenhouse is up with help from our friend, Dale.
 Compost was added to the greenhouse to help serve as passive heating. |  A door/frame has been added. Greenhouse is on its way to completion! |
The plastic is on! Greenhouse is pretty much complete!
Our greenhouse is complete! It is unbelievable how hot it got so quickly! We will be equipped to start a lot more seedlings soon!
Becoming a farmer wasn’t exactly in my original plans when I moved away from home and went to college. I went to graduate school to become a wildlife biologist, a snake biologist to be precise. A knack for catching snakes, lizards and frogs and a heart devoted to their conservation propelled me into a nearly 7-year career working for the state of Arizona.
As I poured my heart and soul into my work, I traveled extensively across our southern border state. I hiked into remote canyons in the Huachuca Mountains, throughout the San Rafael Valley along the border with Mexico, traversed the Sonora Desert, camped under the stars, and monitored snakes along the Verde River. In my position, I met with ranchers to discuss conservation options for frogs and snakes. I worked with professors at universities to establish refuges for endangered frogs.
As I poured my heart and soul into my work, I traveled extensively across our southern border state. I hiked into remote canyons in the Huachuca Mountains, throughout the San Rafael Valley along the border with Mexico, traversed the Sonora Desert, camped under the stars, and monitored snakes along the Verde River. In my position, I met with ranchers to discuss conservation options for frogs and snakes. I worked with professors at universities to establish refuges for endangered frogs.
 Valerie holding a fringe-toed lizard during field surveys on sand dunes in western Arizona. |  Valerie holding a Mexican gartersnake, the species that I spent most of my professional career working on--conservation! |
Miller Peak in the Huachuca Mountains, AZ. This dirt road leads to one of my main field sites for leopard frog conservation!
While I lived in a small, 1 room Phoenix apartment, working and ‘living the dream,’ I grew a small container garden of heat stunted patio tomatoes, the full extent of my desert gardening. I think I managed to harvest 3 tiny tomatoes, the rest of which inadvertently became ‘sun dried’ during an extended work trip. When I eventually married my hardcore other half and we moved into our home in a Phoenix suburb with a 1/8 acre gravel covered backyard, he managed to extend our garden into larger containers, which oftentimes better served spring nesting Gambel’s Quails than our wilted zucchini and tomato plants. Back then, he used to threaten me that eventually we would have goats….
These are some of our first container garden plants at our home in a Phoenix suburb. We managed to grow and expand our 'garden' quite a bit over the subsequent two years before we moved north to WI.
“Haha,”I would laugh, casually brushing off his absurd assertions. I couldn’t imagine having livestock other than a couple of laying hens. “Who in the world wants goats?”…………
When our (then) small family of 3 made a difficult decision to depart careers and the desert southwest to move north toward 4 seasons, returning to our native roots along with woodticks and mosquitoes, I had not imagined that we would pursue a farming life. We landed on our northeastern Wisconsin peninsula during a record breaking warm spring.
Without a plan, we submitted offers on two separate houses. Each outbid, we felt defeated. Then one day, during late summer, we walked across an old overgrown orchard where an old farmhouse, accompanied by its own retired outhouse, was encrusted with dirt and second-hand smoke and in dire need of a complete paint-job and flooring replacement, when my hardcore other half said, “You know, I could be REALLY happy here!”
When our (then) small family of 3 made a difficult decision to depart careers and the desert southwest to move north toward 4 seasons, returning to our native roots along with woodticks and mosquitoes, I had not imagined that we would pursue a farming life. We landed on our northeastern Wisconsin peninsula during a record breaking warm spring.
Without a plan, we submitted offers on two separate houses. Each outbid, we felt defeated. Then one day, during late summer, we walked across an old overgrown orchard where an old farmhouse, accompanied by its own retired outhouse, was encrusted with dirt and second-hand smoke and in dire need of a complete paint-job and flooring replacement, when my hardcore other half said, “You know, I could be REALLY happy here!”
 View from the back of our property looking toward the house during the fall of 2012, not long after we signed papers for the house. We were super excited!! |  Here is our little Farmgirl when she was about 2 yrs old, shortly after we purchased the property. Our beautiful, elderly family dog enjoyed taking walks with us to explore. |
In Phoenix, we had purchased a foreclosed home in need of deep cleaning and serious TLC. We knew we could do well with this property, if given a chance.
 We managed to turn this foreclosed home into a small gem in a Phoenix suburb before we sold it in early 2012. It was our first home and we learned much about we could do with a property, no matter how small!! |  This last day in our Arizona home, before our small family of 3 departed for the upper Midwest, Arizona bid farewell with a small hail/sleet storm! |
This northeastern WI home wasn’t huge. It wasn’t perfect. It was close to town. It had real POSSIBILITIES!!!
As we waited anxiously for news about our offer, I ran a 5K race in my hometown in central WI. We received a phone call of acceptance to our offer as I neared the finish line. I tossed my water bottle in excitement, and managed to club an old high school friend right in the head with my upward swing. Huge Ooops!! My sincerest apologies were immediately followed with much celebration and excitement.
For those of you who have followed us since the beginning know that we started relatively small. We established a flock of laying hens. We put in a garden too large to manage initially. I became pregnant with our second child and the weeds won the battle. Our first goats arrived at the farm and by the second year, the herd grew and they grasped my heart in ways I never imagined. I will never NOT have goats again!!
As we waited anxiously for news about our offer, I ran a 5K race in my hometown in central WI. We received a phone call of acceptance to our offer as I neared the finish line. I tossed my water bottle in excitement, and managed to club an old high school friend right in the head with my upward swing. Huge Ooops!! My sincerest apologies were immediately followed with much celebration and excitement.
For those of you who have followed us since the beginning know that we started relatively small. We established a flock of laying hens. We put in a garden too large to manage initially. I became pregnant with our second child and the weeds won the battle. Our first goats arrived at the farm and by the second year, the herd grew and they grasped my heart in ways I never imagined. I will never NOT have goats again!!
This adorable little buckling, born on April 14, 2016, was born to our Alpine doe, Apple, who was bred to our purebred Nigerian dwarf buck, Indiana Jones. He's a real looker folks! Can't wait to see how he matures!!
There is much more to tell you about how our farm grew to what it is today and what we dream for it to become in the future. There is much more to tell you about why we decided not only to feed our family but yours as well.
Today, as I look out at our greenhouse, which fried a few of our first seedlings as we figured out how best to manage its warmth and filtered sunshine, I see the potential of feeding our friends, of providing exercise to those who wish to help us with this endeavor, and, most importantly, of growing a dream.
I will never stop marveling at the first snake emerging from hibernation each spring, nor will I stop enjoying the call of the chorus frogs and spring peepers, marking warmer spring days. As my family has grown, and after moving from the desert southwest to the lush, green upper Midwest, I embrace the changing tides in my life.
As our farm grows and matures to feed our family and yours, I welcome you to join us. Join us through membership in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) options, or visit us at the Sturgeon Bay Farmer’s Market this summer, or come by to see baby goats.
Today, as I look out at our greenhouse, which fried a few of our first seedlings as we figured out how best to manage its warmth and filtered sunshine, I see the potential of feeding our friends, of providing exercise to those who wish to help us with this endeavor, and, most importantly, of growing a dream.
I will never stop marveling at the first snake emerging from hibernation each spring, nor will I stop enjoying the call of the chorus frogs and spring peepers, marking warmer spring days. As my family has grown, and after moving from the desert southwest to the lush, green upper Midwest, I embrace the changing tides in my life.
As our farm grows and matures to feed our family and yours, I welcome you to join us. Join us through membership in our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) options, or visit us at the Sturgeon Bay Farmer’s Market this summer, or come by to see baby goats.
Just as it takes a community to raise a child, so too, it takes a community to build and support a small family farm. We aren’t perfect. We will make mistakes. But we value good food and community. Not only do we stand by what we are doing, but we are trying to grow the best for YOU! Please, join us this summer with your support!
Lastly, our farm grown meals have included a lot of eggs lately! Our hens are laying a lot and there is no shortage! If you find yourself in need of farm fresh, free-ranged eggs, give us a call!
 Our hens are laying eggs like crazy this spring so it's natural that eggs make up a huge part of our farm-grown diet! We mix in a few greens still frozen from last fall's garden to balance out our breakfast! |  Vegetable infused eggs with a side of homemade salsa and some pumpernickel toast from Scaturos. |
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