Once upon at time a time there was a girl that didn't have a sigle thought about ever being a farmer, her dream was actually to be a hairstylist. So she graduated high school and went on to cosmetology school and then worked doing hair for the next 7 years. Somewhere along the way she met a guy and bought a house with some land and started a family. In most ways a very typica family...until her husband wanted chickens. It's funny to think back now on how many times I said no to getting chickens and how little interest I had in anything farm realated. But as the story goes easter week on 2016 we brought home our very first 4 baby chicks. Little did I know then it was the start of something much bigger than a small chicken coop next to a four by six raised garden bed with a couple tomato and pepper plants.
Fast forward a couple years to our second baby being born and us deciding I would stay home with the kids. Post partum depression hit me hard the second time around and the garden became an escape. When life with 2 kids and no career to identify myself in felt so out of control sometimes the garden was a place that held growth and beauty and a calm I needed. A place where you worked hard and got your hands dirty and it gave you back something so worth everything you put in and more. The garden teaches patience, it teaches you that making mistakes mean you learned how to do better next time and it gives you a sense of accomplishment knowing you took a tiny seed and turned into something that quite literly feeds your family. It doesn't need perfect rows with no weeds in a pretty fenced off spot. It just needs to be taken care of a nurtured. It was a great parallel to life when things feel out of control; a messy garden still grows food.
As the farm and kids grew I got to show them that they too can grow food and care for animals that will give back to them. I realized that with the lifestyle we chose to live my kids have seen and done things that alot of kids and adults never experienced. They have got to eat food straight off the vine, got to get their eggs for breakfast right out of a chicken coop, have watched countless chickens and quail hatch from eggs and even bottle fed baby goats. They know and have experienced things that I would love for everyone to get to see and appreciate like we do. As the year got closer for both of them to be in school that wish sort of combined with my need to get back into work and be a part of providing financially for our family. I started thinking about doing a farmers market with all the extra garden goodies we always have. 2020 was going to be the year it all started for us. In the fall of 2019 I gave our farm a name, started a social media page and youtube and made big plans for the following year. As you all know 2020 was the year that a lot of things changed, but not just for me. Covid hit and there were no farmers markets. It was like someone put a big fat line through so many things I wanted that year to hold and it took a little bit to come back from, for me and for everyone elses normal lives.
But we did come back! In 2022 we did our first market season and not only did 1 market a week but 2! I had already prepared to call it a "practice year" and had no intentions of making any certain amount of money. The experience and connections I made that year were truly invaluable! I knew I had found something that I had a passion for and getting to share that with others was so so rewarding. But I didn't just enjoy watching people bring home our produce to enjoy. I loved answering all the questions about where it came from. I loved teaching them something new that would they never learn by getting their produce at a grocery store. Nothing beats experiencing someone try something new that I grew and loving it! It was an amazing season for sure! There are so many big plans and goals that Twisted Pine Acres has but making a living off farming will always be a goal that comes with educating our customes and community about how things grow and letting them experience as much of it with us as possible!
Four chicks and a garden bed in 2015 has turned into a market garden, 34 chickens, 4 ducks, and 3 goats as we start 2023 and will continue to grow as we reach new goals. Its my dream that I get to continue learn and teach and share all of our amazing experiences with as many people as possible along the way!
Comments