About usOver the last several decades, great emphasis has come to be placed on producing more food by fewer people on less land, significantly lessening the genetic diversity of the food we eat, and pressuring land, animals, and crops in unhealthy ways. Currently, there are so few varieties of some crops and livestock that a fast-spreading virus or fungus could bring about their extinction.
Choices made by individuals to request and purchase less common varieties of plants, animals, and products help make it worthwhile for farmers and others to branch out with what they choose to produce. Tied to a commitment to buy locally, this benefits you, your friends, neighbors, and community while enriching and diversifying the environment around you. For a brochure on Woolhalla Tunis, click here. For a profile of the farm by Livestock Conservancy, click here. (Scroll down the blog.) |
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 The property when purchased, December, 2009.
In 2009
The city had grown up from its rural roots but left an unannexed island of county property. We acquired and committed for a lifetime of rehabilitating a patch of this undeveloped rural property at the end of a county road. Embracing the need for genetic diversity, we began a search for our own "perfect breed" of sheep. In Livestock Conservancy we found Tunis sheep as a "threatened" listing. We had our land. We had our sheep. The Farm at the End of the Road came to be. |
The Farm in fall, 2013, with the sheep just released onto winter pasture.
By 2013
We had sold all our lambs as breeding stock and all the sheep fleece. We restarted our investment in cows with a cow-calf operation. We sold eight or so dozen eggs a week. The Farm was no longer an idea but an operation.
Three generations of family shared in the activities, chores, and excitement at the farm. In addition to 4-H projects, there were plenty of variously colored eggs to collect. There were our Dexters - Annie, Shadow, and Little Red - to tend. There were horses to train and ride, dogs to chase, turkeys to watch, citrus to pick, and when the sun went down the stars of Heaven for our reward.
We had sold all our lambs as breeding stock and all the sheep fleece. We restarted our investment in cows with a cow-calf operation. We sold eight or so dozen eggs a week. The Farm was no longer an idea but an operation.
Three generations of family shared in the activities, chores, and excitement at the farm. In addition to 4-H projects, there were plenty of variously colored eggs to collect. There were our Dexters - Annie, Shadow, and Little Red - to tend. There were horses to train and ride, dogs to chase, turkeys to watch, citrus to pick, and when the sun went down the stars of Heaven for our reward.
In 2015 In late 2014 our daughter and her family moved about a mile away to a new property with more room for the horses they love. That ended the 3-generation farm as a daily operation. |
But we decided to build an on-site house and rebuild the Farm along new lines, keeping the sheep and shedding the Dexters. We moved into our new house just before Christmas, 2015. Since then we've rebuilt the animal shelters, moved our barns, remade our chicken flock, raised a new garden, and replanted our pastures. |
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Currently
In the rhythm of the seasons, the Farm at the End of the Road has changed once more and become our permanent residence, reaffirming the values that led us to create the Farm in the first place.
In the rhythm of the seasons, the Farm at the End of the Road has changed once more and become our permanent residence, reaffirming the values that led us to create the Farm in the first place.