Due North Farm is a very small farm. It can hardly be called a farm in the traditional sense of the word, but we like to think of ourselves as farmers. It is my personal opinion that we've certainly scooped enough poop and seeded enough acreage to qualify.
I always wanted to be a farmer. Perhaps it's genetic as I have farmers on both sides of my family. I spent summers as a kid with my family on my grandparents' farm in Wisconsin (one of the barns at the farm is pictured below). I remember my grandparents and my great aunt and great uncle (also farmers) talking about my older brother becoming a farmer. My brother enjoyed the farm too, but I always wondered why they chose to talk about him becoming a farmer instead of me. I loved the farm and the animals just as much as he did. I even wore the sweaty John Deere hat as often as I could steal it away (I loved that hat!). His age and gender likely were the qualifying factors. Little girls do not become farmers I suppose (although tell this to my friend Tara as she's wrestling an alpaca to the ground for its annual teeth filing).
Fast forward to the present and I am the one with the livestock. My brother owns a cat. As a police officer he is a farmer of another sort though, weeding out the criminals in the city of Chicago and protecting the flock from the predators.
The root of my desire to become a farmer is my love of animals. As kids, my siblings and I had guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, fish, rabbits and dogs. Although we did have pets, I always wanted more. My letters to Santa always started with a puppy or a kitten at the top of the list. I wrote letters to my parents begging them for a puppy. My mom kept one such tear stained letter (yep, I dotted it with tears, hoping they would help) and gave it back to me a few years ago. For some reason, my husband couldn't stop laughing after reading it. His comment: "Some things never change!"
All the begging and crying for my very own puppy never paid off. Consequently, as soon as I was able, I started accumulating dogs. It was slow at first - one dog in college and then another when I graduated and had a real job. After immersing myself in the world of search and rescue and marrying another search and rescue canine handler, I was at one point up to six dogs. Search and rescue was my new passion. Around this same time, my dad said to me, "Gee Konnie, if we knew you were so into dogs, we would have bought you a puppy when you were a kid."
Apparently I didn't cry enough on those letters! Seriously though, I'm glad I didn't get that puppy for Christmas. It makes owning a dog now much more special. Of course, it also created an insatiable desire to have more animals.
We're now down to three and a half dogs (Pacino is a Miniature Pinscher, thus the half a dog). However, I'm always looking for another search and rescue prospect. I have empty crates and an insatiable desire to fill them with dogs. We have two horses, and I'm scouring Craigslist every day for an older horse that is beginner friendly and will take care of its rider.
And, the worst part is that I have to daily convince myself not to diversify by obtaining other species of livestock. Owning even a small amount of acreage (along with somehow managing to snag a very understanding husband) has blown the desire for additional animal acquisition wide open.
Chickens. Chickens. Chickens. I've been researching egg-laying chickens. Between the humans and the dogs here (mostly the dogs), we go through about a dozen eggs each week. I might nix the chicken idea, especially after reading up on the requirements for keeping chickens in lay. Chickens need at least 16 hours of daylight each day in order to keep laying eggs. Add that electrical project to the construction of a chicken coop and pen and we're talking about a lot of work. And that's just the start of it. Feeding them, protecting them from the dogs and keeping them contained are issues that just don't fit into my schedule at the moment. Ask me about chickens next month and you might get a different answer.
Goats are my other animal du mois. We've spent dozens of hours clearing pasture and our worst nightmare would be for the brushy vegetation and weeds to grow back and crowd out our pasture grass. Goats eat weeds. Goats eat shrubs. Goats eat a lot of things our horses won't touch. Goats also like to escape from their enclosures and play funny tricks on people such as "climb on top of the car" and "eat expensive landscaping plants." I'm debating between goats and the task of spending a few hours each month during the growing season weed-whacking and mowing the undesirable vegetation before it reproduces. My friend Tara mentioned something about a neighbor giving away free goats and I couldn't type and send the email fast enough. "Send me the free goats!"
As far as I know there is no cure for this affliction. Even if there is, I don't want any part of it. I love these animals, every one of them. I love their idiosyncrasies. I love the work involved in caring for them. I love communicating with them both in serious training and just for fun. I love the bond I have with each of them.
With each new animal we acquire, the potential for us going on a real vacation diminishes. We're becoming prisoners of our property. We do have an excellent dog sitter, but she doesn't do horses (or chickens or goats or any other livestock species). Finding a farm sitter won't be an easy task. I don't even know if such a profession exists. Then again, why would we want to go on vacation when paradise is right here?
I always wanted to be a farmer. Perhaps it's genetic as I have farmers on both sides of my family. I spent summers as a kid with my family on my grandparents' farm in Wisconsin (one of the barns at the farm is pictured below). I remember my grandparents and my great aunt and great uncle (also farmers) talking about my older brother becoming a farmer. My brother enjoyed the farm too, but I always wondered why they chose to talk about him becoming a farmer instead of me. I loved the farm and the animals just as much as he did. I even wore the sweaty John Deere hat as often as I could steal it away (I loved that hat!). His age and gender likely were the qualifying factors. Little girls do not become farmers I suppose (although tell this to my friend Tara as she's wrestling an alpaca to the ground for its annual teeth filing).
Fast forward to the present and I am the one with the livestock. My brother owns a cat. As a police officer he is a farmer of another sort though, weeding out the criminals in the city of Chicago and protecting the flock from the predators.
The root of my desire to become a farmer is my love of animals. As kids, my siblings and I had guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, fish, rabbits and dogs. Although we did have pets, I always wanted more. My letters to Santa always started with a puppy or a kitten at the top of the list. I wrote letters to my parents begging them for a puppy. My mom kept one such tear stained letter (yep, I dotted it with tears, hoping they would help) and gave it back to me a few years ago. For some reason, my husband couldn't stop laughing after reading it. His comment: "Some things never change!"
All the begging and crying for my very own puppy never paid off. Consequently, as soon as I was able, I started accumulating dogs. It was slow at first - one dog in college and then another when I graduated and had a real job. After immersing myself in the world of search and rescue and marrying another search and rescue canine handler, I was at one point up to six dogs. Search and rescue was my new passion. Around this same time, my dad said to me, "Gee Konnie, if we knew you were so into dogs, we would have bought you a puppy when you were a kid."
Apparently I didn't cry enough on those letters! Seriously though, I'm glad I didn't get that puppy for Christmas. It makes owning a dog now much more special. Of course, it also created an insatiable desire to have more animals.
We're now down to three and a half dogs (Pacino is a Miniature Pinscher, thus the half a dog). However, I'm always looking for another search and rescue prospect. I have empty crates and an insatiable desire to fill them with dogs. We have two horses, and I'm scouring Craigslist every day for an older horse that is beginner friendly and will take care of its rider.
And, the worst part is that I have to daily convince myself not to diversify by obtaining other species of livestock. Owning even a small amount of acreage (along with somehow managing to snag a very understanding husband) has blown the desire for additional animal acquisition wide open.
Chickens. Chickens. Chickens. I've been researching egg-laying chickens. Between the humans and the dogs here (mostly the dogs), we go through about a dozen eggs each week. I might nix the chicken idea, especially after reading up on the requirements for keeping chickens in lay. Chickens need at least 16 hours of daylight each day in order to keep laying eggs. Add that electrical project to the construction of a chicken coop and pen and we're talking about a lot of work. And that's just the start of it. Feeding them, protecting them from the dogs and keeping them contained are issues that just don't fit into my schedule at the moment. Ask me about chickens next month and you might get a different answer.
Goats are my other animal du mois. We've spent dozens of hours clearing pasture and our worst nightmare would be for the brushy vegetation and weeds to grow back and crowd out our pasture grass. Goats eat weeds. Goats eat shrubs. Goats eat a lot of things our horses won't touch. Goats also like to escape from their enclosures and play funny tricks on people such as "climb on top of the car" and "eat expensive landscaping plants." I'm debating between goats and the task of spending a few hours each month during the growing season weed-whacking and mowing the undesirable vegetation before it reproduces. My friend Tara mentioned something about a neighbor giving away free goats and I couldn't type and send the email fast enough. "Send me the free goats!"As far as I know there is no cure for this affliction. Even if there is, I don't want any part of it. I love these animals, every one of them. I love their idiosyncrasies. I love the work involved in caring for them. I love communicating with them both in serious training and just for fun. I love the bond I have with each of them.
With each new animal we acquire, the potential for us going on a real vacation diminishes. We're becoming prisoners of our property. We do have an excellent dog sitter, but she doesn't do horses (or chickens or goats or any other livestock species). Finding a farm sitter won't be an easy task. I don't even know if such a profession exists. Then again, why would we want to go on vacation when paradise is right here?
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