Kevin and I had spent the early years of our lives living in suburbs and cities. We had grown tired of crowds and the lack of space and began to develop a dream of one day owning our own farm. Where we would grow our own food, raise animals (I had dreamed of having goats my whole life), and our future children would have space to explore and fresh air to breath. Neither of us had any experience when it came to farming, but we spent years researching, planing, and day dream about the day we would eventually have our own piece of land.

In 2008, a little less than a year after we were married, we decided it was time to start looking for our farm. We quickly realized that what we had in our heads was not what our budget would allow. We spent months looking at properties, but none worked for our needs, even if major compromises were made. It was starting to feel hopeless when one day we found a listing for a small farm in Goochland, VA. It sounded like just what we were looking for! It was described as the prefect mini-farm and even stated to “bring your horse” in the real estate listing. Best of all it was in our budget. We decided to do a drive by before we dragged our poor agent to yet another flop. We pulled up and at first were quite disappointed. The house was nice but it lacked everything that actually made a property a farm. There wasn’t a barn or fencing. It was a house, a shed, and a lean-to. Where was this hypothetical horse supposed to go? Once we got over our initial disappointment we started to see potential, so we decided that it would be good to come back with our agent so we could get a closer look. We returned a day or so later and ten minutes on the property is all it took. The house itself had everything we were looking for, we could purchase more land around us but it had what we needed for the time being, and we could make it our own. So we bought it and moved in a month later.

Years past as we built our family instead of the farm. The idea of building a farm from scratch while dealing with small children seemed to daunting, so we continued to plan, save, and research. In 2012, a few months after our youngest child was born we decided we couldn’t hold off our plan any longer. I had left my job as a public school teacher to stay home with the children. I would be around to take care of the animals now too. It was going to be now or never. We started with a chicken coop built by Kevin and our two year old. We added chickens when our infant was three months old, followed by a small barn built by a very talented contractor. Once that was completed we started putting in fencing ourselves, and by the fall we had our first goats. After years of waiting the farm came together in lightening speed over a couple of month. Over the years we grew and grew. Adding land and fencing off pastures. Adding structures and animals. Learning more lessons that I can count. Learning to be a farmer is really an uphill battle but we surrounded ourselves by amazing mentors and found the best large animal vet in the world!

It wasn’t long after we got our first goats that we started making goat milk soap. We thought it would be a way to offset the costs of the farm and maybe one day be an income. In late 2013 we started The Freckled Farm Soap Company and in 2015 Kevin quit his job outside of the house and we started depending on the farm and soap company as our full time income. It’s truly a dream come true.