How it began

 I’ve always been a total animal nut. It started with cats as a toddler and progressed from there.  I grew up on a hobby farm in Wisconsin, so there were always lots of animals hanging around the house.  We had a variety of animals, but I think my two favorite farm animals were probably chickens and goats. We had pygmy goats, so their babies were extra cute.  The picture below was taken after we had two does both give birth to twins on the same day. Don’t laugh, this is the mid-90’s and I am wearing my “barn jacket”.  Hidden underneath that fabulous jacket is a pair of striped bib overalls. My dad and I's uniform of choice.

Several years later, for my 17^th birthday, my parents got me a sweet little alpine bottle goat. His name was Reese. This is a picture of him being lovingly smooshed by my friend Brittany.  I’d have to say he was my most memorable birthday present.   

Reese was an unusual goat in that he was the only goat we had at the time, so he thought our dogs were his herd. He would run around the yard with the dogs, and jump into your car if he had the chance.  When we moved away from Wisconsin, Reese went to another farm to be spoiled by some other animal loving kids.

I knew when we moved from Wisconsin that someday I wanted to have my own little farm again.  With the arrival of my goats this spring I achieved that goal.