Small Farm Life 2021: A Year of Firsts

It’s 2022! I know many of us are looking forward and thinking that this year can only be an improvement on the last. But for Mr. GGF and I, living in our Covid free bubble, 2021 was a year of exciting firsts. We tried new things to see how our farm business might look. Some of them will continue into the new year and some will not. Don’t get me wrong. 2021 had its moments. for sure. There were more small farm life lessons to learn and loved ones we did not see. But focussing on the good parts is something we like to do. So here’s how our farm began to evolve into a farm business in 2021 and the things we got up to.

Animals Came and Went

As happens with small farm life, we welcomed a number of new additions during the year. Maggie and Scarlet welcomed calves and we added to our herd with Donna and Red. We decided it was too hard to think of names for animals we are selling on so all boys will now be Stan or TBone. And all girls will be Ruby.

During winter, we tried our hand at raising chicks and successfully raised three clutches, a duckling and our Sepastapol pair. Sadly, the goshawks took a number of our brood (It makes me cry every time). We discovered the hawk could actually reach its claw into the rabbit hutch through the wire and was pulling the chicks through. So we spent a lot of time devising ways to keep the chicks and duclkings safe while allowing them to free-range. The chicks now have double protection of bird netting over the wire of their cage. We enclosed the entire outdoor area of the coop with bird netting too.

The addition of pretty chicks in July meant we could begin to sell poultry as the birds grew big enough. Selling our birds added some pocket money to our farm business and pays for feed for our other poultry. My frivolous dream of a basket of rainbow eggs on the kitchen bench is getting closer too.

Farm Tours and Outdoor Education

One goal we achieved that brought us closer to the small farm life we dream of, was opening our doors to visitors. We hosted a number of schools, refining the process each time. I learned what activities work and those we won’t try again. Every aspect of the days had to be thoroughly planned. We tweaked activities as we went to improve. We are looking forward to welcoming more classes to the farm in 2022. Seeing the delight on kids’ faces when they hold a duckling, or have goats nibble from their hands is priceless.

Farm tours were such a success in 2021 we decided to split them into ‘adults’ and family group tours. That way we can tailor the tour to suit the group. On our first tour we were so nervous we prepared for days. I even wrote a script, and probably only covered a third of it of the day! We have evolved to a virtual check-in system. We offer our guests farm style refreshments and shre all the good reasons to visit a farm

One thing we’ve discovered is that having visitors in small groups each weekend can be a lot of work. It’s time consuming. Moving forward we most likely will ditch this aspect of the business and offer visits in larger groups.

Small Farm Life and the House

2021 was the year of completing things. The dairy, with its painted floor, is almost complete. We plan to use it for accommodation.

We converted the lounge into a dining room in time for Christmas. Our junk/storage room has become a dark and cosy tv room for evenings by the fire.

We hosted our now ‘annual’ Christmas drinks for local friends. It’s so nice to see the circle growing every year and our community enjoying themselves. Having people commment on how festive the house looked made the work worth it. (No that decorating is EVER work to me. hehe)

A big goal for me was the opening of Our Vintage Farm Shop. Sourcing and creating products I lovefor you to use has been so much fun. Getting real sales (Not friends) and hearing your feedback is encouraging to me. I want to build this business more in the new year.

What’s New for 2022?

Our small farm life is growing every day. So this year, my goal is to build on what we’ve started. I want to provide exclusive content you love so I’m thinking of starting a Patreon to have you join the ride. I’d love your thoughts on that. DM me! I want to write a book about our journey too. Ultimately, I want to work from home full time. Not much of a dream, right? 😉