I love our barn!
As barns go, it’s not huge. It’s unassuming and kind of ordinary. A typical New England side barn, built into a hill, with the “downstairs” mostly underground, a main floor and a loft for storing hay.
It has history. Built in the 1830’s, framed with chestnut, and clad with boards. You can see the wear, from weather and insects. But it stands tall and yes, even proud, providing safety and shelter from weather and predators for the horses and goats, their hay and other essentials, and every-day tools.
It is their home in every meaning of the word. If only it could talk, what tales it could spin!
It’s funny, even after all these years, some days I stand in the driveway, look at this barn, and still can’t believe that we own this farm, a lifelong dream.
This is a lifelong dream I’ve had, starting from when I was a little girl growing up in, yes, New York City of all places. Manhattan to be exact, the heart of the city.
I grew up listening to my father’s stories about his grandfather’s farm, especially how he loved harvesting strawberries. I watched Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, The Big Valley and Little House on the Prairie, and was enthralled by horses.
We were allowed one cat in our apartment so Tigger, an apple-headed traditional Siamese, became my “brother”. Being an only child, we bonded tightly and thus began my love for animals.
The jewel of Manhattan, to me, was Central Park 1. I spent hours in this 843 acres of green space with my parents, where we learned to identify trees and birds and immersed ourselves in nature.
And horses were next, first learning at a stable in Queens with some of my friends, and then branching out into Claremont Stables 2 3 in Manhattan, which was walking distance from our apartment. This treasure recently closed but provided so much fun with dead-broke horses who were city-savvy and virtually bomb-proof for me to ride – in western clothes and an English saddle! They grew my love for horses and to someday have my own.
As time went on, I went to college, graduated and moved to MA, started my career and met and married my husband. I still had the dream of a farm, but our home was too small for horses. But… my husband found we could have chickens!
I never thought of chickens as fun, but the thought of “free” eggs and my love of animals overcame my reluctance and there we were! And they were fun! Never thought of a chicken as an intelligent being, and yes, they aren’t Einsteins, but they do have some street smarts and are very clever escape artists. We expanded into ducks and those kept us busy for a while.
We had vacation property in RI, where we got propagation permits to release turkeys, pheasants and quail for tick control, so that was a lot of fun. They roamed free on the island and we kept poultry feed on hand, so they would still occasionally come by for food and water. More to feed my animal desires.
We also expanded into house rabbits at home, sharing them with our house cats. We had quite a menagerie!
But the dream of horses and having a farm was always there.
One day in 2006, my 40+ year dream was fulfilled. We got an offer on our RI property that we couldn’t refuse and flipped that into our farm.
It was abandoned and required a lot of work to rehab it and make it safe and functional. But my husband and I had a lot of experience building and fixing things, so it was just another challenge.
Eventually our new home was ready, we got our horses and sold the other property. Next came more chickens, then goats, and here we are!
And here they are:
Follow me along as I share stories about this adventure, including tips and tricks about farm life. I hope you’ll find this fun, entertaining and informative.
And who knows, maybe you also harbor a dream of doing this someday. If so, I hope my adventures will help make your journey a little easier.
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