Please see today's post. Due to my recent breast cancer, I am selling the farm to move closer to hospitals, doctors and treatments. Sorry for any inconvenience, and thank you for your prayers. Vikki
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ROSEMARY RIDGE not only runs a farm on the eastern plains of Colorado, but we also have a small independent publishing company. Please see the tabs for more information.
WHY DO WE DO THIS??
FARM: For our health, and yours. See ... we already had the goats. Doug (the Hubby) is lactose intolerant and we prefer that our son drink milk from creatures who've never had antibiotics or hormones, and who eat weeds and such, plus get plenty of fresh air and sunshine. We all benefit from eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies and herbs. Our chickens were already giving us fresh and natural eggs. Two peach trees soon got a third partner, then quite a few more fruit trees nearby. The raised bed garden was built and berry bushes were planted.
PUBLISHING COMPANY: We love to read, and Vikki loves to write too! She had previously owned a small independent publishing company but shut it down before the birth of her son. He is nearly 18 years old now, and has many health problems, including autism and uncontrolled epilepsy. He had two brain surgeries in May 2013 in the hopes of "fixing" his epilepsy, but it helped only a little. The surgery left him with a weak left side, vision and speech problems, and walking problems. Living and medical expenses are astronomical, so Vikki decided to start writing for publication again. We are hoping the funds raised from publishing and writing will help meet the family's needs.
WHAT ABOUT US...PERSONALLY?
As I said, we LOVE to read! When you come in our home to pick up your produce, eggs or cheese, you'll see so many book shelves with all kinds of fiction and non-fiction, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, gardening books, how-to-fix things books, and much more. Weslee, our son, especially loves Wishbone, Harry Potter, BOLT, Krypto the Superdog, Lord of the Rings and more.
Even with all of our expenses and medical situations, we have lots of love to spare, so we're still looking into adopting special needs children: perhaps 2-3 siblings. Hope hope!
Weslee is struggling to have a good outlook, so we're asking people from all over to keep up the Weslee's Warriors drive: mail a letter to him, telling him what their favorite movie or cartoon is, maybe include some stickers, and a dollar or five. It sure will help.
DO WE HAVE OTHER JOBS?
Kinda. Doug works as a data tech for a local telephone company, which means a very long commute early in the morning and late at night. IF we're lucky, he can retire in 2025 to devote more time to home and farm. Until then, he mostly contributes his time and energy on the weekends, holidays and vacations.
Vikki is disabled but writes (Weslee helps to proofread and edit). She does most of the work with the chickens, turkeys, goats, and the farmette in general.
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| W-Teen in front of 2012 Xmas Tree |
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| The Super-Service Dog |
Weslee is autistic, has epilepsy and ADHD. He used to attend 2 classes a day at the local high school but his seizures got out of control in Nov 2012 and scared the other kids and teachers, so we are back schooling under the umbrella of West River Academy.
He had 4 different kinds of seizures, including the grand mal (called tonic clonic) with convulsions. His seizures are not controllable (at least not yet). He had 2 brain surgeries in May 2013 which left him with several disabilities, and so far (knock on wood), as of May 2014, he has only one kind of seizure (simple partial / de ja vu).
His passion is still movies, though, so when you stop in for your weekly shopping, you'll be asked a LOT of questions about the movies you've watched and what your favorites are.
IS THE FARM ORGANIC?
I WISH we could afford to get that label. I'm not sure we could go through the intensive and expensive process to be labeled organic, but we do as many organic-type processes as possible. We're working on building several large composters. We turn our goat, turkey and chicken poop into the soil, and when planting trees, line the bottom of the hole with it too. We use alternatives to prevent or eliminate pests (radishes on squash hills does wonders with squash bugs). We use companion plantings (like the 3 Sisters: corn, pole beans, winter squash) and rotate crops when possible. For the herb garden I'm planning for 2015, we'll use discarded car tires as planters. We'll accomplish more as we learn and can afford it.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great home you have. Would love to know what kinda goats you have. My kids and hubby can't do cows milk. We also live in elbert county out towards limon. Unfortunatly we have many food allergies so to keep every one safe and healthy we only eat food made at home. I would also love to hear about your peach trees, do you get many how do they hold up to the cold snaps?
Thanks for commenting! We have mini nubians crossing with a nigerian dwarf/la mancha buck. My husband can't do cow's milk so goats were our best choice and the milk is delicious! As far as the peach trees, IF they can survive a cold snap in the Spring when in blossom, we get tons of peaches. Otherwise, nothing. The 2 peach trees old enough to bear were here when we bought the place 3 years ago. We're adding more, in more sheltered areas, and hoping for the best. Feel free to contact me via e-mail so we can chat.
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