Seeds of Change... The Rise of Cruelty Free Farming... Part 1
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When did it become ok with people to not show compassion and love for animals? That is what I'd like to know. There was Adam and Eve and now there is us... What happened in between there? I am in a unique position to begin sharing my views and becoming a part of a rising revolution. One that is long overdue.
For the last several years, close to a decade now, I have been dabbling in the raising of farm animals.
So, I suppose Julie Andrews said sang it out best when she said "let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start."
Just like everyone else, it started with chickens. They are the gateway animal indeed. I have since realized why this is a joke amongst homesteaders and farmers who all started with chickens themselves and now look around at their farms full of cows, horses, chickens, ducks, sheep, pigs wondering " when did this all happen? How?"
Back in the 2018 ish year, I had been watching farming and homesteading videos that were just beginning to become a thing on YouTube. I had a little over a quarter acre and was preparing to build a greenhouse to start gardening and growing edible herbs, fruits and veges. I had been working on gathering up used wood and left over building supplies off of facebook marketplace for free, or very very discounted prices. So far it had taken almost a year to get the items gathered we needed to get started.
During that time, a very good friend of mine was selling the most adorable little chicken house/coop. It was a little barn styled lean to type coop, painted red with white trim. Double doors covered the front with a small hatch that lifted off to the side for the chickens to go in and out during the day.
Inside this adorable little chicken condo sat 5 miniature chickens. One was a little Polish Rooster I named Bob Marley and with him sat 4 ladies that were Bantam and Polish mixes.
It had a heating light that was secured and caged inside to prevent the chickens from breaking it, although I learned early on it is a bad idea to use them unless absolutely needed for -40 degree winter weather. When it was turned on, with the little chicken family tucked inside, it looked magical, whimsical and enchanting.
I learned how much I loved chickens with those 5 joining our family. They witnessed the beginning of my transformation into the farm and garden lifestyle. The greenhouse was eventually finished, and soon enough it was bursting with produce inside and out. The new peach trees, and apple trees were beginning to put forth quite the large harvests each fall. And the chickens roamed the yard scratching and pecking at the ground giving all natural bug control.
During this time, I was also learning to navigate the online world more each day. One day on facebook, I saw what was called, " Valais Blacknose Sheep" The cutest sheep in the world. And they sure were. I fell in LOVE that day. I dreamed of owning a property where I could own sheep just like that.
Lots of research and study ensued, and I realized as much as I may want that, it was unrealistic for me to even entertain a dream like this and stuck it in my back pocket so to speak, then moved on with life, working with what I already had.
I studied online and received my herbalist certificate and continue to study herbalism today. I gardened and worked the land I had and we began to profit off of the produce and herbs we grew there.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we were forced to leave our first little homestead and my heart was shattered. I mean y'all, I was truly broken over being forced to leave that home. I don't even know adequate words I can use to explain the dark deep depression I was in for the next many moons.
We eventually found a property that was 3X the size of our old one. So we moved at the very end of winter and beginning of spring. April 9, 2020 was the day we started our new life on our new property.
There was literally nothing here on this land except for grass. The outer area of our south side was fenced as a pasture area full of rocks. A tree out back and an old shed in the far North East corner. that was literally it. Not one flower, not one fruit tree, no barn, no chicken coop, absolutely nothing. Now I look back and see it was a blank canvas just waiting for us to come play. At the time, I saw it as one of the largest loses of my entire life. We literally had nothing we had worked so hard for, for 17 years.
The first thing we did was take the money we made from selling our old home and purchased what we needed to put up a 6 foot fence to keep our dogs in and other dogs out so I wouldn't need to have so much worry for the safety of our dogs, and most of all my precious little felines who are defenseless against huge ole farm dogs. PLus I knew living in the mountains now the deer would believe they had hit the borders of the Garden of Eden everytime we'd try to plant anything. So a fence was the best plan for all. We planted 6 fruit trees and started trying to figure out what to do next.
Somewhere amidst my sadness and broken heart, I was trying to figure out what to do. everything we planted died, we got snow I can't even describe. Life was difficult inside and out, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
One very dreary day I remembered those adorable sheep I fell in love with a couple years prior and I started to research them.
I spent the next several weeks quietly studying about these sheep. I mean..... I remember when I stuck that dream in my back pocket because it could never happen, right? Yet here I was, standing in my kitchen staring at a pasture with nothing in it. That seemed to be an incredible coincidence or perhaps the beginning of a miracle?
One thing led to another and I eventually found out that those sheep live in Switzerland and can only be sent over via semon samples from 100% rams across the sea and implanted into what are called foundation ewes.
This had already been going on for a few years by the time I started actively engaging in my dream again, so I was late to the game. I dreamed of their beautiful wool and wondered if I would be able to make rugs to sell so I could continue to earn money and keep the sheep fed and my dream moving forward.
I decided to purchase three ewe lambs that I could someday use for my foundation ewes, but if it never happened, well I could at least have something fun for my grand children and myself to keep us busy and learn something new.
I had no way to purchase a Valais Blacknose lamb cross , let alone afford to have my ewes bred from those who were breeding their foundation ewes with the over sea's straws. To do either of those things would be thousands of dollars per lamb, or bred ewe. But I went forward anyway. I had a dream, fell in love with sheep, and a pasture with nobody in it.
I chatted with my vet about it one day while taking my cats for their yearly checkup, and he actually ended up selling me, at very reasonable prices, my three little foundation ewes in July of 2020.
No barn, no shelters, and no money, but I had three tiny little girls that were the most adorable babies I had ever seen up close, and they were mine.
I had no clue what I was doing and had NEVER been around sheep before. However, I am an expert when it comes to fostering and raising neonate kittens and I'm good around horses, so how hard could it be, right? Again, lots of additional stories yet to come about all of those adventures.
The vet also sold me my first years supply of hay that we stored inside our shed lean to, so now two of the three most important things needed for sheep raising were accomplished.
Once again I contacted my very best friends on the planet, the ones who helped me build my beloved green house I had to leave behind at our old house. I found a "free" 10x10 shed that was many miles away. I needed help to dismantle it and bring it back home so I could rebuild it into a little barn for my new babies because they had no protection.
Yet, once again my friends rose to the occasion and were all in the minute I asked. With in a day or two sat a torn apart shed inside my pasture waiting to be built back up into something usable. As I had hoped for, my friends and I, with a lot of help from God, rebuilt the shed far better than it was before.
Because of where I live and the kinds of winters we have, it was crucial for us to build the roof to be basically indestructible. I do believe this roof could withstand an F-4 hurricane or tornado.
My friends who are clearly experts made this happen and that little shed turned into the most adorable barn for my sheep, and it remains today, standing strong and firm in my pasture. I am able to look out and see it from my kitchen and bedroom windows anytime I want to see my sheep.
Now those sheep grew up over the next year. And my heart longed for the next step in my journey. My vet told me during during the next yearly exam for my furry little felines, that he had actually found a breeder here in Utah that did in fact have a Valais Blacknose Farm. Long story short, I became friends with the shepherdess there. Eventually, she had a little lamb that was a triplet and the runt of the bunch. He was a bottle baby.
50/50 cross of Valais Blacknose and Babydoll he was darling. She would save him for me while I tried to figure out how to earn some fast cash. He was being sold much cheaper than the other lambs because he was a wether which means he can never reproduce, he was only a companion or pet sheep. But, he was indeed 50% of my dream manifesting at that moment. I got on facebook and started a fundraiser with a story about my precious little lamb that could only come to live with us IF I could raise the money. I was offering homemade Cheesecakes for a good price in an effort to get the total amount needed. I raised $700 in less than 24 hours and was able to go down and pick up my little lamb as well as pay for the gas, the crate he traveled home with us in, and a quick stop for lunch on our way down.
I was delighted to meet the lady who was the first shepherdess for the little lamb I now call CheeZcake. He is registered and officially recognized in the VBS registry of North America.
CheeZcake was an absolute dream come true. ( Could his name really be anything else?) Thinking back I can hardly believe how things have worked out since this dream started several years earlier in a different house on a different property. And here we were, my dream was actually happening.
CheeZcake quickly became the face of our farm. He was in fact the very first Valais Blacknose Sheep bloodline in all of Cache County Utah. People from all over made arrangements to come meet him and he soaked up the attention. He and I have become best of friends over the last 5 years. We are mostly inseparable any time I am in his pasture and I wouldn't want it any other way.
One thing lead to another and soon my two ewe lambs were 2 1/2 years old. I was ready to take the next step. So once again my friend from down south stepped in and offered to set up my ewes with one of her 100% Valais Blacknose Rams for a Christmas date. Sure enough, the Christmas morning date was successful and we soon headed down to retrieve my precious sheep and return them to our pasture only this time, with little presents for our future inside.
It was a long hard winter, but the excitement was mounting for the new arrivals who would be here mid May. Just as expected May 20, 2023 Penelope gave birth to 2 little ewes, They were almost identical twins, and on the 24th of May, Maisey had her little boy. He was just as black as could be and absolutely adorable.
Here we are, so many things have happened in the last 2 years since that first lambing season took place. My little twins are now over 2 years old and I have arranged for a Christmas time date once again with the Shepherdess down south. Now Christmas is still 6 months away, but the plan has been set in motion.
In order for this plan to be successful, I have to find a way to.earn approx $2,500 for fencing before they have their babies. I will need to fence part of my amazing neighbors property that is attached to ours in order to be in compliance with the town ordinances and I will need to purchase another shed that is portable to set on their side of the fence in the pasture. Once again I am reminded what incredible amazing friends I have in my life. I will be needing to rent and fence that area and I am faced with a situation of having a dream far larger than what I have the means to provide for. My heart is in it, my little 50/50 ewes will be able to produce the next step up which would be considered the F-2's ( approx 66%) Valais Blacknose if I remember correctly.
However I also realize after much thought and sadness that I either have to make this dream happen by December, or I have to get out of this dream altogether becasue I can not afford to farm if the farm isn't earning. I have started making rugs to sell, and I have sold a few. But, selling a few once in a while isn't going to cut it. I have to figure out how to make this farm profitable or as I mentioned a moment ago, I am going to loose it.
I have absolutely no idea how I am going to raise this money. I considered a loan, but in all reality I do not have the finances to repay it at this point as I am not yet to the "making very good money off my farm stage. "
I suppose this is where my faith in God, ability to manifest my dreams, and having patience needs to come together again. A little bit of miracles and magical moments all intertwined may do the trick, aaayyyy? I am having a hard time seeing the light I guess.
For now, I have a large storage of hay built up that will take me into late fall, I have an excellent medical bag for all my animals so I can attend to any emergencies the best I can without adding vet bills I can't afford and I have the time I need to be here on my farm, working on my website and social medias on behalf of the farm and creating the farm products we sell.
You may ask yourself " What exactly does any of this have to do with the rise of cruelty free farming?"
The most important thing was to share my beginning so we all had a place to reference where I started, where I'm coming from and what I'm all about as we navigate through the past decade of my life that has brought me to this place in time and moving forward, as I begin rising up for a change in farming and animal welfare everywhere.
It has become a passion of mine. One I have been very fearful to take on because I know of some very sad situations where animals are or were suffering for reasons that should not be. I learn more everyday by the hands on work I am doing on my own farm. I continue to study and research and talk with other farmers and homesteaders. When I am around fellow sheep peeps I am a fountain of unending questions.
I am a firm believer that healthy and happy animals produce much healthier products whether it be wool, meat, milk, eggs, or anything else. I am a firm believer that If people really wanted to, they can and will change what's happening to animals and where they get their own food. How do I know these things? Because I am literally doing it and I am literally watching it take place everyday with others on the same path as I.
For example, I recently discovered that chicken egg farms routinely cut off the beaks of the chickens in their egg production facilities. This make me sick. My heart hurts to know that all of us are supporting these egg farms just in the effort to have mass production and cut a few cents off of our grocery bill. Perhaps not every facility does, but even one still practicing such barbaric inhumane actions puts dirt on all of them and none of them by any stretch of the word can be considered a happy environment with chickens living their best lives while working 24/7 for us.
Never again will I be purchasing eggs from any store anywhere ever. I will go without first. This is not necessary. This is NOT what God has given us these animals for and this can only stop if you and I find a more gentle way of gardening, farming, trading, sharing, and living amongst ourselves. We can't fight the large corporations, they have all the money and fancy lawyers, but we can take back what we know and what we do and do not purchase, one person at a time.
This and other subjects of how we can raise our own healthy happy chickens, and food with a more gentle form of farming are what I will be tackling. Giving some dignity back to the creatures of this earth as well as ourselves.
THANK YOU for reading this blog and becoming part of my dreams. I hope you will continue to follow my stories and updated blogs.
Please watch for my next blog to be posted. Where the real nitty gritty, compassionate farming practices and wild stories will begin..
With much love and good energies being sent your way , Catherine from Wild Daisy Homestead