Guest House, Part 4

A few weeks ago, I revealed our newest project to you, and started giving you some of the farm history and the "why" behind what we're doing.  If you missed the first few episodes, you can catch them here... Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

So we're up to where we purchased the farm in 2011.  Another of Ken's brothers, Ron, was interested in the original house and barn...so as part of that deal, he purchased the house, barn, and 20 acres.  That, in addition to Bob's 15 acres, and Marita's 5 acres, left us about 40 acres of the Home Farm, plus the 80 acre North Farm.

Ken started out doing some crop farming (corn, wheat, soy beans), but about this time, I began doing quite a bit of research on eating healthier.  We were learning about the health benefits of grass-fed beef, and since Ken wanted a few cattle anyway, we decided to venture into having some beef cattle.  Ken had worked with dairy cattle all his life, and he soon learned that beef cattle were a whole different breed, and he had a learning curve to deal with!

One thing led to another, and pretty soon we put up fences and turned all the fields into pastures. Then we added pasture-raised pigs, and eventually meat chickens, and then turkeys.

In 2014, our son Darren and his wife purchased a three acre plot on the North Farm.  And then in 2021, we sold another 26 acres of the Home Farm to Ron, as well as the newer house that Ken's parents had built on the North Farm.  Ron's daughter and her husband purchased, live in, and have been renovating the old farm house.  That left us with about 14 acres of the original Home Farm, most of which is our maple woods.  Most of you know that we make maple syrup in the spring, and during that time we host our annual Maple Open House/Farm Tour.

As you can see, various pieces and plots of this farm have changed owners several times, but it has been in the family for a long time.  This brings us up to the present, and I promise that next week I will finally give you the "why" behind this venture.