Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. It was restful and now it's time to get back in the swing of things.
Recapping the last post. We had been lucky enough to have friends that helped us set up at the Downtown Springfield Farmers market. When we'd first started we had not really developed our product line. We just let our customers guide us to what they were looking for.
We specialized in hot process soaps and herbal salves. We then expanded into pet shampoos and conditioners. We also made soy candles and scent melts. Our booth had gotten so large that we now brought 4 tables and two tents. The weeks were crammed with animal husbandry and soap making. We also gardened 2 acres of chemical free produce.
Remember that this started a number of years ago. We'd then gotten an opportunity to set up at Soulard Market in St.Louis. Once we'd made two separate trips to St.Louis to get the legal paperwork done we were ready to hit "The Big City". We then split up and I stayed here to sell at our local markets and Javier took to the big city. We were making more money than we could have originally imagined. We loved what we were doing and our customer base showed it.
Over the next couple of years not only had our soap business grown but our farm had grown. We had begun to raise berkshire hogs and dexter cattle. We began to practice rotational grazing like Joel Salatin. We made an egg mobile and offered our customers pasture raised eggs along with pastured broilers. We invested in numerous different kinds of chickens to try our luck at something other than the standard cornish cross chicken. We were then milking 17 goats twice daily. We produced pounds and pounds of amazing goat cheese. We'd also committed to supplying a couple local restaurants with farm raised,chemical free fresh duck,lamb,chicken,beef,pork and goat. This was what we look back as our hay days. At that point there were three adults here at the farm. We were it. We didn't have any children, interns or employees. Were were still having lots of fun so even though we were exhausted at the end of the day we were doing the things that we loved.
Our farm was in full swing and we absolutely loved what we were doing. We had friends in the Illinois Department of Agriculture that went out of their way to make sure our little farm was involved in all things agriculture around Illinois. We were the first non-food producer that set up at the Illinois Products Expo. We felt like we were pioneers in small farming in Illinois. This was exactly what I thought I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Little did I know that God had different plans for us. Through no ones fault in one season the farm totally changed. We'd lost absolutely everything except the farm. We had made some decisions and some plans that just didn't work like we'd hoped.
Now after having taken a year off to decide what it is that we wanted to do with this part of our life we are here to build a business where no business exists. We gained valuable experience that all of the schooling in the world wouldn't have taught us. Today we are building our lives from the ground up. We no longer focus on off farm sales and markets. Our focus is here on the farm. We have a beautiful patch here in the country and we look forward to making our dreams a reality.
We are so glad you all chose to spend some time here with us.
Recapping the last post. We had been lucky enough to have friends that helped us set up at the Downtown Springfield Farmers market. When we'd first started we had not really developed our product line. We just let our customers guide us to what they were looking for.
We specialized in hot process soaps and herbal salves. We then expanded into pet shampoos and conditioners. We also made soy candles and scent melts. Our booth had gotten so large that we now brought 4 tables and two tents. The weeks were crammed with animal husbandry and soap making. We also gardened 2 acres of chemical free produce.
Our farm was in full swing and we absolutely loved what we were doing. We had friends in the Illinois Department of Agriculture that went out of their way to make sure our little farm was involved in all things agriculture around Illinois. We were the first non-food producer that set up at the Illinois Products Expo. We felt like we were pioneers in small farming in Illinois. This was exactly what I thought I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Little did I know that God had different plans for us. Through no ones fault in one season the farm totally changed. We'd lost absolutely everything except the farm. We had made some decisions and some plans that just didn't work like we'd hoped.
Now after having taken a year off to decide what it is that we wanted to do with this part of our life we are here to build a business where no business exists. We gained valuable experience that all of the schooling in the world wouldn't have taught us. Today we are building our lives from the ground up. We no longer focus on off farm sales and markets. Our focus is here on the farm. We have a beautiful patch here in the country and we look forward to making our dreams a reality.
We are so glad you all chose to spend some time here with us.
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