How We Started

Would you believe that the farm was born with a simple decision one night?

Let's not be mistaken, the idea was created when I was just a child. I still have a drawing somewhere that reminds me my first dream was to become a farmer when I grew up, but I also grew up in a generation that pushed college and technology as the necessary requirements for a future. Despite having years of experience riding horses and working with multiple types of animals, I felt that I had to squash down my dreams of a simple farm and pursue bigger ambitions.

I always had a creative side. I practically lived in the art room during high school, and I even attended Savannah College of Art and Design for a year before the pressure finally cracked me. Paint and I will always have a flirtation, but I felt that it just wasn't the right fit for me. I longed to find other ways of creating beauty that was functional not just for the eyes, but a tangible thing that could excite all of the senses. I didn't feel that I could achieve that at SCAD, so I took a semester off to think further about my future.

I eventually met Psychology once returning to college, and the human mind and I had a long affair that kept me entertained and distracted for years. During this time I would continue to ride horses and work with a trainer who really inspired me to just go for your dreams, regardless of how hard it would be to get the business off the ground. While I was still too afraid to take the plunge, she remained an inspiration to keep that hope alive in the back of my mind.

Speaking of inspiration, I met one of the most influential person in my life on one fateful day in college. We were both at the university gym, when our eyes met from across the weight room. It was like something out of a movie. Both of us excited to meet, but both too nervous to take the first step. I almost let fear win as I turned to leave the building, but it was as if God Himself placed His hands on my shoulders. I felt my body turn before I understood what was happening, and suddenly I was stumbling over obvious lines as an excuse to strike up a conversation with a handsome stranger. Just a few short years later, this amazing man and I were both graduated and in careers, married, and expecting our first child together. Sounds like a typical Rom Com, right?

My husband and I decided that it did not make sense financially for me to return to work after our daughter was born. Despite that expensive college degree I was led to believe would open all of the doors life had to offer, it simply couldn't cover the cost of day care. I simply loved spending all of that time with my child, though, and I did breathe a sigh of relief at the thought of not returning to a job where I spent most of my time indoors, absorbing all emotions of those I was supposed to be helping through their own difficult times. It was not without it challenges. There are numerous blogs and articles of the struggles moms experience while staying home with children, so I won't get quite into the deep details, but I will say that those complicated emotions in addition to the loss of my unborn son, the added stress that came with the addition of another son, and a job that was taking my husband out of town for multiple reasons, I was left feeling empty and drained of love for life. My husband knew I needed something, and so when I asked if we could put chickens on our third of an acre yard in our little subdivision, he agreed.

Those chickens were amazingly therapeutic. I was outside almost all day, I started to garden more enthusiastically, and my children loved helping in any way they could. There was just one problem: chicken math. I went from 4 chicks, to 8, to 17, all within a year. This did nothing to ease the long-lingering dream of raising our children on a farm. We were broke, though. A single-income household always makes a tight budget, and we went without any frivolous items daily.

One day, I could feel God speak to me. It was a normal Sunday evening. The kids were in bed, and my husband and I were laying on the couch doing our nightly Facebook scrolling. The message hit me strong, when I looked up at Cody and said, "I think we should sell the house now." I convinced him it was the right time, and I was in touch with a real estate agent the next morning. Before we were able to even get the house officially on the market, we had an offer on the house by Thursday. We found our future home in a nearby town that my husband already worked in by the following Friday.

And just like that, Red Bird Ranch was born. Stay tuned for more chapters in our little farm's story.