In the summer of 2014 my husband quit his corporate job and we left the big city to live on a large working family farm in Southern Illinois. We’ve been working on Tanglefoot Ranch, learning lots and pursuing our own farm endeavors on the side while we work to earn some land to call our own.
We currently have USDA inspected, farm fresh, pasture raised eggs for sale. We offer goat milk soap that is homemade from the milk we get from our small dairy goat herd. We also plant a small garden each year and sell a limited number of CSA memberships for those looking for locally grown, fresh food.
The vision is to sell fruits and vegetables to the public via direct sales and a CSA operation. We hope to expand into maple syruping, bee keeping and to plant an orchard of our own. Plus we are working on a few educational, outreach activities on the farm as well as fostering bonds and with other local area producers.Our current farm projects include:
Dairy Goats –
We own a breeding pair of ADGA registered French Alpine goats that provide our family with fresh, raw milk. Resulting goat offspring will potentially be for sale.
We also own a breeding pair Kinder goats that are a dual purpose, mini breed of goat that produces great milk and can also be used for meat. Resulting goat offspring will potentially be for sale.
Dairy Cattle –
We own a Jersey Heifer that also provides our family with fresh, raw milk.
Poultry –
Our small backyard flock of meat & egg producing chickens has really expanded! In 2009, we started out with just 3 chickens in our suburban backyard. Now we have close to 100 birds. I am breeding rare chickens, incubating eggs, selling eggs, chicks and sometimes full grown birds.
We have a breeding pair of Bourbon Red heritage turkeys that we breed, I incubate their eggs and sell the resulting turkey poults to those that have reserved poults. We also keep Pekin and Khaki Campbell Ducks for their meat & eggs. I do hatch and sell ducklings seasonally.
Our daughter has set her sights on raising a peacock but we haven’t added one to our flock yet.
Katadhin Sheep/ Lamb –
We have a breeding pair of Katadhin lambs that we took in after they were orphaned. They were bottle raised and are now breeding. Resulting offspring will potentially be for sale.
Holly had her twins on Valentines day, 2017. She had male and female offspring that are for sale after they’ve weaned, contact me for details.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) –
We launched our family’s first CSA in the Summer of 2015, servicing Southern Illinois and Paducah, KY. We always have big garden to feed our family and we decided to grow some extra food this year to feed other families in the area.
We have lots of future projects that we are trying to fund and the CSA is how we plan to make the following possible:
- bee keeping & honey sales
- maple sugaring & syrup bottling/ sales
- a large fruit orchard
- barn & fence construction for livestock expansions