The Rocky Road to Here

Here, that’s where all the roads we travel drop us off at, isn’t it?
The road for me has been a long one. This trip has lasted five years with many random exits and back roads, detours and adventures. But currently I’ve pulled off to the side. Well, let me be more honest. I was pushed off, pulled over and ran out of gas. Not only did this rocky road have the biggest marshmallows in the world but it felt as if they were shoved where the sun don’t shine and set on fire. (yeah ouch!) But when I was finally finished being surprised about it, I exhaled and it felt amazing.

October 2003 I moved from Seattle to a dream which turned out to be a nightmare of sorts with a brilliant silver lining. I left the life I had know as a chef/restaurant owner for a farm and a new life in a rural place far from home on every level imaginable. I moved with a lover who turns out wasn’t the lifelong true love I thought I had but instead was a guide through many painfully enriching journeys. Well, the journey for the two of us came to an end recently and now I find myself the proud and terrified single wife of a Seven acre farm and dairy where I happily coexist with twelve Nubian milk goats, seven St. Croix hair sheep, one Llama, fifty chickens, six or seven cats and four dogs.

As of yet I don’t rant, and run around like a deranged mountain woman, I do talk to myself at times but I’ve heard most people do. Actually I’m quite sophisticated; the flies on the walls are impressed. This minor mishap of finding myself alone on this farm has been more of a blessing than a burden and I am now more than ready for the dream to finally become a reality.
Fortunately for me this rocky road I had been on ended in very safe and beautiful place.

So the past is the past and with one foot in front of the other I embark on a new journey. It’s been my goal since I moved to this farm November 20, 2004 to have a goat milk dairy and make fabulous cheese that I can sell at the farmers market. For one reason or another I was never able to fully make it a “legal” reality, but I’ve gained a new perspective and now the road ahead is wide open. I’m going to have a lot of hoops to jump through and I’ll be doing something In Oklahoma that apparently hasn’t been done before (which in itself is a frightening task to take on) so my intention with this blog is to share my journey with other small dairy folk, farmers, friends of farmers and people who just want good real food, all in hopes of sharing insight as well as receiving it. But, make no mistake about it I am more of a straight chocolate or coffee girl than rocky road, but I gotta try it all.