If you like drama, this is the episode for you! We cover the period of March and April of 2023, which proved to be the most dramatic 60 days on the farm. Melissa showed up, a mini tornado hit, and our farm manager, Roy, got back on drugs and totaled a truck and trailer hauling a load of pigs. The pigs completed their journey in a U-Haul trailer. Roy left the farm, Tim arrive, and we added a few more species. Amidst the craziness, Melissa decided she couldn't leave the chaos and agreed to come back and work for an entire year. At the time, it seemed like the hardest period on the farm, but looking back, many of our most entertaining stories came out of these two months.

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Coldest nights of the year and everyone wants to have their babies! Hear how we battled the cold by putting new mommas and babies in the hay barn and used molasses to try to keep water from freezing. On the heels of the cold, we got rain...tons of rain. From frozen hands to trucks stuck in mud, a tough few weeks on the homestead! On the people side, we say goodbye to Becca, and welcome Melissa back from her South African adventures!

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Torrential downpours, massive winds that bring down trees, and the coldest nights of the year...perfect time to have babies! Tune in to hear our rough start to 2024!

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In this episode, Chad fills in for Melissa and takes the opportunity to remind listeners that he got here first! The time period is Jan and February of 2023. Amidst one of the coldest and rainiest winters on record, we added cows, put Jacob on his first bull calf, delivered our first baby animals, crowned the farm mascot (Bucky the Goat), launched our WWOOF program, started building a hog lot, repaired the front porch, demoed a bathroom, set-up tiny homes, installed bee hives, planted an orchard, and burned some things we probably shouldn't have. And yet Chad still remembers this as the calm before the storm!

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My wife, Rachel, joins to talk about how we met, how I convinced her to marry me, and ultimately move to our homestead. We also describe what it was like in those first few days on the farm...before all the craziness started. So tune in to hear from my favorite person in the world, and the source of pragmatism, reason, and stability that anchors the farm!

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Meet Your Hosts, Joe Riley & Melissa Shepherd! In this first episode, we share the story of why we decided to move onto a farm and how we then went from 0 to 500 animals in the first year...all while maintaining our full-time jobs. If you want to learn about homesteading or just want some entertaining stories from people tackling the challenges of starting a farm, we invite you to join us on this journey.

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