Hello! We're the Irvings and we live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Seymour. We moved here in 2015 from Texas with a newborn and three dogs. We had zero intentions of homesteading but something happened to us in 2017 that changed our lives.
Cancer.
Douglas was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoblastic lymphoma in July 2017. Oh, and I had just found out I was expecting our second child. He endured 8 months of grueling in-patient chemo. During that time he began exploring YouTube and stumbled upon the channel of none other than Justin Rhodes.
He began to talk about changing where we get our food from. I had already begun ditching and switching items in our house to non-toxic and together our health became top priority.
He had his last chemo treatment at the end of January and we welcomed our daughter at the end of February.
We took life as it came after that. Him recovering from treatments and building up his strength again. Me, figuring life out post-cancer and with two kids. I was hit with PTSD and suffered lots of anxiety and panic attacks.
Fast forward to January 2021 when we placed our first chicken order. We got 40 layers and 30 broilers. We processed around 60 meat birds that first year and around 150 the next year. Not only that but Douglas got to visit Justin Rhode's farm and learn to process chickens from him. There's a YouTube video, click below to watch!
Also, in 2022 we were able to get four Lamancha goats, 2 bucks and 2 does. We kept one buck intact to breed our does. We were blessed with the first animals born on our farm in April 2023. Our doe had twins, a boy and a girl.
We thought dairy goats were going to be the answer to milk for our family, at least for awhile.
A dairy cow seemed so out of reach, but in March 2023 I found one we couldn't pass up and brought her home to the farm! She is due after Thanksgiving and we'll have our own cow's milk.
We're so excited!! Especially since we buy 5 gallons of raw milk per week from another farm.
Our homesteading journey has been a blessed one. Our kids love having animals and a garden. We love the simple life. The simple joys of raising animals. We love the rhythm of chores and harvesting what we grow.
We also homeschool and what better way for our kids to understand life and nature?!
Thanks for reading this far and we look forward to serving you, our community, with quality meats and products.
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