Our Story
It all started in early 2013. Our father Giuseppe decided that we should purchase a property "out there" instead of spending the weekends in the suburbs of Elgin, Illinois, with our eyes glued to the TV screen. After a bit of property hunting, he finally found "the one". "The one" happened to be a long-abandoned apple orchard in Southwest Michigan. I still remember the first time we tried mowing the grass. Daddy used a weed whacker to do it. Every 3 minutes or so, he would walk back through the very little progress he had made and ask for another cable to replace the cable he had broke off the weed whacker. We eventually knocked down trees with the Bobcat we rented, cut the grass with a brand-new Husqvarna, which we still have, even though it is not exactly brand-new anymore. We then cleared the whole property, other than 3 puny apple trees, still abandoned, and planted Golden and Osceola Muscat, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, and Traminette. Weekends somehow turned into a full 2015 summer break in a tool shed we renovated into a cabin, and we decided we would move there. We looked at houses, but either hated the price, the smell, or even sometimes the condition of the home. So we decided to get one that had been custom-built for us. After it was finished in the fall of 2016, we moved in a year later and called it home. We got 2 dogs, Secco and Dolce and 10 Indian Runner Ducks, who all but one, Hershey, froze to death in the cruel winter. In the spring of 2018, we expanded our new farm. We got more Runner Ducks, and 10 chickens, who all died but two. A sweet rooster named "Big Old Mean Old" (Ha Ha Ha! He wasn't always this sweet, okay? My little sister nicknamed him Rooster) and a hen named Veronica (who I nicknamed Nica [Neeka].) In summer (now) we got our first two Nigerian Dwarf goats, Loren and Thorin. Loren sadly passed away, but Thorin is still here. Before Loren died, we got two half Nigerian Dwarf, half Pygmy goats Dorin and Dori. After that, we also got an Australian Shepherd named Paisley. After Loren died, we got a half pygmy half Nigerian Dwarf goat named Tink (trying to remember that her name is now Biffur), and her daughter Fancy (who is supposed to be Boffur). By the way, they are the meanest goats ever! After we found out that we need to separate the girls from the boys to avoid winter babies, Dori was the victim of goat bullying, if that's a thing. We will hopefully be able to fix this in the future.