Welcome to Verde Farm!

Hello and welcome to Verde Farm. My husband Richie and I bought this wonderful, old property in 2007. We had lived in the suburbs and always dreamed of buying an older home and fixing it up. Once we found this place, or it found us, we knew it was 'the one.'

We started restoring it right away. A wonderful old barn was on the property, and our first idea was to fix it up and have a man cave for Richie. There was also a spring fed pond near the barn, but over many years it had grown up in cattails and brush making it hard to recognize. It had never crossed our minds we could have animals and start a small farm. Through hours of work and restoration, the barn and pond returned to their previous glory. A little voice told me, "we are ready for a life of our own."

My husband raised biddies when he was a boy and I knew he would love to have a few here. I was also having visions of ducks and ducklings walking in a row to the pond and quickly started looking for our first residents. I found a farmer who had both chickens and ducks and drove out to visit him shortly after.It was heavenly. His barn was full of wonderful sites and sounds. It stirred my soul and my vision started to grow.

I chose two roosters and three ducks. My farm knowledge was slim to none. To be honest, I didn't even know the difference in a chicken, rooster or a hen. I assumed a duck was a duck and had no idea what to do with them, but I brought them home anyway. Richie lit up when he saw our new residents. I knew that little boy inside him was still in there and ready to care for these beautiful birds. We named the Bantam roosters Buckie and Mack and the ducks, which turned out to be Muscovies, were named Blue, Jenny and Belle.

From that day forward, our farm came to life. We knew we didn't have a lot of room with only 12 acres so we looked for miniature varieties of animals. Our first livestock were miniature meditteranean donkeys and we went from one to five in a year and a half. We chose the kunekune pig for it's wonderful size and beautiful disposition. The original roosters were Bantams, which are small chickens with big personalities, and our little farm continues to grow today.

We find Verde Farm to be a special place. Sharing Verde with others through our blog, animals and tours is something we knew we had to do. Our journey here is one of continuous trial, error and learning. We read, google and guess a lot since our first two chickens and three ducks arrived. We've made many mistakes and had many heartbreaks but the joy and laughter far outweigh the sadness. We look forward to sharing our journey with you through this site and anticipate meeting new people and learning new things along the way.

Our best to you and hee haw, oink, oink and cluck, cluck from Verde Farm.