We always knew we wanted to have land.
I was raised on 50 acres with cows and horses, and we showed pigs growing up, so country life was just part of who I was. When Clint and I first got married, though, we spent our first four years living in town. At the time, Clint was racing four-wheelers, and at least once a week he would take one around the block. Every single time, I was convinced the police were going to get called on us. Somehow… they never were.
By 2019, we knew it was time for a change.
We ended up buying our land from Clint’s grandmother, which made it even more special. Clint’s dad’s old shop was already here, and Clint spent so much of his life on this land—either working in the shop or helping take care of his grandparents. Even though it was 45 minutes from my job, it just made sense. This land already held so much family history, and it felt right to make it ours.
We built our house in 2020, and I’ll just say… building a house is not for the faint of heart 😅.
We originally started w/ our inside puppies our OG babies, then came the chickens, complete with a very bougie chicken coop. Clint is a carpenter and does nothing halfway. Then we took in a Kunekune pig from a friend who couldn’t keep her. We started with two Great Pyrenees, and somehow we’re now up to five outside dogs 🤦♀️.
One of them was rescued from outside a restaurant. I convinced Clint we needed to bring her home because she lookedlike a Great Pyrenees and would be easy to re-home. Spoiler alert: a year later, she still lives with us.
About two months after that, a dog was dumped on our land. She was clearly pregnant and absolutely terrified of people. We fed her, helped get her back into decent shape, and then she had 12 puppies—YES, twelve. We found homes for all but one, and once again, I convinced my husband that our toddler definitely needed a dog friend. So Doug stayed.
Most recently, I called Clint and said, “I found this goat. She said we could come get it tonight.” His very natural response was, “Are you serious?”
Spoiler alert again: we went and got the goat… and came home with an extra one too 😂
Even though I grew up on a farm, I knew absolutely nothing about goats. Carl, the male, was a two-week-old bottle baby. I’m not sure I would ever sign up for another bottle baby again, but it was fun—and now he’s very clingy. Then, as an early Christmas present, I came home from work one evening to find two more goats, bringing our total to four.
Even though I grew up around animals, I don’t think I fully realized just how much work it takes to maintain everything. Our house sits on 12 acres, and Clint insists on mowing all of it (insert eye roll here) thankfully the rest of it is pasture. We’ve replaced almost all the fencing, cleaned out around the pond, and there always seems to be a project going—whether it’s the fence, the animals, the barn, or the land itself.
It truly never ends.
But living in the middle of nowhere has been so, so good for us. We’re 20 miles from the nearest Walmart or restaurant and about 40 miles from a bigger city. My drive to work can be brutal at times, but the peace, quiet, and privacy make every mile worth it.
There’s just something about the stillness of the country—the quiet sounds, the open space, the slower pace—that feels like home.
