Situated on roughly 70 acres in South Central Virginia, Spring Mill Farm is host to 11 happy horses, 30 chirping baby chicks, 2 special kitties, 2 loving dogs, 11 inquisitive goats, and the occasional steer or two.
My husband and I, both in our mid-20s to early-30s, moved here two years ago, to the farm that has been in his family for generations. My in-laws live in the main house 1000 feet away, while we live in the apartment in the barn saving up money to build a place of our own the farm. The farm, on Spring Mill Road, is named for the old mill half a mile down the road that was washed away some years back during a hurricane. At one point in history, the mill was the source of income for my husband’s family.
In credit towards the history of the farm and surrounding area, the farm took it’s name from the mill. In 2010 when we started our first herd of dairy goats, we chose to name the herd after the creek that once fed Spring Mill. Thus, Falling River Alpines was born. I’ve always loved goats. I spent most of my teenage years, aside from riding horses, trying to coerce my parents into letting me get a goat for a 4H project. It never happened.
Christmas 2008, HB surprised me with two pet wethers. A year later, HB’s longing to make cheese and my affinity for goats led us down an unexpected path. On New Years Day, 2010, we picked up three dairy does to start our own herd. Since kidding, we’ve been taking the extra milk produced by the does and using it for cooking, baking, and of course! cheese making.
By day my husband is an agricultural lender for a local bank and I am a veterinary technician at a local small animal hospital, studying to become a fully licensed tech. In the early morning light and late evening shadows you can catch us toiling around the farm, tending to animals and our garden, riding tractors into the sunset and dreaming of making the farm profitable so that one, if not both, of us could work on the farm instead of elsewhere. Our long term dreams include a creamery, CSA, and winery, and step by step we make small progress. January 2007 found me starting a new job at Harvard University, and here I am two and a half years later on a small farm in Virginia. Life is full of surprises.
Danielle,
My, my you seem so busy and yet so very focused and not haphazard, like me. I hope you end up with a cured Spring Roll. That looks like it would be very irritating and uncomfortable.
We have about 20 inches of snow, with more on the way this coming Tuesday evening through Wednesday. Our neighbor, Larry just plowed the driveway out to the monument circle. I went out to try and find a paper (none available) and ended up damaging the Avalanche front bumper when I hit a hard lump of snow in the roadway. And now I’m stuck in the driveway, so I’ll have to get out in a bit and dig out in front of the front wheels. Fortunately it is nearly beneath the car shed, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble.
Hope you two are safe and warm.
Love,
Hal & John