A Living Family Mini Farm began as a dream.

When this little girl was in the belly I knew I wanted my kids to experience the freedom, growth and resilience from living in nature that I was blessed to experience growing up in Kansas.

Then, as a 4 yo, she told me she wanted to move to a farm, and though I encouraged her, for years I believed it was just a dream...

Fast forward to 2021 after a fire in my belly got some action and traction behind the dream of my teeniest tiniest, as I call her even though she my older child. I made moves to leave my long-time teaching career for full time homeschooling and homesteading. We moved in February, and by fall we had the foundational permaculture plan in place.

Ducklings and chicks, then dogs, goats, Kune-Kune pigs and then mini cows (with a handful of expected and unexpected and foster kitten litters mixed in) each arrived filling this girl’s heart to bursting.

Then tragedy struck…

A barn fire in January 2025 claimed our 1700s barn, our sweet pigs and our beautiful cows. The devastation was beyond overwhelming. Yet this girl is nothing if not resilient, optimistic and driven (like her grandmother), and my faith was strengthened.

Determined to bring the full vision of this precious land we are blessed to steward, our family dried our tears, bandaged our hearts and came together fully focused on rebuilding the barn and building A Living Family…a new iteration of an old dream.

We set our hearts and minds on restoring the 1700s timber frame barn to its true glory. We wanted to have beautiful, usable spaces for people to gather, learn and soak up a sense of wellbeing.

We saw people healing through mini-cow hugs and pig kisses, enjoying the work of the farm and feeling the love we feel for this beautiful Earth and all the animals, including the micro mini cow and the mini donkey along with pregnant goats and their kids who have joined us.

Because A Living Family started back when this now young woman was a newborn, as a community for brand new families to find their footing in the crucible of life. A Living Family was about grounding and growing roots for holistic, life long flourishing, together, and I wanted to go back…

A Living Family means going back to the simple, eternal truths of human thriving — being in nature, close to the earth, communing with the plants and animals cultivates peace and connection deep in our spirits — and that is what we want to share with you at A Living Family Mini Farm.