The Story of Our Backyard Farm

Our backyard farm adventure started in November of 2010 when we bought our home. We were coming from a 1200 square foot home on a 4,000 square foot lot to 1800 square feet of living space on a quarter-acre lot. Having grown up in a townhouse with no true yard, I was awestruck. I started imagining everything we could do with “all this space”.

The yard was basically a blank canvas. The original owners had put in a large concrete slab, but other than that, they hadn’t done much with the yard. I immediately started dreaming up big things like a pergola and pool and extended patio for entertaining. It didn’t take long for my dreams to shift though. Within a year I was researching chickens, planning for a garden, and trying my hand at a compost heap.

Our yard has gone through a lot of changes over the years. Many of my birthday, Mother’s Day, and anniversary gifts have been plants or trees. We’ve dug things up, installed things, reconfigured, and thrown a few ideas by the wayside. It’s basically an ever-evolving space and there was even a short time when my backyard farm dreams were pushed to the back burner. But with four of my five kiddos in school, and my 2 year old being obsessed with our backyard birds, we are spending a lot of time outdoors again and more big dreams and big plans are being made.

It is amazing to look back and see what we’ve created in the eleven years we’ve lived in this space. I can hardly wait to see what the next ten years bring!