We have lots to share with you and are excited you are here!
After reading this you will be all caught up.
We have some new additions to Back Forty Farms - eight alpacas! We were able to help someone that was trying to rehome them, and they wanted them go to a good home and stay together. So, that is how we ended up with so many.
They are quite friendly, get along with Phillip (our solo llama) and the other animals, and of course are cute as heck. People who take our tour seem to fall in love with them quickly.
In the below video there is no doubt that he is smiling...actually smiling.
Last June was a very rough one for us. First, Ron was thrown from his ATV. He came down hard and his right side was completely bruised black and blue and purple. That was bad enough, but as it rolled it missed his head by 5 or 6 inches. Had that happened, it would have likely been 'game over.'
Tony was on the tractor when this took place. He saw it happen and immediately stopped the tractor and jumped off to help. In doing so, he grabbed the hot exhaust pipe which burned his hand. Rushing to help his Dad he got injured himself, ugh.
Six days later, Lisa was kicked in the eye by our llama (Pacha) as she and Tony were shearing. The ambulance took her and we later found out her left eye-ball had burst by the force of the kick, which required immediate emergency eye surgery. Her vision today is a bit "filmy" but the surgeon did an amazing job and if you weren't looking for an injury, you wouldn't even notice it. We pray that her vision gets back to the way it was.
These took place during the peak season of our garden, which would have been a complete loss had in not been for amazing people showing up to help, bring meals, and pray. We were very humbled by the response of so many amazing people.
The entire thread of updates, pictures, and more regarding can be found here.
We are down to 10 goats now. We had 29 due to so many new babies being born and we were being overrun with goats to say the least. We refused to sell them to someone who was going to butcher them (2 people tried), but with a little due diligence we found someone who wanted lots of goats to follow behind his cattle.
We have checked with the person who bought them and he tells us they are loving life on the 2,000 acres that they get to play, eat and live on - all together.
Hershey, our dairy cow's baby boy, was born last May. He is so darn cute but here is the thing, he has grown so much and so fast, it's absurd. He's doing well and becoming quite the bull.
Our Scottish Highlanders are also doing well. Arabella, our only girl, is leading the pack so to speak and loves to pose for some beautiful photos.
We have moved to Gab and deleted our Facebook
We don't want our newsletter to be political but let's just say we are now on Gab who promotes a healthy environment, doesn't censor, and we have had an amazing response already. We will soon have our own channel on Gab where you can see all of our funny, educational and other videos. Once this is launched we will post it on Gab and then in our next newsletter.
We do miss the thousands of followers we had on Facebook but we hope all our friends find us on Gab. We are still on Instagram and have several ways you can reach us, including our newsletter, VIP Text Club and of course our website.
Click on the below to visit and we will be looking for you!
SALE ON ALL EGGS, INCLUDING FREEZE-DRIED!
CLICK BELOW AND SAVE
THANKS TO OUR ANIMAL SPONSORS AND DONORS!
We have three (3) animals that have been sponsored thus far and wanted to recognize them. If you are interested in being a sponsor (or donor) click here.
Cupid is sponsored by Becky S., from California.
Arabella is sponsored by Tom W., from Connecticut
Johnny is sponsored by Mike Gamblin Real Estate, Idaho.
Food is donated every week by Full Tilt Studio, Idaho.
Back Forty now has two (2) German Shepherds!
Last spring, our son Tony got a German Shepherd named Ryker when he was 8 weeks old. We have never had a "real" dog, only chihuahuas, but fell in love with him. He has such a wonderful personality and he's the best fetching dog we have ever seen!
We recently lost one of our chihuahuas, Lily, who was 13 years old.
Getting another dog was not on our radar, however, if the rare instance showed itself of a German Shepherd puppy becoming available, we would consider getting one.
Soon after, our daughter let us know she came across four (4) that were available! By the time Heather and Tony arrived only 2 were left. They visited with both of them and made a decision! Back Forty's newest pup is named Knox. Needless to say, he's a "tad bit" spoiled and we are so happy he is here.
Ryker is even more excited as now he has someone to play with that not only matches his energy, but often times exceeds it. We love that too, however it's pretty much non-stop and they bring that energy inside, which sometimes is, well, you get it...
WEBSITE CHANGES
We are going to be updating and revamping our website to make it more seamless for scheduling tours, accessing photos of our animals and so much more. We hope that you enjoyed this newsletter and we have committed to sending this out more frequently to keep you all in the loop.
We offer discounts frequently, events and updates so make sure you sign up for our text club to hear about them first. We also hope to see you on Gab and Instagram.
Most Sincerely,
Ron, Lisa and Tony