We moved to the country when I was almost nine years old. We lived in a suburb of Atlanta so we were used to a few conveniences. Like stores and restaurants being just down the street and even living close enough to walk to school. Although this day and age I wouldn’t let my child walk to school, back in the 1970’s, we did.
When we moved to the country we lived at least 5 miles from any type of convenience. Twenty-five miles from any other type of bigger convenience, like K-Mart, larger grocery stores, etc. Since we were so far out and we were in the “country”, my mom wanted to embrace this lifestyle and truly live like farmers. You know, having a big garden (even though they had a small one in the city), land and farm animals! I’d like to give a big shout out to my daddy for supporting her dreams and going along with all of her ideas.
The first animal we got was a cow. Baby was her name. We drove 30 miles to the cow sale and brought her home. I think she stayed at home for one day then decided in a thunderstorm to run away. I remember my mother being so upset. We had everyone out looking for her, my dad, brother, uncles and cousins. She was eventually found and brought back home. I don’t remember how long we kept her, but cow farmers we did not become.
Then we moved on to other animals; chickens, rabbits, horses, cats, goats and of course our faithful beagle Barney. Barney moved with us from Mableton and he was the sweetest, most loyal dog there was. He was always right with the family wherever we were. We had lots of outside cats over the years. I love all animals, but cats hold a special place in my heart.
In later years, around the 1990’s my mother ventured into owning sheep. These sheep were the sweetest, most docile animals I’d ever seen. I remember they would follow us around like dogs. They were just precious. Now, granted, I was in my early 20’s at the time and I was working and going to college so I wasn’t there on the farm tending to the animals, but I do have fond memories of those times.
As I’ve said before, I grew up being extremely close to my mother. We spent a lot of time together when I was a child. I learned so much from her. But then, and rightfully so, I was older and trying to find my way in the world. You’ve heard the saying, I wished I knew then what I know now? Well, I would have continued to try to spend more time and learn so much more from my mother because in December 1994, my mother had a cerebral aneurysm to rupture. Thankfully she survived, but she came away a different person. She couldn’t sew or cook the way she used to. Her personality was different and so were her mannerisms.
Unfortunately, we were in Atlanta in the hospital with her for so many weeks, we weren’t at home with the sheep like we had been. And, also unfortunately, the sheep began to disappear. But our focus was on getting my mother better and getting her home.
After 2 weeks in ICU and 3 weeks in rehab, my mother finally came home in January 1995. Even though my mother had been through so much and she was having a difficult time getting her words right, there was no mistaking her grief when she came home from the hospital to find her sheep gone. That was devastating to her and us as well.
I cannot image her sadness. Going through an aneurysm and brain surgery and coming home to a different life and all of her animals gone. I’ve attached a few pictures of her with her babies and how happy she was. These pictures were pre-aneurysm.
So, when Blake and I started dreaming of having a small animal farm, he already knew he wanted kunekune pigs. I thought, well, we need goats to eat all of this kudzu and grass. So I started looking at goats and researching. I remember the two goats that we had; Billie Jack and Billie Jean. I remember feeding them and going into the pasture with them, but I don’t remember them being as friendly as my mama’s sheep. Then we started thinking about getting hair sheep instead of goats. But one day I ran across a breed of wool sheep called Icelandic sheep. I knew that was it! I had not even researched how to take care of such an animal, I just knew my mother had led me to this breed. Then once I began researching it, it all just fit into our farm and what we wanted to accomplish with our future. We have great plans for the kunekune pigs and Icelandic sheep and creating a more holistic circle of life here at Elizabeth Acres.
If you are starting to learn anything about me, it’s that I miss my mother terribly. I am a very emotional, sensitive person and I grieve her death tremendously. I’ve been told that I carry that around too much. But I can’t help it. She was my hero, my inspiration. I get a lot of my creativity and drive from her. But I want to honor her memory and what a beautiful impact she had on my life and the lives of all of our family and friends. I truly feel like my mother is with me guiding my choices for this farm.
So today, we were able to get our sheepdiminium built (sheep shelter) and start finishing all of the preparations for our Icelandic sheep to arrive. We will pick them up in about a week and a half. We are so excited! We have great plans for these animals.
Since there have been farm animals on this land for so many years from my great grandparents on down, my husband said it best: I think Levi and Lizzie would be proud to see what we are doing here on the farm. Yes, honey. I think they would.
