New Year, New Farm

Hey friends and family! It’s been a while – about three months – since our last update. We have been burning it at both ends these past months navigating lots of life changes, with the biggest change being that we are going to be moving our farm… to MONTANA! 

If you’re sitting there reading this thinking “what the…”, you are probably not alone. And if you’re sitting there reading this thinking “woohoo!”, you’re definitely not alone. 

Long story short, we took our first trip to Montana and Wyoming in 2020, and as soon as we started our drive back home, we both felt a feeling deep down in our souls that we had never felt before. At first we brushed it off as the post-vacation blues, but as time went on the feeling persisted and only grew in strength. In July of this year we both found ourselves coming to somewhat of a crossroads with our current jobs. We could continue on in our current roles, but we didn’t exactly love them. That mixed with our souls tugging us back towards the West got us seriously talking about moving away from our very first farm. We explored job options in Montana, Wyoming, and even Idaho at that time, but we were met with dead ends and fading dreams. We came to the conclusion that we would probably just have to settle with having a second home in Montana one day.

As fate would have it, I was able to attend the Little Creek Women’s Retreat this past August solely because it happened to fall on one of my year-in-advance scheduled PTO weeks. That long weekend spent caring for a flock of sheep at a beautiful Montana ranch was undoubtedly the defining moment for me: I felt a calling from deep in my bones that this was where I was supposed to be. A few weeks later, Doug and I headed out on our much anticipated two-week trip to Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. During this trip we explored Montana and Idaho more than we ever had before, we went on a five-day horseback fly fishing pack trip through Yellowstone, and we completed the most incredible hike of our lives in the Tetons. With the passing of each day on our trip, we felt a deeper, more spiritual connection to Montana and the surrounding areas. It was on this trip that we realized we had been forever changed. And it was a change that we could not ignore.

As soon as we returned from our trip, we had such a yearning to be in Montana full-time that we both started looking into job opportunities in the region again. Within a few days, some great opportunities in Montana presented themselves to both of us. Soon after, we were doing phone interviews, traveling to Montana (two whirlwind weekends in a row) for site visits, and making big life-changing decisions. Throughout this process, there is no denying that we have been guided by an incredibly organic and undoubtedly cosmically planned path. That is the only way to explain the way that everything has just … worked out. 

The calling that we have been feeling towards Montana, a state that neither of us had been to until just over a year ago, is impossible to put into words. One thing is for certain though, this decision has been one of the most exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, emotion-inducing decisions we’ve ever made. But at the same time it all just feels right. 

Over the next few months we will be closing on our new Montana farm, packing up our current farm, coordinating a million moving parts, and navigating moving our farm and animals (yes the animals are coming with!) across the country… in the middle of winter. It certainly is not going to be an easy task, but we are ready to take it on and jump in head first to our new adventure in the West.

Because we are going to be so busy, we both decided to get back on social media as an easier and less time-consuming way to keep up with our friends and family. I have so many mixed feelings about this because I have absolutely loved not being caught up in social media for the past year, but my social media break has given me a different perspective as I jump back into it. I also just really love writing, so I will still try to write some blog posts here and there, but I foresee this blog getting pushed even further toward the back burner at least for the time being. If you are on social media and would like to keep up with us as we navigate through this transition and begin our moving journey, you can find us at @Elderoaksfarm on instagram. For those family members who don’t have instagram (hey Dad!), I will be posting carbon copies to Facebook as well under the name Elder Oaks Farm. 

We are incredibly excited and humbled to have this opportunity to live out such a big dream. We love you all and we can’t wait to share our journey with you.