Life has been a little… a lot lately. The good kind of busy, the exhausting kind of busy, and the “how is it already Thursday?” kind of busy. Between work, animals, and everything that comes with running a farm alongside full-time jobs, we’ve been juggling a lot behind the scenes.
Work updates
On my end, today I was promoted at my day job. It comes with more leadership, more responsibility, and yes, somehow still more meetings. I’m still very hands-on and technical, but now I’m also helping steer things, support other developers, and make sure nothing catches on fire.
What’s a little funny is that this isn’t actually my first time in a leadership role. I used to be a VP of Engineering (and eventually a one-woman dev & IT department), but that was about five years ago and I’ve definitely gotten a little soft as an IC since then. It’s also a bit weird stepping into a management role with people who used to be my peers. We’ll figure it out as we go, and I’m confident we’ll find our rhythm.
Ken’s current reality
Ken has been deep in nuclear operations exam-writing mode lately, working long days and nights to finish his current exam. It’s focused, high-stakes work that doesn’t politely stay inside normal business hours. Some weeks feel manageable. Other weeks feel like an aggressive game of Tetris where sleep is the piece that never fits.
The critters don’t wait
Meanwhile, the animals continue to be very unimpressed by our schedules. Feeding still needs to happen, water buckets still freeze, and goats still yell.
Kidding season is also creeping up on us. Candy and Riesling are first up, which means we’re mentally shifting into late nights, early mornings, and the familiar mix of excitement and nerves that always comes with baby goats.
We’ve also had to make some hard calls recently. We sold two of our absolute favorite does, Petunia and Diana, so that we could afford to keep the rest of the herd going. That’s not the kind of decision you see in a cute Instagram post, but it’s a very real part of keeping this farm sustainable.
Between the goats, poultry, and the endless small tasks that pile up fast, it sometimes feels like we’re running a tiny, slightly chaotic city instead of a herd. We don’t always keep up perfectly, and sometimes the animals win. Honestly, they should.
Quick barn cat update
In case you missed it, our mystery kitten situation had a happy update. The juvenile cat was successfully neutered and ear-tipped and turned out to be an approximately 8-month-old male. He’s recovering well and we’ll try to coax him out of his crate soon.
Behind the scenes
We’re sharing all of this not to complain, but to give a more honest picture of what life looks like behind the scenes right now. Growth in work, farming, and life is exciting, but it also stretches you in ways you don’t always expect.
We’re learning as we go, making adjustments, and doing our best to keep building our program with intention, care, and transparency. Thanks for being here, for sticking with us through the busy stretches and the quieter ones. We’re tired, we’re grateful, and we’re still very much in love with this life.
