Chicama Run Family Farm

November 1, 2011 I got sick.  I was diagnosed with lots of things from walking-pneumonia to whooping cough.... none were correct.  More often than not, I could barely get out of bed for the day and had multiple trips to the ER for issues breathing.  Understand - I am not a "run to the doctor" type person - I prefer not to go and I prefer not to be on medication.  By September of 2012 I had a list of Doctors and a list of medications I had to print out to take with me where ever I went because my brain was affected and thinking straight took a LOT of energy.  I was finally diagnosed with Lymes Disease and everything started to add up.  Understand - I was tested multiple times over the last year and each test came back negative.... so it wasn't that my main doctor didn't THINK about it (we live in Loudoun County - I mean EVERYONE thinks of it!).... but the test finally came back positive.  December 10, 2012 - after 28 days of IV antibiotics, my Lymes was declared gone, my picc line was taken out and I was down officially to 1 medication.  I will still be recovering for 3-6 MONTHS because of the damage that the antibiotics do to ones body - plus nerve damage that has happened - but I see a light.

Why am I mentioning all this?  In the last year, I have not been able to enjoy everything we have built here.  Walking to the big garage was a lot to ask - let alone going to see any of my animals.  This morning 12/12/12 - I was able to just walk and enjoy some of my animals!  16 new baby piglets are in the barn or the field, my goats wanted to play, and our baby cow was even happy to see me.  Just having moments like these are why I have "collected" my animals - I love all their personalities (though the evil-mom pig is getting on my nerves a little - but I do respect that she is protecting her babies).

We invite people to come and see these cool animals every week.  Sharing this is what we really LOVE to do.  Being a mom, we understand that it can get expensive to take kids ANYWHERE these days.  Our goal when we set out to open up our farm was to have it free and let families come out here and just enjoy it. We aren't an amusement park, we aren't entertainment really - we are a farm and a lot of kids need to really understand that.  I don't mean just the little ones - the big ones too.  It's different - it's a slower pace - it's respect.

Our farm has hours we are open.  Why aren't we open longer and more often?  It's our home - and as you have kids, so do we - and as many of you know - they are a lot of work!  We have work to do (remember this is a FAMILY farm - we have a whopping 1 employee to help out)... we have kids to drive places..... we have dinners to fix......homework to check.... papers to sign.... I think you get the idea.  Now why have I rambled in this direction?  Because some people have no respect for this - and it's funny - it's not the people you would expect.... we have had people step INTO my home yelling for us to come out and help them after we are closed...... we have had people pull up at 11pm to pick up milk...... we have had people take items and leave an IOU (try THAT one at Walmart!).... so let's get back to respect....

By sharing our farm, opening our HOME to people - we hope to teach people to slow down and RESPECT  each other and animals.

You have no idea what is going on in someone else's life when you pass them on the street, or when you talk to them at the check out counter.  Go back to my 1st paragraph... I know some of you knew what was going on as we discussed it - but not everyone did and honestly - I wasn't ready to share it yet.

So I end with one word....

RESPECT