We (Ron & Kathryn) started Keyser Creek Farms back in 2007 as an offshoot of his parents' larger farming business. They came up with a plan for us to invest in dairy cows and quota as a segment of their herd, without having to shell out impossibly huge amounts of cash (aka. debt) to purchase land, buildings, and equipment - if it weren't for this... I don't know how we we ever would have gotten started.


So, we planted our roots.


The farm was officially certified organic in 2007, and our journey to learn about treating our animals with natural and homeopathic remedies was an eye-opening experience to the world of alternative healing.  We also hired a nutritionist to help us balance the feed rations for our animals, and we watched our vet bills all but disappear! Go figure..! We dreamt of having an on-farm dairy processing plant so we could sell milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream… I loved the idea of running an organic vegetable subscription… and we’d have an ol' general store… and… and..



But during these years, as we grew our farm and dreamt big dreams out there, we also grew our family and our best dreams actually came true right here! We had 3 little girls in just under 3 years, and two years after came our first son, followed by his baby brother 16 months later. That was 5 under 6 – and we were busy! So, of course, we threw homeschooling into the mix - I mean, at this point, why not?!  (I don’t think I dreamt as much those years – mostly tried to get some sleep!)  As new parents, we really focussed on natural treatments and healthy food - and even though I was initially skeptical of a lot of the alternative methods, I still had to admit that they worked!



It was around this time that we were finally in a position to buy the home farm from his parents. It was a great opportunity we couldn't pass up.  So, we swapped homes and made it official in March of 2012!



But life is crazy, right...?

Only 9 months later – right after New Years - we had a house fire. We moved back in to the basement of our old house - and it took us almost 2 years to finish renovations! Bless his parents’ hearts! We moved home in November of 2014 - just in time for baby #6 to be born (at home) - our 4th little girl!


               

The next stage in our journey took 7 years to perfect...

An investment like a new barn was NOT something we were taking lightly - especially Ron. He is the type to research things until he is 100% confident it will be the BEST he can make it, and every decision has to pencil out. So, we spent 7 years touring barns, attending conferences, interviewing farmers, questioning suppliers, negotiating deals, crunching numbers, and re-drawing drawings! It had to be perfect!


Oh – and we added 2 more little girls to the crew! 😉However, my pregnancies were complicated by strange autoimmune disorders… and the prenatal specialist basically told me to tough it out til the baby was born! At first, I cried… then I thought “NO WAY!” I went home, learned everything I could about my health issues, and came up with a diet and supplement program to try and beat this “incurable disorder”. At my follow-up appointment 2 weeks later, I stumped the specialist – he said it was impossible that my symptoms were going away.

…. I fixed my autoimmune disorder with food! I mean, we ate very healthy generally speaking because I knew it was important – but that was my real "AHA! Moment"…