Our Old IAF Logo
Wow, it has certainly been a long time since we have had a real web presence! I must say, it feels nice to be back! It is amazing how technology has advanced since we last had a website back in 2005. With the addition of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, the need for a website for the farm was not an absolute necessity up until now. The farm has gone through many transformations as well, and having a page on Facebook was just about more than I could manage with all I was doing in the "real world." Of course, I've been used to writing my own websites, which used to take loads of time. I was blessed to find a place that offered it's own editors, which cut my code writing down from several weeks to only about one and a half (and believe me, that was still too much time to be working on it). I am very happy to have it launched and running though, and I plan on expanding and updating as time permits.
Here come "The Bwaah!"
Over the years, the farm has grown and developed into somewhat of an accidental experiment into self-sustainablilty. Becoming more concerned with the tanking econcomy, and how the government is trying to control everything we do, our family decided it would probably be in our best interest to start preparing for some type of eventual economical and/or social fallout. We have learned in recent years how to butcher the chickens we raise, and have successfully raised and slaughtered our first cow. We began researching the old ways of food preservation, and started developing a supplemental solar energy system for our home. Then of course, there are the goats! We are constantly looking to educate ourselves about how to be more self-sufficient, and we often share information that we find helpful.
Riding Dash in the 4th of July Parade
Probably the two most drastic changes that took place this year were getting out of equine rescue and rehabilitation, and pulling our daughter out of public school to teach her at home. After 10 years of dealing with people on both sides of the fence, the animals that suffered, the money and time involved, and the constant stress that I endured, at the end of the day I found myself angry, frustrated, and quite frankly, exhausted. The desision was made that if we wanted to homeschool Jenna, something was going to have to go. Officially, I had never announced it on our FB page that I was leaving rescue. The decision was made this past Spring, and was discussed in several meetings with our supporters and affiliates. I worked on slowly phasing it out of our farm page description on facebook, then started to shift the focus to other things, so most people never even noticed. It was probably one of the hardest choices I've had to make, but I felt I had put my time in and done my part. The challenges of homeschooling are greater in some regards than equine rescue, but there is no real comparison when it comes to watching your child flourish, and seeing her actually get excited about learning, neither of which were happening while she was in public school. I am also happy to report that since leaving the "agenda," I've met several new people, and have gotten involved in other equine activities, which have opened up alot of positive opportunities for both my horses and myself. I have more time to enjoy what I have, and my family is beginning to show interest now that they have seen the positive side of responsible horse ownership. Jenna has even begun riding, which is something I never thought would happen. Following the rescue whirlwind, I have been left with a total of 6 horses that will have a forever home here at IAF.
I look forward to running our new website, and updating my blog with new, and hopefully entertaining news from our farm each week as time permits! Thank you for stopping by, please share our site with your friends, and subscribe to our RSS feed!
God Bless You! ~Mel!
I look forward to running our new website, and updating my blog with new, and hopefully entertaining news from our farm each week as time permits! Thank you for stopping by, please share our site with your friends, and subscribe to our RSS feed!
God Bless You! ~Mel!
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