Rhythm Ranch Homestead

👩‍🔧 Woman-owned, SWaM-certified agritourism farm
🐐 Specializing in farm tours, Nigerian Dwarf goats, and English Shepherd dogs
🌱 Educating visitors in sustainable living by raising livestock and growing food
📪 Montpelier, VA (Hanover County) Many of the changes that a worldwide pandemic brought about were tough ones; the “birth” of Rhythm Ranch Homestead was one of the changes that – although it was not easy – was a positive one. When I bought the property, I was moving back “home” from Nashville and a music career, and had a vision of clearing land and having animals – especially horses – and of slowly incorporating homesteader ways that I had picked up from YouTube, the internet, and watching TV series such as “Alaska’s Last Frontier”. Well, life happened, and with the expenses of clearing land and the busy-ness of life, including my ongoing music career, the vision remained just that. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I saw “quarantine” as a chance to not only have the time to raise animals on the land, but to provide for my family in a time where essentials – milk, eggs, fresh vegetables – were difficult to find, and trips to the store were few and far between with mandated social distancing in place. Though many food items became more readily available as the world adjusted and supply chain caught up, I realized the desire I had to move away from being dependent on grocery stores for food. Chickens came first, goats soon followed, a rescue bunny, a second dog, ducks, more chickens… you get the point. A garden MUCH larger than anything I previously had went into the ground, then a greenhouse. Fences were built, enclosures erected, land was cleared, and this little homestead quickly took shape. The opportunity to sell things – eggs, fresh milk, plants, vegetables, soaps, and handicrafts – has given my ever-entrepreneurial self a way to make a few extra dollars of income. Rhythm Ranch Homestead gets its name from our affinity for and love of music, and “Ranch” not only refers to the presence of animals, but more as a nod to the history of this land and home which was formerly “The Ranch House” – the local African-American juke joint in the 1950’s. Naming the property became a necessity when I began to register goats with the American Dairy Goat Association – they require a farm name, and I think this one fits!