02/08/2025
Sometimes, when you are the only one doing something, it is because it is truly an original idea. Other times, it turns out other people probably also tried it, and it is just too hard to sustain. I think running a farm plus a bed and breakfast at the same time, plus working a full time job, falls into the second category. The last year has been rough and I am burnt. I can’t keep doing this.
First of all, we aren’t going anywhere. We thought we might have to sell the property for a bit there, but I think we can make it work. This page will continue to exist, but under the slightly new name, Cast Iron Key Farm. We will still post about our farm animals. We will still post about our food. We will continue to try to be informative and light hearted, a bright spot in your scroll.
My real dream was to have a farm where I could do outreach to middle and high school kids. I feel called to su***de and runaway prevention, to showing kids there is more to life than their current situation, to giving them new ways to think, to help them succeed in life. Running the bed and breakfast was supposed to be a way to help provide funds so I could do those things. However, the B&B has been such a huge drain on my time and energy, I have not been able to do anything in that direction in the 4 years we have been operating.
In a similar way, I was promoted at my “day job” almost exactly a year ago. That promotion brings more funds, but takes more of my time and energy, and also requires me to travel more often. The couple of times we had guests and Johnny had to run things alone, it did not go well. We have also both had some health issues this year, luckily not at the same time, and it has been very hard to stay on top of everything when you’re in pain.
Also about a year ago, VRBO changed their marketing strategy. They now promote that when you rent with them, you get the place to yourself. That isn’t true here. And while they didn’t kick us off, they stopped showing us in search results. Our occupancy has dropped considerably since they made that change. I did try AirBnB, but had no bookings there after being live for 2 months.
So, we started a test a couple months ago, as we had zero bookings for all of June, July, and August – and the test has gone well. We are still renting the Birds & Bees room, but only as a longer term rental. We have friends from church who are now living there as they save up to buy their own place. It is the happy medium where we still have some funds coming in, but it is much less timing consuming and stressful.
As we have more spare time now, we are looking into making goods to sell at farmers markets. We will have our eggs to sell, but I am also looking at making cookies, pasta, and sourdough. Johnny is looking at making hot sauce, jerky, and canned goods. We will post more about those things as they develop. We will need local taste testers, too, before we go to market. If you would like to volunteer, drop a note in the comments!
I apologize if you were hoping to stay with us again for just a day or two. We hope you understand that we didn’t make this decision lightly. If you are in the area, we would love to have you drop by and say hi! We do still have space for family / close friends to stay with us if you want to visit, it just means sharing our bathroom rather than having your own.
We are closing a chapter in our book, but we are excited to begin the new one. Thank you for coming along for the ride! Life is beautiful, like this bright, colorful spot in the sky that happened the other day. We want to have the time and energy to appreciate it.
