2025 Year End Review!

Back in January I posted our 2025 goals. It was an ambitious list considering how the prior year went, but I am thrilled to report we achieved almost all of them, and those we didn’t were with good reason.

The biggest goal we had was finishing the pool and it became the biggest project of 2025. This was the largest project our “team” has taken on and although we cursed a lot along the way, it turned out exactly how we dreamed it would be and we feel it is perfect. Yes – we had a pool builder who did the actual pool and concrete decking, but the entire surrounding space was all done by us and we are proud! But it is not all we did this past year, so if you have the patience read on – this is always my longest post of the year.

January

January was quiet, comparatively. We started drilling and setting posts for the fencing which took a lot of time and hours of thought on the best way to position the fence, the posts and how to construct it. We had the horse panels powder coated and Mom and I started to collect and propagate cuttings for the planting I had planned.

February

February was spent entirely on building the fence. Designed by Andrea, executed by Steve and labor by Barb, Steve and Andrea – our biceps were bulging by the end of the month and the fence was still not completed by month end, but Gunite was done, pool was filled and turf and sod went in! We provided Spin Art at the PTA Daddy-Daughter Dance. Kyla nailed her triple back handspring and Arik was getting into rock crawlers.

March

In March we were still working on fencing and started on the edging for the border around the pool. We had to grade around the pool because I insisted that the fencing be all on the same level and didn’t want to compromise. This was a difficult request but turned out to be worth the pain. We added Maverick to the household who made Willow a very happy cat and chilled her out a lot. Kyla started working on her back tuck!

April

April was still full-on pool labor but we broke in the pool with a water war party for Arik’s 8th Birthday and everyone agreed it was an excellent work in progress. We had most of the fencing complete and started working on the swale (water needed to be directed around the pool because we interrupted the flow installing it on the slope) and adding rocks around the perimeter of the pool inside the edging we installed in March. We seeded the yard around the pool. Our last satin rabbit breeding was also in April which didn’t have amazing results and ended our rabbit breeding program.

May

May was a busy month and saw the completion of the swale that was designed to direct water around the pool and now needed a bridge to allow access to the pool from the deck. We began this design back in February, but got serious in May and it was completed. We also did some landscaping around the house to tie in the pool landscaping to the rest of the property – we added decorative “two man boulders” (thank you tractor) around the house and pool and redid some of the garden beds at the house and the new bridge. We painted the primer layer of paint on the fencing but…

We also added Abby and Maggie to the herd and it was the beginning of kidding season as babies started to arrive! This put a complete pause on any property work as babies take all the time and attention! We also decided to add a fall kidding season to our program and bred two of our girls for October babies. Arik took his RC hobby up a notch with the addition of the Typhon.

June

June brought most of the rest of the goat kids, milking, a trip to California and we started to learn all about showing our new “better” goats. We took advice from our goat friends and attended our first show which led to a lot of goat shaving as we practiced how to get the girls ready. This of course had a snowball effect which we will see later.  The only progress made on the pool was the installation of the sun shades and this was simply out of necessity. We were totally fine with the partially completed project as we enjoyed babies and summer fun in the pool.

July

July was pretty exciting as we had our first Salt Ranch Farm Camp (a full week of camp for kids) which was a huge success and will lead to more camps next year. Kids learned how to take care of the animals and helped with the chores. Meadow joined the “family” as our first horse. She is not ours, but we like to pretend she is and we love on her and ride her as if she was our own. Kyla nailed her back tuck and our last set of kids got their new home.

August

August was just HOT and we shaved a lot of goats to keep them cool and played with the horse. It was a month of thought as we designed future accommodations for equine and a bit of a compound housing change which will come to fruition later. Kids went back to school and cheer/football season started, which takes all of the main household time and usually sees farm projects put on hold.

September

September was awesome as our design for equine got a quick boost and we added a shipping container to clean up our hay/straw storage and will later be a wall of the future barn. The rabbit pen got some new fencing (we still have some bunnies in there) and thanks to one of our summer campers we met our neighbor Connie at Grace Farm...

This friendship developed quickly and we now serve our goat friends and customers from two locations! Connie also keeps the pressure on our equine expansion as she is a lifelong horse owner and lover and is teaching us the ropes of Western horses. We added more chickens this month and strung the lights around the pool.

October

October was the BEST month as we added Karen to the farm!! Karen is the last of the Sipe siblings to join us and now we are truly a family compound and my husband is a saint -  welcoming all the Sipes to the fold with open arms. I am humbled by the grace and caring of that man!! Salt Ranch provided Spin Art at the Police National Night Out and Spark Ministries Carnival, our October kids were born (we WILL absolutely have October kids from now on) and the Varnai’ s took a much needed vacation to the Florida Keys.

November

November was also a pretty big month as we started construction on our round pen so that we can ride Meadow safely and this is part of the infrastructure we are setting up for horses down the line…

We retained two doelings (Phoebe, Kiwi) from our last kidding and this of course means we will need a new buck by next year, and we wasted no time and added Apollo to our herd. Because we like to jump on opportunities, we also grabbed four does from the same farm – we are really excited to show Apollo, Martini, Belle and Vega from Flying U Bar and to see how they up our game with our herd! Charm came with the bunch – she is an older doe who we will breed and are thrilled about the potential of her kids. We added Grace Farm’s goats to our website and are excited about that partnership.

Arik’s football team won their Super Bowl and Kyla’s cheer squad killed it at their competition/Show off in Denton.

December

December wrapped up the year with gorgeous weather, cold plunges, a bunch of kiddings at Grace Farm, a new turtle (Guppie or Yertle depending on which kid you ask) that was rescued from the pool skimmer and installed in the playroom – so cute and you can never have too many animals. The mild temperatures allowed us to do a bunch of horseback riding now that Aunt Karen is here to teach and to motivate us, and David added Archery to our hobbies with a range in the Back 40 (aka Ginny’s Woods.)

Overall – as with every year on the ranch – 2025 was full with projects, family, challenges and joy. It is an unconventional way to live, but we cherish every moment we get to be here. The things that didn’t make the accomplishment list this year – outdoor kitchen – we decided to wait on this until we redo the deck next summer; online store, because we just didn’t; the pumpkin patch because we were too busy with goats; and our hardscaping because of the goals we have for next year and it didn’t fit the new plan!

Stay tuned!