1 week Ago By LYDIA SNOW [email protected]
ELKO — Desiree Carlyle, owner and operator of Far Out Farm, runs a multi-animal, multi-product homestead which she hopes to expand into a larger commercial operation from its current status as a “micro-farm.” “I’m a huge animal lover. When I was younger, I grew up in the country and I raised rabbits and chickens,” she said.
“A couple years ago, the economy, the world and the food industry started me on making more drastic changes,” she said. “I like to control what I put in my body. Eating organic is pretty important to me.
” But she’s just getting started. “We’re in the process of forming our LLC in the state of Nevada,” she explained. In order to sell farm shares such as a half or a quarter of a pig, she needs a business license.
“We started here with High Caliber, which is a local handyman service. We’ve been in business for three years with the farm. We’re just now getting into the process of incorporating and we’re going to be selling farm shares of our pigs,” she said.
“I’m looking at getting my cottage license, because I do make a lot of bread items. We’re just getting going.” {span class=”print_trim”} Oberhasli goats at Far Out Farm.
Carlyle said she recently brought ducks and goats to the farm. “So we’re still growing.” “The chickens started with egg layers and then we brought in some meat birds.
After that, we brought in some turkeys and then pigs and then emus and now goats,” she said. “We had to kind of weigh out what was going to be more cost-efficient for us.” Her husband Jeremy Carlyle has his eye on raising steer sometime in the future, she said.
She said she is thankful for how her husband provides a source of income outside the farm. Running a farm is a huge responsibility, because the animals’ needs come first, she noted. “The day starts and stops with them.
I firmly believe that if you’re going to have animals and you’re not raising them with love and kindness — and, of course, all the husbandry that goes along with it — then this probably isn’t for you.” Being in charge of animals’ wellbeing means calling in sick is not an option. “At 9 p.
m. last night, I’m still out, going to check on my sow,” Carlyle said. Ellie, the sow, is expecting piglets any day now.
She said she finds herself “up with her all night, checking on her, trucking across the yard with a flashlight.” “If she doesn’t have babies today or tonight, then I’ll be up with her again tonight. And we have a goat that’s supposed to kid right around March 30,” she noted.
“In the meantime, somehow on Saturday, I’m supposed to go to Twin Falls to do my Costco run.” She praised her “right hand.” “My right hand is Dr.
Tessa Morgan. She’s a local farm vet here. Without her knowledge, without her expertise, without her being as hands-on as she is, I don’t know that I would have gotten this far,” Carlyle said, especially considering how the farm has no other employees.
“I was out with Ellie yesterday and noticed that her milk came in,” she said. “The first thing I did was text Dr. Morgan, ‘Ellie’s got her milk,’” Carlyle explained.
“If I keep her in the loop and everybody’s on the same page, then hopefully things roll smoother. And the same with the goats. She knows that the goats are supposed to have babies around March 30, she knows these are the goats’ first kids.
” Which leads to still another aspect of Carlyle’s farm life: milking goats. She manufactures her own dairy products and makes yogurt. What does the current menagerie of Far Out Farm look like? “We have guard dogs, of course, to help protect the livestock,” as well as farm cats, she said.
{span class=”print_trim”} Ellie the pig at Far Out Farms. She owns a set of breeding Kune Kune pigs, which are a type originating from New Zealand, as well as a Kune Kune and commercial pig cross. The farm raises Oberhasli goats, a variety of Swiss dairy goat.
It also has Peking and Muscovy ducks, two emus and a whole pen of egg-laying hens. Along with keeping turkeys for eggs and meat, “we do raise a couple sets of meat chickens every year for a freezer,” she said. “Part of the farm share is offering meat birds for sale.
” {span class=”print_trim”} Her dogs also benefit from the livestock and produce, making dog food to supplement their kibble. “A lot of what we raise here goes back to them,” she said, adding “we primarily feed non-GMO as long as humanly possible and I also ferment some of their feed. And then, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables.
I’m just now starting my seeds for this year’s garden — and primarily, 97% of that garden goes back to them too.” As a personal hobby, she also runs a medicinal garden. “I make all of our own soaps.
I make all of our own shampoos, face washes, shave creams, kitchen sink soap. I make stuff out of lard from the Kune Kunes, lotions, salves, tinctures. It just interests me,” Carlyle said.
“Not every day is a good day,” she said of working the farm. “There’s loss. You can try as hard as you can and animals die.
That’s unfortunately inevitable. “It’s not all cute stuff. There’s a ton of responsibility — and not just financial responsibility.
I mean, we have to have food to feed these guys. There’s care that goes into it.” Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.
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