A day in the life of a farm entrepreneur
TeDi shares a sweet moment with one of her sheep, Marley (photo by Sydney Jansen)
When the goats start wailing as early as six in the morning, TeDi Jansen doesn’t complain. She simply rises from the warm cocoon of her bed and begins her busy day as a full-time farmer. It is now cold and crisp outside, so TeDi dresses in several layers of overalls and jackets, placing her feet gingerly to avoid stepping on one of the three dogs sprawled on the floor next to her bed. They are very attached to her, and only sleep in the room that she occupies.
“Have you heard of an emotional support animal? Well, I’m their emotional support human,” she chuckles.
Once she is all bundled up, TeDi opens the front door of the house and is met with a piercing wind that makes her teeth chatter. She is worried that Odin, the Great Pyrenees who guards the property, is too cold to stay outside, but he is fast asleep in a pile of straw. The gray tips of the barn cat’s ears are just visible from within Odin’s mass of fur; the two are often found curled up together on cold nights.
It’s not difficult to see why the animals love TeDi. Each goat is greeted with an apple slice and the chance to nibble on her hat as she reaches down to feed them. They lick their lips in delight and weave in circles around her, their hooves crunching in the thick layer of frost that covers their pen. During the majority of the year, TeDi will milk the goats twice a day, but she stops milking them during the winter so they can save their energy while pregnant. This spring, the air on the farm will be filled with the tiny “clip-clop” of newborn hooves.
Now, it’s time to feed the sheep. TeDi loads several flakes of hay into a wheelbarrow and begins her long trek to the back pasture where the sheep are already starting to lean on the fence in anticipation. The barn cat hitches a ride in the wheelbarrow, eager to be revered by the sheep as he is on a daily basis. TeDi plucks the hay out of the wheelbarrow and throws it into the feeding trough for the sheep, taking care to make separate piles so that they don’t shove each other to get to it. While she is distracted, the guard llama, Jet, decides to use his long neck to his advantage and takes a few mouthfuls of hay right out of the wheelbarrow.
Once she’s fed all of the animals outside and inside, TeDi finally takes some time for herself. With a plate of farm-fresh scrambled eggs in one hand and a well-loved notebook in the other, she clears herself a place at the dining table and begins to plan her day. She uses the calendar on her phone as well, but she writes a daily to-do list in her trusty notebook as well.
“Just the act of physically writing something down in my own handwriting helps me remember what I’m writing. Technology is nice, but I also like to go back to the basics,” TeDi comments.
Despite multiple interruptions from the attention-seeking housecats, TeDi is able to finish writing her task list for the day and closes her notebook with a flourish. She then makes her way to her desk, where she must clear several boxes away so she has room to set down her laptop. She explains that she’s in the process of sending out packages to customers who purchased wool products from her during her most recent digital craft show.
“There was a time when I never thought I’d be sending out this many products. I’m so incredibly grateful to this online community for giving me the chance to share my art on a broader scale,” she remarks as her eyes begin to tear up.
Once her workspace is clear, TeDi sets to work creating digital content for her business. While she spends much of her time taking care of the animals and crafting hand-made products from the wool and milk they produce, she also has a booming social media presence. Her main Instagram account, @smallacrefarm, boasts over 1,700 followers and TeDi works hard to engage with her digital audience. She spends a few hours typing at what seems like the speed of light, publishing posts on Instagram and Facebook, as well as sending out her monthly newsletter via MailChimp. She uses the newsletter to update her followers on interesting events happening around the farm. In the spring, she invites people out to see the sheep being sheared and hosts a 5-day intensive fiber camp where students learn to clean, comb, dye, spin, and weave sheep wool from start to finish. The fiber camp in particular is a very popular event and spots tend to fill up quickly.
TeDi picks vegetable matter out of one of her sheep’s fleeces (photo by Sydney Jansen)
After her “need-to-do” tasks are complete, TeDi makes sure to take a mental health break every day. Today’s meditative task involves sitting down with her spinning wheel and spinning a batch of wool into yarn. This may seem like work, but TeDi enjoys it because she doesn’t have to think too much about it.
She smiles calmly as she says, “I enjoy the repetition- it helps me feel in control when I’m under a lot of stress.”
Her final task of the day is one that she was first apprehensive about but has come to enjoy; the weekly livestream. In an effort to connect with her social media followers, TeDi goes live on Facebook every Monday night to talk about different topics relating to the farm. Last week, she introduced her dog’s new litter of puppies to the world. This week, she’ll be discussing her wool art journey and sharing her current projects. Her livestream audience is small but loyal, and tunes in every week to interact with her.
TeDi shares her recently-made yarn with her Facebook followers during a livestream (photo by Sydney Jansen)
TeDi’s work days are usually over 12 hours long, but she finds them rewarding because she gets to do what she loves.
“Not a lot of people get to say they have dogs, sheep, and goats as their coworkers, so it’s a sweet little life I have here,” she shares, and it’s clear that she means it.