Little Raccoon Creek Farm

08/23/2025

Okay, so here is where we are at. Finishing up applications for Modesto Fall Festival this weekend. No mas after Sunday. Same for photo submissions for the People & Animal Learning Services (PALS) fundraising calendar.

I have had some people talking to me about needing to do some sort of advertising on the calendar letting people know every single penny goes to PALS. I got the quote and you can see it below. I need $320 to do a sticker that showcases their logo and lets people know that no one but PALS is profiting from this.

If you can even give a little bit, it is so appreciated. Checks should be made out directly to PALS. Cash will be recorded every step of the way. Remember this is my master's degree at work. If we can't do the stickers it doesn't meant the calendar isn't happening, it just seems like a good way to assure people when they buy it.

We are so close to the finish line!!!!!!!

08/21/2025

As we edge closer to Modesto Fall Festival , the days get busier than they already were. So that means a social media day takes over. Thankfully I need a day off so my office is going to be the bedroom today. I tore my calf muscle a week ago and I have been running around so much it is getting super painful again. Rest, ice, and elevation.

Moving on from my sad story, 😂 I am looking for sponsorships for our fall event. This includes your logo on signs, lots of internet adds, and I am even going to post sponsors on our website this time around.

If you are interested, or know of someone who might be, fill out the form below!!!

https://form.jotform.com/250697632092058

Meanwhile, finishing up the calendar for PALS. We will have a finished product in two weeks!!!!!

And for those following along, the baby bunnies are doing so well. Opal is the best mama I ever could have asked for.

08/20/2025

While I am being honest, I am terrible with patience. Augie has taught me a lot, but it still is a skill that I really have to work at. I want what I want, and I want it now. It is both a blessing and a curse. It makes me push hard for what I want, but then it can also make me miss the small things. So I am trying to be super aware of it and working on myself.

But.............. I just have you show you guys our new Modesto Fall Festival sign. Custom made by the most amazing artist Faith Wheat . I want to combine fall, Halloween, and Christmas into one event and she was able to capture it perfectly. I find myself just looking at it throughout the day because I cannot believe that I am here. Two big events a year, almost 2,300 followers, an online store, a booming egg business, soon to be 13 pregnant sheep, and farm merchandise. Crazy!!!!! And the funner kicker is that I am now considered a content creator. Not on my bingo card for life, but it sometimes happens to you and for you. It just shows that if you believe in yourself and you are willing to overcome every obstacle in your way that you can achieve your dreams. You just have to be patient, lol.

I started this journey when Augie was just a newborn. I found, scrapped, and scraped together the cash to get a logos, business cards, a website, ect over the year. My bestie Mikinna Mascoe is the talent behind our stunning logo that is now on t-shirts and sweatshirts because of a returning vendor and friend Missy Bell-Chester

I have learned how to reach out, ask for help, and create a community of people that believe in me. It doesn't matter if it is in person or mainly online. Good people are good people. I am blessed to know a lot of them.

And seriously, isn't the fall festival design adorable?????? I am so in love. Last few days to sign up for Modesto Fall Festival Little Raccoon Creek Farm

08/16/2025

We are going to wrap up this photo contest in the next 7 days. For those of you who haven't been following along, we are creating a fundraiser for People & Animal Learning Services (PALS) . They are a therapeutic riding center that helps both children and adults connect with horses and help heal. As an avid horse lover for my whole life this mission means so much to me.

Their facility was hit by an F2 tornado this year and completely wiped out. It has been a massive job to simply clean things up, let alone rebuild.

I can attest that I am not good at many things. I am a good animal mom. And I am a good mom to Augie. And I am good at connecting people and bringing them together. I have people from Florida, to Maine, to Southern Indiana, to right up the road helping me with this project.

We have raised the funds to purchase 1,000 calendars to sell for $20 each in the hopes of making $20,000 for PALS. The theme of the calendar is real, raw images of what farming and homesteading is like on a day to day basis. Not the perfect day, but all the others.

We are looking for photo submissions from all you folks out there that refuse to use filters, don't have white couches, and don't even know what glam is. Gritty, dirty, poopy, give it to me. All submissions must be made/sent by August 24th.

You can just send them in the comments and the winners will need to email me the jpegs so Printing Partners has what they need. Please know that they donated $1,000 towards the printing of these calendars out of the kindness of their hearts and without even knowing the organization. That's just how amazing they are. If you are looking for business cards, labels, stickers, make you you ask for Dennis Shea. He is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

So this weekend is the last time I am posting about this because I know I have been plastering it everywhere. We have already had around 400 submissions, but are ready for more!

Hit me with your best shot!

08/15/2025

Photo submissions have been incredible. We have had almost 400 at this point for our fundraiser for People & Animal Learning Services (PALS) . Keep them coming. The dirtier and sillier, the better. We are trying to erase the idea that farming and homesteading is all pretty, perfect, and clean, lol. Photo submissions continue thru August 24th at midnight.

This is not a beauty contest people. Let it all hang out! I am ready for my photo shoot this weekend. It won't be pretty.

08/13/2025

Well here we go! PHOTO CONTEST TIME!!!!! I have raised the funds to print the calendars for the People & Animal Learning Services (PALS) fundraiser. I honestly cannot believe in the generosity of people and friends. I spent most of the morning just crying from happiness. The funds are going directly to PALS, I do not touch the money. They will then pay Printing Partners .

But on a much more fun level. I need your pictures. I have mentioned before, but will say again. This is tongue and cheek pictures of farming. If I see your picture perfect barns, nails, dresses, you will be excluded. Not because I dislike you, but because that isn't what we are doing here, lol. AI and influences have totally interrupted the reality of farming and homesteading. And to quote my Brit friends, I genuinely can't be arsed.

Sorry, not sorry that I don't spend two hours on my hair and make-up so I can show off a chicken and my sourdough bread with a leaf and vine design.

You will find me with un-showered hair for days, stinking of sweat, trying to balance 8 dogs, a kiddo, cows, sheep, hay......... (insert problem here). I really don't take myself too seriously anymore. At 43, I know who I am.

I want to make people laugh. I want to make them smile. Too many serious things in the world right now. I still keep going back to Farming Guts as a name for the calendar. Play on words. Show me your GUTS!!!!!!!!!

Are you a January? August? October? Send me all the pics!!!!! Stage it, make it fun.

Let's help an amazing facility regrow.

08/11/2025

So I know I mentioned a few posts back that I was wanting to make a tongue and cheek calendar that fights back against all the "perfection homesteaders/farmers" out there, lol. All the proceeds are to go to a nonprofit. I had a good think on it and I truly couldn't think of a more deserving nonprofit than People & Animal Learning Services (PALS) . As you can see from the below pictures they experienced an F2 tornado this year that completely demolished their barn. These people are selfless and truly trying to make a difference in so many people's lives. The horses were all okay, but it has been a long road to even just getting the clean up done.

I was able to speak with one their Director of Development and she loved the idea. They are in!!!

I also was able to contact Printing Partners , an amazing company that does printing up in Indy. We have used them for labels and business cards and they have bent over backwards with helping us navigate that side of the business. If we purchase 1,000 calendars they are going to donate $1,000 off the cost of printing. So we have $2,500 to raise to get these calendars printed.

Let me say again, all proceeds go to PALS. I wish I had the money to just buy them, but unless I sell a kidney, I am out of luck, lol. So tomorrow I start knocking on doors. If anyone knows of any local businesses that would be willing to donate there are tier levels of $100, $250, $500, and $1,000. This gets your company logo on the calendar (size is dependent on donation level). Obviously if you want to make a personal donation of a different amount, that is perfectly fine. I have a group of like-minded people to help put all this together and give some oversight and insight.

We are going to sell calendars for $20 each with the hope that with your help we can sell all 1,000 and make $20,000 for the organization.

If you would like to be on the calendar committee, please let me know. I would love all the help I can get. In the next few days we are going to announce the photo contest and how you submit an entry. We are looking for anything that is a play on the 5'11 blonde wearing a pure white sundress, with a french tip manicure, a blowout, all while holding a designer chicken and smiling at her three kids (all dressed in white as well) as they feed the rest of the flock. If that is your gig, my hat is off to you, but it isn't the norm. The goal is make people smile, have a laugh, and raise some money for an incredible organization.

Calendar Potential Names:
Farming Guts
Grit
No Guts, No Glory

And I am open to all other suggestions!

And yes, I needed another project.

08/10/2025

Well, it is just another day here at the old farm. Brandon hurt his foot last night as most likely has a good sprain, we have two fields of hay down, a weld on the hay tedder broke last night so we are praying the old one will get us by.

I am spending the day trying to figure out how to raise funds to do a calendar for a local nonprofit that desperately needs help, sending a million emails to people who might be able to help, and planning out the next steps of my nonprofit.

So by popular demand, I am going with Thru the Woods Animal Sanctuary.

Next step is to find officers: a Secretary and Treasurer. I need volunteers!

And I need 3 directors as well to oversee things and make sure that the organizations is going in the right direction, making money, creating new ideas and keeping everyone honest.

I need people who have a passion for rescuing animals (especially seniors), can help with accounting, creating a direct and purposeful mission statement, creating by laws and conflict of interest rules, ect. It would require more meetings up front as I am getting established (can be done thru zoom), but after that it would just be a monthly meeting.

For those of who don't know me personally, I have a Master's degree in Public Administration, but my focus was on nonprofit management. We have taken in so many rescue animals over the years, it just seems fitting to make it official. Any and all help would be appreciated.

Send a message to learn more

08/08/2025

Well, the first day of school is over as of Wednesday. I managed to hold in the tears until I got outside the doors. Such a strange week and I don't really know how to process it all yet. Augie has been by my side for four and a half years so the house seems very quiet.

But that also means that I have some time to get down to business with Modesto Fall Festival . I am closing all applications August 24th at midnight. I currently have 5 spots left. $40 vendor fee is due on September 1st. I am going to be sharing this all around so we get totally filled up. I am already collecting holiday decorations to get ready for it, lol.

So if you have crafters, face painters, food vendors, ect., please share this with them and let's get the last few spots filled!!!!

08/03/2025

And this is the life of farming. Not pretty, I look like $hit, I am exhausted. But I am cuddling up with the Chihuahuas on the recliner, talking to my kiddo thru the monitor, and waiting for a chicken to dry. Let that sink in, 😂.