Brookside Acres really begins a generation ago with my parents. They are animal people. This is a picture of my mom right after my parents were married. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a puppy. And some horses.
Some people just really love to watch things grow. At first, my parents focused their baby love on pups and horses, but after a few years children started to arrive. Since my parents like to raise babies, they had ten.
The natural result of having ten kids is grandkids. My parents have 53. That wasn't enough small creatures for them. My dad kept breeding Arabian horses, there were always cats, and, one day, he brought home the family's first English Shepherd. Roxie--a clear sable darling from the midwest--was the perfect grandkid/horse dog, and we all fell in love.
Within a few years, my brother had purchased an English Shepherd for his six kids, and I had brought home Hondo for my eight.
Chief
Chief
Chief
Obviously, I'll never be as cool as my parents.
But that love of raising small critters is a heritage I can't shake. The first part of my married life was spent bringing children into the world. My husband and I kept looking for property in Utah, where my husband is from, so we could have animals and be more self-sufficient. We never found any. More children came; we kept looking. Cowen and Eli and I drove to Montana and brought home Hondo. We knew he was the perfect breed for our large family that loved trail running, mountain biking, and lots of hiking. We didn't have a homestead, but we had the mountains. It was mutual adoration from the beginning.
Our first family picture with Hondo (missing my husband--he was working).
One dog wasn't enough. My parents had been breeding shepadoodles for a few years out of Roxie and various Moyen poodles. My kids had been playing with fluffy, curly, darling doodle puppies for years, and they wanted one. I didn't blame them. Doodles have hilarious personalities. We waited with great excitement for Roxie to have her litter. We met the puppies when they were only a day old, and we picked out Taffy right away. We called her Taffy for a few months. Then we realized our mistake--she had too much personality for such a short name. The boys were calling her "Princess," and the others kept saying she was too silly for a real name. We discussed different name options and settled on Princess Taffeta Sillibub DeTaylor (we lived on Taylor Street at the time). It was a name fit for a Silly Princess. She answers to Princess, Taffy, and Silly Taffy.
We knew we wanted to breed English Shepherds. We kept an eye out for the right female pup from the right litter and right breeder. Eventually we found her--in Oregon. We made bringing Miss Maple Fox home into a family vacation. After a week enjoying the beautiful Oregon coast, we picked up Maple early in the morning and drove thirteen hours back to Utah. Maple was a great traveler. Of course, she was never without loads of rapturous attention.
Then it happened. My husband was able to work remotely and we found a property that we loved--in Maine. The last few months in Utah were a hectic jumble of wedding planning (our oldest got married), packing, and saying goodbye. Four days of driving with seven children and three dogs in a 15-passenger van went remarkably well. The dogs were awesome!
And then we were home--at Brookside Acres.