Green Acres We are There!
Go ahead. Play the video. It sets the mood.
Our place is called Harmon PFarms. (The P is silent.) It’s our Green Acres. My husband is Oliver Douglas and I’m…..um….well….. just call me Lisa.
Like the Douglases, we were approaching middle age when we sold our city home (in southeast Wisconsin) and moved our family out into the fresh air. In our case, it was a 160 acre cattle ranch in Arkansas. We had no idea what we were doing. Neither of us had grown up on a farm or had any real farming experience. But we always knew that farm livin' was the life for us and at the ages of 40 and 42, when God opened the door, we took the plunge and jumped in with both feet! Goodbye city life!!
Though not as dilapidated as the Douglas’s Green Acres....
Our farm is definitely a fixer upper. There is a project around every corner and lots of updating to do. We figure it will take the rest of our lives and all of our money to do it.
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| Our little farm house, waiting patiently for adornment. |
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| The barnyard, with cow pastures beyond. |
My husband, Ted, is a lot like Oliver Douglas. He grew up in a suburb of a big city. He was a business man for 20 years. He wore a suit and tie. But that suit never fit him and the country always called him. All he ever really wanted to do was raise cattle. All he ever really wanted to drive was a tractor. Now he’s got both!
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| Ted is also quiet, kind, gentle, loving, generous and forgiving. You can tell a lot about a man by the way he pets a cow. |
And go ahead, call me Lisa, because that is actually my name, but definitely not because, other then being a bit of a scatter brain, I bear any resemblance to Lisa Douglas what-so-ever. Country life comes naturally to me. New York....meh. I love the smell of fresh cut hay. I hate shopping. I'm much more comfortable in muck boots then high heals.
I'm also tough as nails, not afraid of snakes or possums or killing either and comfortable with animal poop. I'm very outgoing. One of my favorite things to do is teach others about farm life and animals. I talk too much. I love to write and am inspired by nature and love. I love Jesus and children.
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| Oh..and I love horses. It's a problem. |
Like the Douglases, we have our “Green Acre” moments. These are the times when we realize we are not “real” farmers because we do something that a “real” farmer would just never have done. Like the time we spent 10 exhausting minutes running a group of reluctant cows up an alleyway toward a small pen, only to realize that the gate to the pen was closed. We had to let the cows back down the alleyway, go open the gate, and do it all over again. Green Acres.
But after nine years on the farm, our “Green Acres moments” are becoming fewer and farther between. We actually know a little bit now about raising cattle and quite a few other species of livestock too. We’re learning how to tend a hay field and fix fences. We’re getting used to "the chores", the crazy hours and the mud. One thing’s for sure, for this “Oliver” and Lisa, “You can keep “Manhattan”, just give me that country side!”
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| Hay field cut in square bales ready to be picked up. |
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| Some of our cows on pasture. |
Unlike the childless Douglases, we have four.
Jes is our oldest. She went away to college the same year we bought the farm. She is a city girl. She has her BFA in Creative Writing from Arkansas TECH University. We are so grateful that she moved back to Arkansas after living and working in the Chicago area for three years. She now lives in North Little Rock with her sister, Kate, and works at Cardinal Health. Jes is a great cook, loves children and has a brilliant mind.
Josh is our only boy. He has his degree in management and marketing from Arkansas TECH University and is working for Academy Sports and living in North Little Rock. Josh is a former US Marine and likes firearms. He doesn't like most animals, least of all, cows and horses. Josh is the comedian of the family and keeps us all in stitches.
PHOTO COMING SOON
Kate is our middle daughter and our only blondie. She is equally at home in the city or on the farm. She’s good with animals, but I think she likes the city best. She is taking a break from college to earn some cash, living in North Little Rock with her sister, Jes, and working at Quality Inn and Suites in Maumelle. Kate is a great cook and she loves children. Kate is my sweetie.
ClaireAnna is our youngest. She is the child Oliver Douglas would have wanted to have. She was born to be a farmer and loves everything about country life, raising livestock and mostly, riding horses. She's been here since she was two and it's all she's ever known. She is an avid 4Her, basketball & softball player, target shooter and homeschooler. ClaireAnna is and will always be “the baby.”
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| Here are the six of us in November, 2011. |
Harmon PFarms
Ted and Lisa Harmon
225 Standridge Drive
Dover, AR 72837
479-970-5396
The Secret of the "P"
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For almost 20 years, Ted worked at PFanstiehl Laboratories in Waukegan, IL. (The P is silent.) It is through his blood, sweat and tears there, that we were able to afford this farm. We named our place Harmon PFarms out of gratitude for the job that helped to provide us with the life we now live and love. And for me, every time I see that "P" I remember how hard my dear husband worked to provide for his family and how thankful I am for the blessings we have because of his faithfulness. .jpg)
