Barnyard Midwife

I came to visit Julia, the “Barnyard Midwife,” at her home once many years ago, and I was astounded by what I saw there. She had turned a rental property into a fully fledged farmstead. Such is her devotion to the craft that she made a farm happen even without her roots firmly planted.

Since then, she has been able to transplant herself on a beautiful expanse of land, where she can explore a more permanent agricultural endeavor. Her skills cover a vast area of expertise, as she has created a farm and gardens which synergistically support her and the plants and animals at her homestead.

Her herbalist background lends itself well to caring holistically for the creatures in her care, and whenever I visit her, knowledge flows through her, as she describes the well thought out decisions to include different elements into each of her barnyard areas. 

Right before the beginning of the pandemic, I had been planning to dive entirely into my author career, giving myself the opportunity to truly pursue writing full time. My son had started attending school after a decade of homeschooling adventures, and I was ready for the next chapter in my life. The fire had taken our homestead, but we had been returned to the land, and were going to try to live there without all the farm chores and animals this time around.

I released my debut novel, started doing a book tour, and was promptly, like so many of us, completely redirected by Covid. Within a few weeks of lockdown, I had reassessed my family’s needs and the precarious state of the world, and decided to return to farming full stop. 

Goats appeared, chicks hatched, and a quarantine kitty was added to the menagerie to help with rodents in the garden. We collectively turned to sourdough baking and sharing about our homesteading skills on social media.

At some point in the midst of the early waves of chaos, I saw Julia post some pictures of her rabbits, and immediately sent a text asking her if she perhaps had some baby bunnies that I could add to my farm crew. She did, and I was delighted when the buns had matured enough for me to finally go pick up a boy bunny from her and a girl bunny from one of her neighbors. 

She walked me through her backyard rabbit den, showing me each of the sweet baby bunnies that had been lovingly handled by her daughters. The mama buns had been doing a great job getting their little ones to grow, Julia’s attendance to their needs was admirable, and the babies were thriving well. She showed me her catchment system for bunny compost, her glass water bowls for the bunnies to drink from, and the garden clippings that would be their breakfast that day. 

Although I have kept bunnies on more than one occasion, I had never really been able to sex a bunny very well. Julia’s daughter, eager to tend to her animals, showed me the technique, and helped me to figure out which of the bunnies were which. We spent several hours visiting all the animals on Julia’s farm, one by one. Everyone seemed quite happy and well nourished. 

Over the years, Julia’s love of animals led her to act as a friendly consult in her community for folks hoping to begin the path of farming and animal husbandry. Recently, she has brought her gifts into a more formalized offering, in which she is available for farm and garden consultations to ensure that the holistic health trio of the land, the animals, and the farmers are in a wonderful balance.

In our interview episode together on “The Positive Fantastic” Julia explores her background and what led her to become the barnyard midwife. 

Check out my channel on YouTube to see a video of Julia in her role as Barnyard Midwife

You can visit www.barnyardmidwife.com

See lovely images from her farm on Instagram @barnyardmidwife.

You can also follow her page Barnyard Midwife on Facebook

And you can email her directly about farm consults: barnyardmidwife@gmail.com