Country View: Heritage Farm
Living the Country Life Radio Program with Betsy Freese
Radio interview source: Tim and Beth Sheets, Heritage Farm
Tim Sheets has a busy corporate career. But his life takes a turn back in time when he goes home each day. The family lives on an historic farm in Flora, Indiana, that has been in his wife, Beth's, family for 60 years. On that property is a remodeled nineteenth-century, Federal-style brick house; an a hand-hewn log cabin that was moved there from another location about 20 years ago.
"We thought it would be a neat family project to restore it back to its state," Tim says. "We didn't live here at the time, but we'd come here on weekends and help my mother and father-in-law. And so we use it now for kind of a family place, we use it to do some seminars, and occasionally my wife sets up her alpaca store in there and sells some products out of it."
The old cabin is just one part of the workings of their 120-acre farm. Tim and Beth started raising alpacas about five years ago. Tim says he wanted to raise livestock, and after doing some research, he thought alpacas would work for them. In fact, they're such a good fit, the family now has 25 Suri alpacas. Tim and Beth started a breeding program and take the animals to shows. And Beth has learned how to spin and weave the beautiful alpaca fibers.
Tim says it's tough to work both the corporate job and the farm, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's just refreshing to come home to a place at night and on weekends where you can relax," Tim says. "Still, there's a lot of work that needs to be done about maintaining a farm and keeping it up to the standards that we like to keep it. But it's a kind of work that is refreshing, and it's really our recreation. It's what we enjoy doing, it gives us a sense of accomplishment, and really enhances our lifestyle."
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Learn more:
Heritage Farm: Take a virtual tour of Tim and Beth's farm with this slideshow of beautiful photos of their home, cabin, barn, and animals.
All about alpacas: Learn more about these unique animals and how they may be a good addition to your acreage.