Hi there! We are a family farm passionate about maintaining the authenticity of the plants and animals God created. Although, we weren’t always a farm and we weren’t always a family.
Thad grew up in Mount Vernon, Ohio on a little farm with his parents and older brother. He had the love and desire to farm from a young age which drew him to majoring in Biology when he went away for college. Thad moved to Huntington, West Virginia for grad school and that is where he met me (Gabby).
I grew up in Hurricane, West Virginia on a very small plot of land with no desire or gumption to farm. I didn’t even know this life was possible until I adventured out on my own in my college years.
After Thad and I met, Thad expressed his desire to farm yet again. He claims now that I was completely against this proposition but that decision would change in time.
Right before we were married, Thad bought a house for us to move into after we said “I do”. The house was the original farm house on the original 500 acres of land. It now sits on just a little over and acre and the years and bad updates wore on the little house. We took on the home with the plan to redo just the floors but then inspiration struck and 3 years later we are almost finished with just the downstairs bathroom to put in.
As soon as we signed the papers for our first home together, we got our first flock of chickens and this apartment-living, suburban girl begged Thad for a goat. I read online of all the health benefits of goats’ milk and this inspired me! I was beginning to get into natural living and I immediately decided this was the way to go.
It took a lot of convincing but soon after our flock arrived at their new home, we introduced them to Flower and Sally, two Nigerian Dwarf goats. I was thrilled! Sally was pregnant, too, so the life of milking a goat was quickly approaching my future.
Our poor goats lived in a small pen and I was learning how to take care of them as I went. We weren’t even married yet, so I wasn’t even living at the house with Thad which meant a lot of driving to take care of my girls and the inability to be 100% in. Sally kidded that summer and the next week we got married and were off on our honeymoon in Acadia, Maine. When we returned, I finally felt like I could really take care of my girls and treat them the way they deserved. 
Unfortunately, that fall I started student teaching which took up the majority of my time. With a goat in milk and three beautiful goat kids to take care of, I suddenly felt like I took on way too much at once. We ended up deciding to rehome our girls until we could take on the homesteading life with more maturity and wisdom. We praise the Lord for the experience and I know that when we can take on something similar again, our girls won’t have to suffer for it.
Now we are just an acre farm with eight beautiful chickens who entertain us with their corkiness daily. We have a gorgeous garden that Thad has built which makes it possible to enjoy our homegrown, fresh vegetables.
We welcome you on our journey to becoming a family farm that provides locals with well-farmed, healthy food exactly the way God intended it to be.
“If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly first.” -Joel Salatin
Tuggle Family Farm 