about  us

We are Jon and Susie Duke and company.

 

I, Susie, am the voice on this site, and I work in global higher education. A traveler and a dairy farmer wouldn't seem to align, but I guess I have a way of making tough things work. I'm a 2:42 marathon runner. That's just 6:12 per mile for 26.2 miles. I don't mention this because it's fast, because it's not. Trust me, I've been reminded plenty of times of that. I mention it because I'm no stranger to hard work and will work extremely hard to care for and produce the best herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats possible. Over the years, marathoning has brought great joy through very, very, very hard work. Think running 80 to 100 miles per week after week after week. Just prior to the pandemic, I ran three marathons in a 10-week span: 2:46 (Indianapolis Nov 2019), 2:47 (1st place San Antonio Dec 2019) & 2:47 (4th place Phoenix Jan 2020). Now that that is out of my system, shifting the focus to more on our animals has made all kinds of sense. They bring such great joy as well.

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Straight out of college, long long ago, I headed for the hills (Colorado) to a job sight-unseen to manage a herd of horses and lead rides into the mountains at a Christian camp and conference center. So, animal husbandry is not a new thing for me. Speaking of husbands, it was out on those hills at 9000 ft. where I met Jon. I asked if he wanted to go check snow cover on trails on horseback, and he asked me to marry him. More or less that's how that went. Usually on his bicycle by 4:00 a.m. or before, Jon is a physical therapist and cycling enthusiast. With only one broken collar bone that we know of, he has ridden literally thousands of miles of gravel or on his bike trainer. It's hard to keep up with him. He is also a master of everything, and what he doesn't know how to do, he learns. He keeps this farm in shipshape. 

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Weston is the life of the party and a pretty good hand in general. 

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And Maverick, our Mediterranean miniature donkey, is our herd uncle. He will protect these girls with his life. Don't mess with the Mav or his goats. Also pictured in our farm tour are our horses that pack us around for fun. Some day we'll get back into horse showing. Some day.

 

Take a virtual farm tour by clicking the button below.

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Read more about my running and see other farm photos on social media links in the footer.

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