Dirigo Ranch

Welcome to our cozy lodge in the woods.

Our dream come to life. We don't know how to possibly thank those who helped us to realize it, but we just hope they know that we are going to be forever grateful for the opportunity to put our plans into motion, give our children the best childhood we could imagine, and provide a place for everyone, animals included, to comfortably gather.

We had no idea a few chickens could lend itself to all this, but here we are, and I'd never look back...

Dirigo - as seen on the Maine state flag - is a Latin term, meaning, "I Lead". We felt this was fitting, as we lead along our family and pack of critters to their new, forever home, and we lead our lives with the goals to accomplish something a little outside of the norm.

We plan to build a barn in the coming year(s) where our "ranch" can grow, with horses and beef cattle (we will probably try our hand at some dairy in the process). With the additional wooded, private acres we've gained, this idea can now be tangible.

The homestead will continue to operate, making things from scratch and producing eggs, herbs, and other farm raised products, but now with even greater authenticity. Being that we are now a bit more off the beaten path in the woods, and we're heating with an old fashioned woodstove (don't be fooled though, we gained some modern upgrades in the process, too) - it's really looking like a true story-book homestead!

We plan to build a larger garden bed in the future, so we can yield more plentiful harvests, and dig a new and improved pond for our waterfowl.

Our abode will feature a more rustic style, and is going to be modeled after some of our most admired luxury dude ranches out west.

We look forward to our visitors (and ourselves) feeling comfortable, relaxed, and very much at home when they're here.

Our ranching goals will be family-oriented, providing for ourselves, and hopefully to others, as we gain knowledge and experience. We hope to entertain other equine enthusiast once our barn is built and our own horses arrive (stay tuned on this announcement...).

This is obviously a lot - it's a lot of work, a lot of plans, a lot of everything. We wouldn't want it any other way, and we can't wait to get started; to have unique experiences in our own backyard, to spend time with our children digging in the dirt, bonding over relationships with other living things, and living a little against the grain. We hope you enjoy following along this dusty trail with us.

Giddy up.