What happened the First Time Around - How Failures Lead to Lessons
When I started my farming journey, I had absolutely no experience with livestock or food crops, and I quickly learned just how unprepared I was. Every setback that first year felt brutal and final. But looking back over the last four years, I can see how those failures were actually opportunities to learn. I tell my students every day that failure is the only real way to learn—so I suppose I needed to take my own advice.
Lesson 1: The Coop
One of the biggest lessons I learned is that prefabricated coops are not worth buying, and I can’t stress that enough. We bought two coops in the beginning of our journey—one for our ducks and one for our laying chickens. Our laying coop was nice enough looking, but the roof collapsed after only one PNW winter, and the duck coop just couldn't handle how wet ducks are all the time. It lasted only a few months.
We then switched to small dog kennels with a canvas roof. We made wood walls for the inside, and they were fantastic for about two years, with one major flaw: they were only four feet tall, so cleaning them was a nightmare. After two years, the roofs needed to be replaced, and we opted to go another route.
The lesson: We knew we needed a water-resistant roof that was long-lasting and easy to replace, as well as something that could withstand snow and rain loads. We needed a structure we could walk into to clean, with space to expand our growing flocks. We finally settled on a wired chicken run from Amazon and outfitted it with enhanced protection from the wind and cold. This option has been incredible for us—sturdy, walk-in height, and easy to modify as our needs change.
Lesson 2: Geese
We opted for some big meat geese for two reasons: first, to protect our duck flock, and second, to weed the garden. We already had ducks to keep pests out, so when I heard geese were amazing weeders, it felt like it was meant to be.
Turns out, geese are excellent weeders—because they eat everything and anything. I spent an enormous amount of time and money trying to keep them out of my food garden. Absolutely everything I tried failed. Geese are incredibly stubborn creatures.
The lesson: It's okay to let go of an idea. I fought so hard to make it work the way I wanted it to, but at what cost? My garden was destroyed despite the time and money spent, and I lost my flock to predators anyway. The biggest lesson was accepting that things may not go as expected, and that’s okay.
Lesson 3: Predator Pressure
Because our farm sits in the middle of dense forest, we constantly have to anticipate predator pressure. Our neighbors range from owls and eagles in the trees to foxes and bears on the ground. Failing to anticipate them means losing livestock.
We didn’t lose any birds in the first few seasons, and we got complacent. Within a matter of days, our entire flock of 15 birds was wiped out. We were slow to close the coops at night, were letting the chickens free-range outside their fenced paddock without protection, and simply weren’t watching them closely enough.
In those few days, we were visited by owls, foxes, raccoons, and finally a bald eagle. All our birds were gone.
The lesson: You always have to expect predators. We strengthened our coops, installed alarms to close doors right after sunset, attached chicken wire to the entire perimeter fence, and added hawk netting over open spaces. These changes have made a tremendous impact. Since installing these safeguards last winter, we have not lost a single bird. Now we’re working on ways to protect future livestock from the larger predators that roam our land.
Final Thoughts
Failing doesn’t mean you can’t do something—it simply means you can’t do it yet. The only way to learn is to keep trying and push through difficulties, and only in that perseverance can we find real success. The process wasn’t easy—filled with heartache and letdowns—but it led me to where I am today, and I am a better farmer because of it.