About Vintage Life Farm
embracing a vintage era lifestyle.
My name is Kari and I live with my husband and two children in the high mountains of Colorado. We live on 35 acres and are in the middle remodeling 5 cabins and a lodge built sometime between 1887 – 1904. In 2018, after 16 years, my husband left his corporate job and we embarked on what was suppose to be a one year road trip to visit the lower 48 states in our 5th wheel. Five months in, while looking for some property online, my husband came across the property we are now living on. Being on the market for a year and a half at the time we found it, there was a mysterious and historical pulling that kept me returning to the MLS listing. Fast forward, while we were in Vermont during the cold month of November, we decided to end our trip early, head back to Colorado in mid-December, put our house on the market and make an offer on this property – all as a giant leap of faith. April 22, 2019 we closed on the property, moved our family 80 miles southwest and settled in Divide, Colorado. It is here we are renovating the lodge and 5 cabins and I am in the beginning stages of my small animal farm!
With chickens, goats, two livestock guardian dogs, a German Shepherd and a pug – Vintage Life Farm is underway and will continue to grow. I am now incorporating my business of 15 years into this venture and am offering natural, handmade skin care products and natural and herbal remedies. When production is booming, we sell farm fresh eggs and we will also sell handcrafted, small-batch goat’s milk soap.
You can join my daily journey on Instagram via Instagram stories and posts. I love sharing with others the fun and, yes, sometimes tedious side of raising animals and doing life the old-fashioned way. From tending to the animals in sub-zero weather, to making sourdough bread from scratch. From stocking grass-mix and barley straw for the goats, to brewing kombucha or infusing tinctures, you’ll get to watch as I learn to live and enjoy a vintage lifestyle. You’ll also get a look into our renovation project as my husband and I renovate the lodge and cabins, a huge labor of love. And sometimes not-so-much-love!
In the time and culture we live in, I am happy to offer a glimpse into a more simple and satisfying lifestyle. I hope to inspire you to reach for your goals, to try new things and live your best life now. I’m excited to have you along for the ride. There’s always room for one more! Live beautiful!
After 16 years working for a technology company, my husband knew it was time to move on. Although we had talked about moving away from the city and having a few farm animals, it was more of “talk” than a “plan”. When the opportunity was presented to us to purchase this 35 acres and start a new season of life here, I don’t think we knew the path it would take us down. Little by little, we saw our “talk” of a small farm life turn into a “plan”. My love for animals is a driving force behind the farm aspect of our ranch, and learning and striving to live a more sustainable, clean, healthy and self-sufficient life is my motivation for stepping out and sharing this journey with all of you. In a culture of noise, distraction and relational demise – my family wants to help other families learn the art of living a vintage era lifestyle. Home cooked meals, growing your own food, tending to and caring for animals, working together as a family, using herbal and natural remedies and overall, creating a life together and a legacy to pass on. To help you along in your own journey, we have an online store with products available for purchase with items made right here on the farm such as: natural skin and body care items, herbal teas and tonics, herbal tinctures, essential oil roller blends, handmade snacks and unique accessories. We love documenting our day to day life on the ranch and farm (IG @VintagLifeFarm) and we’d love for you to come along for the ride!
Meet the Animals of Vintage Life Farm
Meet the livestock guardian dogs of the farm, King (born April 2018) and Gipzee (born December 2018). These beautiful dogs are Colorado Mountain Dogs and they live and love to work. They want a job, and their favorite thing to do (other than get massaged) is to watch over “their” animals. They will do anything and everything to make sure the chickens and goats are safe and they don’t let anyone hurt their humans either. They LOVE the weather here in Divide. Cold is their friend and snow is a treat. We are so blessed to have these two on our team and every time we add to our flocks and herd, their love tanks get full!
Meet our flock! The number has fluctuated over the past 5 years, but we continue to let our older ladies and roos live out their life on the farm as we periodically replenish the flock with chicks. Our breeds include or have included: Polish, Barred Rock, New Hampshire Red, Australorpe (bantams), Americauna, Olive Egger, Black Sex Link, Dark Brahma, Light Brahma, Orpingtons, Wyandottes and a large amount of mixed that we hatched ourselves. We started our journey with chickens in August 2016 and I have fallen in love with raising them. They have wonderful personalities, interesting behaviors and are great to hang around when you want to slow down and enjoy the moment. When the days are long and warm, and egg production is high, we sell our farm fresh eggs to the locals – and they are a hit! Our flock gets co-op feed and scratch, mixed with 16%-20% (depending on the season) crumble for feed; we give spinach and alfalfa for natural vitamin and mineral intake; BOSS and dehydrated mealworms for fun snacks; lentils, pumpkin seeds, peanuts and other additions for extra nutrition; cracked corn during winter and cold spells to help keep body temps high, and over 3 acres of land to free range and forage on, giving them exercise and wonderful, natural nutrients. They are loved dearly, all have names and get personal attention everyday of their lives!
Introducing the first goats to our farm – our Nigerian Dwarf Goats! We received our first four in October 2020. We brought home three girls and one wether. One girl was 3 years old, the other two, plus the whether, were six months old. In January 2021 we brought home a buck so we could possibly have some baby goats by the end of the summer. Our goats are the sweetest and cutest little creatures. They love to follow you around, go nuts over animal crackers and will jump on your back every chance they get! June 2021 brought us 4 precious new baby goats – two boys and two girls. All three of our girls gave birth and all babies and moms are did great! Priscilla had two kids, Oakley and Fern; Maggie had one kid, Midnight; and Heidi had one kid, Rain! In March 2023 we experienced our first losses as two of our mamas were pregnant and both delivered premature kids that unfortunately were not strong enough to remain with us. We love having our goats as a part of our Vintage Life Farm family and they LOVE being with their humans!