Our Story
Hey there! We are Mike and Amber. I was Raised in a small town with a population of 337 people. My parents raised chickens and rabbits, we had a couple of dogs and life was pretty simple. Mike is from a slightly larger town and spent a lot of his childhood hunting and fishing and being outdoors. I started "Homesteading" when we first moved in together. We were both broke, so I tried to be as frugal as possible. I started a sourdough starter which soon turned into one of my many household staples. I started saving stale bread and making my own breadcrumbs. I started a small herb garden, and a bunch of other little things. while I always dreamed of having farm animals and being back out in the country we were happy!
In the spring 2018 my father decided it was time to sell his home and build an off-grid home where he would spend the rest of his life and retire. We spent a lot of time helping him plan and helping him research different things. He always talked about wanting to make the whole property like a small park. He wanted to raise his own animals again and have a garden. Unfortunately, in December of 2018 my father was diagnosed with end stage pancreatic cancer, and in February of 2019 he got his wings. All of that on top of working an awful 9-5 and trying to keep my sanity I decided to quit my job and move my fiancé and I out to the county and into the home my father had begun building. Immediately I knew we had two things to do; finish the house and carry out his dream. By the end of 2019, we were moved into the house. My Fiancé was finishing up the last few cosmetic things while I turned my attention to the outdoors.
In the spring I found some cheap rabbits on Facebook and used those rabbits to start breeding for meat. Although they were not the best "meat rabbits" they served their purpose for a short time. Later we decided to get some better-quality rabbits and found a wonderful heard of New Zealand's. We started a rabbitry and began breeding more. I started Researching other breeds and soon found Rex rabbits. I loved the idea of making things with their velvet like fur! Rex Rabbits seemed to be pretty unheard of here, but I did find a local breeder with Mini Rex. I had contacted her and bought a pair. I immediately fell in love with their sweet disposition. For months I was trying to figure out what I was going to name the rabbitry. My father always used to say, "This place will be The Last Resort." Then it came to me, The Last Resort Rabbitry was born!
Spring of 2021 we decided to get 4 ducks. These ducks ended up being Rouen and Khaki Campbell. 4 ducks eventually grew into a whole flock of about 30 birds. We suspected these birds to be Marans, Mystic Onyx and Australorp. We knew we didn't need all 30 birds, so we picked our favorites and butchered the rest! Now we were able to provide our own rabbit meat, chicken meat, and eggs! This was a huge accomplishment for us, and I thought we were really on a good path. I started looking into Quail and found a really nice group of celadon layers. I loved their pretty blue eggs! I bought a multi-rabbit hutch off marketplace and had my fiancé converted it into 4 quail pens that could house 10 birds each. You do the math! Unfortunately, by winter a fox had come in an took out our entire chicken flock except for a pair of Mystic Onyx that managed to find shelter in a cat carrier in the back of the barn.
After replacing the chicken with some production layers, we decided to start a small garden. We had a couple tomato plants, and a few pepper plants. We did an onion bed and garlic bed, however after planting them I soon realized I had planted them at the wrong time of year, needless to say out yield was not very good. I made my first homemade batch of spaghetti sauce and started to learn how to water bath can. I remembered my grandparents always having canned deer meat, and decided I was going to learn all the things and start a pantry. One of the final basics we needed was milk. We already had meat and eggs covered. I was scrolling Facebook and found an ad for a free goat. I Immediately showed Mike, and we hopped in the truck and went to pick up a goat!
Sawyer was the first official goat to the Homestead. He was a 5-year-old Alpine weather. We realized we couldn't just have 1 goat. I went searching for more, and soon found a Nigerian doe named Brownie, and a friend was going to give me a Nigerian buck who would soon be called Nelson. Perfect! Having an intact buck was a whole new experience for me. Lesson 1: Never turn your back on a horned buck. In October 2022 I had a nice lady reach out and ask if I could take in a Nigerian doeling that she had. This little blonde baby came home soon after. We started calling her little babe. On March 8th, 2023, we welcomed our first planned goat kid! Nelson and Brownie were officially parents! We welcomed sweet little Abbagail to the herd!
In October we found some pigs, they were mini pigs. I thought how cute, and what better way to learn how to raise pigs than to just go for it and figure things out along the way... Meet Porky, Petunia, and Chop! 4 years into this whole thing and I have played around with different rabbit breeds. Learning what I like, what breeds well and what I would still like to try. We have brought home some turkeys, and have really grown the chicken flock, even expanded the coop, and bought a couple incubators. things are really starting to come together! The compost pile has become a wonderful garden dirt pile and will only get better with time. I have really got to thinking... are we more than just The Last Resort Rabbitry?
January 2024, we realized that we were indeed not just a rabbitry anymore and started a real name for ourselves. I still wanted to honor my father with "The Last Resort" but wanted to keep it simple and classy. In June we had our second goat kid, and in October we had our first piglet litter! We are still playing around with a couple of rabbit breeds but have definitely found 3 that we really enjoy! New Zealand's, Mini Rex, and Harlequins are among those who stay here. TLR Homestead has blossomed on Facebook, and I even started this website to hopefully build a community and be able to teach and offer others knowledge and tips so they can do all the things too!
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