Though “Playtime Pastures” has a fairly recent inception, the 32 acre Woodstock, Maryland property has some pretty deep farm and family roots.  We “bought the farm” in 2010, made some updates to the 1901 farmhouse, packed up our two young children, and made the move from our previous home, just two miles down the road.

The property was up for sale after the surviving member of the Blunt Family, the only family who had occupied the home since 1925, passed away.  Having gotten into a bidding war with someone who wanted to subdivide the property, I wrote a letter to the Executor of the estate, giving my word that we would maintain this property as a family farm.  The rest is history, which is writing itself every day….

Considered a “gentleman’s farm,” because we both have other “real” jobs, we began to slowly teach ourselves how to raise livestock and grow crops, with a lot of support and shared knowledge from friends and neighbors.  We began buying calves, keeping them and feeding them until they gained weight to head to the butcher.  Now, we breed, birth and raise right her on the farm!  As our business grows, we are improving on old ways, and adding new ideas, such as Farm & Harvest Summer Camp and hosting educational farm tours for all ages.

This is a family business, in every sense of the word!  Our daughter Kelsey, at three years old, had the foresight to start her own egg business.  What started out as just a few chickens has turned into about 80 egg-layers yielding high egg production.  That was 14 years ago. Kelsey is now getting ready to graduate high school while Jake, our “baby” plays High School Varsity Football and is LITERALLY the reason that we began raising our own beef!