Hello and Welcome : Come Learn A Little About Us

"We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past." – George Santayana 

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Diamond TA Homestead's Blogs, written by me, Ashley! I'm thrilled to have you here and very excited to finally begin these blogs after years of wanting to do so. When I say years, I mean I started my first website to begin blogging back in 2022. I've written a few posts since then, but things are about to change. It's now 2025, and I have a somewhat clear plan for what I want to accomplish, and this blog is part of that plan.

I intend to publish blog posts twice a week. Thursday I will focus on homesteading topics, covering everything from livestock and recipes to DIY projects, education, gardening, and whatever else inspires me. Monday will feature weekly updates in a format similar to a diary, though perhaps not as personal, including news about the animals, work, and similar topics. Some posts will be quick and to the point, while others will offer more detailed insights.

About Ashley

By now, I believe everyone is aware that my name is Ashley, and I am the primary representative of Diamond TA Homestead. Whenever you message, call, or meet with us, it's usually me handling it. Thomas occasionally joins me for sales, but I have the final say. I created the website, write the blogs, care for the animals and garden, and do the cooking. It might seem like I handle a lot, but my job is easier compared to what my partner does, especially since I was the one who wanted to dive more into this.

I want to talk a little bit about my background before I dive into the reason why I wanted to start homesteading. I think that would give a good idea one why and how I knew this was somewhat the route I always wanted to go towards. I grew up in a small town of Nocona, Texas. My mom a nurse and my dad a farmer/rancher raising six kids. Money was always an issue but nothing that was vocalized about because we had each other and rich in love. I know that sounds pretty cheesy but it's the truth. Out of all six of us I was always the one wanting to join my dad to help with cattle or horses. Something I have always and will always enjoy by the looks of it. Then I had very few cattle named out of the 100-150 head. Then I got to the age of where I joined FFA and started showing swine. You would think I would have had cattle but I wanted something I didn't have and that were pigs and goats. Goats my dad shut down real quick, but I will be getting them shortly. Besides the animals my dad also did a large garden every spring. Now gardening wasn't my favorite things to do growing up but I did power through it, my mom is a vegetarian so it was more for her than anything.

It's now 2025, and at 26 years old, I own 80 acres of land. I've always wanted to raise livestock and grow my own food like my dad, but I aim to take it further. Although we had plenty of cattle, we seldom processed our own meat. We had a garden, but we never canned anything. These are the things I aspire to do. As I mentioned earlier, we often didn't have enough money for full meals, and I want to be able to raise and preserve our own food. This way, money won't be an issue, and we'll always have something to eat. I've lived in Oklahoma for four years now, and we've always had a freezer full of meat—beef, rabbit, deer, elk, or even antelope. I haven't had the chance to dive into gardening yet, but I have two 8x4 beds prepared for the 2026 gardens. I've even started making my own sourdough bread, which isn't just healthier; the flavor is absolutely amazing! This not only explains my motivations but also keeps me busy and will provide a valuable perspective for our future children.

About Thomas

I am going to be keeping Thomas's short. He's not one to be in the spotlight and doesn't care much about being shared therefore I will be respecting his wishes on that. This hard working man is the love of my life and does so much for me. Now it may have sounded like I did all the work here but this man here makes sure all vehicles and equipment are good to go and working. Wire shortage in our old house? Plumbing issues? Water heater is out? I am sick and can barely move? Thomas fixes everything or replaces what can't be fixed for me, and cares for the animals when I can't. Need to haul a trailer to sale barn or vet he's there to do it (I hate driving add a trailer I hate it more, I can do it but he knows I'd rather not). He's built me a rabbit barn and everything. The most important thing he does that helps the homestead is that he is an extra set of eyes when I am picking out what stays and what goes. For work he is a full time firefighter and on his off days he owns his own mechanic company. So he's always doing something which is the reason on why the animals and stuff like that falls on me.

The Homestead

Now for the reason why you are all here lets talk about our homestead and what exactly we do and will be doing. To start off Diamond TA Homestead started officially with a name in 2022, but to be fair it started with Thomas' grandparents who did this more as a hobby more than anything. They bought this 80 acres in 1997-1998 I am not exactly sure when, I just know Thomas was a baby. Carol wanted a garden and some chickens and she still enjoys them till this name. Ron wanted cattle therefore they got five angus cows and a bull.

I made the move in with Thomas in 2021 and since then the cattle has been moved under his name and we have brought our cattle number from six to nine however we are about to go down to eight. It is no longer a hobby based program and more show and meat based. We are breeding for quality and bringing in beautiful cows, even getting into artificial insemination (AI) to get those better genetics into our program. Our overall goal as far as head count goes we would love to get 15-20 girls here.

I also started raising Rex rabbits for meat and show however I got out of them early 2025. The reason why I am mentioning the rabbits is because I will be adding two different breeds in 2026. Silver Fox which will be for show and meat but also the smaller version of the breed I love and that is Mini Rex, their purpose will be for show, pet, and meat. Here we don't let a lot go to waste what we don't eat is fed to the barn cats as a treat. The hide is used for tanning or dog treats, the ears, feet, and tail are all dehydrated for dog treats as well. My main goal is to have great quality rabbits by the time I have kids ready to show. I am wanting to have six does and three bucks of each breed as well as enough space to keep future breeders and our show team.

Let's talk about the future animals I am wanting to get into. As of right now Carol has her mixed flock of hens for eggs. Going with the route I want I won't have a wide variety of chickens I am wanting two breeds those being Black Copper Marans and Cream Legbars. I want to hatch out purebreds but also hatch out some Easter Eggers as well. I would love to have six hens of each breed. Eggs are the main focus but I am going for SOP quality, personality, and meat. Nigerian Dwarf goats are another animal I am set on bringing in mostly for milk production but we will also be keeping for meat as well. I won't be blinded by pretty colors and focus on the show quality. As far as numbers go I want one or two bucks, if we stick with one we will have one pet fainting goat wether to keep that buck company, then six does keeping 1-2 doelings to replace every other year. There are also other animals we are wanting to add but I am not 100% positive that I will be getting into them so I will hold off on sharing.

I want to have a couple of different gardens around. Veggies, fruit, florals, and herbs. Why? Well I want to limit the times I go to the store for food. I want most of what we consume to be made here and that includes our food. I plan to make my own herbs in spices by grinding them down. If I make enough I would love to eventually sale these items and produce. Flowers are pretty and with the farmstand I want to eventually set up I would love to sale little bouquets in the mix. Also have you ever tried floral jams? I have found some that I quite enjoy!

That is us, Thomas and Ashley raising animals, growing gardens, learning, teaching, honestly a little bit of everything. I want to share the ups and downs of what it is truly like when raising any kind of animal and growing plants. It definitely isn't all rainbow and sunshine, it's a lot of heartache, hard decisions, dirt, blood, and tears. Even with all the work this is what I enjoy and I don't believe that will ever change.