04/13/2026
You know how I’m always juggling a few too many things around here?
Chickens to feed. Coops to clean. Gardens to tend. Caring for patients in the Wattlesford Infirmary. Workshops to run. Coops to build. Homeschooling a teenager. Reheating my coffee for the third time…
What can I say, I like to be busy! 😅
Well, somewhere in between all of that, I’ve also been quietly building something new.
It’s called Rafter Forge.
Before the chickens took over my life (as they tend to do), building websites for small businesses was my passion, and I miss it - a lot. Between caring for my flocks and scrambling to keep up with everything that came from growing WAY too fast ( ), this side of my life got pushed aside for a while.
I’ve built the chicken village, I’m done growing the flocks, and I’m down to just making everything pretty and more functional instead of making sure everyone is housed. Now I finally have time to bring back the other thing I love - websites. Only this time, instead of small businesses, I’m focusing on building websites for small farms and homesteads.
Rafter Forge is going to be a collection of simple, ready-to-customize WordPress websites made specifically for homesteads and small farms. I’m aiming to make this super easy - if you can type a Facebook post and upload a photo, you will be able to customize these sites. I have plans for tutorial videos to walk you through it all too, just in case.
Think:
• A clean, finished website without starting from scratch - just fill in the blanks and add pictures.
• Something you can actually update without wanting to throw your laptop into the compost pile.
• A place to share your animals, your garden, your products, your day-to-day life that isn’t controlled by a company (ahem, Facebook) who is ultimately in control of what you share and how you share it.
• Somewhere to send your customers to get the answers for the things you get asked constantly - your policies, your pricing, the breeds you work with, market dates and locations where people can find you, pictures of parent stock.
• No need to learn web design before you can even begin.
Just a solid, thoughtfully built starting point that works. Something you can customize with your photos and story over the weekend and be ready to go Monday morning.
Things are not ready yet (I’m still building more website templates behind the scenes) but I wanted to give you a little peek at what’s coming down the line. I’m terrible at keeping secrets! I’m hoping to launch this new little venture this fall, just as the outdoor season starts to wind down. 🤞
Now, I’m curious…
If a website could take something off your plate or make your life easier, what would you want it to do?
