Hideaway Homestead

Roger Thrush, JoAnne Stackhouse, 20 angora goats, 2 dogs,2 cats, a couple of wild ravens and lots of open-range cattle that live around our farm in the high desert mountains of Arizona

E-mail: goatfarm@starband.net

Great grandpa's homestead, circa 1910

 Welcome to Hideaway Homestead!

Hideaway Homestead is our new Arizona homestead, or goat farm, that we moved to in late January, 2004. We brought all our belongings and all the critters in two trips from Oregon.  Our 61 acres are located in the middle of the Aquarius Mountains about 40 mile southeast of Kingman.  The land around us is still a working cattle ranch, and one still sees the cattle grazing on the hillsides. 

We are 8 miles from the pavement, and just as far from the nearest electricity and telephone.  We are independent of the grid, electricity being provided by the wind turbine Roger built, a few solar panels, and a small generator also built by Roger, that charges the storage batteries.  Our phone is cellular, and the tv, radio, and internet come to us via satellite.

Roger built our home, and has done lots of fencing.  We discovered a spring on our property that provides us water. There remains work to be done on the house, more fencing to be done, gardens to be planted, and innumerable other projects, but it is home now, and we are happy to be where we are.  You can seem more photos of the property and projects on the "happenings" page.

 Roger likes to learn about building websites and practical applications of alternative energy.   He is interested in wind and solar power.  He is also the master mechanic, fence builder, and inventor around here.  It takes a man of many talents to keep things running smoothly around this place and he fits the bill.

 JoAnne is the artist.  Painting gourds in a southwestern style, and working with fiber.  This whole fiber adventure all started when she got a spinning wheel for Christmas a few years ago. In spite of the goats taking over our lives, she still manages to produce many fine gourd art pieces available at a few select southwestern galleries. She is also knee deep in her new project of dyeing beautiful doll hair from the fiber, courtesy of the goats. JoAnne keeps a journal called homestead happenings, where you can find out about the more recent events in our lives.

 Photo Page

Windmill Spin - Ranch newsletter

NEW! Triangle Loom Page

Triangle Loom Info

Of course, let's not forget about the goats!  We raise both white and colored angora goats, and are members of the Colored Angora Goat Breeder Association. We strive to produce goats with fine textured fleeces, curl and of course, lots of color.

Angora goats produce the fiber called mohair, and are sheared twice a year, when the fleece is about 6 inches long.  Sometimes we allow those special fleeces to grow a bit longer to be used for doll hair.  We are able to allow the fleece to grow longer because of the dry climate in this area, and without compromising the health of the animal or the fleece..

We have fiber available for the spinner from first clip kid, the absolute finest, to fiber suitable for rug making.  We also provide a fine selection of quality dyed mohair locks for the discriminating doll maker or reborner.  Just click on the fiber link to see some of our available fleeces and hair.

The big white guy is Benny.  This Great Pyrenees was trained as a Livestock Guardian Dog.  Truth to tell, these dogs aren't so much trained, as they have the natural instinct for protecting livestock, and so come by their abilities naturally. He is good at his job, protecting the goats day and night, in the barn area at night and out on the range (and lying around the house) in the daytime.  We were lucky to get him in Oregon from fellow angora goat breeders after we had trouble with mountain lions.  He likes people and he likes his goats.   The first spring we had Benny, the first doe gave birth out in the pasture without us knowing it.  By the time we found the kid, Benny had the new kid all cleaned off; taking over to the point that the mother almost didn't accept it.  Now we watch for Benny in the spring during kidding season.  He is often our first indication that a birth is about to occur.  One will see him lying quietly by the doe in labor, far enough away to give her privacy, but close enough to protect her.

Zora, Benny's first goat birthing subject

We take pleasure in our little homestead.  It is not the life for everyone, but it is the life for us.  One thing we have found out is, that it is not the destination that is important, but the journey.  We take pleasure in the little things.  The sunrises, and sunsets, thunderstorms rolling in over Snow Mountain, the sight of new kids cavorting in the paddock, the first ripe tomato from the garden.........

So sit back, relax, and spend some time with us.  Hope you enjoy your visit.