Happiness Unscripted

From Military Service to Farming: Elaine Vandiver's Unplanned Path to Fulfillment

• Kristin DeSouza • Season 1 • Episode 3

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From Military Service to Farming: Elaine Vandiver's Unplanned Path to Fulfillment

In this episode of Happiness Unscripted, host Kristin Dea continues her conversation with Elaine Vandiver, a military veteran turned first-generation farmer. Elaine recounts her journey from serving in Iraq to operating Old Homestead Alpacas and Gholson Gardens in Walla Walla, Washington, alongside her husband Mike. She shares her transition from pursuing a conventional suburban life to embracing a more fulfilling, albeit unexpected, path in agriculture. Elaine also discusses the challenges of infertility, the serendipitous acquisition of their farm, and their initial foray into craft beer brewing, which later pivoted to raising alpacas and cultivating flowers. Tune in to hear how Elaine found meaning and joy through farming and her unique approach to integrating natural dyeing into her fiber arts.

Key Time Stamps:

00:00 Audio-Elaine V_Ep3-Pt 2_Land calls & Leap of Faith

03:31 Leaving the Military & Infertility Journey

09:37 Searching for Land

13:05 A Hideaway & a project

17:47 Alpacas instead of a tractor

22:35 From a Brewery to Alpacas

28:36 What to do with Alpaca Yarn?

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Hey there friends! Just a friendly reminder that this podcast is all about sharing ideas and having fun conversations. I'm not an expert in this subject over here - jut a curious person exploring topics I find interesting. So please don't take anything said here as professional advice. When in doubt, chat with the real pros who know their stuff. Thanks for listening and hope you join us for the next episode! Now, let's dive in and get happy!

Kristin - Host:

Hello. Welcome back to the second part of our conversation with Elaine Vandiver. For those just joining us, or as a refresher for everyone else, let me reintroduce Elaine. Elaine is a military veteran turned first generation farmer and entrepreneur who operates two complimentary agricultural businesses, on a historic 1870s homestead in Walla Walla Washington, alongside her husband Mike. At Old Homestead Alpacas, she raises suri alpacas for their luxurious natural fiber, which she transforms into craft, yarns and professionally machine knit garments, including hats, scarves, and mittens that are 100% made in the USA. In 2018, she launched Gholson Gardens, which provides seasonal specialty cut flowers and has become a revenue stream that allows her to make farming her full-time occupation. Elaine describes the farming experience as both uplifting, and therapeutic, also providing her an opportunity to give back to the community and preserve the heritage of the historic Gholson Homestead. However, military veteran and full-time farming are not what Elaine would have described as her path when I first met her at Indiana University when we were freshmen. I'm very excited to talk with Elaine about her unique and fascinating journey to what she describes as the most meaningful work of her life. Last time we heard how Elaine evolved from a free spirit in college to joining the military and serving in Iraq. Today we dive into how Elaine found farming. I. So I'll, jump ahead a little bit here. I hinted at the start that obviously farming was not initially on your radar. You weren't, telling us that'I'm gonna go be a farmer' when we knew you in college. And, um, I would describe it as you were planning, uh, maybe a little bit more of a common path in terms of gonna live in the suburbs and going to, have, kids and be that typical family with Mike with a yard and dog and all that thing. Um, would you share a bit about kind of what you experienced in terms of you finished in the military and before you had to find, figure out what a different path was gonna be for you?

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah, I was discharged in July of 2005 and Mike was discharged in April of that same year. We got married the September before. So we were in the military for, you know, not quite a year, um, married. So we both knew that we wanted out, right, and, but we also, like, I did love the idea of a stable. Like the, the typical get a house. And I, I do remember telling everybody in, in college, I'm gonna have like 10 kids, you know? Um, like I really did wanna do that. Um, and so we kind of decided we were gonna stay in Washington. Just, you know, he's from Utah. And me being from Indiana, I loved waking up and being able to see Mount Rainier, a freaking volcano. You know, like, just, we've got topography over here.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah. Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

knew? Um, and so we knew we wanted to stay out here. And I kind of, again, being the one, like, I kind of like a little bit of a path. I don't wanna, or at least at that time, I didn't wanna blaze the trail. So it was like, okay, what, what job? Well, I'm like, I got three years of military experience. We wanted to stay in Washington. And so I was like, well, let's work for the Army as civilian employees. And that's pretty much what we did. Um, and so we bought a house in Tacoma and I'm like, okay, let's start with them kids, you know? And um, yeah, that was a tough path. We, that's the one way to put it.

Kristin - Host:

I was like, that's a really generous way to put it.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

um, but yeah, it was, um, yeah, we pretty much, you know, we tried for that first year, saw the doctor, tried for another year, and then started in the litany of, infertility treatments from the very basic, all the way up to the full blown VF. We did several rounds of that and, you know, that obviously did not end with the outcome I had hoped for, or we had hoped for.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

And so that just kind of, I just was like, you know, it was an acceptance of reality. It was like, okay, I did, I did pretty much everything physically that I knew,

Kristin - Host:

Yeah

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

I could do. Uh, I mean, not everything, but for the most part, you know, did a, we tried a lot of avenues

Kristin - Host:

You did not leave much on the table.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

No, I didn't. Um, but yeah, so that became a okay this path, you know, I've. I tried every avenue. This path isn't gonna work.

Kristin - Host:

Mm-hmm.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

And that was for sure another, um, major crossroads in my life because by that point, Mike and I had, had moved to Walla Walla from Tacoma.

Kristin - Host:

Where Walla Walla is in the state of Washington to help people.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

yes. So we're like, I am literally on the state line. I am presently looking across the road at Oregon. So we are in the southeast corner of the state. So like, it, it's a little bit long. It was like a more than a rectangle. We are like across the state from Seattle. So you have to be coming to Walla Walla to find yourself here. We're. Um, right on the Oregon border, and then we're like a hundred miles west of Idaho. So we are in the Pacific Northwest, kind of very, very rural. But this was a, um, a, an intentional move for Mike and I. We had visited Walla Walla shortly after getting married when we were still in the Army and fell in love with it'cause I'd never been in, raised in a small town or let alone spent much time in a small town and we fell in love with it. And so we were working with the Army. The Army Corps of Engineers has a district office here. Um, we both got transfer jobs here. We moved in 2008 during the big bubble. Um, and the, the army moved us out. They made it super easy and roughly at the same, well, shortly thereafter, after moving here. You know, we were coming to the end of that infertility journey and we were settled here. Like I really saw Walla Walla as as home. Um, I didn't wanna leave, you know, I didn't wanna move again. Moving is, so that's a lot of energy.

Kristin - Host:

so much.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah. Um, even when somebody's moving for you, you know, it's just, it's a lot to start over again. And so, but at the time we had bought the, uh, let's see, four bedroom, three bathroom house intending to fill it, um, in a neighborhood of other folks doing the same thing. And so when we came to the end of that journey and both of us did not want to, to move, I did say to Mike, I said, you know, this is gonna be hard to accept that we're not gonna have a traditional family or, you know, children, I should just say And, but while being surrounded by everybody else, you know, in a neighborhood, you know, it was a, it was a, it was a subdivision. Um, and I said, you know, like, this is, I, I, and again, I, I'm like a, I need a new path, you know, but I don't want it to be too new'cause I wanna stay in Walla Walla. And he said to me, well, let's look for some land. And, you know, like, and I'm like, sign me up, let's go. And it was like, uh, fifth year.

Kristin - Host:

I think Gemini popped outta you there a little bit. Sure. Let's go for that.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I had a great job. I really did like my job. Um, I could pick my own hours. I was paid very well. Had, you know, pension, benefits, vacation time, a 401k; all of the, the beautiful trappings of a, of a good job, but we just didn't wanna leave. And so, yeah, it, we just started looking for property and it, it was just, it was kind of serendipitous how it all worked out. We found one place that I just fell in love with. We didn't get it. And then I was heartbroken. Um, and I was kind of like, you know, I for sure was depressed. There was a fair bit of,

Kristin - Host:

I

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

uh, depression.

Kristin - Host:

like, so to have gone through infertility without it resulting in, you know, the child that you were hoping for and then that like Yeah. Was that a point that you just kind of felt like, oh, I can't get anything to work out for me right now? Like, I can't get this, I can't get that?

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Well, yes, and you know, that was one of the few things. I actually had in my life plan, you know, I, I didn't really know, you know, like I kind of already shared, like I didn't really have a PI path, but I always wanted to be a mom. I had a great mom. I wanted to be just like her and have kids. And I wanted to have that experience too, you know, of having a family.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

And so that was the one thing I knew I wanted

Kristin - Host:

Hmm.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

and it was a slog that did not result in it. So I think somewhere subconsciously, again, this is with much reflection. Um, I think I may have looked at that as like, well, when you go after, when you think you know what you want, it just doesn't work out. So, you know, just start grabbing it, whatever, start showing up and run with something, you know, that whatever's interesting I think. I think that had a lot to do with it. And on top of my impulsivity, um, yeah, I.

Kristin - Host:

yeah, I hadn't thought about it that way, but I can see how that would really make sense. That if you're like, this was the one thing that I thought I was, you know, always marching towards in some way in my path. And then, you know, you put in lot of heart and, you know, mental, emotional effort. And then to have it not come forward, I can see, I'd be like, oh, well that clearly doesn't go well. I'm not doing that anymore. And

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah.

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah.

Kristin - Host:

um, do I remember right, that was 2014 that you got the farm.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Well technically we closed in October of 13 and we leased and we leased it to the gal.'cause she had to kind of pack up and move.

Kristin - Host:

Right.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

so we didn't move in until like December of that year. But virtually, yes, it was

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

more or less 2014. Yeah.

Kristin - Host:

So you and Mike, you are now on a historic 10 acre homestead in Walla Walla. Um, my recollection from when you guys first showed up there, was not what are currently doing. So like what was the original plan? If you are like, we've got our 10 acres of land and it wasn't immediately alpacas and flowers,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah, no it wasn't. Yeah. Um, well the very immediate was it was a hideaway. Truthfully, if I'm being honest with myself, I just wanted to get out of that neighborhood situation, uh, away from everything that felt like was never destined for me. It just felt like it was too much in my face. Um, it was kind of a hideaway and then a project.'cause the house, I mean, basically everything needed work. The house, the barn, everything needed some work. And then we were into craft beer at the time and we were doing some home brewing. And so we kind of, I was like, well, if I'm, if we're not gonna have children, you know, because that kind of takes. The, the next phase of your life, you focus on them. So I'm like, well, if we don't have that to focus on, I have a great job. It's not like, woo, I love this job. I can do this job forever. It was great, but it wasn't like, you know, it was still a job. Um, and I was like, well, if we're not gonna have kids, I'm not like head over heels over my job. Neither was Mike at the time. And we were into craft beer. I'm like, could this be a thing? So we, we looked at what, what now is my dye house we were gonna make into the brewery

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

potentially.

Kristin - Host:

Now, do

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um, we.

Kristin - Host:

that that building was originally like the milking barn? I feel like I remember that it was the milking barn and there's just something about like, okay, it used to make milk, now you're gonna make beer in it. That just tickled me.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yes, it was this, this farm was a dairy in the fifties, and that was the milk house or the milk parlor, and then the attached creamery. So it was gonna be, we were gonna have the brewery in the one, you know, and, and the parlor. And then the creamery was gonna be the tasting and the drinking.

Kristin - Host:

okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah, that was initially. Um, and so that came after we had purchased, you know, that was like, as we're walking around going, okay, what are we gonna do here? You know? Um, and then, then I learned very quickly like, well, zoning is a thing. Oh, this place, this place isn't zoned for brewing,

Kristin - Host:

ah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

we have a lot of wineries around us and wineries and brewing. It's very, very similar in a lot of respects. But that was the initial hurdle where I looked at, okay, what does it take? To change the zoning. And I was like, wow, this is a process, this is an expense.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

then we started, you know, like I started to kind of do the math and like, you know, when you get into a hobby that you think, Ooh, I wouldn't this be dreamy to this to be my job. You know, that that shiny twinkly spot of like, can, can this, you know, the excitement of potentially and then marrying it with reality of like, okay, zoning is a real thing. Like they will shut you down and not allow you to operate. Um, and then it's like, okay, well if you're gonna, okay, if the, the process to zone costs this much money and, and effort, then it's like, okay, now this can't just be like a, you know, you have to come at it with some seriousness, you know? And then I started to do the math. I did a business plan. Looking at the numbers, like, okay, if we made this farm a brewery, you know how, you know, start running some numbers. And I'm like, wow, I don't know if I have the stomach for that.'cause the girl that was scared of$50,000 of college debt, which like, you can't even buy a car for that now. Um, the, the numbers we were close to like half a million dollars, you would need to, to like invest to like, make it even something

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

that I was like, yeah, I don't love that as much either. So we kind of quickly diverted and we're like, I don't think, I don't think the brewery is what we wanna do. I think we just want to enjoy craft beer and not be tasked with making it for ourselves and others as a living or even as a side gig. Uh, so yeah, that, um, that was the initial. Thought. And so when, when that, when we ran the numbers on that, that was so eye-opening. And then we kind of looked around. I've got, of the 10 acres, about eight of it is pasture because the gal that had it before us, she had horses, donkeys and mules and so forth. It was more equine things going on here, but it's pasture. And with pasture, you kind of have to take care of it and maintain it to some degree,

Kristin - Host:

Hmm.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

it'll die.

Kristin - Host:

Ah,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um, so we've got the water, the, the well and the irrigation rights and the equipment to, to water it. And we did, but then it was like, well, we don't have money for a tractor. Uh, because we actually still had the other house at the same time. We had two homes.

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah. Because this house needed a lot of work.

Kristin - Host:

Mm-hmm.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Uh. And so we lived at the other one. And then after work we worked, fixed up this place. And so, you know, we had two jobs. Two, two incomes, two mortgages. And then we're, but we're like, well, we don't wanna have two houses forever, but I don't, I don't have the money to get a tractor. So the next best thing is you get some alpacas to eat the grass. And the reason we picked alpacas was because the, the gal we bought the place from, she had mostly equine stuff going on here, but she had two llamas. Remember the llamas, Leroy and Loretta were here. And when she left she said, oh, those llamas come with the place.

Kristin - Host:

I like, this is a story that I remember that you, you would talk about this place and you'd be like, yeah, I didn't know it, but like, they came with llamas. And I, like, I recall it as being alpacas when I think

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Sure.

Kristin - Host:

it. Um, but yeah, I just, I was like, thinking to myself, how do you get all the way through, like buying a property and not realize that there's like live beans, like animals are coming with it,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Let me tell you how that happens. You, you buy from a legit horse trader. I mean, I, the, the gal was a horse trader. I am not joking. And it was'cause when I worked at the Corps of Engineers, I wrote contracts. That was my whole job. I wrote in administer contracts. And I will tell you, I read our purchase and sale for this farm a thousand times and there was no llamas in it. Okay. And so it was one of those things. So we leased it back to her for two months so she could gather her things. And I'm not lying when I say she was, she's a horse gal. They are their own type of people and this is not a criticism. Um, and so as she was leaving and you know, you get to know her, you know,'cause it's like, come collect the, the rent and check on the place. And, and it was kind of like two months is a long time when you're just kind of itching to get in. Um, it was towards the end where she was like, well, this used to be an old homestead and those two llama come with the place. And after all that infertility, after like, going against the grain, it felt like I was just like, whatever. Okay, whatever. Just get your stuff. We'll take care. We'll figure it out. Like. How hard can it be? I've been to war mom's died, you know? Well, okay, two llama, figure it out. So part of figuring it out was, um, getting on the interwebs as you do,

Kristin - Host:

Yes.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

and going, what do you do with llamas?

Kristin - Host:

do you

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um,

Kristin - Host:

of llamas?

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

exactly. And, you know, I went down a rabbit hole and so I real, I learned very quickly, oh, llamas are related to alpacas. Alpacas are smaller and, you know, very similar. They're the same, um, genus, is that the right word? Kamala species. And, um, and so it's like there's, they're about a. A third, the size, they typically have softer fiber. They're usually more friendly, um, and they eat grass. Um, and so also there was an alpaca farm, like 20 miles from Walla Walla.

Kristin - Host:

Ah, okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

And so I was like, well, let me just see. Oh, let's go for a visit. And so it was that very first year. It was March of 14. Yeah, that very spring because the grass starts growing

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

I'm like, okay, these two llama can't eat it all, so let's get, let's, let's just check, you know, I can't afford an tractor, but I wonder how much an alpaca costs. And so we went and became friends, bought three lawnmowers and brought them home. I wanna say it was in June of 14.

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

So, and they were already shor and it was like we were off to the races.

Kristin - Host:

All

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

I don't know how much more you wanna know about that, but there's a whole,

Kristin - Host:

that

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

so

Kristin - Host:

was, I was like, okay. Like, I can't remember how you got from, you know, I remembered that there was talk of the brewery, and I was like, I don't remember how they got from the brewery to alpaca.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

it was a swift move. Yeah. But once those, once those first three were here, um, I was still working at the core, so was Mike. Matter of fact, he's there right now. He should be home here soon. So hopefully I told him we were gonna be recording, so hopefully it'll be nice and quiet when it gets here. But,

Kristin - Host:

Alright.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

um, yeah. So got the three alpacas here and then that next spring in yeah, uh, of 2015, we had them shorn here. Uh. And I had just the three animals. And once I got their fiber off of'em, I was like, okay, you know, what do I do with this? I, I wasn't a, a knitter. Um, I think I had crocheted by then'cause I made you some baby blankets.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um, but I was like, what do I do with this again? Get on the web. Okay, send it to a fiber mill. Found one, sent it off. They sent it back. Actually the fiber mill was in Washington. Um, I got it back from'em and I'm like, cool. Started to learn how to knit. Um, and then the gal, we had bought them from roughly somewhere in 2015 or 16, um, she acquired another herd. You know, she bought more alpaca, she was a, a stock breeder, you know, like obviously I bought my stock from her. She would sell to other alpaca farms. Right. And so she bought, she acquired another herd and we're realizing, wow, we. We can't keep up with the grass here. We had gotten a very old tractor by that point and we were having to cut the grass. Um,'cause alpacas, as it turns out, it, they originate in the high Andes in the Altiplano where vegetation can be quite sparse. So they are extremely efficient eaters.

Kristin - Host:

Ah,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um, they're ruminants, so they chew their cud and they get every little ounce from their, every blade of grass. So my three little alpacas and the two llamas, um, could not keep up with the grass. Whilst, my friend, the alpaca breeder has all these animals; she had probably 200.

Kristin - Host:

Wow.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

did not have enough grass to graze them on. And we had become quite good friends and alpacas was still very new to us, and I didn't know what I was doing. And she, she kind of created this program where she's like, you know what, what if I brought some of my alpacas to you? I still own them. You take care of them. Think about it as fostering, basically, like fostering, um, you know, if they have any major thing that comes up, we'll make the decisions and pay for it. You know, you would just facilitate and let them live on your land and, and then you can have all of their fiber from anybody who's lived on your land. And she sweetened the deal with, I will let you breed to my males.

Kristin - Host:

Oh

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Because typically you would pay a stud fee to use, you know, to propagate your own stock. And I'm like, okay. Bring them on over. You know, I'm like, I think I can do, you know, it's like, it, there was enough of a safety net. They knew what they were doing. They had been doing alpacas for at least a decade by then.

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Um, and they live close by and I'm like, okay, how hard can it be alpacas? They're like a starter livestock. They really are. They don't require a lot. And so I'm like, bring'em over. So I feel like they brought, that'd been 2016 ish, somewhere in there. They, I wanna say we had at least 20 or 30 of their animals. And I had graduated a little bit. I think I had bought a couple more too at that point.

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

So I think we, we had 40 some here and that next year's harvest, I was like, oh my goodness, what am I gonna do with all this? You know? And it's just like, it's just kind of.

Kristin - Host:

like figured out piece after piece. You're like, okay, we're gonna take care of the grass. All right, now I've got enough alpacas. Now what do I do with all this fur that comes off of them every year? All this fiber.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Exactly. It was like pulling at a thread on your shirt, you know, and it just starts to unravel a little more.

Kristin - Host:

Yeah,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

yeah, and I just, again, I think it was part of my nature to just kind of go and it was also enjoyable. Like, let's not gloss over that fact too. Like I didn't have a dog growing up much less an alpaca. Um, they are pretty cool animals, you know, they're cantankerous like cats, but also majestic like cats and very regal in a lot of ways. And my farm is amazing and beautiful. And it was just one of those things where it was like, it was. It was like a non-question. It was like, you wanna bring over some more alpacas? Sure. You know, like,'cause it was working, you know, I'm like, we're figuring it out. They don't require a lot, you know, of efforts. Really, the majority of the, the work is in providing for their forage, which is growing the grass, you know, and then your once a year haircut. Then it became a matter of like, yeah. Then it became a matter of, oh, well I'm not a wasteful person. This, this fiber grew on my farm. What can I do with it?

Kristin - Host:

Oh, okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

You know? And it's like I had those first, that first few fleeces made into yarn

Kristin - Host:

Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

and I had taught myself to knit. So I'm like, okay, like I'll do some yarn as a side hustle. That works. And so that's kind of, I started with that and then I had pretty much mostly like white and light brown animals.

Kristin - Host:

Right.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

And so I was like, well, I would, I would like to dye this fiber, but you know, we are rural, we're on a septic. Um, so anything, you know, like it all goes back to the land. I mean, that is the reality of it. No matter where you live, whether you're on a, you know, typical septic system like, you know, like city water and, and a sewer system, but like, it's even more pronounced when you are on a septic system. It's like

Kristin - Host:

much more

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

a

Kristin - Host:

of it. Like it's

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

yes.

Kristin - Host:

in front of you as opposed to Yeah. Like you're living in a, a city provided water system that you're like, it goes somewhere.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Exactly like I know where my drain field is, you know? So it's like when I realized that, and then also I had, I was getting real into fiber arts and going, wow, how lucky did I get, have an alpacas because it's an amazing fiber if you're into fiber arts. And I'm like, well, it's so intrinsically wonderful. I don't wanna put synthetic dye on it. And then also, I don't, I can't, I'm not gonna run the affluent into my pasture or my alpacas are gonna graze. That's not gonna happen. So I was like, hmm. I wonder if there's another way to dye things. Well, yes, of course there is. Long before we had a good working understanding of chemistry, we used plants and roots and all manner of other natural things to dye, our fibers and textiles in our bodies and so forth. And so again, I got on the interwebs and I learned very quickly, oh, natural dying. This is how you do it. Oh, look at that. Natural dyes are plants and flowers and so forth. And look, these are like annuals, like marigold,

Kristin - Host:

Yeah. Yeah.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Osmos, Coreopsis. And where we're at in Walla Walla is it's, it's wheat country, soybean, all, all your standard, you know, row crops, but like our soils here are amazing. It's glacial out wash. It's very lovely, um, lusts and a little clay. It's, it's fantastic. That's why people grow so much stuff. We have grapes out here, all the things. And so I'm like,

Kristin - Host:

Okay.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

well, why don't, I, and I had never had a garden before, before having a 10 acre farm. I never had a garden.

Kristin - Host:

Well that's one of the things I've actually wondered about. And um, so you've got Gholson Gardens now that is your growing all of your flowers. And we'll get a little bit more into that. But like I listen to you talk now when we're just having our social conversations and you, you know so much. You know about the soil composition. Now you can list off all of these, you know, flowers and plants and, um, what you need to do with them. And as I've watched you do this, I'm like; I've thought multiple times, I have no idea if you like had a garden if you were big into flowers growing up. So this is something that you have very, like organically learned.

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

Yeah. You know, again, I just kept pulling at the thread. It just, it really did, it came together organically and I was interested, and I think probably the biggest thing is I was just receptive

Kristin - Host:

Oh,

Elaine - Old Homestead Alpacas:

to the idea of it. Receptivity has been something that I reflect on a lot that like, I just kind of was going with things going, and it was just the next natural step of like, okay, I, I can't, I don't wanna use synthetic dyes. Oh, that's, oh, natural dyes. Oh, you can grow marigolds. Those are so easy to grow from seed. And I literally did it like we did in elementary school, a couple styrofoam cups, a little bit of attention, and it was like, oh, wow. And then the, the intense dopamine from going, I put that in the ground, it came out, there's a flower. I put that in water, created a dye, and then I took the alpacas fiber, which by the way, I also grew. It was like, wow. I just was like, I couldn't believe it was a thing. Um, yeah. And just, just continuing to pull on that thread of like, okay, what's next? Just following the passion.

Kristin - Host:

Well, that's a wrap on this episode of Happiness Unscripted. I'm so grateful you chose to spend this time with me today exploring what it means to build a life we truly love. But here's the thing, we're still not done on this incredible story with Elaine Vandiver. Make sure to tune in next week because we'll be continuing our conversation with Elaine, diving even deeper into her transformation and lessons she's learned along the way to becoming a farmer. Remember, the path to happiness isn't always linear, and I can't wait for you to hear what comes next.

Speaker 2:

I want you to know that your presence here means everything to me. Before you go, take a moment to think about one small thing from today's conversation that gives you joy or you can put into practice this week, then please share it in the common section to inspire others. If you found value in what we discuss. Please share this episode with someone who might need to hear it or leave us a great review to help others find their way here too. Please follow happiness on scripted on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe so you get updates on the next episode release. I'm Kristin dea. I can't wait to continue our journey towards happiness unscripted. Let's get happy.

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Kristin DeSouza

Host
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Elaine Vandiver

Guest