In the spring of 2012 Jessica Konrath was having a terrible week. The stressors she was experiencing drove her to seek solace in a common place—the internet. 

While scrolling on Friday she came across a post advertising a goat snuggle session on a farm in Charlottesville, Virginia—about three hours outside of Washington D.C., where she was living at the time.

If a snuggle session with baby goats couldn’t turn her week around, what could?

With single-mindedness she awoke on Saturday morning, got in the car and took the solo three-hour drive to the farm in Charlottesville. Once there, she snuggled baby goats for six hours, then got back in the car and made the three-hour return trip to D.C., refreshed and renewed.

What had been a bad week was transformed into one of the best weeks of the year, and one that ultimately changed the course of her life.

This revolutionary dose of animal love quickly became adopted as an annual tradition for Konrath and friends. Each spring when the goat kids were born and frolicking amongst the clover, she couldn’t wait to scoop them up and snuggle down—something that the baby goats are quite amenable to and that aids them in becoming acclimated to human interaction.

Goats at Winter Winds Farm. Photo by Samuel Corum

A dream is born

Fast forward to a few years later; Konrath had begun dating her now husband, Mark Farmer. Farmer too had been initiated into the annual kid snuggle session and found his partner’s love of goats infectious. 

As they were getting more serious the pair had begun talking about their future—leaving D.C., moving out west—possibly somewhere closer to Farmer’s native Idaho, maybe marriage. 

Throughout the course of these discussions Farmer made an offhand comment about the idea of the couple getting married on a goat farm—a setting that would be both bucolic and one that he knew would make this special day even more idyllic for his future wife.

One warm August evening over a solitary dinner while on a work trip to Seattle, Konrath found herself loosened by a cocktail, and decided to explore this idea a bit more. Opening an internet browser on her phone, she typed in “goat farm wedding Idaho.”

The first thing that popped up in her search was a Facebook ad for a goat farm that was for sale in Idaho. 

With a racing heart and skyrocketing excitement, she tried to sift through the information. The ad seemed crafted to speak directly to Konrath’s mounting hopes, while expertly quelling her doubts.

To her litany of questions, like “What if I don’t have any farming experience? What if I don’t know anything about raising goats? What if I don’t know anything about making goat cheese?” The steadfast answer sat illuminated in black and white: I will teach you.

Hello opportunity. Photo by Samuel Corum

Effervescing with the possibility of a dream awakening inside of her, Konrath promptly sent the post to Farmer and called until he answered, waking him from his slumber on the East Coast. The pair agreed that it was worth getting more information about. After all, the post was from June, it was August now, the opportunity may no longer exist. 

She sent a message immediately.

Her initial outreach yielded no reply. Perhaps her enthusiasm didn’t come across as genuine, perhaps there were too many emojis. Disappointed, she returned to D.C. and didn’t think too much about it. 

A few weeks later, Farmer encouraged her to reach out again to convey her authentic interest and desire for concrete information about the opportunity.

From there things snowballed. 

The couple continued to ask questions, do research, crunch numbers and make multiple trips to Victor, Idaho until, in March of 2020—two weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world—they found out that they were moving to Idaho to become goat farmers.

Learning curve

Growing up in small town Idaho, Farmer had occasionally helped out on friend’s farms bailing hay. Konrath, growing up in the dairy state of Wisconsin, had farm culture all around her, though she never engaged with it first-hand.

When the duo arrived in Idaho in the spring of 2020, their agricultural education began in earnest. 

Farm chores. Photo by Samuel Corum

A love of goats combined with a growing desire to be intimately acquainted with the food system is what ultimately propelled the pair to take on the endeavor of running Winter Winds Farm, a goat farm in the Teton Valley specializing in artisan goat cheese and goat milk soap.

Soapmaking was an initiative that the couple spearheaded after taking the reins of the farm, as a way to mitigate milk loss and offer additional products year-round.

Konrath and Farmer don’t hide the fact that they have faced numerous challenges and gone through many humbling experiences throughout their journey of becoming farmers. 

While there have been the practicalities of learning the day-to-day operations, animal husbandry, and dairy operation, there’s also been the unpredictability of mother nature, becoming small business owners, and the realities of working with your spouse for the first time.

Admittedly, one of the toughest aspects of working so closely with the animals that they’re so fond of has been to bear witness to the unavoidable loss that comes with being surrounded by so much life—it is not all kids frolicking in the springtime, though that is on the other side of the scale.

Three years in, the couple is still learning but have found a groove—they are even expecting their own kid this spring, one that will be born to an abundance of curious and cuddly playmates. 

Senior Cheesemaker Lacey McNeff hard at work. Photo by Samuel Corum

While determination, perseverance and an incredible amount of hard work has helped the new farmers advance along their learning curve, the promise fulfilled by the farm’s former owners has made all the difference in their sanity and success.

“The involvement of the previous farmers was essential,” Konrath said. “They are still around when we have questions. They've been super generous with their knowledge, with their time, with everything.”

An instance that highlights this generosity and desire to see Winter Winds continue successfully was when the vacuum pump for their milking system went out during their second summer of owning the farm. The previous owner spent a day and a half helping Farmer install a new pump, in between manual milking sessions. 

To keep milk production continuous, animals need to be milked twice daily. Hand-milking a herd of several dozen goats simply was not an option long term. Without that helping hand, Winter Winds was looking at terminating their milking season several months early—something that could’ve been a crippling loss. 

Welcome to the creamery. Photo by Samuel Corum

While this kindness was a salvation, Konrath and Farmer have also found that this kind of support is mirrored in the community.

At the farmers’ markets, they have been met with open arms instead of an attitude of competition—even among vendors who sell similar products, neighbors freely lend farm equipment and share knowledge, and dedicated customers continue to bolster their enthusiasm.

“I think the saving grace for us is the community that we have that we found here,” Farmer said.

Giving back

While they have been blessed to be welcomed by a rich community they have found themselves surrounded by, the couple has begun giving back to it as well—with more than the high quality products they provide.

Inspired by what they’ve learned and driven by a desire to share, Winter Winds has hosted many events on the farm including field trips, cheesemaking workshops, pop-up dinners, and their own annual kid snuggle sessions.

Additionally, in 2022 the couple established the Winter Winds Farm Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “educate the community about agriculture, animal husbandry, and the preservation of cheesemaking.”

A curious goat at Winter Winds  Farm. Photo by Samuel Corum

This initiative is a perfect melding of their new skillsets and those that they’d previously honed. 

Farmer worked in international education for over a decade in D.C. This is a role he’s also fulfilling now through his role as executive director at Global Ties Wyoming, an organization that strives to bring global awareness and cultural understanding to the local community by building international connections.

Konrath has dedicated her career to nonprofit management and continues to work full time in this space as an executive director. This is in addition to her work on the farm and in the creamery making cheese.

The latter effort is shared between Konrath and their full-time Senior Cheesemaker Lacey McNeff, who took a chance on the new farmers’ ability to successfully take over the business. "Her taking a chance on us was critical to our success," said Konrath.

Of his wife’s workload and dedication, Farmer said, “Jessica has been maintaining her same clients and workload that she had in D.C., and on top of that is making cheese and selling cheese and doing all the business stuff as well. I’ve been in awe of her being able to do all that.” 

Konrath in the creamery. Photo by Samuel Corum

The couple knew that the educational aspect of the farm was a goal from the outset but, in another outpouring of community support, it was a donation from a generous patron attending a chef’s dinner on the farm that kickstarted the effort ahead of the timeline they’d previously established. 

While the realities of running the foundation may come more easily to the duo, it is what’s at the heart of it that spurns them on. “I think, unfortunately, one of the biggest missed opportunities of my education was that I really didn't have one when it came to agriculture,” Konrath said.

“I would love to help other people to understand what goes into making cheese, what goes into caring for the animals, and how much the animals really do ‘gift’ the milk that they provide us.”

What began as a love of cuddly kids has grown into a reverence for these intelligent animals, a respect for and attunement to the food system, and a desire to help others draw these connections. 

Though the road has not been easy, it is through their dedication, perseverance and commitment to their animal and human community that Winter Winds Farm has been reaping rewards. This past year has brought one of the greatest—being named Best Farm in the Teton Valley—an award granted by the community members who have wholly embraced them.  

Embraced in the Teton Valley. Photo by Samuel Corum