Calypso Farm

So just who, or what, is Calypso Farm?

I grew up on farms in West Virginia and just outside of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, I now reside in Winter Park, a charming city just north of Orlando, Florida. I really, really long to be on a farm though. Preferably north of the the Florida/Georgia border, but really, I would settle for some acreage anywhere!

After going through boarding hell, which I will have to blog about another time, I found a little slice of heaven which will have to satisfy my appetite for my own farm for now. Nearly 6 years ago (wow, that long?), I was able to lease a farm in the rural community of Chuluota.

Sitting on 5 acres, I can pretend that the land and small barn belong to me. The owners of the property live there and are absolutely wonderful about letting me do my own thing. They really have put up with alot, from rescued horses to pony club meetings.

I came up with the name because my horse, Tucker, who I adopted at the age of 6 months from a PMU farm, was originally going to be called Calypso. You see, my absolute all time favorite singer is John Denver. And one of my favorite songs of his is Calypso, which is about Jacques Custeau's famous ship. It is such an upbeat melody, I just love to play it over and over, singing it at the top of my voice! And since my husband is into boating, I thought it would be a great way to integrate his love with mine, should the day come that we finally buy our own farm!

Calypso Farm is home to my 4 horses and 2 boarders, as well as 2 utterly useless barn cats. The horses include Tucker, now going on 7 years on May 25; Impulsive, my oldest daughter Jen's retired TB eventer; her new eventer, Bates, a grandson of Secretariat, and Hello, Dolly, the retired QH mare of my youngest daughter, Amanda. Tyke, a Dutch/TB and GG, a Swedish Warmblood, make up the 2 boarders. Gizmo and Hobbs are the charming but useless felines.

Everybody gets along, maybe a bit too much and there is alot of good vibes and harmony on the farm. My favorite thing, when not riding, is to just watch!

I love watching the horses play, groom each other and graze. The farm is a bird lovers haven..blue birds come splash and bathe every evening when I overflow the troughs; sandhill cranes, ibis, bald eagles and swallow tail kites are regulars; and the deer! The other morning, there were 9 does in the front pasture, oblivious to the 3 mares and myself as we went through our morning chores. It really doesn't get any better than this...unless it is my own property!