03/10/2020
I'm Marilyn Aichele and I am the proud owner of Whip
Tail Farms. A little bit about me..I was born and raised in South Dakota and I have proudly served in the active duty Navy from 1978 through 1984 and then affiliated in the Navy Reserves upon which I retired in 2012. As well, I am a registered nurse who is currently employed at the VA Hospital in San Diego, California.
My lifetime goal is to be self-sustained and raise happy animals that would in turn provide me with happiness and food. Currently, I am raising goats, chickens,guineas, cats, and of course, dogs. I enjoy a daily abundance of chicken, eggs and goat's milk. Living on a farm is very hard work, but I really enjoy the rewards of witnessing life and beauty that I have created.
Whip Tail Farms sits on 2 1/2 acres in Dulzura, California. I have a few loyal helpers that provide assistance on the farm, which, I treasure as good reliable help is very difficult to find and keep. I can count on them to help despite the hard work.
At this point, regarding self-sustaining lifestyle, I have installed solar panels and Tesla batteries. This has been a God send due to the constant worry that SDGE will cut the power at will to prevent fires when the wind gusts present themselves. The power can be off for quite sometime which makes farm life very hard. Without electricity the water pump doesn't work, thus no water in the house. So, in short, you get to sit in the dark without a shower after a long hard day's work. So, now that I have the Tesla batteries, I have power when SDGE needs to protect the community by cutting the power due to dangerous winds. With the combination of the solar panels and batteries, I have control of my power power, which is very good.
This year my plan is to plant a great vegetable garden which will provide fresh vegetables. I do have an orchard with the following trees: orange, lemons, limes, peaches, fig, kumquats, banana, grapefruit and palm granite trees. The orchard is providing wonderful fruit each year after year. I am very busy on the farm, but enjoy it very much and I would not trade this adventure for nothing.
I decided to try my hand with with Air BnB to help with farm expenses and provide an affordable place for people to be able to rent out while visiting the San Diego area, Cal. area. I enjoy sharing my farm with others and so far this has been a very rewarding experience. I have been able to meet and host a variety of people and found all very interesting and pleasant. Like I said, I love to show off the farm and share the fruits of my labor. I enjoy music, all of my animals and making my farm look like a park area. The latter is a work in progress and very hard to maintain and even start at times. This gives me a reason to get up every morning to come up with a plan to get closer to my goal.
