Unlike so many people who live here, Philip and Connie Swan have no history of family or previous ties to the Ozarks. Phil said, “I had always heard that the Ozarks was a nice place to retire. Plus we were both ‘country’ to start with and didn’t want to be in the city anymore.” With encouragement from some friends who knew about the area, Connie went online and started looking. They decided to check out the Ozarks prior to their retirement. They ended up in Branson, Mo., and started looking around with the help of a real estate agent. The Lead Hill area of Boone County, Ark., caught their eye. The first piece of property they saw was the 33 acres they bought.
Even though the house and the outbuildings were in desperate need of repair and remodeling, and the grounds littered with rubbish and unwanted items, they both instantly fell in love with the property. They knew it was the place for them. After three years of cleaning, totally remodeling and rebuilding most of the house, they have a place to call home. Connie said, “It was meant to be.” Although the Swans moved here from Las Vegas, Nev., they both have roots in the country. Connie was raised on the outskirts of Boulder, Colo., and Phil was raised on a homestead in Alaska. Connie said, “The hardest thing we ever did was live in the city.”
Once they got settled into their home in Lead Hill, Connie said the first thing on her agenda was to buy some chickens because she loves “fresh eggs and fresh chicken.” Next came two Boer doelings that were a gift from a neighbor. Then they acquired miniature donkeys. Those acquisitions and nature taking its course have developed into what is now called “Swan’s Nest.” They currently have six bred does, 15 chickens, four guineas and three donkeys. They also have one herd dog, Pearl, and one house dog. She thinks she’s on an extended camping trip because they brought her from Nevada.
Predators are nearby. Phil said, “There’s lots of coyotes around; we hear them all the time. But the worst problem we’ve had here is domestic dogs getting into our pasture. Now that we’ve added more fencing, we hope that will stop.”
The Swans’ objective is not to make money from their farm, but to be as self-sustaining as possible. Phil said, “I don’t want to get into this like it’s a full-time job, but we like to know what we eat. We grow some vegetables – not quite enough – and we’ve got fruit trees that we’ve planted – not quite enough yet – but eventually it would be nice to be almost self-sufficient and know where most of our food comes from.”
Phil and Connie have spent much time building and repairing fencing, constructing a spring-fed pond – which satisfies their craving for fresh catfish – and improving existing pastures. Phil said, “We’re raising fish, and they’re sweet. That’s a good fresh-water pond, so the meat’s really good.”
Future plans involve acquiring some Dexter cattle. Phil and Connie feel that they don’t want to deal with full-sized cattle, so the smaller sized Dexter breed would fit the bill. They’d also like to enlarge their goat herd. Phil said, “We’d like to get to about 15 or 20 head of goats.”
