The Heart Behind the Farm

In 2005, my two daughters and I — with the help of my father — opened a petting zoo and party facility on the property where we lived in Bakersfield, California. We called it Grandpa’s Farm, and it quickly became a place where visitors young and old could meet, learn about, and fall in love with both small and large animals.

For years, our farm was filled with laughter, curiosity, and the simple joy of watching people connect with the animals who shared our home.

When the economy crashed, I had to make the difficult decision to close Grandpa’s Farm. Over time, we found new homes for most of the animals we had cared for — but one little rooster refused to leave me alone. Pepé ran around inside my head for years, crowing for attention. I used to tell my daughters, “Someday I’m going to write a book and finally get Pepé out of my head.” It became a running joke between us girls.

Then came March 2020. And that’s exactly what I did.

That moment became the beginning of the Grandpa’s Farm book series. Every animal in the stories — Pepé, Spankey, Norman, and all the rest — once lived on the farm with us. They were real characters with real personalities, and bringing them to life on the page has been one of my greatest joys.

I still get the biggest thrill when I meet someone who visited the farm all those years ago and they share their memories with me. And now, I get just as excited when a reader tells me they remember Pepé or one of the other animals from the books. It feels like the farm continues to live on through every story shared and every child who falls in love with these characters.

Becoming an author was never on my bucket list. But the joy those animals gave me and my daughters so many years ago continues to fill our hearts — and now, through these books, they get to fill yours too.