Meet Ulyssa of Victorious Echo Acres

Buckle up. Get ready to take notes. Ulyssa’s story is one of the most inspiring we’ve heard. We are privileged to be able to share it with you.

Hi Ulyssa! Can you tell us where we are today?

We're actually on my farm, Victoria's Echo Acres, Lake Stevens, Washington, 98258. This is my hobby farm. I have poultry, ducks, turkeys, pigs and goats

And how did you get into farming?

It’s a long story. But let’s get into it. Five years ago if you were to tell me, ‘Oh you got animals out in your backyard, You got three dogs, You got a house chicken up in there,” I would have laughed at you. Because I was very, very different. I was a city girl.

But I had a stroke in 2019 and I woke up completely blind in my right eye and from head to toe completely paralyzed on the right side of my body and doctors were like, “This should not be happening to you, you're too healthy.” I had to move back in with the parents. You know, suck that ego up a little bit. And my dad was like, you can stay here while you get your surgery.

So I moved in with him, had my surgery, and he became my everything. My chauffeur, my cook, my aide, lifting me from bed to go to the bathroom. And when you have never had somebody like that in your life, it changes you, in your soul.

After my surgery and PT, I was like, “Hey, you know, I am trying to figure out how to make money from a walker. You know, are you okay if I kind of change up the property a little bit?” And he was like, “here's a piece of paper and here's a pencil, Alyssa. Whatever you want to make, we're going to make it.” And years later now, I have six pens. The only reason why I don't have more pens is because I don't have an excavator yet.

The farm was my way of surviving. I can't see my life without a farm.

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your story with us. Your partnership with your father, and your animals, is awe-inspiring.

It's important. It's hard being a farmer. It's hard, especially when you're starting. Yeah, you have to learn a lot, the hard way. But it's worth it.

I can see that it has been incredibly meaningful for you and your dad. Can you share what about farming is most rewarding?

Well, the most rewarding aspect is love. Everything shows you love. If you spend enough time with it, any animal will follow you around. It'll be your best friend.

I think that my dog, who’s a rescue, is the prime example of what being on this farm does I put so much love and tears and effort into that dog. Now, her genuine quality of life is calm. That's all I would ever want for my rescues. That they can be safe enough to be calm.

You can tell how much your animals love you. It’s tangible. And I heard that some are extra special. Can you tell us about your house chicken?

I used to be scared of chickens, actually. But my dad would run out there to his chickens and just manhandle it. And I'm like,” it's not going to break?”

I was like, “You know what, Ulyssa? You're going to love a chicken so much that it's going to want to be near you. So much, that it's gonna walk past your dogs, and go into your house.” So I chose a chick and that chicken grew up into a house chicken. Her name was Strawberry.

I ended up absolutely loving it. I loved the fact that my chicken just wanted to be on my shoulder while I played video games. I liked the fact that my chicken would just hop up on bed, hop up on the desk, and just sit in her little bed, her own little nook. I just fell in love with it. I just fell in love with the whole fact of a chicken. And I didn't think it would ever happen.

I wish Strawberry was here today so we could meet her, but I hear she’s gone to another home to help someone else who was scared of chickens! But you’ve got plenty of other chickens. Can you tell us what you do with all your eggs?

I have a little honor box just at the end of my driveway. I just sell them for four dollars per dozen. I know that it could be crazily more, but I can't eat that many eggs. And at the same time, I know these chickens have gotten us through some tough times, especially when we were low on cash, so I was like, here's some eggs. My biggest thing is like, if you can't afford it, it's fine, do it later. Like, eat the eggs.

And how did you find out about Mill?

I looked on Mill’s website, and I was like, this is exactly what I’ve been literally looking for, for a year and a half. It's a way that I can feed my chickens, but know that it's giving back, almost like recycling.

Then I saw Mill’s setup and was very impressed. They took me through the process, how they take out the impurities and purify it. I was very happy to see that. The big difference for me is that it's not another animal's food. It's literally our human grade food that we're just changing a little bit to help them.

I will not feed my animals anything that tastes horrible. So I have eaten it. Yes, I've eaten the Mill Meal to double check before I fed it to my chickens! And I was like, you know what, this actually, tastes like food!

What do your chickens think of Mill Meal?

Oh they love it. At first they were like, what is this? You know, they knew it was different just by the way it looked. And then they started eating it and I would say 70 percent of them prefer that over everything else.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.