We married in 1975 and, in 1976, Bill graduated with distinction from the Agricultural College in Olds, AB.  He earned a degree in Ag Production Technology and went on to operate his parents' family farm for five years.

After spending some time away, we built our house and established our own family farm in April of 1987. We built up a place for our family to live, to grow and to create, making our farm a pleasant and beautiful place to be.   We have overcome many challenges giving us plenty of practice in developing our skills, gifts and talents. Numerous pets have enjoyed our country home and the farm has provided piles of summer employment for our growing children!   We now have employment opportunities for other young people wanting to work outdoors!

Our dream has grown to encompass an opportunity for you to experience what we have built and enjoyed for over 20 years.  We call it “Billyco Junction / Garden Heart Connections”.  It is a place for you and your children to connect with the outdoors, experience the sky, the land and the taste of farming.  We know that you will enjoy being here too.

Being growers and producers at heart, we have joined organizations like AFFPA (AB Farm Fresh Producers Association) and ARRGO (AB Rhodiola Rosea Growers Organization) to help us understand more about the new direction our farm is taking.  We are in expansion mode growing all sorts of fruits, berries and veggies for you and your family.  This part of our farm plan is really an extension of our summer hobbies and passions.  Bill is adding more and more products that can be grown in our climate!
 
We moved here when Chris and Denise were 9 and 7.  Our 3rd child, Steven was born two years later. Our granddaughter arrived in 2006, giving us our 4 children.
 
Right from the beginning, we landscaped and planted trees as we needed a wind break up on top of our bare and windy hill!  We used Saskatoon bushes as hedges, apple trees as specimens and planted the shelterbelts around our yard.  The first shelterbelt north and west of the house was planted in the spring of 1988.  We have stood by as late spring snows have ripped branch after branch from the poplar trees.  The heavy snow bent the branches so low it was hard to recognize that there were trees there and before the snow could melt we could hear the sickening crack as hundreds of branches fell to the ground.  After the storms of 2007, Bill and our youngest son needed the whole summer to clean up the mess.

For 20 years we worked diligently raising hogs as a livelihood, putting 'pork on your fork' as the saying goes.
As of January 2010 the barns are all but gone!  Only the utility room, which will stay, and the roof, studs and floor are left!  As Bill and his assistant, have carefully removed all that no longer holds value, they dream and consider how best use the fantastic space that is left!  It has been a time of saying good-bye, (with some grieving) to a proud, but battered industry.  It is quite an awesome site for us to be able to see right through the structure to the back side of the yard now.
 
For many years we grew Timothy Hay selling to Japan and local markets. We now have a modest 20 acres of Timothy for all our horse loving friends.  Barley, wheat and canola were grown as well, some as feed for our animals and some for markets beyond. As you see, our history is strong in agricultural roots.  We now lease the land we are not using for our gardens to a young neighbor friend.
 
Like many of you, we have become sky watchers. Weather systems & patterns pass through leaving their effect on every crop year.  Some summers have been a delight, many others have caused concern.  In the summer of 2002, our oldest son and his bride chose to be married here on the farm.  Our hay crop dried right up that spring; we had no moisture at all!  So instead of putting up the hay and getting a pay cheque, we concentrated on preparing for the upcoming wedding, getting a lot of jobs done around the yard. We really enjoyed holding the event. We still watch the skies for the rain and the heat that our fruits, veggies and trees need.
 
In 2005 we incorporated our farm, naming it Billyco Junction Ltd. The Billyco comes from Bill’s name, and the co, well, that just sounded neat!
We knew we needed a change.  We would not raise hogs our entire farming career. So in naming the farm we added the word Junction, meaning connection or interchange.  We were researching ideas and looking for direction for the next phase of our life.  We now bring that connection to you!  A connection with the land, to see the sky in all its splendor, to work till the sun sets!  We want you to see and connect with nature while picking your farm fresh products. We want you to be able to get away for awhile to visit and experience the beauty of rural Alberta.

We joined the Lacombe Chamber of Commerce in 2006 and have participated in the annual Tradeshow held every April, bringing you quality products like Norwex^® Enviro Products and PEP™ which stands for Personal Empowered People.  We are enjoying these courses tremendously!  They are designed to strengthen relationships, enhance self esteem, increase confidence, develop effective communication skills, grow your business, become a confident parent and soooo much more!  Billy and I have date night every week now!!  He even opened the car door for me on our last date!!  Just some of the benefits of the program!
 
We look forward to seeing many of you at the Lacombe and Bentley Farmers Markets this spring and summer as our produce becomes available for your buying pleasure.

Some ideas we are looking forward to adding and find very exciting are a future farm store, and a place where you can sit and relax before going home to process your fruits and veggies for the winter months.

We also look forward to setting up a cottage winery where Bill can add value to his fruits!  He has made some superb fruit wines already.  The Raspberry and Saskatoon wines are delicious; the strawberry and rhubarb wines are so tasty!