We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Tillory a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I would like to be remembered as someone who helped people & made a difference- even if it’s just in my little corner of the world. Someone who built community. Someone who brought people together, through the shared love of animals. I want to be remembered as someone who shared her love of animals with the community and brought healing, love, and light to people’s lives.

Crystal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hi! I’m Crystal Tillory at Tillory Farms. We are a small family farm and homestead, established in 2020. I was born and raised in the south San Diego suburbs, and I am a huge animal lover! My three city pups are my fur-children!

My extended family was born & raised on farms in Virginia and Tennessee, and I would go visit the farms when I was young. My grandfather brought his farming skills to San Diego and was known throughout the city for his multitude of delicious homegrown tomatoes! I learned much of my gardening from my grandfather. It has always been my dream to be self-sufficient and to live off my own land and raise my own animals.

Like a lot of people during the pandemic in 2020, I started out with backyard chickens and growing fruits and vegetables in my small backyard, on my tiny 1/4 acre city home. I fell madly in love with my laying hens and began sharing farm fresh eggs and homemade bread with family, friends, and neighbors. A tiny suburban homestead was born.

My passion for homesteading fueled my dream to move to rural east county and purchase more land. I worked up the courage and finally made the move in May, 2021 to the small rural city of Campo, CA, an hour east of the city of San Diego. I didn’t know a single person in town and was an hour away from my family and friends. I quickly began to expand my “farm-ily” with ducks, a rooster, and more laying hens, as I established my roots. A few months later, I added dairy goats and pigs. Three and a half years later, I now have sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, pheasants, peacocks, tortoises, a dairy cow, a donkey, a horse, cats, and five dogs!

Most of my animals are pets; however, some of my animals are raised for food. I have always eaten meat and I decided it is much more ethical and humane- better for the animal, the environment, and my own health to raise my own animals to feed my family and community. This way, I know exactly what is going into the food that I am putting into my body. All of my animals are treated with so much love and respect, and are well-cared for as they live happy, healthy lives. Even the ones that provide food for my family!

With many requests from co-workers, friends, and acquaintances to come see the animals, I began Farm Tours in May, 2022. The public is welcome to come tour the farm, play with & feed the animals, and enjoy the fresh countryside air. Public Farm Tours are typically scheduled for one Saturday, per month. I also offer private tours. You may schedule by emailing: [email protected].

I sell Farm Fresh, pastured duck and chicken eggs, small batch/handmade lotion made with fresh milk from my Nubian dairy goats, organic poultry, and more!

In late 2022, I began offering fresh poultry, and in late 2024, I was recognized as an organic farm through the state of CA organic program! The public may purchase farm fresh chicken, duck, and turkey. All of my poultry is 100% Organic, homegrown, pasture raised, and antibiotic/hormone/chemical free. My poultry is raised, processed, and packaged – all here on the farm.

I am passionate about clean, healthy, food- without all of the added ingredients and chemicals, which make up most of our processed food these days. I strive to be at least 80% self sustainable, living off of my land, growing my own produce, raising my own meat, dairy from the goats and cow, making my own skin care products, sourdough bread, and striving to leave less of a carbon footprint.

As my passion for homesteading has grown, I have developed a large social media following, where I share everyday farm and homesteading life with friends, family, and neighbors. Over the last few years, I have been going through a very difficult divorce, and I find so much comfort and healing through spending time with my animals, the quiet stillness out in the country, the millions of bright stars in the night sky, and “animal therapy” sessions with the animals. I sit out under the stars for hours at a time, sometimes, just snuggling, petting, and loving on the animals. Since I have found so much healing through them, I began offering free Animal Therapy Events to the community. I open up my farm to the community- to anyone who would like to come feed, spend some time with, and snuggle the animals. I have received so much positive feedback from the community, some people expressing how much relief and love they have felt after leaving the farm, so I am shifting my focus to providing healing, and spreading love and positivity, through animal therapy to the community. These events are currently scheduled as time permits, and I usually announce event dates on my Facebook and Instagram accounts: @tilloryfarm.

My plan is to open a non-profit so that I may be able to offer these animal therapy services full time, to anyone and everyone who needs some love, light, and positive vibes during these crazy and stressful times.

I am proud to be a minority, woman-owned small business. I am a strong woman who believes you can do anything in the world you want. I have achieved my dreams! And, I would be honored to be able to inspire other people to chase and achieve all of their dreams. We only get one life to live! I have learned there will never be a “right time.” Go after what you want, now. And, make your dreams come true! If I can do it, you can do it!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I am authentic. What you see is what you get. I post stories daily on IG and FB, showing the reality of homesteading/farm life. I do not shy away from expressing my feelings. I do not have a perfect life, and I don’t show only the good days on my social media.

Feelings are natural and normal and don’t need to be hidden. Farm life is hard and can be dissapointing at times. Animals die, coyotes attack chickens, hawks steal chickens, baby goats and sheep are sometimes stillborn. The mountain weather can be extreme and harsh. Horses and cows are expensive to feed. Shelters and pens and chicken coops get ripped up and torn apart in the crazy mountain wind storms. Finances are tight. Running a farm is not cheap. I am going through a difficult and trasitional time in my life.

I show the highs and the lows of this kind of life. Farm work is never ending and can be grueling at times. But, the rewards are so fulfilling! I am an open book- honest about it all- hoping to inspire others, to show that with passion and dedication, anyone can have this kind of life. But, it takes courage, strength, perseverance, and lots hard work.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I began this journey with my (ex) husband. Both, my (ex) husband and I, work full time jobs. I am passionate about homesteading and being self-sufficient but, living in San Diego- even rural east county, we could not afford to live off of one income alone. So, we both worked full time jobs, and I grew the farm and homesteaded in my free time from work. We initially started selling the farm products to make a little bit of extra money to help pay for animal feed, which adds up to a whopping $1,500/month, on average.

As I mentioned previously, my ex and I are going through a difficult divorce. We had very different outlooks on life, goals, dreams, and aspirations, and we went our seperate ways in early 2023. Since the separation, I have been struggling to afford all of the household bills, food, gas, and animal feed on my own- in this ever increasingly priced economy. I am doing my best to stay afloat with inflation, increasing costs of grain and feed, groceries, and everyday life.

But…
I have achieved my wildest dreams through my small farm/homestead, and I REFUSE to let it go! I have gone days feeding my fur babies, rather than myself at times. I have worked two, and even three jobs at a time, to pay the bills, and I have even had to sell some of my animals at times, when I couldn’t afford to feed them all.

This journey has been, by far, the most difficult thing that I have ever done- but I have climbed every mountain and gotten to the other side, with the help of my family, close friends, and community.

I have had animal shelters ripped to pieces in storms. I have woken up to so much rain, snow, and mud, that I had to dig trenches to clear pools of water out of the pig pens, at 5 AM, before work. I lost an entire flock of chickens to raccoons one winter. I have struggled! But, I have survived!

I am resilient! The struggles that I have faced have been my main inspiration to provide the animal therapy events to my community, free of charge, to help others who are struggling, and who are also facing challenges, and difficult times in life. I strive to bring a little bit of peace and love to people’s lives.

I have received so much love and support from the community. And, somehow, through God’s grace- I have been able to afford all of the bills each month. I am so grateful that I am still able to grow out and butcher most of my own meat, grow my own vegetables, make my own bread, cheese, and butter, and still be able to provide support, inspiration, and kindness to others.

I am so grateful for our community, and for the amazing and generous people in my life. And, I am extremely motivated to give back! I want to do my small part to make a difference in this world, and hopefuly inspire others to do the same!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tilloryfarm.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tilloryfarm
• Facebook: Tillory Farm
• Youtube: TilloryFarm
• Other: TikTok: tillory_farm