How Golden T Cross Farm Started
Hi, I’m Penny. Golden T Cross Farm is an urban homestead in Topeka, Kansas, and it’s proof you don’t need acres to raise your own food. We sit on a lot of less than half an acre in town. Here we raise chickens and American Retro Pugs, hunt when the season comes around, and raised Mini LaMancha goats from 2022 until 2025.
I moved from Wichita back to Topeka in 2020 to be near family. Food prices kept climbing, so in 2022 my sister and I started raising some of our own. It began with a skinny Mini LaMancha doe and her two doelings riding home in a van, and you can read that whole story in how Golden T Cross Farm started with a goat rescue. A few days later my sister brought home four chicks. All four turned out to be roosters, and one of them, Mr. Roo, is still ruling the yard today.
Life on an Urban Homestead in Topeka
Everything here is done by hand and learned the hard way. I used to be a vet tech, and that came in handy more than once. We pick our animals for what they actually do on a working farm: how easy they are to care for, how well they produce, how much noise they make, and how healthy they stay. When something works, we share it. When it doesn’t, we share that too.
At one point we had close to 100 hens and sold eggs to neighbors. When feed prices jumped in 2025, we cut the flock down and found good homes for the extras. Today a smaller flock of our Golden Cross chickens keeps us in tan, pink, blue, and white eggs. Our American Retro Pugs keep us company, and you can still look back at our goats.
If you’re new to backyard birds, K-State Research and Extension has a solid free guide, Management of the Small Flock of Chickens. It’s a good read before you buy your first chicks.
Be Your Own Leader
I believe people should be their own leaders, and a homestead is about as close to that as it gets. If you want to raise your own food, start a small flock, or bring home a pug that can keep up with you, you’re in the right place.
Follow along every day on X at @jcibme.