The Mossop family, includes Kelli and Ryan, front, and their children, Seamus, Liam and Garrett, picture behind.

A view of the Five Drakes Farm pastured poultry, which has suffered from predator attacks recently.

Ryan Mossop, 43, was happy about this new Hereford calf back in May. He said it weighed 83 pounds.

Five Drakes Farm sells by word of mouth and via online customers. These are pastured, non-GMO, whole chickens available for pick up at the farm.

The Mossops started with ducks, chickens and goats, and then decided to buy a bigger property so they could raise Hereford beef as well.

Kelli Mossop poses with a Five Drakes Farm chicken.

The Mossop family, includes Kelli and Ryan, front, and their children, Seamus, Liam and Garrett, picture behind.

HALIFAX, Pa. — When the COVID-19 pandemic first appeared in Chester County in early 2020, Ryan Mossop, 43, and his wife, Kelli Brown-Mossop, 44, had an awakening, which led to a reshuffling of both their professional and personal lives.

Ryan was a collision technician for 27 years and was burned out. A furlough at his place of employment pushed him to reconsider his career, ultimately leading him to farming.

Kelli, who had been a nursing home nurse for more than 20 years, decided to transition into corporate travel nursing.

“COVID-19 gave us the push we needed,” said Kelli.

Ryan continued, “Farming was something we wanted to do, but we may have never done it if COVID-19 hadn’t pushed us.”

Kelli Mossop poses with a Five Drakes Farm chicken.

The Mossops, along with their three children, Seamus, 7, Liam, 8, and Garrett, 11, now consider themselves first-generation farmers on Five Drakes Farm, a 50-plus acre property in Halifax, just over the mountain from Stony Valley where Kelli grew up.

“As a nurse, COVID killed me. I can’t go back into a (nursing home),” Kelli said. “When COVID hit, we lost 35 residents. They become your family. I remember there were quite a few days in the barn, when we were waiting for the kids, I just started sobbing. I thought, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do after this, but it’s not this anymore.’”

She continued, “Emotionally, I can’t attach myself to residents anymore.”

Kelli transitioned to corporate travel nursing, working for a corporation that owns a group of nursing homes. She assists nursing homes that do not have a director of nursing in place and maintains that role until a permanent director is hired. She travels to a temporary location during the week, returning home to help on the farm on the weekends.

At first, the couple started their farming venture with ducks at their 3-acre Chester County property.

The story behind the name “Five Drakes” is a comical one: Kelli wanted to have chickens and ducks, so they purchased three chickens from a friend, but the birds ended up all being male ducks, or drakes.

Kelli went back to the store a few days later and purchased two more chickens, which also ended up being male drakes.

In total, they now had five drakes — making a great farm name and a memorable way to recall their foray into farming. Eventually, they did purchase chickens so they could sell eggs to the public.

Looking back, the Mossops call their chickens and ducks a “gateway into farming.”

Kelli and Ryan remember the day, pre-COVID-19, that they decided to expand beyond ducks and chickens to include goats.

“Ryan came in one afternoon and said, ‘I’m done mowing,’” Kelli said, laughing.

Ryan continued, “Every weekend, I’d have to mow the lawn, and I got tired of taking an entire day of my weekend doing it. So, I came in one day, and I was like, ‘You know what, I’m tired of mowing. How would you feel if we got a couple of goats?’”

Kelli thought the idea was a little preposterous at first but eventually got onboard when they found two reasonably priced Boer goats within driving distance. The family loaded the truck with two large dog crates and headed to New York state to pick them up.

Ryan Mossop, 43, was happy about this new Hereford calf back in May. He said it weighed 83 pounds.

The Mossops didn’t have the right type of pasture for the goats right away, so they lived temporarily in a duck pen with a shed attached until fencing could be built the following weekend.

Kelli considered them “trial goats” to see how Ryan would adjust to getting up at 5 a.m. to feed them and going out after work to care for them. Truth be told, Ryan enjoyed the farm work more than his full-time job, so the family’s future had been foretold.

Goats were a new adventure for the family. Beef cattle soon followed and subsequently included a move to a much bigger farm property.

During the trial-goat period, Kelli told Ryan that if he still enjoyed the farm work in the spring, after a long winter, they would start looking for farmland in central Pennsylvania near her parents.

Their first cow purchase was Ruby, a Hereford show cow, which is now 2 1/2 years old. When they purchased her, she was a bottle-calf at just 3 weeks old, and they intended to raise her for beef.

Then, COVID-19 hit and derailed their plans in Chester County — for the better.

The straw that broke the camel’s back for the Mossops was when Ryan got into an altercation with a customer in their driveway over a dozen eggs. Ryan called Kelli and told her that he was done selling eggs to the public, and they needed to move to greener pastures, literally.

The Mossops took advantage of the exceptionally brisk housing market, made minor repairs and updates to their home, landscaped the yard and listed it immediately. Their house sold three times, all with offers that were thousands of dollars over their asking price, according to Ryan.

The couple viewed several farms in the Halifax area and chose their current property, which required the most work but also had the greatest potential and land.

The family purchased the property on Aug. 23, 2020, through a local lender using the farm’s LLC, which had already been established in Chester County. Part of the process was a five-year plan for the farm, which ended up being a blessing, causing Ryan to create a vision for the farm business.

Within days, they moved their three kids, plus their goats, cows, chickens and ducks, to central Pennsylvania.

The house, which dates to before 1900, needed a lot of work — a new roof, new windows, new heating system, not to mention the property had zero fencing and the depleted soil didn’t have appropriate pasture grass for cattle.

But they saw the potential. And, just two years later, the farm venture seems to be paying off.

Ryan has established fencing on much of the land for their herd of Hereford cattle and Boer goats, the land has been seeded with appropriate grass mixtures for cattle and they have a loyal customer base for freezer beef, chicken and eggs. They also have a covered facility for chickens and ducks, which they plan to improve upon within the next year.

While building fencing, Ryan got to work seeding pastures. He hand-seeded with perennial rye grass, which, according to Ryan, allows something to be growing and providing a root structure in the winter, improving the soil. He also seeds with timothy grass and is planning a fall seeding of orchard grass and clover mix, a good protein mix for the cows.

The Mossops started with ducks, chickens and goats, and then decided to buy a bigger property so they could raise Hereford beef as well.

Ryan said the land hadn’t been seeded in 20 years, so the soil started with high concentrates of nitrogen due to previous spraying. At one point, he made the decision to have 10 cows on one small pasture to get organic matter back into the soil and then seeded once with rye.

He said the pasture continues to be green in late August, despite near-drought conditions. This summer, the farm hasn’t had to supplement much with hay, noting that one bale had been in the field for several weeks nearly untouched.

“The cows eat this down, and then the two goats come in and get the weeds,” Ryan said. “I cut it to about 6 inches, which suppresses the weeds before they go to seed head, and then it will grow back faster.”

The farm currently procures its steers and heifers from Stone Ridge Manor in Gettysburg, known for its stellar Hereford genetics.

They also plan to add pigs to the farm’s mix. Ryan is in the process of fencing in a wooded part of the property that has a stream running through it, hoping it’s a location where the pigs will thrive.

One of the earliest challenges on the farm surprised them — predators to the chickens. Five Drakes Farm started with 50 chickens and is now down to 11 due to fox attacks. In addition, the eggs and chicks are often threatened by possums and raccoons.

The foxes also attacked their turkeys just before the Thanksgiving season last year.

“We bought 15 turkeys; we were going to do Thanksgiving turkeys. I happened to come into the barn one morning, and half of them were missing. Well, we had seven left. In just one night, boom. It was awful,” he said.

This summer and its dry weather has brought another challenge — excessive amounts of flies. The farm utilizes permethrin and fly traps around water tanks and also offers the cattle mineral blocks with garlic. According to Ryan, the garlic gets in their system, and when they sweat, it helps to repel flies.

Five Drakes Farm currently relies on word of mouth marketing and social media to find new customers. While Ryan doesn’t own a computer, he does have a smartphone, so he makes it a priority to share live Facebook videos several times a month, often reaching new customers. The videos are a real, authentic and uncut view of what the farm looks like and what’s happening seasonally.

Customers commit to a quarter, half or whole freezer beef. He requires a $200 deposit for a quarter, $400 for a half and $800 for a whole, which goes toward the final bill.

The closest USDA-certified beef processor that they have found is Shriver Meats in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Ryan and Kelli typically take the cattle to the processor on a Tuesday, and then pick up the processed beef the following Saturday. They bring the frozen product back for on-farm pickups.

Five Drakes Farm sells by word of mouth and via online customers. These are pastured, non-GMO, whole chickens available for pick up at the farm.

They currently do not attend farmers’ markets with their products, due to a busy sports schedule. All three boys play football, which is a lot of juggling for Ryan during the week.

Five Drakes Farm’s current price is $5.25 per pound for the hanging weight and includes the wrapping, kill and cutting fees. All processing costs are incorporated. Nine cows are being processed this year, five going toward quarters/halves/wholes and the rest to individual cuts.

Customers say that the quality of the beef surpasses that in the grocery store, acknowledging the marbling that comes from the breed of beef and the type of pasture and grain on which they graze. The farm sources its grain locally from Lykens Valley Roller Mill, and hay is purchased from locals.

Ryan’s goals for the next five years include diversifying to Hereford or Hampshire pigs in a woodland lot, expanding their herd of Hereford cattle and fencing in an additional pasture near the bottom of the property.

“We don’t want to grow too fast that it overtakes us,” said Kelli. “We also want to do what’s right for the animals. We don’t want to fail them; we try to do everything as humanely as possible.”

A view of the Five Drakes Farm pastured poultry, which has suffered from predator attacks recently.

“I don’t want to get overwhelmed and then end up failing at it,” Ryan continued.

The couple has decided to keep Kelli’s earnings separate from the farm’s, so Ryan can easily track what’s going in and out on the farm’s books.

“As a business, I need to know the numbers, so we can decide if we can handle more,” Ryan said. In turn, he is straight-forward with customers.

“Everybody wants to know where their food is coming from. That has been our goal from the start. We show people how we do it, what we sell and these are the prices,” he said.

Click here for more information about Five Drakes Farm.

Glenn Hope Care Farm focuses on developing agriculture skills, business training, marketing savvy, self-confidence and healing for veterans.

"Retired" couple launches successful cut-flower business.

Benjamin Smith is the fifth generation to work the family farm, and thanks to the preservation program, it will stay that way for his daughter.

Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Weekly recap of your favorite B section columns, recipes and kids’ content.