Author: Darlene Goy
Items Summary
The story begins with the birth of a premature lamb named Laredo and how she struggles fighting for life. In addition, my stories about a large wooly white guard dog named Jake. He watches over the flock especially Laredo. They become close and best friends. In their own way they work together keeping the flock safe from harm. The end of my story Laredo worries about Jake, who ran after a predator into the bushes. She’s afraid that he may now be fighting for his life.
Darlene Wiens Goy was born and raised on a mixed farm near the village of Weekes Saskatchewan, Canada. Her Dad and Mom with a large family worked hard to keep the family feed. They had a saw mill which helped after calving season. The children would help pile the lumber that Dad cut from the bush all winter long. He used the lumber to build the house we lived in. Her husband Terry was also born and raised near the village. Terry and Darlene were married on October 25th 1975 and on January 19th 1977, she stared her family. This includes two sons, Jason and Patrick and a daughter, Jackie. They started farming on her husband grandparent’s homestead established in the year 1929. They started out grain farming. Now they have a mixed farm- growing grain and raising cattle and sheep. She welcomes two new members to her family, Robert and Megan. She loved them right off the start when her daughter and son brought them home. Carson her precious grandson arrived the summer of 2009 and three years later a darling granddaughter. She is wishing for more grand babies. The more the merrier! Due to the small farm, her husband worked off the farm year round. Darlene was a stay at home wife and mother. She started out with a few small animals and a large garden. With the help of her children, she picked wild and tame berries and garden vegetables. She preserved those for the winter season. She drove tractors so did many tasks on the farm. She also drove her children to different sporting events and school activities. She also helped coach ball and helped coach recreational gymnastic loving every minute of it. After her children completed high school, tech schools and university, they moved away from home to begin lives of their own. She always loved the incredibly busy time of the year. This meant they would make more money on the farm. Then in the bad times and how Mother Nature brought furry onto the prairies where Darlene lived. This brought drought one year. The next year the land was flooded with rain that wouldn’t stop. One year, all they could do was sit and watch it rain. Darlene happened to come across a pamphlet she had received in the mail. It read, “do you think you have what it takes to be a writer?” There were question to fill out and the last thing she had to do was to write a fiction or nonfiction short story. Then weeks, later the phone rang. She answered and the woman on the other end said her name was Judy and the name of the institute where she was calling. Judy asked Darlene if she would like to take a writing course at the institute. Darlene’s answer was that she couldn’t until she had passed the aptitude test she had sent to the institute in the mail. Judy said, “You did!” The letter was sent snail mail and she hadn’t receive it yet. The woman at the institute didn’t know that she hadn’t receive the forms yet. Darlene couldn’t think of what to say! All she could reply was “I did?!” Would you mind if I gave it some thought and read over the information you have sent me!” Judy agreed! When Darlene hung up the phone, she got into her car and drove to the post office. There was the letter she was waiting for. This is how she began her writing career how something good would come out of something bad. What a wonderful year it turned out to be. A couple of years later a diploma and her memory stick with many of children’s stories on it. Now growing up with animals on the farm and raising animals herself. The stories came flooding out from pencil to paper. This is how Darlene got the idea for “Heroes of The Farm.” She protected the animals from all the dangers and this is why she purchased a guard dog. Having many triplets and seeing how the last lamb would be so weak and she would have to nurse them back to health. Spending time day after day and year after year never a duel moment and it is a learning curve. She can’t believe how the lambs and the guard dog interact with each other. They surprise her all the time with how intelligent, they both are and how they work together for safety reasons. She love reading and writing more children’s stories .She loves playing guitar, accordion and cord organ as a stress reliever. Darlene loves watching her grandchildren dancing around while she plays her instruments. She also likes to work with wood, making crafts, crocheting and gardening. She also enjoys watching the baby animals jumping and playing around. Her biggest joy is spending time with her two precious grandchildren. She also likes when her children and friends surround her on her small farm on the prairies.