“[My mother] would be over the moon if she knew where things landed after her passing,” says Leanne Schlinger McIntyre.
McIntyre owns and operates Full Moon Farms, a 20-acre property in the Santa Ynez Valley. It was her mother’s dying wish to keep the farm in the family–and McIntyre wouldn’t have it any other way.
McIntyre’s mother, Angela Slater, purchased the historic property in 1999. An avid equestrian, Slater founded Grand Meadows professional quality equine supplements in 1989. She was often thanked by riders for her tireless enthusiasm and dedication to the equestrian community.
“I have to thank Angela Slater, Grand Meadows co-founder and Valley resident, for her advice and support throughout Remy’s outstanding career,” rider Peter Claydon of Buellton said to the Santa Maria Times in 2013.
When her mother passed from brain cancer in 2019, McIntyre had already embraced a simpler life. To care for her mother, she sold her thriving company of 17 years, Santa Ynez Vacation Rentals, which, at its peak, had 42 properties and seven employees. “At the time, all I could think about was my mom,” says the president of the Schlinger Family Foundation. So she swapped computers for cattle and couldn’t be happier.
Now, she’s enjoying ranch life with her family, which includes husband Dakota, who grew up on Hollister Ranch where his father was the foreman, Dallas (4), and West (2). The tribe hosts friends and family in their restored 1880s historic homestead, which is kept upright by a large wisteria tree, and cozying up in their 800-square-foot historic cottage. “I’m not as glamorous as I used to be,” says McIntyre, who was a Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award recipient in 2019 and named a “40 under 40” by Pacific Coast Business Times.
McIntyre has been living on and off the property since the 1990s; while earning her degree in law and society at UCSB, she lived with her mother and commuted to Isla Vista. No stranger to ranch life, she also spent summers in Montana with her father.
Still, ranch life isn’t for the faint of heart. There are fences to be mended, crops to be tilled, and animals to feed. Full Moon Farms currently has pigs, horses, donkeys, chickens, tortoises, dogs, cows, llamas, alpaca, goats, and sheep. Everything grown on the farm–from the squash to the watermelon–goes back into it, either to feed the animals or fuel the family.
This slower-paced life suits everyone. Her two boys can rope a cow, shut a fence, and feed the farm animals. The family regularly eats the chicken eggs, forages for snacks in the organic garden, and generally lives off the land. Everyone cherishes time spent living simply, often longing for the open spaces of the farm when they’re in Santa Barbara. Everyone is dirty, exhausted, and has an endless to-do list, but happy. “I can’t believe I get to raise my kids this way,” she says.
To learn more about the property or be the first to hear about Full Moon Farms’s sausage, bacon, and vegetable sales, visit fullmoonfarms.com or follow the family antics on Instagram.