A goat farmer in rural Minnesota, estranged from her biological children, finds new purpose as a surrogate grandparent.
Karen lurked on the group for six months before deciding to post a message. “I’d love a mother/daughter relationship, and we are hoping for grandkids,” she wrote. “We have a goat farm … so lots of fun for kids.” The premise didn’t feel so strange to Karen. As a girl, she’d been taken under the wing of her childless next-door neighbors. They took her to a lakeside cabin each summer and bought her presents—a bike, jewelry, glass animals. When they died, Karen inherited the majority of their estate. So why couldn’t something similar happen again? Karen added a selfie to her Facebook post, along with a photo of her and the goats. Ten women responded.