At the young age of 8 years, Doug embarked on his farming career with a gift of a male calf from his grandfather, a dairy farmer owning 350 acres in Frederick county, Maryland. Through high school, Doug farmed daily alongside his grandfather, putting up hay, milking and tending the herd, as well as repairing farm equipment.
Doug greatly enjoyed raising his herd and learned first hand how to care for a herd of animals as well as the financial aspects of owning an asset. When it was time to go to college and pay tuition, Doug had to figure out which was the most profitable animal to sell in order to pay tuition.
In the late '60s, Doug found himself taking an extended trip to Vietnam. He liquidated his herd and spent 3 years serving his country as a medic. Thank goodness he had all that experience treating those cows.
Teece was always intrigued with nature, having grown up in the country, on the eastern shore of Maryland. Summer days were spent crabbing by trotline, netting soft-shell crabs along the shoreline, setting muskrat traps and trying to net all the jellyfish in the cove so she and her siblings could swim without getting stung. Autumn days were spent running whimsically through acres of woods and pasture, discovering what Mother Nature had to offer.
When college rolled around, Teece dreamed of becoming a geneticist, choosing only colleges that offered strong science programs. However, eventually her attraction to art and design won her over.
Combining texture, color and form became magic to Teece, and she embraced a long career of design. The medium never seemed to matter, whether she was designing landscapes, living spaces or textiles it all relied on the fundemental principles of color, form and texture.
Doug and Teece have spent much of their lives as entrepreneurs envisioning, creating and running a wide array of successful businesses. As life settled down and the kids ventured out on their own, Doug & Teece began to look for another venture to take them into retirement. Ironically, they are both revisiting their roots of farming, genetics and art and textile design.
Now, they breed award-winning alpacas together...
