Welcome to My Wild Backyard
Here is a quick tour about us, our land, and our site! We hope you enjoy your stay.
We are the Darby Family from Salem County, New Jersey, USA.
Brian and Michelle have been married for 18 years. We have two daughters, Angel and Elizabeth.
We chose this photo because it’s our favorite. It’s on our list to get a current family portrait done. It’s been awhile as our girls are now 21 and 15!
You can read more about us on our About page.
About Our Backyard Sanctuary
In November of 2016, we purchased our dream home on six and a half acres of wooded land. We are working to create both a sanctuary for humans and native wildlife.
It took us months to learn the lay of the land and we still have a great deal unexplored. We’ve only covered about a quarter of an acre. That leaves most of our land natural and untouched. It’s our guess that we’ve barely scratched the surface.
It is our hope and mission to assist you in learning and finding the information you need to make great decisions for your backyard.
A backyard should be a sanctuary, a place of leisure and safety. We are here to help you take small steps, consistently, to transform your backyard into a place you can retreat to.
All our adventures will be chronicled under the Darby Viewpoints section of the site. It includes photos of our wildlife, harsh lessons we’ve had to learn, and the shenanigans of our canine quintet.
How to Get Started on Your Small Steps
In the last twenty months of living here, I’ve found a lot of resources that have helped tremendously. Our checklists for specific areas of interest cover them specifically. The Interests Primer will help you narrow them down, weed them out, and hone in on the biggest returns on your investments.
You can also check out our general getting started post. This will point you in a great direction.
Choosing your Goals and Priorities
We feel that knowing your goals will make your vision a reality. We’ve created this site with the intention of helping you determine your goals, find information quickly, and connect with like-minded people.
As an example, we had two major goals when we chose our home: no neighbors and two bathrooms. We succeeded in finding a home that met the criteria. Because we had goals and were able to communicate them to our realtor, we only looked at two homes! It saved a ton of time and energy.
Where to find Our Guides and Resources
PHOTO
**This will be a photo of the backyard primer from canva (or whatever.)
We recommend you start with our Backyard Primer Guide. This will help you determine your priorities as you set out to create your sanctuary. It will also provide you with a solid list to start with to help you identify your top goal(s).
You will also get an introduction to our Backyard Binder. It has been an immense resource at helping keep us organized. Let’s be honest though… you only get out of it what you put into it. Know this, we’ve provided a Free Printable Library to help you fill your Backyard Binder with the elements that matter most to you.
We Can’t Wait to Meet You
In closing, we’d like to invite you to reach out and get to know us. We love making new friends and growing relationships within our community. Here is where you can find us:
Contact Us with this handy dandy form.
Join our Facebook group, DIY Backyard Sanctuaries
Check out and like our Facebook page.
We post daily on our Instagram account.
Our Pinterest boards will happily suck up many hours of your day. We created our boards with ease of use in mind. The board topics match our blog topics to help you find projects and ideas easily.
Thank you so much for visiting. Please know you can reach out anytime!
Warmly,
The Darby Family and Friends