Linda Oosse, known by many in the community as someone who cares for all sorts of animals — from goats and cows to chickens and pigs — has been looking after and learning about farm animals since she was a child. Oosse’s focus these days has turned to adopting rescues though, as well as continuing to care for the growing number of goats and other animals on her property.
Oosse participated in the 4-H youth development organization growing up, so there were always animals at home that she and her siblings tended to. Through 4-H animal programs, she learned how to work with horses, pigs, and other livestock, and even earned the title of Reserve Grand Champion 4-H Market Hog in her first year. Oosse’s father, Leon Kelderhouse, had a small hobby farm on their family’s 48 acre property in Traverse City, where she also learned how to raise animals like baby calves and piglets. There were always chickens around, as well as pet dogs and barn cats.
While she was born and raised in Traverse City, Oosse’s parents, Leon and Mary Lou, had a cabin on the Lake Leelanau Narrows that the family loved staying at in the summertime. Her mother, a Plamondon, and her father, a Kelderhouse, have history in Leelanau that goes back to the 1800s.
“My grandparents helped settle Provemont before it was called Lake Leelanau back in the 1800s and my dad’s greatg reat-grandparents (Kelderhouse) had the first phone exchange at their house…” Oosse said. “My husband Steve and I spent summers out here on the lake tubing and we both just love being out here on Lake Leelanau and in the county. It took us a while, but we got here.”
It would be quite a few years until Oosse would be able to find the right property in Leelanau that would work for her family and animals. After she earned her degree in special education from Western Michigan University, Oosse taught elementary and middle school special education for about eight years downstate until she made the move back up north to teach at Fife Lake for three years.
“It had been 20 years by the time we found our spot out here. We had been looking for property in the county and it had just not fallen into place, it was too expensive or the property wasn’t right… but we didn’t give up on it and we kept looking,” she said.
In the meantime, Oosse and her husband were busy raising their children, Collin, Jared, Katie, and JC, all of which also followed in her footsteps and participated in 4-H. Katie was adopted from Russia and JC was adopted from Colombia. She wanted JC, who has down syndrome, to get his education from a school that was inclusive of his needs, and aimed to get him enrolled in Leland Public School while they lived in Traverse City. The school principal at the time told Oosse she’d have to have property in the county in order to get him enrolled, giving her all the more incentive to find land.
As it turns out, Oosse came across some property in Leland Township owned by a neighbor of her aunt, and within a week, the two parties were able to shake and agree on a land contract that included 26 acres. In 2019, Oosse said their homestead on that property was built, giving way for her family to move in just before the COVID pandemic hit in 2020. Securing land in the area also meant JC, who is 18-years-old, could enroll at Leland, where he has now been attending school since third grade.
“It’s been a very good fit and overall it’s been way better than anything we could have experienced at TCAPS,” she said.
When the family moved from Traverse City to Leelanau, they only had about 15 chickens and their pet dogs and cat. Oosse had big plans for their property which included eventually starting a business for JC that he could use as income. Although their first idea of a doggy daycare and pet boarding facility was declined by the township, Oosse explored other agriculture ventures that involved caring for animals.
So in the spring of 2022, Oosse rescued a pregnant mother goat and her babies with the potential idea of a petting zoo farm in the future. Since then, she’s had a barn constructed to shelter the dozens of animals they’ve taken in as rescues.
“From there, we got more chickens and guinea fowl,” she said. “I rescued a bunch of chickens that had been dumped at the end of a road over the course of two summers — there were probably 17 or 20 chickens that had been dumped at the end of the road and all the neighbors were calling me asking if I could help catch them. They ended up being mostly roosters, and I had them beefed up and then we donated them to the Leelanau Christian Neighbors food pantry.”
The farm today is home to animals like goats, guinea fowl, ducks, rabbits, Juliana pigs, a mini horse, and nearly 50 chickens. Just this past month, the farm, known as “JC Ooasis,” welcomed a whopping eight new baby goats to the evergrowing family, too.
Oosse said she hopes to have a petting zoo open this summer, but they may have some soft openings in the spring for people interested in visiting the goats. However, she said the dream is to have a farm where people, schools, and classes could come in by appointment to meet and learn about all the animals.
“People would have the opportunity to experience a working farm and see animals that they might not see typically, but the other half of that, educationally speaking, is for accessibility for all people and having it be an inclusive educational experience,” she said. “The goal would be to have paths around the pens so that if someone came in a wheelchair or had difficulty walking, they would have access to all of the animals just as well as anybody else who did not have a disability… all the animals we bring on will hopefully be rescues, so giving them a better life as well.”
