Because Your Animals
Deserve More Than a Favor
Book trusted local farm caretakers for your Virginia homestead: coverage while you are away, or a short visit when you need help with feeding, medications, or chores.
By Thomas DeGan, co-founder
Why do homesteads get left behind?
Large farms have staff. Homesteads often have neighbors, favors, and hope.
Large farms have staff. Homesteads and hobby farms have neighbors, favors, and hope.
Too often the system looks like this: "Can you watch the animals while we're gone?" Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't.
The modern world has built platforms for ride sharing, home sharing, and dog sitting. But the people raising food, caring for animals, and stewarding land? They've been left behind.
Farmstead Circle changes that.
We believe homesteaders deserve the same tools that everyone else already has. A way to find trusted, experienced help. A way to leave home knowing your animals are cared for. A way to live the homestead life without being trapped by it.
The name says it all: your farmstead is the life you steward, and your circle is the trusted people who help when you can't be there. We help you widen that circle with independent caretakers you can find, book, and return to over time.
Think of it as homestead care, exactly like Rover did for dogs, but built for the unique needs of Virginia's homesteads and hobby farms.
What makes Farmstead Circle different?
Features are built for homesteads and hobby farms, not city pet sitting alone.
Animals Are Family
We understand that your goats, chickens, horses, and dogs aren't just livestock. They're part of your life. Our caretakers share that passion.
Trust Through Transparency
Caretakers can list self-reported credentials and earn community recognitions like Founding Caretaker. Integrated background checks are not currently available; when offered, they will be optional third-party screenings and will not guarantee safety or suitability. Farmstead Circle does not store or verify credential documents.
Virginia Only
We serve Virginia exclusively because local knowledge matters. Our caretakers know your county, your weather, and your community.
Caretakers Keep 100%
Farm caretakers set their own rates and keep every dollar. We charge a small facilitation fee to the property owner only, never to the caretaker.
Community Trust Network
Real reviews from real homestead owners. Reputation built over time. Farmstead Circle helps you build and widen your circle of trusted caretakers, not a random classified ad, but a community of people who care.
Experience That Matters
Search by animal type, county, and specific skills. Find a caretaker who knows horses, or one who specializes in poultry. The right experience for your farm.
Not a Labor Contractor
We're a technology platform, not an employer. Caretakers are independent professionals who choose their own clients, set their own schedules, and run their own business.
Pro-Lifestyle Farming
We proudly serve homesteaders, hobby farmers, and small-scale animal keepers. People who chose a different way to live and love it.
Peace of Mind
Take a vacation. Visit family. Recover from illness. Or book a short visit when you need trusted help with medications, hoof care, or a busy chore day. Leave knowing your animals are in experienced hands.
Who is Farmstead Circle for?
Homesteaders, hobby farmers, and small livestock keepers in Virginia. Not factory farms.
Homesteaders
Small Livestock Farms
Family Land
Backyard Chickens
Did the founders live this problem?
Yes. A Virginia husband-and-wife team built this after scrambling for goat and chicken coverage themselves.
Farmstead Circle was founded by a Virginia husband-and-wife team who lived this problem firsthand on our homestead. We didn't read about this problem in a market report. We lived it.
We've been the ones scrambling to find someone to feed the goats before a family emergency. We've canceled vacations because no one could cover the morning egg collection. We've texted neighbors at the last minute, hoping someone was available, and sometimes, no one was.
We built Farmstead Circle because we got tired of the stress, the guilt, and the feeling of being trapped on the land we love. Every feature on this platform exists because we needed it, for time away and for short visits when you need an extra set of hands at home.
Work and life eventually took us off the homestead. We don't live on one today. We began Farmstead Circle before we moved, and we kept building because the need in this community never went away. We still understand what homestead owners face, we care deeply about Virginia's rural community, and we hope to return to rural life someday. This isn't a tech company looking at agriculture from the outside. It's two people who lived the problem and decided to build the solution ourselves.
What are the limits and fees you should know?
Virginia only. Peer-to-peer booking. No emergency dispatch.
- Owners pay a flat $15 platform fee per booking, or $19/month Harvest to waive it. Caretakers keep 100% of their set rate.
- Payment is after care, by invoice through Stripe Connect. No escrow. No Venmo for platform bookings.
- Caretakers are independent service providers. You remain the hiring party. We do not assign or employ caretakers.
- Integrated background checks are not available today. When offered later, they will be optional third-party screenings.
- Weather and road access remain your responsibility. You can name a backup contact in Settings → Homestead Profile.
See pricing, how trust works, and the Help Center for full walkthroughs.
What future are you building for homesteaders?
A future where owners can rest, travel, recover, or get trusted help for a short visit without neglecting animals.
Homesteaders should be able to take a vacation.
Visit family.
Recover from illness.
Leave town without fear that their animals are neglected.
Get trusted help for a few hours when they are home and need an extra set of hands.
A healthy homestead life requires balance. We're building the tools that make that possible.
Sources
Homestead and small-farm care sits outside typical pet-sitting and commercial labor markets. These primary sources describe the rural farm and payment context we build for:
- USDA NASS, 2022 Census of Agriculture (United States summary): official counts of U.S. farms, including small and part-time operations.
- Virginia Cooperative Extension (Virginia Tech): state extension guidance for Virginia farms, livestock, and rural households.
- Stripe Connect documentation: how marketplace payments route to independent connected accounts (caretakers as merchants of record).