Linda manages the farm and is caretaker of the animals and the businesses, assisted by daughter Corina.  Linda has been very 'immersed' in the goat industry for many years and has been a marketing and business development consultant for many international goat operations.  She has held numerous leadership positions, including: President of the American Dairy Goat Association (4 terms), and a member of the ADGA Board of Directors since 1982.   She also served as chair of the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center and currently a Board member for the American Sheep and Goat Center and the National Sheep Improvement Center boards. She has been actively involved with exporting dairy and meat goat breeding stock around the world - 32 countries at last count.  She provides breeding stock raised at Khimaira Farm, and works with other breeders to market their animals as well.  Linda accompanies the animals on the planes to assure their safety and delivery and acts in a consulting capacity for the buyers. She received the International Trade Award from the Virginia Agribusiness Council a few years ago. Linda is also an author of hundreds of articles about goats and other farm and business related topics, contributing to international, national and regional magazines.  Her first book, The Whole Goat Catalog was  a popular success when first released in 1981.   Other books are in progress.

The Campbells share a strong sense of conservation of resources, and try hard to be good stewards of their land.  Linda is past chair of the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board; a board member for the Shenandoah Valley Resource Conservation Council; and director of the Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District (for over 25 years).

The Campbells also own Khimaira WebHosting Solutions, and provide webhosting to over a thousand websites around the world.  Their event clients get free webhosting for a year!  They recently added another division of Khimaira WebHosting - GreenEarthHost.com!

 
Left to Right: Linda, Corina, Briana, Kendra, Julena, Leith
Photo by Micah Walter

When Julena, the oldest of the four Campbell daughters (Julena, Kendra, Briana and Corina) decided to get married at the farm a few years ago, the decision was made to scale back the farming operation and repurpose the "Kid Barn" into an "Events Barn".  It was a major change!  The barn had previously housed hundreds of new babies each year, and was dedicated to raising "kids" (the four-legged kind!).  Pens were removed, and the transformation began.   Keeping the Campbells' desire to recycle and reuse as much as possible, many building supplies were repurposed, and the quest for finding more recycled materials to use continued.  After Julena's wedding, Linda confessed that she had long hoped to some day use the barn for other purposes, when the time came to scale back the farming operation.  She wanted to share their gardens and surrounding natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains with others (and have a good excuse for spending more time in the garden...and adding more plants!).  Khimaira Farm had been a popular site for tour groups for years, and this just seemed a natural progression and a good way to incorporate more Agritourism!  Linda loves parties and people and loves promoting goats, so this is a natural "fit"!

Julena, with a  B.S. degree in Environmental Education, worked as a Park Ranger at  Shenandoah National Park. She and husband Jeff recently moved to Wyoming where she worked as Visitor Services Manager at the Elk Refuge Center and is now back as a Park Ranger at the Grand Teton National Park.  Jeff is the Supervisory Park Ranger at the Grand Teton National Park. Both helped tremendously with the original 'transformation' of the barn. 

Kendra earned her BS in Psychology, and recently earned her MD, and is now completing residency in Brooklyn New York.  Dr. Campbell is also a avid blogger and writes for WebMD/Medscape.  Best friend Micah is a superb photo journalist!

Briana completed her Masters in Business/Marketing and recently moved back to the Farm (along with her dog Chesney!) after accepting a position as the new President of the Luray-Page County Chamber of Commerce.  So you might meet her if you drop by the Chamber office to ask about tourist opportunities! 

Youngest Daughter Corina shares her mother's passion for gardening and cooking, and contributes substantially to the planning and work as events take place.  She earned her B.S. in Psychology and worked for Northwestern Community Services until recently. We're happy to now have her working nearly full time at the farm.  Her husband Josh is a Shenandoah National Park employee and is always ready to lend a helping hand with any project needed.  He is an accomplished DJ and does an outstanding job with his audio and DJ services for wedding clients.

A variety of other "crew members" assist with events as needed!

The changes to the farm will continue, but will keep the relaxed country atmosphere that visitors like best.   Every visitor seems to remark about what "fun" they have at the events at Khimaira Farm, and how much they enjoy the comfortable atmosphere of the barn and the beauty and serenity of the gardens.  

The goats will stay as well...their curious personalities will keep any visitor entertained! 

For more about goats...read Why Goats?!

Come visit us at Khimaira Farm!