Ron was born and raised in Iowa, Emmy in Wisconsin. Both had rural beginnings and as they grew, both wound up in increasingly Urban areas. Ron worked in IT and Emmy was a flight attendant for a major airline. Emmy wanted a large breed dog but Ron always argued that a big dog needs a big yard to run in. In 2019 they bought a house in Rockford, IL with a 3/4 acre fenced yard and adopted their first rottweiler, Roxy, and the Handley Ranch began! They fell in love with the breed and wanted to see what puppies from Roxy would be like. Max came into their lives unexpectedly in 2021 and with their first litter they were hooked. They installed a small Coop/Run combo and added their first two Barred Rock hens, Faith and Hope and Ron fell in love with the girls. In 2022 they packed all of the animals up and bought a home on 6 acres in Hemingway, South Carolina. Ron took Max (rottweiler), Ruger (rottweiler), Ein (Corgi), and the Faith & Hope (chickens) in the truck, and Emmy took Lalena (cat), Felicia (cat), Senora (cat), Roxy (rottweiler), and Bertie (Corgi).

Over the course of their first year they added more chickens, dairy goats, and honey bees and spend their days buried in gardens and critters as they return to their much loved and missed rural beginnings.

Emmy continues her Rottweiler breeding program adding another female, Diamond to the pack and also started a Jewelry Resale business, Pick of the Glitter, where she sells Paparazzi branded accessories.

Ron opened a PC Repair shop, Handley Web, in Hemingway and continues his work in IT support & freelance web design while still focusing on their chicken flock hatching new chicks, selling eggs and hens, tending their bees for honey.

They have recently started pairing their dairy dairy goats for milk and selling the resulting kids. Handley Ranch is a lot of hard work, but work they do together, as they enjoy the blessings each new day brings.