Maureen Sikora lives on a farm, in Vaughn, Wash., and is now a published author. Any one of these facts would have surprised those who knew her not 20 years ago, but taken together, they show how radically Sikora’s life has changed since meeting her husband Greg in the mid-1990s.

She was in England, where she was born and raised a city girl, and had only recently taken up horseback riding when, while out on a ride, Greg stepped in front of her horse to ask her a question. Now they’ve been married 16 years and own Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch, purchased in 2004 when Greg’s job with Boeing brought the couple back to the United States.

“A farm was never something I thought I’d be doing,” Sikora said last Friday, readying for a day-late Thanksgiving dinner that’s a byproduct of life on an operating farm. “There are no holidays on the farm. But now I look around and I don’t want to be doing anything else.”

Part of the Sikoras’ life at Gentle Giant Meadows includes Maureen’s “‘Almost’ Daily Diary,’” an online chronicle of the farm’s happenings. Sikora started writing to fill in family and friends in England on her life in Vaughn, and soon developed a small but loyal following. She said her posts usually receive around 200 visitors a day.

“When I started writing, I didn’t know I could write, and I didn’t know that people wanted to read what I wrote,” Sikora said.

One story that developed over the course of the diary featured a draft horse, Quest, and his unlikely companion, a Canada goose the Sikoras named Gertie. The couple has long cared and advocated for draft horses, which are endangered as horses are bred more and more for racing. Quest’s mother, Lady, was mated with a draft horse in England before the Sikoras’ move.

A migrating goose staying at the farm gave birth to just a single gosling, and the lonely bird quickly attached itself to its fellow youngster, Quest. Gertie waited for Quest to come in from the field, flying around her horse friend, keeping up with his gallops and mimicing his grooming and other movements. The two were inseparable.

“We document everything that goes on at the farm,” Sikora said, and the farm website is full of Greg’s photos of their horses, cows, sheep, chickens and goats. He began to photograph Gertie and Quest’s relationship, and eventually Renee Riva, a writer who had followed the story online, approached the Sikoras and asked about turning the unlikely cross-species friendship into a children’s book.

“Gertie and Quest: A True Story” was released on Nov. 19, with Riva and Maureen Sikora as co-authors and Greg as photographer. Sikora and Riva helped one another with drafts, trying to capture the story as closely as possible. Sikora said that she wants the book to reflect the lighter side of farm life, to open her readers to exploring more about farming, a topic many might know little about.

“I want to inspire children’s imagination,” Sikora said. Every year Gentle Giant Meadows hosts an open farm day as part of the Key Peninsula Farm Tour, and Sikora delights in showing visiting children her horses and letting them hunt for eggs in the hen house.

“Some don’t even know where eggs come from!” she marveled. Sikora isn’t declaring herself an author yet – the publication of the book and related upcoming events, which include book signings at  Fresh Food Revolution in Key Center on Dec. 5 and at Blend Wine Shop in Lakebay on Dec. 7, take time out the schedule for her main job as a full-time farmer.

“I’m not sure where I’ll fit everything,” Sikora said. Her already-busy schedule wakes her at 5 a.m. to start the day’s work around the farm. But she plans to continue her diary, and more books are possible. There won’t be a shortage of things to write about, Sikora said.

“The farm changes all the time. No two days are the same,” she said. “It’s never boring.”