The Villas and their five children grew wheat, oats, barley, and hay and raised cows, pigs and chickens.  Sigrid sold butter and eggs produced by the farm animals.  Matt was a carpenter in the local area.  The Villas built a frame house on the property in 1928 which is also still in use today.  Over the next 30 years, the Villas acquired five adjoining properties which brought the acreage to 1,500 acres.  The Villa children attended the Lower Strawberry Country School and moved to town for high school where each worked with a local family in Meeker to earn room and board.

The Villa’s only son, Martin served in World War II and upon his return, married Mary Wear.  Martin and Mary purchased the property from his parents along with a neighboring property.  Their daughter, Mary, and her husband, Albert Krueger, operate the ranch today.  Villa Ranch is still a working farm, but it also hosts hunters in the original ranch house.