Another Day

I went out before dark to see the chickens and give them some scratch. They are doing great and we are enjoying having them. Sarah loves to pick them up and talk to them. Crazy girl! I'm sure how that bodes for her future husband!

If you had asked me 20 yrs. ago or even 10 yrs. where I would be in 2009, I would NEVER have said in the country raising chickens, growing vegetables and herbs, and looking forward to the Farmers Market. NEVER! You just never know now do ya!!

As we plan for this year, we are looking at next year deciding where we want to expand. I hope that we can have chickens for laying and meat by 2010. Also we would like to add a muscadine arbor and expand our variety of vegetables. Little steps at a time and learn much as we go.

I would encourage anyone interested in raising farm type animals to start with chickens. They are very easy to care for and not so overwhelming. Clean water, good feed, grit, scratch and a clean coop. (which we have to clean out tomorrow) Dirty Chicks!!!

I'll leave you with a beautiful picture Hannah took earlier this evening of some apple trees in our area. We have several large apples orchards so we never want for lovely apples.

This is what I got in the mail today!! I am so excited. My study of doing it yourself, frugal living continues.

After looking at various books, The Encyclopedia of Country Living seemed the best choice for our needs. It has information on gardens, chickens, herbs and food preservation; all things we are pursuing.

We are going slow, adding a little to our plate at a time. We want to learn each thing well before we tackle something else. And we need to see what is profitable for us, as our desire is to grow things for us and to sell.

At present we are: reusing, recycling, composting, grinding our wheat and baking bread, using less pre-packaged food, hanging out clothes(warm weather), using less electricity w/ little to no AC, buying less.

This years goals: square foot organic gardening, laying hens, herbs, and food preservation. William is studying solar energy also.


I have discovered that anyone that is willing can move over into this lifestyle. This is not at all the way I grew up. My parents grew up on farms but abandoned that lifestyle as adults. They came of age when frozen dinners were introduced, restaurants became more popular and convenience and ease was the becoming more important than self-sufficiency. They, like many raising families in the 60's and 70's, embraced this new way of life.

For me, I felt that not being raised close to the land left me lacking. I was just a consumer with no ability to provide for myself. The only means I possessed was to earn money to buy what I needed. This was just not good enough for me or my family. In these uncertain times, the ability to grow food for ourselves, live on less and reuse more seems more important than ever. We want to be kind to the earth God gave us and be less dependent on outside sources.
It should be an interesting journey.