With a Cluck-Cluck Here…
I have no earthly idea why I’ve been so drawn to farming and homesteading. If you had told me ten years ago that I’d be homeschooling a brood of boys and looking at farm land so I could have chickens and goats and a milk cow, I’d have laughed and choked on my latte!
I thoroughly enjoyed my large garden this year, even if 50% of my efforts were for nothing thanks to those cursed vine-borers that killed my entire crop of squash and zucchini. We now have three tiers on our worm farm that consistently composts our organic kitchen waste. I’m preparing for a small fall garden in the backyard and I just found all the right county ordinances to tell me I am allowed to have chickens in my backyard! Do you know that three hens will give you about a dozen eggs a week? They don’t require all that much space and they’ll thrive on eating the bugs and such in your own backyard (in addition to their feed of course). To be honest, my sweet old neighbors (on all sides), don’t even hear well enough, nor spend enough time outside to likely even notice the addition of such urban farm pets.
I’m not real sure how my husband will feel about this addition, but I think I can warm him up to the idea by spring. We could build their coop through the fall and winter months; there’s hardly anything to it! And by March, we could head over to the Tractor Supply Store, or preferably a local organic farm and pick up a few baby chicks.
I recently purchased a really great book called, The Backyard Homestead
It has a wealth of information on becoming more self-sustainable.
Again, I have no idea where this urge has come from. I’ve even resisted going to the doctor lately, which isn’t really like me. If I’m sick, I want medicine and I want to feel better now. Joshua and I had fevers on Sunday and Monday. My throat hurt terribly and my glands were so swollen it hurt to talk or eat. Instead of rushing to the doctor only to be told it’s likely just a virus that would pass on its own in a few days, I headed to the store for Vitamin C, Echinacea, and soup. We started drinking extra water and going to bed early to give our bodies all the time they needed to fight this off the natural way. Go figure, it’s Wednesday morning and I’m feeling 75% better with nothing more than what I just listed and a few doses of Tylenol.
Unfortunately, now Owen has a nasty, crusty, green nose and a low fever. We’ll fight his the same way and all be healthy enough for a visit to Nana’s by the weekend.
I know it’s only Wednesday, but it feels like Friday already. We’re starting to have cooler mornings-in the upper 60’s/low 70’s- so the boys have been heading straight outside in the mornings. It’s refreshing to hear my children playing outside again on a regular basis after sheltering ourselves from the sweltering heat of a record-setting Georgia summer. Fall is just around the corner. I can feel it in my bones and smell it in the morning air.
How I love fall.
Happy Wednesday!
~audrey