Sunday, July 31, 2011

The chicken or the egg?

What came first the chicken or the egg?  In our case it was the chicken.  Or perhaps I should say "chickens".  Hold on to your hats folks - yesterday we got chickens.  Eleven of them to be exact.  And today we have three beautiful eggs! 


We significantly increased our animal population in one fell swoop!  On Friday we got a call from our friend Patsy who was keeping a flock of backyard chickens.  Unfortunately, one of her neighbors complained (it’s a long sad story) and the chickens had to go…on Saturday.  So we mowed down the weeds in our chicken run (thank you Fraser kids for all your help!), swept out the coop, and on Saturday we adopted 11 chickens! 
We have four two-year-olds referred to as "the big girls".  Anastasia, Penelope, and Repunzle each lay an egg each day.  Clara, well, she just eats bugs :-)  

The "little girls" are 12 weeks old and will start laying in a month or two.  

Whew!  We were planning to have chickens…next spring.  But there’s no time like the present.  Isn’t that just the way it goes?  Our timing is often not God’s timing.  But His timing is perfect, so here we go!
The kids are LOVING these birds!!
We're working on the coop...


The adventure continues...

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Green Acres

Milestones.

23 years ago we got married.
14 years ago we became parents.
3 years ago we hit the road in a motorhome.
1 week ago we moved to the country.


Yes, you read that right.  Two small town kids (emphasis on town) who spent 23 years in suburbia (except for the two years in the RV) have embarked on a new adventure complete with septic system, well water,  barn, pastures, chicken coop, garden, orchard, vineyard, and yes, a farm house.  Well, maybe “farm” is a bit of a stretch.  It’s 5 acres, our driveway comes off a cul-du-sec, and there’s a paved bike trail across the road.  Our orchard has three apple trees (so far).  Our vineyard one vine (plus a bunch of wild grapes), and our farm house…well,  its not exactly “vintage. ” However, we’ve already tripled our animal population.  Macie now has two very sweet barn cat friends:  Callie and Johnny.  Callie (on right) is the mom and she’s blind.  Johnny (on the left) is her son.  We inherited our rodent extermination team from the previous owners.  



Ashley’s been busy cleaning the barn. (Stay tuned for what will eventually inhabit said barn).

Jake is breaking in the basketball hoop.


Rich is mowing (the rider arrived on Tuesday).


And I am attempting to restore order to a house filled with boxes of “stuff” while marveling at the wide open countryside, listening to the birds sing, and thanking God for blessing us with such a beautiful place to be.

Our neighbors brought us brownies.

Grandpa and Grandma worked like crazy helping us weed the garden (in 95 degree heat).



Fresh raspberries from the garden...



Life is good.