Our First Flock

On a cool April morning we woke early and I loaded the girls into our car with a promise of a surprise they would love. Little eyes lit up with excitement as they tried to guess where we could be going and what we could be doing. (I was surprised at how excited they got at the idea of going through the car wash!) We pulled up outside the post office and into the parking lot. Disappointment washed over Amelia's face as I put the car in park. "Are we running errands!?" she demanded. I smiled in response into the rear view mirror. Marinn was pleased as could be to march into the post office. We haven't done near as many trips to this magical place with her as we had Amelia so she was happy to tag along. I could see Amelia was disappointed with our destination but she didn't miss a beat, instructing little sister in appropriate post office behavior. As she began to explain to Marinn what you do at a post office she began to get excited, maybe we would be getting something mailed to us! We pushed through the double doors that lead to the lobby and Amelia exclaimed, "They're here!" Two steps into the lobby there was the unmistakable sound of chicks peeping. After weeks and weeks of waiting our chicks had finally arrived!

Chickens were high priority this year. Fresh eggs from chickens that we raise and care for is another way of being self sustaining and teaching our girls responsibility. What better way for little ones to be rewarded for hard work than large, brown eggs they retrieve themselves? These chickens will be a source of eggs and meat for us and a way for us to eat healthy, knowing how the animals were fed and cared for. This is our first experience of raising something with the intent of them being a food source. I feel that this first flock especially will be a great learning experience for us and in the end I think we will all have a much greater respect for where our food comes from.

The chicks were sent to us at one day old and from the moment we carried the little puff balls into our home the girls were smitten. They were by my side as we cared for them, feeding, watering, wiping tiny chicken butts (because that is part of chicken parenting), and cleaning their home. They learned to hold them gently and talk softly around them and to check the temperature to make sure they were comfortable. As the chickens began to get bigger they would help me carry them outside to get fresh air and they would dig for worms to feed them as a treat. Now that they have moved out into their coop they help fill the feeder and give them fresh water. There is lots of chasing of chickens and squeals of delight when one is caught. They won't be laying until the fall but I already am excited to see the look on the girls' faces when they collect the first egg!

Two Days Old

One Week Old

One Month Old

Six Weeks Old

A Stroll Through the Garden

I took a stroll through my rain-soaked garden this morning and since the ground is too saturated to weed I decided to bring my camera. I've been snapping shots with my camera and phone to document my first year of gardening. I figure it will be much like my children, I'll forget how far we have come until I look back. (Comparing children to plants? I may have jumped off the deep end- I'm okay with that.)
I have high hopes for a good harvest and despite some set backs due to pests, frost, and 70 mph winds I think we will still have one!

One crop that has succeeded my expectations was our salad bed. Even though the seeds washed together into lower lying areas after a substantial rainfall after planting we have harvested more lettuce than we could eat on our own and we still have a full garden bed full!

What's in the Garden

I had to come inside from planting and weeding the garden to cool off and reapply sunscreen so I thought I would take a minute to share what is in the garden this year. My long term goal is to grow all the vegetables my family eats, but since that is not practical for me to attempt this year the goal is to establish a good garden plot and grow a portion of our food. Since we are starting with a yard full of grass just getting the plot cleared and planted was a task. Many, many hours later we had our 25' x 45' cleared and ready for planting.

After researching where to get non GMO seeds I came across Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, who sells all types of open air pollinated heirloom seeds. They have the best story as to how they got started in seeds and a huge variety of seeds to choose from.  You can find more on them HERE. After deciding I would buy my seeds from them my dilemma became narrowing down my selections to a reasonable amount for our first year of gardening. (If you ever get a chance to browse their catalog you will see why that was so hard to do!) Here is what we planted: