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:

Making Cheese and New Friends

I have a wonderful aunt who has wonderful ideas like taking a cheese making class. It had been on her list of things to do and I was lucky enough to get to tag along earlier this week to join her in the adventure. I'm always interested in learning to make things at home, but cheese seemed a little intimidating to me. My worries were put to ease after meeting our lovely teacher, Christy Harris of Providence Hill Farm. She has been making cheese for a long while now and after hearing how she learned from working in her kitchen with farm fresh milk (traded to her on a barter no less), using a couple books and trial and error, I knew she was the perfect person to show me how it's done. It was a much easier process than I imagined it would be and we took home delicious fresh cheese at the end that could convince most that we were pros!

The Orchard

Top priority after purchasing our home was to plant trees in our orchard. Fruit doesn't start growing for a few years so there could be no delay in getting them in the ground! We took breaks from home remodeling to dig holes and stand out in the back and water them faithfully. It was well worth it, as they are all doing great! Even though they are still pretty small almost all of them had blooms on them this spring and it makes me anxious for the day they will start to produce.

Our orchards consists of: 2 Kieffer pear trees, Bruce plum tree, Granny Smith apple, Fuji Apple, Elberta peach, Reliance peach, Van cherry and Royal Ann cherry tree. This year we will add a second variety plum to complete the orchard.

Lynch Homestead Orchard Year 2

The Orchard

Welcome to Lynch Homestead

In the excitement of planning our coop and garden this winter I decided our home needed a name. Although my dad was partial to 'Green Acres' and others to 'Lynch Farm' we thought 'Lynch Homestead' suited it better, as it was not an overstatement of what it really is. Of course the only real reason to settle on a name was so I could make a sign to display proudly on the outbuildings we are turning into the coop.

After browsing pictures of farm logos online I knew what I wanted to make and I got started. A few pieces of wood salvaged from a make shift work bench the previous owners left at the home, a wood burning kit from a craft store, and three days (and countless hours) crawling around on my kitchen floor and I had a sign to proudly display. 

Welcome to Lynch Homestead!

I had wanted to play with a wood burner for some time and a sign seemed the perfect opportunity. I liked the results but I must say, it was an ambitious project for my first! I don't know what was more nerve-wracking; free handing a design on uneven boards, or the tediousness of slowly moving the burner along to outline and shade the 2'x 3' sign. I will say that the finished product made it worth the time I spent on it!

Home Sweet Home

When we started the house hunt a little over a year ago I had grand ideas of what our first house would look like and all the memories we would make. I swoon over grand old farm houses and other classic house styles. I love little details that show how much love was poured into making a house. I had pintrest boards filled with all the ways I would decorate these homes.

And then we bought an 80's split level. 

It may not be the dream home I had envisioned as the process began, but our house truly feels like a home. I can see our kids growing and making memories here and it really suits the lifestyle we want. We have started the process of renovating and decorating to make the space feel more like our own and it has been fun to see the transformation. 

That being said, I'm glad I can look past appearance and see potential in things. Here are the pictures of our house at the walk through: