the fruits of our labor

There are definitely a lot of benefits to growing your own food. It’s cheaper, you control what exactly goes on or in said food, there is a a lot of pride in your accomplishments and it's actually fun. Now, I have to admit to you that I’m not the gardener in the family but I’m still going to brag about our garden.

The garden.

 

Tomatoes growing in the garden.

Our garden is pretty big (a little too big if you ask me). It’s a lot of work, especially for pretty much just one person to handle. There is the picking, weeding, debugging, keeping out animals, etc, etc, and Sean is out there every day making sure that our fruits and veges are growing (and he loves it).

It is actually pretty exciting to see what is picked every day. We have tons of tomatoes, lots of peppers, too many beans, and we’re getting ready for our squash, corn, okra and watermelon to start coming in.

Just some items picked in just one day!

If you want a plant that will produce a lot, try the yellow pear tomato.
You'll get tons of this sweet tomato.

We got lots and lots of onions earlier.

Some more lovely squash.

To me, the best things to plant (my favorites to eat and the ones that produce, produce, produce) are banana peppers, tomatoes (and there are a ton of varieties to plant) and squash. Now, of course more experienced farmers will get anything to produce a lot, but to me these are the easiest, especially banana peppers (you just cannot go wrong with this one).

One of my favs: the banana pepper. Another plant that will give you a ton of peppers.

So much that we are giving pickling a shot.

For this jar, we just added apple cider vinegar and some salt.

And you can also get a ton of beans but they may be the plant I hate the most. Picking beans sucks. It sucks big time. It especially sucks when you have multiple rows of the things.

Lots of bean plants mean lots of beans to pick.

The pink ones are more fun to pick.

Even Althea got into the bean spirit.

I’m not sure if our garden is 100% organic (because I’m not exactly sure what goes into all that) but I know that no pesticides have gone onto anything. We compost and my husband has actually weeded everything by hand and smushed every bug he has seen himself.

And well not every fruit is pretty but it sure does taste better knowing that what you are eating comes from your back yard.

All of these yellow pear tomatoes....

...made a delicious tomato salad. Just add fresh basil (also from garden), mozzarella cheese and olive oil.

All in all, I would say that we had a pretty successful garden this first year on the farm. Now, all we need is our chickens to start producing eggs and we are in business…

rule #1 for living on a farm: don't be stupid

...cause mistakes could cost you big, and the stupid ones are hard to live with.

I am sad to report that we lost a chick last night.

It's pretty devastating.

I am an animal lover. I love all animals, even those annoying nasty little critters. Rats and mice scare me but I don't want them dead. Yes, out of my life and far away from me but not dead.

It is especially heartbreaking when one of those animals is one of my own. Even our chickens. I can't help but feel responsible for every life that I bring into my home, and when we lose that life, it's hard. It's particularly hard knowing that this didn't have to happen.

It was one of the black australorps, the smallest of all the chicks right now, and it was a snake that got it.

Currently, we are keeping the two different groups of chickens separate. They are both outside and in the coop but the smaller chicks, who were just placed in their new home, are staying inside, while the larger chickens are kept in the run. The larger chickens are also able to free range during the day. To get into the run, there is a large window that the chickens can pass through. Right now, we want to keep the two groups separate, so we placed some hardware cloth across the window; however, there is still a gap between the hardware cloth and the bottom of the window sill. It's not large enough for the chicks or for predators like possums and raccoons to get through, but I never, ever once thought about snakes, which is probably the first thing you should think of.

The problem is when we let the older chickens out of the run, we leave the run's door open so they can come back in when they please. The snake most likely got in through that open door and through that gap in the window.

It just never once crossed my mind.

Luckily, we only lost one chick. Luckily, we check on them pretty regularly and we found the snake so other chicks were not killed. We're not sure how long the snake was in there but the chick had been strangled and the snake was making no attempt to eat it. I have no idea what any of that actually means.

The snake was a king snake, which is apparently something we want to have around a farm. My husband killed it, which was also pretty hard. I wanted it dead because it killed one of my chicks but then it didn't deserve to die because it was just doing what snakes do, and it's not the snakes fault that we were stupid. Looking back, we probably could have saved the snake but at that moment and time, killing it was the best thing to do. It had found a good spot and we didn't want to risk it coming back. We didn't know what else to do.

It was sad to see the chick pulled out of there. It was sad because she didn't have to die. It was sad to watch Althea sniff at the dead chick and seem confused. And I'm sorry but it is just sad to think about anyone or THING dying in such a horrible way, and being eaten, being strangled, being bashed in the head with a shovel are just horrible ways to die.

So it was a sad day on the farm but lessons have been learned and the farm moves on. I was warned that there would most likely be a few lives lost, and most people that read this would probably think that I am being absolutely ridiculous. I mean, it was just a chicken...

it's all fun and games until a tomato plant dies...

As you might expect, being a farmer is not always cute little chicks and fresh picked strawberries. I decided to jot down some of my complaints so far...

There are lots of critters running around and a lot of them end up dead…and in my dog’s mouth. Some of the critters are bad, like chipmunks, squirrels, mice, rats, while some are apparently good (i.e. need to be kept around) like toads, snakes, lizards and anything else that will eat bugs and/or rodents. However, there have been a couple of issues with having all these animals running around – our cat kills these things, leaves the mutilated carcasses behind and our dog then has herself a brand new toy. It's not fun seeing your dog happily run up to you with a dead thing in her mouth or when this dog decides it's time to give your face a great big lick after playing with her dead animal toy.

Speaking of all those critters running around, I came face to face with my first rat. No not mouse, RAT. A gray, long tailed, big ass RAT. And yes, it was verified that this thing was indeed a rat - wharf rat in fact - and not just me exaggerating. And I encountered the thing at the worst time you can encounter a rat - when you least expect it. There I was doing what I always do, closing up the chicken coop for the night, when I looked up and saw this hideous creature just hanging upside down on the side of the coop. Of course I screamed - rather loudly - and of course the rat quickly scurried away, jumping off the wire and INTO the chicken coop. I then did what any self-respecting farmer would do...I ran back into the house. Now a mouse is fine. It’s small and is not going to mess too much with the chickens (or me), but a big ass RAT? Could that thing mess up some not yet full grown chickens (and me)? Sean investigated, saw it in a hole, confirmed that it was indeed a rat after some initial doubts about it being an actual rat, got some things to trap it, discovered that it had disappeared into the night, still boarded up that hole and called it a night. 

I am now afraid of the chicken coop.

Ticks are bad. I have always known that they were bad, but I was never much for hanging out in the same places that ticks - or really any bugs - like to hang out. I think that I was bitten by a tick once when I was a child but I really cannot remember. I have always been more concerned about ticks getting on dogs and cats instead of myself. You take that stuff for granted. It’s kind of unavoidable and believe me I have tried and tried to avoid it. I’ve sprayed myself down with chemicals (and I hate, hate having that stuff on me), I have declared that I will not spend long periods of time outside nor will I wander too far from the house (farther from the house is closer to the taller grass and other overgrowth). But you know I cannot avoid letting my dog outside. We put protection on her like we should and she is fine. The ticks jump on her, decide they cannot stay because of the medication and look for some other host to suck the life out of. Guess who that is…

Something my husband and I learned the hard way this past year was just how serious tick bites can be. And this happened BEFORE we moved down to the farm so do yourself a favor and research a little about lonestar ticks and the alpha-gal allergy. 

So now in our household, we are extra vigilant; tick checks are done pretty much every time we come back inside and the dog is checked before she can come back in. It's all very annoying.

There is a lot to do when running a farm – even a small one. We have lots of plans and getting  everything in order has been challenging. Some things like dealing with chicks and building a chicken coop are first year things, but many, many other things need to be done daily. And I’ll be honest, when thinking about all this (and after actually doing it), I have had doubts pop into my head about this whole farm thing. Crops need to be watered, weeds need to be picked, grass needs to be mowed, animals need to be fed, poop needs to be cleaned up, etc., etc., etc. And let me also mention that we both have jobs. There is always something that needs to be done and it gets pretty exhausting.
Satisfying, though? Most of the time but I’ve had a fair share of meltdowns.

You also have a lot to worry about. Luckily, we are not relying on the survival of our crops or how much our chickens are producing, and I can’t imagine the stress that those who do must go through each day. Anything can come along and just wipe you out. There is a lot of hard work that went into planting the crops and raising the chickens, and it is devastating to see that hard work destroyed. We got one last unexpected freeze in April and it killed several of our crops. Not only does that cost you money but also more time that has to be spent on replanting. In addition to everything else to worry about, I now also fret over things like the health of the chickens, overwatering/under watering plants, animals that eat crops, animals that eat chickens, is it too hot or cold or dry or wet, how to keep bugs away and why oh why can’t I keep my dog from laying on my flowers…

hen party!!!

Official chick update:

Yay, no deaths to report (so far so good)!

And they are finally starting to look like actual chickens!

    

  Brown Leghorn back in March. 

                        Brown Leghorn at 9 weeks

  

  New Hampshire Red back in March

              New Hampshire Red now at 8 wks

  

Partridge Rocks back in March

                 Partridge Rock at 9 weeks

We also recently let them out of their coop (they are officially free range chickens!). Since they are not yet full grown, we do not let them out unless one of us is home to keep an eye out just in case anything bad happens to come along, but they don't seem too interested in wandering far from their coop. There is actually a giant bush right next to the coop, which is perfect protection from any birds of prey above, and they seem to be just fine doing their scavenging under the bush.

Giant bush next to coop door is the perfect place for protection and for finding little critters to munch on.

Go get those bugs!

Althea (our dog) has also finally got to get an up close look at the chickens after hearing them from behind a closed door and watching them from the other side of the chicken coop door. She has been around chickens before (we had four at our old house that hung out in the backyard with her) so she hasn't attacked or run after these girls, which has amazed us. She likes to sit and watch them and I think that the chickens have gotten used to her (she spent a lot of time staring at them through their coop door...just like a creepy stalker) because they don't seem to be fazed by her. They are actually more afraid of us right now than they are of her, which is great because it is just another line of defense for them while they are out and about.

I wish I had a picture of the chickens with Althea because it's actually pretty adorable seeing her just laying and watching while chickens cluck about around her, but every time I try to get close, the chickens scatter like a bunch of....chickens.

And in a week, the rest of the flock will be added to the hen house (YAY!!!), and it will be interesting to see how the two different hen gangs get along. I'm imagining it'll be something like The Outsiders...but with chicks...

here we go again...

Our new flock of chicks has finally arrived!

We decided to try the mail order approach (I had no idea live animals could be sent via USPS) to be sure that we got the exact chicken breeds that we wanted, and I wish I could say that the experience was pretty easy but it is never really easy when you have to deal with the Post Office.

This morning I drove over to the Post Office to pick up our package of 15 (yes, 15!) little chicks and received some sideway glances at my chirping box. I'm guessing picking up chickens from the Post Office is not too common. And I admit that the whole process of packaging and shipping tiny, tiny chicks seems a bit crazy to me but I guess it works and works well since all of our girls got home safe and sound.

So the farm now includes five Barred Standard Plymouth Rocks, five Black Australorps and five Cuckoo Marans.

The chicks are only a few days old.

Of course, they are much too tiny to put in the chicken coop with their sisters, so they are currently residing in the "chicken room" for the next month. You are also supposed to wait 30 days before adding new chicks to your current flock because of disease, which is a fact that I just learned today.

So soon it will be back to poop duty but for now, I am enjoying the absolute adorableness of our new chicks.

Their little wings are the cutest!!

Such sweet faces!

Just hangin' at the chick trough

I thought that the cool, colorful marks were special features of the breed but was soon informed that the marks were actually put on them for tracking purposes. I guess that makes sense...

the chicks are moving on up

Today is a good day! The chicks are finally out of the house and into their chicken coop!

It's not that I don't enjoy our chicks, but let's be honest, having chicks in the house got old real fast. They are currently at that annoying stage between being super cute and being productive members of the family. You know that long stage where they don't really do anything besides eat, poop and be really frightened of everything.

So, it's finally warm outside and we finally finished up the first stage of the chicken coop. An old well house made out of concrete serves as the main part of the coop, and after filling it up with dirt and fixing up the door with hardware cloth, it's practically impenetrable and a perfect home for the chicks.

The chicken coop.
I probably should have moved all the junk before I took the picture but I was just too tired to do it.

I was in charge of filling the coop up with dirt.

The chicks not being very cooperative for their picture in their new home.

But they have lots of space now.

There is still a lot to do before the coop is finished: the outside part of the coop needs to be built, a place for them to roost needs to be installed and I'm in charge of making the coop all fancy.

But the most important thing is that I don't have chickens in my house anymore. And I'm in the clear for one more week until the next batch of chicks arrive. And this time there will be fifteen.

That's right fifteen...

sew fun

In yet another step to officially becoming a domestic goddess, I recently came into possession of a sewing machine. The only time that I have ever used a sewing machine was in my high school home ec class when we all had to sew a pillow shaped like the first letter of our names. Now, you may be thinking that an L would be pretty easy to sew compared to other letters, but it was still pretty darn difficult and my L came out lopsided and I received a B, which I think was the lowest grade our home ec teacher ever gave out. But that was just fine; I didn't need or want to know how to sew because this gal was going to marry a millionaire anyhow and it would be the House of Versace sewing my clothes...

Well, I never married that millionaire and I have yet to own anything Versace. And though I wasn't outfitting myself in all these designer duds, I still never, ever gave any thought to sewing. Not until recently, that is, when I decided that our new couch needed some new throw pillows and being outraged at the cost of the things.

It was in conversation with my mother-in-law when I mentioned briefly that I might try to make pillows instead of buying them, never imagining that I just started a snowball effect that would bring an actual sewing machine into my house.

I thought about sewing pillows by hand. After all, how hard is it to cut out a square and pull some needle and thread. Then something more brilliant came to mind; I would bring the material to my mother (who has been sewing all her life) and get her to actually sew the pillow for me. Genius.

But remember that brief mention to my mother-in-law about the pillows? Well, she took that seriously. A few days later I was invited to go with her to a sewing convention (yes, those exist and are exactly what you imagine them to be like) and the next thing you know my in-laws got me an early birthday present...a sewing machine.

Yay?!?

My Sew Fun

Now I had a sewing machine. And to be honest, it was intimidating. I had no clue how to use it and well, all my other attempts at being Martha Stewartlike pretty much failed. Also, I have this tendency to give up easily when things don't work out on my first attempts. Now, however, I had something that cost a good deal of money and was proudly given to me as a gift, so just giving up was not really an option. I had to show something for it.

I did get some sewing tips from my mother-in-law and the instruction manual for the machine was a god send (could it be any more complicated to thread these things?). And after heading on over to Jo-Ann's (very first time in that store), I picked out a sewing blog -  i heart nap time, which I highly recommend for any newbie sewers like me -  for easy instructions on how to sew an envelope pillow cover and decided to give the whole thing a go.

Most people would recommend practicing on the machine a bit, but I decided that practicing was for chumps and just got started. I measured (with a tape measure because I don't have one of those fabric measuring tape things), cut out my fabric and took it to the machine. During the whole process, I was on the verge of giving up several times and it took me waaaaaay longer than 20 minutes and forget about keeping a straight line but....

TA-DA

It looks like a pillow, y'all!

The thing turned out all right, and I was pleasantly surprised. When I showed it to Sean, he too seemed very surprised and the first thing he said was "I didn't think it would come close to actually looking like a pillow." Yay for me! It's a pillow that looks like a pillow!

Now, if you look closely at it, the work is shoddy and it doesn't quite fit because I measured wrong, but it's a pillow and I'm quite proud to have it on my couch.

Doesn't quite fit...

so we keep the back hidden.

And I am very excited to sew more on my new machine. I doubt I'll be sewing up anything truly remarkable, but pillows...there will be a lot of pillows.