Been busy!

[kathy003]

Whew! Have we been busy! where to start,,, i guess that would be with the chickens.

 

In May we got 20 chicks, 10 Rhode Island Reds and 10 Buff Orphington. We lost one to our dog - i think he thought it was an intruder,,. other than that, we still have our 19 chickens. We think two are roosters, but still not sure. When we got our chickens i read on the internet that you should handle your chickens when they are young so they let you take their eggs with no problems. I think i may have handled them to much,, they are very, very friendly chickens! The Rhode Island Reds will let you pet them. The Buff's will eat out of your hand. This has kind of been a problem because if you are sitting outside eating a sandwich, they will take it right out of your hand! I don't think at this point we can retrain them. Also, we are having a hard time keeping them in their fenced in area, so they wander all over our yard, and sometimes our neighbors. But, they are fun to have,, i can't wait until they start laying eggs.

 

We have been enjoying having 1200 acres of state land around us. People here go mudding alot,, never thought that could be so much fun,, but it is! We also went raspberry picking and blueberry picking. I think we stumbled on some elderberries, i though they were overripe blueberries so I ate one. Wow, was that ever bitter. Both the blueberry and raspberry grow wild. I am amazed at the huge amount of food that just grows in the wild!

 

We are currently working on converting our house to wood heat, currently we have natural gas and it's expensive. I just can't believe the previous people who owned this house didn't have an alternative form of heat. So, this will be our first year of gathering our wood. It's kind of labor intensive.

 

One thing does surprise me. Alot of people here don't grow their own food, or even can. I was under the assumption that maybe a few people in the country canned and grew their own food, but this doesn't seem to be the case around where we live. They buy most things at the grocery store and don't have more than a few days of food on hand. Anyway, this just surprised me as we get to know people.

 

More to come later,, it's late :-)

[MomM]

Thank you for the update on your ongoing adventure! Love reading it! Please keep us informed.

[Dee]

Kathy it's good to hear from you and read your story. The newness of it all is such fun (and work)...keep your posts coming, we'll enjoy them.

[snapshotmiki]

Thank you for the update. I look forward to hearing more about your homestead!

[dogmom4]

Glad you are enjoying your new home. What is mudding?

[Jori]

Mudding is when you take a truck or jeep and go driving through the mud in the fields.

 

Glad you are enjoying your new home. What is mudding?