May 12, 2012 - Happy Hens

Thanks to one of our friends we were able to get 7 laying hens for free! One Rhode Island Red and 6 Plymouth Rock. Ter picked them up today and brought them home. The kids were all squawking in the farmyard like a bunch of hens themselves when the truck pulled up. The electric fence was all set to go with the hen house inside. The food and water were all set out with some grit for good digestion. Ter held the chickens while I gave each of the birds a wing clip and we set them in the fence. They immediately started pecking and scratching around their new home. Of course they weren't too sure of the 5 non-feathered friends that were following them everywhere they went, but they were pretty content with the new surroundings.

The kids were fascinated and watched them for quite a while. They were also trying to outwit the electric fence, but soon realized that it was futile to attempt hopping the fence without turning the electricity off. :) Nothing like consequences really to teach the important lessons.

After checking on them one last time before heading off to bed, Z spotted a lone egg among the potato plants. He got the trophy for finding the first egg. A good day.

  

Happy pecking!

Allison

May 7, 2012 - Our Girl's Mowing!

E has been dying to get a chance at mowing the lawn on hte riding lawn mower for a long time now. Daddy wouldn't let her at our house because there were way too many rocks and hard places for a novice mower. At the first opportunity, she got her first lesson and mowed the entire front yard at the farm. Ter just had to finish a couple rough spots around trees and such, but she did it all and enjoyed her new accomplishment. She like it because it was "complicated." She announced that she's going to be doing the mowing from now on, but we'll see what transpires in July. ;)



May 5, 2012 - Moving Day

We packed up most of this family's precious possessions with the help of some friends and family to begin our one-year stint as feeble farmers. Of course, the journey didn't actually start today, but many months ago when we learned that Ter's parents were led to go to Uganda to serve as missionaries for a year with  Project Hope Worldwide. Visit their story here. We had actually been praying about starting a farming enterprise using the techniques we've heard about from Joel Salatin, a farmer from the movie Food Inc. When my in-laws told us they were going to be leaving, we knew God was giving us a chance to try out farm life and see if we're cut out for it - mostly see if I'm cut out for it since Ter grew up on this same farm. We are planning on having beef cows, laying hens and meat chickens and a  big garden which both of us are new to all of those things because while Ter was growing up, it was a dairy farm.

The garden has already been planted. We have potatoes, beans, peas, squash, cucumbers, dill, corn, onions, peppers and tomatos. We started some cool crops, but they never took off, so we'll probably try again in the fall for those when we can be here to watch them full-time.

Moving was quite the challenge with not only packing up and moving our own stuff into a house, but packing up a bit of our parents' house too and taking their stuff back to our house to store until their return. My sister-in-law is going to be staying at our house while we are on the farm, so she'll also have stuff at our house. Hopefully, we'll get everything straightened back out again when the year is up!

As we were in the middle of moving today, my sis-in-law asked if it was worth it. I told her, "Ask me later!" I'm sure it will be worth it though. We will be learning a lot about the farm but also about ourselves and our God - always an adventure. The kids will be having a fantastic experience and who knows...maybe we'll just start something! 

Happy Farming!

Allison