yeah, well, it turns out there are some people who just aren't gonna join myspace, so here you go ~ i'm devoting this space to country living ~ maybe i'll prove to my brother that it's not as boring as he thinks it is
a brief primer: we moved here in late spring/early summer of 2007, after driving down a random country road and finding a wrinkly ol' abandoned farmhouse ~ we tracked down the owner, who agreed that we could stay here in exchange for fixing it up ~ there was a chicken already living here, so i checked out every backyard chicken book i could find at the library ~ turns out most everyone who ever wrote a book about backyard chickens was initially given some chickens by a neighbor after moving out to the country ~ lo and behold, after living here a few months, someone stopped by to chat (that happens a lot), saw our chicken, and asked us if we wanted some more ~ we said yeah, sure, maybe a couple more hens and a rooster ~ a few days later, after taking neal to the doctor, we returned to find six new hens, a rooster, and a bag full of eggs hanging from the front door knob (just the eggs were hanging -- the chickens were hiding in the brush) ~ thus began our adventures in backyard chickening
one fine afternoon, one of the hens surprised us with ten baby chicks hidden under her feather dress, and ever since then we have spent a little time each day improving their home ~ so today, while leah played at a friend's and neal watched his favorite movie, dumbo, lee and i hung clothes and made minor alterations to the coop
by happy chance, we found a local soapmaker who is willing to trade her wares for some of the chicks ~ we also found a small, organic garden in warrior ~ they grow most everything from heirloom seeds that they've collected over many years ~ we got two bags of lettuce (dinner), and some lemon balm to keep the skeeters away (although we have far fewer of them here than we did in the city) ~ next year we hope to have our own lettuce ~ this year's gardening has amounted to an experiment informing us of what we will do differently (or in most cases, simply do) next year ~ we'll use coop litter as compost next early spring, and then maybe we can grow something more than just squash!
a brief primer: we moved here in late spring/early summer of 2007, after driving down a random country road and finding a wrinkly ol' abandoned farmhouse ~ we tracked down the owner, who agreed that we could stay here in exchange for fixing it up ~ there was a chicken already living here, so i checked out every backyard chicken book i could find at the library ~ turns out most everyone who ever wrote a book about backyard chickens was initially given some chickens by a neighbor after moving out to the country ~ lo and behold, after living here a few months, someone stopped by to chat (that happens a lot), saw our chicken, and asked us if we wanted some more ~ we said yeah, sure, maybe a couple more hens and a rooster ~ a few days later, after taking neal to the doctor, we returned to find six new hens, a rooster, and a bag full of eggs hanging from the front door knob (just the eggs were hanging -- the chickens were hiding in the brush) ~ thus began our adventures in backyard chickening
one fine afternoon, one of the hens surprised us with ten baby chicks hidden under her feather dress, and ever since then we have spent a little time each day improving their home ~ so today, while leah played at a friend's and neal watched his favorite movie, dumbo, lee and i hung clothes and made minor alterations to the coop
by happy chance, we found a local soapmaker who is willing to trade her wares for some of the chicks ~ we also found a small, organic garden in warrior ~ they grow most everything from heirloom seeds that they've collected over many years ~ we got two bags of lettuce (dinner), and some lemon balm to keep the skeeters away (although we have far fewer of them here than we did in the city) ~ next year we hope to have our own lettuce ~ this year's gardening has amounted to an experiment informing us of what we will do differently (or in most cases, simply do) next year ~ we'll use coop litter as compost next early spring, and then maybe we can grow something more than just squash!
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