Chickens...

.. specifically pullets.  They will be hens once they've laid their first eggs.

Here are 4 of the girls, but there are 7 total.  For now, they are free-ranging, but I do see a fence in their future.  There is a large, unused space between the coop and big barn which will be their area.

Stuff and De-cluttering

"He is richest who is content with the least." -- Socrates

How true these words are.  The world we live in teaches us from toddler-age up to consume, buy more, eat more -- it will make you happier.  Yet we live in a world of more disease (physically and emotionally) than ever in history.  Diseases brought on by lifestyle choices, not by infection by bacteria or viruses. 

Are people generally happier now than people were 150 years ago?  I say 150 years because that is early in the industrial revolution, before life was made "better and easier" by "modern conveniences".

For myself, I'm scaling back.  For almost a year, I've been de-cluttering, selling, donating and giving away my stuff.  I don't need the stuff to make me happy.  And I've found that by having less stuff to maintain and keep up with, I have more time to spend with family and doing what I enjoy.  I'll know I've de-cluttered enough when I look around in my home and find I am surrounded by only things I love and/or use regularly.  I still have a ways to go, but it's getting better every day.

What about you, is your stuff making you happier?  Or is it time to do some de-cluttering?

AnnDenee

good morning :-)

As I sit at my desk this morning, this is my view -- looking east as the sun is rising behind the woods in the distance.  There is a light fog on the fields.  The birds aren't singing their good mornings so it is very, very peaceful.

good morning  :-)

AnnDenee

A Day of Tinkering Around the Homestead

I get so much more done when I get to work first thing in the morning.  I know it seems obvious, but it's just so easy to get distracted.  I tend to grab some breakfast and sit down in front of the computer while I am eating... majorly bad idea!  Next thing I know, it is time to make lunch, and I've done nothing productive with my morning.  Not good.

So this morning, by 8:30, I've already washed a load of laundry (would have hung it out, but that wind is cold), pushed Isabelle on the swing (did I mention the cold wind??), and baked a batch of granola.  When that batch cools, I have another batch to go in the oven (only 1 glass baking dish) and then it's on to baking more bread.

If it gets warm enough this afternoon, there are pallets in the barn to break down for lumber for upgrading the chicken coop.  I have 3 LR chairs to sell on craigslist and/or out by the road.  And I'm thinking about moving Isabelle from her crib to a bed.  I know she's getting big for the crib, but I don't know if she'll stay in a regular bed.  Well, either way, the big bed needs stripped and freshened.

I may also bake a cake or the apple pie I've been thinking about for a while.  Supper is going to be pot roast.  I have ground beef and chicken thighs to portion and get into the freezer.  So all-in-all, no big projects on the list today, but just a day of tinkering about the homestead.