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.

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.

What Does Homesteading Mean

Remember The Homestead Act?  Free land to any man who farms it for 5 years!  woohoooo  No problem, right?!  Wrong.  Have you ever tried to cut sod with a single plow and 2 oxen?  Have you ever tried to build a house on a prairie where no trees grow?  Have you ever tried to survive a hard winter on only the foods you preserved (canned, dried, salted) yourself?  For 5 years??!!  That's not free, baby.  That's work.

Fast forward 100+ years and look at homesteading under a new light.  Homesteading light?  Maybe.  Instead of 80 or 160 acres, we're starting with 5.5 acres.  We don't have to build the house or the barn or the chicken coop.  They were built by previous owners.  We don't have to cut sod to plant fields for feed and fodder.  There is a local feed store and it's only 10 miles away.  We don't have to survive a hard winter on our preserved foods, but we are going to do our best.  Homesteading is still work.  But it's not the same work it was 100+ years ago.

Our goal on our homestead is to do as much of it ourselves as we can.  The more we learn about the foods offered at the grocery store, the more motivated we are to grow and preserve our own foods.  Gardening, canning, freezing, egg gathering, butchering, milking, repairing, building, more repairing, and most of all -- learning.  Learning and relearning what our ancestors knew about how to provide for their families.  And along the way, we may just find we're learning some important life lessons and just enjoying ourselves.

Welcome to our homestead.  It's March and time (well, past time) to start planning for spring planting (the garden) and chickens.