A Barn With A Purpose!

We have one happy little girl on our hands!  After years of contemplating, we decided to add chicken farmers to our family description. 

Okay, so I should say that calling us chicken farmers is probably a stretch.   We are now the proud parents of 4 chickens and a cute little chicken coop.   So, how did this all come about-you’re wondering?  Well, the very exciting part of this story is that they(and their cute little home) were gifted to us by some friends!  We were really excited to get the call a few weeks ago asking if we’d be interested in taking them on, and we readily agreed.

 

Some of you know, I grew up around chickens, and at my dad’s house we always had fresh eggs.  It’s been a little hard for me to purchase eggs from the grocery store over the years knowing that they were going to be 1- expensive, 2- not that tasty, and 3- filled with who knows what kind of hormones and junk.  But…the idea of snakes in my backyard has kept me from really pushing the issue.  My hubby wasn’t really all that excited about the idea of caring for yet another animal(s). Our sweet golden retriever has found her place in our family, and even still, we sometimes find ourselves reminding the kids about caring for her or worrying about her during our out of town travels. 

So, since the call came in and we decided to give the chicks a new home, our daughter has been asking over and over again about their arrival.  I kept telling hubs, it’ll only take 30 minutes to get them…after all they are only coming from 5 mintues away!  He kept saying that we’d need a little more time and a little extra man power to lift the thing.  I thought he was kind of nuts. 

Well, as it happens every now and again…he was right and I was wrong.  There, I said it.    It took a “little” more than 30 minutes.   Actually, it took right about 2 hours(the amount of time that the hubs had quoted). 

With the help of our friends(thank you), we were able to transport our new little feathery friends into our backyard barn.  As they were setting them up and getting the food and water all set, I had this really cool feeling inside.

You see, when we found this little piece of land, it had a neat, rustic, pole barn.  At the time, we thought that perhaps we would want to add a horse to the barn at some point, and as you can imagine, my daughter would LOVE that idea.  Well, the time and expense of a horse doesn't seem to be the right fit for us right now(although it will always be a dream).  Over the years, it’s been sad to see this cool little barn just standing in the wind without any livestock in it! Now, after 4 years, our little barn actually has a purpose! 

It’s been just two days and our chicks are really settling in nicely.  They are enjoying some time in their coop, as well as lots of sunshine when they are “free range.”  Our daughter is over the moon excited, doing a great job of checking in on them, looking for eggs, making sure that they are treated well by our dog Emma (and by her teenage brother for that matter), and loving on them in general.  While I’m told that it takes a few weeks for the chickens to really settle in and get comfy, we were lucky enough to get a couple of eggs already- 1 Sunday and 2 today!  We could hear the shriek from across the yard when she found the first egg!  I think that will slow as they adjust to the stress of a new family and home. 

We’ll see where this adventure takes up, but we have high hopes.   In addition to eggs, I am really happy about the little life’s lessons that caring for the chickens will afford us.  I know from experience that a little hard work, and a little time with animals, is good for our growing souls..and I’m thankful that we’ll get to experience this time with our kiddos. 

Oh, and of course, We’d like to give a “shout out” to our friends who thought of us when they were looking for a new home for their chicks!  We’re very thankful to have them(and their chickens) in our lives!       

The Harley chicken farm is open for business, come by and visit when you have the time. 

 

Always growing, ever learning, much loving....

Getting on the blogging boat

So. It. Begins. Blogging.

Thinking of the "blogging boat" reminded
me of one of my favorite places on earth!
Here's a photo from one of our summer
vacations to Siesta Key, Fl.  If you haven't
been there, you should go! 

I'm joining the ranks of bloggers all over the planet.  Why has it taken me so long to get on the blogging boat, you ask? Well, I could tell you it's about time, and there's some truth to that.  I'm a pretty busy bee, but aren't we all?   I could also tell you that I didn't want to steal the blogging thunder from my blogging friends, also true.  But really, what it comes down to is timing.  I think there's the right time for adding and omitting things from our lives, and until now, blogging just didn't seem right. 

I've been feeling the blogging urge for about a year now.  At first I just turned the other cheek, and kept moving deeper into this crazy, busy life of mine. But the blogging bug has bitten me again and again over time and now I just can't fight the urge any longer. 

This past weekend we were visiting family down in South Florida for my nephew's 5th birthday.  My sister, quite the talented lady, I tell ya, threw him a pretty amazing birthday party.  As I was looking at the loads and loads of party favors, decorations, and goodies that she whipped up over the past week(s), I kept thinking- I have to blog about this!  All of the husbands were like...you guys can make a pin for your new favorite website- Pinterest (and truth be told it was the inspiration for the party).    Yes, we're both total PIN HEADS these days. 

 So, I started to give it a little more thought.  Over the past year, I have been thinking in blog titles after all.  My hope is that this blog will bring me closer to family, to friends, and to my faith.  I hope to be real, simple, honest, and pure.  I do not plan to use this blog to share with the world all of the WONDERFUL things about my life and strategically leave out the not so good stuff.  I'm an equal opportunity blogger, and plan to write transparently about life...good and bad.  I am excited to write about my adventures, challenges, and experiences in many facets of my world.  I plan to write about my life as wife, mother, sister, friend, doula, educator, cook, housekeeper, taxi driver, business woman, cousin, daughter, and follower of Christ(to name a few of my many hats). 

I hope that you'll enjoy reading about us, and I look forward to reading about you too!  Oh, and let me say this one last thing, correct grammer has NEVER been my forte.  I grew up in the spell check world...well maybe not grew up...but close.  Yes, I use that as a total crutch, but seriously, it's not my strength.  So please, I'm asking for a little grace from the get go on this one.  Please just keep on, keeping on if you see some errors in my writing (or if you're an english professor, message me so I can learn too). 

Always growing, ever learning, much loving....

Blogging lesson #1, be careful with the keyboard when blogging.  You may just end up deleting your entire first blog before you even publish it.