One year later...from the Country back to the City..but not for good-

Well, it has been 7 months since the last entry. We've had some great times on our little piece of country but this month we have moved back to the city- temporarily. Due to illness in the family we feel that being in town, closer to family is what is needed of us right now.

For a few months during the Summer it became depressing, knowing that we would put our dream on hold, wondering what we would do next but that is the thing- the dream is only on hold, not gone. We realize now that we can do small things in our city home and prepare and dream of the big things that lay down the road for our family.

In the last months we have....

Got rid of our flock of chickens and coop

Took a Summer trip out of state to see family

Gotten news of hubbie's father's illness

Our daughter won big at the County Fair for 4-H: Grand Champion in Jr. Poultry Showmanship and Grand Champion for Best in Breed for Cavy

Our daughter sold her last chicken she used for show in 4-H to a little boy who is going to keep her as a pet for the rest of her life...

Our Son is 6 now and our Daughter is 11

Homeschooling turned into sending them back to School this school year

I work outside the home nearly full time now

We got a new dog! Greater Swiss Mountain Dog- Sadie

Moved back to the city- temporarily

Hello Sadie (dog), Jet (Standard Rex Rabbit), Trophy (Netherland Dwarf Rabbit) and the champion belt buckle for Poultry and good bye to Fluffy the Silkie that helped our daughter win...

It's enough change to make anyone's head spin a bit...but we are attempting to take it in stride as we get settled into our new city home.  Slowly putting together a list of things we can do and continue here even without those acres of land, beautiful dark starry nights where you feel like you are the only one on earth, peaceful sunrises when you go out to take care of your animals and hear- nothing- instead of cars and traffic....this is not good bye to the country and life we want just see you in a little while.

I thank God every day- we have such a strong family, strong bond that any changes and challenges we can arise through it- together.

Going more rural

Look at me go, 2 posts in one month.

Well, the shed is complete. A one day project, with a little help from my son to drill in the last screws and we are done. And just in time for some wind,rain, and snow up in the mountains.

We took a wonderful drive up about an hour away to a little town and had lunch on the snowy weekend for fun. The more and more we talk about where we are going with our life plan the more rural we want to get. Just for fun we looked up the population of the city we moved from, 55,000 population and then the city in which we live now- 5,000. What a difference…the town we had lunch in? 700 people, a cute town we liked the land in? 200 people. Can’t downsize the population much more than that.

Although we have still not established a concrete plan, we have many great idea’s and know this is the direction we were meant to take with our family. A plot of land, a farm and all of us four together. Life can't get much better than that.

A Monthly Blog?

This is perhaps going to be a monthly entry blog, although originally I had wanted it to be a weekly one.  It seems nothing ever slows down here enough to give me the time barely to write down a few thoughts or upload some pictures.  Although it is nice to look back and reflect on what we’ve done in a months time.

Let’s see what has happened in the last month:

Chicken coop is DONE! A big check off on our list! Thanks to wonderful hubbie, help from the kids and even I assisted. It was a family event. The chickens are so happy. We even bought 5 more chicks to add to our group – no pictures yet but they are Silkies and just the cutest things you’ve ever seen.

The coop in progress and finally done!

We have been exploring and taking on hiking. The kids did well and we look forward to going a few times a month to local places.

My daughter has wanted to raise money for her 4-H, whether that be donating some to her group, or helping to provide supplies/feed for her own animals – she has, with the help of me, mom started a website to sell 4-H related items and guinea pig items as well.  A work in progress but she’s excited.

Upcoming projects:

Shed, Playground

Now instead of Ducks we may be looking at Goats! 

And in the month of March: My son turns 6 already! How fast they grow up!

First 4-H Show

And another month bites the dust….I can’t get over that in a few weeks it will be February!

My daughter had her first 4-H show and did wonderful! Blue, Red and White Ribbons taken home! Our whole family is getting more and more into our farm life!

Our chicks are growing, a few pics of her favorites below:

Americana


Mix


Barred Plymouth Rock


And we added 3 more family members….3 baby guinea pigs, Darwin, Drago and AL. American Red, Black and Lilac Cavies.

Red (Darwin) and Lilac (AL) Pictured Below



What’s happening around the house:
In progress of being built: Chicken Coop, Shed and Play Structure
Possible next project…Duck enclosure!  Then of course there’s always odds and ends to be done!

Baby Chicks

How time passes us by….I was just looking at the date of my last post, and thought has it really been a whole month nearly!? We’ve been busy, well not as busy around the house as we’d like. We took a week and headed out of town for Thanksgiving and are about to head out of town again for Christmas. Our Christmas trip should prove interesting…not only are we traveling with a dog and 2 children but now 9 chicks, yes chicks. No babysitters available, so they are coming with us! 

What an adventure these chicks have already been…

The trip to get them- driving an hour and a half, this lady had chickens galore, chicks galore, even peacocks and other types of exotic birds, a horse, a dog, a cat; it was a zoo to say the least. Picked out ten 2 day old chicks and brought them home…another hour and a half drive of peeping…

Over that weekend, one chick appeared sick- stumbling, not eating or drinking as well as the others, diarrhea, and the other chicks started picking on him. After reading vet websites and chicken forums, we separated him, but he passed a day later. In researching we found a common bacterial disease chicks can get, so we got meds, a new cage and the chicks appear to be doing good…here’s crossing our fingers we don’t lose any more.

We’ve had chicks before and never had sickness problems, so I have to wonder if they were sick when we got them, but as long as they are on their way to recovery now, I’m happy. Yes, our dog LOVES the chicks and is so good with them- he just watches quietly!

After our trip for Christmas we plan on getting to build a coop right away, so that will be the next immediate project to take care of.

And some progress is made….

Such a big to do list! Seems like there is just about everything on it too, but that’s okay- and its actually FUN!

Our recent projects:

My husband fixed our front gate, our dog unfortunately figured out he could escape so something had to be done. Now the dog can’t get out, and it’s easy to swing open and shut and well, it just looks better too! The pic is hard to tell, but instead of the ugly orange, there's some green wire mesh so the dog can't escape!
Before Pic

After Pic


Too bad I didn’t get a good picture of the front before we cleared it out, but let’s just say you couldn’t walk through it with so many weeds. Our decision for the front of the house- some nice gardenia plants- they are so great and green, mixed in with 3 artichoke plants and the kids picked out flowers as well. Although we’ll see if the flowers make it through winter, the kids said they didn’t care, they just wanted something pretty for right now, and so we let them! Oh and we planted a Lime Tree in the back yard too!



Funny thing about the front is that the dog really likes the dirt and the mulch- not only does he dig in it, roll in it, run in it, he likes to eat it- so we are going to be trying to 'train' him to stay out of the fenced area to let him know it’s off limits otherwise our plants will never make it!

Welcome Bread

We have already noticed the friendliness of our new neighbors, how they have made us feel welcome in our new home and new town. Our next door neighbor brought us homemade pumpkin bread the other day.  It’s funny that we were at our other house for 4 months and never really knew anyone and within the first few days know everyone in our neighborhood here.  I love this community.

Now for the good stuff…the bread! My son and I loved it, raisins, cranberries, pumpkin and spice flavor and some walnuts- YUMMY in our TUMMYs. 

Then my son remembered baking with Grandpa and wanted to try his hand at his own bread…so later we made banana bread together.

He’s asked for it for breakfast, in his lunchbox and for snacks….needless to say there’s not much left!