For quite some time, I have been wanting to start a life of less dependency and more self reliance. I think this mind set may have started when I started researching natural living and organic food. I started getting a little panicky about the things that were being put into my food and how they were affecting my body. More importantly, how they were affecting my children's bodies.
More recently, I watched Food, Inc. Whoa! If I'd ever had doubts about wanting to raise and grow my own food, that movie convinced me.
Also, I am a huge fan of Mother Earth News magazine. This magazine has been around since 1970 and is (as my father puts it)"an old hippy magazine". I get a new one every other month and I can't put it down. The information I have gotten from just 5 issues is amazing. I started making my own bread using the information found in an article in Mother Earth. I am inspired by the articles of people who homestead. I have picked up many tips for my springtime and fall gardens. I highly recommend you pick up a copy and check it out.
And most recently, I found an ad in the back of Mother Earth News for the book "The Backyard Homestead". So far, it's been the best $20 I've ever spent. This book teaches you how to grow almost everything you need to feed your family on just 1/4 acre.
And so.....BBV Farms is born!
For the last month or two, I have had cabin fever like I've never had before. I'm grouchy and tired and anxious. I need a project. I am itching so badly to feel the sun beating on my skin. To see the grass again. To start my backyard homestead.
Finally...today, I feel our backyard homestead has gotten it's start! I set 24 eggs in the incubator this afternoon. We should have chicks pipping around March 14th! I've been wanting to hatch my own chicks for about 4 years. I've researched and read and thought and planned. The other day, I found a local lady who was selling 12 chicken hatching eggs for just $10 on a chicken forum and I committed to purchasing eggs.
See, that's how I roll. If I don't actually push myself into a life altering change, I can talk it and plan it to death. So, I committed to purchasing 12 eggs.
It was at that point that I realized I should probably purchase an incubator. That's also how I roll. I tend to put the cart before the horse (hence, why I now have no idea where exactly I'm going to house up to 24 chicks once they hatch).
After two days of extreme temp changes in my incubator, I spoke with Valerie (my new chicken friend) and we decided that I should move the incubator to my bedroom as it seems to be the only place in this house that isn't ridiculously drafty. Yes...I know....incubating chicken eggs in ones bedroom???? It's only three weeks. And they are kind of stuck in the corner of the closet....kinda. It was amazing though how quickly the temperature regulated when it was moved to a warmer part of the house.
Jeremy and I drove out to Valerie's house this afternoon - Lizzie and Maggie are with their dad this weekend - and picked out 24 eggs to bring home. 24 is more than what I was planning to incubate, but at this point I'm assuming that they aren't all going to hatch.
I've also deviated from my original plan to get all Buff Orpingtons. My concern with this is that now all of our chickens aren't going to look alike. And this could pose a problem with being able to pick out "favorites". The last thing on earth I need is to have two little girls with teary eyes when they've fallen in love with a rooster who is slated for butcher. I'm going to have a hard enough time with this aspect of homesteading. I certainly don't need any help from them!
But, we'll get through it. And I hope to not scar them too badly. I'm still scarred myself from a pig incident that happened when I was 12. And I will never own a pig for food. Any pig I own will be strictly a pet. And yes, I'm serious. I do plan to one day have a pet pig as tribute to poor little Arnie. And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to be the worst homesteading farmer ever. HAHAHAHA
Let the adventures of BBV Farms begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment