We Bought a Farm

With chickens in our backyard and pigs at my parent's place, it became clear what we were missing-a farm. After slowly driving by countless properties for sale and some suspicion of stalking, my mother-in-law emailed us about an acreage with a square farmhouse for sale. We went to look at it the next day.

A row of giant pine trees blocked the view of the property from the gravel road, so our stalker tendencies wouldn't have proven valuable. The white square farmhouse came into view once we turned into the drive. It had three porches with rocking chairs and a swing. The roof was green metal with a lightening rod that looked like it belonged on a barn. The detached two stall garage came into view with a giant shed behind it. As we toured the property, the ponies and kitties entertained our kids. Along with the play set and trampoline the owners had for their grandchildren.

I had told my husband that when we looked at a place we would just know or we would see a sign. Our sign was in the back shed. The owner had a 1951 Kaiser Sedan. This car was special to us because we almost named our second son after it. Our AMC collection of cars would fit nicely in that same shed. My husband gave me a big smile, and I knew that we would make an offer, which we did later that day.

Three months later and it's officially ours. We are in the process of moving and putting our current house up for sale. The long absence from the blog has ended. I'm more excited than ever to share our adventures now that we bought a farm.

4 years old already

"I'm a grown up now." My 4-year said the week following his birthday. My 5-year old was happy to correct him. He explained that he's older and he's not a grown up yet, so little brother was definitely not a grown up.

Last year we celebrated with a big cowboy party complete with a horse. How could we top that? A whole petting zoo? At that rate we would be going to Disneyland for his 10th birthday, not to mention his sibling's birthdays. So I stopped trying to come up with a better party.

I made his birthday dinner special with guests that included his grandparents, decorations, cake, games, and presents. The menu was the usual Iowan cuisine of ham, cheesy potatoes, calico beans, and Jello. This hearty meal was followed by a nap by grandpa and the birthday boy cuddling on the couch. Grandma, or Elmo as the grand kids call her, fell asleep on the other couch while my husband gave our oldest a lesson on the Super Nintendo. Mario Brothers made for good birthday fun.

After everyone was refreshed from their rest we ate birthday cake, which was a homemade vanilla cake complete with homemade vanilla frosting and strawberries. The birthday boy had a 3 layer cake all to himself. Each layer was actually made for each one of the kids. The largest bottom layer reserved for the birthday boy.

This sugar induced excitement made tearing into wrapping paper a snap. Weeks before his birthday he proclaimed he wanted a xylophone for his birthday, which I can only thank Curious George for, so his grandparents started off his musical talent with one. Hotwheels cars, a whistle, coloring books, and Legos were also added to his toy collection when we told him to open the front door. "A bike!" He exclaimed as he opened the door jumping around. The Spider-Man bike was ridden around the living room even after the guests departed.

As evening fell on his birthday the kids put their pajamas on and we drove to the drive-in movies to enjoy The Beauty and The Beast. The birthday boy seemed to enjoy making blanket nests around our mini van better than the movie.

His birthday didn't need horses or cowboy hats. It just needed all of us together doing our normal things like eating and napping with a little extra frosting.

 

Dino Diggers

 

"You two dig up dinosaurs?" Jurassic Park. I used to show Jurassic Park to my classes for a couple of reasons. It related to my genetics unit, and it is one of my favorite movies. I can't wait to show it to my toddlers. To feed their dinosaur obsession and to prepare them for all of the Jurassic Parks, we attend dinosaur exhibits and have many dinosaur toys. Our 1-year old even gave the boys dinosaurs when she was born. The Easter bunny heard about their dinosaur collection and gave them dinosaur models to dig up and put together. 

Sitting around the dining room table with trays and tools in hand, our toddler boys started digging in clay blocks looking for dinosaur bones. My husband and I tried to help, but I observed and documented the activity. Their comments are below:

"This is only for kids." My 3-year old told me when I tried to brush clay away. 

"We are scientists." My 5-year old said excitedly. 

 

"I wish these dinosaurs were real." 5-year old comment. 

"I think I found teeth." 3-year old comment. 

"This is just like Curious George." My 5-year old likes to do most everything Curious George does. 

"Daddy, I can't work with your big hands." My 5-year old told my husband after he tried to help. 

"This is more fun than books." My 5-year old said refering to the Curious George dinosaur book.

"Mommy, be more careful." My 3-year old reminded me after I stabbed myself with the minature wooden digging tool. 

"Stop blowing off the dust." My husband continued to remind them when we were coughing through the dust fog. 

My husband and I super glued the dinosaur bones together, which was a real challenge because some leg bones were broken in the excavation. My 5-year old had a T-rex and my 3-year old had a triceratops. Instead of having the delicate models fight with each other, they settled for painting them.  

It's always such fun to try something new and see what the boys will say. Now if they would just be old enough to watch Jurassic Park. 

Easter Tradition

"Let's tear apart the boat for Easter." Was my husband's suggestion of family fun for the long Easter weekend. I'm pretty good at taking things a part or demolition, so I agreed.

The last couple of years my husband has taken the opportunity of a three day weekend at Easter to visit a friend's shop to help and learn. This yearly visit has turned into our own project weekend mainly because our kids are old enough to help. All the years of accumulating projects, my husband was just making sure that he had family fun time ready.

The boat that we will tear apart is a 1964 Century Resorter with a V8 AMC/Jeep engine in it. The boat has rotted wood under the water line with an unrecognizable interior. The neat part about it is that all the metal is copper or brass or chome. We bought it so my husband could feed his obsession with obtaining Jeep engines.

Right now the boat is parked in the back grove out of site on my parent's farm. It has been sitting there for a couple of years, so I'm excited to downsize our collection. I'm also excited at the opportunity to recycle, up cycle, or just break and burn.

The boys are able to use screwdrivers, so this will be the first project that they will contribute to. Our 5-year old loves to help, so he will be a dedicated worker; however, our 3-year old would rather break things and move on. I see him spending more time on the trampoline than the boat. Our 1-year old will contribute by playing with the cats on the grass or being in the boat directing work.

Our family will do the usual Easter traditions of coloring eggs, hunting for them, and eating great food at family events, but working together towards a common goal is more important to me. It's also a tradition that I hope to continue.

Note: My husband will more than likely have pictures and video of the process, so be sure to check it out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken Run

I had just opened up my 1-year olds muddy diaper when the lights to her room went off. I was ready to accuse my 3-year old son of playing a trick on me when I found him on the floor beside me playing cars. I used all of my diaper changing abilities to make sure I was excrement free, and then I checked a couple of other lights in the house, no electricity. The sun hadn't made it's appearance through the rain clouds, so I lit a couple of candles and we went on with our day.

We were twenty minutes into the power outage when I realized the glow from the chickens heat lamp in the garage was off. My solution was to put warm water in a sealed canning jar so they could huddle around it for warmth. When we went outside to give them this hot water bottle, the flattened piece of aluminum that we used as a door was moved and two chickens were missing. I looked around and found one huddled into the feed sack, but with much looking couldn't find the other bandit. We went back inside to await the electricity, which didn't make it's return for another hour.

The chicken hunt began with the boys lighting the low hiding places around the garage. The search moved to the high dark corners, but the bandit was much better at hide and seek than we were. A few hours later, my husband did a thorough search. When he came back empty handed he asked me if she could have gotten out of the garage. Surprisingly, I said yes. I left the door open for light when the electricity was out. We accepted that our two week old chicken had succeeded in her chicken run.

Today we went to the garage to do morning chicken chores, and that bandit chicken was wedged between the chicken wire of the pen and the wall. She was trying to soak up the warmth from the heat lamp. She looked a little frazzled, but otherwise happy and healthy. She went straight for the water and feed once home. She had been missing for almost 48 hours, and thankfully wasn't dinner for the neighborhood cats. Now if we could just figure out where she was hiding?

Get Farmin

According to Webster's Dictionary the definition of a farm is a piece of land used for growing crops or raising animals. : an area of water where fish, oysters, etc., are raised. This definition doesn't specify the amount of land needed. I live in town, but I grow crops and I raise animals. Do I live on a farm?

On social media a mom posted that a kid at school told her son that he wasn't a country kid. I would say that you can still live in town and on a farm according to Webster's Dictionary. Just because your closest neighbor is 20 feet from your house versus two miles doesn't make you an less of a farmer. Its all in what you do with your land. I know people that live on five acres, but they don't grow crops or have any animals. In my opinion, what is the point of that? If your going to call yourself a country kid because you live on five acres but don't do anything but mow the grass and play video games (no offense to gamers), that city kid that grows a garden in the back yard is more of a farmer. 


I read that when raising your kids you have to have the end in mind. What do you want your kids to know when they are adults? I would say that my parents are always teaching me new things that are skills that I can pass onto my kids. Today my parents brought down a kiddy pool for my kitchen chickens (check the last post) and gave me some tips to help. I have the skills that will feed my family, and that is a skill that I hope all my children will possess. Agriculture skills are a rarity in America. (But when the zombie apocalypse happens we will be fine.) These skills are really important to pass on. 

Putting the labels aside and where you live, if you can master a skill like growing or raising your own food you have the potential to thrive anywhere. I'm proud of what I can teach my kids, and I hope that people will read this and start farming. It's a thing of beauty, and a real art form.

Kitchen Chicken

We bought a dozen eggs for 99 cents on Friday. It doesn't make sense to have your own birds laying eggs when you can buy a dozen eggs for next to nothing with no labor involved; or does it?

We bought six pullets (baby laying hens) at the local farm store. We live in town, so right about now you are probably pitying our neighbors not to mention town ordinances, which I won't go into. So how will this work?

Right now the happy little ladies are in a tub with thick bedding in our garage. My husband is building a mini chicken tractor that will be moved to fresh grass everyday. Once they are fully feathered, they will find their new home more than accommodating.

Chickens are omnivores, which means, like us, they eat everything. So instead of throwing away our kitchen scraps we will create a buffet for the little ladies. The chickens are the ultimate recyclers. They eat kitchen scraps and in return give us eggs. This also cuts down on the feed bill.

The boys love doing chicken chores. First thing in the morning we are out in the garage. The boys crouch down and just watch them peck and scratch. We fed them a little cabbage, and we just watched them. It was very entertaining, kind of like feeding bread crumbs to ducks by the river.

You get what you pay for is a common saying that I think we forget also applies to food. Those 99 cent eggs were from a chicken house with hundreds of thousands of other chickens. I won't go into the details, but it's factory farming at it's best. It's what makes Iowa the number one egg producer in the country. However, there are consequences. Those eggs have to be washed and sanitized, rightly so, which leads to chlorine being applied to a permeable egg shell. I guess I would rather have chlorine than salmonella, but it also leads me to the actual nutritional value. Do you prefer a light pale color yolk or an orange rich color? I'm not used to a darker color, so I prefer the lighter color yolk. Even though the darker color is what will really give you the most nutrition and usually doesn't come from factory farmed egg.

This is all just food for thought when you might think we are eccentric for having laying hens in town. Start thinking outside the box when it comes to your food, literally outside the processed box. If wecan do it on less than a quarter of an acre surely you can too.