Friends, we are so excited!!
Our chickens have started laying again. We went four months without fresh eggs. Well, we would get an occasional egg from the chicken that moved to live with us. We also got a duck egg every day from our adopted duck. But, that was not enough to feed our family without buying from the store.
It is so fun to go out and check the nesting boxes every day. We have a lot of chickens that lay green eggs this time. Thankfully, we have only ended up with one rooster, which is our bantam silkie. We have five chicks in the brooder still. I’ll be so glad to be done with brooders. We have had some baby, whether duck or chicken, in a brooder since February. Yikes.
We currently have 26 animals– 10 ducks and 16 chickens. All four of our original ducklings ended up being drakes. We have to get rid of them since we have SIX drakes to one hen right now. They were mating her to death and had ripped out the feathers on the back of her head and causing wounds. We separated her and she has healed really well. But, we have to get rid of the jerks. They serve no purpose here. We are just feeding them and keeping them locked in the run so they don’t hurt any of our hens.
We free-range all of our chickens, the female duck, and our ducklings. They live such a full life, and I LOVE looking out the window and seeing them happily foraging for bugs. Today was the first day that I found an egg in a random place. Our duck (Matilda, because we name them.) laid her egg in the middle of our yucca plants.
We’ve been toying with ways to sell products from the homestead, but nothing is set in stone. If you think that owning chickens will give you cheaper eggs, you are wrong. But, if you want a QUALITY egg from chickens that are fed the best quality of food, owning chickens is the way to go. That is why farm-fresh eggs generally cost more. You get what you pay for.
Our garden is growing also. The garlic is getting close to harvest time. We go out and pick our salad for meals. We did have to re-plant quit a bit since we got some pretty bad storms immediately after planting the garden. It has been a challenge, but we are trying to not be discouraged. Scott and I are learning so much, and so are the girls.
Life in the kitchen has been pretty quiet. During the hot months, we try to grill or make simple meals so that we aren’t heating up the house. Monday felt like fall, so I baked a loaf of bread. It was so nice for a change. If you have any good summer meals, send them my way! I feel like I’m in a rut, and it happens every summer even though we have access to fresh produce.
We thank God every day that He brought us here. Scott and I were talking about it all last night. We both have grown closer to the Lord, our marriage has grown stronger, and our children are so full of joy since we moved out here. We didn’t know what God had in store when He closed doors several years ago. If we had seen what was coming, maybe we wouldn’t have been so hurt and struggled so much. But that struggle and pain stretched us and we grew. Growth is often painful, isn’t it. We still hold everything with an open hand. We know that the Lord directs our paths. We prayerfully approach everything in our lives. There is no better way to live.