Oof.
Last week was a doozy.
Somehow, one of our chickens ended up trapped under a plastic tub on one of the hottest days. When I found him, he was barely alive. I did everything I could to nurse him back to health, but he died anyway. I’m going to be honest. I cried. I cried while forcing him to drink an electrolyte mix. I cried when Scott found him dead. Ugh. It was so sad.
Just a couple days later, a hawk got one of our hens. She was the sweetest hen.. always letting Harper carry her around. We let our chickens free-range during the day. They eat the bugs around the yard, and we get the pleasure of seeing them so happy. Scott spent the rest of the time covering the open portion of the run. I went on the hunt for an owl decoy to help scare the hawk away.
Our garden has been growing really well, other than the greens. Birds or pests keep eating the swiss chard, so we are giving up on it this year. Tomato hornworms have been attacking the plants. One day I picked off ten of those nasty things. Over the weekend, I pulled off at least 15. If you know of an organic product or concoction that I can make to deter them, please let me know!
It was just one of those weeks that felt so discouraging. It felt like everything was fighting against us. We have been working so hard to live a more sustainable life.. less reliant on grocery stores for our food.. and the hits kept coming. Plants got blown over in storms. Other things came out of nowhere and hit us hard.
But, it’s a new week. We are picking ourselves up by the bootstraps and dusting ourselves off. The run is completely covered. We kept the chickens put away for a few days, got our creepy owl set up, and haven’t seen the hawk for three days. I haven’t seen anymore hornworms, though our tomatoes do look pretty sad. I’ve trimmed off the eaten parts and am praying that it grows some more.
Our pickling cucumbers are growing! Our melon is growing! It even looks like we have a few pumpkins from our seeds that planted themselves!! I pulled some of our carrots that were growing too close to others, and they are growing really well. Scott and the girls planted more rows of carrots and some radishes last night.
This homesteading gig is not for the faint of heart. I’ll probably cry every time we lose a chicken. That’s just who I am. But, we are going to do our best to protect them and keep them happy. Just a month or so longer and we should start getting some eggs!
We have learned a lot in the short time that we’ve been doing this, and I know there is so much more to learn! This land is a gift. This view is a gift. I am so grateful.
