Gardens, Goats, and Chickens

When James and I got married almost 13 years ago, He wanted to live  in the northwest in the middle of nowhere surrounded by acres of land with a large garden, plenty of goats to milk and chickens so we could have fresh eggs everyday.

I wanted to live in the suburbs,  purchasing my vegetables and eggs from the grocery store.  And skip the goats and chickens altogether because I was pretty sure they didn't allow goats or chickens in subdivisions.  

13 years later:

 We live in the southeast in the middle of a city in a small 1940's rental house that needs lots of work with our five kids (who seriously would love to be living in the middle of no where with a large garden, some goats, and a lots of chickens).

A couple of months ago, I was chatting with James in the kitchen.  I was describing Sarah Richardson's latest farmhouse renovation project. It looks like this.  I heart it.  It's lovely. 

Okay maybe not so much on the outside but you should see the inside!  It's fabulous!  It's so fabulous that I started thinking I wouldn't mind living on a farm surrounded by acres of land with a garden and maybe some chickens, and goats.  I even perused through an old copy of  a Mother Earth News magazine we had lying around the house.



"I want a farmhouse."  I said as I chopped onions.  "Wouldn't it be great to live out in the country surrounded by acres of land?  If we had enough space, we could totally get some goats and maybe some chickens.  I was reading in Mother Earth News all about making goat and dill cheese and how delicious would fresh eggs be and we definitely have to have a garden.  I've been reading up on canning.  And did you know that it only takes 3 to 5 years to produce peaches if you grow them from seeds?  I could totally make home made jam and I just finished an article on how to make butter.  Glorious butter!  Can you imagine that?"

The whole time, I was spouting off, James hadn't said a word.  He just smiled as he listen to me ramble on and on about goats and chickens and then it hit me, as I tossed the onions in a pan.  I hadn't thought of that post proposal conversation in years and now here I was the one suggesting gardens, goats, and chickens, oh my.



So, guess what?  We are planting a garden.

And a friend told me that you can have 2 chickens in the city limits (except the bi-laws for her subdivision don't allow chickens.) 

And there might be a possibility of a goat when we buy our farm house ...sometime down the line after all there is that "no pet" policy ( http://fivelittlemoberlys.blogspot.com/2011/10/lola.html). 


So, last  Monday we pulled out the shovels and hoe. 

 And got to work.

 The kids had lots of fun.  They actually argued over who got to use the shovel.  And if you're wondering what  Jackson is doing?   He's pretending he's a rooster.  "Because every farm has a rooster, Mom." 

So, we are not living in the northwest (sigh) surrounded by acres of land in a newly renovated farmhouse (yet) but we are working on our garden and thinking about chickens and maybe a goat and making lots of self discoveries like maybe gardens, goats, and chickens aren't so bad after all.

Oh and we discovered there are lots of worms in our dirt and that our "dirt" isn't really dirt at all but clay...

Anyone want to come over and help build grow boxes?  Anyone?