Bunnies, Chicks, and a Birthday

We've significantly added to our number of living beings on this little farm!

Earlier this week, we picked up our chicks - 20 total - from our friends who so kindly incubated eggs from their chickens for us. They are currently in our house in a bin, staying warm under a heat lamp, eating a ton of feed, chirping, and sleeping. They're pretty cute and fun to watch!

The kids had been asking - no, begging - us for rabbits since they saw them at Rural King a few weeks back. The owners of our house left a rabbit hutch so we said, "Sure! Why not?" Last weekend we stopped to get eggs from a guy down the road ($2 a dozen for HUGE eggs - awesome!) and he sold us two sweet little bunnies for $6 each. It turns out Rural King sells his rabbits, but for twice what he sells them for. The kids absolutely love them. The bunnies are also currently in the house in a cage, at least until they get bigger and the weather warms up a bit more. They get cuddled and loved on quite a bit.

Jude's bunny is named Skittle. Audrey's is Marshmallow.

And last but certainly not least, our little Luke had his 3rd birthday yesterday! He's such a sweetie - and such a stinker, too... basically a typical three-year-old boy! :)

Planting

The number one reason we want to live on a homestead is so we can have room to produce a large percentage of our own food. Every week, half of our grocery cart is produce! In an effort to save money, reduce the number of trips to the grocery store (thus saving on fuel costs), and be more self-sufficient, we are planning to have quite a large garden this year. I'm also planning on canning, freezing, and drying everything we don't consume right away.

We have a bit of a head start - we aren't starting from scratch, like some homesteaders. We moved onto a well-established one acre farm. We'll already have strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, horseradish, mint, lemon balm, echinacea, and more! We don't have to build a chicken coop, there's one here that just needs to be spruced up. The garden area is set - all we need to do is till and plant it when the time comes. We also have a greenhouse/hoop house with raised beds, though the cover isn't on right now, to extend our growing season into the fall and winter. Our neighbors have fruit trees - apples, pears, and sour cherries - that they don't even harvest so we are welcome to it. They also have a pond with bass that we are welcome to fish from.

Even though all that is here, we still have a lot of work to do to get the garden ready for planting. There is a TON of thistle out there, which I've read is nearly impossible to get rid of, plus the garden was overgrown with grass and other weeds last year and we need to get all of that out of there. We're excited about our garden dreams so don't mind the work it's going to take to reach them.

Today the kids and I started some seeds in plastic cups and old egg cartons. Adam and I realized that most of the seeds we have are too old and won't germinate, so we took a trip to the local farm store and stocked up on seeds. We got all the basics but there's a few more things I'd like to get including some medicinal herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. The possibly of making our own herbal teas and remedies is so exciting! I want to learn as much as I can about herbs and how they can be used to maintain health, and treat and heal illness.

So, tomorrow the weather is supposed to be quite nice, so the kids and I will be outside in the garden getting as much done as possible, as well as starting some more seeds indoors. We had a hard freeze last night and snow the night before so I'm wondering if our "last frost" will be later than usual. I guess we'll just have to see!

Evening

Above are a few photos I took on my stroll around the farm yesterday evening. It's so beautiful out here. I really can't quite get over how peaceful it is, even with the kids running around and playing.

Yesterday was sunny, warm, and windy. The way the wind was blowing through the giant pine trees reminded me of ocean waves. This is all so new to me, having never lived out in the country before, and I'm constantly noticing the quiet, or the little patch of green moss, or the way the sun shines through the trees at sunrise or sunset, or that silly thing the chicken does.

I hope I never forget to pay attention, to stop and look and listen. Being present in each moment, using all my senses to experience this place, has made me incredibly grateful. I've always been one to be discontent - to wonder, "What is the next thing?? Surely it's better than what I have now!" But now. Oh, now. I'm living in the moment! I'm happy right here, right now. I'm so thankful for what I have right here, right now. It isn't perfect by any means - in fact, *right now* the smell of cow manure is coming in through the windows! Blech! - but it's my life and I'm choosing to live in gratitude and contentment. I mean, if I'm smelling cow manure, then it means my windows are open because it's finally warm! It means we live on a farm and next to a farm! It means our dream of homesteading has come true - at least for a couple years.

I love this place. I'm so excited to really begin gardening as we near the last frost, to learn how to can our fruits and vegetables, to grow culinary and medicinal herbs and save them. So many things to learn, and I love that the kids can learn right along with Adam and me.

Oh! And chickens! Our friends who own a little homestead in our old town have offered to incubate eggs for us. We should have at least 15 chicks in a few weeks! So exciting! The kids have already named them all. :)

On a Sunday in April...

We had an exciting Sunday morning around here! Our neighbors have three cows that live just on the other side of the fence.

Getting ready for church, Jude says, "There's a cow in our yard!"

"No, there isn't. It probably just looks like that," said I.

"Mom, there's a cow in the yard. Really! Look!"

Sure enough, there was a cow in the yard. The clever thing had realized the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence - at least on this little farm.

Adam ran out and tried to shoo the cow back which caused the cow to flip out a little. We have zero experience with cows so I yelled out the door to walk up to the neighbors and tell them their cow was out. They didn't answer the door.

I called the owners of our house (also our friends) and asked for the neighbor's number. I called. No answer. So I left a message.

By now, all three of the cows had figured out how to get through,

and there they were, grazing away. We stood outside and watched them, thankful that we hadn't actually planted anything in our garden yet, which is very close to where they were grazing.

The (very nice) neighbors finally came down, after listening to my message, and herded the escapees back into their pen. They apologized, and we said, "No worries! It was funny and now we have our first farm-living story!"

We chatted for a bit and they offered us use of their pond and said we could fish anytime. Adam and Jude were especially excited about that, so last evening we went over and fished for a couple hours. Jude caught the first one and ended up catching three more. Audrey caught four and Adam caught a few as well. The kids were pretty excited about it all and got very adept at taking the hooks out. We released all the fish at the end, though I'm sure in the summer, as the fish get bigger we'll keep some bass and cook them up.

Adam said on facebook last night that he could get used to this way of life - it's like a permanent vacation. There are plenty of interesting things to do, and it's obviously never a dull moment!

Moving Day

Moving day has come and gone. It was a whirlwind! For starters it rained - and I mean it RAINED all.day.long on Saturday before turning into a frozen mix in the late afternoon. I'm thinking it was probably the worst day weather-wise to move to a farm with no driveway! The yard was mostly mud as you can see in the photo and the U-Haul got stuck as Adam was backing it in. This is as close as we could get the truck to the house so everything had to be carried quite a ways. After unloading and as Adam was trying to get unstuck, a kind man in a heavy duty pickup was driving by and noticed we need help. He was able to use his truck to pull out the U-Haul and we were good to go! God sends people to help at just the right time. Much like the guys from church who came to help us move even though the weather was awful. They sacrificed their Saturday afternoon to carry furniture and boxes in the cold rain.

We are on Day 5 at the homestead and I finally feel like we are getting to a place of normalcy. We are mostly unpacked (except for the homeschool room/office which I will be working on some more tomorrow) and we are feeling quite at home here. We've had some good weather days with warm air and lots of sunshine, and today it poured down rain most of the day but was still kind of warm.

We've started to work in the garden. I planted peas and cabbage already. We've dug up weeds and are planning to plant some more cool-weather veggies over the weekend. We have raised beds and a regular garden. We're starting with the raised beds because the garden is absolutely covered with weeds. It should be interesting trying to keep the garden weeded this summer!

Another adventure in the last five days has been technology related and not all that fun. We finally got all our internet stuff squared away after a couple frustrating days. But the worst was dropping my cell phone in the creek on Sunday evening when we were taking a walk/hike. It spent a long 10 minutes submerged in water before Adam found it. Fortunately, I had a Lifeproof case on it. Unfortunately, I didn't have the headphone jack cap on it and some water got in. It spent a few days in a bowl of rice and all is mostly well with it now. The only (seemingly) permanent damage is that it no longer rings and I can't use headphones with it. Oh, well! I'm just thankful I didn't need to buy a new phone.

Being without my "lifeline" for a few days was nice. Like, really nice. I liked being disconnected. It was more of a relief than an inconvenience. I'll have to write more of my thoughts about that another time.

Anyway, I'm glad to be here. Really, really glad. It's awesome being out in the beautiful country. I don't know how many times a day I catch myself just gazing out the window, breathing in the fresh air, and listening to the wind and birds. It's peaceful and pure loveliness.

Packing

Packing isn't so bad. Packing with three kids underfoot is a bit more of a challenge! Thankfully, my 9 and 6 year olds like to help. The 2 year old likes to *not* help. :)

Things are moving along nicely as we near our move date (the 29th - whoo-hoo!). We stopped by the homestead yesterday to talk about paint colors with the owner. They have so graciously asked what color we would like the living room and homeschool room to be! How sweet is that? They said they are going to be painting anyway so we might as well choose the color. We were really brave and went with antique white - ha! After visiting a Sherwin-Williams yesterday to look at our choices, I decided picking out a color really isn't that fun after all. I'd much rather go with a neutral and use decorations, pillows, and blankets to add color to a room! There isn't as much to commit to and it's easier to change if the mood strikes.

Yesterday was a chilly, rainy day and as we were leaving the homestead, I stood outside and almost cried. It was absolutely quiet out there, except for the calls of a few different birds. The scent of earth and pine was magnified by the drizzle of rain. It was just… breathtaking. After always living in a suburb - like my entire 31 years of life - it is simply stunning to be out in the country, away from everything. It's hard to describe! I can't believe that we will get to be there all the time starting next weekend!

Eventually, I will post photos on the blog. Right now I have a sleeping 2 year old on my lap and I can't hop up and get a nice shot of all the packed boxes and plain-looking rooms. ;) Maybe for the next post!

Until then…

Beginnings

First blog posts are always the hardest to write. How do I start this off? I want a place to record what we are doing. And what is that, you ask? We are embarking on a new adventure. We have the opportunity to rent a small homestead, about 25 minutes from our where we are now. The owners are friends of ours, and they've decided to live on a sailboat for a couple years. That could only work if they found someone to rent their farm. When we heard they were looking for new renters - and that the rent is about equal to what we are paying now - we jumped at the chance! We'll be moving in about two weeks! We are all very excited and can't wait to move and settle in!

You see, we have always wanted to try our hand at homesteading: A big garden, chickens, a couple goats. Learning to can. Heating with a wood burning stove. Living out in the country, with plenty of room to play and roam. Over 10 years ago I started reading Mother Earth News and that's when I started dreaming about the day when we would be able to do all those things. So, I guess you can say this is a dream come true!

It's only for a couple of years though - but we'll get two growing seasons there. One winter. A year of eggs from chickens (assuming we buy chicks this spring). We figure it will be a good gauge of whether or not we are cut out for a homesteading life - or if we really prefer to live a suburban one.

So, here on this little ol' blog, I'll be recording our homesteading adventure! Our successes and mishaps. Our joy and tears. I'll also write about living simply, homeschooling, my Christian faith, and whatever else I can think of.

One last thing: maybe you're wondering where I got the name Upper Meadow? I've never been very creative (original) when it comes to thinking up names for things, and I glanced out our kitchen window and saw one of the trail signs we got for free from a local working farm we visited. They were going to burn all their old signs and when we asked if we could have some they said yes. We thought they were charming and would be something interesting to hang up on the trees in the backyard. One of them says "Upper Meadow." I like how it sounds, very peaceful. I like that it alludes to Psalm 23:2: "He makes me to lie down in green pastures." It's a reminder to rest in Him because He is the provider of all things. He cares for us and loves us more than we could possibly ever know.