Live. Love. Chickens.

"I wish I could do that." I've said those words multiple times throughout my life. I wish I could ride horses like that. I wish I could play clarinet like that. I wish I looked like that. I wish I was more like that. How often do we become envious of others instead of looking at our qualities and seeing the potential we have to accomplish our goals? Somewhere along the way,  I learned that the problem was not that I was incapable, but that I was unwilling to try. I probably wouldn't succeed, so why bother? Such crap. I look back at how I was a few years ago and am angry that I let my self-doubt get the best of me. I've quit so many things in my life because I was too scared to fail. I honestly don't know what happened... maybe the gentle push of my husband... but I decided if anything was going to change, I would have to do it myself.  Goal 1 - Learn to run . There was this girl in middle school that picked on me constantly, and the instance that comes

Every few months or so I ask the kids to tell me about their favorite things and biggest interests. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" has always been my favorite question to ask because I love to hear them describe their dreams, especially Big. When he was two he was crazy about trains, so naturally, he wanted to be a "train driver." Everything he wanted revolved around trains and I'm pretty sure he owns every Thomas train out there.  The train phase lasted until he was about 3.5 and then he decided he would rather be Peter Pan. Naturally, we all had to dress up in Peter Pan/Tinkerbell attire. Don't worry, we only did this on Halloween.  Since then he's wanted to be a Superhero, an astronaut, a knight, a dentist, and his latest... "someone who cuts people's hair." Wish granted, kiddo.  While Big may not grow up to be a train conductor, or Peter Pan, or a barber... and Hadley may not grow up to be th

When Aaron first came to me about possibly owning chickens, I thought he was crazy. They aren't cute or cuddly and I was sure they would smell like poop (literally). We started buying our produce and eggs at a local farm and the difference in taste of the farm-fresh eggs was amazing. I started researching chicken ownership, mostly on  Backyard Chickens ,  and found out lots of positive things that made me think it might be a good idea for my family. First, bug control . People said that they help control the fire ant population. SOLD! Second, education and life lessons for the kids. Third, EGGS . My family eats a ton. Fourth, quality of life for the chicken. ***Stop here if you don't like reading sad animal stories*** I have always turned a blind eye on how the animals we use for food are treated because it made me too sad. One of my friends told me that even many "free-range" chickens live in a very confined space with limited ability to go outside. Even worse, s

"I think I'll write a blog!" Easy first words, followed by not having a clue on how to start. I decided to start a blog because I want to talk about my crazy life with family and chickens without feeling bad about putting it all over social media. I've been a wife for 7 years, mom for 5 years, and chicken owner for 3 months. I'm hoping to write about our new experiences as chicken owners and what all is involved in chick/en ownership, as well as including fun stories about my family. So what's first??? Introductions! This is me! Other than hanging out with my family and obsessing over chickens, I'm a God-loving, clarinet playing, exercise crazy, and volunteer of too many things. I'm also in school...again... (30 is the new 18, apparently) and struggling with what I'm really being called to do. This is my husband, Aaron. Poor guy is constantly making/fixing things for me. This was his project this past weekend: repairing our old pla