We Have a Farm: How we got this far

We have a farm. In the interest of space I will keep every post under 500 words. I know how boring some blogs can be. This is the first post so I will keep it simple. Our family moved into my great grandparent’s house in the fall of 2009. Well, most of our family. I met Carly about the same time. She is my wife and didn’t move in until later. What she did do, along with me, is take our suburban house and turn it into full-fledged farm. It started with my desire to keep my grandparent’s legacy of being proficient gardeners. On the cusp of our first spring together I mentioned this and she asked if I had ever considered getting chickens. In less than an hour we had five chicks in a cardboard box. Today, they lay almost every day. Gardening has been a venture of reward and frustration. Our kids have seen the investment of planting seeds and the disappointment of watching them wither. We have all learned a lot about stewardship and that food doesn’t come from nowhere.
Today we have four full grown chickens. One died last year. Last week we got a chick and a duck too. We also have three rabbits. This spring we acquired a few pear trees and berry bushes. Our lot is fairly large and we have a big spot that is set aside especially for gardening. We also have placed edible plants throughout our yard because they are pretty and because they are food. We have a long way to go. This is one of the reasons we wanted to write about it; because we have learned a lot in the last two and a half years and now we more intentional about taking the next step. Let me tell you why.
We believe that living simply and being content is ideal. We see food as a way to express love. When food is cheap and meaningless then it is easy to forget where it came from and who produced it. Our oldest saw a video about the way meat makes it to the grocery store earlier this year so we decided to no longer eat meat that comes from factory farming. Because of that we have been meat free since the end of January. Today we are considering breeding rabbits for meat. We have ideas about getting another duck to breed as well. If we follow through with this we will slaughter them in our garage.
As far as the garden is concerned, we have had many successes and failures so far this year. Today we planted kale and bok choy. Our radishes are looking strong and so are our cabbages. We have trays of starts in our dining room that are waiting for sunnier days and warmer nights. There is much to say about what we have done, will do, and why; but that is for another time. We have a farm.