Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Countrified

My original slant when I started this blog a couple of months before Felicity died was, "a city girl's perspective on life in the country". I realize I've not written much about my perspective on life in the country, but am resolving now to begin doing so. And it was all inspired by the gift I received on Saturday from my sister-in-law, Annette. Yup, that's the gift on my head - a bonafide gardening hat.

And if the above picture fails to give a good view of this hat, here's another photo from the side. (That's a frog on the side. And don't worry he's not lonely. There's a bee, ladybug, flower and sun to keep him company, not to mention all those sunflowers.) If I wore this hat in the city, I'd get some looks, but out here in the country, it's actually quite the fashion. With our lack of trees and major wind here, this large of a hat could make me airborne. But, hey, the boys would love it. For once I'd be a fun mom. And if all else fails, this hat could certainly be hung on the wall for decoration.

Along with the hat delivery, my brother-in-law brought us four new family members. We've named the hens Feathers, Omelet, and Henny Penny. In my opinion, naming our animals is half the fun of owning them. Of course, I may regret doing so if we butcher them later in the year and my children have bonding issues later in life.


And this handsome guy is Peter Drumstick. Peter is in honor of my bro-in-law.


With the rising food costs, we're going to put them to work right away. So far we've received one egg (unfortunately brown, not golden). They are free-ranging it for the first time today. Hopefully after two days of being cooped up (literally) they'll willingly return to the coop at the end of the day. I'm also hoping they'll lay their eggs in the nest boxes rather than under our pick-up truck, though I doubt Elijah would have any problems crawling under the pick-up to retrieve eggs. I'm just not sure the eggs would survive.

So, as a former city girl I'm learning about caring for chickens. The advantages are the eggs and the experience for the boys. The drawback would definitely be the poo. I didn't realize chicken poo is so large.


And lastly, while it doesn't have anything to do with chickens, I thought I'd further embarrass my stud of a husband in this photo taken at our AWANA carnival last week. My women's group always does a theme game and this year we all dressed up as Egyptians. It was A LOT of work, but also a lot of fun (for about an hour :)
Stay tuned for another country living post sometime in the next week. Topic: Septic tanks. Seriously.



9 comments:

The Three 22nds said...

We had a chicken...but then it turned out to be a rooster, so we had to get rid of him :( He got a little bit mean.

I would love to live in the country and have chickens! Maybe someday!

Their names are great!

Sara said...

Rachel,
I love the hat, that totally made me laugh, which feels so good. So thankyou. I have always loved the country. Our last 2 homes have kind of been like city homes but out in the country... We have an acre, but we would love more for the kids to be able to do all the animals and such... It is a lot of work though:) But such a learning experience for the kids. Thinking of you today and continually praying for the Lord to comfort us each day... the fog and gloominess (sp?) is lifting a little, for that I am thankful... it was such a bad week. God's peace to you friend.
Sara

Molly said...

Rachel--Hilarious! I had to comment because we're "people who know the name of our beef" (as my sister-in-law's bbq champion friend says). Brendan comes from a family of farmers, though he's a city boy himself. So, we'll often get a quarter steer or pork, or chickens (and lots of eggs!) who were named by Brendan's dear cousins. Often our meal prayers with his family will end with "And thank you, Bob, for providing this delicious steak supper for us!" There's something about knowing where your food came from that's quite settling!
Also, as a side note, thank you for having all the right things to say these last couple of weeks. I've been meaning to be in touch, but we continue to be swamped with the house and Brendan's graduation, etc. I've been emotionally all over the place and reading your posts have been quite inspiring. Thank you!
-Molly

Sharleen said...

I look forward to your take on country living Rachel. I did it for 4 years in AL. I never did quite feel like I "fit in" out there in the backwoods, but I just might have if I had a hat like yours. LOL
I've meant to tell you before that the main picture on your blog even looks like our old backyard in AL...we had cows behind out house too.

Sharleen said...

Um that was "our house" not out house" LOL We had indoor plumbing. What a funny typo.

Heidi said...

Hey! I pulled up your blog and the boys knew right away it was your blog and want to know where the chickens where when we visited.

I told them that you guys just got them and Aidan proceeded to inform me that we would have to come see them next time we go to Grandmas!

I guess he's inviting us over :)

Enjoy your fresh eggs, we get them from one of Tim's students and they are SOOOOOO yummy.

Diane Shiffer said...

that is a very unique hat! lol... you look adorable in it.. very country chic;)


we have chickens too, and we did slaughter some meat chickens last year. not a pleasant experience, but it gave me a freezer full of organic chickens which has been very nice indeed☺

Jennifer Ross said...

Love the pictures. It looks like you know how to have fun!! My friends raise chickens also, they really like the taste of the eggs better than store bought eggs. It's a lot of work though!

S Laurie said...

Definitely diggin' the hat. I just got a pair of sun protection hats. It's like a portable shade tree.