Some of you may be familiar with Countryside Magazine. Below is something I submitted to them. It's been on my mind for a while now and I finally put it in words.
I have been a Countryside fan and reader for about 25 years. It was a magazine I happened across in the grocery store. I was probably drawn to an adorable picture of an animal on the cover to begin with, but then all of the interesting articles listed on the cover drew me in even further.
Twenty three years ago we bought 40 acres that has been in my husband's family since the first homesteading days of this country. His Grandfather took it over from another relative who was having trouble proving it up. His wife died when the 4 kids were still young, so he raised them on the 160 acres all by himself. In his later years, each of the kids were given 40 acres. We are the current stewards of that land, having bought it from my in laws in 1985 when they hit the road in a 30 ft. Winnebago.
The only outbuilding that came with the place was a 3 sided calf shed. It was made out of recycled materials and fit the purpose. Then came the chicks I had to have! A couple of sheets of plywood and hinges and we now had 4 sides! At least it kept the predators out. After raising the chicks in that, the very first thing I had to have was a chicken coop. We set to work and with the help of his dad, my husband built a coop. We even insulated it. My father in law likes to joke that it's probably the only insulated chicken coop in the valley, but it has served us well and kept the girls warm.
For the first 21 years of our marriage, my husband was a long-haul truck driver, so he was gone quite a bit. I have to laugh now, because back in those days I hid Countryside under the bed when he came home for fear he'd think I'd gone off the deep end. You see, I was young and knew how I wanted to raise my kids, but this was the 80's and definitely not an era of back-to-the-land types. What would people say, namely my husband?
I had been raised on a farm for the first 10 years of my life and I have a theory that once it's in your blood and bones, it never leaves. You may leave the farm, but it never leaves you. So here we were, sitting on 40 acres with a house, a garage and a chicken coop. What more could I want? Well, that is a loaded question. Besides laying hens, we certainly needed some meat birds. We converted a wooden stock rack into another temporary chicken coop to raise the meat birds. A little plastic over it and it was weather proof. I never will forget my son's preschool class coming to visit and one of the kids looking puzzled asked, "THIS is your chicken coop?" Hey, it worked for us.
The first meat bird experiment was just that. What a learning experience! Thank goodness for friends who have been doing this type of thing for years and are willing to answer any questions. I never would've made it through that first trial and error without them. My birds grew too big too fast and looked like freaks. Besides that, they were dropping dead at a rapid pace. The first thing Bill told me to do was taper them off the store bought feed and just give them grains. I did that and was able to salvage most of the birds. Then came time to butcher. We didn't have a clue what we were doing. We offered free chickens to anyone who would come help and show us how to do it. I am here to tell you, we had very few takers. We were beginning to wonder what we were going to do and then a call came from another friend who was knowledgeable, willing and able. I still have pictures of that first butchering day and what a day it was. The satisfaction and pride of knowing we grew our own meat was an awesome feeling.
Off and on we raised a few Holstein calves for beef. We had good luck, for the most part, with that. My in laws had experienced with raising farm animals, but they were on the road a lot too. Their winters were spent in Arizona and that was B.C. Before Cell phones. I couldn't just call them with a question if I had one.
The next thing to add to the farm was sheep. A friend was raising some little Shetland and Shetland X sheep and it just so happened that these particular two were born on my birthday. She called me and said I got to name them. I certainly couldn't let 2 little lambs I had named go off to the sale ring, now could I? They had to come home. We are fortune in that we have some nice pasture, 5 acres of which was not being utilized to its fullest by the people leasing our farm land. We made an agreement and that 5 acres became my sheep pasture and 2 sheep quickly became too many sheep. I was in seventh heaven and our kids were enjoying life in the country.
Fast forward 23 years and if you'd stop by the place now in addition to the layers, you would have about 100 meat birds greeting you and wanting a treat, 6 turkeys (ma, pa and their 4 offspring), plenty of sheep and lambs, milk goats, pigs, a llama, a bunny and various steers. Where has the time gone? I can't answer that question. I only know that the time to start your homestead is now, no matter where you are. Before you know it you will blink your eyes or turn your head and 25 years will have passed you by.
I am happy to report that I no longer hide my Countryside under the bed and now that my husband is not a long-haul driver, he has the time to read it too. |
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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