New Family Goals: Homesteading, Hobby Farming, & More

Up until a couple years ago, Brian, the kids, and I lived in this cute little blue house on a quiet cul-de-sac:

We lived on almost an acre of land, which we felt was a lot of land back then, and did as much on that acre of land as we could. Brian tilled a 40 X 40 foot garden and planted fruit trees. I maintained our landscaping and our wildflower garden. We also obtained five chickens, all Rhode Island Reds, from a friend a few years after we moved into the house, when the City Council finally passed the ordinance allowing homes in our neighborhood to keep chickens (no roosters).

After having five chickens for a year, we decided we wanted more chickens. We sold our five chickens and bought eight chicks from a local farm store. This group included Easter Eggers, Browns, Cinnamon Queens, and Leghorns. The Leghorns were my favorite–they were smaller and nicer than the other chickens. Brian built them a chicken tractor, so we moved them around the yard during the spring, summer, and fall. They lived out by the garden in the winter. I posted about them here, and here’s a photo from that post for reference:

We knew when we moved last year, onto a bigger lot in a rural area, that we wanted to get more animals–not just more chickens, but more types of animals. We have been gradually working toward this goal. If you read our Christmas card from last year here you might remember that we bought the lot next door to us; we own about 20 acres of land total. Brian left his position as an LPN and now works casual call. He spends most of his days outside watering in the garden, taking care of the chickens, and managing the trees and woods on our lot, and he stills works the occasional shift. I’m learning how to prepare and preserve the food we get from the garden, in addition to teaching and writing. Whew!

Now that I’ve explained some of our goals, past, present, and future, here are some photos of what we’ve been doing on our land, and a few photos of the land itself.

First, introducing Luna!

In these photos, she’s just over three months old and will weigh around 100 pounds as a mature dog. She’s a Maremma, which is a livestock guardian dog breed similar to the Great Pyrenees. Janet Vorwald Dohner wrote an excellent book about livestock guardian dogs called “Livestock Guardians: Using Dogs, Donkeys, and Llamas to Protect Your Herd.” She describes three different types of livestock guardian dogs: full-time livestock guardians, farm and family guardians, and companions. We bought Luna to be a farm and family guardian, meaning she’ll guard us, our house, our shed, and our animals. She currently lives in our garage and has an outdoor pen she can access through a doggie door, but when she gets bigger she’ll live in a doghouse by the shed, closer to the chickens and whatever our next animal is–sheep? goats? pigs? We shall see.

She’s a beautiful, lively, and affectionate puppy, and she’s already proved herself a competent guardian. A couple weeks ago, she scared away two neighborhood dogs that had wandered onto our lot. Her bark is loud, but she’s not bred to attack, just protect.

Next, some photos of our lot and our outbuildings. For reference, here’s our house and the view from our front door looking down our driveway into the street:

And now, starting with Luna’s pen and going out into the yard, here’s a tour:

This land on which we can build our homestead, raise animals, and feed our family is an unexpected and gracious gift from God. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” When we moved, we had no idea what God had planned for us here, and it is beyond anything we could have asked for or imagined. We have a home, family close by, and a wonderful, caring community at church and at school. God does marvelous things!

I began writing this poem on a walk in our woods one evening this spring, as the cool breezes drifted through the fresh air, the smell of recent rain seeped up from the ground, and new growth sprang from the trees. It echoes some of the themes from Ecclesiastes:

This Ancient Land

This ancient land, all my own;
This ancient land, my new home;
This ancient land, I walk free,
Part of the ancient story.

Prarie grass sways in the wind
Like the ever-changing tide;
The seasons change, too, I see
I’ve lost what I thought was mine.

Yet all this wide place belongs
To me, to grow as I see fit;
As birds return on the wing,
The change to spring is swift.

The lettuce has grown too big
For the cups on the windowsill,
A few more days of freezing
Nights; the world is waiting still.

And then the morning dawns when
Winter’s last breath of frost
Covers the lawn for one last time;
I’ve regained what I thought I lost.

This ancient land, all my own,
This ancient land, my new home,
This ancient land, I walk free,
Part of the ancient story:

The ancient story of building,
The ancient story of growing,
The ancient story of guiding,
The ancient story of knowing

All things come in time; as God
Permits so the seasons flow,
From harvesting in summer all
The way to spring’s fresh glow.