Security...

The egg bounty this week!

Someone asked me today why I have backyard chickens and if I really saved that much money on eggs.  I had to honestly answer: no.....  My urban flock is up to 17 birds currently, and where most of of them are not up to the age of laying eggs just yet, they will be soon!  The answer to this question is that I love knowing where my food comes from.  I love knowing that my eggs come from chickens who have been free to run around and scratch the ground.  They have eaten large amounts of fresh vegetables and have gorged on bugs.  They have been fed, watered, loved and in return they pay me back by giving me fresh eggs.  It is the security of having food in my backyard, readily at my fingertips just in case there is a some type of apocalypse and all of the grocery stores are closed down.  Backyard chickens are to me a form of security in a not so secure world.

Saturday Blog Hop: The Happy Box!



Do not pay attention to my terrible hair in this picture.  I know I look like Kramer off of Friends....

Part of my quest to be an "urban farmer" has made me look at the food that I eat.  I have determined that I eat terrible because it is easy, so I recently joined a CSA program in our community.  It is called "The Happy Box".  You decide what vegetables and fruits that you want to receive, and they pick and deliver your produce once a week.  It is all organic, and it tastes amazing!  I swear I eat more produce this way strictly because I get so excited to eat it.  Opening that box on Friday is always so exciting because you never know what you are going to get, and I eat things I would never have eaten before because they are delivered to me.  Pictured below is the photographic evidence that I am not the only one who is excited about "The Happy Box".  It turns out Stewart likes organic produce too!

Stewie and his organic carrot!

Urban Farming: Chickens

Dixie!

Okay, so confession time: I love chickens!  There is nothing like sitting on your deck, sipping a glass of wine, while watching your chickens frolic in the yard.  The problem?  I live in the middle of the city....  This has not deterred me from my dream of becoming an urban farmer though.  (I really want fresh eggs!)  All winter I have been researching chickens, and finally I purchased these 6 little girls from the local feed store just a few weeks ago.  I built an indoor chicken coop over the weekend, and an outdoor coop will soon follow.  I love listening to them chirp and cheep, and they are everything I imagined they would be!  Katzya and I named them: Dixie, Dorothy, Demi, Daisy, Dolly, and Diane (after my mom!).  It will be a few months before my fresh eggs start rolling in, however I am in love with these fuzzy little critters already! 

Watching our new arrivals!