Down on the Farm

Some of you may know we had a brief moment last summer where we decided we should move out of our beautiful home in the country to suburbia where many of our friends and family (and stores!) live. There are lots of advantages to moving closer, but we decided with some prayer that it wasn't time and God still had things for us to do right where we are. So, this decision led Geoff to immediately begin planning for some things he's always talked about - chicken coop, vegetable garden and just general sustainable living. I told him today that he is the gas and I am the brake on this moving vehicle of dreams. It's a good balance though not always an easy one to strike. If he had it his way we'd have built fences, bought 5 cows, a few pigs and the land next to us. I kindly let him know that sadly money and time do not grow on trees, and I'd like to make sure we're suited for this kind of life before we invest our children's future in it. So, we agreed that this year we'd get some chickens, start a decent vegetable garden and keep a hive of bees for honey.

So, I'll start with the chickens. When we initially discussed this I had thought we agreed 5 or so was a nice number to start with. We aren't massive egg eaters, but it would be nice to share with a few family and friends the fruits of our labor (or really their labor, but you get the point). The hens he wanted produce about 2 eggs every 3 days, so we'd have about 2 dozen a week. Well, he started reading and dreaming and really felt like God was leading us to do something a bit bigger. We live in a community where you will likely pass a very nice home next to a few trailers looking terribly run down. The economic differences sadly run parallel to the racial differences in the county. The blessing of having a not-so-shy spouse is that it's not too hard for us to meet people, but you do have to take the extra effort when you live in the country. And like in the good old days when you wanted to meet neighbors you brought them a pie, dinner or cookies, Geoff thought it would be great to deliver eggs and fresh produce as a way to connect. So, the 5 chickens turned into 55 - yes, I said 55. A week from today we will be trekking to the post office to pick up 55 chicks.

Now, I am coming to terms that not all of them will live - not only because 15 of them are Cornish hens for eating (eek!) but because it's just the nature of life. But still, this is A LOT of laying hens. You may or may not have received my plea to start saving your egg cartons - if you didn't, and you see us, please start saving them! Lord knows we will need them.

The chickens are definitely the most interesting of the farming escapades we have agreed to take on this year, but I am probably most excited about the veggies. Geoff...well, he's getting there. Geoff eats about 5 vegetables, and he knows that growing more of our own food also means learning to eat it (much like me trying to eat the Cornish hen I once cupped in my hand when she was a chick), so he's agreed to try things. We ordered at least 30 different packets of seeds after doing some research on Virginia Tech's agriculture site (sorry UVA, Tech has you beat here). We've received most of them, organized them by date to be planted and have a schedule laid out. This weekend we started a number of seeds (mainly herbs) in small pots. Since we don't have a greenhouse, we are using a spare bedroom to grow the (see pic below). Now a veggie garden is a lot of work, so I'm thinking of this year as the trial year. We'll see what veggies grow well here, what Geoff will eat and what others will eat and then we'll modify for next year.

And lastly, the bees. So, my dad keeps bees and has really enjoyed it. He claims they're low maintenance and has hooked us up with his bee guy. The bee guy came out last week to see the supplies we had (all donated by my dad), shared some info with Geoff and ordered us 6 pounds of bees, which will also be mailed in April.

Isn't it weird what can be mailed nowadays? Bees and chickens!

So, this is only the beginning of life down on the farm with the Lawrence's. Stay tuned and see the farm in the making through pictures below.


Bee hives.


Soon-to-be seedlings.


Farmer Geoff.


Shed/chicken coop phase one.


Shed/chicken coop phase two.