To get chickens or not to get chickens, that is the question...

Have you read Farm City by Novella Carpenter?  Ever since I’ve read her book, I have been obsessed with wanting to raise farm animals and growing a garden. I thought if she can do it, so can I!

It was great reading her about her accomplishments and her failures. Little did I know that I would be moving to the state where she was raised and very close to the city where her father currently resides.

Now that we have land and it is ours to do with what we wish, what are we going to do? I know I want to plant a garden and planning has already begun. I need to get some seeds and start sowing. I have some idea of what will grow and what won’t. I’ve gotten advice from many sources and I have a wonderful book to guide me. I think I am in good hands regarding getting started.

I have been doing some research on chickens. My head is spinning with all of the possibilities, but I have serious doubts. Right now, I am overwhelmed taking care of this huge house, homeschooling the kids, training a puppy, maintaining a wood stove, and keeping my sanity. There is enough to keep my busy almost all the time.

Do I have time in my schedule to even care for chickens? Sure as the weather warms up I won’t have to maintain the wood stove for heat. That will certainly be a huge load off my plate. Then I will have the garden to plan, cultivate, build, plant, and maintain.

Yup, I need to build my garden. You see we have a lot of wild animals roaming freely who would love a tasty treat. So far I have seen deer, mice, birds, turkeys, and moose. Although I am enjoying the beauty nature has to offer, I therefore must build at least a 6 foot fence around my garden. Apparently, deer can jump fences! A fact I was certainly not aware.

Luckily, I have already gotten a few offers to help build my garden, but not so confident about chickens.  We would have to build or buy a chicken coop and then figure out where is the best place to house them. Its tough right now because it is still winter and we don’t know what our landscape really looks like with all of the foliage.

So, perhaps we might skip this season getting chickens and may devote our time on other projects. I really do want chickens, but I may just have to set them aside for now. This is a tough realization and heartbreaking for me as you might be able to tell by my post. I will keep the idea on the back of the list and perhaps it might move up as time passes. 

We are in the book

When we first moved here, the previous owners left a phone book in a drawer. I thought this would come in handy to look up businesses in the area.

As I was perusing the book, I saw that it was not only for our area but also for a town 30 miles south of us. This book wasn't even that thick. Which made me wonder just how many people live in this town and the surrounding area? (The last census done in 2012 states 24,499)

We live in a college town and with my experience; there is a lot of transition. I think since we don’t live in the immediate town, but 10 miles outside, that our neighbors are more homesteaders.

It is neat to meet new people and discover how they arrived here. Did they come because of family, job, land, or they liked the area?

I mentioned our kind neighbor who helped jump start our car in my last post. We introduced ourselves and talked a bit about what we do for a living. After his help, he said if you need anything, “we are in the book.”

I about busted out laughing and asked, is this real? I am reminded of the movie "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character is so happy to find his name in the phone book. In case you need a refresher you can go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7aIf1YnbbU Sure enough, I checked to see if our neighbor was listed and I certainly found him.

The next person to mention they were in the book was our plow guy. Again, he introduced himself and said if I needed anything, that he was in the book. I immediately looked him up because he was an important number to have on hand and sure enough I found him.

I can only remember being in one phone book when we lived in Frankfort Square. I also still remember my phone number: 815-469-3368. It did not list our area code because area codes didn’t mean that much back then. This is a funny thing around here because the whole state of Idaho only has one area code: 208.

When I first got here and people gave me just a 7 digit number, I immediately asked,” What is the area code?”  I sure did a get a bunch of funny looks. The funniest looks I got are when people ask me for my number and I spout off a 10 digit number with a 617 area code. I get the "you aren't from these parts looks."

You are certainly right, I am not from these parts and I don’t think we will be listed in the phone book. You see we are terminating our 617 number because it no longer serves a purpose and are just using our cell phones.

I will never be able to say, "look me up, I'm in the book."

I never rely on the kindness of strangers

Rich and I got married at a young age. We left the nest and headed off to Texas leaving our families behind and start a new life. We’ve made some friends along the way and am luck that we are still in touch with some of them.

Along our journey, we have relied upon our friends from time to time, but really relied upon ourselves mostly. I think we were taught to just do things yourself. This way you aren’t upsetting your friends or asking them for things that might strain the relationship.

Another key factor is that we have always lived in an apartment in a city setting (except when we lived in Newton, MA). If we ever had a problem with something not working in our apartment, we just called the maintenance crew or owners. Sometimes we tackled the problems ourselves, but always knew we could rely on them to fix the problem.

When we moved from Texas to Massachusetts, we were met with people who are going about their own business. Many people would hardly stop if you were asking them a question or needed assistance. I have heard that those New Englanders were not friendly and I soon found out why. They aren’t getting the sleep required to be a nice. They wake up grumpy most mornings because their TV programs don’t end until 11pm. Something I could not quite understand considering the East Coast begins their day an hour before people in the central time zone. I know this first hand as I lived it for 6 years.

It was interesting when we moved to Newton, MA and Rich decided he was going to get up early and ride his motorcycle to work after an icy snow storm. Braedon was only a few months old and sleep was very precious. I kept hearing this strange noise of tires burning against ice. Then I would hear rumbling in our house and more tires screeching. Of course I had no choice but to get up and find out what the heck was going on outside. When I say early, it was just before sunrise and I was shocked Rich was going to work on his motorcycle. He was determined, but could not get the bike up the hill of our driveway. We had neighbors and probably could have asked them, but again it was way early in the morning. Finally after a bit of pushing and some boards, off he went and I had to drag my tired body into the house to take care of a newborn. This would be a foreshadowing of what was to come…

Chicago was no different except we met a few nice people, but a lot of people were too busy. Our neighborhood was full of transient people being that it was a community made up of students, professors or other related to the university. We knew our time wasn’t permanent and finding friends was not very easy.  It was a place filled with judgment, ridicule, and keeping up with one another—a game I hated. I found some true friends with whom I am grateful for their knowledge and non-judgmental views. Again, we didn’t rely or have to rely on them too much.

We knew that moving to Idaho was going to be challenging, but we didn’t realize the challenges would arrive so quickly. Our first encounter comes when Rich accidently let car battery die. He was outside working on the car and in the garage. The radio was keeping him company and then got distracted when our chairs were being delivered. He brought them in and then went on to do something else. He was supposed to pick up the rest of the furniture later in the day, but alas the car was dead.

Most of our lives we had two vehicles. When we moved to MA, we sold my car because we were moving to the city and street parking was a premium. Plus there was a great transit system and we didn’t really need anything more. Rich soon bought a motorcycle and then we were getting ready to have our 1^st child. We needed something more reliable and larger (not really but we thought so at the time) and sold our BMW to get the Mercedes. When we moved to Chicago, we did not have room for the motorcycle not did Rich have the time to drive it, so we sold it. The city offered great transportation and we were living 10 minutes from Rich’s work, so another car was not needed.

Here we are now in Idaho with one vehicle and living about 15 minutes from town. Rich had to find one of the neighbors to help jump start him. We were only here for about 1 week before relying on strangers. It was actually quite nice because we were able to meet someone and get an idea of the neighborhood. He was very friendly and we were in shock at how kind he was to us.

Not more than a week later, we rented a Uhaul to pick up some furniture we purchased. A whole leather couch, mini couch, an ottoman, and another vintage couch had to fit into this Uhaul. We needed furniture and I was tired of college furniture. We were not thinking clearly when we decided to pick up these items as it had been snowing. Of course it was getting dark and we ventured back home thinking we could easily get up our hill pulling this Uhaul. It was a sad sight when we almost made up the hill and then began to be dragged backwards. It was too slippery and we could not get traction to gain momentum up the hill.  Luckily, our other neighbor saw we were stuck and came to our rescue. He offered several suggestions, we dug out several spots and lots of kitty litter. We certainly grateful for his help and knew we could rely on him if we needed anything.  We were exhausted at this point and didn’t care if we sat on our floors for the rest of our lives.

Earlier in the week, Rich had hurt his back after we were swing around a cord of wood we purchased for our wood stove. I knew we were in trouble because our moving truck from Chicago was due to arrive the next morning. The car and Uhaul were clearly in the way and had to be moved. We needed to get the contents out of there this evening. Again, we had to rely on strangers for help. Rich quickly dialed a few people he was working with to see if they could come and help at 7pm at night. We were desperate because I couldn’t do it by myself and we didn’t want to risk further injury to Rich’s back. Surprisingly, the 2 brothers came right away and moved the furniture inside in minutes. They even hooked the Uhaul to their trucks and returned it for us.

I was in such shock and awe at the tremendous hospitality that was showered upon us in one evening. We were not sure if the move out here was a good idea, but with such wonderful people we have met thus far, it seems to be just right.

So, we do rely in the kindness of strangers.