Home-what?! Homeschooling, home improvements, homesteading, yes we’re definitely homebodies! We’re perfectly content in our home and really don’t care to ever leave. When we first moved out here, the idea of homesteading was nowhere on our radar. The closest I thought I’d get was maybe owning a chicken and growing a tomato plant, but life in the country has definitely changed us. As we’ve been trying to get healthier food for our family on a tight budget, we realize our best option is raising a lot of the food ourselves. When we moved out here, I thought that people who raised meat chickens were insane, and I said I’d never ever in 1 million years consider bees. And why would anyone in their right mind want to raise a pig?! Now we find ourselves considering all these options...maybe ducks...maybe turkeys. Could someday maybe we handle a dairy cow? Our garden is expanding and what we want to raise is expanding too. We now own the barn across the street and our options are no longer limited to our acre yard. We tend to be over thinkers and over planners, and we aren’t the type to just jump right into something without any thought. This has been in the works more than most people realize, we’ve just been trying to think through things first before getting a plethora of opinions. So that dairy cow is only an idea, and probably, I would still say, not going to happen, but the meat chickens are happening, and with the number of books my husband has been reading on bees, they may be more in the future than I ever expected. I really want ducks, although we are in a disagreement on whether that’s a good choice, sheep, flowers; the things we’ve thrown around are quite the mix.
Right now we currently have 75 chickens, 2 goats, 2 dogs, and a cat and 5 kittens, plus two raised veggie beds, an herb bed, and my flower garden. Only time will tell where we’ll end up next.
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The new gravel has been wonderful and made everything look so much better. We used part of the pile for the new chicken coop path and for the veggie garden and the rest was for the driveway and garage. Unfortunately not all of the garage was able to be filled, but part of the inside was bare dirt so it was nice to be able to get that part covered. Little Danny and Elmer loved playing in the gravel pile every day but they weren't making much of a dent in actually spreading it out. I was worried Danny was going to be really upset when we finally spread out his "grabel," but when our friend showed up with his skid steer to do the work, Danny couldn't have been more excited. What we expected to take hours of work was done in a matter of minutes, and little Danny is still talking about it. He regularly calls Josiah on his toy phone, requesting the skidsteer to come back. He now drives his own little dump truck around the driveway and doesn't seem to be bothered at all that his rock mountain is gone. Our garage was just a dirt mess, especially under the workbench, and the barn cats had been caught using the loose dirt as a litterbox (barf). We fixed their little cookies and gave them a nice layer of gravel so now they can go back out in the field. The kittens seem to enjoy playing with Danny's dump truck as well, and now just see the area is a new playground, which is much better. The driveway puddles are gone and now you can tell where the driveway ends and the yard starts, instead of it all just oozing together. Little Danny's vehicles sometimes get stuck in the gravel, but he's gotten pretty good at figuring out how to get them out. Currently the mission is to stop all the weeds from poking through and ruining the new look. It is a constant battle, but things still look so much better. People have told us how unfortunate it is for us to have a gravel drive, but we actually like it. Everything needs maintenance at some point and while we deal with weeds we don't have to worry about cracks or sealing it. What we like the best is the noise it makes when someone pulls up. No one can sneak a car in the gate with us not knowing because the crunch of gravel gives it away. Even at night if a car turns around at the barn or gate I notice the sound. You could say its our cheap redneck gate alarm.
People always ask how we're liking the goats and if we're regretting them yet. We've been goat owners for almost a year now and love them more and more. Danny is always wanting to give them hugs and they follow him around the yard, frolicking and kicking making him roll with giggles. They've adjusted well and are as friendly as the dogs, quickly becoming beloved pets and making the chickens seem not nearly has enjoyable. I never realized how personable goats are and they love anybody that will give them attention. They've brought us so much joy and lightheartedness and are still the best medicine for a rough day. As with most things they have their ups and downs, and I would be lying if I said they didn't have their annoying habits. The goats definitely prefer to be in the yard instead of their shed or pen, yelling to us the moment they hear our voices. They're honestly better at notifying me of visitors than the dogs. They escaped pretty consistently at first, but Danny has seemed to successfully have them penned in now. They do however, think its great fun to try to run out the gate towards the road, if anyone is trying to pull in or out, and they will just let you run them over before they move out of the way of the car. To save my flowers for the summer, the goats stayed in their pen unless we were out with them. Once most of the garden was done for the season, they've been given free reign. At the beginning, they mostly wanted to eat grass and the occasional leaf in the yard, keeping the patio leaf free. Then they discovered roses and geraniums, which they devour in a heartbeat and was the reason they were not allowed out of their pen in the summer. The lilac bush was nibbled up to goat height and they climbed the limbs trying to get those leaves just outside of their reach, breaking a few. Danny enjoyed the open space they cleared, digging in the dirt with the dogs under the open bush. The goats ate all the crabapples they could reach and, my arborvitae looks like a troll (ugly, bare, with a tiny tuft on top.) Despite an acre and half to roam they choose to annoyingly poop on the sidewalk as a nice "Welcome to the Kelley's." They won't put themselves to bed and have to be herded with a broom in the bitter cold and scratch at the back door like the dogs. They have they're little quirks, we still love them. They're also sweet and social, chasing after us on the four wheeler and jumping on our laps to sit when we're on the patio. They love being chased and played with and could let you brush them all day. Moxie tries to get in the house hanging out by the back door and has managed to get inside once or twice. She hates the cats for some reason, chasing them down and head butting them. Mosley still can't be separated from his sister without crying and he's definitely little Danny's favorite. Danny squeals with laughter every time they take off in their skittish run, hopping and head butting each other. Thet are surprisingly fast for how stiff and unathletic they appear and have great, crafty, little memories. Despite what everyone tells me they definitely don't eat everything, actually I'd say they're rather picky. Chickens will eat anything, inlcuding chicken, and are the better disposals. The goats love all my flowers, shrubs, and trees, but they're not into much else unless it's chick feed. They're even sticking their nose up at their hay, having a certain preference for something we are yet to discover. We're still figuring out what works, changing up their pens and shed here and there, but as with a lot in life, we learn as we go Here's what our current goat care looks like. The Goat ShedDanny cleaned out the shed before we got the goats, filling it with fresh straw. He built a hay feeder our of leftover pallet wood, and built them a stand out of an old bookshelf so they can look out their window. They love looking out and yelling at us and really spend most of their time there when locked up. For the winter the window got closed, but we'll open it soon and see their little faces yelling at us again. The pallet feeder ended up not working out once we got the stand in there. They decided it made a better bed, sleeping in it and knocking if off the wall. They were wasting hay tromping it everywhere so Danny tried to fashion a different feeder. Using old fencing we had, he would it in to a cylinder big enough to hold one bale and placed it on a solid pallet. So far this is working much better. They can't sleep or pee in it and they aren't going through it as fast since the cant smash it to nothing. The Goat PenThe pallet pen has wire mesh lining the inside, since they could actually fit between the larger pallet gaps, and there is an angled chicken wire cage that prevents them from hopping out. Danny changed the gate to opening inward instead of out, and that seemed to be the final thing in keeping them from escaping. They have a pan of water our in the pen along with an old chair, pallet, seesaw, and some stones to stomp on. Danny seems to enjoy their pen and shed more than they do, always scampering in to play as they scamper out. The shed does have a pop door we can close if we want. The Movable PenDanny made them a movable pen out of left over fencing. We just drag it to whatever part of the yard we want them in and attach it to the existing fence with carabiners. They have learned to lift it so one can escape leaving the other in and crying so Danny fashions some wire stakes to hold it in the grass. Other CareTheir care for now has been water, hay, and the occasional hoof trimming, which is an art to figure out. After getting into a patch of poison ivy and giving it to all of us, they got their first bath, and did not enjoy it. They're not nearly as skittish over the dogs and Mosely is quite the sweetie, happy to walk on the leash for Danny most of the time. He calls them Mose and Mox now, preferring Mosely since he's a bit more cooperative, and they enjoy the occasional brushing. Goats shed a lot, so I like to give them a brushing every now and then to keep the amount of hair on my clothes to a minimum. Once a month we buy them a hay bale and drive the four wheeler down to the barn to get it. Danny would go get one every day if it was up to him. This winter we've given them a little big of goat feed from the store, but as spring approaches they'll be back to nibbling grass. They loved nibbling our Christmas tree which we threw in their pen after we were finished with it, and desperately want another. We're making plans for adjustments for the spring, probably fencing all the critters to one side of the yard. The goats appreciate getting room to run, but with flower season approaching I don't want bald gardens. Danny's already changed up their shed again, hoping it will be a better fix with less waste, and we still don't know why they won't eat their hay. I've made notes about what plants NOT to invest in anymore, and am honestly toying with the idea of taking one of them to the garden store to see what they won't eat. As with anything you can choose to look at the negatives or the positives. Some people find our goats annoying and gross and don't understand us at all, but we see the little critters as family. I still can't believe my childhood dream of owning goats actually came true, and we all appreciate the joy they bring us. Danny runs through the yard yelling "play with my goats" as they all scamper about. Elmer gets in on the fun, and even the goats seem to understand Harvey just wants to play chase and aren't terrified anymore. With this pregnancy being so tough I haven't been able to do much of anything and having the little critters to watch has really brought some much needed entertainment. Thankfully husband Danny like them too, despite having to care for all the animals on his own. They really are one of the best gifts I've gotten and have surprised us all at how much we enjoy having them around. Only the poor cats seem to regret the purchase.
While it's had taken us a while to get around to writing a post, we greatly enjoyed our new patio this summer and it has been such a wonderful upgrade to the house. Our old deck had been falling apart since we purchased the house, but we never wanted to invest much in maintenance because we always hoped to just put in a patio. It would be low maintenance and baby couldn't fall off, so we just planned on putting one on our house someday and getting rid of the rickety old deck. Well someday came sooner than planned thankfully, because we were a little blind to how bad the deck really was. Here was the state of the old deck: Our deck was small, and a nasty brown color. I had woven chicken wire along to keep baby from falling through, since the gaps in the rails were so wide, half of them broken. Harvey used the steps as a surface to dive from, taking out anyone or anything below, making it kind of a safety hazard for everyone. I was convinced our mosquito problem was because of the plastic under the deck that held water every time it rained. My mom said it was quite the eyesore, (I think she said one of the trashiest decks she'd seen) but I didn't realize how bad it was until we ripped it off. She was right. Baby fell off the deck on Easter and my mom told us it was time for a patio even if she had to do the work herself. She called someone the next day to give us a quote. Before we knew it we had a crew out ripping our deck off. The house already looked better with a dirt patch behind. It's amazing how sometimes you just can see what is so obvious. The work provided some much needed distraction and entertainment for everyone, and Danny set up camp with his chair in the mudroom to watch all the machines and tools they brought along. The dogs had no problem hopping up into the house, so we still used the back door until they poured the concrete. We found out we had and 8 in slope from where the patio would start at the house to the back end, which apparently is a lot. After a bit of disagreement with the crew we settled to do a gradual slope of 2 inches instead of the 5 inches they were suggesting. Our decision meant we would have a huge drop off on the back corner, but Danny came up with a great idea for dealing with the issue. After Danny made them come back and change it to what we wanted, the crew admitted we made the right choice, they just weren't going to say so with the manager around. No one wants to feel like they are sliding off their patio. They cleared the spot, leveled it, set the frame and poured the cement. Originally we asked for a nice curve on the one end, which I used the garden hose to show exactly what I meant. I came outside to find this. Obviously they weren't getting the idea at all and I decided if they couldn't see the difference between what I did and what they did, it was better to stick with a rectangle and not challenge them beyond what they were used to. In adding the patio we lost our garden and had to move it to the side yard. We also lost the dirty windows from Harvey standing up and scratching the entire glass with his muddy paws. (See picture below) I couldn't wait to no longer have a muddy sheepdog swimming against my windows and scratching the screens all up. While the cement was wet, all the critters weren't allowed out so I had angry chickens locked in the coop, dogs in the house, and two cats locked in the dog cage in the garage losing their minds. I happened to look out the window after they poured and smoothed the patio and saw huge craters in the fresh cement. I ran to the other window and saw only one cat in the cage. Miss Polly, who had unknown, hidden kittens at the time, managed to finally squeeze through the holes in the cage, and run right through their work. The workers pointed me in the right direction and I found her with red up to her belly. I failed to wash her in the tub, quickly deciding I rather have a red cat than scratches all over me and put her back under the coop where she just HAD to be. It at least provided some entertainment for baby and the dogs later. They finished stamping, and then came back to cut it and pour the steps. The guy who did the stamping wasn't happy with the turn out. Due to the shade from the tree, it dried unevenly making the stamping very difficult, but we actually like the depth variation. A real brick patio would settle and not be a perfect slab so it seems more authentic. Everything drains away from the house without puddling so we're happy. Danny had the amazing idea to build raised beds around the high parts with a railroad tie in the middle for a step. He quickly constructed them got them in place and I filled them with herbs, strawberries, and morning glories. Eventually we will have a boxwood hedge on the ones side and our grill sits on the wood cover Danny made to go over our well. Day or night the patio has been a great place to relax. Danny's table fits wonderfully and there's plenty of room for people to sit. The string lights were just the final touch and are so pretty to look at every night. We added tiki torches to the gardens and plan to add an additional railroad tie on the edge going to the chicken coop to give a more finished look. Baby loves coloring on it with chalk and taking summer baths in the shade. I've begun going out there to workout in the morning and Harvey can no longer stand and scratch our entire window and screens to come in. The patio was such an improvement on the house and has been a space the entire family has enjoyed, goats and dogs included.
Our Very First Look when we visited the housemove in and lightened floorsNew Wood StoveFirst ChristmasFinished Project
Oh my this may be my most favorite project we've done yet. I love when you vision actually works out just how you want! I never was a huge fan of our fireplace, which was a shame, because a real wood burning fireplace was a must have on our list when we bought the house. The brick and mantel just looked cheap and it didn't have that old home feel, but it was a working fireplace so we figured someday we could fix it up to our liking. The mortar was grey and didn't come to the edge of the bricks, which meant spiders and dust filled the gaps. The mantel was just a white board with nails poking out and a 2x4 covering up a hole in the drywall. I love red brick with white mortar, and our brick, although cheap looking was the right color. Originally I thought it was one of those fake brick sheet things, but when Danny took the mantel down I found out the mantel was actually made of real bricks, and the top row was completely loose! I had this idea to try to re-mortar the brick and just simply cover up the old, gray mortar. I knew I wanted it white and messy, the cleanest acceptable look was the butter joint look, but I also loved the german smear look. I decided to take the risk and if it didn't turn out I'd just paint the mortar and brick all white. This project kind of became my baby. I knew exactly the look I wanted, researched it to death, and made sure I really had made my decision, and then told Danny I wanted to do it. I couldn't find anywhere online where someone just grouted over for cosmetic reasons, so I went out on a limb and decided to just try it. I pulled up my favorite blog post I found of a fireplace with a similar look, ordered my mortar, brush, piping bag, and trowel from Lowe's and set to work. I had to reset the entire top row since it was loose, crossing my fingers in hopes that I could figure out how to set brick. Halfway through the project, I ran out of mortar, being that the gaps in the bricks were much deeper than I thought. But, it was looking good. Unfortunately, the next morning all the mortar had cracked. Almost every spot I had spread the mortar had cracking all through. While it didn't look horrible, it wasn't what I wanted and I felt it looked very DIY. Of course in my frustration, I forgot to snap a fail photo. The day I worked became very humid so for the second round I waited for some cool days of low humidity in the forecast. I filled all the cracks from the first round of mortar and then finished up the areas where I had run out. The cooler weather did the trick and now the mortar was strong and smooth. Of the new areas I filled, there was some mild cracking, but I went back in and just lightly covered the cracks with more mortar and that did the trick. All in all, it took 4 different days for mortaring, had I had enough I could have done it in 3. The vertical bricks had to be done in layers because the mortar would gloop if I filled it too much. I wasn't sure how I felt until I saw it finished, but I love it! I thought I'd go back and brush some mortar on the face of the bricks, but I tested the view for a few days and decided it was perfect. The mortaring was my project, but the the mantel was Danny's, so he took over getting the beam installed. The old beam was a Christmas gift from my parents and was exactly what we wanted. Danny had to trim down the edges a bit using his chainsaw which made me nervous, but he did a great job. He secured it with some structural wood screws and I went back in and filled the gaps between the beam and brick with our leftover mortar, which of course I ran out. When it's in the budget, we'll purchase a third tub of mortar to finish it off. It's one of those things that we only really notice, but it is just that final step to make it look perfectly complete. My mom suggested finishing it off by doing shiplap up to the ceiling to unify the fireplace and wall. We decided we liked that idea. Danny cut some pine boards to size, nailed them up, and whitewashed them all in a day. I honestly can't believe it is the same fireplace! I just love how it turned out and we can't wait to get some fires roaring in the fireplace! The picture will be hung, but we didn't have the right anchors and I was too excited to wait to share.
Archived From CHICKENS CHALKBOARDS // MARCH 22, 2016We are still loving our nursery and baby Danny is enthralled with our DIY wallpaper. I never considered how he might love gazing at it, but they say babies like contrast so it makes sense. He seems to have a thing for polka dots, so he's got the right room. Of course I still want to tweak things here and there, but I figured I'd better share it, because who knows when I will really call it complete. The room is so happy, bright, and youthful. These pictures just make me smile. The changing table is one of my all time favorites. It was being sold at a local garden store as a potting table and my mom had the great idea to use it as a changing table. It reminds me of the old wagon we had as kids and is perfect for our nursery. I mean, can you get any cuter than that?! I used some pails that I ordered to store q-tips, and a cute sweater looking bowl stores lotions and diaper cream. In the tray beneath are disposable and cloth diapers, wipes, and trash bags. Everyone told me I'd want a much bigger trash can for dirty diapers but this compost pail has been just fine. I wasn't into the idea of a huge pail with diaper sausages fermenting for weeks. We used a bigger one for the newborn weeks, but he was in our room in the bassinet so we still didn't need one for the nursery. Danny replaced the shelves in the bookshelf, since the other ones were warped, and I got some navy baskets to store things. Eventually, I'd like to add a pipe bar (like our pantry) to hang shirts, but the shelf is doing fine for now. Thanks to dear friends I had plenty of cute things to decorate the shelves with. The blocks and frames were the perfect addition (Thanks Sarah). Yeah, he has a shoe collection Of course living on a farm means you need some classic farm toys. I love this book my grandma found. The baskets store puzzles, extra linens, toys, and whatever else needs stored. The white built in still has the original warped board on top which is quite heavy to open so thats where old baby clothes are being stored so I don't have to worry about smooshed baby fingers someday trying to get toys in and out. The red storage bench will hold frequently used toys someday that he can easily access and have safe fingers. Since my tailbone is still bothering me, the original rocker for the nursery was too uncomfortable for me to sit in so it has been moved downstairs where it can get broken in. The plan was to eventually move it back up when I could use it but my grandma recently found this wonderful white rocker, so we will probably leave things how they are. (Danny enjoys using the rocker downstairs) The crib is another favorite of mine, the one we all used as babies when I was a kid. It took quite a bit of elbow grease to buff the brass and get all the dust out of the details, but I love it. I originally thought I was going to have to do blue polka dot sheets but Land of Nod just happened to be selling blueberry crib sheets in their Farmers Market collection, which really made the look. Aren't those blueberry sheets adorable?! And of course that baby too! I hung the mobile, which baby Danny loves, and it looks so cute. Unfortunately, I didn't hang it so it can turn but he doesn't seem to mind. The original canopy my mom had didnt make it through 25 years and 3 kids and was thrown out a long time ago, so I had to make my own. I can't sew a stitch so I had to make due with some scissors, ribbon, and hemming tape. The canopy is actually a twin bed dust ruffle that I cut down to size and is similar to the one I remember my mom having when we were kids. It turned out okay but this is where I keep wanting to tweak things. I want to add some big blue fabric bows to the top of the canopy and maybe do some gathers in the center so it doesn't hang so flat in the middle. Of course my dresser is perfect and I love how I see it when I come up the stairs. It is one of those pieces that I can honestly say I am really proud of my work. It looks amazing! I meant to order blue gingham curtains this winter and completely forgot, so that is still on the list to be done before next winter. I'd love to someday have a cushion for the built in bench. Ideally, I'd like it to look like a Hudson Bay blanket, but Ill have to figure out how to DIY a cheaper version because I know that is not in the budget. The nursery has a great view of the field behind us and is perfect for watching thunderstorms. In the morning you can hear the chickens clucking and demanding to be let out, and late at night you can hear the chirping of the tree frogs. I can't wait to open up those windows and let nugget enjoy the country sounds, and I can see myself snuggling up in there someday. If it wasn't for my walk-in closet I might make the little babe trade rooms with me. Check out those chubby legs! Despite the frustrations along the way, I love how the nursery turned out, and looking at where we began really reminds me how far it has come! Here's some Before and Afters:
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