Should You Get Chicks This Year? A Down-Home Guide to Deciding Every spring, the feed stores start filling up with those irresistible little bundles of fluff—chirping away in their warm brooders, just waiting for someone to take them home. Raising chickens in the backyard is a very popular hobby these days. If you’re anything like me, you stand there for…
Grocery prices keep climbing, but that doesn’t mean your budget has to. With some smart shopping strategies, you can keep your grocery bill in check without sacrificing quality meals for your family. The key? Shopping sales, meal planning, and using grocery pick-up to avoid impulse buys. Here’s how to make the most of your frugal grocery budgeting while still enjoying…
As August rolls in, the countdown to the first day of school begins, which means it’s time for back-to-school clothes shopping. This task has become more intricate now that my kids are tweens and fashion-conscious. They have clear “yes” and “no” lists for what they’ll wear and what they won’t, adding an extra layer of complexity. Where to Start – Make A…
I’ve written before how much I love living in a small town. It’s safer, it’s cheaper and we have so much more control over our lives. There is a downside, however. The biggest one is access to all those fascinating things big-city people take for granted. Like shopping, new movies and people who know to pronounce “tahini” correctly (and have it…
We started last February with tiny baby chicks and now we have full sized chickens laying eggs! It’s very exciting for the kids to go out every day and check for eggs in the nesting boxes. Since my last post about moving the chickens to the coop, there has been a lot of growing and many adventures! We were away…
This past week has been a busy one! Graduation at the local high school means lots of preparations, events, and parties! During the graduation ceremony, all I could think about was how much closer I’ve gotten to being there as a parent. Ok, it’s 7 years away. But I have a feeling that those seven years will go by faster…
Every Memorial Day Weekend, we drive across the state to my mother’s hometown and spend the weekend with family and friends doing all the Memorial Day activities. We decorate all the graves at the cemetery (some are over 100 years old!), tell the stories of our family history and honor all those family members who have served in the military. It’s…
When you first get interested in gardening, it can be a bit overwhelming. Most people remember growing some sort of bean plant in grade school in a little cup. As an adult, you see other people’s gardens and think, I grew that bean plant in elementary school, why not a garden? And then people start talking about growing seasons and…
Although I love my house, it’s built on the top of a hill. Great for flood protection; not so great for gardening. And the entire yard is grass and moss (so much moss, so much sadness). Also, not great for gardening. The best option is to build a raised garden bed and terrace them on the slope. It’s a lot…
Since January we’ve been on this adventure in raising chickens. This time last month, we moved our tween-age chickens out to the garage to start preparing for them to move outside full time. Instead of spring though, we got another few weeks of freezing weather and snow! Finally, the weather started warming up. The chicks were rapidly outgrowing their brooder…