We’re homesteadin now

Chickens are something I SWORE we would never have, and Damon had the exact same feeling towards them. We both had chickens at home growing up and both had similar memories of being chased by angry roosters, finding snakes in the coop (traumatizing), and just the general annoyance of all the things that came with chickens (especially free-range chickens. So. Much. Poop.)

This time last year, I looked at Damon and said, “you know, I think I might want to get a few chickens, I just have this feeling like it’s something we should do.” He immediately checked to make sure I didn’t have a fever. After talking through the logistics of it for a few days, he told me he thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get “a few.” (If you have ever had chickens, you understand what “a few” means in chicken math -  I ordered 35 chicks. We ended up keeping 11 and giving the rest to friends and family who also wanted some. )

I was a little surprised at how easily he agreed to it, especially with our shared childhood chicken trauma. We jumped right in, with Damon determined to build a snake-proof, coyote-proof, raccoon-proof, chicken bunker. We decided we weren’t going to free range, with having both the garden and a heavy predator presence.

We got them settled in and prepared to quickly remember exactly why we hated chickens in the first place. I had gotten dual purpose breeds, and figured at the very least, we could raise them for the freezer if we couldn’t stand having them around, and that would be that. It was funny how quickly we realized we actually liked having them around. They brought life to our farm, and we felt like we were finally really “homesteadin’”.

I’ve gotten so used to not buying eggs at the grocery store that I have not been paying attention to what’s going on with the commercial egg market. A price tag happened to catch my eye this past week at $8/dozen. It made me double take, and I thought surely it was a mistake. I went back to check - $8/dozen was right, and for just regular white eggs. The organic brown eggs were $11/dozen, and there was a limit on how many you could buy!

I know there’s just a kink in the supply chain, and the issue goes back to commercial farms having to cull their flocks due to bird flu. It’ll sort out soon, but it made me grateful for that feeling of urgency I had back a year ago to get a flock of chickens for our house. I’ve talked to lots of people lately who have had that same sense of urgency to have more of a hand in their own food supply chain. Our food system in this country is broken and we’re ready to start addressing the needs of our family right here on the farm. Stay tuned - there’s more to come!