A movie scene that has always stuck with me was one from Selena where she is telling Chris that she wants a ten acre farm with cows, chickens, pigs and goats.
Since I was really little I have always had a fascination with the farm life, my abuelo and my tios had ranchos in Mexico with pigs, goats, cows, ducks and chickens. Humble farms of course with no indoor plumbing, I remember them having wells for water and laundry being done by hand outside. These are some of my favorite memories from childhood and something about those ranchos that felt very natural.
As an adult, now with children of my own who are also obsessed with animals and raising them we want to make the most use of this acre and a half that we are responsible for. With all of the food shortages that occurred over the last year, sustainable living has moved to the forefront of how we want to live our lives. I have to say that even something that may seem as small as having our own chickens means that we haven’t had to worry about buying eggs and with the price of pasture raised, organic eggs sitting at around $7 a dozen those little costs add up.
Combining this love for the farm life and our adventures our homeschooling I would love to share with you some of the dreams that we have in our hearts whether they manifest here at this home or maybe a few years down the line on a bigger property!
Right now we are putting a lot of energy into manifesting a mini pig! We would also like to bring in an alpaca and a fainting goat!! Now this is where it starts to get a little tricky because I’ve never seen myself keeping animals as strictly farm animals, we’ve been doing a lot of research on how to raise these animals (mainly the pig) to be more like pets, or as some would call them familiars rather than a being that would be kept outside caged. In my heart I see all of us spending sunny days outside, flowers blooming being trailed by a snorting little pig and maybe a white alpaca nudging for a good head scratch while we get ready to check on the garden.
This is how I see myself raising my children at the moment, having a connection with the land, with animals and sticking to the process from seed to harvest. I want to be with them on days where its hot outside and we’d rather be inside in the air conditioning but instead choosing to pick weeds and play with the animals because the connection is worth the stinky armpits and rosy cheeks.
While I love to romanticize my life and I think that has played a huge part on me being able to have created it to be what it is today I also have to be very realistic about the labor and energy that will be necessary in the middle of the process which to be frank I think is where we all want to get a bit lackadaisical and that is where I find myself currently at. Creating a bridge from a beautiful, bountiful life yet fully aware that it requires much more of my presence and it is not a dream that I can create and then pick and choose when to participate in it.
This week we are preparing the first of our seedlings, this is a part that the children really enjoy especially because it is so exciting to watch them sprout. Next we will have to begin tilling the ground once its not quite so wet outside and we are able to do so. We do have plans to add our pig to the family in the next couple of months so surrounding the garden doesn’t get shredded by the chickens and others animals. We learned this lesson the hard way last year with the chickens, these ladies are smart and the chicken wire fencing didn’t stand a chance. They turned the garden into compost in less than a day.
I look forward to sharing more about this part of the journey, how our routine will change with taking on projects this size and of course what it is like raising farm animals. Our main goal in this adventure is not only to provide nourishment for our family (especially with the size of the grocery bills this past year!), we would also like to have extra to share with our friends and neighbors as an offering to our community and of course to teach our children to connect to food, caring for what they have and making the most of it when able.
