Spring Projects

Chris has been very busy this Spring preparing his backyard farm. His big goal for this year was to start raising chickens for fresh eggs. After doing his part to help the City of Orem approve chickens within city limits, we purchased our first batch. We started out with 5...one for 'almost' everyone. Then he decided we needed one more to even things out in the family. We really didn't think they'd all make it. It is a miracle given that our children nearly loved the little chicks to death. Then one turned out to be a boy chicken (which aren't allowed in city limits) so we had to get another one to replace the rooster, of course. Which really wasn't necessary since we now had 5 more than we planned on. However, we didn't have one that laid blue or green eggs. Now we do.

Chris worked really hard everyday at lunch, after work and on the weekends. He didn't have any plans because he kind of had this idea of what he wanted. Which actually changed at least three times during the construction. Not being a handyman/builder kind of guy, he did a really great job. He just needs to clear out the permanent spot and we can move them out of the pool area.
A chicken tractor, which is what this is, not a coop, tour: The far right area/box that hangs off the end is the "nesting box" where they will lay the eggs. There are three and the lid lifts up so the kids can grab the eggs. The main hutch area has the roosting area. The far left panel is actually a door so we can get inside. There are also two doors, one on each side, of the main hutch for access to clean and change out food and water.

So far, Roxy has been really good with the chickens. Of course we subject her to complete humiliation by making her lay down and let the chickens walk on her. So far, so good. Chickens are our friends, not food. Ok, well maybe our food eventually, but not hers!

Things with the chickens have been good so far. I don't have to do much with them. Chris takes care of their needs and the kids are good to help out too. They are actually really cute and there is something very satisfying about seeing them outside. They should start laying in about two months according to Chris.

His next big project was reducing Roxy's kennel. It originally took up most of the back fence line. We wanted to plant more trees and she doesn't really need that much room. Tyler and Lauren dug out the fence posts and Chris redesigned it to be smaller. It sure opened up the backyard.
The kennel used to run all the way to the little wooden fence on the right. Now she just has the corner on the left.

After he finished up that little project, Chris started in on the garden. Rain or snow or sleet or hail, nothing keeps Chris from his gardening. Last year we planted so late that we missed out on some of the harvest. So we were determined to be ahead of the game this year.
For the most part, we are finished. We still have to plant some green beans, pumpkins and cucumbers. They weren't ready at the nursery when we went. This year we planted onions, shallots, tomatoes (I really cut back here. I think we only planted 10 tomato plants this year. Usually it is around 20-30!), broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, celery, bell peppers, hot peppers, basil, strawberries, rosemary, lettuce and a couple other things I can't remember. Our rhubarb is really starting to grow, the leaves on the grapes are are just starting to pop out and our raspberry bush has been growing too which I am very excited about.

We also planted 4 new trees this year, peach, apricot, pear & another apple. Hopefully this year, Roxy will NOT eat them! We decided to remove a maple tree (I think) that has struggled since we moved into this house. If it isn't food-bearing, it's going these days. We needed the room for the peach tree. Roxy was very excited to help us dig this tree out.

He has one more that he'd like to get started on but I'm next in line with a new kitchen floor.

Beehives!

All and all, Chris has worked really hard on all of these projects. He is trying to create a self-sustained way of living for our family. It is a comforting feeling to know that if things get bad, we can at least feed our family...provided we can keep Roxy out of everything!