In October, I wrote a short post inviting you all to ask me anything you wanted to. Then I selected ten of the many questions you submitted, and gave my honest answers. I divided the questions and answers into two separate posts to keep it shorter. So here goes part one of two… Enjoy!
Q: How many animals do you have?
A: Hmmm…. at the moment I have twelve chickens, two cats, six dogs, two rabbits, two goats, and three horses. I hope to add another 25 chickens, 2 more beehives, and 2 rabbits in the spring. If my goat is pregnant that should also add to the total, come January or February.
Q: Do hens lay eggs if you don’t have a rooster?
Yes, they do. A hen only needs a rooster around to fertilize the egg so that it produces an embryo that will then hatch (if conditions are right) at the end of a 21 day gestation period.
Q: Did you grow up on a farm?
Sort of. Off an on, my parents lived on farms while I was growing up. We moved a lot during my childhood, so I lived on a few different farms actually. My parents were never farmers, but my mother liked to keep a horse and some ponies for my sister and I, and she loved to grow a garden (still does).
Q: What is your favorite thing about your farm?
Wow, that’s a hard one to nail down. And I can’t! I guess my biggest favorite is that it feels like going home to vacation every day after work. There are no people to bother me, no city or HOA rules. I can build bonfires you could see from the moon and no one will call the police. I can take a long walk on my property and not see another human being…. My dogs don’t have to be on leashes. The list goes on and on…
Plus I never get bored. I can ride my horses, play with my goats and dogs, fish in my pond, watch the bees, dig in the garden, gather chicken eggs, stare at the stars…. But DON’T think it’s all butterflies and rainbows… there is ALWAYS farm work to be done and animals to be fed and cleaned up after.
Q: Is everything you eat produced on your farm?
I wish. But sadly no… I can’t grow olives, or lemons or bananas or a lot of things. So I grow the things I can grow – like tomatoes and vegetables. I pressure-can a lot of things, like tomato sauce and meat. During the summer months, I grow apples, pears, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, and many kinds of vegetables and squash.
Time is what limits me to grow as much food as I’d like to though, because I do have a job. Still, I manage to butcher my own chicken, pork and rabbit most of the time. And I have eggs, and honey too, so I am somewhat self-reliant.
That’s it for Part One!
Stay tuned for upcoming Part Two of the “Ask Me Anything” Q & A…… ~A
Awesome!! I love your life!