My sister sent me the funniest quote that resonated with this time in our lives. The quote read, “Don’t know why chickens start their day with screaming, but I understand.”
Now, this could be relevant for motherhood, job interviews, promotions, grocery shopping, you name it. But, for us, at this current season in our life understand from the point of view of owning our own chickens.
Not just the chickens… the farm, the goats, the barns, the farmhouse. You scream, we scream, you know.
How many times can I saw chickens before you become uninterested? kidding…I hope! But, to get to the point, we have had a lot going on at the farm lately. We have a driveway, yay! That in itself was a huge feat. DOT was behind, the grader was behind, it rained every other day for what felt like weeks, that Carolina clay was beautiful but hard to dig, you name it, it pushed us back. So, like the completely impatient, do it ourselves people we are, we started clearing trees ourselves. That’s right, me, Kacey, my dad (Mr. Billy for future purposes), my sister, Kendyl, and some really incredible friends who have become family. We got in there with chainsaws, hedge clippers, a mule (not the animal), and lots of super muscle strength (I’m laughing as I type that) and cut down trees, briars, brush, and more all by ourselves. You can’t burn that stuff in the woods (duh, did you not listen to Smokey as a kid?), so all of what we cut down had to be drug out of the wood line into the open field at the front of our property to eventually be burned.
Day 1 – it was just me, Kacey, and Mr. Billy with 1 chainsaw, no hedge clippers, and no 4×4. Mind you, at this point there was no entry so, we had to walk with all of our tools about for about 10 acres, through corn and over a not so intimidating looking pond but, one that will land you on America’s Funniest Home Videos if you’re not careful. Day 1 was productive but, mainly in the sense we didn’t kill ourselves or anyone else. I was proud of us though. We got about 800 sq. feet worth of trees cut down and a good portion of the limbs up and out of the wood line. Mr. Billy is basically super human – I want to be him when I grow up. But, if he’s currently schooling me in his late 50’s, I’m not sure my little rheumatoid arthritis ridden 31 year old body has much hope, but one can dream.
Day 2 – We called in the troops. Rod, Steph, Kendyl, and Hil – I am forever in your debt. Like great friends always do, they said they “loved every minute of it” and wanted me to tell them when they could come back… Now, I’m not sure if my mom is still paying people to be my friend, but if she did, what a great investment this crew has been. Hilary brought her mule (again, not the animal as Mr. Billy had thought) and her knowledge of farming (her family has been in the farming business for almost a century – ever heard of Hargett store in Marshville, NC…yeah that’s her family…she’s basically famous, I have a famous friend) and her and I were a couple of modern day “Lumber Janes” (she came up with the Jane part, how modern of her). We collected sectioned pieces of trees bigger around than we are and hauled them up to the tailgate of the mule and drove off into the sunset… kidding. But, we did carve out some pretty sweet trails and no longer find ourselves in combat with freakishly strong briars. Now, I just want all the 4×4 toys to ride around like I don’t have a farm to build, wind in my hair and all.
Rod and Steph brought the BAD BOY of chainsaws, a hedge clipper and SNACKS…. I mean, I’m not sure about anyone else but, that alone was the award winning moment of the whole ordeal. Rod got there and without hesitation cranked up his chainsaw and joined by dad in a literal wall of brush, briars and 100+ year old trees. I’m talking oak trees, cedar, pine…big boys. Steph saw the myriad of issues coming from these briars I have mentioned (and will continue to mention as they are the antagonist in this fair tale) and went to town. She cleaned out pounds and pounds of this stuff so that we could A.) walk without faceplanting – very important, and B.) untangle these massive trees that had become braided in the briars. She also fed my children (oh, I did forget to mention by 2 teeny farm hands have been out there with us in the cold and other annoying elements because mama and daddy gotta work, you know!), which again, coming in clutch.
Kendyl… well, Kendyl wore the wrong shoes. She was going for style vs comfort on this her inaugural visit to the farm. Which, hey, I ain’t hating on her. I, for sure, did not look as cool as her. She also brought a machete, which let’s just all take a moment to think about that for a moment. Kendyl and a machete. We will just move on from that before I get too concerned.
But, moral of the story, get you some friends like ours. Don’t talk too much about mine though because I’m still not sure how I deserve them in the first place and I kind of need to keep them. Thanks in advance.
Day 1 – it was just me, Kacey, and Mr. Billy with 1 chainsaw, no hedge clippers, and no 4×4. Mind you, at this point there was no entry so, we had to walk with all of our tools about for about 10 acres, through corn and over a not so intimidating looking pond but, one that will land you on America’s Funniest Home Videos if you’re not careful. Day 1 was productive but, mainly in the sense we didn’t kill ourselves or anyone else. I was proud of us though. We got about 800 sq. feet worth of trees cut down and a good portion of the limbs up and out of the wood line. Mr. Billy is basically super human – I want to be him when I grow up. But, if he’s currently schooling me in his late 50’s, I’m not sure my little rheumatoid arthritis ridden 31 year old body has much hope, but one can dream.
Day 2 – We called in the troops. Rod, Steph, Kendyl, and Hil – I am forever in your debt. Like great friends always do, they said they “loved every minute of it” and wanted me to tell them when they could come back… Now, I’m not sure if my mom is still paying people to be my friend, but if she did, what a great investment this crew has been. Hilary brought her mule (again, not the animal as Mr. Billy had thought) and her knowledge of farming (her family has been in the farming business for almost a century – ever heard of Hargett store in Marshville, NC…yeah that’s her family…she’s basically famous, I have a famous friend) and her and I were a couple of modern day “Lumber Janes” (she came up with the Jane part, how modern of her). We collected sectioned pieces of trees bigger around than we are and hauled them up to the tailgate of the mule and drove off into the sunset… kidding. But, we did carve out some pretty sweet trails and no longer find ourselves in combat with freakishly strong briars. Now, I just want all the 4×4 toys to ride around like I don’t have a farm to build, wind in my hair and all.
Rod and Steph brought the BAD BOY of chainsaws, a hedge clipper and SNACKS…. I mean, I’m not sure about anyone else but, that alone was the award winning moment of the whole ordeal. Rod got there and without hesitation cranked up his chainsaw and joined by dad in a literal wall of brush, briars and 100+ year old trees. I’m talking oak trees, cedar, pine…big boys. Steph saw the myriad of issues coming from these briars I have mentioned (and will continue to mention as they are the antagonist in this fair tale) and went to town. She cleaned out pounds and pounds of this stuff so that we could A.) walk without faceplanting – very important, and B.) untangle these massive trees that had become braided in the briars. She also fed my children (oh, I did forget to mention by 2 teeny farm hands have been out there with us in the cold and other annoying elements because mama and daddy gotta work, you know!), which again, coming in clutch.
Kendyl… well, Kendyl wore the wrong shoes. She was going for style vs comfort on this her inaugural visit to the farm. Which, hey, I ain’t hating on her. I, for sure, did not look as cool as her. She also brought a machete, which let’s just all take a moment to think about that for a moment. Kendyl and a machete. We will just move on from that before I get too concerned.
But, moral of the story, get you some friends like ours. Don’t talk too much about mine though because I’m still not sure how I deserve them in the first place and I kind of need to keep them. Thanks in advance.
Over the next few weeks our driveway was cut in (which again, a PAIN). We had to place our own drains because ain’t nobody got time to wait on DOT. My dad’s good friend (the grader who was behind on jobs – we’re not holding it against him, its fine) moved SO MUCH DIRT and made that bomb driveway that is about a mile long. And he’s also digging our 2 acre pond. Yes, we’re stocking it and yes, we will be fishing. Catch and release only, we’re not savages…. & by that I definitely mean we don’t have the money to keep stocking it.
Coming soon: 2 barns, a goat enclosure (+ the goats obviously), chickens, and their coop, some wheat & some corn. If you’ve made it this far that’s an accomplishment in itself. But, you’re pretty much already invested so, come back here soon for some pretty cool updates.
all mine (& the chicken’s love),
Cait
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