Little Bit Country

There is something about country living that has always appealed to me. When I was a little girl we would go to the country to visit my grandparents. The food tasted better, the people were friendlier and the scenery was gorgeous. To me there is nothing prettier than to look out across a field and see the big round bales of hay scattered across it. When I was 19 I moved to the country. My first house, as we called it, was a shack in the woods. I had no neighbors, just woods, fields, and cows. As a young new mother I was alone and terrified. It was quite an adjustment. After 2 years we moved into the city limits. Our town had a population of less than 600 people. Everybody knew everybody, you didn't have to worry about locking your doors, and you had to dodge pot holes instead of cars. I am no longer living in that small country town, but that does not mean that I am no longer country. I feel more country now than I did then. Yes, I lock the doors when I leave, I don't know everyone, and I am back to dodging cars, but I am now enjoying some country pleasures that I have always dreamed of.

I have always dreamed of owning chickens. Sounds crazy, I know. I have this vision (maybe it is from watching too many episodes of Little House on the Prairie) of going to feed my chickens in a long calico dress, apron and hat and scattering the feed out and the chickens pecking around me. That dream is coming true for me. I don't have a calico dress but I have the chickens. Yesterday as the kids were swimming I sat down to take some pictures of my beloved flock. As I was sitting there they all flocked around and I thought to myself...life is good.


I had never dreamt of owning ducks, but they have also become part of our country living. They are so much fun to watch. Especially when the female starts "talking" to the male. It looks as if she is "chewing" him out everytime. However, if you listen carefully he is quietly quacking over and over something that sounds like "nag, nag, nag". In the past month we have learned a lot about ducks. We gather an egg a day which brings a joy in itself and we are looking forward to incubating the eggs later this month.



Now you can't be country without having a garden. I will leave the details of my garden out since I have already blogged about it once. But I will add that it is coming along beautifully and I can almost see it grow overnight! I can almost taste that first ripe tomato (if I can leave them on the vine long enough to get ripe). One of my favorite things is fried green tomatoes, topped with melted velveeta cheese! There are already a few green ones on the vine, but I will leave them alone.... for now.