Paradise in Disguise Hobby Farm Blog

After my previous post that was on the "heavy" side, I thought I'd share a few photos from the end of April 2017. The first group is of the PA/DC group during their free-range time on the side lawn, while waiting for the grass paddocks to grow. turkey hen sunbathing Truck Cap Coop main rooster & hens Leaves just budding out Rooster pen - the big boy in the middle is just that. The rooster to his left is a Bielefelder cross, so also  a big rooster. The one to the right is like 1/4  bantam cochin, 1/4 Swedish Flower Hen, 1/2 Catskill Homesteader - so he's small, but good-sized for being a "little rooster".    Leaf Vacuum / Wood Chipper Trailer at DCHA clean-up day The pile of leaves we got - one very full load!

Season of Challenges & Changes: Whether you are farming, raising a family or really, any human being on planet earth experiences challenges. I have had various challenges throughout my relatively short life thus far. Major changes have not been easy for me, especially when pertaining to our family. I remember the first time we had to move as a little girl, I cried and was heart-broken, not wanting to move from the only home I'd ever known. But, I adjusted and learned to enjoy each house we lived in, no matter for how long knowing that it was our family that made it a home. It was never easy to move, and that has happened 6 times, our longest time in one place being 11 years at the "log home". But this is a mere handful of times compared to my Mom who has moved 38 times in her life.     One constant remained no matter we lived, we were a family of four - my mom, dad & older brother. While there's been many times in recent years our parents went on vacation...

Recently, I came across Hough Family Homestead on Instagram, then visited their newly launched blog, where I found this post: "What is Modern Homesteading?" Even though I haven't thought of ourselves as a homestead, I've always loved the "Little House on the Prairie" series, ever since I read it the first time as a young girl. Therefore, I didn't think that today, with all the "modern" conveniences, we'd be called a "homestead". Well, after reading Hough Family Homestead's view of what "modern homesteading" is and answering some questions that were asked me regarding homesteading, it caused me to reconsider the idea. While I've thought of a "homesteader" as one who built their own home (or at least part of it), often is off-grid & in a "wilderness" location, that's not necessarily the definition of a modern homesteader. For us, we breed, hatch & grow our own chickens...

My Dad often says, "If you don't like the weather in Delaware County, wait five minutes." Often, this is so true. On Novemeber 19th, it was 65 degrees and sunny.    In fact, I took off Friday, Nov 18th, because it was such unseasonably warm weather, and I was in the middle of building a new, bigger coop for the turkeys. That Saturday was no different, and we even worked until 8PM because it was so "pleasantly warm". We even had 30 yards of livestock bedding delivered, which we worked several hours to add to the coops, especially the new turkey coop But, that quickly changed. I woke up Sunday morning and lay in bed for awhile. Then, I heard Dad knock on my door, and say, "Maria, there's something you need to see. You may not like it, but we need to discuss what to do." I knew they were saying we were supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow, so just thought there was more than they forecast. Dad led me to the back door when the outside ...