If anybody had told me 3 years ago I was going to not only have chickens, but become completely obsessed by them.  I would have said yeah, right.  Maybe even made a little sign suggesting their sanity was in question.

But now I have to say I am totally and completely in love with my feather babies.    We have 18 red sex link hens and one very loud Rhode Island Red rooster.  We have 34 Barred Rocks, a mix of hens and roo's.
Today i went to my first live stock auction.  It was exciting but all I could think of was the little peepers in lot 501.... Oh yes they would be mine.   My husband had more fun watching me bid.  But I was focused.  A gentleman behind me, tapped my shoulder and said his wife made him stop bidding.  He wanted my babies too.
These little sweeties are called White Crested Black Polish.  They are a very old breed.   They are from Eastern Europe.  These are about 6 to 8 weeks old.  They are so tame and sweet.  I love the soft sounds they make very soothing.

We had to make a new brooder box today for them and it turned out quite nice.  No more chicks in the house, they have their own room in the garage.  We are expanding as we get more birds....yes I did say more, but I will expand on that in another post.

Now that's an egg!
When we first started our venture into chicken's, being a city girl and all , what i knew was egg's came in dozen's and chickens came from the freezer section.


Really I thought an egg from the store is no different from what an egg popped out at home would be.  I couldn't be more wrong.
Egg's from home are far superior not only bigger, firmer egg whites and the taste is just so good.  I fell in love with eggs again.  Everything is better with fresh egg's.


Our girls even sometimes do extra duty and produce a double or triple yolker. Now that's gotta smart.


Right now we are incubating some chicks so we will see how that turns out, another new skill to add to our list.  I will show the chick's once they arrive.

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.

New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.

...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Times Square

You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.

• source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/greenacreslyrics.html

I wanted to give a little background information, before i run off into the sunset with this blog.

I was born and raised in the city.  I loved the city, everything close at hand. Restaurants that stayed open late, movie theatres and stores!  I also loved to be able to blend into a crowd.

I had the perfect life....or so I thought.  I had a beautiful home in the city, close to everything, including my family.  When the fateful day came, when my husband announced that we should give up everything and move to rural Nova Scotia.  Thinking that stress had finally caused him to lose it, I ignored his constant statements and reasons for moving.  I learned then, never say never.   

So we sold our home and moved to rural Nova scotia.  It was a huge adjustment for me and I didn't make the transition to well.  The local grocery store may have oranges, apples and banana's but never on the same day.  Craft supplies readily available consisted of cotton balls and popsicle sticks.  How would I survive I lamented.

I spent 2 years of my life complaining, not being able to appreciate what I did have around me.   Then we were able to return to my beloved city, but before we moved a friend said to me "You can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." I thought he couldn't be talking about me, I couldn't do anything, I needed someone to do it for me.  Isn't that how life works. So then we had another beautiful home, close to everything..... but I wasn't overly happy.  (Nor was to many other people around)  People were to busy, didn't want to make eye contact and maybe simply to tired to act like they cared.  The country had entered my soul, after all.

After battling breast cancer, losing my Mother to bone cancer and losing everything to a unscrupulous business partner we returned to the country.  This big old house on 4 acres looking over the beautiful Annapolis River, was what we had to call home.  It is not perfect, the roof leaks, things break and they don't have natural gas here.  Furnace oil was a whole new kettle of fish.  I looked at our service guy like he had two heads when he asked me if I had bled the furnace.  (I wasn't sure where the furnace was.)  I can now say I know how to bleed a furnace, and with that came the need to be self reliant.  I am still working on that but it is getting better every day!

The lyrics to green acres was something I would sing often when I was feeling sorry for myself in this strange new world.   But now I wouldn't move back to the city if you paid me, I like going to the city (2 1/2 hours away) but I wouldn't leave rural Nova Scotia without a lot of kicking and screaming.

My life was changed by moving, both by necessity and by want.   What i plan to share on this blog is how to make your life simpler, less chemical infused and tips for gardening, chickens and life.

I am a strong believer in being self reliant, of knowing where our food comes from and reducing our carbon footprint.

So welcome everybody to My Homestead Heart!