Floods, Poop and Birthday Ducks
That day, though, is definitely not today. If you were to pull into my driveway, you'd find a car-wrecked porch, piles of wet brush waiting to be burnt or transported to the dump, overgrown grass, and a soggy, mucky mess--a result of chicken ownership and recent flooding.
My pantry is not brimming with canned food. My new freezer is not filled with future dinners. My garden has been eaten by a really, annoying deer (or possibly a very tall groundhog.)
My semester is not yet fully mapped out with all my due dates and everything carefully calendered in, and I still have evaluations to fill out for work. I am dreadfully behind in one class. My house is not completely clean (but let's be realistic . . . )
September found me looking at my new landscape, wondering how exactly my promising Spring turned into a ghetto-end of Summer.
Nevertheless, this only strengthens my resolve.
My desire and excitement at forcing my property to become a self-producing only triple. I only wish I had more time, more energy, and more money. ( But don't we all?)
All of this post I started on the first of September. It is now mid-October and I am finally finding a free moment to finish it. (My stats class got canceled due to technical issues with Zoom. So in between studying for a Sense and Perception quiz, I am finishing this post.)
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| Flood and proof I wasn't lying about the messiness of the yard. |
Flooding is bad. Flooding is worse when makes chicken poop soggy and stinky. Moving sodden chicken poop out of the mud is really hard. I did it once--it took hours, and the very next day Mabel Frances flooded again. Two days of back-to-back flooding had me thinking that there must be a better way to deal with this. I switch to sand for my chickens.
It's been lovely, ever since. No smell, so far, the sand and their poop are making their own soil--something my heavy, clay soil can use. There is a sand shortage, but I found a temporary supply and am thankful.
My yard is almost embarrassing, okay it is completely embarrassing. But . . . it's been mowed a few times since this post. Some of the cut wood hauled off, and I believe with certainty that someday people will slow down as they pass my house to admire a functioning, pretty homestead. (Although today, I imagine people driving by thinking 'why doesn't she do something about that.' If they are, they should try on my shoes for a bit.)
The ducks! If I thought chickens were fun, ducks are absolutely amazing. I will post a lot more on them (LOL, really, I will!) But in the meantime, I don't know why EVERY homestead doesn't have ducks.
So despite what seems to be setbacks, it's all really just part of the process, and the mess is beautiful.
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