Two New Books

Saturday was errand day. My mom and I ran errands all-over-the-place. Along the way we made a stop at Tractor Supply. (It still amuses me that I ‘shop’ at Tractor Supply, now that I have chickens. *giggle*)

What I went in for was a galvanized steel, double-walled chicken fount. (Sounds fancy doesn’t it? Yeah– it just looks like that little metal bucket over there.)

What I came out with, in addition to the new fount, was two new books. One of which had been on my Amazon Wishlist for some time, and the other just caught my eye. So I threw the “no impulse purchasing” rule out the window (does it really count as an impulse if it’s already on your wishlist?) and I bought them of course.

The first one, the one on my wishlist, is The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!

I already love this book. I’ve thumbed through the whole thing and then I went back to the beginning and began reading it thoroughly. I’m only a few chapters in but I’m already learning and getting ideas. Today I drew up an idea of what I might like our ‘homestead’ to look like – where I’d like to put the gardens, the chicken coop, the fruit trees, etc. It’s going to take a lot of time and money. I’ll have to start small but now I have an idea of where I want to start. My mom purchased a different ‘homestead in your backyard’ kind of book at the same time and we can share and compare notes. We’re kind of figuring this all out together. A couple of weeks ago we had our first canning venture and we canned salsa. This week we’re going to be canning pickles. We’re both going to be starting gardens. I got chickens and she.. well, she doesn’t have chickens.. maybe I can talk her into raising a couple of pigs instead. ;0) Anywho, I’ll let you know how I like this book (and the one my mom bought.)

Speaking of chickens — the other book I picked up was a book called The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit

I’m already loving this book, too! I’m about a third of the way through it (and right off the bat I skimmed the whole thing.) 😉 I’ve got the basics of chicken keeping down, but I’d like to keep learning! We still need to build a better coop before Fall arrives and brings colder temperatures. And next Spring, since we acquired these chickens already grown, we’ll be raising chicks for a younger flock and we’ll need to know more about that, too. Inspired by the book, I’m really leaning toward the idea of getting some fertilized eggs from a friend and getting one of our hens to sit on them and raise them if we can. That would be so fun. =) But there’s plenty of time to decide.

I know, I know, I’m just as surprised as you are to watch myself getting more and more into this little ‘home farm’ thing. I’m even starting to think I need a pair of work boots. ; )

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