Early Life Crisis

I hope everyone had a great Holiday weekend! It was our first July 4th with a baby and my how things change. Cookouts and hanging with family has taken over our plans and I wouldn't have it any other way. Since my child is loved, we had four 4th of July outfits to wear which was so fun! One of the joys of having a little girl. Also if you are my true friend (aka Facebook friend) haha you would know of my previous early life crisis status. I wanted to run a marathon and get some chickens... Yes the farm kind. Well folks, my hubby is awesome and I have signed up for my first (and probably last) marathon and we have a mini farm in our city yard :) First of all I would like to apologize to all of the people I secretly made fun of for putting the 26.2 mile sticker on their cars. With about 8 weeks left of training I am already looking for a damn sticker to put on my car, maybe just for a week. What a crazy concept it is to train for at least 16 weeks for 1 single race. It is a serious accomplishment to run an obscene amount of miles for yourself. I decided to run my local marathon here in Des Moines, Iowa in October because I think our state is just as beautiful as the next, and if I need medics I can choose who I want to care for me :) The dedication that running this race requires is so crazy but I guess it's now or never and my aching knees and body probably won't hold up when im fifty! I have looked and looked for the ideal running plan but I am just doing a modified version of a few. You can follow my progress/runs on Map My Walk app and if you get a wild hair...join me in my training! As for the chickens, I swear my hubby was just as curious/excited as I was or he wouldn't have drove 50 miles to get the coop :) We got the Chik N' Villa from Theisan's Farm store. A double nesting box, a hang out spot, and a small grass run, they better like it!

Put together by us and maybe this idea was not as thought out as it should've been but we are up and running. I called the post office to notify them of my "live birds" arriving and they acted as if they get them daily. So meet the newest addition to our family. The smaller girl is Shirley and the larger girl has no name. Suggestions appreciated. I feel a trip to the nursing home could help because for some reason I think the older the name the better and they have some goodies there.

We ordered them from McMurray Hatchery here in Iowa and they are pullets about 5 months old, so we should have eggs in a few months. Eeep! A few thing I guess I never realized growing up with chickens is how much they eat! So much that I found myself Googling "can you overfeed chickens?" They answer was no, so bring on the loads and loads of poop. Geeze. Thank God for the power washer. We will see how long this "idea" lasts :) We want to let them roam around our yard but we haven't come up with a plan on how we rangle them back into their cage?! We should video that experience. On another more manageable note, my new garden is doing awesome! New location, raised bed, and a double fence to keep the vermits out! What? You can't have chickens without a garden! Haha When we go "farm" we go all the way. But I don't plan on getting rid of my garden anytime soon! I think I may have too many cucumbers this year (never a problem), but I better learn to can/pickle them!

And with our extra tomatoes and veggies I make a super easy and delicious freezer spaghetti sauce to enjoy all winter long. Two new things I am growing this year are brussel sprouts and sweet corn, so far so good.

Call it lazy or brilliant but I decided to grow my sweet potatoes in my flower pots this year. Little to no work and just as pretty as actual flower pots for the backyard. Grow your slips inside just before planting season and this is what you get!

I think I am done for now with the new ideas or my early life crisis as if I don't already have enough on my plate. But when I started this blog I did say have baby, will live. Stay tuned.