Stop and Smell the Roses

At times day to day life blocks the view of our many blessings.  We tend to get bogged down in what we are doing, and forget what we have already done.  Our goal began, and remains, to create a family friendly farm that we can share with others who come just to see the birds, and with those who wish to purchase some of our rare breed chickens and other birds.  To clear our view, we need only grab a cup of coffee or glass of tea and head to our big cedar rocking chairs on the front porch.  This is the perfect place to gain back our perspective.  From such a vantage point, we can often catch a glimpse of our resident deer making their way across the yard and the field that is between the house and the barn and into the pine thicket where they disappear for the day.  As the roosters begin crowing to signal the beginning of another day on our beautiful little farm, we can hear the peacock calling and being answered by the neighbor's peacocks.  The guineas begin making their distinctive noises as well.  Our cool morning breeze is filled with these and other pleasant and familiar sounds as we start our day.

We will often enjoy coffee breaks periodically in what I call my "Secret Garden" between the barn and my quaint little chicken house.  We can actually see most of the birds from there and watch them as they free range in the large fenced corral area that joins it.  The farm is still very much a work in progress.  There is a beautiful picnic area already in the works under my favorite huge oak tree.  It's a beautiful shaded area with two rustic picnic tables built by my husband with cedar from my grandparent's old homestead.  He also builds picnic tables to sell, for those folks that like the beauty of rustic cedar.  There are also two old tractors that sit in that area and provide a backdrop for pictures.

Since we raise and sell some rare chicken breeds, turkeys, guineas etc, we have already started having some visitors.  Their reaction to our effort is priceless and serves to remind us of what we are surrounded by daily.  Our friends and family also enjoy feeding the birds and interacting with them.  We spend a lot of time with our various birds to ensure that they are calm and docile in temperament.  Our two year old grand daughter is able to walk among the largest of the birds without fear.  She has her own feed bucket and feeds the birds regularly.  They know when she gets here, the gravy train begins.  Normally they rush to her and the little blue bucket to see what she has for them.  She enjoys feeding some of our largest roosters one sunflower seed at a time from her fingers.  They take it very carefully and wait patiently for the next.  Both she and the birds are thrilled with the visit.  We recently added a pair of beautiful rabbits that we also try to spend time with and tame.

We hope that at some point, you too can come and enjoy some time on the farm with us.  We are richly blessed and would love to share that with you and your family.