New farm, new beginning

I know it's been a few months but I have an excuse.  We have been moving to a new mini-farm.  In July an opportunity came up to relocate and we took it.  It wasn't very far, only 12 miles to be exact.  It wasn't because it was more beautiful or a bigger house.  In fact, it's not as treed and the house is about half the size of our other one.  So why move? Well, we have an opportunity to buy this place.  It's in the right county, it's affordable and has more room (land wise) for growth.  We have so much more space for doing the things we enjoy, like gardening.  I took a few pictures of the land.  We haven't done much to it yet but I wanted to show the beginning so everyone can see the progress.  First up....Justin clearing the land:

This is our temporary chicken pen:

 

This will be our new garden area.  It is to the right and behind the chicken pen.  It will give us triple the garden space as the last property did.

 

And this is the other side of the property where we intend to plant an orchard!!  I am so excited about that!

 

The biggest downfall to this place...is the house.  We have worked hard to make something dingy, liveable and cozy.  I'll post pic's of the house, inside and out next time.  Our plan is to see how we like the place and if we are happy here we will buy it.  Once we do we will start plans to build a new home, preferably out of rammed earth.  This house is only temporary.  (or at least I keep telling myself that!)

Some other changes other than the obvious is that we have a new litter of 5 kittens.  This is seriously how mom nurses them:

I know...she is weird!

We also have adopted one of our chickens as a pet.  When she was just a little thing, she was seriously attacked by an older hen.  She was beat up pretty bad.  We took her into the house and nursed her back to health, and now she is our little friend, Chickadee!  She roosts by herself in one of the mesquite trees outside the chicken pen.  She is our little sweetie!

You can still see some bald spots on her head.  Not sure if the feathers will ever grow back but we will love her all the same!

We also have and addition to our chicken family.  Dot became a Mom:

She is just as we hoped.  A wonderful mother hen!  I love to watch how momma is with her baby.  It's truly heartwarming to see her care for the young one.  She lets her ride around on her back and always makes sure she shares her food.  I just love it!

Well that's it for now.  I felt like I needed to update my blog and get started with our new adventure.  I only hope we find it to be rewarding here.  So far, not too bad, other than the fire ants who have taken up residence INSIDE the house!  But like the fleas...we will prevail!