Not So Cute Stage

Most people go through a "not so cute stage". Some people (like me) have an extraordinarily long "not so cute stage" check examples A, B, C, and D. 

Sometimes it take our heads a while to catch up to our teeth. 

Example A

 Example B

I had on turquoise stone washed jeans with this sweet sweater.

 Example C

My mom made this outfit and the pants were the same material as the vest. Nice!

 Example D

Thank you, thank you, thank you mom and dad for the braces!!!

Just as most of us go through a "not so cute stage" so do chickens. My girls are definitely in that stage. 

Wanna join in on the fun?

1. Post your "not so cute stage" pictures on your blog.

2. Link back to this post, within your post.

3. Leave the link to your blog post in the comments so we can enjoy them as well!

~marisa

Portland Backyard Farmers

We are in Portland, Oregon right now....it is soooo beautiful here (I will share pictures later). Michael and I were talking and we figured that maybe there would be a backyard farmer who reads this blog out here in Portland, and maybe they would be interested in being featured on our blog. If you are in the Portland area , have a backyard farm, and would like us to stop by Wednesday morning to get a tour of your backyard farm and snap some pictures, contact us at backyardfarmingblog@gmail.com. Please tell us a little about yourself and your farm in the email. 

~marisa

Ruby Mae

Jane Doe has a name....

Ruby Mae

It is such a cute name and just fits her perfectly. Thank you everyone who submitted names and everyone who voted!

Tami with Whispering Oak Acres choose the name and is now the winner of the adorable apron donated by traditionallyunique.

Home School hit by El Niño

By Michael

Let me give you another reason why home schooling is awesome? As the father of the family I am away from home a lot making dinero so I don't have a lot of home school interaction. However, the school principal Marisa allows me to serve as our home schools Science Teacher.

Reece has been learning about weather lately and today we discussed factors that can change climate and weather quickly like the effect of El Niño. It was a fun and interesting lesson made all the more fascinating by this video we found about El Niño in action.



How lucky is Reece to have a Science teacher that shows him important educational material like this? Home School rules!

Food Prices Rising

By Michael

Did you know that corn prices rose 52% last year alone? If you buy soda, you might have noticed that a 20 oz soda might cost 30% to 40% more than it did last year. Soybeans and wheat prices are extremely high as well. As food prices rise, our buying power for food goes down since the increased costs of food will be passed through to consumers for all food products we purchase. There are also currently food riots occurring around the world. One of our loyal readers Michael sent me this article that discuses these issues from MSNBC.com about the rising prices of food.

The intention of bringing this to your attention is not to preach doom and gloom or fear. My dad had the serenity prayer from alcoholics anonymous on the wall at his work as I grew up and I think there is wisdom in what it teaches.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I think a big key to peace and even happiness in this life is to worry about the things we can control, and not worry about those things we can't control. So what are we not able to control? We can't control the weather around the world, we can't control agribusiness's decisions on what they produce, and we can't control how much of the rising prices producers pass through to us.

So what can we control? Every one of us can take a larger role in our own food production and supply. Every one of us can improve this year over what we did last year. Start a garden or make it bigger. Plant a fruit tree or a raspberry bush. Get a couple of chickens so you have fresh eggs. Find a local public garden. Grow container plants on your balcony. Ask a local farmer if you can buy a share in a cow or pig for it's meat. Join a CSA.

There is peace and comfort in taking control of the things that we can. Leave a comment detailing what you are going to do to have more control this year over your own food supply.

Reader Question-Fencing

We are having a problem keeping the chickens in the fence and racoons out. What is the best type of fencing, and how high should it be?? I also read we should bury the fence a foot or two. Is that true? Thanks. 

I found this article really helpful. It goes over a couple different fencing options and also suggests burring your fencing at least a foot. 

Readers, please leave a comment if you have any other advice!

Narrowing Down a Name for Jane Doe

Seriously, that was so hard to choose, I just had to pick 5 names instead of 3. You guys all had such great names for Jane Doe, but with much debate we were able to narrow it down to these 5 names:

Ruby Mae

Flip Flop

Layla

Nellie

Pinky Gladous Gutsman

Now, go vote for your favorite in the sidebar on the right! 

If your name is chosen, you will be the winner of this super fun apron!

The apron is donated by traditionallyunique

Go check out the rest of her stuff, it is super cute too.

Look....napkins to match the apron. So fun!

 Have you voted yet?

I know, it is hard to choose a favorite. 
Voting will end Thursday. 

~marisa