Homestead Highlight: Jen

My greatest inspiration in my own backyard farming adventure has been to hear the experiences of others.  I invite you to read along here as Homesteaders share their adventures and experiences from their own farms, backyards, and homes.

Want to be featured as a Homestead Highlight?  I would love to hear about your experience.  For more information follow the link to the information page and share your own homestead here at the Backyard Farming Connection!
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 Today I would like to welcome Jen to this space.  Jen and her family live in coastal Maine with some beautiful chickens and a brand new Jersey Wooly rabbit.
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I have always dreamed of having chickens, when our family bought our first home in Coastal Maine I knew my dream was going to become a reality. It started out with 4 Beautiful Rhode Island Reds and has quickly grown to non-traditional breeds; one being my favorite the “Duccle.”
It wasn’t just about having the eggs for us, it was bug control, the eggs are just another benefit. We quickly found when digging in our sandy soil that it was grub infested and lacked nutrients. So here is where the chickens came a huge part of our home. Most would say they despise the fact that chickens can be destructive and scratch the ground where ever they please. I happen to love the fact there aerating our soil, it will make my job a lot easier to tend come next spring.
They especially love the compost bins as my dreams of a big vegetable garden this year majorly failed. Hopefully with all their work turning the compost, I will have nice rich compost to make my garden a dream come true.

Prior to getting the chickens we would have to do daily tick checks on ourselves when coming in from outside, since 7 girls and 1 boy have been here we haven’t found one tick.  Isn’t it great?  Protein for them, less the chance of a disease for us.
We have recently added a Beautiful Jersey Wooly rabbit; she is charming, soft, and loveable. Much like having a lap dog, although she makes one heck of a mess we do enjoy having her around and don’t mind the cleanup. We are planning to find her a male friend for breeding next spring.  I would love others to have an opportunity to own an animal that provides fiber but doesn’t require a lot of space and food like a larger livestock.

We will never get to fulfill the big dream of goats, cows, and pigs unless we move to a home in an area that is zoned. For now we enjoy having the animals we do have, its teaching my children a valuable lesson that they would never learn from traditional schooling.

I hope someday when they are off on their own raising a family they will choose to bring a little backyard farming into their lives.

I shared at Deborah Jean’s Dandelion House, Small Footprints Friday, Fresh Eggs Daily, Clever Chicks Blog Hop and the Barn Hop 

6 thoughts on “Homestead Highlight: Jen”

  1. Thanks Gretchen for involving me in this wonderful Journey.
    I'm really enjoying reading about your weekly adventures and the backyard farming journey of others.
    Thank you for the compliments about the coop, they have lots of space well at least until I add more.
    I really love our rabbit "Purl," she is the sweetest thing ever and loves to jump in bed for some cuddle and brushing time.
    I often get quick nibbles from her if shes had enough and would like to go back to her home.
    She is really a special critter…….

  2. It's nice to read about another homesteader's journey. Thank you for sharing, Jen! Your coop is adorable, and I love the witty name. 🙂

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