Category Archives: Itsnotta farm

The Beauty of Seasons of Change: Life Lessons

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Oh friends! It has been a whirlwind of a few weeks, and I am still not over it. Usually, I am a sucker for back to school week and do all the prep, cleaning, anticipating etc. etc. They say that September is the new January, and I am here for it… except I am not. Our kiddos are getting older, and only the youngest is left in her last year at high school. We bought 99 cent pencils and a couple of packs of post it notes. Oh – and a new pair of shoes. Not that she needed new shoes, but she got a new pair anyway. No more double pairs for indoor/outdoor shoes, no school lunch prep, no fancy backpack. I don’t think we even got up on the first day to see her off on the bus. We’re bad parents. We didn’t even do the back to the college dorm pics that all our peers are posting with their older teens. Our college kid is back, but doesn’t share much… so there’s that. I promise to send him with snacks. No real food or fancy twinkly lights, maybe clean bedding and a towel and soap. Ugh! What have I become, so far from the old days.

So unprepared for back to school this year. Oh well.

In fact, we pulled them out on the first week of school to go on a family holiday. Which was great! A tradition we started a few years ago to get away and re-connect as an extended family (which is growing considerably now). We hung out and stayed up way too late. Despite the very nice weekend, we came home to a devastating loss… three (yes, three!) of my beloved chickens were gone. We are assuming a coyote pack. No signs, no evidence, just three missing bodies. That means we only have three girls left. The dog was with us, which I think was a bad thing, because he is likely a slight deterrent to whatever predators are out there. Three! So sad. Still, this is the risk of free ranging, and I am thankful my sitter is a farm girl, and handled it beautifully. I’m sorry it happened on her watch. Sigh. I spent the rest of the week after returning home researching fencing for pygmy goats. It was therapeutic.

Then there is the house… it’s a mess. I suppose it always is after you go away. I have so many big plans. So little motivation. Not even that…. I have motivation, but I don’t know, time just gets away when you are scrolling Facebook Poultry Groups and goat breeders near me. Don’t tell the hubby… but maybe I am regretting the move to the country…. WAIT. No, I am not. I love it here. The neighbouring farmers are starting to harvest again, the dust is flowing, the days are getting cooler, farm fairs are starting to crop up, apples, pumpkin spice, sunflowers and sunsets on the lake. No, I love it here, it’s just a season I am going through.

A.I generated: I asked it to include PSL… in the headless sweater?! LOL. These are the days we are in, people. A Season of A.I. generated mysteries…. Jesus, take the Wheel!

Why do people say that? Enjoy the season you are in? I get that it’s a God thing too… He designed it for us: to ebb and flow as the seasons of the year do. I had a conversation with God about it the other night. I asked Him to give me something. Some hint about the direction for the next little while. He reminded me to draw close to Him. A time for everything. I’ve talked about it before. I’m just reminding myself to embrace it again. To embrace the changes. To anticipate something new and different. Maybe I need to dye my hair again. I’ve been thinking about getting older lately. Friends and family are retiring… or dying. Harsh as it seems, winter approaches quickly and you must go through that season… until spring and new life starts again. Poetic? Not really. Just reality.

However, I do not want this post to be a downer… I need it to be as much of an encouragement for you as it is for me. This season is lovely. Rosie, in fact. Comfort. Warmth. The storage of a good harvest to make it through the Winter cold. Preparation, perhaps. I need to get back to that one. Alright friends, let’s do this! Let’s put on our woolly sweaters, our Pumpkin spice in hand and smell the sunflowers (which don’t smell really, but you get the picture)! Let the dust of the harvest fly once again, my friends!

And if that self talk wasn’t good enough for you, here’s a few other links to motivate us both:

5 Ways to Pray for your Kids in the Back to School Season

Walking Through the Seasons of Life

Study Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

If I could Save Time in a Bottle

Navigating Relationships Through Chicken Keeping

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What a whirlwind of a week it has been! Welcome back. There’s been a lot going on at Itsnotta farm … fall is approaching and the weather is finally getting a little cooler! We had some rain as well… a much needed thing after a very dry season which included a complete fire ban in the surrounding area, as well as a few friends who lost water in shallow wells. We’ve been clearing brush, cutting down tree branches and my arbor is up and still standing! I’ve been researching baby goats, but that’s still not on the horizon… need some fence building done, apparently. The pond experts came in today and got my waterfall going again… but the rain made the pool green, so there’s that.

However, the most significant change has been with the beloved chickens. Tragedy has struck again and I am saddened to report that two more of my new babies have been taken by a predator without a trace. I am so upset. I’ve gone from 5 new babies to 2 left. I have four of my original flock left, so that leaves me with only six girls. I understand that allowing the hens to free range means I have to accept this fate, on occasion. Yet, it’s still sad.

Hanging out with the chickens is where I wanna be this week. As you all know, they’ve been the driving force behind our move, our new adventures and Itsnotta farm. And my observations have created my muse for this week. So, the two sets of hens are now a year apart. The new breed is absolutely beautiful, but a little shyer than my original girls. And pecking order is definitely a real thing.

Finally: “apart but together”

Let me paint the picture for you. Four, older, more established girls, spoiled rotten by their crazy chicken momma, get infiltrated by five teenagers. The less experienced teens are attacked, traumatized and are reduced to two. The remaining two need to rely on each other to slowly make friends with the older ladies. And slowly, oh so slowly, it’s happening. They are forced to be locked up together at night, but the older girls are “making room”. There is still a cue for treats in the morning, but the younger two are starting to quickly get close enough for fast leftovers. Instead of being fields apart, the flock is “apart” — but together. I really am hoping this trend continues and that one day I will have a cohesive flock. Chicken keepers call this “integration”. And it seems to take forever. A group is obviously safer, so that’s the goal!

So, my friends, what do we learn from this? Why do I bore you with all my chicken drama? Well, it had me thinking about how similar we are, as humans. We were created to be a flock. God designed us to be together. Together for safety. Together to learn. Together to rest. Together to work as a team. Yes, there will be leaders and followers, but once the integration dust settles, there should be an ebb and flow to the scratch, peck and eat bugs, then occasionally lay an egg, routine.

The hubby and I have been in the middle of relationship observation overload these past few weeks. We’ve watched our older kids go off independently and merge with others (and allthe teenage angst that goes with it!) We’ve gotten together with new friends, and worked on building fresh relationships, and spent time with old friends who we value and love because we already “get each other”. We’ve seen new life come and the learning curve it creates to “add to the flock” (Hurray for babies!). We’ve also watched as relationships crumble and long term marriages seem to falter. We’ve had the hard discussions with older folk who are seeing the end of their time on earth come far to fast. From the outside looking in, it’s just like watching my little flock, and it’s crazy.

Our Sunday services have recently reminded me that God designed us to be in relationships. He did not want us to be alone to be attacked by predators. He designed us to have safety in numbers. You must learn from one another. We all must do some watching, some waiting, some learning through observation and patience, and then we can fly in and clean up the leftover treats that God gives us on the daily because He loves us.

As usual, perhaps these posts are not eloquent, nor full of deep theology or revelation, but a simple reminder of the way God intends us to be. I’m reminded all the time through simple things like baby chickens, of God things, and I am simply sharing them with you. Thanks for following along on my journey. We’ll catch up over a cuppa coffee again next week! Be blessed.

Just Sitting Around…

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Welcome back, beloveds! It’s been a spell… and a lot has been and is going on, but I’m still in that “writing funk”. Lots to say, but no clear direction. Ha! Maybe that’s the way it is in life. Always something, isn’t it? And no clear direction as to where it’s going… but here we are at the writing table again and somehow we’ll get through it and something will come out on the other side.

So, where to begin? Well, working on a few projects here at #Itsnottafarm. Last winters ice storm caused several of our cedar hedges to bend over, leaving overhanging branches across our driveway… so I have decided that I am country girl enough I can handle the branch cutter… yup, chopped down several trees. Until a rather large trunk killed off the trimmer! (No worries, Hubby fixed it again, I think!) Nonetheless… processed quite a few in the time allotted. Enough, in fact, to create a “rustic” cedar arbor for my flowering vine. Well. I have the start of one. I have a plan. I have several saved Pinterest pins. The logs currently are sitting on my lawn.

The beginnings of my arbor!

What else has been going on? Oh yes, my beloved father in law turns 95 this month! Which sparked a giant family reunion and a party with the gathering ‘outlaws’. And all my kids arriving home. It lasted for a full 4 days and several large meals later. So the pantry was raided, leftovers created, and a giant stack of bedding to launder. My septic isn’t sure it can handle it all… so the laundry is sitting there in a pile too.

Ninety five years young! What a legacy! Dementia has robbed his mind from enjoying the celebration, but the rest of us enjoyed the company and catching up. Family is good. Quirks, of course. Moments, of course. Yet a godly heritage is priceless. My introverted self needed a day to recoup, though, so I spent a day just sitting around after the chaos.

Then there’s the floor. We decided to rip out the old, stinky carpet in our family room. Okay, we paid somebody to do it. That was an adventure: loading all the boxes into our van only to discover we ordered the wrong colour. Luckily, we checked before we left. We then proceeded to unload, return and purchase and load the new pile of vinyl flooring into said van. The van’s power steering died on the way home. And so, although we have a new and beautiful floor, our dead van is sitting on the lot of our mechanic waiting to receive it’s fate.

My new chick birds are growing and exploring more and more! I found them foraging out on our driveway yesterday! They still haven’t fully integrated with my older girls (the big girls chase them off) but they are getting braver. They will start laying eggs in a couple of months. I am hoping they will use the nest boxes, because recently the older girls are only using them intermittently. I have to get the curtains up. Maybe the nest box pads need changing. I don’t know how to encourage the girls to nest at home 100% of the time, because currently there is a pile of eggs just sitting “somewhere” on our property going to waste.

It’s been really hot these days, so there has been a lot of sitting on our porch where the breeze is beautiful. Or by the pool, where it’s still hot but near the water… and the action of everyone else who chooses to swim. You should see our grand baby! Dunking under like a little duckling without a care in the world! Ooo. I want a couple ducklings. And a goat or two. So I sit and scroll on my phone dreaming and planning but second guessing myself as I probably should not add to the creatures we already have. Or should I?

So. There’s been a lot of “sitting” in the last couple of weeks. Active sitting. Is that a thing? Active sitting? Yes, I believe it is. I’m sure you’ve heard about sitting and “waiting on the Lord”. Lots of references in the Bible direct us to sit, or “wait” upon God’s perfect timing for something. It is not passive idleness. Yes, often it involves rest, but that rest is often necessary to fully see your next steps clearly. Like recouping after family reunions.

Sometimes the sit is not easy. Sometimes it comes face to face with hurts, doubts and realizing that the best options aren’t the ones God has designed for us. When I do find that pile of wayward eggs, I am sure a few would have been eaten by wildlife. The rest will certainly be rotten after sitting several weeks in this heat wave. Gross. Life lessons via the coop. Always interesting.

Sometimes the sit is full of planning, anticipation and a building up of courage. Realistically, I probably spend more “enjoyable” moments planning projects and dreaming about them than I do in actually engaging in the project itself. Cedar arbor case in point. Baby ducklings online are way cuter than the ones pooping in my yard someday. Sometimes that sit before the Lord strengthens your faith, renews your prayer life, and in reality is often more peaceful than the journey ahead. Especially if that journey is letting go. Like our dying van who carries so many memories in its seats.

So, yeah, it seems as though I’ve been “sitting around” a lot lately. In a writing lull. In a seemingly non productive moment of catching up but never accomplishing anything mode. Although maybe, just maybe, like this post, just “sitting around” seemed to write itself. In a direction that God wanted it to go. And that makes it all good. Updates on my arbor soon, friends, I promise!