Welcome!

Welcome to the Betty Crockett Homestead Blog!

This page is a lovely chaotic journal about my ongoing trials and victories in life on a wanna-be homestead. Nothing is perfect here and I'm generally learning through failing (over and over and over).

Chicken Coop

Duck Coop

My handsome husband grew up on a 10 acre farm, but I'm a regular city girl--who just moved onto three and a half acres in the middle of the country! We both decided we wanted to raise animals humanely and delve into fruits and veggies along the way. Since both the Hubby and I work full-time, we dedicate the rest of our spare time to the farm so we have to cut corners and improvise as well we can. Its all rather janky and ghetto-fab, but by golly prayers and duck tape work miracles!!

So far, we have raised 14 chicks (5 easter egg chickens, 2 silky banthams, 2 turkeys, 5 guineas) and inherited about the same amount of all different breeds. We also have ducks (anconas and various mixed breeds), three goats, a pig, and two dogs. It sure is a crazy place, but so far we're doing alright.

Agatha

Bernice

Lucky for us, Hubby Crockett's dad gifted us a lot of his old equipment as well as 21 bales of hay and assorted bags of feed. The coops we slapped together late in the summer for the birds were built from donated, repurposed and scavenged wood/parts. The pig pen is a mess of gate pieces, lumber and pallets all rolled in mud and sprinkled with hay.

Needless to say, Hubby and I are sure blessed to have so many resources!

Unlike last year, I will not be planning a wedding right before planting season, so I'm ultra-eager to get the ball rolling. These photos here give you an idea of just how crazy the house is right now--a giant folding table covered in dirt?? In my LIVINGROOM! That's right, with all the supplies I could scavenge I've got tons of seeds growing. My favorite is kale, featured below already sprouting before the rest!

Tiny kale sprouts

Living room mess

Handy thermometer

I've got two types of lettuce, five kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of peppers, six varieties of fruit trees all ready to pop their little green heads at any moment. I've also got corn, peas, beans and squash to plant when the ground is ready. Planting is soo meditative, and how exciting is it to eat the stuff you grew from seeds? Last year was the first time I had ever grown tomatoes from seeds, so you could say I'm a bit prideful of my newly green thumb (I used to be known as the Cactus-Killer).

Anyone else on the homestead bandwagon? How did you get started?

XOXO,
Betty Crockett