And So It Begins...!

As we sit here in our temporary home (aka camper...), the snow and sleet horrendously beating against the door in the 20-something degree weather on March 16th...we reminisce on the past few months. We have now been on the farm for just over a week. Our time traveling around to see family and staying in Florida for two months was absolutely amazing and we are so blessed to have been able to do that. Matt was able to work for his old boss at Heishman Lawn & Gardening doing landscaping pretty much full time for several weeks in Florida, a non-expected though much appreciated source of income. The day we left Florida it was 88 degrees exactly...and we were welcomed to Virginia by a nice warm front that lasted a few days.

Rachel working on the Egg Mobile

We arrived on the farm last Saturday and our first few days here were lovely! It actually got up to 70 degrees one day this week which resulted in a nice long work day accompanied by much welcomed sunburns! Of course, only to be followed by a 30 degree windy day with snow showers. Nonetheless we were grateful for the sunshine and warmth while it lasted. Our first order of business was to start preparing for our first batch of Freedom Ranger chicks which are arriving this Thursday. We were planning on building a brooder from scratch, but when we got to the farm we realized that we could use the current structure that Josh kept his 100 laying hens in for the winter due to the fact that the weather has been so bad (our original idea was to do an outdoor brooder...maybe for the next batch!). It is a simple hoop house structure that he made with pallets, cattle panels, and tarps. It actually kept the hens very warm through the bitter cold winter they had here. But