Step 1: Take the leap

There are a lot of sites out there that talk about the virtues of backyard farming and "urban homesteading" and I have to say after reading a lot of them, and watching Food, Inc., I decided to give it a shot.

At this point I have started an expansion project on my gardens to expand my growing area, and have ordered baby chicks and will be putting in a backyard chicken coop for eggs. No roosters, no birds for meat - just a few pet chickens that will also provide us with fresh eggs.

I am a single mom of two elementary school age children (one boy and one girl) and we have a house cat named Oliver. I didn't grow up on a farm but I did ride horses when I was young and have had limited exposure to various kinds of livestock. So I am learning as I go and expect to make many mistakes along the way but with luck I will learn from those and get better at this with time. :)

So now to set expectations - I am not expecting to raise all my own food or live off my 1/4 acre, but I do expect to substantially increase the produce I grow vs. buy, stop buying eggs from what I consider to be cruel sources, get my kids engaged in gardening and spend more time outdoors!

I will blog a little each week about my progress and hope to get lots of feedback and ideas for how to expand and still keep it sane ;-)