I am so enjoying perusing your retirement blog! I don’t know that I could ever do chickens (I don’t like the looks of them… prefer to buy them frozen at the grocery), but someday I would like to grow my own food on my own little farm… Chuck’s Father was a farmer, was one of the original “Manongs” of California ~ he actually immigrated to this country as an agricultural laborer, working the sugar cane farms in HI, then worked up and down the Pacific Coast on various farms, even made it to the canneries in Alaska. He learned to read and write when he worked as a houseboy in Beverly Hills, one of the children taught him. Worked hard and saved enough money to buy his own farm, then his own home and several other houses and apt buildings which he rented to others. Because of “anti-miscengnation laws” he was now allowed to marry and immigration laws at the time favored single male laborers, not whole families, so my father-in-law didn’t marry until he was in his 60s, in the 1960s to a young 20-something teacher he brought over from the Philippines, Chuck’s Mom Julie. My father-in-law only ever made it to 2nd grade, but put all 4 of his kids through college. When Chuck and I were married, my father-in-law was in his 80s. Never saw his son earn his Masters degrees nor his doctorate in Law. Never met his 5 Grandchildren. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this but your farm reminds me of my father-in-law, who I knew such a short time..
Sarah, thanks so much for your comments and fascinating (if partly sad) family history. There are so many important stories and so much knowledge that have been lost as this society has moved away from agriculture and any meaningful connection to the land and nature. Our chicken venture just this morning was eliciting reminiscences from Monika about her inlaws too.
Those are beautiful looking chickens! and a great looking coop, too. I remember my task as a child was to find the nests, since many of my grandfather’s chickens strayed from the coop for laying their eggs.
And once you’ve got the chickens down, you’ll have to add some guinea hens.
I guess you two believe in the saying, Go big or go home. 15 chickens! Are they all egg layers or are some meat chickens? I’ve thought of raising a few for eggs, but Collingswood won’t let me. Cati tells me that Philadelphia won’t let you raise chickens either but she hears them in her neighborhood. For now we’ll keep buying them at the farmers market. I was shopping at Whole Paycheck last week and half a dozen Vital Farm eggs (truly free-range chickens) were selling for $5.99! Good lucky with your new venture!
Thanks, Sherry! They are supposed to be all hens; any rooster who slips in will have to be well-behaved or he’ll end up in the soup pot. We’re ambivalent about whether to raise chickens for meat, but we’ll probably wait until we have hens who don’t lay eggs anymore to decide about that. The one thing we know is that we can’t stand buying supermarket eggs. Lots of muncipalities are changing their laws about backyard chickens; in fact Monika recently went to a talk by the author of City Chickens!
Come down and check out our chicks once they arrive!
looks great! It looks like more of a chicken resort than a chicken coop to me
I am so enjoying perusing your retirement blog! I don’t know that I could ever do chickens (I don’t like the looks of them… prefer to buy them frozen at the grocery), but someday I would like to grow my own food on my own little farm… Chuck’s Father was a farmer, was one of the original “Manongs” of California ~ he actually immigrated to this country as an agricultural laborer, working the sugar cane farms in HI, then worked up and down the Pacific Coast on various farms, even made it to the canneries in Alaska. He learned to read and write when he worked as a houseboy in Beverly Hills, one of the children taught him. Worked hard and saved enough money to buy his own farm, then his own home and several other houses and apt buildings which he rented to others. Because of “anti-miscengnation laws” he was now allowed to marry and immigration laws at the time favored single male laborers, not whole families, so my father-in-law didn’t marry until he was in his 60s, in the 1960s to a young 20-something teacher he brought over from the Philippines, Chuck’s Mom Julie. My father-in-law only ever made it to 2nd grade, but put all 4 of his kids through college. When Chuck and I were married, my father-in-law was in his 80s. Never saw his son earn his Masters degrees nor his doctorate in Law. Never met his 5 Grandchildren. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this but your farm reminds me of my father-in-law, who I knew such a short time..
Sarah, thanks so much for your comments and fascinating (if partly sad) family history. There are so many important stories and so much knowledge that have been lost as this society has moved away from agriculture and any meaningful connection to the land and nature. Our chicken venture just this morning was eliciting reminiscences from Monika about her inlaws too.
Those are beautiful looking chickens! and a great looking coop, too. I remember my task as a child was to find the nests, since many of my grandfather’s chickens strayed from the coop for laying their eggs.
And once you’ve got the chickens down, you’ll have to add some guinea hens.
I guess you two believe in the saying, Go big or go home. 15 chickens! Are they all egg layers or are some meat chickens? I’ve thought of raising a few for eggs, but Collingswood won’t let me. Cati tells me that Philadelphia won’t let you raise chickens either but she hears them in her neighborhood. For now we’ll keep buying them at the farmers market. I was shopping at Whole Paycheck last week and half a dozen Vital Farm eggs (truly free-range chickens) were selling for $5.99! Good lucky with your new venture!
Thanks, Sherry! They are supposed to be all hens; any rooster who slips in will have to be well-behaved or he’ll end up in the soup pot. We’re ambivalent about whether to raise chickens for meat, but we’ll probably wait until we have hens who don’t lay eggs anymore to decide about that. The one thing we know is that we can’t stand buying supermarket eggs. Lots of muncipalities are changing their laws about backyard chickens; in fact Monika recently went to a talk by the author of City Chickens!
Come down and check out our chicks once they arrive!