Mmm… PICKLES!

Wifey has been busy.

My Life As a Country Song

I came home tonight from work to find Thing 2 curled up on the couch, his head nestled what appeared to be VERY uncomfortably on the rim of his puke bucket, the wife yelled from the kitchen which has lately began to look a lot like the Nalley factory that we were out of Mustard Seed – the tone in her voice told me it was serious, and on top of it all – Thing 1 informed me that yet another chicken had gone broody… I’m up to my ears in projects, there’s stuff all over the yard, in the house…

I didn’t realize that my life had become a country song.

Thing 2 is taken care of – the chicken had already been caged, and it’s a good thing the store is 5 minutes away.

That’s the interesting thing about ‘farming’ in the city. The country life follows you – the good and the bad. Living within city limits, we’re finding that we have to find creative solutions to the not-so-awesome-parts of keeping a large garden, chickens, bees, and complete green space overhauls. With these come tools, feed, equipment, and periodic headaches.

We’re having to now deal with the raccoon that is taking out our produce in the garden and investigating our chickens… We’ve had to figure out how to deal with broody chickens effectively (UPDATE: 5 days in the hole took care of Arugala – she’s all good.), finding ways to deal with the flies that come from having free range poultry… finding counter space to put a decent beet harvest, 25 pounds of pickling cucumbers, and all the canning supplies… then there’s weeding the garden, reclaiming the lumber in the driveway, ordering gravel… then there’s the projects…

…you see, country living in the city isn’t all roses like some of the hipster urban homestead blogs would have you believe. It can be gritty, chaos laden, smelly, dill pickle-y… it’s kind of like making things from Pinterest – the pictures look so sweet- but in reality… it doesn’t always work out as it should… (Speaking of this phenomenon.. you have to see this if you already haven’t… http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-pinterest-fails/) and there’s always some slight downsides to every endeavor…

Life itself is two-sided. You can’t have the good — you can’t reap the rewards without the challenges. The proverbial vegetables won’t grow unless it rains… Trials bring growth.

Would I trade it? Nope. Not at all.

Because in addition to all of the above… today I bought my lovely wife a pickle crock, the house smells like pickled beets, sweet pickles, dill pickles, and the beautiful jars full of color are beginning to fill up the counter. I spent part of my afternoon with my bees, I bought a pellet gun… *whistles*… I’m wearing overalls right now… (seriously.. I am – they’re fantastic – how often do you get to wear overalls!?!)

Life brings challenges and frustrations sometimes. It wouldn’t be life without them. You can’t have the good without the bad… to an extent – how could you know the good if it weren’t for the bad?

Yup, my life has become a country song – and I love it.