How it all started....

I have always loved animals & children. Even as a small child of 3 or 4 I remember fervently hoping that santa would bring me a horse. A magnificent, tall, majestic, chestnut creature with it's mane blowing in the wind. Gender didn't matter. We lived on the 3rd story of our apartment building at the time, but I had it all planned out. Imagine my mom's surprise when I told her, rather matter-of-factly, that santa would be delivering my horse anytime now. "But where will we keep it?" she asked. "On the balcony, of course!" Wasn't it obvious?

What a dreamer! Ok, so I am a hopeless romantic. Always have been.
Over the years growing up I think I dreamed of a "farm life", among other fantastical ideas, as a way to escape my sometimes less than ideal childhood. And, Hoolywood (haha, typo, but I think I will keep it) didn't help to dispel my romantic visions, it only added to it. I could see myself riding bareback on a beautiful horse...on the beach?...in slow motion. I still dream of that.

But, let me tell you something honey, it ain't happenin'! It's HARD work. Nobody told me that part of it. The muck & the mud, the manure, getting your toes stepped on, getting bit really hard by an aggravated horse with dominance issues over his food! Wow, not to mention the sore derriere after a riding lesson.
Thanks alot "National Velvet" & "The Black Stallion".

Ok, so I have lived in the city, at one location or another most of my life. (mom SWEARS she must have gypsy blood in her) No farms anywhere.
Then 11 years ago my husband & I were blessed to be able to buy the 1&1/4 acre we now live on. I finally got a farm!
Mind you it's not your typical farm, as we live in "The Valley of the Sun" in Arizona. So, it's alot of desert & HEAT. There are places in the valley where they have irrigation & you would swear you have been transported elsewhere. But alas, such is not our case.
We are still in the city, but we are on the outskirts. We are in the desert where it's hot & dry, but it's still our "farm", nonetheless.

We didn't start a farm idea right away, it kind of grew on us. First, we got a dog, since we had always been in apartments & could never have one before. "Barney" was a german shepherd mix. Then later....another dog "Bubba" (yes, my husband is a redneck), a st. bernard mix.
We dabbled with the idea of buying real farm livestock, but we hadn't made the leap yet.

Then one day, my husband walks in the front door & hands me a large cardboard box. Inside were 5 almost grown chickens! I couldn't believe my eyes! I didn't know what to do!
"I'm going outside to build a chicken coop," he says as he disappears out the door again, leaving me holding the box of chickens. My eyes were as wide as saucers, mouth hanging open in disbelief.
I got on the internet & began researching chickens. And, my husband managed to craft a coop out of some old wall cribs that we had used as shelves. He painted it white with mauve trim to match our house. It even had painted on windows & curtains on the outside.

So began our "farm", all those years ago.
And to think, it all started with a spur of the moment idea of my husband's to stop at the feed store. The "poor, orphaned" chickens had been dropped off when the renaissance festival left town. Apparently they had been used in the petting zoo when they were chicks.

Now we have around 60 chickens, a turkey, 2 ducks, a horse, 10 goats, 5 dogs, 2 cats & a hermit crab. Sing it with me.....And, a partridge in a pear tree!

So on my blog I would like to share stories of our farm adventures, and whatever else comes to mind.
If anyone besides me is even paying attention, lol.

Toodles!