Nana Chickens

About Me

Wife, mother of 4 daughters, and grandmother to soon to be six, (Oct '09)Hublet is father of 5, grandfather of 13, and great grandfather of 3, soon to be 4, (Oct '09)

We live on a farm, 20 plus acres in rural SE Missouri. We are still trying to be self sufficiant and we are almost there. We raise chickens for eggs and and we will be raising "Cornish X's " for meat. Our chickens are 'Free-Range", they run the house (outside of course) and help with the ticks and other nasty bugs, and yes, snakes. Currently we have 20 goats, does, a few of their babies, a buck and a whether (castrated male). Next batch of babies should be around Nov '09. Our goats are a mix of La Mancha, and Nubians for milk production and Boer, for meat, however we don't eat our goats, we sell them Their milk is wonderful and I just started making cheese. Also living with us are, 2 dogs, Sadie, 5 yo Black Lab/Golden Ret mix and Rosie, 3 yo Rottie/Akita mix. There are 3 cats who let us live with them, Tiger, 13 yo, Angel, 2 yo and the newest, Stinky, 1 yo +/- a month or two. Tiger has never been out, but Angel and Stinky are inside/outside kitties and help with keeping the rodents at bay. Trixie and Dixie are the two bunnies and I have no idea why we have them, other than the fact they needed a home. Currently we are raising 2 Angus steers, Sir Loin and T-Bone. One is for the freezer and one for profit. Rebel, a 30 year old Fox Trotter has retired here as well as us two humans. His days are spent grazing, napping and wading in one of the two ponds. Occasionaly he gets tacked up to give the grandskids a ride. We raise at least one pig every fall, but this year it will be 3, yikes! One for us, and one for hublet's youngest son. He and his wife and kids moved here in February. The third is for a friend, who sold us the steers. This year I would like to add to the mix some geese, ducks and a few turkeys. We have a garden every growing season and when we moved here 3 1/2 years ago we started an orchard. Oh, and finally, one of our ponds is stocked with catfish, well at least we threw them in 2 years ago. But no one fishes, maybe the snapping turtles got 'em. Now if I stocked the pond with lobsters, that would be a different story.

Besides farm "stuff", I love to cook and bake (no duh, why would I be here if I didn't), knit, I knit everyday, and sew. In my former life, I worked for clothing designers. I guess decorating my old stone farm house is a passion as well, along with refinishing antiques. My days are very full.

Hublet and I love to travel, however as of late we haven't had a chance because there was no one to watch the farm. Well for joy, son, wife and kids live here now, yea! Farm sitters! Favorite place to unwind, the Florida Keys.