Seasons

 A week ago as I watched the snowflakes swirling down  redesigning my backyard my thoughts were swirling too over God's big earth and it's vast climates all occuring at the same time.  How can this snow be falling here where I am while I text a friend in Malawi who tells me they are desperate for rainfall  and the heat is scorching the land.  Looking at the new carpet of snow I felt concern and  anticipation with the seasons and how it will affect the dormant seeds, fruit trees and berry brambles sitting outside the view from my window.  

When we knew we were coming back to the USA - we decided it was best to just buy a house  - for once in our lives.  We've lived in such a variety of rented homes.  See this post here

So here we are in " middle america" living in a house we purchased sight unseen.  And it's not too bad.  Our priorities were far different than many home buyers.  We wanted a little bit of land, enough space for chickens and plenty of trees.  The house itself was less of a priority - we can fix it up we said to ourselves.  Well, there's plenty of fix ups and add ons in our future ( egress windows, doors, decks, paint, flooring.......sigh)  but we have an acre, a bunch of trees and we've got chickens and a cat.  

The first couple months living here it was insanely hot and humid.  So I spent alot of time just looking out at the yard from the window.  Sometimes I'd walk out there and get caught up in the dream of what I wish it was already...( flourishing veggie's here, beehives there, chickens pecking happily over there, etc....)  Stefan worked tirelessly to hack down weeds and overgrown brush and clean up a plethera of junk thrown into the woods.** Future post** - the grow house put to use that was found in the woods.

It was all rather interesting to have come from Malawi in July where it was winter and downright chilly to the intense humidity of the middle of the continental U.S. and now a few months later  in winter again but cold enough for snow.  But I did grow up with 4 seasons and 4 seasons is what I get to experience again.  This fall we rolled up our sleeves and plotted a piece of land for the garden, threw down some ground cover and mulched it with hay and a ton of leaves.

 I planted garlic for the first time ever and it sits beneath a mulch of leaves.  The pear trees discovered at the base of the garden stand in wait, as do the young peach trees and our newly planted raspberry and blackberry brambles and blueberry bushes.  So much awaits.........

As for our chickens........I think, perhaps, I'm seeing the difference of rooster and hen.  Tell me what you think.  

see how this chicken's area around the eye is pale and there is no real sign of comb or wattle yet.  I think this is one of our hens

in contrast we have this guy here with a dark red area around the eye and the beginnings of wattle and comb.  Not to mention that long stately neck.  Is he a rooster? What do you think?

IF I AM RIGHT........we've got 5 roosters and 3 hens and 1 silkie who just looks fluffy.  Hmmmmmm......only time will tell.  Stay tuned....sign on to follow my blog  - I know you are sitting at the edge of your seat......or tailfeathers! 

chickens to transition

So I said I wasn't going to make this blog about our transition from country to country but that's a bit of a lie.  I realize that transition is what we're in and thus defines a lot of reasons for what we do.  One of them being......chickens.  Somewhere back in the 1st time that we lived in Malawi we built a coop, got baby chicks and a newfound love was born !  The purpose, however, was to have our own fresh supply of eggs. Oddly, in Malawi where chickens are seen strutting along the roads, hanging upside down on the side of a bicycle rider
 and everywhere there was often enough a shortage of eggs.  Generally right at a holiday where much baking was required.  So being blessed with a big yard we built an impressive coop and there began the learning of all things chicken.  Except for 1 thing - we were also blessed with a gardener who pretty well cared for those chickens on his own as long as we provided the supplies.  To be completely honest, we really just played with the cute little fuzzy chicks and then a few weeks later up to the coop they went where they were more pets to us than anything.  Sometimes we'd catch grasshoppers ( which btw, throw chickens into a frenzy of culinary delight) and shake them into the coop and sometimes we'd collect the eggs. Everyone, the Felgs and gardener's family alike, profited from the eggs.  We loved having chickens so much so that when we moved to a new house, so did the chickens.   The chickens moved with us!  And while I have a bunch of chicken stories and a ton of reasons why you should have your own chickens ( thus more posts in future) this post is about chickens in transition. When we made the big move across the ocean ( airlines generally frown on cages of 15 or more chickens so we left them there)  and settled down in a brand new place there were a couple things we knew we had to do as soon as possible to help us feel right about ourselves.  Those were:  1.  find a source of raw milk (check)and 2. find a source of local eggs and get ourselves some chickens of our own. ( check)
This time, however, no gardener.  Time to do the chicken thing on our own.  But we have them, 8 light brahmas and 1 silkie. 

Adorable.  First thing to know about chickens is:  it takes at least 4-6 months for a hen to mature into an egg layer.  So it's a labor of love keeping those little cuties alive and healthy and safe until you see a single egg.  But we've got a source of free ranged chicken eggs in the meantime ( whew!) and our girls are growing wildly.  Here's how they look at 6 weeks !

One last thing.  We don't know yet if they are really girls.  Could be hens.  Could be roosters.  We got them from a local farm and its anyone's guess for awhile.  I tried desperately to read up on gender identification in chickens.  It's not easy to the untrained eye.  I think I'll know pretty soon.  I keep looking them over.   ha!  Will let you know.  The main thing is....we got chickens again.  And it helps us feel more at home.

(ps.....I'm working on making my blog into an official website.  stay tuned for a change in address when that happens.)

a new road....

it's once again been an astonishing long time since I've posted a blog entry.  ugh....  I hate to write unless there is something blog worthy. facebook captured a few key moments and  our entire last year in Malawi, Africa flew by with my teaching Year 3 at St. Andrews Int'l Primary ( and my first stint in working full time since before marriage and kids), Ben and Anna attending school there and being happily busy with friends and activities ( most likely here in the usa our kids won't be in after school " play with orphans" club and we are all missing the abundant life of swimming outdoors year round) , Louisa beginning the secondary school and loving it and Stefan working hard to keep the Jesus Cares program to the disabled in Malawi afloat. The majority of his last 6 months entailed a massive relief and aid distribution after severe flooding a year ago. Just in Blantyre alone we went 12 days without water and very little electricity. We also enjoyed a few more volunteer VBS teams and sang, danced and shared God's word with literally hundreds of beautiful Malawian children and then sadly that chapter closed in our lives but we are feeling thankful for the time that God gave us for such an experience - again.  Read previous posts which detail a few events in our lives in both Africa and Germany.
and now? well we live in Kansas.  And when we're not soaking up family time or planning, planting and tending to our little acre, we are a preschool director and a work production supervisor to the disabled and we have lots of stories from felgsafar to share which sometimes come bubbling out.  I don't intend to make this a blog detailing our transition, again, from country to country but I imagine bits of it will sneak out at times. Repatriation....a story in and of itself.   Mostly I hope to share the beginnings of a tiny little homestead - hardly self sufficient - no where near what I imagine it to be in my mind or my pinterest pins.  But it's something and I love that we are doing it. So grab a coffee or a glass of wine and join me along another road the Lord has opened up for us.  I DO intend to write a book one day - perhaps a series ( the path of life series it'll be called) about all the different roads we've been on.  But for now......it's just this new road and "the little acre that could"