Julia Franke

Hi Ernie,

I would definitely not consider it appalachia. The Appalachian Mountain Ranges are further east. And when I think of Appalachia, I think of more southern, and also coal mining. This is my opinion. I am very open to a different opinion.

Yeah, I think you are right on, Miles.

And Dave, I actually may be getting a woman who I supply eggs to to look after our place for two days. I think she is kind of excited about it. Heck, I would have been a few years ago.

I guess it's just been a lot of change in the past few years.

My husband and I went from adventuring every weekend (and most nights after work) to having a different kind of adventure. We now own property and we're living the life I dreamed of. I'm doing a lot of stuff I'm really proud of, and I actually want to expand and put roots down deeper.

Over the past three years, we had a beautiful son, bought current house (with 2+ acres), I got a promotion (more work/more stress), My husband decided to be a stay at home dad, now he's starting his own business. So we do a lot of tag team parenting. I get off of work, while he's heading to work. I think I just am nostalgic. However, I think that by getting away for a few days, will be centering.

It's all so good. But sometimes good is hard.

I thank you for being so totally understanding. It was really cathartic to "talk" this out.

So it's mostly time.
I work full time (it's a pretty time intensive and a rather stressful job).
And I have a 3 year old and two dogs.
In the summer, I harvest daily.
And the laying hens' eggs need to be collected daily.

To get someone to come out and watch the house is a HUGE request. I guess that's the biggest thing.

I tried to figure out how to do it all, but I can't seem to do it.

I talked to my husband about camping out just for overnight somewhere that we could bring the dogs.

Does anyone else struggle with an internal fight between putting down roots and using your wings to fly?

I've always had two very strong longings in my life.

The first is agrarian dreams. Producing my own food (plant and animal), using minimal energy, and really healing the land.

The second longing is a longing for adventure. The idea of living in a van down by the river. Being a river rat, a thru hiker, a dirt bag, living out of the back of my car.

I used to live in a townhouse with no yard. During that time, I got my A-License in sky diving, I became a skilled whitewater kayaker (going over 20+foot waterfalls), and ran ultra marathons.

Now, we've bought a wonderful 2+ acre property and we've been here over two years. I've planted tons of trees(edible and otherwise), have a large laying flock, produce our own chicken meat, and have two turkeys on pasture to be butchered in fall. My garden increases in size every year. I can, ferment and flash freeze. And I love it.

But I really miss adventure. I miss staying in a tent over weekends. I miss having my heart pumping from excitement.

The idea of traveling, living in a tent seems wonderful (I've never done it to that extreme, but dream of it).

While having my adventures, I longed for my roots.

My Questions are: Do you have a dichotomy of wants/dreams? How do you design your life to honor both parts? Is this even possible?

Thank you for reading about my current conundrum.

PS - I am incredibly blessed. I hope that this did not come across as whiny or "woe is me". I love my life, I just long for What I don't have right now, and want to know if anyone else ever feels this way?

So cool. Thanks for sharing.

What do you do for work?

I work from home, so I get to enjoy some of the flora and fauna of my yard throughout the day.

today, I got to see a wild turkey with two babies.


It always is a charge to see this kind of thing.

It's also fantastic to see you helping.

So the tom has made almost a full recovery. I just wanted to finish this story off. I always like to know how these stories resolve.

Thanks!

Such a cool idea!! When are you deciding the the post cards?

This is my first year raising turkeys. We have two, a tom and a hen, who are just over 8 weeks old. They are currently living in our chicken tractor (chicken paddy wagon). It's just the two of them now, as we just processed our first batch of meat chickens.

Anyway, I was moving the chicken tractor, and the tom got his foot stuck under one of the runners and I couldn't see any damage but he wouldn't put any weight on it. This was about a week ago. Now he'll put a little weight on it, but it's seems to be healing slowly.

He's moving around and preening, eating, drinking and pooping. He's even back to a little gobble here and there.

HOWEVER, there is part of me that's wondering if I should cull him. I really don't think he's in pain, but I wanted to put my feelers out for a reality check. When you do decide to put your animals down due to injury? What tell tale signs due you assess as to an animal's suffering?

Thank you for any help in advance.

Are you kidding me? I watched the trailer, I went on the website, and I felt like it would cost like $300 to $500. It's only $60!!! Holy smokes. This is AMAZING.

I'm ordering it and am so excited!!!

I recently processed my first batch of birds that were raised to be specifically meat.

I also butchered 3 laying hens that turned out be roosters.

I found it pretty empowering. To see our project from beginning to end and to also know that our chickens were raised happily and had one bad day. I feel like we are further along on our journey into the homesteading world.

One question: I have heard that you need to let the birds sit for 3 days after processing before eating. But in the second part of the "respectful chicken harvest" video, she says that she may be eating that chicken for dinner. How long do I have to wait from the time I harvest the chicken to the time I can cook it up?