The Welsh Women

We finally have two productive groups on the farm!

Introducing Lou and "the girls."

The females truly don't have names, because it's difficult to tell them apart. "The girls" suits them nicely, until you try and call one of them over.
Then it's like, "Girl. Come here girl." 

Awkward. 

We've had these sweet babies since New Year's, however they haven't been contributing members until today.

Cam texted me this picture just a few minutes ago with the title,
"We've got a new egg layer!"
That's right, we now have duck eggs people!

This fine cream colored sphere is the product of one of our Welsh Harlequin ducks. We acquired this sweet trio with the help of my cousin, some construction paper, and a little slick ninja action. Now THAT'S a story for another day. Anyway, Welsh Harlequins are actually quite rare with only 5,000 breeding pairs left in the U.S. However, they are also one of the best egg layers around. So those eggs you see? They're kind of a big deal. From now until the girls last days we can expect to find duck eggs in the nest almost daily. Excited is an understatement when it comes to these deliciously rich things. 

Omelet anyone?

Chicken Feet

In all of my 22 years, I never once thought I would ever have to rub a chicken's feet.

Yet, here I am on a Sunday afternoon doing that exact thing.

Crazy, and gross, I know.

When we got our beloved chickens last Sunday we were told, "And by the way, they have scaly leg. But don't worry, a little treatment and it will clear right up."

Have you ever googled this junk? Do it. I'll wait. It's GROSS.
Scaly leg is basically the infection of the chickens scales by tiny microscopic mites. When they infect the feet they make the scales raised and irritated, causing the feet to be very sore. If the infection gets bad enough they can lose toes and even their entire foot. Thankfully Captain and the ladies weren't to this point yet, but they weren't far from it.

So, how do you kill this disgusting condition? Vaseline.

My grandmother has always said that Vaseline is good for everything. Got a cut? Put Vaseline on it. Got a bruise? Put Vaseline on it. Dry skin? Put Vaseline on it. You get the picture. It's become a running joke in our family, to the point that we buy her tub after tub for every special occasion.

But it turns out Grandmomma was right, a little Vaseline goes a long way. It actually smothers the mites that are currently living under the scales, kills them, and allows the legs to begin the healing process. After treating our chicken's feet daily with a Vaseline mixture, they have finally begun to heal. I am quite excited about the progress we have made, because let me tell you, this stuff is gross and tough to get rid of. While I didn't think to take any pictures of their poor feet before treatment, I did take one today.

See the nastiness up on top of her pitiful leg?
 But would you look at all that new skin forming above my thumb?!
Excited is an under statement.

I was originally told that it would take up to two weeks to see an improvement, but seeing such a vast difference after just seven days speaks volumes. I do believe we're on to something, and it's not just chicken feet. 

For the Love of Chickens

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day where you get candy, flowers, and cards. Right?

Wrong. 

Not in this house anyway. 

This year for Valentine's day I got a very nice pair of amethyst earrings…
and a rifle scope.

Yep, you read that correctly. And I couldn't be more excited about it!

My darling fiancé received truck parts.
An EGR delete kit sounds like a lot, but it's really just a fancy term for an over priced metal pipe.

But would you look at his face? 

Pure elation I'd say, and definitely worth the spike in my credit card bill. 

My parents went a completely different route for Valentine's though and bought each other live animals. 

Yep. Chickens to be exact. 

Introducing Captain and his girls, Wendy and Thumbelina. 

We drove two hours out of our way on Sunday to get these babies, and while we saw some beautiful countryside on the trip, two hours is a long time for some chickens. Captain and his girls are Dominickers, or Dominiques, as they are more properly called. Dominickers are considered a heritage breed of chicken and have become quite difficult to find. My father had Dominickers growing up and has wanted some of his own ever since, so when I found these beauties on Craigslist I couldn't say no. They're already pulling their own weight too!

Ta-da! Our very first egg! 

When we left Beulah, Alabama with the chickens on Sunday afternoon the breeder told us they wouldn't start laying again for a few weeks due to the cold snap. But when dad went out to the coup yesterday he found an egg, and a pretty one at that! 

Did I mention that we also got some babies? 

Seven to be exact, four Dominickers and three Golden Pheonix. 

The Golden Pheonix is an exotic breed, and while the babies have a while to grow, they should look something like this: 

Would you look at that tail?! Simply beautiful. 

I am excited for what this new farming chapter holds for our family. 

Cam said at the end of the day Sunday, "Ahna Becca, I'm starting to feel like a farmer." And since he's spent the entire evening looking at cattle trailers, I believe he truly is. 

Perfect Timing

Three years ago today my fiancé asked me to marry him. 

We met when I was a senior in high school. I knew he was the man I was going to marry within three months of dating him, although he probably thought I was crazy. Most all of our friends did. They thought we were too serious too fast, and maybe we were, but look at us now. 

We had been together barely a year when we first looked at engagement rings. It was an accident really. We had originally gone to Kay's to look at necklaces, but while we were there I happened to glance at the wedding rings. And there it was. THE ring. My ring. 

I asked the lady behind the counter if I could try it on. 

As she was handing it over, the questions began. 

"When are you getting married?" 

"How long have you been together?"  

"Would you like to apply for our Kay's card?"

Cam and I hadn't even seriously discussed marriage yet, what was I supposed to say to this woman? All I wanted to do was try on the ring. It glistened beautifully on my finger. I didn't want to take it off. I simply told her that we planned on getting married within the next year and thanked her for letting me try it on. Cam agreed that it was a beautiful ring, but that he wanted to keep looking before we decided on one. My heart was already sold, and apparently his was too. 

Three days later he left early from work and bought my engagement ring. I guess he knew, just like I did, that he had chosen me as his wife well before we had discussed the idea of marriage.

The ring I desired lay tucked away in Cam's bedroom while I drug him to countless jewelry stores for the next year. I'm not sure why he waited so long to propose, just waiting for the right timing I suppose. A year and a half after Cam bought my engagement ring, he dug it out of the top of his closet and prepared for my proposal. 

It was Valentine's day weekend, 2011. Cam had a night of surprises awaiting me. He wouldn't tell me where we were going or what we were doing, just that I was to show up at his house ready to go. When I arrived at his house he immediately ushered me to the truck and blindfolded me so I couldn't see where we were headed. About forty-five minutes later we arrived at P.F. Chang's. I was very excited because this was my favorite "special" place to eat, but when we got inside we found out there was a four hour wait. Naturally Cam hadn't thought to make reservations, so we had to make new dinner plans. 

We ended up at my second favorite restaurant, Stix. We got a table with our favorite cook, Charlie, and several other couples. Halfway through our meal one of the men called attention to the restaurant, got down on one knee, and proposed. Cam said later that he had originally planned to do the same, but thought it would look like he was copying him and didn't want our big moment to be cliche. 

After dinner we got back into the truck where he blindfolded me again. Cam drove me thirty minutes down the road to the park where we shared our first kiss and he originally asked me to be his girlfriend.  Here he got out of the truck, ran around to my side, opened the door, and proclaimed that I could take off my blindfold as he knelt on one knee. 

The excitement I felt on that day is nothing compared to the excitement I feel now as our wedding day approaches. Today I am more in love with this man than I ever thought I could be on that day three years ago. 

A Small Seed

I admit, while my fiancé wasn't exactly the outgoing "country man" he is today when we met, he wasn't exactly a city slicker either. 

Cam grew up on 20 acres in Montevallo, Alabama with his mom, his two sisters, and his sweet grandparents who he called Momma Teen and Dad. From what I hear, Dad was one of the most innovative men of his time. He grew up in the great depression and learned to make a name for himself even without graduating high school. He was a jeweler, a salesman, an investor, a coal miner, and a decorated war veteran, as well as a bit of an entrepreneur. While Cam didn't grow up on a farm, Dad still taught him a few things about country living before he passed. One of my fiancés greatest memories as a child was riding on the tractor with Dad. To this day he says that tractors give him peace because of it, which comes in handy when our fields need to be bush hogged. 

Here is sweet "baby" Cam and his grandfather, Dad, doing what they did best. 

I am forever grateful to this man that I never had the pleasure of meeting. He created a gentle spirit within my future husband, as well as an appreciation for the outdoors and working with your hands. Dad planted a small seed of farming in Cam a long time ago, it just took me coming in to his life to help it grow. 

The Beginning of a Lifetime

You may read the title of this post and think 

"'The Beginning of a Lifetime', what does that even mean?!" 

Let me explain…

I started this blog to document the new life I have begun, a life with my fiancé. 

Here we are. Aren't we precious?

We've been together six years this October, which just so happens to be the month we get married. 

I come from a long line of farmers.

This is my great grandaddy, my grandaddy, and my sweet daddy. 

Notice the overalls and straw hats, us Payne's are kind of infamous for that. 

When I first met Cam, he was far from any kind of "country boy" I had ever known. But the longer we dated, the more attracted he became to my family's country lifestyle. My great grandaddy, John Oscar, was a true farmer from what I hear. He had cattle, hogs, and a garden some city slickers would dream of. My grandaddy took on most of his stock, but as he got older he got rid of it piece by piece. Now our family just has a yearly garden and corn patch big enough to feed the whole valley, and some times we do. Cam and I developed big dreams of becoming all organic farmers, but we weren't sure how quickly the idea would take off with my daddy. So, about a year ago we decided to branch off from the family farm and start our own farm together. But once we realized how expensive it would be to start over, that idea didn't last long. Plus I didn't want to leave my daddy alone to do all the bush hogging and seed planting by himself. 

Now we have big dreams of expanding my family's old farm and starting an organic farm with them, together; one that my daddy and grandaddy would be proud of. 

This blog is about us, our adventure together as newly weds, 

and our beginning as organic farmers.

The beginning of a lifetime of happiness, hard work, and family farming.