Our City Farmhouse: Duck Drama and Plans

Sharing Our City Farmhouse along with some duck drama and homesteading dreams.

Today we finally started our French lessons and my garden is in full swing with a new endeavor underway. Because, if you can’t take chances in life, then what the heck is the point? Or maybe that’s just how I see it. That could very well be my life motto. I say take chances, jump first, and then ask the questions as you go. I often figure things out best in the doing anyway.

Otherwise, how else do we begin? The simple answer to me is, we don’t. Or that has at least been my experience of watching others move at a more careful pace.
We can often get stuck in the mind and never birth the dreams we have in our hearts. It’s a tragic part of life. That allowing of our minds to get in the way of what is possible.

And so with that, the purchase button was clicked and tomorrow the dirt pile arrives for our brand new garden beds. Yes, the garden is not quite done for the year as gorgeous as it is…

Coming Soon

 I have decided on more, adding several beds to grow a larger crop this season. A crop that actually feeds us and then some. A few items we will be adding in are our fresh flowers, lavender, veggies, and herb bundles. I am excited to give it a shot and see the potential of utilizing my property to the fullest. 

But the real truth is I love my garden. If I could spend all day out there, I likely would. Oftentimes, it pulls me in. I head out there just to grab something for dinner or turn a sprinkler on and somehow an hour goes by, sometimes two. 

Homesteading Lifestyle

Needless to say, in some ways, my desire is to farm in some form, not just have a lovely flower garden. The slow-paced lifestyle appeals to me in ways I never would have imagined. The early morning moments captured in our garden give me a sense of peace that is far beyond what I could have imagined a garden could do. My first order of business each day is always the animals and then the plants.

The ability to pluck fresh food and herbs to bring in for a meal. Or to gather flowers for fresh bouquets on the table. Venturing out in my summer dress shears in hand, and barefoot in search of the brightest zinnias I can find. It is a joy that is hard to put into words.

The work of our hands and all that has gone into the life we now lead. From this property, I have been able to learn many homestead-style things and many I am only now adding in. Each summer we hot water can jam from berries or apricots we find at the farmers market. I also pack our tomatoes in olive oil when I have enough to put up. But the hope with these new additions is that there is plenty to go around. To have and to share with others.

Duck Drama

The ducks have now locked away for the night since having found one near-death hiding in the skimmer basket of our pool. Sick from wounds, cold, and having ingested algaecide. I was sure she was as good as dead. I brought her in and wrapped her in a towel. Drying her and trying my best to warm her up. It seemed as though she had been in that skimmer the entire night.

I dotted her wounds with Neosporin and researched electrolytes for waterfowl. Yes, there is such a thing. After days of being held up to her food dish and electrolytes, as she was unable to walk, she slowly began to recover. My makeshift duck hospital was an around-the-clock sort of week of duck care and lots of quacking. But to see her begin to walk again and eat was totally worth the effort. I can say, she has now made a full recovery.

After such a terrible and hard lesson learned, we now take the steps to lock them up each night. This means each morning I hear the sounds of quacking to get my attention to let them out.

Now that the duck drama is behind us, I can get back to the garden. For the next several days I will be busy planting, planning, and dreaming of what is to come. Anxiously working out all the details. Placing beds and reading up on the best veggies to grow in our climate.

There is so much to learn in this lifestyle. But I feel pulled to do so. Pulled to understand and fully dive in. Where this takes us, I don’t know. But what I do know is, that I will be in a phase of growing and learning. For me, that is a life well-lived.

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