Two years ago, my wife, myself, and our four kids moved into a new home after living in a place with absolutely no yard. Our previous garden was a few containers squeezed into our tenth of an acre lot with about four hours of sunlight a day. We tried growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. We got a handful of veggies, but not nearly as much as we were hoping for. We Googled everything, hoped for the best, and still mostly failed.
But we loved the idea of growing our own food. Even when the results were underwhelming, something about planting veggies and waiting (impatiently) for them to do their thing hooked us.
Then we moved.
Suddenly, we had almost an acre. With lots of soil, sun, and possibilities, our backyard dreams officially got out of hand.
We started dabbling in gardening again, and got a decent haul our first year, but we had some flops with corn and green beans. But it inspired us to start planning out how we were going to start all our plants this year from seed with organic, non-GMO seeds. So I made a list and we ordered some grow lights, heat mats, seed starter trays, and a whole mess of organic seeds off of Amazon.
And then one day, someone in our house casually said, “What if we got chickens?”
And someone else said, “Sure.”
And that’s where are today.
From No Yard to Backyard Chaos
We’re a family of six, soon to be brand-new chicken owners, and enthusiastic beginner gardeners. This blog exists because we wanted to document our journey, usually by Googling it first and hoping we interpreted it correctly.
We don’t have it all figured out. We’ve already made some mistakes and changed plans more times that we can count, but we’re excited to take this dive into a healthier way of living with our own home-grown food.
If you’re new to gardening, new to chickens, or just here for the suburban backyard chaos, you’re in the right place.
The First Task of the Year: Garden Cleanup
Before we could dream about planting anything, our garden area needed some serious help.
Over the fall and winter, weeds had taken over like they paid rent. Georgia is funny that way. Just when you think the weeds should be all gone, a new batch sprouts right up. Tall shrubs had grown up around the garden fence. The whole area looked less like “future vegetable garden” and more like “nature reclaiming its territory.”
So our first official project of the year was a full garden cleanup.
Armed with gloves, pruners, a shovel, and questionable confidence, we got to work.
We pulled weeds. We cut back shrubs. We cleared out all the overgrowth that had crept up around the fence, chopped down some small trees to make sure all the sun came through, and weed-whacked the ridiculous amount of thorns that had grown up (and yes I hooked my face like a big fish and somehow managed to get poison ivy. In January?).
Before:
After:
What’s Next
Next up:
- planning what to plant this year
- prepping garden beds
- learning even more than we already have
- and continuing to figure out this whole chicken-and-garden life
We’ll be sharing what works, what doesn’t, and all the “why did we think this was a good idea?” moments along the way.
Thanks for being here at the very beginning of Oops, We Bought Chickens.
Here’s to new seasons, fresh starts, and backyard farming for people who Googled everything.
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