Courtesy anitapeppers@morgueFile free photos

Browsing Thursday Blogs to connect and link with I came upon this gem. It ties in well with my last post on having gratitude on an ordinary day….the writer commences

” Let’s start this post by complaining, shall we? Life is hard. Life is a challenge. Life is not always sunny days, happy kids, and a clean kitchen. Aches and pains. Sadness and disappointment. A strained relationship. Illness and an unsure future. And hampers full of dirty laundry. Those things are never empty.

The writer continues…

” On any given day, at any given moment, I can be found stressing about something. Even if I seem peaceful or happy, there could be something nagging at my subconscious. This is my life, but I am not alone. I think everyone lives with their own particular burden, concern, hardship. That is life.

Finding that one thing to be thankful for, even when my insides want to rant and complain, brings me to a place of peace and even a deep abiding joy. It is a humble moment and that is a good place to be. Gratitude has saved me from being buried by anxiety and stress, from spiraling down into a place of darkness and despair. For if we can’t find something to be thankful for, how would we be able to keep going?

So sometimes, I have to dig deep into my heart and say “Thank you” but when I do, I don’t just find one thing, I find a hundred things. And then I am astounded by the blessing and gift of this life I live.

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Courtesy cherylholt@morgueFile free photos

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say “thank you?”
~William A. Ward

Thank you God for this day and for those (seemingly hundreds of) people in my house who wear those clothes that end up in those hampers. ”

Now it is back to me as I take up the pen so to speak.

Do the above thoughts resonate. Do they sound familiar?

Are you a new mum , a mother to many, a mother again, a young mother, an older mother. Are you alone through circumstances, or by choice. Are you busy with work and family, struggling or coping. Or are you older like myself, retired, a grandmother to toddlers, baby and Tweens and Teens.

It doesn’t matter what stage in life we are at, the principle still applies. So let’s all try to remember the thanks and the blessings by searching for them in our simple everyday lives.

Thanks for the inspiration and Re-blogged in part with permission from
Thankful Thursday: Even When I Want to Rant

Black hen and Red Barn
Courtesy revwarheart

Chicken talk… Memories of chickens.
My parents kept about 300 chickens for eggs when I was about 10. They came as pullets and gradually grew till they were old enough to lay eggs. The idea being that it would provide a bit of extra income for Life’s journey. Mum and dad were and had to be very resourceful. They did not have access to a Livestock Batchelors Degree online.

There was always work to be done, especially the preparation stage in building the fences and shelters. If a chicken was sick it had to be made better quickly or butchered so it was not just eating the whole wheat grain. (This bit was hard as a child to comprehend) The end product had to be eggs for money.

Courtesy of morgueFile free photos

I don’t recall how dad got the chickens to the place we were renting in the rural Adelaide Hills as we had no car. But do remember dad taking the stacked up big trays of eggs on the back of his motor bike. Well tied on.

It was not very far to the railway station but it was hilly and I don’t think he ever lost any!…. Money was precious and had to s-t-r-e-t-c-h. Being frugal before the word was fashionable.

We had no fridge in those days so foods that spoiled were purchased as needed and stored in a small room downstairs which was quite cold. Our fresh milk came daily delivered by the milkman who measured and poured it into our billy can which hung over the gate post and was brought in by us to be boiled and the cream separated. THAT was the best…..to be had on toast with jam….either butter and jam or jam and cream , and not all three together. Today I am too spoilt as I do love all three together.

Once dad had been working for a while at GMH …Holden’s for short, he was able to purchase a Fridge for us, so we didn’t need to scald the milk any more. Compare this to how we take it so for granted that everyone has a fridge . And it’s needed straight away as soon as a household is set up!

…but I digress from chickens. When dad had to butcher chickens, most parts were used even the unshelled eggs which were inside the butchered carcasses and because we had no fridge for a time mum had to use them up quickly.

Frugal Egg Custard
Courtesy morgueFile free photos

She baked or made custards or Spetzler which are like small dropped by spoonfuls dough and cooked in boiling water. These were then added to scrambled eggs. Very sustaining and I can still taste them especially if we had a bit of bacon added to the dish. All these frugal dishes are now classed as a bit gourmet.

…to the everyday person having chickens has a romantic, green, frugal lifestyle feel to it but there’s so much more.

I do love chickens
Courtesy morgueFile free photos

Are you permitted to keep them in your suburban yard.
Are you rural
Is your yard layout suitable.
If you have pets will everyone get on together safely without a huge amount of effort on your part.
Do you know enough about keeping hens…or are you prepared to learn about them.
Have you easy access to their required food needs.
Do you know which hens are the best layers.
Which hens are the most children friendly.
Are you going to free range the hens.
Can you keep your hens safe from predators
How many hens for your yard
Have you enough time to care for your flock
Do you go away often, if so, who can care for your flock
What about shelters and laying boxes for them
Or are you going to use a chicken tractor…

Suburban garden for hens
Courtesy S349142

I have collated some photos below which show a story about chickens or hens and their needs. They love freshly foraged greens and love a morsel in the shape of a snail of worm. Watch out if you have bare feet though because your toes look like worms and hens DO peck very hard!

Dried and green foods.
Access to fresh water.
Space to roam.
Free from predators.

Hay fields Courtesy Jpkwitter

Chicken feed
Courtesy Krosseel

Green clover
Courtesy dharder

Hens love Dandelions
Courtesy fedegrafo

Beware the Predator
Courtesy Monosodium at MorgueFile.com

Rural Water pump & bucket
Courtesy Docron at morgueFile.com

Fresh water from red tap
Courtesy morgueFiles free photos . Photographer from Orlando

So a little chicken talk turned into a story, which goes to show how much is involved if one chooses to keep these feathered friends.

As with everything in life we need to investigate, learn and prepare …and learn some more. Life can be an adventure….

Alexa