I still find it amusing that the way I grew up in the 1960s is now called "homesteading" and has become very popular. In 1958 my parents bought an unfinished house on about 7 acres of land. Over the years they put in a garden and an orchard. Daddy built a barn for sheep and goats, and a chicken house for the egg layers. We butchered chickens to eat, too, but I doubt they were official meat birds. Just old hens, or extra roosters, I'm sure. My older siblings got in on more of the animal care than I did, but I saw enough to know that taking care of farm animals is a full time job. My husband and I have always had a garden, and we raised chickens for many years. We both learned from our parents, plus a bit of trial and error. If my husband was to build another chicken coop, I know he would do some things differently. We found out raising meat birds and egg layers together wasn't a great idea. And we found out quickly that letting a mama hen wander around the yard with her chicks quickly resulted in chicks turning into coyote snacks in broad daylight. As long as they stayed inside the fence, they were fine. Hubby talked about getting a couple of beef cattle, but I didn't encourage it, because I figured I'd end up being the one in charge of them and I wasn't interested in taking on yet another responsibility. We didn't have a proper shelter for them, or a fenced in pasture, so just getting set up would have been quite an investment. Now I am content with cats and a dog.
A couple of days ago I typed up a very nice reply to your awesome reply, and then internet connection shenanigans popped up and plagued me for the last couple of days, ugh!
That said, I've always enjoyed hearing about your childhood and homesteading stuff😊 I'm really excited that people want to produce more of their own food and such, it's just a bit amusing that how we have lived our lives is a trend, because after decades of it I notice that most of us, while still productive, lessen the taking care of load a bit. After the 9th I will have no big livestock on the farm for the first time since 2003, the sabbatical will be nice, and I hope that you are enjoying snuggles from the grandog and cats!
!PIZZA
Gotta love the unpredictable internet around here. Thanks for persevering and replying anyway!