South Texas!

So, it's been a while...shocking! We are usually so good at updating things around here. Anyways, since we posted last we have moved to south Texas. We are still living in the Montana fifth wheel on base, but we also bought some property (eeeek!) At first glance it's not what most people would call paradise, or would even want to call home! But, we love it and I think it's a good fit for us.

The first time we drove to this property, Steve and I were both charmed with the dusty, bumpy dirt road. There was only one home nearby, and two pieces of property next to each other listed for sale. The gate had to be lifted off the hinges for us to go in (the lock hadn't been removed in so long and no one had a key), and we were wary of taking the truck in the 'driveway', afraid that we might puncture a tire on the weird, sharp, stick-like bushes that grow everywhere down here, but we did. It was a mess. Everything was so overgrown it was hard to tell if this was a good deal or not. I decided it was not, but Steve was in love. Even the realtor knew it after he was describing it to her!! She said she saw that look in his eye....and she was right.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the landscape at that moment, before we took ownership. It's so hard to describe and now you'll never know what I saw when we walked up the first time. Lucky for you, I do have pictures of the disgusting buildings that came with this property. I wish I could share the smells with you...maybe I'll take that up with the yankee candle people. It was awful. A huge building full of stuff that had been strewn about and was collecting rat feces and mold as water was pouring through the large holes in the roof. Gross!

Here's a decent shot of the brush that was everywhere!

Fast forward to today and we have 3 cleaned out, well, empty buildings, a driveway you can drive on, a backyard, a small chicken coop, a tiny bit of the garden area tilled and planted, and a path all the way to the back, which doesn't sound like a lot, but my goodness it took an entire day on a big tractor to make that happen. We have spent almost every weekend working out there, and even though most of the time we come back completely exhausted, it's been so fulfilling to polish this diamond in the rough a little at a time. So come visit, family and friends, we have water, a working toilet, and plenty of space to pitch a tent :) Soon we'll even have electricity, and we'll be really fancy!

I'm hoping to keep up with the posts for a while. I want to keep track of the progress we've made. There's no telling how long we will get to live here and I'm trying to make the most of this short opportunity to live out my homesteading dreams.

I'll leave you with the lovely pictures of our paradise and our beloved chickens that have yet to lay any eggs since they arrived. And, there are no hard feelings about that (yet) since they have endured quite a bit of stress over the last couple of weeks. Travelling 400 miles, a hard freeze, raccoon break-in attempts....they are a tough bunch! Can't wait to upgrade their coop in the future and bring in some more feathered friends. Without further ado...meet Fabio (rooster), Goldilocks (gold colored americana), Featherina (orange americana), and Black Shadow (black and white barred rock).