Hello from Central TX

Hello all,
Just introducing myself as per protocol. I am female, married to the most amazing man whom I started dating when I was in HS. We have two kids, a boy and a girl. Several years ago when my Mom started having difficulty living alone we made her a small apartment near our house. We live in Central Texas on some land that has been in my hubby's family for several generations. Over the years it has been broken up and passed down to the kids of each generation so now what we have is a patchwork of homes across the hillside which are all mostly family (save 2 homes that are rented out currently).

We have chickens who pretty much run the place. They have a house where they lay their eggs and sometimes sleep. But we rarely ever close the coop door. My Mom loves birds so we have feeders everywhere, and hence, a LOT of bird friends. We used to raise doves but we dropped that when we moved out to this farm as we could not bring our big aviary with us and have not had time to build a new one - LOL. I am sure we will get back around to that eventually.

We also raise meat rabbits. The adults all have large cages and then they each have a tunnel that leads to an underground box which stays cooler in our miserable triple digit heat. We came up with the idea after losing a few rabbits to heat stress last year. This is the first summer since we built it and we have some very happy bunnies! The newer grow out pen is done colony style. It's 10x10 and they have a two story apartment to hang out in with the bottom story being excavated deeper and deeper each day as these little guys LOVE to dig in the cool dirt.

And last but not least we have our dear companions and trusty guardians. We have a Jack Russell and a Dachshund who act as very loud alarm systems - they activate the enforcers. A mastiff cross, a large yellow (who knows what cross), and Mom's Rott cross - they were all from shelters and all excellent dogs. They guard our little farm and try their best to climb in our laps if they ever catch us sitting down outside. Then we have 3 cats who assist the little dogs with snake and mouse catching duty and occasionally chase those birds Mom baits into the yard with her feeders.

Though we do not own any cattle or horses, other family members do so they are roaming around our place all the time and we sometimes tend to them if we see an issue that needs dealing with.

Hmmmm what else? We both work and have active kids so it doesn't leave us much time to do a full on homestead, but we are adding what we can, where we can. We are Christian, and mostly conservative but with a few Libertarian threads. I guess that is it. Looking forward to learning some stuff here.

Welcome Paradox, thanks for the intro post.

That underground cool box is a neat idea!! very clever

As others have said shelter pets make the best pets! I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

Welcome!

I met my hubby when I was 15. We have been together 35 years and married for 32. I even still like him!   We are the rarity these days for sure!

For a while we lived with family all around as well. My MIL's house, BIL's house and our house all sat side by side. It definitely has it's good points living with family like that, but occasionally they can drive you a bit crazy.

Farmfresh wrote:I met my hubby when I was 15.  We have been together 35 years and married for 32.  I even still like him!    We are the rarity these days for sure!  

yes I think sadly we are a dying breed. I met my Hubby just before I turned 15. We have been married 23 years and together for 27 so right behind you :-) God brought us together and put him in my life for a very specific reason and I have been so very blessed. We are the best of friends and there is very little that we do apart from each other. Even the weekly run into town for supplies is a family affair. My prayer is just that God will send each of my kids a relationship that will be as much of a blessing to them as their Father has been to me. But with the way so many kids are raised these days, I am not sure that the current crop of "suitors" can even understand the concept. Just praying hard for their future spouses :-)

Welcome to the group, glad to have you join us.

Welcome, Paradox. Your rabbit set-up sounds wonderful.

As a homeschooling mom of teen girls, I share your concern about future spouses. We, too, pray for godly young men for them.

Hello and welcome to a great homesteading site. Glad to have you on board. I also think that your rabbit underground set-up sounds really "cool". We have a few rabbits that are my daughter's, but no underground run for them. It doesn't get as hot here as in Texas.

It is also wonderful to be married for life to your best friend. My wife and I will celebrate thirty-seven years on August 7th. Hope we have 37 more years to be together.  

Hope you enjoy the site and become one of us.

Let me add my welcome. I haven't been on much recently because I've been under the weather, but hope to be up and about soon and have the chance to get to know you better.