Answers

Bill and I have heard on numerous occasions the following: "Chickens!" or "Chickens?". This is usually followed by a look of confusion or laughter as people are not quite sure what to do the fact that we say we are raising a few chickens. Now, where I work in the rural part of Michigan, raising chickens is not questioned or looked at as completely strange. Apparently, this is a different case living in Ann Arbor. (or maybe its that people really just think Bill and I are strange....hmmm, have I been missing this the whole time?!) Anyway, I thought I would put to rest the burning desire you all have to know why we have chickens.

We have really felt compelled to raise chickens for two main reasons. One reason is that I have had a lot of health issues in the last few years (and now looking back, I can see that it truly has been more than the last few years and more like the last 15 years). After discovering that my daily headaches and often bi-weekly migraines (and numerous other health issues) were due the food I was ingesting, I have overhauled my diet and had to radically change what I eat. Now, I ate eggs before, but nothing like I do now. Currently I am on a dairy-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, and sugar-free diet. Therefore, one of the main staples I can eat is eggs. Eggs don't seem to bother my body and I quite enjoy them. Now, hopefully this restrictive diet will change (mostly for my sanity) in the future to be able to eat more things. But until that point, I am an egg eating machine!! ( I also must at this point give major kudos to Bill because without him I would have starved to death....he is a great chef!) Therefore, this leads me to the main point...if you have ever bought a carton of organic eggs, you too would think twice about raising your own chickens. Now if you haven't ever bought a carton of organic eggs, take a look next time you are in the grocery store and you will now know why we are raising our own chickens.

The second reason that we really wanted to lay eggs is for the environment's sake. You may think this is confusing and find yourself asking "what do chickens have to do with the environment?". Well, tons actually. But the main principles behind it include reducing our carbon imprint (think about what it takes to get an egg to your table...between production, travel, packaging, etc), reducing our reliance on major egg producing factories (have you read the horror stories about chicken farms?!), and eating and buying local (you can't get much more local than your backyard!). I am sure there are plenty more reasons, but I can't think of them right now. If I do in the future, I will redo the post. Again, leading to my point...Bill and I feel very strongly about the earth being God's creation and it is our responsibility to take care of His creation.

Well, if you ever have questions about either the diet (or why its so crazy!) and/or if you have questions about the environment and our responsibility to it, please feel free to ask. The Girls are doing great and are getting even bigger. I know I say that every time, but they really do grow significantly with each post I make. Bill tried to tell me that they didn't look like chickens today, but more like hawks. I think I stopped listening to him at that point because it sounded crazy, but it proves how much they have continued to change. I would also like to point out that the Girls should be outside in a home outside in the next two months and they should be laying eggs beginning in June if all goes like we were told.

Grace and Peace,
Amy