Welcome!

Hey Guys! Welcome to our first official Daily Duckling! My goal for this is to share fun anecdotes, silly stories, and information about duck care; along with animal care and homesteading advice. I figured the first official post should be the story about how we started this little homestead in the first place. Our story doesn’t begin with the us getting our little flock; but several years earlier in the end of 2017.

I moved to Washington to pursue my dream job in the fall of 2016. As we all know, all magic (along with dream jobs) come with a price. Jobs in the animal care industry pay just about minimum wage, and its not uncommon for animal care providers to have multiple jobs or roommates. I had managed to avoid both for about a year into my career when I was informed that the cost of our benefits was going to be greatly increasing at the beginning of the year. I decided that I was going to save up what was left of my small savings, along with using Christmas money, to purchase a small chest freezer and buy in bulk. I also decided I would use what garden area I had in my rented backyard to grow my vegetables to try and offset my produce costs. 

So that spring, I spent hours scouring the internet reading gardening blogs and trying to learn everything I could about growing veggies. I bought what garden soil I could, and picked out the seed packets that would hold me over for the year. I started the plants in cups on my window sill, then carefully transferred them to my garden when they were big enough. I staggered growth so that they would produce throughout the summer and into fall. I did everything the blogs and books suggested. That summer I produced exactly 12 green beans and 7 pea pods. Let me tell you, that was the proudest and saddest growing season of my life. I learned that you can do everything right and still not quite have things work out. That little garden didn’t quite hold me over for the year, but it was a fun learning experience. I haven’t had the chance to put another garden in the ground; but the memory and pride of those 12 little green beans and 7 pea pods started me on a fantastic journey into learning more about homesteading.

So that’s the beginning of my homesteading journey! Check back soon for another Daily Duckling, swing by the Intro pages to learn more about our little zoo and myself, and maybe check out Lily’s Corner and see what’s in stock in our little store. We hope to see you back soon, and remember “Life’s Just Ducky”!