This story starts when I was sipping coffee one morning and drooling over my neighbor’s grass. You see, I have no grass in my backyard. What I do have is lots of shade and chickens, who eat every blessed bit of green that manages to survive! My neighbor, however, has copious amounts of lush green grass and weeds that just stretch on and on into the suburban horizon. And that is just his front yard! Heaven help me, his backyard is even better! I admit it; I have grass envy. My neighbor is not known for his landscaping skills, which irritates some of the other people in the neighborhood. However I look longingly at his lawn, shake my head and sigh at all the grazing potential going totally to waste.

One morning, when his lawn was particularly lush(we have been getting a lot of rain lately) I had my usual longing expression on my face. My neighbor happened to come barreling in his drive way just then. Barreling through and over the curb is how I think he approaches life in general. I am good with that because he makes my behavior seem so sane and calm in comparison. His lawn also makes my huge, stand out in the neighborhood front yard garden look so good. Also I know he is not going to be complaining about any smells or noise coming from my property, for sure. Yes, We get along famously.

Back to that morning when he had just jumped the curb. He couldn’t help but notice me standing there drooling over his lawn. Misinterpreting my expression, he started to assure me that he was going to crack out the lawn mower that very weekend. While I am doubtful that a simple yard mower could have defeated the weeds at that juncture, I didn’t point that out.  I saw my opportunity to acquire some prime chicken and sheep/goat raising pasture land and I jumped at the chance!

I am excited to announce that  I am a chicken herder! When I wake up in the morning the kids and I herd our little flock of chickens onto their pasture! Pretty soon we will have pasture raised eggs suburban style! Pasture raising poultry is so healthy for chickens. Believe it or not fresh greens are a large part of a chickens diet, combine that with insects and seeds and you have a very healthy flock of egg laying divas. The only part of the healthy equation I was missing was the greens but, not anymore!

Now we just had to get the chickens over there…….

You should have seen the expression on my kids faces when I explained that I had just acquired prime pasture land for us. Of course I was a bit excited. Maybe more than a bit. So there was lots of hand waving gestures as I tried to convey to the family what a wonderful thing this was going to be! My teen boys looked at me like I had just lost my mind, which frankly is not out of the norm for them. Thank God for my 6 yr old, who still thinks chasing chickens is as exciting as I do. I had another thing working in my favor; my daughter happened to have her Bestie staying over for a few days. Have you ever seen a flock of birds taking flight? They all seem to move as a group, knowing ahead of time which direction the others will take. That is how these two sweet girls operate. It is a marvel to watch! Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are my biggest fans and they are film making/editing rock stars!

Enjoy the video we made of the whole chicken chasing experience. I also threw in my meal worm raising set up. Chickens LOVE meal worms and they are a super easy to raise. Here is a link to an article about how to raise them: raising meal worms for your chickens

A big thank you to The Princess and The Bestie. We can’t forget The Prophet. I am so blessed to have you all along on my chicken chasing adventures! Now I REALLY need those sheep!

This post was shared on the Simple Homestead Blog Hop.