Beginning Our Adventures In Chicken Farming

Spring! The Lilla Rose/LoveLeavingLegacy crew welcomes you! We’re ready to move some mountains as we simplify and beautify morning hair routines during this season!

When I was a little girl, I wanted ten children, cows, and to live on a farm. I do live in the country, and our neighbors have donkeys, goats, chickens and roosters, peacocks, and free ranging guinea hens and wild turkeys often grace our three acres. We have been living farm life vicariously through them. We love the sights and sounds the animals provide.

We have a garden in the spring and summer time. In August, we will dice, stew, and freeze lots of tomatoes for use throughout the year. We have a strawberry patch, and once we had blueberries but we seem to have failed at the blueberries. Instead, we buy 70 pounds of blueberries from a local farm and freeze them. We also have a pretty productive rhubarb patch. Our yard has some wild blackberries or black raspberries, I’m not sure which, but they are fun to eat in the summer time. At some point, someone planted grapes. We’ve not actually done anything with them, but we are aware that there are some vines in various locations. I guess none of this makes us farmers, though.

National Farm Animal Day

We have recently made the decision to venture into chicken homesteading. We thought we were going to re-purpose a swing set into a chicken coop and run, but decided maybe we aren’t ready for even that level of design and building. Instead, we’ve just ordered an 8×8 wood shed that is pre-cut, comes with directions, and is ready to assemble. We’ll get adventurous by adding an inside wall with nesting boxes, a vinyl cleanable floor, a chicken door, and build a rectangular-ish run off the left side. We intend to bury chicken wire to prevent predators. The nesting boxes will be contained inside the shed which also will have storage for their supplies. We might also do a little bit of chicken tractoring, relocating some chickens from time to time to reduce some bug populations, and to help with fertilizing our garden before we plant.

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Heartland Belmont Gable Engineered Wood Storage Shed (Common: 8-ft x 8-ft; Interior Dimensions: 8-ft x 7.72-ft) Photo credit from Lowe’s website, lowes.com, and is not an affiliate link.

I think we’re going to put a gable vent where the window cut out is, or at least cut out a vent on the other side of the shed, and another window or two for ventilation. Eventually we hope to use solar to open and close the chicken door, as well as to keep water from icing in the winter time.

While homeschooling, owning a direct sales business, mom-preneuring with my children, grinding wheat and baking bread was never on my bucket list of ventures to take on, neither was having chickens, until last spring when I held my friend KB’s chickens. They were sweet and more like pets than hen pecking squawking fearsome buggy eyed creepy beings I thought they seemed!  I have been perfectly content buying and using my chicken-ey friends’ eggs for eating and cooking before that.

Kerrie's chickens featuring Helga

The two darker brown chickens, Helga and Peridot, are probably staying with us forever. We’re going to be chicken sitting all the chickens in June at our house while KB and her family move. The two white chickens, Big Sunshine and Little Sunshine will also stay.

Kerrie's eggs

Fresh eggs!

Artistic A has recently been chicken sitting for neighbors and friends. The chickens he sits for come when they are called. Needless to say, he loves chickens. He can’t wait for coop and run building. Miss-y- E and A-Grape can’t wait to gather eggs and try their hand at raising chicks.

Honestly, there is something about being self reliant that is the common thread to most of our choices. We’re a bit tired of relying on grocery stores, jobs, the educational system–any systems, really, for our well being. The older we get, the more do it ourself-ers and independent we seem to get.

In the meantime, I totally have Spring fever and I’m hanging out on Pinterest and Amazon figuring out how to proceed with chicken farming (aff link)  from here.  Stay tuned as we add developments to this new venture. The shed should arrive on Monday.

Blessings, 

Deb

Do The Lilla Rose Flexi Clips Hold During Activity?

Let’s face it. Lilla Rose flexi clips look awesome in the professional model photos. No Stylist is going to post the not so beautiful hair style photos, right? A common question, of course, is “Yes, but do they hold during physical activity and exertion?” Clearly they do for model photo shoots.  Let’s see what happens when the rubber literally meets the road.

For a bit of evidence that they do hold during activity, I put my flexi clip to the test. I did a fast French twist messy bun, popped in my medium clip which is almost getting to be too small now that my hair is longer, and I put on my walking clothes. I used no styling products in my hair, as is clear in the photo. This isn’t exactly my best hair do, or my best color coordinated outfit, but I was in a hurry to get my walk in before April the Giraffe had her baby. I’ve only been watching her progress for a month, and I don’t want to miss the main event.

Yes but how do they hold 4

Quite a fashion statement, no?

Yes but how do they hold 1

This is as we start our walk.

I went my normal 4.5 mile route in the square of the country roads around my house, with my son and our dog for companions. The difference is that I ran intervals totaling 2650 steps, and I pushed myself a little harder on a couple of them.  I conquered some hills I not so fondly call “Kicking My Tush Hill” or “I Might Die On This Hill” hill. I did get my tush kicked as I ran the hills anyway. Every day I walk/run, I push myself to a go little farther than the last time. The weather was a bit blustery, damp, and misting rain. I had to put my fleece sweatshirt hood on, and I had my winter coat trailing behind because, you know, what isn’t stylish about a middle aged person learning to run again wearing a winter coat, alternating between freezing and shivering, and being over heated from exertion?

In spite of all conditions, and my painting a not so beautiful picture of myself, or even sharing my not the greatest photo ever, here is my after run/walk photo:

Yes but how do they hold 2

Except for static wispies, the clip held the hair in place. Honestly, my flexi clip held up better than I did.

Yes but how do they hold 3

Trying to breathe. Needed the wall for support.

In short, Lilla Rose flexi clips are perfect for formal styles, casual styles, active lifestyles, and exercise. They even hold better than the average claw clip or elastic scrunchie.

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Edited 4/17/17 Giveaway has ended. Mary Beth E of St. Louis, MO was the winner and has already received her clip. Don’t forget about the Review and Giveaway over at Mom Life Chronicles. It ends Sunday. You could win a flexi clip of your very own to test and put through the paces.

Someone, pass the Ibuprofen and a glass of water, please.

It is now April, and there is a beautiful new Flexi of the month, new releases, and a new customer special being released this morning. This is no joke! I’d love for you to check it out. 17620108_10154938179561352_7848055114245954274_o

April Customer Special

It is now 12:48 am EST on Saturday morning, and April’s calf is not born. In fact, April is sleeping and I am not. 

Have a great weekend and enjoy your families! 

Blessings,

Deb

 

Three Tools We Use For Stronger, Healthier Hair

I’ve alluded before, especially in my Lilla Rose video, that our family has had various not so pretty hair issues in the past. In a live Zoom interview that I did recently with Kristie McCollum, from both the CEO Mom blog, and the Mom Life Chronicles blog, I shared one of those issues with her regarding my youngest daughter, A-Grape.

When she was 3-5 years old, A-Grape was trying to stop sucking her thumb, and in order to self soothe while sleeping, and never in the day time, she would twirl her hair with her fingers and break it off in large chunks. We were trying everything we could think of to help redirect her sensory issues away from her hair, and employed such ideas as a sensory texture blanket, sleeping in a hat, or wearing socks on her hands that went up to her shoulders so we could pin them to her pj’s. But, if she wanted or needed to twirl her hair, she managed to find a way. She reached a point where there were large chunks of hair on her pillow in the morning, and she had multiple bald spots on her head that we were trying to cover over.

Her regrowth of hair was very fragile hair. When we used elastics or clips with bows, the hair would easily be broken off as if it had been strangled, recreating bald spots. Her hair brush was pulling large chunks of the hair she’d begun to twirl, and my guess is weakening the follicles. We were keeping her hair short as we waited for new hair to grow, and our wonderful hair stylist offered some tips and tools for healthier hair, and to help us prevent further damage.

One of the tools he suggested was to begin using a Wet brush to gently remove tangles. This tool turned out to be a lifesaver for more than one of us with our other hair struggles, as it is for all hair types! The Wet brush glides through the hair as it detangles without pulling out a lot of hair with each stroke. It also works well for those with hair extensions and wigs.

Original Wet Brush (contains an affiliate link)

Another tool was to use It’s a Ten detangler spray after washing A-Grape’s hair. We use the spray with keratin in it. A-Grapes hair began to get stronger and grow stronger since we weren’t yanking it out from snarls and tangles! And for the other girls who were having a hard time managing their waist long thick hair, this was a lifesaver for them as well. No more rats’ nests in their hair! No more arguments about keeping their hair combed and neat was a definite plus for our relationships!

It’s a 10 with Keratin (contains an affiliate link)

And, of course, our third tool was the amazing Lilla Rose flexi clip. A-Grape was using a mini when we first started using flexi clips to pull back that small amount of hair that would cover over her bald spots, but the most amazing thing was that, unlike with elastics, when we took the clip out, no hair was pulled out or lost. The pin slides out of the figure 8 part of the clip, and literally just pops off hair with no damage.

A Review And Giveaway (2)

We had to gently twist A-Grape’s hair back in July/August of 2013 in order to hide a bald spot and she only had enough hair to gather into a mini clip.

As her hair has grown back, now long and healthy, she uses an extra small for a pony tail, but even those are getting too small for her! She uses a medium for a round braided bun, or she uses u-pins to secure her hair.

A Review And Giveaway (1)

How amazing is it that at her last hair trim we opted to have several inches cut off the bottom just to keep her long hair looking healthy after such a struggle to get her hair healthy again!

Half UpKnot

We have since learned during a training on natural hair by a Sister Locs Stylist that Lilla Rose products are also ideal for those with natural hair. Hair damage is minimized, and because Lilla Rose has flexi clips in extra large and mega sizes, those with Locs or braids are served well by those sizes without worry of damage.

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Shared by Cathy Thomas, Sister Locs Stylist.

I mentioned a live interview on Zoom with Kristie McCollum of The Mom Life Chronicles. I sent her several clips in sizes mini to large, as well as a hair band and u-pins to try out. She likes the color pink, so I sent her some pink things, as well as items that pick up different colors, and some classic pearls styles! She is doing a review and giveaway here for Lilla Rose/LoveLeavingLegacy. My readers, followers, customers, family, and friends are welcome and encouraged to enter, unless they are also Lilla Rose Stylists. Those lovely ladies understand that they cannot enter the giveaway. But, YOU could win the Daisy Freestyle dangle in an extra small!

A Review And Giveaway

Enter away! Enjoy! We’ll be announcing the winner on Monday, April 3rd, 2017 one week from today.

Blessings,

Deb