Depending on my work schedule also depends on how long the chickens & ducks get to roam the yard. They aren’t let out unless someone is around to keep an eye on them because of the predators in our area. We had coyotes and wondering dogs come in the yard at different times of the day or night.

They are so much happier and lay great eggs when they can roam free not to mention they keep the bugs and goat head plants at bay.

Meet Bonnie one of our ducks- she used to be more black and molted now she has a lot more white on her. She’s not only beautiful but she’s also a good layer.
Also in the pictured is Laurel and Chewy

Part of our transition from the online thrift store to our micro farm is adding to our name-it’s now Truly Thrifty/ Leverone Family Farm. We have been raising chickens and ducks for 6 years and recently added more growing area for produce. Eventually we would like to open a farm stand but for now we will be selling at AZ RT 66 Farmers Market in Ash Fork and Seligman AZ this summer. This is a family effort and I’m so blessed to have my families support.

Have a great day everyone!

Our house is quite noisy these days with all the babies around. We have puppies and chicks a sure sign of spring.
It’s the first time having puppies here and we have 9- oh my. They are too young yet to find homes for now so we enjoy playing with them. They all are so sweet, soft and cuddly.
Chicks are a normal part of Spring for us because we always get a few each year that way we have different ages and a few are always laying eggs. Our oldest is over 6 years and the youngest besides the chicks are around 5 months. The baby chick in the picture below is a week old. Raising chickens and ducks has been one of the most amazing and sad parts of rural living. Its sad when we lose one it’s hard not to get attached even though we don’t name them.
Happy Spring Everyone!

In previous posts we shared our challenges growing produce here in Northern Arizona but we love fresh vegetables, herbs & flowers so we keep trying and at this point it’s more like a science experiment. We compost everything we can to use in our gardens, the chickens & ducks provide manure (composted or aged first) and any natural materials we can use from our yard. Keeping the input costs down is important so we try not to purchase amendments unless needed. We hope you enjoy the slideshow pictures of the past year.

We like having a cat she is funny, sometimes moody and complete bed hog.  The part that's not fun about having an indoor cat- is cleaning out the litter box. I've tried a few different brands and kinds of cat litter from clay to clumping. The higher the price doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work better than a cheaper store brand.  We were running low on cat litter so when I stopped at Family Dollar I decided to try their brand of clumping cat litter. The price was good too is was $4.50 +tax for a 10 lb jug.  It's about 1/3 of the price of the cat litter I was buying.  It works like it's supposed too so I'm sold, I'll keep buying it. Our cat doesn't seem to care what is in her box, she just wants it keep clean. I grateful she's not picky either.  Yes we do enjoy having a cat (especially when we can't smell the box...ha ha). 

Wow our pullets have grown so much and we put them in with the big girls so they all will be warmer this winter.  They are so fun to watch, are discovering so many new things and learning a lot from the older chickens.  I was worried for a while about them getting to cold but the weather has been abnormally warm so that helped to calm my fears. Now they are fully feathered so that will help keep them warm. The picture on the right are the older chickens and on the left is the younger (6 of the 8 we have).  The older chickens have not been so nice when we've add to our flock previously but they seem to better with these girls, maybe because there is 8 of them not just 1 or 2. Chickens are so easy to raise and nothing beats having fresh eggs.  You can't get more local than your own yard.  I love my chickens. :) 

They are happy and loving life right now, they can run around in a bigger area and they are out of our house.  Those little things sure can make a mess so we were ready for them to go outside. They have a little house and a heat lamp ready to go for tonight. Praying all goes well and its not to cold for them. It would make me sad if I lost a chick. Yes my chickens are spoiled I can't help it so is our dog & cat. :)