Working at any job – chickens and gardening can provide a sense of going back to the essence of real life. From my perspective of working in Corporate America, having our homestead and sustainable living environment is important to the soul. It’s what keeps us grounded in a fast-moving digital world.
EBITDA or EGGS?
All day it’s about KPI’s CTR, M&A strategies, ARR, and EBITDA, (Yes – these are all real terms and no, I don’t fully understand all of them). In the working world, these terms and their value is vitally important to company growth. But outside of the company, it means nothing.
Prior to writing this piece I just came out of 3 back-to-back meetings.
One started with a potential acquisition from a marketing drip campaign I created. We set up a meeting to discuss the business and see if it was something we were interested in acquiring. While super fascinating – outside of my job, it means nothing. The other was about changing our corporate plan for LinkedIn & another was about adjusting our email marketing campaign.
All mean nothing outside of my job.
While I’m so grateful and happy for this position, it still rings true. I’m thankful to be able to do this from home so I can reconnect to real life. Chickens, gardening, and babies.
Corporate jobs are all in high rises in the city. If it wasn’t for remote work access, I either wouldn’t have this job or would still be living in the city.
Back to the point, after all those meetings I was just mentally drained. So I went outside for some fresh air. It was still the morning so some chores needed to get done, and breaking free of the desk to take care of these things brought life back into perspective. It humbles you and grounds you into the real reality we are meant to live in.
Chicken Feed – Fermented Food with Baked Shells
The chickens needed fresh food and water. We always have dry food pellets available in their coop 24/7, but we also feed them fermented chicken feed. This increases their nutrition and their water intake while also providing them with healthy bacteria for gut health.
We also mix their baked eggshells into the fermented food as a way to reuse our shells because shells take a very long time to decompose. Feeding them back their eggshells also provides them with calcium to help with their new eggs. Our flock won’t eat eggshells by themselves, hence why we mix it up into their food and it works okay for us!
So going outside with a jug of fresh water in one hand, an old coffee container filled with fermented chicken feed in the other, while also in my formal office meeting attire in my chicken shit-covered shoes really humbles you.
Navigating the Shit
In Zone 5B it’s still winter and everything is snow covered and cold. But the ladies aren’t aware of that and always try to sneak out of the run whenever we open the door – thinking they’ll get some fresh green grass….
Once I carefully navigated inside I place the food into their container and empty our outdoor heated water bowl (meant for dogs but it does the trick perfectly for the ladies). I clean out any of the dirt in the bowl with my handy little brush and fill it with fresh water. Doing all this while trying very hard not to step in more shit and not get pecked at by the chickens who think I have more food hiding somewhere (which I never do).
Getting Back to Nature
Ask any chicken owner – the best part about having chickens is collecting the eggs.
It’s like a fun Easter egg hunt we get to do each day and I love it.
Going out and doing the real work is honestly so rewarding mentally and spiritually.
Here at the DBS Farm Wilson family, we truly believe that we come from nature, and getting back to nature is all we desperately want. Some might have that desire waaaay far down than others, but it’s there. And getting back to our natural roots of farming and being outside and growing our own fresh food is what the soul calls for.
Now I can get back to work after a short break and keep coming back to nature when I need it.
Perhaps one day I’ll be able to look back at this blog that many of you are reading and I’ll be doing this as my full-time job, along with homeschooling our babies of course.
So true and funny, love it!