Pica-farming?

I know, I know. It's probably not even a legitimate term. But I felt that it described what I'm trying to do. You see it's kind of a dream of mine. My father's parents had a farm out in Indian Bayou, Louisiana. My grandfather was a farmer and the local high school English teacher. Grandpa had chickens, a small fig grove, pastures for horses, and acres upon acres of rice paddies that were alternated with crawfish ponds.

I loved to visit Grandpa's chickens. I loved their purrs and coos. I would just sit in the grass next to the pen and watch them until I was called in for dinner or just called in (because I think my family thought I was crazy!).

All my life I wished I grew up in the country. The only person who heard me say that and NOT laugh at me was my husband. He always wanted to be a country kid too. He grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and even worst, in the suburbs! But at least his parents tried to raise chickens for awhile. I grew up in a small city in Louisiana with a mom that also grew up on a farm. She grew up during the end of the depression and those years really formed her personality and how life was conducted. We never had a garden at home, but did have fig trees and pecan trees. Once I graduated from high school I attended college and pretty much endured 13 years of college education to obtain my PhD. I knew that if I worked hard enough during my early years I could reward myself with the life that I really wanted. I hung on to my dream of living in the country and raising food and chickens. It's what helped me make through the low points in my young life. Well, that and a lot of beer and good friends! LOL!

Currently, my husband and I are in one of our "final stages" of our life. We have landed in an area where we plan to live until at least retirement. We live in southeast Alabama where there are lots of small communities and open land, but unfortunately, we had to purchase a home in one of the larger towns due to the fact that we have a daughter and deeply love her. The school systems outside of this town in the countryside are, well, inadequate. So we purchased a home in town and gave up on our dreams of owning a little piece of land in the country. The good side to this story is that the home we purchased is on a double lot and will allow for a nice garden area and (this is the good part!) I can raise up to 5 chickens in my backyard according to the town laws. [NOTE: The "up to 5 chickens" rule was told to me by someone in town that was raising chickents.] The other good side to our home is it's close proximity to a lot of locations. My husband has a 7 minute commute to work and I can walk to the grocery, drug store, video rental, exercise gym, and my daughter's school.

The area that my "farm" encompasses is a space that is shaped like a triangle. The dimensions are approximately 25 ft X 50 ft X 15 ft. We have a lot of trees on our property and this little corner of our property has the best sun. I know this because I've been watching my yard for the past 9 months and this little spot gets at least 6 hours of sun each day. The sun is shining from the south on this spot as well, so there is plenty of sun. I also think that living in the South with the very hot summers, that the shade of the surrounding trees will actually help keep the temperature down on my little garden during the hot months.

I figured a spot that is 25 ft X 50 ft X 15 ft doesn't even come close to the definition of micro-farm. I don't even know if there is an official definition of a microfarm with regard to dimensions. So I thought, "What's smaller than a micro? Pica!". A pica is 1/trillioneth of a whole.

Ok. So, like, my little space is probably a little bigger than 1/trillionth of an acre. I like the sound of it anyway. So I'm sticking with it.

It's kind of catchy. Snazzy! Keeps me interested and that's the most important part!

So stay tuned. I'll let you watch my pica-farm unfold and grow. I hope to be eating from my garden this summer and in a year or so, get my little chicks and enjoy life!