Here are some more pictures.

Our grown laying hens:


Chicken coop under construction:


Completed chicken coop (the plywood was temporary - protection before our fence was completed). You can also see the start of our fence:


Our first egg (my wife's hand):


Fence building in winter:


Some completed fence:


When we started the vineyard/brambles:


Frontier farmstead life:


Deer (taken on my driveway):


Deer (taken in my great room looking out on the start of the vineyard):

Guest (taken on driveway):


Another Guest (taken by barn):

Our 16 additional hens when they arrived (you should see them now..they're all teenagers!):

My wife checking on the pullets in our temporary grow-out pen:

ETA: Adult chickens can be seen to the right of the grow-out shelter run.

Here's the barn porch we're now using as a temporary wood shed:

You need children. Curious if and/or how your views will change / shift, if at all. Worst case scenario, they can be used to carry logs out of the hills

(ps - not advocating for children. if you've decided against it, that's nobody's business but your own. i only bring it up as it typically creates a force function to re-prioritize most of your life)

Ish,
Children are a biological impossibility for us. We wanted them, but serious health issues have made it 100% biologically impossible. We've ruled out adoption too.

I guess its not a big secret...

At 36 years old I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. This was six days after I buried my 59 year old father who died from it. His dad was 40 when he died from it.

One week before my 37th birthday I hard extensive surgery to remove my prostate and lower portion of my bladder. The surgery was a technical failure, because the cancer had spread however they only left "margins".

As of last Thursday I am still in clinical remission. July 7th will make 3 years.

My wife also has severe endometriosis (and fibromyalgia). We tried to get pregnant well before the cancer, but her system couldn't handle a pregnancy.

These were strong contributing factors in our decision to "go organic" and move out into clean air with plenty of exercise.

July 15th is my 40th birthday.

Interesting side note:

Continued failure of the DRE (digital rectal exam) is what ended up getting me booted out of USMC OCS. Apparently in the late 1990's the only people getting screened for prostate issues were Marine Officers.

The Docs had me report the issues to my civilian primary care physicians. He checked my PSA. At 25 it was 2.1. The enlarged / hard prostate and elevated PSA couldn't be brought down before my 26th birthday (the maximum entry age for USMC officers at that time). So I was done.

ETA: I had grown tired of being an architect and had accelerated my survival training ot a point where I felt I needed to "go pro". This led me to Marine OCS. All Marine officers are trained as infantry officers first so I thought it would advance my skill set.

2011 was a bad year. I buried my estranged father. Was diagnosed with cancer. Re-united (briefly) with my sister. Saw the fear on my wife's face when they told me what treatment I needed IMMEDIATELY. Had extensive surgery. Had to learn to deal with the consequences of having your urinary and reproductive system cut up.

2012 was a better year. We bought the farmstead. It wasn't a great year though because the 9 month remodel was rough.

2013 was a great year.

2014 is even better.

The only reason I brought my health into the thread is because it had a level of impact on our worldview. It brought into sharp focus the importance of healthy foods and lifestyles. Look at the avatar picture. I think that was last year. I'm in pretty good shape considering I do not lift weights or exercise (in a traditional sense). The work we do around the farmstead keeps us both fit.

My physicians were AMAZED at how quickly I recovered. I was somewhat of a medical celebrity for a while, because how many 36 year olds get diagnosed with prostate cancer? As a result, there has been some close scrutiny of my recovery. I 100% attribute it to: God (the great healer), comfort (knowing my wife was going to be there for me no matter what) and our hard-working organic food eating lifestyle. Plan and simple: nutrition and natural exercise can save lives.