Huge Overhaul

Hey! I've been having a super deep think about my blog, it's direction, what I post about, and most of all if it's actually what I set out to do in the first place.

I've found that the more I look at other lifestyle blogs I keep thinking "why isn't my blog like that?" full of cool events and cute little cafes, reviews, hauls, marble backgrounds in the pictures, insanely gorgeous Instagram feeds, interesting and conversation starting tweets...And I've kind of come to a conclusion on that.

• My blog isn't full of events, because I don't go to any other than Barn Dances, Vegetable Festivals, and farm festivals /celebrations. 
• I don't do reviews and hauls in particular, because my monthly budget doesn't stretch that far to be able to try out new things that I'm not sure about.
• I don't have any marble backgrounds in my instagram -or any - photos, because my house is an old semi-detached house in the middle of the fields on a farm and hasn't been majorly redecorated for years, and I don't feel like spending money on my blog just yet. 
• I don't really get into huge conversations with people - even though I really want to - because when I do get into a conversation, after a few tweets I feel like I'm annoying that person.

My main goals of this blog were to help others and to document my life to look back on in years to come. Telling people about how this lifestyle changes you as a person, makes you appreciate the little things and the hard work that goes into it all. Giving my experiences / opinions on things that have happened to me and my family, hopefully to help others going through the same thing. 

This doesn't mean I'll only be posting about veg, ducks, chickens, and farming in general. I'm going to be writing about other things like family, cleaning, cooking, etc. much like I have been until now. I just feel the focus of my blog has shifted through nobody's fault and I've lost sight of why I started and where I am.

Having said all this, I'm sure you've gathered that The Life of a Farmer's Wife will be changing. For starters the name has changed too.

The Homesteading Life

This is what me and B do. We're not full time homesteaders, we don't spend our days in the veg garden and making home-made lavender soap - however much I want to! - but these factors are definitely big things in our life. 

As this is a lifestyle blog, it doesn't make sense to write it without including our major lifestyle choices and circumstances. I was at first embarrassed or worried about posting about vegetables and livestock, mainly because I've got one foot in the Homesteading community and one foot in the lifestyle blogging community.

I have also decided to move over to Wordpress. This gives me more opportunity to control the look and appearance of my blog, although I've had to read a few tutorials on it all. 

You can find the new blog here

I realize I will lose following, I will lose readers and I'll lose any ranking my blog had made up until now, however small or big that may be. I'm not too concerned with ranking and google searching, it's just numbers to me at the moment.

I do care about my followers, my readers, but I also don't want to build up a reputation while doing something I'm not entirely happy with. I can't write the best posts, or give the best advice if I'm not happy doing it. I'm sure many others can understand that.

I've been blogging for around three months now, and to be honest I think this is around the time most bloggers start to find what makes them happy, what makes them want to blog more and more, what their readers like & don't like... It's like the first three months of blogging you get swept away into the magic of the blogging community and meet all these wonderful people, and then you start to settle into a routine, start to know what you want to blog about for definite, find the right way to portray yourself as close to reality as possible.

I suppose this is the time for me to do that too. It's starting to sound a bit like I'm saying I'm leaving but I'm not. I'm changing for the better and making this stay something I enjoy doing instead of viewing it as a job.

If you stick around and come with me on my adventure, I would really like that. I do understand that homesteading and farming isn't what everyone wants to read about, so I know some won't want to continue reading if this becomes a main feature, but as it's the main feature in my life it's going to be a main feature on my lifestyle blog.

Thank you for reading, and I'd love it if you went over and had a look at the Introductory Post on The Homesteading Life.

Bella x

6 Things to do This Winter

6 things I want to do this winter

If you haven't noticed it already on my social media, I live in Norfolk UK. I've only lived here for around a year and a half or a little less. I've not done much of the sight-seeing or adventuring in that time, I've only been to the Norwich Cathedral - which I have to say is pretty special.

As autumn is here and it's approaching my second winter here in the UK after 12 years in Spain, I thought it's about time I put together a bit of a list of things to do and see in Norfolk and Norwich.

30 blog post ideas a week

How to come up with 30 blog post ideas each week

For the last few weeks - probably months now - I have been coming up with 30 blog post ideas each week and adding them to a schedule. I've got blog posts all the way up to December planned, and then some waiting in the wings ready to be put on the calendar. 

My point is, thanks to this I don't panic about what to write or sit about for hours trying to come up with something fun, interesting or relevant for the next day, week or event. I have it all planned and most probably written up the week before. 

Today I'm going to be explaining how I do it, why I do it, and I'm going to also explain how I plan everything out too. 

Fitness Journey Week 6

Hey everyone! So today -kinda- marks 6 weeks of getting fit and healthy. I'd done a lot more this week than I have any other week, but again I think that has more to do with having a more positive outlook  than I did before. If you're not motivated and ready for life in general and just a bit blah, the though of going for a run or walk or whatever instead of eating a chocolate bar doesn't really exist! Not for me, anyway.

PCOS - Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome

Hello! I've just come back from having an ultra-sound scan done to officially diagnose me with Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome. I had been planning a post about PCOS and my personal experience leading up to being diagnosed with it for a while now, but never had much motivation to write it as when it came to sitting down and writing it I really didn't know what to tell you. 

Now it's all fresh, I'd like to tell you a little about it and about my personal experience. If you're a bit squeemish about this sort of thing, feel free to sit this one out and maybe read one of my other posts on Health or one of my most popular posts.

What is PCOS?

PCOS - or Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome - is a genetic, hormonal, metabolic and reproductive disorder that effects 1 in 10 women. It is the leading cause of female infertility, and can also lead to other serious conditions such as severe anxiety and depression, obesity, endometrial cancer, type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. 

Common signs and symptoms 

-irregular periods
-excess facial and body hair 
-severe acne
-small cysts in the ovaries (picked up by ultra-sound scans)
-insulin resistance
-anxiety and depression
-infertility
-weight gain
-male pattern hair loss

Some interesting facts about PCOS

• 10% of women of childbearing age are estimated to have PCOS 
• It's thought that 50% of women with PCOS go undiagnosed 
• Women with PCOS consitute the largest group of women at risk of developing cardiovascular desease and type 2 diabetes.
• Some studies have shown due to symptoms of anxiety and depression, suicide attempts are up to seven times more common in women with PCOS than other women.
• Pre-teens and teens can develop PCOS. Earlier diagnosis can give them the opportunity to better manage the emotional, internal and physical effects of PCOS. It can also help them prevent the onset of more serious illnesses related to PCOS.
• Despite affecting millions of women and the serious health consequences, PCOS is unknown to most people and a staggering 50% of the women living with PCOS are going undiagnosed.

I'm not suggesting you run down to your local doctors surgery right now, especially if you do not have any of the symptoms. If you do have a symptom or two -or more- I recommend you go to your doctors and discuss any concerns you may have with your doctor. 
If you have already been diagnosed with PCOS but are now concerned with anything I've mentioned above, don't feel embarrassed to go to your GP and talk about it with them. 

My Experience

I was completely oblivious to the fact that anything could go wrong with my ovaries until I was about 13. Up until then, I thought it was just kind of there and didn't really do much until you got pregnant. Goes to show how uninformed I was! 

How it started

After missing my cycle for three months straight, I told my mum. We straight away got a doctors appointment. At the doctors I explained what was happening, and I was given multiple blood tests and had to give a urine sample. I was a little insulted that I was given a pregnancy test at only 13 - even after I had told them I had never been intimate with anyone - but I suppose they can't rule things out until they have evidence.

For around 5 years I was passed from doctor to doctor, from hospital to clinic to hospital again. I wasn't being given any answers, only more appointments that were 8 months in the future and more paperwork that didn't have one non-medical word on them. 

At 17, I eventually had my last - or what I thought was my last - ultra-sound scan. The gynecologist I had been given this time was not pleased that I had not been told anything, and sent an e-mail to my head doctor -while I was still in the room with her - telling her not to treat me for any problems related to my reproductive system, and to send me straight to her if I ever complained about anything in that region. I was quite pleased about this, because my head doctor at the time was - quite frankly - useless. 

I was diagnosed with PCOS by this gynecologist, and I never really heard anything else from them and didn't go back with any complaints. I thought that was that, I'd been diagnosed and there was nothing that could be done. I was put on the contraceptive pill to regulate my cycle, and that was it.

Fast forward to last year...

In 2015, I made a huge change in life. I dropped out of college sometime around Christmas or New Year ( I do explain a little more about that in this post I did for Rachel over at No Space For Milk ), left my boyfriend after being together for almost three years around February time, and moved to the UK in the summer of 2015. It was a HUGE year for me. 

Also last year, I took myself off the contraceptive pill. That alone was an experience in itself! 

For a while, my cycle completely stopped. I went for about two or three months with nothing, nada. Once it did make an appearance, it wasn't regular by any means. It was much better than it had been - before I could go 5 or 6 months without a period at all - but it wasn't every month yet.

After around 6 months, it settled into every month. Well, it depended when it fell, as I had gone from a 28 day cycle - what the average cycle is - to an almost 35/40 day cycle. I could skip a month, but I wasn't really skipping as that is how it fell on the calendar. I hope that makes sense.

I'm happy to say that it's stayed at around 35 to 40 days on every cycle since. I can still be late, but it's generally only by a few days at most. This is great for me as it means I no longer have to take anything to regulate my cycle - though I do think it would have sorted itself out quicker if I had not been on the pill for so long. 

Present Day

Over the last few months I have had some very uncomfortable "pains" in my abdominal area when I lay on my sides or on my stomach. I went to the doctor, and having been diagnosed with PCOS so young, was given an appointment for an ultra-sound just to make sure I wasn't having any big problems. 

A small part of me hoped that I wouldn't have any cysts there anymore. That it could have been to do with the hormones of puberty. 

Well, it wasn't. I still have them, and I'm okay with that. It'll mean I have to try harder to conceive, keep healthy and fit, and keep on top of any symptoms of other illnesses, but it's just one of life's little gifts, isn't it?

So here's the deal...

I don't want my experience with crappy doctors - or some of the possible illnesses that PCOS make you more prone to - to scare you. I'm telling you all this so you know what could or couldn't be happening down there. If I had been more informed about what I was doing, what I was taking, and what was actually happening to my body, I feel it wouldn't have taken so long to get to where I am. 

I could be completely wrong, but I think it's important for women - and men! - to know about lesser known illnesses. Some we might not be able to prevent, but some we can. And if we can't prevent it, we can treat it. 

I'm not here to give you medical advice, I'm only here to get the word out and help you stay healthy! So if you do have any concerns related to your health, make and appointment with your GP and get yourself checked and have a little chat with them. It's better to be in the know, and be able to do something about it, than not know or ignore it.



Did you know about PCOS before reading this? Is there anything I have mentioned that you didn't know about PCOS? Comment down below!

Thank you so much for reading, 

B xx

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Bedroom Wishlist and Inspiration

I had the worst weekend blogging wise, having had a day on Saturday that I just couldn't find the motivation to write, and on Sunday as soon as I was getting ready to write up some posts... Boom! One of our cockerels falls ill and I go into panic mode. We spent most of the day going from our house to friends' farms to see what was wrong and to pick up the medication he needed. Thankfully he's back on the mend now and I can sit here knowing he's alright. 

So, as I was just stalking the web for some bedroom furniture, and as always came back to my two favourite places to buy from: IKEA and ASDA's George. The furniture tends to come from IKEA, but I always go back to George for bed-linen and such. It's like it's tradition!

This Years Goals

If you follow me on twitter you'll know that a few days ago I was sorting out some goals for this blog. I'd set goals before, but they were more like wishes. I wanted to achieve these goals, but I never set out a plan, did anything to work towards it, or even set myself a time to "check-in" or have the goal acomplished by. I'd spend my days wishing them to happen, or dreaming of the day they did, but never getting any closer.

I've been doing some digging and research – if you could call it that – and found a few ways to break my goals done into do-able steps. I won't go into that much detail in this post – I'd be here for quite a while – instead I will be giving a short explanation to each goal.

The Liebster Award (2)

Hey! So yesterday I posted The Liebster Award post after being nominated by Jade, but shortly after I was nominated again by Shannon!

I'm not entirely sure what to do in the case of being nominated more than once, so I've decided I won't be nominating more people (it could go on forever!) and I will just answer the questions from my second nomination here.

I urge that you read my original post on the award, as I give 10 facts about me and answer some pretty good questions given to me by Jade!

So, here are my questions from Shannon!

Questions

Fitness Journey

 Week 5

Hey everyone! I completely forgot about writing this weeks measure-in after being nominated for the Liebster Award (TWICE!). I got completely scooped up in the excitement and  forgot to write this until about 16:00 but then spent an hour doing bits and bobs around the house so I could feel I was allowed to spend my night writing up a few posts to schedule this week and next.

Back on track. If you read last weeks installment to my... I don't know. This "series" doesn't really have a name. I think it might be called "Fitness journey" from now on, as it's not so much a journey to lose weight (although that is a VERY nice side-effect) as it is a journey to getting fit and healthy ready for the next chapter in my life.

The Liebster Award

I never thought me or my blog would ever be nominated for anything, yet I'm here writing this - with a HUGE smile on my face - thanks to the wonderful Jade from It's My Mental Health! 

I have to be honest, I'd only ever heard of this award floating around cyberspace, and had never actually found out any more than it's an award for bloggers by bloggers. After reading Jade's post, I think I'm well informed enough to know what I've been nominated for!

That feels so weird to even think I've been nominated! I can't believe it!

How I Clean Our Family Bathroom

If you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen I tweet quite a lot about housework. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. One particular place in the house I love to clean is the bathroom. It sounds quite weird, but there's just something about a lovely clean bathroom. Especially when it's the only bathroom in the house.

It's used by us, the kids, guests... anyone who comes over will probably use the bathroom at least once. Where it's positioned in the house, it often gets used as a mudroom and it's the first thing people see when coming in.

This means I try to keep it as clean as possible. We're not bothered by the specs of mud on the floor or small piles of straw that occur after B gets home from work, but others who don't work on farms probably don't want to feel straw under their feet or in their shoes. It also needs to be kept as clean as possible because the children use it too.

Getting back the point. By now I'm pretty confident I do a good job and get things as clean as I can. I'm not suggesting you should forget how you clean your bathroom, and immidiately take up my way of cleaning. However, it works for me and I thought it might help someone else perfect thir cleaning routine.

I will say this now, sorry if the pictures aren't quite up to standard! I'm still getting to grips with my camera - I'm absolutely useless with it. If anyone knows of any good articles on how to use Cannon DSLR cameras please tweet them to me or leave me the link!

Cleaning the Family bathroom

First of all, I go straight in and bleach the toilet bowl. We have pretty hard water round here, and it had been left to build up inside the toilet before moving in. Using thick bleach has been one of the only ways I've been able to even make a dent into the cal.

Online Dating

I've just drunk two Red-bulls, so if this makes absolutely no sense, forgive me. It's raining, The Beast is out – The Beast has become B's new name on Twitter – I have the music on, and I'm eager to get some posts written and scheduled for next week as I have quite a busy week including a super duper cool sleep-over with my mum (insert emoji with the sunglasses).

You might already know – or not – that I met B online. Probably the most awkward, weird and the best online relationship known to human kind. Okay that's an exaggeration, but it's how I feel about it.

But before meeting B, I had my fair share of weirdos and awkward encounters online. It's pretty much a given that you'll get these type of people on there, and that you'll have the pleasure of meeting them. Oh the stories I could tell!

Places I Would Like to Visit

It's Friday! Yay! The week is over and people get a couple days off from work.... brilliant :).

So, as I have no possibility of actually going anywhere this year and will have to wait until next year, I have been pondering where I would have chosen to go if I could have gone on holiday this year.

There's a few places that I really want to go, but it's more to do with the Seven wonders of the world. I haven't included them in this, as I consider that type of holiday - sight seeing, being touristy, not spending much time at the pool or beach - to be travelling, and that's a whole new kettle of fish!

The Autumn Tag

Today I'm doing a tag post. I feel like my last few posts have been a bit serious, especially yesterday's post, so I thought doing a tag or questionnaire type post would lighten things up a bit this week. 

It's autumn. That mean's colder weather - or any kind of weather, according to the British weather - Halloween is coming up, the leaves are changing, soon we won't be able to move without crunching leaves under our feet, and Harvest is finishing up if it hasn't already. What better post to do than The Autumn Tag? With a little twist of course: from a farmer's point of view.

By the way, I found the questions to this tag on makeupsavvy.co.uk by Fee. 

Being a Step-Parent

Okay, so I already know this is going to be a hard post to write. Not because it's hard being a step-parent - I'll get to that in a bit - but because unfortunately so many people take things the wrong way or words gets twisted. I hope that doesn't happen with this post, but I'm going to try my absolute best to explain myself as clearly as possible. Just in case I don't manage to, or it sounds like I'm being horrible in some way, I apologize. 

Some who read this might be biological parents, step-parents, or have nothing to do with children at all other than at family gatherings. Believe me, meeting your partner's children is absolutely terrifying and the most wonderful thing at the same time it's like your heart is going to burst. Or at least that's how I felt. It's nothing compared to babysitting or anything like that, but obviously it does help if you've had at least some experience with kids before.

Measure-in Update

It's been a wile since I did my last "measure-in" and talked about what I've been doing in an attempt to get healthier - about a month or so if I'm not mistaken. If you read this post, you'll know quite a lot has happened over the last few weeks, but I'm back in the blogging game!

I'm hoping I've at least not put on more weight -or inches in this case - more than having lost any, as I know I haven't been keeping to any routine or diet. I'm continueing on Week 4 because I don't think the last 3 to 4 weeks really count towards anything health-related.

A Farmer's Wife

I've decided that it's time to talk a little more about what my blog is centered around: the lifestyle of a farmer's wife. It's pretty obvious that that is the type of lifestyle that I talk about, but for some reason I've not made a post about it in particular yet. I'm going to talk a little more about having a farmer as a boyfriend -might as well be husband - and what it is actually like being his girlfriend.

My Farmer is a pig-farmer, or a "Pig Reproductive Technician". In words that you and me understand, B artificially inseminates guilt's -female pigs that have not had piglets yet - and sow's -female pigs with one or more litters of piglets under their belt - with predetermined genetics to breed the healthiest piglets possible.

He's good at his job, and loves doing it. It's quite interesting when you get into the in's and out's of it -that sentence just took on a whole new meaning - but I won't be going into that today. If you'd like to find out more about what B does and what goes on down on the farm, I'm able to write a more specific post about that with pictures of the pigs, piglets, and boars and the farm in general.

Pigs like to fill their drinkers up with stones, B is clearing
 out this drinker for them.

What's New?

Hey everyone! So I've decided to write a little bit of an update post. I've been gone for a month, and before that I was posting quite sparingly. I'm eager to get back into the swing of posting regularly and consistently, so here I am!

I've gone with writing an update post instead of just a post that falls under one of my categories as I feel like a lot has gone on recently and it's been affecting my mood and motivation to blog. I won't be concentrating on that though, because I've taken a new look on life to only focus on the positive. I've also changed a few things on the blog - like the categories and header, for example - so I'm here to tell you all about it.

What's new with The Life of a Farmer's Wife?

Well, quite a lot as it turns out! I've come up with a new way to schedule posts and plan what I will be posting and when, which I think I will make into a post of it's own as I'm pretty happy with how it's working out. I'm going to be posting from Monday to Friday, hoping life doesn't get in the way! I can guarantee there will be at least 2 or 3 posts a week though, as I'm going to be scheduling into the future as far as I can to prevent abandoning the blog again.

The categories have changed too. Before I didn't really know how to categorize my posts, or even if it fitted in with my blog at all. I've surfed the web, spent hours on Pinterest and found some helpful posts that led me to some awesome blogs. Honestly, I think the best way to update and better your blog - if that's what you are looking to do - is to look at your favorite blogs. Inspire yourself - don't copy! - with whatever it is about their blog that makes you love it so much. Is it the color scheme? Maybe their way of being completely and totally themselves? Go pick out a few blogs and find what it is that you love so much about them, and that's exactly what I have done to help myself find what I want my blog to be.

IKEA Budget Wish List

Since moving in together, me and B have been trying to make our rental house into our home. I love watching home-wear hauls, especially from Ikea - who doesn't like IKEA!?) or Primark. They are pretty much my favorite shops for house bits.

I'm only about half an hour away from my closest Primark, but my closest IKEA isn't exactly close at 3 hours and 27 minutes away. I'm pretty sure there is a collection point somewhere near us, though.

I've given myself a budget of £100 pounds for my online window shopping. Some might say it's a lot, and some might say it's not very much. B and I try to budget everything, we're a young couple and B has two young children - we're also hoping to expand our family more - so money is something we try to save whenever possible. 

Quick disclaimer: The prices mentioned could change. If you're reading this months - or even years - after this was first published, prices could have changed or products could be removed from the production line.

None of the links provided are affiliate links. This post is not sponsored in any way, and I don't get paid or compensated for any of it. I've linked things purely for your ease of use if you find something you like.

Anyway, here we go! Here's my IKEA wish list- on a budget.

Trofast - £29

Having two kids - even if they don't live with us all the time - means we have toys everywhere. Our downstairs is pretty much drowning in toys and kids' bits and bobs, so this box system seems a pretty good idea. The kids are old enough to know to put their toys away, so having boxes where they can just throw everything in before eating or their bath and bed-time would help keep the downstairs tidy. Failing that, once the kids are in bed I can put everything in the boxes haha!

£100 - £29 = £71

Weight-loss journey: weeks 2 & 3

First off, I'd like to say thank you for your support and interest in this mini series and in my blog in general. It means so much to me! I'm planning a Twitter give-away when we reach 500 followers to say thank you to you all :)

Getting back to this post, I joined two weeks together as I was insanely busy the day Week 2 was meant to go up. I'm trying to get some more time to sit and write, and fortunately it should only be 2 or 3 more weeks of absolute mayhem and after than life should go back to relative normality.

Why I can't share what I want to

This post is a little more serious than my others, but it's only to explain a little of what's going on and why I can't share everything with you. If you have any tips or advice for me, please share :) .

Weight-loss and Fitness Journey: Week 1

It's been a week since I my first post on losing weight and getting healthy. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here. I've had a very busy week, so I've not done exactly what I wanted to, but I definitely have changed a few things.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

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Lots of things have been playing on my mind recently. Hopefully one day I will be able to write about them and help others going through the same, but for now I have to stay positive. So I'm going to list 10 things that make me happy.

Weight-loss journey

So I've decided to lose weight. It's not the first time, and I'm sure it wont be the last. More than just wanting to, I need to. 

Some of the reasons why I want to lose weight are to feel more confident, for medical reasons (which I will be writing about in another post), and to be healthier.

The confidence side of things is a little complicated. I'm happy with who I am, I accepted myself a while ago. I know a lot of people don't like me, and I accept that too. Come to think of it, I won't go into a full-blown confidence talk. I can do that another time. That's one of my things, I talk. A LOT.


I know a lot of other people are losing weight, whatever the reasons are. I also need something to hold me to it, so I figured if I write a weekly post I'll have to keep to it. Good for me, good for the blog.

As I'm only just starting, I'm asking for advice. I don't really want to just make it a diet, I want to make it more of a lifestyle change. I honestly have no idea where to start.

For now, I have a few things I'm going to change:

• Drink 2L of water a day
• Eat less pasta
• Plan meals and eat regularly
• Eat breakfast

I'm going to post once a week, and include things like weigh-in or measurements, meal plans, exercise, etc. Come to think of it, I need to buy some bathroom scales. I really need to do that. 

I know this is a short post, and I promise the next one will be more detailed. For now, I'd like to ask you for some tips or advice on being healthier and losing weight. I'd like to add things into my daily routine, or stop doing them, and make it a lifestyle rather than a 3 month diet. What do you do to be healthier? Are the specific things I should or shouldn't do even though they are healthy, while I'm trying to lose weight?

Leave any advice you have in the comments, or you can Tweet me @farmerswifeblog :)

Bella x

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10 Things About Me

Hey everyone! As this blog and myself are fairly new to the blogging scene, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce myself a little more and tell you all about myself.

So here it goes, 10 things about me!

What's it like having a single duckling? - Part 2

What's it actually like having a single duckling? How do I prepare for ducklings?

What nobody tells you about ducklings

If you're incubating 5 to 10, you run the risk of being left with only one duckling (or chick). I found myself in this position with Bob (you can read up on as to why in Part 1) after only incubating 5 eggs.

You know that thing about ducklings imprinting on the first thing they see? Yeah, it's true. So unless you plan on having a minimum of 2 or 3 hatch around the same time, I recommend you don't incubate eggs without a mother duck.

How to keep up with the Housework

"How to keep up with the Housework" is going to be a little series on The Life of a Farmers Wife. This is the first post, How to keep up with the Laundry. Suggestions are welcome :)

How to keep up with the Laundry

What's it like having a single duckling? Part 1

What is it like having a single duckling or chick? - Why would I have only one duckling or chick? How do I look after it for the first two months? What do I need to do?

Hi there! This post has turned out to be a lot longer than I thought, so I have divided into two parts.

First of all, I will explain how we have ended up with only one duckling from a clutch of 5. It's quite possible that the same thing could happen to you if you are incubating a small amount of eggs, or have a high disease risk.

Our duck eggs were given to us by a good friend who also owns a farm. We believe both parents are crested ducks, which is a tuft of soft feathers on their head caused by a gene in the parent ducks (I recommend reading this wikipedia article). Unfortunately, both parents having the crest means the ducklings have a higher chance of having the gene twice. This means they tend to die before hatching.

*Updated* First Post

I've decided to change over to Blogger. Some wordpress users will hate me for it, but I just had so many problems with Wordpress I can't be asked anymore haha! I've been trying to schedule posts for a while now, but tey just never seem to actually post when I want them to, or at all. So here I am! :)

First Post - What can you expect to find here? What do I blog about? Why do I blog about it? 

Here you can expect to find anything and everything related to being a farmer's wife. That means the keeping up with house work, the kids, and the animals and land too.

Some upcoming blog posts include "What is it actually like having a single chick or duckling?", "How do I keep up with the housework?" , and "Do I get any alone time in this life?".