Hello all! I am new here, and my family and I have been on a crazy obstacle  course in our lives. I would have never thought that I would end up trying to create a more simple, healthy, uncomplicated lifestyle. We have had our small farm for about 3 1/2 years now. We started our small farm with chickens, and of course, such as our luck, disaster struck immediately! We thought we were doing good by keeping our chickens "in" and had not thought of the prospect for keeping things "out". Well, long story short, we lost all but 2 of our original flock to the neighbors dog. We rebuilt our flock, mended some fencing, but faced another attack by same dog! After much grief, and friendly neighbor conferences, our flock is thriving. We have faced many ups and down along this journey, mainly, with the loss of animals due to predation and/or my own dog joining in on the fun of chicken and rabbit killing. It has been a total up and down roller coaster of events, lots of good, and lots of bad. The actual gardening aspect of our farm has been quite the challenge. Living on land that is sand, it has made for a very sad gardening experience. Not to mention, the bugs in my state rule and leave you with nothing. We have now expanded our farm to include ducks. This has been the biggest challenge so far. Chickens and rabbits are pretty simple, but ducks are a whole new complication. They are definitely a lot more maintenance, but I have accepted this challenge, and am doing my best. We eventually want to expand our farm to include goats, sheep, pig, cows......but that's some time down the road. I will leave you with a picture of total cuteness, and as our farm expands and adventures continue, I hope to have you there.![20840767_1523715221004799_3939683878747547310_n.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQxL71dj6jdQcGyL5kftUdHsHiXun7dDoeaMoZeSycHe3/20840767_1523715221004799_3939683878747547310_n.jpg)