Suburban Fresh Blog

While we have started to gain a small following on Facebook,  at times it is difficult to share more than a small snippet or a photo. Here we would like to take a more in depth look at our projects and share our hopes and dreams for the future of the farm.

For those of you who don't know us...we are a small 5 acre farm located in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. A few years ago we began looking for ways to become more self sufficient. We had a beautiful property in a perfect location. We had resources, we had space, and so we began to set the wheels in motion.

First came the chickens...I researched and researched and finally decided to take the plunge. We purchased a coop, bought a trough which served as our first brooder (which I still use today), a heat lamp, some feed, and found some chicks at Tractor Supply.

8 little hens...or rather 7 hens and a very pretty Buff Orpington rooster that we named John Wayne. As most people with chickens know, the math gets rather convoluted...I now have a total of 27 chickens, have hatched many, and they are my first farm love. I could watch them for hours!

Ok, so we had taken the first step...we had chickens, now what? Attached to our stable there is a pig pen. It seemed only natural to get a few pigs to raise for meat. We searched around on Craigslist and found a farmer nearby with piglets to sell.

So much fun, I think we will do it again this year!

At the same time that we got the pigs, I just had to start a garden. Mind you, this was just to be for us...a little project to play around with and see if I could grow some food, and to do it in a rather unconventional manner. We had an old overgrown tennis court on the property--it is completely fenced in, within ready access of water, and it receives a LOT of sunshine daily. We built 3 containers, 4'x8', and 24" tall. I bought some composted topsoil from a local landscaping company and started growing. It amazed me how much I could grow in such a small area!! I had tons of tomatoes and didn't know what to do with them, so naturally I had to start canning.

This last year with all of the rain was a challenge.  I had expanded the garden, sold produce and plants at a local farmers market but the harvest was disappointing.  However, we are continuing to expand, and have a lot of fun projects to share in the coming months.  

We hope you will join us on this journey!