June Farm Updates

Where Will We Be Landing?

Florida? South Carolina? Or staying in Oregon?

While halfway through writing our latest blog post about Polish Chickens, I realized that I had not given any official farm updates in a while! We have dropped hints here and there about us taking off to Florida, and flat announced it on one page, but our plans may have been halted...again.

Lily (L) and Daphne (R) with two of our Polish chicks

What about South Carolina?

To make things more confusing, we are attempting to purchase a home in Florida with our best friends, who currently live in South Carolina. So, if we have not closed and finalized on a house prior to our move, we might spend a month or two in South Carolina after leaving Oregon while awaiting our new house. Confused yet?

Oregon Keeps Hanging On

We have been dead set on leaving the Portland-metro area for the past few years. In fact, prior to moving back to Gresham/Portland to help with family needs, we had lived far outside of city limits for years - first in St. Helens and then in Hermiston. Although we are Gresham/Portland natives, the area has undergone too many changes that are not in sync with our living habits over the last several years and it's just not home to us anymore.

We have tried to move down to the Klamath Falls, Oregon area several times and had narrowed down our properties to two listings. We were about to make an offer when the fires happened in late 2020 and literally burnt down the properties we were considering. The forest fires were terrible that year and it halted our dreams.

We tried again in 2022, but other things got into our way. Then the idea of Florida was brought up and we set a date to head to South Carolina and figure out where to go from there as a team. This is the time when we sold out our original flock and all of our first favorites to move. But we were unfortunately roadblocked.

We set a new date for June 1, 2023, but again was stopped, this time by legal issues. Until these are completed, we cannot leave. Our plan is to purchase a house in Florida together and expand on our hatchery once there. We would like to offer Marans, Polish, Silkies, French Bresse, Ameraucanas (not Easter Eggers), color packs and maybe more. Brea and Scott have already jumped in and purchased ducks which we will also offer!

While we were trying to figure out these legal issues, another roadblock appeared - Nick's father had medical issues and he was asked to help him. We now must deal with his property and real estate and living situation before we can leave - again. However, it also means that we might be relocating to the property temporarily until it is sold, which would mean another huge flock reduction and change.

We had planned on bringing the youngest of our remaining flock with us and selling the larger birds last minute before leaving, but we still would have brought at least 20 chickens with us to start a new flock out there. However, if we must move back to Gresham, our flock numbers will drastically be reduced to lower than ever before (temporarily).

Where Will We Go?

Well, for now it looks like we will be headed to Gresham temporarily unless the house sells quickly. Once the house sells and his father is settled into a retirement home, we will recommence our plans and head back east. More than likely, we will start in South Carolina and then head down to Florida together. But plans always change, right?

We will update you all once we have more concrete plans. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we try to navigate the best choices for all of our family!