Pipping

As we have been patiently watching our eggs all day today, I’ve been thinking a lot about what these baby chicks go through just to come out of their shells. We have our first two chickens pipping which is the beginning of the hatching process where the baby starts to break the eggshell with their egg tooth. We currently have 41 eggs in the incubator and this morning when Steve came in to tell me that the pipping had begun, I literally squealed.  Watching this process is a reminder of the miracle of life and it’s happening right now in my mud room. The incubator is right below the mealworm farm that my husband has started….that circle of life is for another story on another day. 

When we moved to the Farm last year, it was a mess.  The house was (and still is) crooked.  There was literally a 9 inch drop from one side of the house to the other. After we paid the professionals to come  in and level up the house (or at least stabilize it), our work began.  We made a very intentional decision that we would do most of the work ourselves.  We wanted to be able to call it our own and know that we did it our way.  We also wanted to share some lessons with Gracie about how to build things so she could appreciate the process. And frankly, we wanted to save money.  So the process began.  And here we are……pipping.

As Steve and I laid in bed last night, we talked about how lucky we are to live on this Farm and get to spend every day building and digging together. We talked about how far we’d come and then how far we had to go.  We got a good laugh because our view from the bed is a wall that’s a board and half from being finished.  The rest of the room is still bare sheet rock.  It’s not finished but we are still working toward it and making the most of the process…….pipping.

Today, we worked in the flower bed, Steve built a large brooder for our junior chicks. We installed the drain in the ditch that’s been open in the front yard since December. We got about halfway through covering it up so we can finish the flower bed….maybe later this week…..or maybe next. Or maybe it’ll never be completely finished.  We separated the meal worms, cleaned out the hen house and watched the baby chicks as they began to “unzip” their eggs. 

In my old life, my mission was  always to FINISH stuff. To get a project completed at work, hire someone to finish work on the house. I’m learning that  my work here is never going to be finished.  There are always going to be walls that need to be hung, coops to be built, plants to be planted, dirt to be swept and baby chicks to hatch. 

I guess I’m enjoying this pipping stage.  It’s hard work, just like these baby chicks that we hope to meet tonight. But it’s worth it. And in reality (don’t tell my husband this), I don’t want to finish it.  I love waking up knowing that we have a list a mile long and going to bed with sore backs and dirt under our finger nails.  I love knowing that we are doing the work ourselves. Someday, I hope Grace will look back on it and be able to teach her kids how to do things that she’s learned at the Farm.  I hope she’ll also find joy in the pipping, just like her mom has.

I hear chirping from the mud room so I guess we better go see how our babies are coming along….pipping.