This is the beginning of a new healthy, more responsible and simpler way of life.
Yesterday my family and I changed the way we have been living. Let me back up a little and provide a little history.
In July of 1998, after struggling to make ends meet in Utah Joe and I decided to move our young family to Las Vegas Nevada. We had hopes of better wages, housing that we could qualify for and a better school system, all of those hopes were met.
We lived in "Sin City" for twelve years, and every visit we made to Utah was full of tears on the day of departure. We desperately missed our family, friends, the beautiful mountains, the rivers, and the hometown feel. There were a few years that we couldn't visit because, leaving caused so much heartache.
We made several visits to Utah in 2007 and 2008, visiting family and different outdoor activities.
After one visit in July 2008, Joe promised me that in a year we would return to Utah. At the time we were still both doing very well in our career's. Joe was a general foreman for a big construction company, mostly working at a desk and going out for breakfast. It was a much easier job than what he had been used to in the many years as an Iron Worker, and he deserved it. He still wanted to move back to Utah, where he knew work would be much harder, the pay much less but, his family would be happier. I also loved my job as a secretary at St. Rose Hospital in the Pediatric and Pediatric intensive care units. I had a great boss, great co-workers, great company with an awesome wage and benefits. All of that and I still longed to move back to Utah.
On October 5, 2008, which happens to be Joes birthday the stock market crashed, the DOW Jones fell over 700 points. Hotel and casino construction projects in were being canceled and shut down, by the day. The real estate industry also hit rock bottom. Our home in 2007 had been valued at 320, 000, now was only worth 140,000. Joe's employer was making cut backs and decided to make make Joe one of the cut backs. Just in time for Christmas 2008, Joe had been laid off.
I took this as a blessing in disguise, we now would make every effort to move back to Utah. While still in Las Vegas Joe starting working for a Utah company (another sign). My mom Brenda actually helped him land this job, through a friend. In July the break that we had been waiting for happened, the company wanted to transfer Joe to utah. At the time we were all thrilled with the thought of being back in Utah.
Life was harder in Utah Joe and I both worked harder and worked more hours. We ran into health problems, money problems, school problems, housing problems and the kids missing their friends. We were enjoying get togethers with family and friends. We had a deeper appreciation for the beautiful mountains and the magical rivers, than we had before. I remember driving on Harrison BLVD. and thinking "I'm really back" while smiling to myself.
Over the next few years we had many ups and downs. In November of 2011 we paid cash for our home in Brigham city (not my ideal location). No house payment is a very nice situation to be in, but our home is a fixer upper and requires a great deal of time and money. On April 13, 2012, we were blessed with our first grandchild,
One of the few nice things about our time in Las Vegas, was having enough money to eat healthier and buy organic foods. Living in Utah we made about one fourth of what we were making in Las vegas, even with no house payment we could not afford to buy organic.
I started to pay closer attention after downloading the Fooducate App. on my iphone. I began to learn some frightening facts, one fact being that the food that had been I feeding my family was on the FDA's watch list for toxicity. My thought while discovering all of those horrendous facts was "we just needed to live simpler." Ahh Ha! That was the beginning of my Epiphany!
I continued my research, found books and websites that supported my ideas, I just had to sell it to my family. Once I explained to Joe that we would be buying everything second hand, getting fresh fruits and veggies from farmers markets and local roadside stands, he agreed with my entire Idea. We both decided that we would pay a higher price for natural pasture fed meat from a local farmer rather than buy from the grocery store. Madi was up for the whole idea except the idea of buying ALL her clothing second hand, which I can respect. who has her own place but, spends much of her free time at our home. She doesn't like the idea of seeing the chickens on the farm and then eating it the next day. The things that I had been learning were terrified me. I explained the humane treatment of the animals, and the the health benefits of farm to fork but, she still can not do it. instead will once again be a vegetarian. Our son Jacy lives in Las Vegas and has mostly eaten a vegetarian diet for the last year due to health problems. If he lived with us he would be up for our new way of living.
So the plan is to, only eat food that is grown or farmed with in 100 miles of our home. I started canning and freezing foods that we purchased locally. Learning how to make bread and noodles is also an adventure.I found Appenzell Farm that provides natural, pastured fed meat close to our home. We are also going to make our own laundrey soap, dish soap and bath soap. No more paper products, except toilet paper.
The benefits
Eating meat that doesn't have added antibiotics and hormones
Knowing that the animals were treated and fed humanly
Helping our local economy
Saving 3/4 our our grocery bill every month
Enjoying fruits and veggies that don't have harmful chemicals sprayed on them
The quality of the meat and produce are much fresher and taste better.
Getting to know the people in our community.
The Disadvantages
The most important thing you need to know before buying chickens for your backyard chicken coop is whether your local law permits you to raise chickens. There isn't one Utah law that applies to the entire state. Rather, if you live within city limits, check to see if your city code has any laws about raising chickens; if you don't live within city limits, check the county code. 
