What's in a name?

I just want to note before I get started that so far I am a terrible blogger.  I'm pretty sure that my only reader so far is Jon, so I'm not beating myself up too much yet since I talk to him everyday. But, of course, that is part of the reason I started a blog. My poor husband was getting sick of hearing me go on and on about gardens and plants and things I read on other blogs and canning and recipes and I could go on, but I won't.

But, anywho, I digress. A lot. Back to the issue at hand.

I've never had a house with a name.  I've never even considered giving my house a name. I've named other things, of course -- pets, cars, kids -- but never a house. When we moved to Long Island, we bought a wonderful old house that reminded us of Pennsylvania.

And it has a name. I'm not going to lie, the fact that my house has a legitimate name makes me feel incredibly classy.

As it turns out, the house has quite a history, as well.  Tranquillity was built by Henry Amherst Brown, a writer, justice of the peace, and town supervisor, in the mid-1800's.  Brown lived in the house for 77 years.  Tranquillity is currently the oldest house in Wyandanch/Wheatley Heights.

Tranquillity was also the inspiration for the name of this blog.  And trust me, with my three kids, this house is now anything but tranquil.

The dreaded first post...

I've been thinking about blogging for the past two months. I've also been putting it off for the past two months. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and have always wanted to start my own, but felt I had nothing to blog about. I finally feel like I have sufficient blog fodder and enough of it to hopefully post pretty regularly. Keep your arms and legs inside the car, kids, because here's some back story to get you started....

A year ago, the husband and I packed up our three kids (and a lizard) and relocated from beautiful central Pennsylvania to Long Island, NY.  I make it sound easy, but it was actually quite a process and seemed to take forever, at the time. We bought a 200+ year old house on 3/4 of an acre and tried to settle in and start our new life as New Yorkers. I soon found out the reason that New Yorkers are so cranky -- it's dang expensive here! Jon and I soon decided that, in order to offset feeding 6 people, maybe we should make and attempt to "live off our land." To give you a preview, this involves feeble attempts at gardening, chickens, rabbits, another batch of chickens, another batch of chickens (whew!), and oh so much more.

So, in a nutshell, there you have it. This is the official chronicle of our attempt at suburban homesteading. I hope you enjoy our misadventures.

And come back often - I have lots of blogging to catch up on!