It starts...

Ok, so I don't know why, but I've been avoiding the blog thing for a while. I think it is a good idea - I think it is important for us to document our transition from suburban, apartment life to farm living...but I haven't really been in a writing mood...but here it goes.
We are Mark and Shelby - we've been married for 13 years and we have five children. Four kids live with us (Gage, Drake, Kait and Cora) and our oldest daughter, Tiff, lives on her own. I work for a company that develops energy efficiency programs for utility companies and Mark is going to school to finish his degree in education. In June of 2010 Mark will be graduating and we can FINALLY truly start life. I know many of you are thinking 13 years of marraige and 5 kids and life hasn't started yet?? Our life has been dictated by school - my degree and now Mark's. It will be nice to have two incomes (something we had only for a brief moment in our relationship), a regular work schedule and an idea of where we want to live the rest of our lives. The idea of a farm excites us. With everything going on with the economy...it scares us to think that something could happen to our food supply. It scares us to think about what is being put into our food, how foods are processed, how animals are cared for - what is really going on with our food before it goes onto our plates and how does that affect our health and the health of our children? The thought of being able to raise our own chickens for eggs and bees for honey and goats for milk excites us. Knowing that we can feed our family from the foods that we grow with our own hands excites us. Taking all that we learn and "paying it forward" to others - so they can learn new skills excites us...This is a great time in our lives and we're glad you are along for the ride.