August is in Full Swing

Today started late for me as I slept in a little this morning due to a middle of the night rising. Unable to sleep I slipped quietly into the family room to read. . . . . finished my book. The first fictional book in over a year or more. My current steady diet of reading has circled around the magnitude of research books I have been consuming. I even have one waiting right now by my chair. Along with a dozen or so on hold at the library. Not to mention the one on it's way that I ordered on line for our reference library. I am not lacking for reading material which is obvious from the lined bookcase and the stack of magazines sitting on the coffee table. I love to read which is why I find new books so appealing to get. Only time will tell but I think I have instilled this same love into my granddaughter. One of her favorite requests of me is "read me this book". Seconded only to "let me read you a book." Gotta love it!

Our project for today was to put up some shelves in the bathroom closet. They look so nice and will give me more space than is needed for towels and such. I am sure I will have no problem filling them up with items. For this house is a little short on storage space. Lon even had time to put up some trim in the dinning room while I made a trip to the building supply in the next town for what we needed. Yea! Things are really taking shape with each little finishing detail being put into place. We had wanted to work outside today, but with getting a late start was unable. After having an 11:00 country breakfast (or should I say brunch?), it was just too hot to start. The goal is to do outside projects in the mornings then move to inside projects in the heat of the day after lunch. Good plan, just hard to do some days. Life will always give you a curve ball just when you are ready for a line drive.

We already know he will have to work extra this Saturday. It is to pay back time that was covered while he was off during my mission trip last month. Thankful then . . . . . hate it now.

Looks like it could be a busy week for us, especially if he also gets an overtime shift add to his schedule. Then I have a day set aside for a doctor's apt. and some testing to be done. That leaves us with only one other day for projects here at the farm this week. It is all too easy to fill up your days without knowing it if one is not careful.

We discussed all of our Fall projects again yesterday morning over coffee on the porch. The need to get started is urgent. Time is passing by and our days seem already filled up before we start them. I have a sneaky feeling that August will be over way too soon and it is only the third day of the month.

At present I am sitting here in this heavy heat watching the goats browse. If I can get some energy up after a busy day like today. I would like to clear some weeds from the flowerbeds I am trying to establish. Lon is away this evening for his first Bethel East Volunteer Fire Dept. meeting. Terry, one of the volunteers brought him a radio last Friday. So he can get and respond to the 911 calls for their station. I guess this makes him official as a volunteer all but the turn-out gear he will need and the F.D. truck tag. I guess our life will always revolve around a fire truck somewhere, even after retirement is accomplished.



Living out a dream,

Deborah

We Have a Guest at the Farm

Two days ago we picked our Granddaughter up and brought her out to the farm for a spend the night visit. Wouldn't you know it the rain we had been hoping for, the past couple of weeks arrived when she did. Heavy downpours complete with thunder and frequent lightening. I do not think I will have to water my flowers anytime soon.

Interrupted sleep Thursday night caused aal of us to be tired the next day. I ended up sleeping with "little princess in the guest room, but it was a nice trade off. As she snuggled close and put her arms around me, content just to be near.

A cooling breeze was felt after the storms from the day before. Making for a pleasant morning on Friday for some coffee sipping with Lon on the front porch. We discussed several things in the quite time we had together before Leah woke up. We had morning chores to do, but she got to sleep in. Having not seen us in awhile has increased her desire for our undivided attention. While awake we did our best to accommodate her and make some memories in the process.

Nana's Helper on Saturday morning ~ 8/1/2009

Princess Leah, happy to be staying at the farm with Nana & Papa ~ 7/31/2009

Beds are always a place for good times of giggles and tickling. ~ 7/31/2009

Leah loves the geranium on my front porch~ 8/1/2009

Flower and night-gowned princess match.~ 8/1/2009

Can I water the flowers again Nana? Sure darling, as much as you want.

Helping Papa with a kitchen repair, "see I can hold the flash lite for you"

The Chickens are wandering further up in the yard these days. From the "raggidy" looking hosta, I can assume they have found it and are making a lunch off of it. It was just getting big enough to look pretty next to the purple vinca. Conversation went from one subject to the next in regards to the work to be done on the farm. I have a notion that with all of the plans we have for this fall, we should be prepping for them now. Today is the first day of August, leaving us with 2 possibly3 months before Autumn chores will be in full swing. Here is the rundown on what we see needing to be done before winter's chill sets in.

~Transplanting will have to wait till this year's growth is over.

~Breeding of the goats will have to wait till their fall heat cycle.

~Firewood needs to be gathered now in order to cure out for winter warmth.

~Our Fall garden should be planted soon, but first there is a ton of rocks to be removed.

~Fruit trees / bushes have a better chance of establishment when planted in the cooler months.

~Flower bulbs are put to bed in the shortening days of sunlight.

~Canning and preserving is done in the "dog days" of Summer.

~Pasture fencing in place will ensure no hungry predators snack on any of our livestock.

~Having the outside painting completed will protect our home from Winter's weather.

~Landscaping out front of the house needs to be in the ground for Spring enjoyment.

The list of Fall projects goes on and on. Which doesn't include the inside ones still waiting to be finished. Maybe Fall is called that because you fall into the season of Winter exhausted. Whew!

Now I know why farmers are so busy all the time. There is always something waiting to be done.

This morning is well under way and it is not even 9am yet. I managed to get the chickens fed, Amber & Sugar fed and milked, along with breakfast in Leah's and my tummy as well. It is a gray sky morning, but it is suppose to clear off later. Hopefully giving us the chance to play kick ball in the yard. Our morning was filled with activities that Leah enjoys like, coloring, singing, making a bunny necklace, searching for birds through the binoculars, working puzzles, reading books, playing on the front porch,riding the 4-wheeler, watering the flowers and my favorite ~ rocking in Nana's lap. Before we knew it was time for her to go home to the birthday surprise waiting for her. A Play fort/ swing set to climb on, swing (her favorite), designed for hours of fun.

Cutting grass in the afternoon earned me some sun exposure that was a little pink and tender by bedtime. But it is satisfying to look out and see it smoothly cut and green. A storm tonight before bed caused the power to go out for a few moments. Finding myself sitting in TOTAL darkness, reminded me of the need to always have a flash lite with in arms reach. I guess it calls for a trip to town to buy some extras and post them throughout the house.

We had a wonderful visit with our house guest and can't wait till she can come back to visit again. To hear how much Mommy missed her it could be awhile. Thankful we are for the chance to share this place with her, make memories and teach her about farm life.

With a grateful heart,

Deborah

July is Almost Over

Sit down for a spell this one is long, so go ahead and pour yourself a cup of coffee to enjoy while you read.

The last few days have been quite busy. Seems like I have played the catch-up game since returning home from the mission trip to Honduras. That's what happens when you go out of town for a week. I have a lot on my heart and mind about all that I saw and experienced. As I process it all, I may post some thoughts about it in the future. Just know this, it was a good trip and I was able to be apart of something bigger than life. I am still physically tired from the challenges faced there, eating, sleeping in a different time zone and the long flights. But I am sure my energy will pick back up soon.

Last week brought blessings to our home. After the morning chores were done on Wednesday, we decided to cut down a few trees. In order to open up our view of the upper pasture and start clearing out the area for a future pond. Besides those reasons we also needed to start laying in a supply of firewood for our winter heating. I am sure it seems odd to most people for us to be thinking along these lines in this July heat we are living in. But in order for it to be cured out and have ready to burn logs by the time cold weather arrives, we need to start now. Ideally you cut this year for the following year use, but we have only been here about 4 weeks now. Our challenge is not in how to stay warm, trees we have. It is that our hours are limited, due to everything else that needs doing. Such is life on a farm.

Back to our blessings ~ my husband had to make a trip out to the repair shop this morning and on the way back home he was stopped to speak to our neighbor up the road. Who gave us a 5 gallon bucket of cucumbers from his garden. Along with an invite to stop by in about 2 weeks and help ourselves to his okra, then wait another two and come pick some green beans. One stop = one blessing now(cucumbers) and two in the future (okra & green beans). Another blessing arrived yesterday with an invite from another neighbor to come help ourselves to his blueberry bushes. So we did today, picking about 2 plus gallons. The bushes were loaded with the most intensely flavored fruit. I have never tasted berries like them, a true deep blueberry flavor. The kind you can't buy at the store, one that has been sun-kissed right where they grew from fertile soil. We have enough for a pie, fresh eating and to make some jam. We may even get the chance to go back for more if we have the time. Unfortunately all of my canning supplies are back at the other house (haven't move them yet).

God is being very visible with His provisions and it is a comfort to know that we haven't a need that He can not meet. These were not necessarily a need but they sure are sweet just the same.

My to-do list has been quite long since moving out to the farm. Finding time for familiar activities has taken some juggling. I have found a new time for journal writing, a favorite way of mine to capture my thoughts. I started taking my notepad out with me in the mornings while the goats browse. The quite morning hours are perfect for contemplation and dreaming. No interruptions to be had, just the sound of happy munching nearby.

One item on the list was accomplished easier than I thought it would. That being the unpacking of ALL the boxes of books for our bookshelf in the family room. I realized that I have a lot of books that I have read and a whole lot more that I haven't. At least I won't go lacking this winter for something to do. Looking over the titles I remember reading them, but can not recall the story lines. So I guess that means that I have double my pleasure in reading choices.

Another item marked off was the trim put back around the guest room's windows. So my job was to iron and hang the curtains to them. To have some shape of window coverings over them is a comfort to me. Even though the chance of someone looking in is slim to none. They look perfect and really add to the room's coziness. I love having open windows with light streaming in unhindered, but these are darling. It doesn't matter to me that they were our old living room curtains from 25 years ago. Hard to imagine that I kept them that long and they are still usable.
They had been tagged for a yard sale, but never sold . . . couldn't throw them away. So a blessing they have now become.

Saturday last week was a busy one despite that we had a special birthday party to go to. Our granddaughter had her celebration late in the day. Which gave us just a few hours in the morning for chores and small projects. A easy rhythm of chores has settle in around us. Milking in the cool early hours of the day is easy. We still have to take the girls out for browsing until we can get some fencing up. I would love to be able to just turn them loose. Problem is not that they would wander off. Just the opposite they won't stay off the porches or out of the hen house. Slipping off into the house for a moment brings them hastily up to the doors, searching and calling for me. As long as I am out in the yard where they can see me, they will wander some. While out that day I noticed the "fox grapes" are filling out, but I suspect that it will be fall before they are ripe. We have plans to put them on a proper trellis afterwards, so we can take better care of them an ease harvesting to a comfortable height.

My husband and I discussed the newly acquired turkeys and their need to forage some too. Decision made, we turned them loose. Just opening the gate, did not bring the response we expected. It took both of us instead to herd/carry them out the open door to freedom. We lost one of our Isa Brown biddies that day which brought our chicken count down to 61. That evening we were pleased to see that the turkeys not only stayed nearby but roosted with the chicken in the coop.

The day was long as it was late before I finished canning the fresh blueberry jam I had started. But I got 3 pints of dark blue yummy goodness to show for the effort. Visions of warm toasted bread or hot buttered biscuits with a slathering of jam is dancing in our heads.

Today, July 27 brought a few things marked off of my list as well, before the day ran out. Here's a rundown which makes me tired just listing them. I emptied 2 more boxes in the kitchen, mopped it and the dinning room, canned 14 quarts of pickles, cleaned off a portion of the carport of remodeling debris, burned the household trash, made a batch of hummingbird food, talked with both of my parents, vacuumed the hardwood floors, straightened the house, washed rugs, talked for over a hour with my cross-country sister (lives in Washington state), washed 2 loads of clothes and had a front porch visit with a neighbor down the road. That was beside all of the everyday farm/animal chores. Talking about a full day, I don't think I could have squeezed in another thing other than going to bed.

Loving the country life,

Deborah

Changes on the farm

Yesterday brought much needed changes to the temporary living quarters for the chickens. Lon and I worked all day cleaning and re-working the pens, fencing and roosts for our flock of 62. Can't believe the number has grown so fast. Should of known when we kept having to go to the feed store for more food! They definitely have more scratching room here on the farm than before. Increased bug hunting should help with the feed bill. The biddies, all 14 of them were added to the free-ranging girls. They have grown so fast and we needed their play area for the 27 babies, who had bulged the sides of their pen beyond endurance. This group of Isa Browns and White Lace Wyanadottes were quite happy to run around and stretch their iddy biddy wings for the first time in their short lives. You would have thought it recess time on the playground for a bunch of kindergartners. Funny the biddies had been standing and looking out of the fenced in area at the hens and roosters out in the wide open world. But yesterday they stood and looked into their once enclosed area that the babies now occupied puzzled.

The building now looks more like a barn than before and all seem quite happy with their arrangements. Making the switches helped to make things easier for us to lock them up at night for their safety. Letting them out and serving breakfast each morning is a breeze too. Thanks dear one for all your hard work yesterday. The girls and I love it!

Amber and Sugar have continued to adjust and are getting use to our new surroundings and routine. Although they were determined to be where we were yesterday and pushed over the gate to their pen. Sitting at the table for lunch we decided that Amber's voice was being to easily heard. Only to be surprised a moment later to see her and Sugar's face pop up in the glass of our back doors. They love to be where ever we are and seem to think that they should be allowed indoors too. (Note to selves, re-enforce gate to goat pen.) They have discovered the plum tree in our yard and have scarfed up all the fallen fruit. Which has had me to scramble a few times to get the ones still good for our snacking. This morning Amber discovered that if she looked up there was plenty more of her sweet treats still hanging on the tree. Now I will have to go check the tree each morning before milking to gather in what is ready. At present we are gathering on the carport for our daily milking times between 7 and 7:30. Rain showers are not a good companion to successful milking. Though since moving the milking stand to it's new location we haven't had a shower to speak of. Uhmmm? I enjoyed milking her down in the pasture area under the shade trees. But staying dry was important too and now refrigerating her milk is a lot easier being closer to the house. Sugar spends her time tethered to a nearby tree with a pail of her own grains to munch on till we are done. Then all of us are off for our twice a day stroll around the property looking for the tasty leaves that they enjoy topping off their meals on. With so much space they have lots to pick from and with time we will be able to cut back, clear and open up even more browsing space for them. I know once we can get some permanent fencing in place and turn them out into their own space to play and nibble to heart's content, they will really begin to live the goat's life they were born for.

We do not have much to show in the way of producing our own food crops yet. As we had not moved in before planting time for a Spring garden. But we did put out 6 heritage tomato plants called 'Beefsteak" and two grape tomato plants that are looking good and already have small round orbs hanging amongst the yellow blooms. Six pepper plants have joined them on that side of the garden. An area that was broken up by a fellow fireman who came to do the much needed work on our driveway. Which is now void of humps and holes and is smooth to drive on. He even used his tractor to opened up the area next to it where the creek crosses under it. It looks so inviting, Thanks Mike!

Hopefully over the next hundred years we can remove the rock garden that occupies the space at present where we plan to plant a Fall garden. One thing for sure the sweet potato plants are growing strong and Lon says that I planted enough for the whole community of Woodland. If all 18 plants produce, I just might have. ;) Though one of my newly met neighbors up the road has a large field of corn. Mr. Palmer has already said I could get some of it when it comes in and I don't know for sure, but I would bet he would love to trade for some sweet potatoes too. I wish I had been able to capture a picture of him plowing his fields. It is a sight to see, as you don't find many who still work them with a hand plow and horse/mule power any more. Traveling back and forth to work on the house before moving we often saw him in the early or late light of the day working one row after another. I will have to keep my camera in the car and start driving by from time to time and to see if I can catch him in the fields for a snapshot. It's a priceless sight.

My to-do list continues to grow instead of dwindling as new projects are discovered now that we are living here. It still does not seem quite real, with each day bringing a new sense of peace to our lives. Hard work is not lacking around here, but it is satisfying work. Helping to flesh out a dream into reality for us. So much adventure to be discovered on our place, times to be shared and memories to be made. It is a joy to experience.

I have missed posting about our activities and had so much I wanted to share about the renovations on the house, funny happenings, set-backs and the challenges we faced. But busyness coupled with fatigue kept me off the computer. To try to go back and get caught up would be a HUGE undertaking for me. As I can I may sneak some before and after shots of the process if I can get the pics transferred to a usable file. So instead I have decided to let history be just that and share what is fresh and new in our lives here at Heartland Farm. It is no longer a farm lived out in our hearts and minds, but has become a farm lived on the land that was birthed in our hearts.

Enjoy your day. . . . . . I am,

Deborah