What a difference a year or more like 5 years makes....

Lots have changed in my simple world. But nothing can remain the same I suppose, a man can never step in the same river twice. So onto a new adventure and a new turn of the page so to speak. Gone are the days of simple farm life and hello to the new times of mildly organized chaos. Some days I miss the way things were and I hope to return to my roots in t he future but for now I vow to make the best with what life has given me. So grab your coffee settle in and hope you find something of use or at least amusement here.

Kids say the cutest things....

The recent rains have put us way behind schedule on mowing the lawn. The grass had become so tall the mower could not cut more than a 1' swipe at a time. So John and I opted for the next best thing! Natural lawn mowers! We set up a temporary pasture for the horses and turned them loose on the back yard. It worked quiet well! And it cut down on the hay consumption for two weeks! Unfortunately I noticed that horses are pretty indiscriminate eaters... Within the temp pen was my "zen garden" a small flowerbed filled with strawberries and wildflowers. I was so excited that the berry plants were set to yield this year! Ya you get the picture of where this is going eh? Yeps the horses ate all my daises and strawberries...... Bummer.

Tonight I was taking down the posts and moving the horses to another area in the yard to graze. My oldest daughter came out to ask what I was doing and I explained that the horses had eaten everything in the backyard and it was time to move them. This is the conversation that followed....

Me- "Well I got bad news dear the horses ate all our strawberries."

B- (silence)

Me - "I'm sorry dear"

B- (deep in thought then with hands on hips and an indignant huff) "Well that's just rude"

Me - (Laughing)

B- (walks to the horses and looks at them still with hands on hips) "That was very rude guys! You should have shared!"

I laughed so hard! It was one of those moments in parenting when ya cant help but savor the moment. It was classic to see this tiny little 7 year old standing so seriously looking her horse dead in the eye scolding him about his "rude" behavior. I thought I would share this moment with the rest of you :)

Howdy :)

hat a busy couple of days its been around here! Finishing up the last round of flu-bugs before summer hits. Of course mommy's are the last one to get sick... Anyways I'd like to take a minute and show you around our little farm here and introduce you to the occupants!


Meet "skippy john jones" she's our beloved mouser and source of much entertainment! It's interesting to live with a siamese cat let me assure you... never a dull moment!


Next up is "Morgan Dorf" our stubborn dog. He has a tendancy of visiting the... well basically the whole county. What can I say he's social :) He does a good job running secruity detail around here though!


Next we have "Dash" also called "pooh bear". He's always paitent with us and enjoys getting the girls on the bus in the morning :) I'm happy to have him here with me! And I'm pretty sure he enjoys all the attention family and friends lavish on him when they visit! The wonderful old man of the farm Mr. Dash....



Last but not least our ladies of the farm yard!! The hens.... Only a few have names so far, the girls and I work on names as their personalities become more evident. So far we have named Roxanne, Henny-penny and Nermal. The ladies live a quiet life here they are free range and eat a varied diet of organic feed and garden scraps. I enjoy listening to them squak around the yard chase bugs.



Well thats pretty much the grand tour ladies and gents. It's not much but I enjoy it! I'll leave ya with a few other random shots from life on the farm... Blessings to you and yours from all of us!

Wow.....

Well it's been some time since I've last posted and much has changed here on my little farm. Sometimes the best things in life are wrapped in the worst. I'm keeping my head held high and I continue to keep up the simple life. Though I have to admit things are more difficult raising 2 little girls and tending to the farm, I'm grateful for all the help from family and loved ones. Thank you everyone without you I'm not sure I could have made it through the winter. It's spring now, a time of rebirth and change. I am ready to face all the changes life has given me head on. I look forward to a new life and learning to trust again. And most of all thank you to god for I know he will never give me more than I can bear and he only makes me stronger with what he has given me.

Blessings to you and yours and I look forward to more posts!

Another week of summer gone too fast

The garden is in full swing now! We sat down to a big garden dinner a few days back....





It was very rewarding to look around the table and see the product of all the hard work! We had sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, Green peppers, Raddishes and Kohlarabi. I ground up zuchinni today for relish and put up 2 more heads of cabbage to be used for soups this winter. I have pleanty more veggies to harvest and preserve for the upcoming winter and I look forward to the brocolli that is finally ready! Here are a few random shots from the garden.









I took a week's vacation last week to build the barn for the horse and maybe some goats. My horse is currently living around the corner at the sitters house. I want to bring him back to my home so I can spend more time working with him and begin teaching the girls to ride. Here the almost finished run-in shed...


The lady's of the barnyard are also working hard! I'm happy to announce egg production is almost 10 a day! The girls are 100% oragnic cage free hens with no added hormones or antibiotics. Evidently this makes for some pretty popular eggs! The kids are having lots of fun with the double yolkers too!! We get quite a few of those and usually throw 1 or 2 in with every dozen we sell!







I've been continuing my reading on the amish culture and I will leave you with some qoutes from a book I'm currently working on...


Modesty - Outward plainnes allows inward beauty to develop, otherwise one ACTS A PART with cosmetics and costumes. - Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of the wearing of gold or of putting on apparel; but let it be hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sign of god of great price. - 1 Peter 3:3

Simplicity - Do not become slaves to machines, materialism and greed. Avoid outside clutter and baubles, so that a person can concentrate on the true meaning of life, which is to praise god, develop his or her own talents, help others, and to rejoice in being.


Blessings to you and yours..

Photo's....

I'm waiting on all the pictures from the past 2 weeks to upload so I can work on a new post. But while I'm waiting I thought I would offer a few of my favorite pictures taken recently. I'm no professional by far, and I don't enhance or modify my photo's in any way. I enjoy catching little moments of life, and if they aren't perfect off the camera then oh well.....life's not perfect, and photoshop is cheating! :) Since a picture is worth a thousand words I'll let them speak for themselves......(But I will post over the next few days :) on the nifty farm news!)

THE DAY HAS ARRIVED!!!!

Finally the weeks of feeding and cleaning and waiting hae paid off! The chickens have laid their first egg today!!!!! We are so proud of our little girls! :)



Sunday dinner was amazing! Fresh chicken, redskin potatoes (dug the previous afternoon) and fresh green beans! The rain kept everyone indoors this afternoon and we used the time to catch some much needed naps and quiet time. I was able to finish some sewing projects which have been nagging for a while. I will post the finished projects in a latter post. Since we were all very rested the kids got a great treat to stay up late and bake cookies. :) (The house smells soooo yummy right now!) The cookies are done now and I've got to catch some sleep. Tomarrow is laundry day and it promises to be an all day task!!! But I enjoy my wringer washer so I can't complain! Somehow laundry outside in the sunshine and the breeze isn't so bad afterall.




Blessings to you and yours....