{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

 Lately I've been grateful for...

penny pony rides

 releasing beautiful butterflies at Lost River Cave

 silly faces and gate swingin'

 bike races on a really long driveway

 fun at the fountains

 and pink polka dotted surprises

HOME Sweet Homestead

Here’s a glimpse at a few things that have  been going on at the homestead…

 I finally got around to mulching the entire garden with straw.

Pop and Nana helped us clean out the boys' "secret hiding spot" on the homestead.

 We check on our bees often and they are busy making honey. 

Maybe we'll get to harvest some in the fall.

 We've got curtains hanging and 

a new-to-us entertainment cabinet now in the living room.

 I've tried my hand at chalk painting a school room table.

 We've started tackling wall paper removal. We have a lot of wallpaper to take down!

 We've also patched holes and picked a few paint colors. 

Up first, the master bedroom in a nice light blue.

I'm excited to see a room that's freshly painted!

First Day of Summer 2014

The first day of summer included... becoming turkey owners, time in the garden, delicious food at the Boyce General Store, a summer concert by Honeysuckle Conspiracy, sipping on Meltdown ice pops, catching fireflies, counting bats, and enjoying bike races on the driveway.

Turkeys! Turkeys! Turkeys!

After I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver for the first time several years ago, I wanted to raise turkeys. Well that day has finally arrived. We bought five young turkeys today, 4 Bourbon Reds and 1 Black Spanish at Tim and Susie's Henhouse Small Animal Swap Meet. In about 2-3 weeks these little ones will go outside. Until then they are under a brooder lamp in the basement. The boys love going down to admire them and so do I!

WE HAVE TURKEYS! I almost can't believe it!

{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

 Lately I've been grateful for...

 a morning scalding 53 chickens at Peacefield Farm and one delicious free chicken dinner 

green knobs that are no longer in our kitchen

for my first experience dumpster diving and the 

wire rack, basket, and hoola hoop that resulted from it

finding toads

making rubber bouncy balls at the library

new toilets and trimmers

beautiful flowers that keep popping up

and mornings spent in the garden and harvested banana peppers

Vulture Baby

Well the vulture egg hatched.

 

Also, a daddy vulture showed up. So we now have a vulture family living in our barn. 

Here’s a little video of the baby up close...

Life With (Almost) No Internet

There is a new store that just opened in Bowling Green. I had a coupon, so the boys and I checked it out one day when we were in town. When I got to the check out, the cashier handed me a slip of paper containing steps to get coupons and store updates. All I had to do was sign up online. There was even an app for your smart phone. After she finished her rehearsed little speech, I asked if I could just sign up for coupons using a pen and paper. She apologized and said no. That was the only option. I told her that I didn’t have Internet at home or a smart phone. She stared at me blankly for a few seconds and then went on and on about how she couldn’t survive without the Internet. After she was finished, I thanked her for the few things I bought, took my bag, and left.

When we moved to the homestead, we didn’t think getting Internet service would be an issue. But, it was, and it’s sort of a long story, so I’ll spare you. So until yesterday, life this past month has been without the Internet except for the handful of times I had access in town at the library, Spencer’s Coffeehouse, and Chick-fil-a.  It took some getting used to, for sure. For a while I felt really disconnected. (We can pick up most of the major networks and PBS using antennae and Bryan still had Internet access at work so he checked on some things for me when he was in town.) If I needed to know something, I couldn’t just hop on the computer and find out what I was looking for (like addresses, phone numbers, recipes, events, bank balances) like I used to. I couldn’t blog and publish posts whenever I felt like it. I had to write in advance and post when I had access to the Internet. I may not have a smart phone, but I did stop by the computer frequently throughout the day while I was home to know what the latest facebook status was or most recent Pinterest pin. My email was always open and I had Pandora playing almost all the time. We watched documentaries in the evenings and the boys watched a few favorite shows on Netflix.

Slowly over time, I realized life with no Internet wasn’t so bad. At times I’ve even been thankful to not have the distractions of the Internet. I am certain I couldn’t have accomplished as much as I have this past month! Yes, having the Internet is nice and perhaps even helpful at times, but maybe I really needed an Internet detox. Now that we have Internet again, and not that I really want to, but I know that if I had to I could survive without it.

HOME Sweet Homestead

We’ve been busy around here! Here’s a glimpse at a few things that have  been going on at the homestead…

We’ve been trimming trees, pruning bushes, pulling weeds, and making fires to burn it all.

Our first two compost bins were made using pallets that were in the barn.The boys’ room is starting to be one of the cutest rooms in the house.
My vintage hook is hung and new knobs adorn the cabinets.

Our canned goods from last year (and more to come this year) have a special home in the kitchen.

We have our fair share of lizards inside and out around here. 

Farmers’ market art has been added to the mantle.
New bedding is in the bedroom.

And the school room is almost completely organized.
It’s been a very productive first month on the homestead.

The Homestead Garden

I wasn’t sure if we were going to have a garden this year.  But, after the whirlwind of events of selling our old house, buying our new one, and moving in (which seemed to happen at warp speed), we knew we still had time for growing a few of our own vegetables. This made me incredibly happy, by the way. With the help of Habegger’s, I was able to buy a variety of transplants. I spent the entire day yesterday planting tomatoes, green beans, peppers, white and sweet potatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, various squashes, corn, and even sorghum. I also picked up an elderberry tree and I almost came home with a chicken. I resisted the chicken though. Now we just have to protect our garden from the numerous deer around here. It will be a new challenge, for sure, but we’re up for it.

Meet Mabel

Our sweet new Great Pyrenees puppy…

There's a Vulture Living in Our Barn!

(You can get this close before it will fly away!)

There is a vulture living in our barn. She is guarding an egg in one of the barn stalls. So entering the barn is always an adventure. I clap and shout and bang things together to get her to fly away. Sometimes we’re successful. Other times we’ll get so close without her leaving that we have to duck and cover as she swoops up from her nesting spot. We’re not sure how we are going to remedy this problem, but we don’t really need to use the barn just yet anyway. Maybe once her egg hatches she will move on. Who knows? It is kind of cool saying we have a vulture living in our barn, and hopefully she is keeping the snakes away. At least that’s what we’re trying to tell ourselves.