Vintage sleds on a vintage farm

We headed out to the farm on Sunday and got there around 4 p.m. It was lightly snowing and we had about 6 inches on the ground. The boys couldn't wait to get the old Artic Cats runnin'! As I tended to the chickens and our one majestic Roo, the boys got the sleds out and started them right up. After being stored since last winter, it was pretty impressive. Dylan, our 10 year old, and Evan, our 8 year old were the first ones out. After a few minutes I ran and grabbed the camcorder so that I could capture it on video. For my husband, Roger, this was a personal dream come true. He has had a love for vintage snowmobiles since he was a little boy, and he has been collecting old Artic Cats for the last 8 years or so. So, naturally our boys have developed the same passion and it is so amazing to finally have a place of our own to ride them. The intertwinded dreams of Roger and I of owning a place where we can blend all of our interests has truly come to fruition. The very old farmhouse filled with character and charm, the acreage it sits on, the surrounding horse country, the sturdy old barn and all of the vintage toys, all make for a heavenly retreat! It's funny because Rog often comments on moments that he knows he will remember for years, but this particular evening must have left a huge impact. He mentioned more than once on how happy it made him to see all of us ripping around on the sleds, laughing and having so much fun. And I have to agree that it was one for the memory books. Even Kelsey, our 6 year old daughter, and I, had a blast riding around the pasture. It was good old family fun. I think it's the simplicity of it that makes me feel like a kid again. The sheer joy of the wind in my face, the smell of the winter air, and the sound of laughter and happiness. These are exactly the reasons why we wanted a place like Hentennial. We want our children to enjoy the same things that we did as kids. Being outdoors, loving nature, being unplugged, and being together. We live in a fast paced society. All technical, constant stimulation, not enough talking, not enough family connection. But there are ways to combat the bad habits of today. Get outside. Get unplugged. Do something active. Do things as a family. Building special memories is important for our children, but it is just as important for ourselves. We want to look back on our lives and smile at how we lived them. We want to be grateful for the simpler times. The times where everything seemed to just slow down.

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Holiday Spirit

This year we decided to do something more memorable than going to the local Home Depot to buy our tree. Although, when the kids were younger, they did believe that the employees at the Depot were actually Santa's helpers, and we did always choose a nice tree. But this year we found a wonderful family owned tree farm in Metamora where we took the kids to cut down a tree. It was such a gorgeous day on Saturday too. Sunny and cold, but not snowy, and we remembered to dress really warm. The farm is situated on 400 plus rolling acres, and they have a tractor that will give you a ride down into the hilly spots to go search for the perfect tree. Then, after you cut it down, they haul it out for you and shake and wrap it. All of the trees are the same price, regardless of size. They also have warm chestnuts and hot cocoa for sale. The kids loved it, and so did we! We all decided that this will be our new tradition and we plan to go to the same farm every year. We chose a 9 foot Blue Spruce, mostly for it's pretty blue color, and because it's a change from all the Frasier Furs in the past. It's perfect.
So Saturday was my idea of getting into the holiday spirit. In the morning we went to a warehouse where we wrapped all the gifts we bought for our "adopted" family. It's such a wonderful charitable organization and it makes us feel so good to be giving back to the community by providing those who have nothing with a little Christmas cheer. Also, I think it's important for my children to learn about giving back, and helping others in need. Especially around the holidays when so much focus has shifted to consumerism and not what it should be about, giving back. When we were done at "Santa's Workshop", we headed out to the country to get our tree. It was a fun filled day with the family. Then we spent all day Sunday in our p.j.'s decorating the tree and the house. The snow was piling up outside which made it all the more majical, and Rog even took the kids sledding in the Village. This was a memory-making weekend: Giving back, tree cutting, snow falling and fireside snuggling all weekend long!!!
The farm is called Nicklas Tree Farm, 3847 W. Brocker Rd. Metamora, MI
email: connienicklas@hotmail.com

Giving thanks

Thanksgiving at our house was wonderful! We didn't get to have it at Hentennial this year, but next year is lookin good! I asked everyone at our table to say what they are thankful for this year. It was nice to take a few minutes to go around and hear what everyone had to say. And aside from my family's health, and for having a roof over our heads, and for my wonderful children and husband, I am also so grateful for our little farm!
We spent a lot of time out at Hentennial this weekend. We finally moved the chickens into one stall of the barn. Now they have heat, and light, and a water heater base so their water won't freeze. We also put up new nest boxes for them which we got at the local farmer's market. They are wonderfully aged wooden vegetable crates that they were just going to throw away. It was our lucky day yesterday when we pulled up to ask if they had any laying around. We also put up the old chandalier that used to be hanging in the house when we first bought it. I must say it looks much better in the new coop than it did in the house! And the ladies seem to like it too! We laugh thinking that they went from a tiny shack to the chicken Ritz! But now we can sleep well knowing they are safe from the cold, safe from predators, and very comfortable in their new digs!
The kids and I set up our Christmas tree and decorated it with lots of little owl and acorn ornamnents. It is the perfect little country Christmas tree. And it's so pretty to see it in our big picture window from the road. The house looks loved and lived in. I'm sure it's a nice surprise to all the locals who saw it empty and run down for so long.
We got tons of stuff done during the last few days. And next we need to tackle the master bedroom, paint and carpet, so that we can move the bedroom furniture out of the main living area. Then, we can work on the kitchen and bath all winter. It's really feeling cozy and homey there now. It's hard to believe that it's been 9 months since we bought it.
Well, it's the start of the holiday season, and with Thanksgiving behind us, and a long winter ahead, I am just so very grateful for my life. I am grateful that my parents taught me to dream. And because of that, I held onto my biggest dream of owning a small farm one day. Now my dream is a reality, and every time I am there, it feels like heaven on Earth!
Still pinching myself and still amazed that we made it happen.

Progress...

Well, we spent the day at the farm. Brought all the snowmobiles out, put them away, fed the chickens and started on the house. We organized, cleaned, and moved furniture into place. It looks amazing! The floors turned out so beautifully. The wall color is gorgeous against all the rough wood beams. Better than I had imagined. So I took lots of pics and are posting them as well. Now we just have to tackle our bedroom, on the main floor. Paint, and put in new carpet. Then we can finally set up our bed and other furniture. I can't wait.
Now it will be much easier for the kids to hang out while we work on the kitchen and bath. They have the whole upstairs to themselves, and now a living room that's done. Now I really want to put up some Christmas decorations in there! Maybe that will be this week.
Progress, progress....Ahhhhh, gotta love progress!

Transformation

The floors are done! YAY! My husband is so amazing! He worked so many long nights getting those gorgeous old wide plank floors stripped and then pickled to the perfect shade of off white. I was out there yesterday and had not seen the final result. The whole house is transformed! No more layers of old urethane, no more pink trim and blue walls, and musty smells. The house looks open and fresh, and clean. All of our hard work made such a difference. The wallpaper is gone, the old dirty carpet padding, the ugly paint colors and fixtures. Just the bones and the integrity are left.
Now our upstairs is done, fresh paint on walls and floors, and furnished. The main floor just needs the walls painted, (white dove by Benjamin Moore) and then we can move all of the furniture into place. I have been stock-piling treasures since we bought the house last February! So, I cannot wait to decorate! Although it has taken a long time to do the work, it seems to be coming along quite quickly. Soon we will be spending the night, cooking in our kitchen and spending lots of time at our little farm.
Last weekend, on our way out to Metamora, we stopped for lunch and saw a miniature Highland calf that someone had just bought for his farm. He pulled into the gas station and she poked her head out of the small horse trailer that she was in. So, of course we ran out to get a closer look. She was so sweet and soft and adorable! He said they had one already and had decided to add another one. And since I had researched the breed, I was more than extatic to meet one in person! The kids went crazy when they got to pet her, and we decided on the spot that we will be adding two of those to Hentennial next summer. It was love at first sight!
Well, there is still more work ahead, kitchen reno, bathroom, and installing windows. But we are really close to being done with all the big stuff. It has been a dream come true fixing up that little old house. We thank her every time we are there, and she thanks us right back!

Fall at Hentennial

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! The smell of the crisp air on a sunny afternoon, the sound of the leaves crunching under your feet and the warm colors of the autum foliage all makes being outdoors so enjoyable. This is especially true at Hentennial. The drive out there is so beautiful right now. And at the farm all of the trees are in full color. The chickens are full grown now, and each have their own personality. Our rooster, Oreo has become a gorgeous adult and he knows that he is stunning! We are getting more eggs now too, about 18-20/week. Even our little Millie Fleur, Anna, started laying her tiny pink eggs. We sadly just lost one member of the flock, Lacy, to a hawk attack. But we know that it is part of owning chickens on a farm. You lose some here and there, and move on.
As for the house, we rented a sander and Roger is almost done sanding the old pine floors. They look amazing, even without any stain. Just clean and years of old mis-matched urathanes removed. We are going to pickle them white so that they are visually connected to the stairs and upper floors which we painted glossy white. We also ordered all new windows for the house which we will install ourselves to save some money. But it will be a huge improvement from what's there now. Very old rotting windows on the main floor and non-existant ones upstairs. Then, when we are all sealed up, and furniture is placed, we can finally finish the kitchen and bath. We just may be able to have most of it done by Christmas. Well, that's our goal, but we'll see. Time is hard to come by, so it depends. But I would love to at least get some country Christmas decor up before the holidays, and to be able to celebrate our first winter at the farm.
We also are moving the chickens into the barn for winter, so that project will take up at least two days of work. But it will be worth it when they have so much more space, and warmth, and a nice new home. Just need to use one horse stall, fence it in, and add the run to the outside of the barn with a little chicken door so that they can go out at will. Plus, we have electric in there, so we can heat the water in winter and keep them warm.
Metamora is in it's glory when the leaves start to change. The hay fields cut, the pastures all different shades of green, and gold and rust. The trees and horsebarns speckling the landscape make for a most memorable drive. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to take a nice country dive. And there are some lovely farmer's market's along the way.
Summer was pretty, and fall is spectacular, and winter will be a time to get cozy and really get to know the home that that little house wants to be. I am looking forward to getting to know our little home and all it has to offer us this winter...

The big egg debate

Ok, so here is my personal opinion on why getting eggs from small, local farms is better than buying from large egg factories.
This is a quote from "foodconsumer.org"
Eggs from large flocks (30,000 birds or more) and caged hens have many times more salmonella bacteria than eggs from smaller, organically fed, free-range flocks. This is a proven fact. One study even found that while more than 23 percent of farms with caged hens tested positive for salmonella, this dropped to just over 4 percent for organic flocks. The highest prevalence of salmonella occurred in the largest flocks (30,000 birds or more), which contained over four times the average level of salmonella found in smaller flocks.
About 95 percent of the eggs produced in the U.S. comes from gigantic egg factories housing millions of hens under one roof. There are currently about 245 U.S. egg companies with flocks of 75,000 or more, and, of these 245 companies, 60 have at least 1 million laying hens, and 12 have more than 5 million!!!!

So, basically choosing between organic and non-organic supermarket eggs, the organic version is clearly a superior choice from a contamination perspective. And in my opinion, not only should they be labeled organic, they should be local, or as close to local as possible. The less distance they had to travel to reach you, the better. They will be fresher and taste better too.
More people are realizing that it is healthier to buy organic and locally grown foods. They are seeing the numerous recalls and health issues that come from mass-produced, and low budget farming practices. So please, if you don't want to worry about what is in your food, or how it is made, buy organic. Buy local, grow your own, or inform and educate yourself! Also, chickens are really easy to raise and they are wonderful pets with lovely personalities. We adore our chickens at Hentennial, and they give us wonderful, tasty eggs!

"Inedible Egg" - SlowFoodUSA.org/egg

Heat and hot water

Well, Rog met the plumber out at the farm last night and now we have heat! He said that the boiler that we had bought(on Craigslist) is a really good one, and he hooked up our heat and our hot water and fixed all the broken lines. He also hooked up a hose bib outside which will greatly assist us with watering the chickens. Now we don't have to carry buckets of water from the kitchen all the way out to the coop! A pleasure! It's amazing how we can take such simple things for granted like, water, heat and electricity, but when you don't have them, life is much, much harder! Now we just have to budget for some new windows. I would love to get the upper level windows put in before winter. The main floor windows are ok for now, there are actual windows there, some just need to be replaced.
So, things are moving along at Hentennial. The ladies will be moving into the barn for winter, after we convert one horse stall into a coop. And we are getting lots, and lots of eggs. So far I have just been giving them away to friends and family, but soon I may start selling them. No salmonella scares with our eggs! They are fresh from the farm, and ALL natural!
I can't wait to get back out there this weekend and get some more painting done. Next step is sanding the wood floors and staining them dark.
We probably won't be having Thanksgiving dinner there, but possibly a country-Christmas dinner!

Still pinching ourselves

The roof is done. Brand new, new trusses, new hayloft, new shingles. It looks great and we saved it probably just in time. I don't think it would have been standing after another Michigan winter. We also have new gutters on the house and the flashing repaired on the chimney's and new beadboard trim put under our front porch overhang. We are thrilled to have the hard work done before winter. At least the exterior hard work! The interior still has a long way to go. Still need a bathroom, and a kitchen and a lot of windows. But we are making progress. Thank goodness we found "bushhog Mike", he is the guy who I found on Craigslist to cut our pasture. Then he introduced us to his brother-in-law, who ended up re-roofing our barn. Gotta love small town connections! Everyone knows everyone, and apparently they all like to help out their neighbors. And so far, everyone we have met has been someone who we hope to know for many, many years.
We also are getting lots of eggs now. Even blue ones from our Auracana, Frida. We plan to move the chickens into the barn for winter so that they have more room to roost, and more warmth.
Now I have to work on finding more furniture. We need a dining room table, a couple of chairs for the living room, and some other odds and ends. Back to searching Craigslist and various resale and vintage shops.
So, our little farm is coming along. It's a slow and steady process but we love being there. Every time we arrive, a sense of calm and gratitude washes over me. It is a place of serenity and joy. I look around at what we worked so hard for and it just makes me smile. We still pinch ourselves when we are there, still in a bit of disbelief that we actually made it happen. Dreams are obtainable, you just can't ever give up.

Metamora to the Adirondacks

Well, we made it back in one piece! Our first venture in our 1968 Airstream was a success. We packed it up and hit the road last Sunday the 22nd and drove until we got too tired. We called it a night at about 12:30 somewhere around Buffalo, NY. Then we woke up the next morning and drove until we got to Lake George, NY. The campsite was beautiful. Very clean and lots of ammenities for families. I highly recommend it to anyone with an R.V. They have very clean showers, a small store, 2 arcades, 4 heated pools, a bass pond, a paddle boat pond, and an adult lounge. Also, they have quite hours after 10 p.m. and before 8 a.m.! A huge bonus in my book! I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was and all it had to offer. They also have trolly's that run every 20 mins around the park and into town. So, we set up our campsite, and spent the next 3 nights there. We did a lot of activities, mostly out of the park. We dined in the town of Lake George which is very lively at night and fun to walk around. We went to some natural stone caves. We went antiquing, but left empty handed. We went to a waterslide park and a very retro young kids amusement park called the Magic Forest. It is set up in the trees overlooking the mountains and is quite magic indeed. But mostly for children under the age of 11 or 12. Our kids loved it and we got some great keepsake photos. Every ride is vintage, all the ones you remember going on as a kid, and it's like the whole park is frozen in time. Worthwhile if you are in the area. After our stay at the R.V. park, we left and headed to Saratoga Springs which is a lovely town in Upstate NY made famous for the horse races. The whole town revolves around horses, and horse racing and anything horse related. They have nice little boutiques and lots of good restaurants, so it's a great place to visit if you are traveling through. We ate lunch there and shopped around and then got back on the road to Michigan. From there we had another few hours until we hit Buffalo and Niagara Falls. So we camped at an R.V. park near the falls for the night, pulling in around midnight. Next morning we were off to the falls on the New York side. I hadn't been since before Roger and I were married and we went to the Canadian side on our way to Vermont. It was fun to go again. I had forgotten how amazing the falls really are. And the American side is equally breathtaking in my opinion. You can get up close and even go down in and under the falls. They have "Cave of the Winds" on that side and you have to wear poncho's and sandals to go in. The kids were thrilled. We stood under the gushing, force of the falls and all got pretty wet. It was very fun and a memory to savor. And in the midst of it all, my daughter, Kelsey, had found a bunch of little, tiny snails on the railing, under the water, and had about 8 of them clinging to her arm. She was in critter heaven. I had to just laugh, because I was just like her when I was her age. We ended up compromising and only taking one home in the car to keep. Needless to say, "Shelly", the snail, now lives in our fish bowl!
So, all in all, it was a family vacation for the memory books! No hitches, just good times and lots of family bonding. And our faithful Maryann (the airstream), was a perfect placet to call home.

Eggs and a Roo

The ladies are laying! We have been getting about 8-10 eggs every few days! We know that Mystery is one of the layers, and not sure who else is at this point. But soon we will be getting twice that when the other hens start laying too. It's so fun to collect the eggs each time we go out and give them to our friends and family. Nothing better than free-range, super fresh eggs! Did you know that organic eggs are lower in cholesterol than regular eggs? And that eggs bought in the grocery store are usually already 3 weeks old when you buy them?
We have not been getting a lot of time for renovations lately. But we did get all the wallpaper scraped and the walls mudded a couple of weeks ago. It looks so much better just without that wallpaper! We also hired some local guys to repair the roof of the barn, and to put gutters on the main house. They are actually going to tear the whole roof off and rebuild it, and rebuild the hay loft area. It will save us tons of time not having to do the roof ourselves and they said it would be done in just a week or so. I guess our resident turkey vulture named Bob, will have to find another place to live, away from the barn...We also had the pasture cut and it looks great. The guy who did it said it probably hadn't been cut in a decade or more. So, things are progressing slowly, and steadily.
Also, our rooster, Oreo, finally found his voice. He crowed the last time the kids were out. He just loves strutting around the property showing off his gorgeous colors and looking after his harem. He is quite the proud Roo!
So, we are off on our summer vacation for the next week. Taking our vintage 1968 Airstream to Lake George, NY. It should be a nice get-away and a fun adventure for us and the kids. It's our first venture with the Airstream and we can't wait to stay in it!

More to come in the next few weeks. Pics of the barn, and house progress after we get back....

A Hentennial Summer

Today was another great day out at Hentennial. Rog and the kids met Roger's best friend Steve and his son out early this morning to go dirtbiking. So while the boys rode all morning, I shopped for some furnishings. I went to a store in Lake Orion called Elements and found a great old decoupaged table for the boys room to use as a desk/art table, a little painted school chair with the side table attached and a fabric covered seat for Kelsey's room, and a whimsical bird cage hanging pendant with tiny birds in it for our room. I was so excited, and could have spent a lot more money in there with all of their wonderful vintage furnishings and treasures. I will definately be going back there soon. Then I drove out to meet up with the family and they were all still riding around when I got there. They even managed to make a track through the taller grasses in the pasture. And Rog and Steve hung our chairlift that was given to us as a wedding present 11 years ago. Roger's close friends from Telluride, Co. drove it to Michigan in a pick up truck and presented it to us at our reception, followed by a drunken rendition of "Happy Trails!" We have had it just sitting behind our shed at home all these years just waiting for the perfect spot to hang it. So, now it's finally home, hung in my favorite noble tree, under the huge shady canopy, overlooking the house, barn and pasture. It's perfect. It even swings!
Steve's son Kaia was enamored with the chickens, and had a great time riding with the boys. And Kelsey was just enjoying all the activity and having visitors. We also met our neighbors who live behind us, and they seem very nice and friendly. We chatted with them for a long time and got lots of good tips on where to eat, where to go for tractors and farm implements, and where to go canoeing. It's nice to meet neighborly neighbors who know more about the area than you do. So after a long afternoon of playing and visiting, we packed up to head home. No work today, just play. Playing on a hot summer day out in the country. And that's a wonderful thing.

We have Pear trees!

Well, the mini orchard that we originally thought was an apple orchard, is really apple and pear. Turns out that two of our 5 fruit trees are pear trees. It's so cool to discover that you have something that you didn't know. That little farm seems to be full of surprizes every time we are there! So now we have 2 apple, 2 pear, one cherry tree, and one large raspberry bush. We feed the chickens the raspberries and they love them! Next Spring I can plant a nice vegetable garden and a flower cutting garden too. Hopefully we will get the pond dug out next Spring too and stock it with some fish. There is so much we want to do, but of course the house takes priority. But we made progress on the kitchen last time. Got all of the walls, dark wood trim, cabinets and brick primed. It's so nice to see the ugly pink and blue and brown disappear. It was a big accomplishment and the kids all helped. We are so proud that our kids are so willing to pick up a paint brush and work in a dirty, musty old kitchen. It's hard work and they are just as eager and happy to do it as we are. And I know one day they will be proud when they look back on all the work they did to restore our old house. It's a great experience and will hopefully make them better little people because of it.
On another note, we also decided that we need to build a bigger coop. The one we bought as a kit was fine when they were smaller, but we want them to have more space. The more room they have, the happier they will be. And the happier chicken, lays better eggs! So, my wonderful husband offered to build me a delux walk-in coop like the one he built me a few years ago but had to take apart because our neighbors complained. We have 8 hens and one rooster, so a larger walk-in coop with windows for ventilation, and more next boxes, and a windw box on the outside would be really fantastic. Plus we can paint it to match the barn and it will look like it was always there. So, that may be our next project after some more interior work.
If only we had a team of helpers to get all of the work done that is on the list! But it's o.k. Making the time to do it is all part of the journey. And we always say, it's the journey, not the destination. So our journey continues...

Lazy afternoon

Last weekend we brought our 1968 Airstream down from Oscoda and parked it at the farm. Now we have a little hang out spot when we need a break from the renovations in the house. And she looks perfectly at home there next to the barn. Spent the day yesterday cutting the grass and cleaning the coop and watching the ladies free range around the yard. I took more pictures and the kids all played. I personally didn't get much work done, aside from mucking out the coop, but it was nice to just lay on a blanket and let the chickens walk up to me hoping that I had some treats. I wore my flip flops with silky flowers on the toes and the ladies thought they were real flowers or maybe butterflies, and they kept trying to sneak a peck in! I also realized that one of our gorgeous Arucana's is actually a Roo, not a hen, and he is quite stunning. Long neck feathers, irredescent teal tail feathers, and black and white body. In just one week, he went from looking like an average hen to a tall, dark and handsome proud leader of the flock. But it is a nice surprize, he will look after his harem. And he's gentle enough with a sweet disposition for a Roo, and quite nice to watch strutting around! No eggs from the ladies yet, but I think it will be any day now. They are eating almost twice what they have been and are getting nice and voluptuous!
Then I went upstairs to get some pictures of the beds and the new painted walls and floors and I found a tiny bat clinging to the window screen in the boys bedroom. So, I asked Roger to bring a bag up so we could let it go outside. The poor little guy looked very weak and was happy to be released into the barn where it was cool and dark. When we finished our chores, we called it a day, and decided to take the kids for icecream. It was a nice Saturday, more relaxing than productive, but that's perfectly fine with me.

Busy Solitude

Today was a wonderfully productive day at the farm. We drove out around 10 a.m. and spent the entire day there. The sun came out just as we pulled in the driveway and the rain subsided. I let the chickens out and the kids went inside to eat their lunches. Then Rog and I took care of some landscaping chores that we had been itching to tackle. We cut down some overgrown wild bushes that were growing up against the house, trimmed the lilac bush, cut down some other undesirables and pulled the lattice off of the front porch with a hammer and a crowbar. Then Dylan helped us haul it all to the burn pile in back. We also trimmed some low hanging tree branches and swept the back porch off. It was such a humid day, hard to tell if I was sweating or just damp from the humidity. Maybe a mixture of both. But it felt good to be working like that. Good ol fashioned sweat equity. Oddly, I am my most happiest self when I am working on a house. I love the connection of "us". Working side by side, kids lending a hand too, listening to music, making something "better" than how it was before. I love the instant, (well not always instant), gratification I get from manual labor. Whether we are painting a wall, trimming bushes, moving boulders, or replacing a mechanical part. I so enjoy improving old things. Buildings, furniture, landscaping, etc... I enjoy the working relationship I share with Roger. We have been fixing up houses for so long together that it just comes naturally. We hardly even have to speak. If we are painting, for example, he cuts out and I follow with the roller. If we are landscaping, he cuts something down to the nub, and I pull the branches away and pile them into a heaping mound. It's just simple. I instinctively follow his lead, or he follows mine, whatever the project, we are an excellent team!
So today was one of those days. Highly productive. Smoothe. Easy. Harmonious. Rythmic.
We moved from the yard, to the floors, to the staircase. Never breaking to sit down or to rest. We were in our "busy solitude", just happy to be working. Happy to be transforming our little old farmhouse.
The kids were good too. They played, they helped out, they annoyed each other, but mostly stayed out of our way.
The chickens got to free-range for 7 hours, which is probably the longest stretch for them so far. So, they were easy to coralle back into the coop when it was time to go. They were fat on bugs and grass and weeds, and got to return to lettuce and strawberry treats left for them in their pen. It's a hen's life around Hentennial!
So now the upstairs if officially ready for beds! Yay! With primer and two coats of glossy white paint on the floors, it looks amazing! Next time we are there, I get to make up the beds and really make it feel like a home. Our home. Our heavenly home away from home.

Father's Day at the Farm

Sunday we drove out after all of our Father's Day activities to get more painting done. As soon as we got there, the baby deer was standing in the grass about 10 yards from us. She was so darling, all spotted with her huge ears. I tried to get closer to get a picture, but her mother saw me and they both lept off into the woods. So, we let the "ladies" out of the coop and fed and watered them. This time we brought them some english muffins which they devoured in minutes. Rog got right to cutting the grass, and the kids all did their thing. I finally got a new battery for my camera so I just walked around the property shooting the house, the barn, the kids, and the chickens. My favorite time of day there is when the sun starts to set behing the pasture, which is now about 5 feet tall, and the light on the house and the trees is so beautiful. After the the yard was mowed, Roger and I went upstairs to get the floors painted. We did the walls an olive/greyish/taupe, and we are doing the floor boards and trim white. We were inspired to paint the floors after looking at hundreds of restored farmhouse photos online. There was one house in Upstate NY that was renovated and he painted the barnwood floors white and it really looked amazing. I must admit that rolling floors is much easier than walls or ceilings, and we got the whole upstairs primed quite quickly. Now we are one step closer to being able to put the beds up there and spend the night. I can't wait! I'm posting the before and during pics, and the afters will soon follow...

Summer begins

The kids got out of school on the 18th and we headed out to the farm that evening around 6. We had picked up a pizza and salad on the way out and sat on our back porch and had a picnic dinner. Then the boys rode around the property on the dunebuggy and the dirtbikes and our daughter Kelsey played with the chickens. We decided not to spend our time cutting the grass and instead get the upsairs painted. After about an hour the kids all came up begging to help, so we let each of them take turns rolling and using the brush on the trim. We actually got all three rooms one-coated and the stairwell. It was a mission accomplished!
It's so much fun to be up in one of the bedrooms and to look out the windows and see the kids riding around and my beloved chickens free-ranging around the yard. I never thought I would have a place where that was possible, and now it's real. I feel very lucky and filled with gratitude. After we were done cleaning up from painting the kids wanted to do some sparklers to celebrate the official start to summer vacation. So, we went out back when it got dark and they each ran around the yard with different colored sparklers, giggling and twirling them in the dark. It was another one of those magical moments that you freeze in your memory. It was getting stormy out and there were lots of fireflies lighting up, creating a perfect summer backdrop for the sparklers.
Another wonderful evening at Hentennial.

Progress

Got to the farm around 11:30 today. First chore was to feed the chickens and let them out to free range. It was a bit rainy on and off so the kids didn't get out the dirtbikes and dune buggy right away. Roger and I got right to the painting of the upstairs bedrooms. We chose a great neutral greyish-taupe color for the walls, with white trim and white on the wood floors. After about a half hour of us painting, the kids came up and jumped right in, painting trim, rolling and touching up tight corners. It was great. We had the radio goin and we were all working together to make our little house prettier. The only time I took a break was to get the camera to capture the moment. We ended up getting all three rooms upstairs one coated in a pretty short amount of time. Then the boys ripped the bikes around for a while and our daughter hung out on the couch. I went out and snapped some really great shots of the "ladies" too. They were really curious about the camera and even pecked at my hand a few times while I was shooting them. The are such interesting, funny little birds, all with their own unique personalities. Our 10 year old, Dylan, almost ran over a tiny fawn who was laying in the tall grass napping just as he rode through. He was happy that he didn't hit the baby deer, and he watched it walk across the road back into the woods behind our property.
We had a very productive day out there, and I'm so happy that we finally made some progress on the house. The kids are pretty proud too of their hard work, which they should be. They rocked!

Memorial weekend

Well, I had big plans for us to all sleep at the farm. But, I guess my fantasy was a bit lofty! It was all of 95 degrees inside the house, with no airconditioning, one fan, and none of the beds put together. The back up plan was to just enjoy the day out there. My mom came out with us to see the farm for the first time. So, we spread out a blanket and watched the kids ride their dirtbikes until they could hardly stand anymore. We let the chickens all free-range around the yard and I cleaned out the coop. Sadly, our favorite chicken, Babe, the white Silky, was stumbling around and not looking good. So we separated her from the rest of the ladies. We weren't really sure what was wrong with her, (chicken illnesses are so hard to diagnose). But I knew we had to take her home and at least try to nurse her back to health. We also planted some flower pots, and tried to mow the grass until our vintage 1969 cub cadet got a flat. Time for some new tires...So, we took the kids and my mom to Lake Minnewana and hung out there for 4 hours. After the beach, we drove to Hadley and got icecream at the cute town parlor. The cost for 6 big cones was $9.00!!! Ya gotta love small town prices! When we got back to the farm we realized that not only was it WAY too hot to paint, we were also way too tired from being outside all day in the sun. So, we packed up and headed home around 8 O'clock Sunday night. It was a great day of playing and relaxing. Just what you are supposed to do on a holiday weekend. Eventhough I want to get working on the house, I realize that it will be a slow process, and we will get it done whenever we can. It may even be a year before we get it to the point where it's really done, but that's ok.

Gratitude

Well, we finally got the last of the beds for the farm. Drove up to Oscoda Saturday morning and loaded the U-haul with everything we wanted to take down to the farm. Now we have a queen for the master bedroom, a vintage white painted brass twin for our daughter, a full size vintage brass for guests, a folding cot for sleep-over's, and the painted white wood bunks for the boys. We can finally set up the beds for Memorial weekend and actually get work done on the interior. I can't wait to paint the walls, and sand the floors. It's amazing what a couple coats of paint can do for a house! Now the majority of the hauling is done. The only other item that we haven't moved yet is the fridge from my mom's garage, but we can load it on our small trailer and take it out. It's good to be done with all the heavy moving. We can focus on fixing up the house now, and doing all the other repairs that need attention. The barn roof, the pasture fence, the tree trimming...
We got to the farm yesterday at about 4:30 and stayed until 7. We brought the kids dirtbikes and dunebuggy down from Oscoda. The boys were so thrilled to get on them and rip around the property. It's wide open and perfect for riding. I threw a blanket down in the shade and I just sat and watched them in all their dirtbiking bliss! My daughter, who is 5, was standing out in the field of dandelions, arms outstretched, trying to will a dragongfly to land on her. It almost looked like she was meditating. That moment with the sun slowly setting behind the pasture, and the work it took to get there, suddenly made it all worthwhile. I could have stayed there for hours, under the cool shade of those noble trees, just taking it all in. Children are such soulful, spiritual people, much more so than adults. It was one of those moments that you freeze in your mind, seeing your life before your eyes, and being flooded with gratitude.

Pre-Mother's Day at the farm

Yesterday we went to the farm with the kids. I hadn't been there in 2 weeks and I was anxious to see the "ladies" and to see the progress that my husband had made on the interior work. The chickens all seemed happy to see us. They were all chatting and showing us that they figured out how to go in and out of the coop. The kids and I all took turns holding them and talking to them and taking new photos of their growth. It was very cold so we weren't able to do any work inside, (no heat yet) so we decided to go get some new chickens from a woman who lives about 10 miles down the road. I found her on Craigslist. She has all sorts of fancy designer chickens. Millie Fleurs, Seabrights, D'Uccles, Frizzles and Arucuana's. I had been searching for some Millie Fleurs since we built our first suburban coop 2 years ago, but never could find any. Now, I had my pick. She had so many gorgeous ones to choose from. I ended up with 2 Arucuana's, (to replace my 2 that died.)and 2 Millie Fleurs, one which is a Porcelain D'Uccle (meaning white with blue lace feathers). We hung out at her wonderful place for about a half hour. The kids played with her little boy, and chased all the chickens around the yard. She only raises chickens and her place is a little chicken utopia. Just lovely. I hope to become friends with Amanda, she seems very down to earth. And now I have the best fancy breed chicken connection.
So, we took the new girls back to the farm and introduced them to our ladies. They seemed ok. They all just sort of looked at each other and segregated themselves form the other group. It will probably take a couple of days for our ladies to warm up to the newcomers. Now I feel like my flock is almost complete. I just may need to go back to see Amanda and get a Frizzle. I was so distracted that I left without one. But I just love their cute wind-blown look.
After the girls were settled in, we took the kids out to dinner at Lenny Millers in Dryden. They had a Frank Sinatra singer and it was packed. Had a great dinner and hit the road back to Franklin. The sun was setting over the hilly pastures and the sky was a deep swirl of red, and pink and orange and blue. It was a perfect Pre-Mother's Day evening in the country. Couldn't have asked for more!

Teamwork!

Went out to the farm after dinner last night to get some work done. Brought the kids, eventhough we figured they would slow us down from any real progress. But we were so wrong! They were such hard workers. Immediately picked up hammers, screwdrivers and facemasks and started helping. We pulled old hardward off windows, scraped up old linoleum off the kitchen floor, and even removed old brick overlay from the edge of the stairs. My 10 year old son, Dylan, did the whole kitchen floor by himself and my 7 year old son, Evan, did all the brick removal and helped with the nails. And our 5 year old daughter, Kelsey, even chipped in, sweeping, and picking up the dropped nails and screws off the floor! Our kids never cease to amaze us and sometimes we don't give them enough credit. They LOVE to help! Just give them a job to do and they are happier helping than doing something else. It's a good lesson for us as parents. Kids want to help. They want to feel like they are contributing, even in the smallest of ways. We shouldn't be quick to count them out. They are wonderful little human beings. From now on we plan on including them in more of the messy jobs. They enjoy it, and it builds strong bonds between us and memories that will last a lifetime.

Heifer in Haiti-an amazing cause!

Heifer International is a wonderful organization whose mission is to end hunger and poverty in some of the poorest nations in the world. Heifer International has worked in Haiti since 1999 and currently has 16 projects under way, involving more than 16,000 families. Heifer Haiti has offices in Cap-Haitien in the north of the country and Les Cayes in the south, and currently works in six of the country's 10 departments. Projects in Haiti range from gifts of livestock, seeds and trees to training and sustainable farming, agroecology and nutrition.

To learn more about Heifer's long-term work in Haiti, rebuilding after the earthquake and how you can help with the recovery, visit, www.heifer.org/worldark/Haiti.

Grocery Store Wars (2005)

Coop run construction

The coop is finished. We bought a coop kit and assembled it. It was pretty easy and designed quite well for chickens. Then we constructed the pen. We made it 8 feet long by 8 feet wide and 4 feet high. We used treated lumber and made sure it is very solid. We burried the poultry wire around the perimeter about 12 inches down and covered the whole outside in half inch poultry netting. This way nothing can get in and they can't get out. We used metal staples to secure the wire and then covered half of the top with a tarp to protect from rain and extreme sun. We also built a small door, so we can access the run to clean it out, etc.... Then we cut an opening in the wire against the chicken door of the coop and stapled the whole area to attach the run to the coop. Then we added the ramp so the ladies can easily walk into to coop. It took 5 hours straight for Roger and I to build the run. But it was all worth it. It turned out to be a terrific hen house! They are very happy hens!
I will post some pictures soon.

A little bit of history to unfold

I met one of our neighbors today while we were out at the farm. She pulled into our driveway when she saw my daughter and I out walking around the front yard. She introduced herself as Pam and said that her mother-in-law was born in our house in the kitchen, on the kitchen table! And she grew up there. It was very exciting news! She was very interested to meet us and to eventually introduce us to her mother-in-law so that we could hear the whole history of our house. I explained to her that we would be restoring the house all summer long and that they were welcome to stop by anytime. She was quite sweet and friendly and said that if we needed anything that she lived in the red house just up the road from ours. I couldn't wait to run and tell Roger that I had just met one of our neighbors who knows the whole story of our farm. He was just as thrilled as I was. Our little white 1800's house has such wonderful karma, and now I think I know why. I look forward to meeting the woman who was born there and hearing the story of her life and of the house that we now call our second home.

Bluebird sighting!

Roger and I saw our first Bluebirds in person Sunday at the farm. It was so cool. We saw the male and the female and they are as beautiful in person as they look in pictures. I am sure there will be many other varieties of birds out there that we never see here. I can't wait to build some bluebird houses and put up lots of feeders.

How you know you are really "in the country".

We were out at the farm today, and we saw a groundhog that was hit by a car in front of the house. Our kids were upset because it was still alive, and was still in the road. So I told my husband that he had to go move it onto the side of the road. We both went out with the shovel and he scooped it up and put it on the grass. He wanted to put the little guy out of his misery, but I thought that maybe he would survive since there wasn't any blood, and he was moving a lot. So, we decided to leave him there. But as we walked back to the house, an older couple stopped their car next to my husband and rolled down their window to talk to him. When he came inside I asked him what they wanted. He said that they asked if it was our cat that was hit, and when he said it was a just groundhog, the old man said, "well, you know you can eat those?".
That's when it hit me, we were definately in the country!

First purchases

I found an amazing vintage sofa on Craigslist on Monday. What a wonderful resource! You can pretty much find whatever you are looking for, just need to be persistant. The sofa is 90"long,and so well made. They just don't build sofa's like that these days. It has a gorgeous red velvet brocade fabric on it in near pristine condition. The whole frame is carved walnut and it is extremely heavy. It will undoubtably be the centerpiece of our living area. And I only paid $200 for it! What a bargain!!! I also found a wonderful, mint condition vintage stove for free, and we picked up the boiler that we found for an amazing price. Two weeks ago I bought a vintage brass bed, which is painted white, for our daughters room at a resale shop in Waterford, and a wonderful vintage tobbogan that I will use as a christmas decoration on the front porch next winter.
It is so much fun treasure hunting for all the things I need to furnish our little farmhouse. There is nothing that I enjoy more! Hopefully we will start scraping and prepping the wall for paint this weekend. So much work ahead, but so much fun!

We bought the farm!!

We did it! We closed yesterday! I can't believe it. We actually signed the papers and bought our dream farm! After 10 years of chasing our dream, we finally got it. There were times when I wanted to give up. Times when people told us we were crazy. Times when it just didn't seem possible. But through all of it, I kept my vision board, adding more pictures, more quotations, and inspiring photos. We believe in the power of positive thinking. (We believe that with hard work and a little gusto, you can make your wildest dreams come true.) And with the encouragement of my husband, I did not give up hope, eventhough at times I wanted to. I kept the image of a little farm on a hilly pasture in my head and in my heart, and now it is REAL.
Time to plan. Paint colors, wallpaper, furniture, repairs, and in what order. Time to put the plan into action. Time to get out my painting clothes, the tools, the beer, the music and some good friends who are willing to help out. Time for our journey to begin. I am elated! We are all elated!

Looks like we got it. Signing all the papers tonight. The deal was too good to pass up, even if it's just an investment, we got it for next to nothing!
But I cannot wait to get the key, go out there, start planing our fix it lists. We already have been looking around for new windows, (people removed the upper ones), a new (old) sink for the bathroom, an apron sink for the kitchen and a white vintage gas stove. We found a boiler (also removed) on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks. C.L. is such an amazing resource! And I have been looking at vintage wallpaper, curtains and lamps! I have spent many nights planing the color scheme for our little farmhouse and the exact breeds of chickens that I want. It is such a dream come true!
Our kids will have wide open space to ride their dirtbikes and the snowmobiles without even going on the road. And I will finally have the space to raise my mini horses and chickens and whatever other creature enters my world. We also picked out where are raised garden beds will go and what fruit trees we will plant along side the old apple trees. It will be a labor of love, and there is nothing that we enjoy more!
I just want to bring that sweet farm back to it's former glory. And in the meantime we can enjoy spending time there and getting to know the people and the places in the area.
If you hold onto your dreams, they will be realized. Just never, ever give up!

We did it!

My husband Roger found the listing on Realtor.com, it was an 1800's farmhouse on 6 acres in Metamora, and it was perfect! The price was right, (thank goodness for the poor real estate market actually working in our favor) and it was a beautiful piece of property! We decided that we should make an appointmet to go see it. I called the listing agent and we drove out the next day.
It was perfect. A fixxer by anyone's standards, but luckily we don't mind a lot of sweat equity! But the bones of the house were fantastic! It had all the original wide plank wood floors, the rustic beams on the ceiling, the rustic posts, the stenciled stairs, and the working fireplace. And the barn was a real beauty! Faded white-grey paint, 4 stalls, a dirt floor and plenty of room for a barn dance. It had some damage to the roof from an old tree falling on it, but nothing that can't be fixed. The pasture was 90% fenced, some of the fencing just needing to be repaired, and it was hilly and breathtaking! There was even an old outhouse that would make a great chicken coop eventually. The whole setting was just what we had always dreamed of owning. Sitting on a corner parcel off of a main road (easy access in Michigan winters) and cornering a dirt road. All of the surrounding houses and horse properties much nicer and meticulously maintained made it all the more desireable. We knew it that first day we saw it. This was our farm. Our little slice of heaven.
So, we went home and did a lot more research, prices in the area, what we could afford, etc...We talked til wee hours of the morning about all that this little farm meant to us. And it filled each of our dreams separately but together. Mine for the mini horses I want to raise, and the chickens that I love so much, and the gardens that I have dreamt of growing. His for the dirt bike track that he can make for the kids and himself, and the second barn he can build to hold all of his vintage toys (snowmobiles, motorcycles, and anything else with a motor) and for the busy solitude that this place will provide for our family. It fulfills each of our dreams of being reconnected to the earth, growing organic food for our table, raising farm animals as a hobby, and getting back to a simpler, more meaningful way of life.
We wrote up an offer, and our realtor submitted it this afternoon, now all we have to do is wait. If the seller accepts it and signs it, our closing will be in 2 weeks. I doubt that I will be getting much sleep tonight. This is all too good to be true!
To be continued....