Dexter and Lilly

Sunday, June 27, 2010

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.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

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!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

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.

Inspiration that helped me get here.

Keep your eye on the prize and hand on the plow. It's easy to lose sight of what you want, especially if you haven't gotten it. I know it's less work to put the wish away, to pretend that the wish itself has disappeared. But it's important to know what your prize is, because that is part of who you are. Whether it's financial stability, two children, a collection of poetry, or a happy marriage, take Winston Churchill's advice and never give in. Never give in. Never give in.



Food for thought

The increase in U.S. food prices from 1982 to 2009 rose 128%.In the same period, prices paid to farmers rose only 34%.



1 in 3 Americans born in 2000 is expected to develop diabetes in his or her lifetime.



Jargon-food sovereignty: the right of peoples to eat healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

(from the declaration of Nyeleni, 2007)



32 hours, 50 minutes- The amount of on-screen media, including television, videos and video games that American children between the ages of 2 and 5 years old consume each week, according to the Nielsen Company.

A must see film

Food, INC. by Robert Kenner is a must see film. You can rent it or buy it on Amazon for $10.00.
It will change the way you shop, the way you feed your family and the way you look at food and farming in our country.
For small hobby farmers, and health conscious people alike, please, please, see this film! It is eye-opening to say the least!

Chicken-ism

I loved this so much that I had to post it. I cannot take credit, I found it on the web.




All I need to know I learned from my chickens.


Wake up early, stay busy, but always stay alert.


Visit your favorite places every day.


Scratch out a living.


Routine is good.


Plump is good.


Don't ponder your pupose in life, your brain is too small.


Accept the pecking order and you know your enemies.


Weed your garden.


Protect your children fiercely, sit on them if you need to.


Take them for walks, show them the little things, and talk constantly.


Brag on your accomplishments.


Don't count your chicks before they hatch.


Protect your nest egg.


Test your wings once in a while.


Squawk when necessary.


As you age, demand respect.


Leave a little something for those who care about you.


Chase butterflies.































































About Me

My photo
I am a busy mommy of 3. Ages 10, 8 and 6. Two crazy boys and a just-as-crazy daughter. My husband Roger and I have been married for 11 years this June. He runs a family owned Architecture company in Bloomfield Hills. I am a clothing consultant for a wonderful company. But for the most part, I am just a country girl at heart. I have an amazing love of animals, all kinds, big or small. I love nature and feeling the rythms of the earth. I love to garden and grow my own veggies and fruits. So, it was only natural that I would some day grow up and buy a farm. I am just a mommy who wants to share my passion for all things natural with my family and friends. So, we are giving it our best shot!