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...