new heating plan . . .

Since the chalkboard work is still continuing, I had to come up with a heating plan for the wood shop.  For weeks now it has been really cold.  Like 7 in the mornings and in the 20's during the day.  I was having to go out in the shop at night after supper for a couple of hours, and spend a little time as well on the weekends out there.  When I had orders for chalkboards, I found myself out in the wood shop completely bundled up and working on them dreading the chill.  (I have been using a hair dryer to heat the paint cans up so they will spray nicely, and every now and again using a propane burner to take the edge off the cold) It has not been great to use the cold, steel table saw, or to wear gloves while I am trying to sand small edges on the boards.

So I decided to come up with a heating plan!  A plan that would utilize some of the things I had here at home, and if I needed to purchase anything, it would be minimal.  First was the stove.  I had a wood burning stove that I bought last year and used in the house until the wood cook stove came in.  I was storing it in the foyer planning on building a fireplace sometime.  Since it wasn't being used yet, I decided to use it out in the shop to keep the place a little warmer, and to help the paint dry on the chalkboards. I picked up some stainless steel stovepipe from an Amish friend of mine, and then had another metalworker make some mounting brackets for me.  I spent just under $60.00 for all the stuff.  I had some older stovepipe that I was going to be using on the inside, and also needed to purchase a couple of more things at the home improvement store in town.  I ripped some of the insulation off the ceiling in the garage and tore off the flammable paper backing for some insulation around the thimble that passes through the wood wall.  And out in the horse barn I found some sheet galvanized steel that I cut, painted, and applied to the wall as a "flashing" of sorts.  

This is what I came up with.  A pipe that runs up the side of the wood shop about 12 inches away from the wall.  I have been monitoring how hot it gets and even when the fire is RAGING in the stove, the brackets and the wall are still as cold as it is outside.  The pipe gets hot right as it comes out of the wall, but the further up it goes, the cooler it is.  And this is my new wood work shop area with a fire in it.  I start the fire around 9:00 am and by 10:00 the wood shop is a comfortable 60 degrees!  GREAT working temperature.

I told the children that I probably should have done this during the summer.  It would have been a little easier to work with the tools outside!  Hey . . . I am still on the learning curve.  :)

adding some new decorations . . .

Last year we didn't have a tree during the Christmas season.  We were right in the midst of moving, and decorating for the holidays was not a priority.  In fact, we skipped the traditional Christmas we usually have.  

This year, since we are now settled, I asked the children if they wanted to decorate for Christmas time by getting a tree.  They all decided that we should, and they wanted to go to a live Christmas tree farm.  So, last week on a snowy Sunday, we went and picked out this tree.  I brought my chainsaw along just in case we had to cut it ourselves.  As a side note, it is so much nicer using a chainsaw than a hand saw to cut on the truck of a tree.  While in Los Angeles, there was no need for me to have a chainsaw so each Christmas that we got a live tree, I had to spend a whole lot of energy cutting a tree trunk with a handsaw.  :)

Once we got it home, the children decorated it.  Each year we use the handmade paper items we have made over the years, and some of the ones we purchased.  This year I decided to add some other ornaments to the mix as well.  Mini chalkboards that Macy wrote words on.

Paper garland with Rejoice printed on it.

And some partially budded branches.

 

 

I do enjoy having a tree inside for Christmas time.  Not sure why, maybe out of habit, but I like it.

first through sixth . . .

We lived in a small two bedroom home on the edge of our little town.  In fact, half of the road was considered city, and the other half of it was country.  I was fortunate to see both worlds of country and city.  On one hand, I was part of a neighborhood, and then on the other hand, I was able to watch farmers plow beans, wheat, and corn annually.  And I was able to track back into the woods and pick berries during the fall.  I also enjoyed running through the corn fields!

It wasn't until I was a little older, probably by the time I was eight or so, that my dad built a new room onto the house where my brothers and I moved.  Prior to that, my sister shared a room with her two younger brothers.  That was probably a drag for her.  I was elated to move to our HUGE bedroom and it was great to finally have space to fit our beds and our toys.

First grade to the sixth grade was a normal school experience filled with Christmas programs, eating in the cafeteria, and recess filled with fun.  I remember so many activities that happened during the years at Oaklief Elementary.  I distinctly remember sliding down the HUGE metal slide in the winter and sliding on the blacktop after the ride.  Once our class walked to the junior high to watch the high school play that was being performed that year.  They always did a dressed rehearsal performance for the elementary to work out all the bugs before opening night.  Since our school was so small, like our town, I spent my entire school years having a locker next to the same two people.  All the way through high school!

It was in elementary that I began to realize my art talent.  It seemed that my work, art work that is, was slightly better than the rest of the students.  They started recognizing me as the one that could "draw real well."  I am sure that set me up for the rest of my life as an artist.

metal/concrete graveyard find . . .

Here's another UP-CYCLED farm project that is now being used in the house.  Nolan and I came up with this idea after seeing an example of it in our copy of Back to Basics homestead book.

It started with some metal rings that we found out in the metal/concrete graveyard.  The metal/concrete graveyard is a place on our farm where the people before us (like ALL of the people before us) threw all the extra stuff that they did not want to deal with.  Currently we are digging through it to find treasure items like this to turn into functional tools for the home.

I cut a piece of wood for the bottom, screwed the rings in at a log's length, then attached the top together with some wire.  It works great to store wood in the house.  It is upright keeping all the wood off the surface area of the floor.  It also gives air the opportunity to flow through and dry the wood if need be.

small . . . real small

This is me . . . when I was REALLY young. My mom had pictures of all of her children taken at three months old.  So this is what I looked like at three months.  That was forty-five years and some months ago. :)

I was born in 1964, in a small rural town in Ohio.  It was the kind of town where high school football was BIGGER than life, young people hung around the Dairy Queen parking lot to talk, and EVERYONE knew everyone's business.  It was small, real small.

I don't have any memories prior to kindergarten, but what I have been told is that I only weighed 5 pounds and 4 ounces.  Even though I was little, the doctors let me go home under the condition that I did not lose any of my ounces.  My mom said I kept my weight and was able to stay home.  :)  I was the second son, the third child, of John and Pat Fout.  Both my parents grew up in even smaller towns and moved to Kenton, Ohio where they spent most of the rest of their lives.  Six years after my arrival my parents had another son.  So the final count was three boys and one girl.

This is my very first school picture.  Kindergarten.  Oh the memories of Kindergarten.  :)  I attended a school quite far from my house so my mom drove me to school each day.  Like my brother and sister did before me, I went to Espy Elementary.  AM class for me for the year.  My mom said that we went to that school because no other elementary had kindergarten!

I remember sleeping on my rug during nap time, sliding down the metal slide at recess, and attending a birthday party once where I brought the little girl the exact same purse that four other boys brought her!  Those are just a few of the several memories I have of the first year of school.  All of which were good.  Thank God.

family scrapbook . . .

My last post got me thinking about something I wanted to do a few years ago, but never started it.  It was a fleeting thought, in the car as I was driving to school on day, that turned into a desire that just never developed.  Until now.

Along with that, a couple of years ago, I thought about my children getting older, marrying, and leaving my home.  (which makes me sad by the way)  I thought that this blog would become a "family" affair where all of us, no matter where we were, could contribute and tell our stories, to one another and others who wanted to read, and it be a family scrapbook of sorts.  It would also be a place where the children and grandchildren could "get to know" extended family members who did not live close enough to have frequent times to spend with each other.  It would be a place, a "story", that could be read to find out about one another.

With that in mind, over the next several weeks, I am going to add some personal posts that tell my story for my grandchildren's children to read.  Posts that tell about my life up to this point.  Snippets of who I am and how I got where I am today.  I want them (my great grandchildren) to be able to hear about where and how I grew up, the types of things I liked and hated, and to have a glimpse of who I was.  I want them to have a story to read that gives them a sense of who I was.  These posts being that story.

For those that are interested, follow along to get a peek into my world for a season.  For those that are not, I am still going to post updates on family life here on the farm, and include pictures of course.  You can just skip the personal posts!  :)

us now . . .

It has been a VERY long time since we have taken a family picture.  For some reason, we just can't seem to get everyone on board with getting a picture with all of us in it.  It seems to never work.

However, today, we finally got a picture.  I look at pictures like this and think "is this all?"  wondering where everyone else is . . . as if there are others.

The Opel's visit was fantastic.  They shot arrows, rode on the Gator, rode Lady, cut some wood, and did a whole bunch of visiting.  It is refreshing to spend time with friends sharing ideas . . . experiences . . . our lives.  This weekend we heard the whole story of how Kurt and Anna met and the time leading up to their marriage.  We had fun laughing and sharing.

This past summer the Opel family came to the farm to visit.  They live in Michigan now, but years ago their family and my family all attended the same church.  In CALIFORNIA!

 

Through a series of moves around the country (and in their case out of the country) our families have ended up only a couple of hours away from each other.  GREAT for us!  So last summer, when work brought them down to Ohio, they stopped in for an evening meal, a tour of the farm, and a nice time of good old fashion visiting.  It was great to see them again, and reconnect in a completely different context.

That evening they came was a time where we got to know each other a little better and discovered that our family vision and direction was following a similar path.  It was quite natural to ask them to come back down and spend some more time getting reacquainted and finding out more about how God has been changing our lives in a more agrarian sort of way.  As a result, this weekend they are coming to stay with us for a night!

I am thinking that it would be nice to have them put some farm clothes on and help us out with the many things that have to be done before the winter sets in.  We have walnuts to harvest, wood to cut, barn windows to replace, and barn doors to repair.  I am hoping they want to come a get their hands dirty with some real farm work!

If not, I am sure I'll be OK with being talked into sitting around in the warm house (it is 42 degrees out right now as I write) drinking some coffee and laughing a lot.

more before and after . . .

This is the bridge in the woods that I now have completed.  It was a bear to get there and I ended up having to take it mostly apart after building it.  I built it close to electricity, and then when Nolan and I started on our journey out to where we where going to install it, we ended up popping two of the tires on the Gator!  It was REALLY heavy.  We left it in route to the creek for a couple of weeks until we had more materials to work with, and decided how we could get it there with LESS work.

 

The pasture behind our woods is a 17 acre field used for crops

 

And this woods view is back up to our Big Barn.  Right above where the new bridge sits.

And now for some more before/after pictures of the house . . . down the stairs to the basement is our Downstairs Kitchen.  I don't have the electric stove hooked up yet, but that is the next electrical piece I do down there.  I painted the walls white and the floor a favorite coffee color.  We have harvested the pear tree and are using the floor space there to allow the pears to ripen.

Before

    

After

 

 The second room we are calling the Garden room.  It beats calling it the second room huh? It is the area where we store come winter items when not in use, and some canning materials.

Before

After

 

And our laundry room also got updated as well.  Sure makes doing laundry a little nicer.

And now the laundry area is equipped with a small dress-up area for the children to change after swimming, or being outside in the snow.  And the clothes stay RIGHT THERE in the laundry room!

And here is the final change in my bedroom.  It went from BRIGHT, flowery, and cold to DARK, plain, and warm.  Just the way I like it.

FREE mini chalkboards . . .

Etsy sellers and bloggers . . .

Here's the post for the FREE mini chalkboard set.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this posting and you will be entered to win a FREE set of eight mini chalkboard signs, or a set of eight mini chalkboard place settings.  At the end of this week, (Saturday at midnight) I will have one of my children choose the lucky winner.

I will contact the winner for their shipping address and the package will be sent out in the mail on Monday Priority Mail!

Happy posting . . . 

garth (gfout.etsy.com)

oh, the ideas . . .

Here's the finished outhouse where it's going to stay.  It's up close to the rode so that in case a passerby needs to use the restroom, they have a place to stop!  It also serves the people that come to buy eggs from us.  The Star (men) and the Moon (women) are the symbols used that denotes that it is a unisex bathroom.  

I propped the door open to take this picture of the inside.  A natural toilet paper roll holder made from a small log, a small table to hold some wipes and sanitizer, and a painting made by Macy adorns the inside.  There is also a solar light (with remote) located on the ceiling.

And this is my proposed site for my Wall Tent Bed and Breakfast spot.  I am hoping to build a deck, and have a 12 x 14 wall tent on top of it.  I also want to include a bathroom (outhouse of course) equipped with a outdoor tub.  The site would also have a fire ring for night fires and a hammock for daytime relaxing.  An outdoor library, an old propane stove, ohhhh the ideas!

seeing the sides at night . . .

yearbookyourself.com is a funny little site that Jostens Yearbook Publishing company has come up with to play around with vintage images. Here I am, back in 1968 playing basketball with a school mate friend. I am number 32 . . . and that was back before my beard.


Even from a half mile away you can see the barn illuminated as you drive down the route toward our farm. Two weeks ago, I dug out some of my spotlight yard lights and hooked them up to the barn to highlight the Ohio Bicentennial logo. Currently I just have them in with extension cords so drivers could see the sides of the barn as they traveled down the route at night. I am planning to make them a permanent part of the exterior decor. I have had several comments from local farm neighbors saying that they "LOVE" the lights and are happy that we are taking such care of a once neglected farm. In fact, this farm, back in the day (1907-1930) was the most recognized farm in the county. And everyone that I talk to around here has some historical connection to this place. For example, their aunt married one of the brothers, their grandparents bought meat from the family, or their dad mowed the fields for the family. It seems that our Big Barn is the center of this farm community and that there is a buzz about what we are doing here on our place with it.

hay ring . . .

Last year, when we bought this place, it was full of weeds . . . mostly teasel, an invasive, eye sore of a plant that grows to almost 6' tall. Hidden in the barn pasture teasel was a worn looking, ill repaired hay ring. I didn't even find it until after spring came! This weekend I decided to give it an update with some cinnamon color that blends in nicely with the fall backdrop that is slowly creeping up on us from the woods.

I am extremely influenced by color, and love making the farm and farm items display the beauty of subtle color. The hues are fun to work. (Corrie . . . you would appreciate this color in a blouse or sweater)

the one-seater . . .

My Etsy business has taken OFF this past year and I find that I am out in the wood shop most nights cutting chalkboards. However, I am finding some time each evening to do a "little" work on the outhouse and have gotten about half way done with it. Here's some updated photos of my progress thus far.

Inside seat (it's a one-seater)

Sliding Plexiglas windows with screen

View from the front

I have it close to the garage now while I am working on it, but when I am finished, it will go out next to the Big Barn. I am painting it the same color as the rest of the outbuildings and trimming it to match the barns.


I suppose if I keep at it a little at a time, I'll be able to finish it in a week or so. Good thing, I have an after-school program of 60 children coming to visit the farm the latter part of the month. And it has to be ready for then!

small town fun . . . and big time charm

Oakwood, a small village of 607 people (last census) had it's annual Homecoming Labor Day Weekend Parade today. Homecoming meaning those that have moved away come home for the weekend, not the football homecoming game being played. For such a small village, there was a HUGE turnout with a whopping 45 minute parade train!

These were some of the people that participated in the parade this year. Since it was our first visit to this small place (only fifteen minutes down the country road from us) it was a real treat to see this place full of small town pride . . . and small town charm.


And for us, the real WOW of this event was the children were participants in the parade, riding horseback! Here the children are riding with Cathy (the lady that is training the children on riding and training horses) along the 1/2 mile course. This is the first parade the children have ever been in, and was definitely exciting because they were able to ride horses along the parade route.

raising and growing . . .

There's starting to be a welcomed hint of Fall in the air the past few days. And milking time in the morning feels slightly chilly, the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up with a blanket outside with a hot cup of your favorite morning drink.

Speaking of hot, morning drinks, I have converted to drinking Tea in the morning instead of coffee. About a month ago I decided that the levels of coffee I was drinking was a little too high. And it seemed like after I had already had a couple of cups, I still wanted more coffee to drink. Over the years it has really bothered me to be "addicted" to something and feeling like I needed it in order to function. I sort-of felt that way with coffee. So, I decided to stop drinking it for some time to remind myself that it (the coffee) was not in control of me, instead, I was in control of whether I drank it or not. I had a small, annoying headache for a day or two, and then a week or two of not having the energy I have after having a few ounces of caffeine, but now I am back to feeling normal, without the need to have "another" cup. And the Tea in the morning has been nice.


Our home business of providing eggs for folks has picked up, and we have gained a couple of steady customers. It is interesting to have people come to the farm for food and be a store of sorts for their shopping. And a couple of weeks ago I sold some chickens we raised, and word has been getting out that we have poultry for sale. One couple, who has made it over now a few times to buy eggs, are now wanting to get eggs, chicken, and some other raw unprocessed items that we are raising and growing here. It gets me motivated thinking about possibly having a healthy, grocery type of store here on the farm!

These are our new, two week old chicks already outside in the movable chicken house. These birds will be on that grocery store shelf in six weeks.


Another big change has happened around here with the animals that live with us. We have recently found homes for all nine of the coon puppies our hound had, and have acquired three more horses to the place. It is beautiful to see horses on the pastures running together and it has been a great time for the children to each have a horse to ride. Two of them are on a semi permanent loan and one of them is a visiting horse being weened from her foal.

And our garden continues to grow . . .