included a picture . . .

I thought I would update the previous picture with this one (which is much better) from the back of the property. I also included a picture from the front of the house looking out the front door. The front, which is really not a way we will be entering the house, has a porch and steps, but no sidewalk leading up to it. I think years ago the horses pulled up and dropped people off, but as for the last 30 years or so, the side door has essentially become the "front door."

I took this picture tonight because I am going to be doing a work of art that includes the buildings and life around my farm. My farm . . . I love the sound of that. I am working on a large drawing of this image that will eventually be cut up into 2.5 x 3.5 card sizes and sent to people all over America and Canada. Is it part of an artist trading card swap that I have been involved with before, and this month will be doing again with the theme of farm life. How appropriate for me. :)

thanks for the light . . .

Sipping my coffee this morning, I couldn't resist taking this photo of some of the children eating breakfast. In addition, I wanted to get a photo of the chandelier I installed. This particular one Jeff gave me years ago after his family's exodus out of California. I used it outside in one house, and stored it for a couple of years while we rented homes, and now it has found its permanent spot right here. Thanks Jeff . . . it's perfect for our eat-in kitchen!

This Sunday morning we are going to visit a friend's church, then go over to a families home for the afternoon. Visiting takes on a new behavior now that we have animals to tend too. Since our cow is on a schedule, each morning and evening we are tied to the barn for our daily ritual of milking. It is a pleasure and a benefit having animals, and it is also a whole lifestyle change being homeward bound. We take our animals into consideration now when we do anything.

within the month . . .

Here's the view from behind the pond looking up toward the house and barns. We have had some REALLY warm weather this past couple of days so all the snow has melted, and the trees are starting to bud. I hope this means spring is coming soon! I am excited to see what this place looks like in the spring and summer. All the books I read concerning buying a farm always suggested looking at it through a whole year to see what each season looked like. Unfortunately, we had a couple of weeks to decide and buy this place so we didn't have time to see everything in bloom. I do know that we have a few fruits trees, but as for the rest of it . . . :)

We have had pizza night every Friday for probably 10 years now, and Ildi is now making our own Mozzarella cheese from our extra milk. In addition to cheese, for several months now she has been making all the yogurt we eat as well. And it is REALLY good.

Today she started her seedling for the garden in the house, and hopefully within the month, we will be able to till up our ground and get our garden in for this year. We'll probably do the same type of garden we had last year, since it was so successful, and add a few more square feet to the operation.

We have also decided to try our hands at another additional kind of animal. We are going to check into getting a couple of pigs to raise and butcher for our pork this year. Seems interesting . . . and challenging at the same time.

on the roof . . .

Some more before and after pictures for the fans of my interior decorating ability . . . peel paper, paint, and put my junk in. It is a simple format to follow. Those people who make/produce/star in the HGTV series Design on a Dime have nothing on me. Give me the thousand dollars and I will actually BUY something instead of getting it out of the trash or off the roadside! This is considered the 'library' room. It is more a formal living room, but since we don't have formal furniture, it not really that formal in there.




This is the view from the back enclosed patio to our property to the northwest. The pond is still frozen over (it is our water source for the house) and we have several acres of pasture beyond it that stretches to the row of trees in the background. It is really pretty to sit and look out of the family room and watch wildlife naturally occur. To the left is the chicken house that we haven't used yet.

Yesterday Asher took on a new position as a Dish Network installer. Why not have them start working at a young age! Really he was un-installing the myriad of high tech equipment that was attached to our roof. Apparently, the people that owned the house prior to the foreclosure had a GREAT need for lots of TV channels. Three mounted dishes on the roof, and one located in the yard near the pond. The boys have decided that they are making shields out of them so they don't go to waste.