farm and barn art . . .

Being an artist, it is difficult for me to not want to make environments (spaces) like galleries, full of interesting things to look at. In fact, Dard Hunter said it best when back in the turn of the century was quoted saying "Life without industry is sloth, industry without art is brutality.” I tend to believe the same way.

I love making homes, classrooms, and even barns on a farm a place where art is displayed for all to enjoy. Mostly, I like adding interesting pieces of art that evokes questions, or completes an area making it feel more like a home, not just a house.

This is our finished FOUTFOLK FARM sign that is on the horse barn as you drive into the farm.

A few weeks ago, I put some signs out to stir up thought while travelers drive along the rode.  The idea came from the Burma Shave advertising sign program from the 30's and 40's where signs advertising the shaving creme products were placed along highways where people could read them as they drove along.  They were catchy/gimmicky poems that promoted the goods.  My signs (even though they are not a rhyming poem) are ones of evoking rather than amusing.

I wanted the passer by to read it as they were driving.  The message consists of five signs that read both ways.

 I placed them about the distance of every other telephone pole.

 This painting is hung near the milking stanchions.  A good message for me to be reading at 6:00am EVERY morning.

 And the horse barn also has a family tree painting inside.

 And I finally finished and hung the barn quilt sign.  I am hoping to get some barn quilt paiting business from this one!



bees, chickens, and maple syrup . . .

Mr. Wilson is just plain  . . . a nice man!

Not only has he let me use his tractor to mow this HUGE front yard of a farm, he has taken Asher under his wing and is teaching him how to be a "Bee" man.  A little over a week ago we went over to extract the honey out of the hives that he gave to Ash.  They first smoked the supers (the boxes that are stacked up) and then took them down to see if the frames (the part where the bees build the honeycomb and then store it with honey) were capped off.  Meaning that the bees are done with the work of filling the honeycombs and fanning it so that it only has 17% water in it.  (It is quite the science)

Once they took the supers down they had to inspect them and kill the little african hive beetles that try to make a home in the hives eating the drone pupa to live.

Gresham came along to watch and help as well.

Each of the supers weighed about forty pounds.  As a side note, 10 pounds of honey makes one gallon.

 Once they were finished in the yard it was time to extract the honey from the combs.  Mr.Wilson demonstrated to Asher how to comb the caps off to release the honey and also how to use a hot knife to scrape the caps off.

For a total of three hours worth of work, Asher was able to bring home seven gallons of Local, Raw Honey that is usually sold for $12.00 a quart in the health food store.  Since last week he has given some honey away to friends and family members, bought canning lids and jarred up about 10 quarts, and has sold four quarts already.  And the season is not over yet!  He'll probably make it down to Mr. Wilson's one more time to do another extracting on his hives.

What is great about this whole farm life is the amount of sharing and caring that is happening with some of my local neighbors like Mr. Wilson.  he gave Asher some hives and is teaching him how to keep bees. And the other day we butchered chickens, and I was able to give Mr. Wilson and his wife a couple of chickens and a jar of maple syrup.  It reminds me of the stories I heard of the older days.  And it also makes me glad that we are good relationships with people that help us, and that we can help.

with this ring . . .

Marriage is a life long commitment not to be taken lightly.  It is not a "ring," or even a ceremony, it is a life shared.  It is a "for better or worse" perspective that gets worked out daily in the kitchen, family room, AND even the garage.  It is a life spent sharing, caring, forgiving, and living.

For the past several years I have played around with the idea of not wearing my wedding band ring.  Not sure why, it has just been one of those things that I think about occasionally.  The ring does not make me married.  It certainly is a symbol, but it has nothing to do with my attitude or perspective about marriage.  It is just a ring.  And a ring that has lots of dings and scrapes in it as well!

Recently I have been taking my ring off when I am working on my etsy chalkboard orders so as to not scratch the surface of the chalkboards when I am wiping them off before I ship them.  I had to do something because it was too hard for me to try to cup my hand and wipe off hundreds of mini chalkboards always afraid that my ring will scratch the surface, and I would have to make that one chalkboard or so over again. I hate doing the same work twice.  I have been putting it in my pocket when I wipe the boards off and then when I clean up from being in the wood shop, I put it back on.  Until the other day.

I was finishing some boards up and washed my hands with some cleaner I had in the garage.  I reached in my pocket and got my ring out and dropped it on the concrete floor.  No big deal, I have done that before.  Only this time instead of putting it on my finger, I just returned it to my pocket.

The boys and I took off to town to drop off my orders at the post office, and we and needed to run some errands while we were in town.  We went to several places from coffee shops to hardware stores and our last stop was an auto shop store to buy a belt for the mower.  It was when we left the store, and I was reaching in my pocket to get my keys out, that I realized that I had lost my ring.  I wasn't shocked at first thinking that I might have left it in a different pair of pants.  I then remembered that I had specifically left it in my pocket after I dropped it in the shop.  My stomach did a little flip.

On the way home I tried to convince myself that I did not lose it, but in fact, I did.  I tried to justify not having it thinking that I was planning on not wearing it anyway, so it wouldn't matter.  I told myself that I bought it over 19 years ago and it wasn't that expensive, so I could easily replace it.  After all, people often upgrade wedding rings don't they?  But still I had that little pit in my stomach that I had lost my wedding band.  What a bummer. :(

When we got home and were sitting at the supper table I told the children that I had lost my ring.  There was more than one sigh.  I reassured them that it wasn't that big a deal and things like this happen sometimes.  A couple of the children asked me questions about when I had it last, and a couple left the dinner table to check out in the wood shop and the van one more time.  I was sure it was lost.  And probably not where I would find it again.

About half way through supper Nolan asked if he could take the van back to town to look in the parking lots for it.  He said it would make him feel better of he tried to find it.  I agreed, and off he went.  When he came home, it was without the ring.

Fast forward to three days later.  I was up 40 foot on a ladder hanging a FOUTFOLK FARM sign on the horse barn and I hear a faint, shaky voice from afar saying "daddy can you come down please?"  I turned and see Macy walking towards me clutching her hand together and repeating that she wants me to come down from the ladder.  With that kind of voice, and that kind of clutching, I begin to think that she has cut herself really badly and has that panicking kind of reaction to how badly she is hurt.

I rush down the ladder, Macy opens her hand, and she says in that same shaky, and yet excited voice this time, "I found your ring."  FOUND MY RING!  I couldn't believe it!  31 acres we live on.  I had traveled 20 or so miles that day and stopped at several places, and she she has found my ring!  What are the odds!

She then told me that she was walking around the side of the house off the patio and was looking at the ground as she was walking along.  She said she had no idea why she was studying the ground as she walked but she was noticing every detail of the grasses, walnuts, and twigs that were on the ground.  And then she noticed a shiny golden ring.  Her eye was just drawn to it.  And she immediately called to find out where I was to tell me that she had it.

I am still in shock that of the many places I could have lost it that day, I lost it here on the farm.  And I am even more shocked that in the larger perspective of it, the likelyhood of finding a lost ring SOMEWHERE on a 31 acre farm, even if I thought I had lost it here on the farm, is virtually impossible.  It truly is a needle in a hay stack analogy!

The older I get the more I try not to read too deeply into situations.  I am not a hocus pocus type of person.  Losing a ring is not a "sign" of anything.  It is a careless mistake, that's it.  And finding the ring also is not a "sign" of anything either.  It is just finding a ring.  However, I am grateful to God for His grace for me and my family, and I am thankful to Macy for taking the time to study the ground as she was walking that day.

I think when I take my ring off tomorrow to work on chalkboards again I am going to put it on my etsy business desk so as to not lose it again.  :)

updated family collage . . .

Brooke came over one time to buy eggs and we started a conversation about healthy food.  The conversation led to ALL sorts of other interests and me inviting her and her husband over for dinner one night.  Since that night, we have had them over again, and she occasionally pops in for a short visit.

The other night was one of those visits.  In addition to spending time talking, she snapped some candid photos of each of us.  It is great having someone besides myself take photos of the family.  And she is REALLY great at capturing people in a photo! 

This is our updated family collage picture including one of my favorite pictures of our chicken house latch that Maine took.

thinking it out as I go . . .

I think it would be safe to say that I am addicted to building things!

As if the fence, pergola, and a couple of other smaller projects were not enough, I decided to add a balcony above the garage.  :)

It really isn't my fault.  Someone, who had this place before us, made an outside access door off the front of the garage/wood shop/game room.  It probably had some purpose for it or was part of a planned building project.  I couldn't just leave a doorway which led to a 10 foot drop when I wanted to open the door to allow air to circulate in the game room.  So hence the balcony plan.

I have been working on it, slowly, for the past couple of weeks devoting an hour or two to it every now and again.  I am on the cusp of finishing it now.  Since it is high, and I am planning and making it at the same time, I am also painting it as I go as well.  Screw a few boards on, paint them, and then I go off to another project for the rest of the day.

I have everything in place now and am working on the rail that will encompass the landing.  I am mimicking the existing rail style of the house and am finding it a pleasure to think it out as I go.

our first calving . . .

Asher got out to do his chores around 9:00 today and came RUNNING back into the house to tell us that Janey was about to give birth.  All of us scurried to go out to see our first calving here at the farm.  For us, it was a lesson in nature, and an educational experience.  She did really well and the whole process took around 30 to 40 minutes.  And thank God, there were no complications at all.  Smooth and beautiful!

 The calf is a heifer and is a jersey/devon mix.  Our intention is to feed it out for our family's beef.

She sure is cute!

several things to do . . .

Haying is a hot, dusty job that takes some getting used to.  And yesterday we spent some of the day getting HOT and DUSTY with grass.

The boys and I have helped out with putting hay up on other people's places, but this is our very FIRST hay crop from our OWN farm.  In addition to the boys and I working outside, the girls helped out as well heaving the 50lbs bales around!  It was WORK!

Since we don't have large machinery on the farm, we are asking others for help with some of the tasks around the place.  An old, wise farmer/friend came over and mowed, raked, and baled this batch for us the other day.  Being dry enough, today we put it up in the barn for winter feed for the animals.  Total from this small patch of land was 108 bales.  He did some more cutting this past evening and next week he will get to the other 8 or so acres.  No buying hay this year and having it hauled to my farm!

 Asher has been working with Mr. Wilson for some time now.  He is one of the several grandsons that own farm land around my property.  He owns his parents old house around the corner from us and uses it as a bee yard for his bee keeping passion.  His granfather is the man that built my home and farm.  The farm has been in his family for years, until the mid 80's when it was sold to "outsiders."  Since then, it has changed hands a few times with different stewards for the area's historic farm.  He is a kind, generous, helpful grandfatherly man that has taken a liking and interest in Asher sharing the same passion for tending bees and trapping.  He is a WORLD of information for Asher AND our family. They even both share the same birthday!  Yesterday he noticed we were using the push mower to clean up around the fence row and decided to be a helping hand, AGAIN.  He brought down his tractor and bushhog so I could mow the large teasel weeds that cover the woods pasture.  It was fun driving a tractor and taking out the plants in one BIG swoop!  Hopefully it will give the smaller grasses and clover some sun in order to grow. 

 We are also in the process of cleaning up and finishing off the upstairs garage attic turning it into a game room.  Along with the ping pong table I bought years ago, I purchased a foosball table for the children and I to play with.  Since we rarely go to town or do "outings," I wanted to have several things for them to do while they are here on the farm.  Riding and playing with animals, pond swimming and canoeing, bows and arrow/gun shooting in the woods, and now the game room.  I am teaching Nolan some construction skills of drywall on some small pony walls I built.  Next he is going to mud/tape, and then paint them. Currently I am staining the wood floors and will be leaving the walls and the ceiling raw lumber for the rustic look I LOVE.  I am turning the room into a country, turn of the century farm looking homestead room full of drying herbs hanging from the ceiling, bucket lights, and farm knick-knack to adorn the wall space. 



thinking and planning . . .

This year is our first attempt at making our own hay.  The open pasture, about 8 or so acres, is full of timothy grass, red clover, and of course some big WEEDS.  My thinking, cut it, store it, feed it to the animals and they will sort out what they don't want.  I asked a neighbor farmer to cut it for me and today we are going to put it up in the barn.  Hopefully he'll get to cutting the rest of it fairly soon.

 Another bulding project I am working on are the garden pergolas.  The pergola is going to be used for grapes to grow on, and provide some shade when we are out in the garden area.  This is the first of two that will be covering the junction of the Gator path.

 Since I have built many things using traditional nails and screws, I wanted to challenge myself with joinery on this project.  I decided that I wanted to try the old method of fastening wood together with dowels like the barns were built years ago.  It took a little bit of thinking and planning and I had to take the whole structure apart once to redo the posts, but there is not ONE piece of hardware holding it together.  It is esssentially a large jigsaw puzzle that can be dismantled and moved if needed.  Since it is free standing, it is a little wobbly so I am going to come up with a plan to make it a little more stable.

And then our garden grows.  The mounds I am using for the potatoes seem to be working so far.  That is the green leaf ABOVE the ground looks good.  In the fall we'll see if the food that is UNDER the mound turns out.  I sure hope so.  :)



enjoyable work . . .

Now that summer holiday has started, I feel like a child in a candy store.  So many things to look at, wanting so many things, and RUNNING around to make sure to soak up all the store has to offer.  The difference between the child in the candy store and me is that I am not in a candy store, and I am not looking for candy.  But all the same, on the farm, I am "keyed up" like a child with farm maintenance to do, building projects, and highly motivated to WORK.

Work.  I like the verb part of speech of this word. to do work; labor. As well as to be in operation, as a machine. I can hardly call what I do here on our farm work.  Sure, it is labor, sure it does expend energy, sure it is a whole bunch of tiring tasks.  However, when you want something done, and like doing it, it is hard to call it work.  That is what it is like here for me.  A whole lot of ENJOYAB:E work to be done.

Recently we have been getting coffee grounds from one of the coffee shops in town.  I approached them a month or so ago with the idea of having them save all the coffee grounds for us to use here on the farm.  It truly is a win/win situation.  Every two days we get a 5 gallon bucket full of grounds to amend our soil.  In return, they don't have the wet, heavy mess in their trash cans at the shop.  When we get it home we dump it, let it dry, take the filters out, and then mix it with manure for one of our composting methods.

 I also bought a chipper/shredder the other day from a friend.  Nolan and I turned an old stick pile into mulch and are now using the wood chips to mulch around the newly planted fruit trees and raspberry bushes.  This year we planted 6 new fruit trees and 25 raspberry canes.

 On the area where we chipped up all the wood I created an experimental garden.  Here I layed potatoes on the furtile ground and coverd them with some old, wet straw.  I am not going to water them at ALL and see if I get a yeild from it.  It is also right on the edge of the woods.  I'll see how that works out!

 I recently collected and recycled some wood pallets as our main compost bins.  They are not the best ways of composting fro sure, but it is a start for us.  I have been putting our manures in them as well as the grass we collect from the neighbor mowing his 4 acre lawn.  His grass and our animal manure is making us a black, earthy soil amending compound that is going to change our food from good, to GREAT!

 I added another fence to the orchard/garden area and to have a place for the raspberries to grow.  Ildi likes rows and columns. The compromise for me was to have them on a fence IF they had to be put in rows.  The garden is in rows this year as well just to make it easier to work with all the other changes/work we have to do here.  But next year . . . it is going to change!  Nature likes curves.  And nature likes edge.  I am in the process of thinking about how I want to move away from the traditional gardening methods of plants put in rows to the way nature causes things just to be "planted."

creating together . . .

Homesteading requires a bit of ingenuity.  Ingenuity that includes everyone's ideas and help.  When you want to do things around a farm, and you have no BIG equipment to work with, it definitely takes great ideas.  This idea that we came up with today is going to be logged in as our GREAT idea for this summer's garden row making work.

It all started with the "different" plan to not till the garden.  A permaculture thing.  We needed to create some beds to plant in and to direct sow some of the seeds for this year's garden.  And with the garden made mostly of clay, and chock full of weeds, we had a big job ahead of us.  A few times the thought of just tilling it up again seemed like the best thing to do.  Instead, we went on with our plan to leave the soil as is so it can begin to heal and to become a fertile place to plant.

The garden was first mowed really low, then we brought in a layer of composted manure and then some sifted dirt on top of that.  We used a screen I made last year for composting, and added a support structure/row making tool to it.  After we shoveled in a layer of compost, we went to the barn pasture to get some of the dirt out of a mound that a friend dropped off last year.
 

 

 Shoveling rock filled dirt into the handmade sifter

 

 Sifting the dirt to get the big rocks out

 Dumping the rocks into a pile for a later project

 

Then part of the sifting tool is multi-tasking as a row making sled (something I might have to patent)

   Dirt is filled in

 

 And the Gator pulls it to make an exact 24" row complete with leveling it off

 The row to the right was our attempt at making a row without our new homestead tool.

Today we got three rows done relatively easily and we were all happy that our new multi-tool worked so well.  During the loading of the compost and the dirt, the children and I talked about what was and was not working with our new equipment.  And after each dirt load, we dropped by the wood shop and I made minor adjustments to the row maker having it work even better than the time before.  Thanks to all the valuable input.

Since our efforts were a success, we all had FUN shoveling compost and dirt because we were thinking, laughing, and spending some great time CREATING together.