heat and work . . .

The heat is on and the work on the barn has begun! WOW is it hot up there. It is currently 95 with the heat index of 100-105 today. And the wind is blowing as well. Feels like a day described in a story book.

On Wednesday a crew of four Amish men came to roof one section of my barn with steel. The back side if this part was done a few years ago, and it definitely time to do this side. Each time it rains, the water leaks through the hip point (that the area of the roof that angles down steeper), pours in to the loft damaging the floor, and continues to leak through to the ground floor. If I chose not to get it fixed, in a few short years, that part of the barn would easily be destroyed. The barn has stood for almost 80 years now, and under my care, I don't want to lose this part of American history.


This is Ben scaling along while he adds another 2 x 4 x 16 to the roof. They attached wood to the existing roof and then screw the metal roof to the new slats. Notice that he is almost standing straight up and down. That's because he is on almost a 25 degree slope. Here he is almost 40 feet in the air.


Another exciting barn update came about this week as well. Scott Hagan, the barn artist who originally painted the Ohio Bicentennial logo on 100 of Ohio barns (mine included) came by on his way through to Indiana and stayed for a day. I had contacted him wanting to know what kind of paint he used so I could touch up the red that had faded over the years. Since he was staying for the day, I just had him do the work instead. After 10 + years, the white,blue and black still looked fine, but I had him touch up the three areas that took some red paint. Being an artist myself, I felt the need to have him change the original red he painted to a darker hue that matches the barn. He wasn't offended, and did an EXCELLENT job. If you want a painting on your barn you can contacting him through his website the barnartist.com

the beauty of God's creation . . .

We are almost at the finish line with Macy's Hip Roof Chicken Barn building project. It has taken us a few days for a couple of reasons. One, we ran out of wood and needed to make it to town to get more 1 x 2's. Second, we are sort of building this one "off the cuff!" Macy had told me what she wanted, but it was a little bit of work to get the idea she had in her head, out to a physical house for her birds. It's a 3 x 4 foot barn for three birds and will have two roosts as well as two nesting boxes that are accessible from the rear of the movable structure. She will be moving them daily, like we do with all the birds on our farm, to get fresh grass to forage in. Tonight we finished the building part, put wire on, put roosts in, and a couple of burlap privacy curtains for the girls to do their work behind. overall, it is a lightweight, sturdy, functional house for the birds. I just might build a few of these to sell down the line.

A few night ago, and tonight, we have had some INTERESTING night skies. A double rainbow that stretched over MILES . . . and tonight this absolutely stunning sun illuminated cloud formation at the Big Pasture tree tops. We looked out of the garage (as we were building the chicken barn) to see this magnificent sight.

the mini chalkboard craze . . .

My whole Etsy mini chalkboard business is having a BLOW OUT summer. It's hard to believe that I have made and shipped well over 200 of them just in the last month! Here's an example of how an event coordinator used them at a bridal shower she planned last week. It seems that the boards are a big hit at both weddings and showers. Here's a link to a wedding planners site that started this whole mini-chalkboard phenomenon.

Kelley, the bride to be, and I worked together to come up with this idea for her wedding. She said she wanted chalkboards for seating name cards and wanted me to come up with a way for them to sit "propped up." I made a couple of mock boards for her to decide on and the final result was this 3 x 4 inch mini chalkboard with a post that props it up. I ended up making 70 of them for her wedding in San Francisco. All that happened over a year ago. Since I knew I could make more, I decided to use the images I took of them and re-list it in my Etsy store. That my friends, is the beginning of the chalkboard CRAZE. Since that time, I have probably sold over 500 of them. And it seems that most of the people that order them live in San Francisco! :)

I have streamlined my production of them to make it quicker to mass produce them. Just the other day I bought a belt sander that is cutting my work time sanding them in half. My next plan is to by a nice table saw that will help me make them more exact when I cut.

new addition . . .

Here are NINE of the TEN little puppies that frolic all over our property now. Floppy, our Black and Tan Coonhound, had her Collie mix puppies about four weeks ago. They will be ready for a new home August 1st.

fun with friends . . .

I finished the table the other day ready for THIS session of butchering. I added quite a few items to it, and after yesterday's work, have already made some changes in how we will use it.

First off, I stained it the same as the killing cones to create a unified butchering set. I love when things are functional, yet aesthetic as well. The oil from the stain also helps to repel the water when spraying. In addition to the stain, I added aluminum to the work area. I used flashing that is normally used for roofing. I bought a 10 foot roll for $12.00, cut it to fit the feathering and cleaning area of the table, and have heeps of it to use for another farm project. Some plumbing parts, an area to hang the hose, a table, some chairs, a fan, and a screened-in room made this butchering session seem like a HOTEL STAY compared to last year. All in all, I am REALLY pleased with how it turned out, but more importantly how it functioned for us. (I do have to make a few minor adjustments and it will be even smoother for the next thirty we process in five more weeks)

In addition to having a new table to work with, we also had some help this time processing our birds. The Weita family, longtime friends from our California days, came up from Florida to visit us for a few days on their way over to Illinois. They came in Tuesday night and stayed till this morning. It was great to spend time together again extending our friendship, having the children get re-acquainted after five years, and sharing some memorable experiences together. We had great food, stayed up WAY too late talking, and had fun doing all sorts of farm activities.

drawing out the design . . .

Butchering season is upon us now so I had to come up with another plan for dressing out the 100 or so birds that we will have. Hence, the NEW Butchering Station!

For weeks I have been looking for stainless steel sinks, counters, and tables on Craigslist and have decided that I do not want to spend $150 to $300 on a used bakery counter or a restaurant sink. I found a stainless steel sink for $20 though, and thought that was right up my alley. I had been thinking about building a table but was unsure of what I wanted, materials to use, and the sorts. This is the result (the beginning stage) of sitting down after morning milking, drinking coffee, half sleeping, and planning out the table.

The plan for the table started with several ideas in mind.

1. All of us needed to be close together able to hand birds to each other without walking around. It also had to be a condensed square footage to fit into our camping screened-in room. (we learned last year that it was hard to keep the animals away from all the excitement)

2. It needed to include several areas for working . . . sink for evisceration ans cleaning birds, counter space for plucking, area for cutting, containers for feathers and unwanted bird parts, and drainage.

3. And most importantly, aesthetic functionality.

During my sleep/plan/lazy morning routine, I drew out a design several times, and then asked the children to look at it and give me input. Each one came up with a minor change that altered the design a bit, but functioned well with the overall plan of the Butchering Station.

It took me a 1/2 day to build, and the other 1/2 day to stain, seal, and apply the finishing touches.

getting the garden game going . . .

Today is the FIRST day of summer break for me. What a different year this has been. I enjoyed the school year, we bought this farm, and we bought a car. Tons of changes going on all at once. And I love it!


First off, a couple of weeks ago some friends planned a move out of state, and needed to sell their car. Ildi and I decided that it would not only help them out, but help us out on my gas spending commute to school. As a result, we bought this 99 Saturn, pictured above, with a WHOLE BUNCH OF MILES on it. :) Works out great so far in that I have saved $60. in just two weeks.

Gresham has started in the building process of our farm. He is being such a great help in many ways. This past week he helped Nolan building a new movable chicken structure for the upcoming egg production business. 40 new laying hens will be arriving next week some time. It is really sweet to see Nolan working with his younger brother having him help the way he did with me when he was that age.


I have come up with some really creative ways to use the unwanted hay that is littering our fields. The busted beef operation that was going on before we bought this place left TONS of unusably large mounds of hay on much of the open pasture. This past week it dawned on me that I could re-purpose it and use it like much like mulch for areas where I don't want the grass to grow. Like this path I cut through a spot of trees. It so works out that it will cover the ground not letting grass grow, it looks nice, and it gets it out of the fields re-purposing it. This type of stuff makes me happy!



And now we are getting our serious garden game face on. We have planted one of the 6000 square foot of gardening we are doing this season. We plowed out 4 paddocks (each 1500 sq. ft.) and have gotten one of them finished around all the rain we have been getting. Yesterday it didn't rain, and if it stays dry and hot today, I will be able to get the other three areas prepped and ready for the family to "plant out" the rest of our ambitious planting plan. The statement "jump in head first" seems appropriate for this season of life for us.

co-existing with nature . . .

More wild animals visiting the farm. It is a such a treat to see so many different types of wildlife here. Beats driving so long to get to the Zoo and fighting the crowds of people. (and seeing all the animals in cages with a pretend background) Here, they are co-existing with us in a natural setting and we seem to be sharing the place together.

One week and three days and it is all over for this school year. And WOW what a different school year it has been compared to last year! Last year, after teaching for 20 years, I almost threw in the towel. As I mentioned in past posts, it was a horrible year of teaching students. I probably have not had a worse year ever in my profession. Fast forward to now. I had a fun, easy, creative year with the two schools I taught. Actually, I am already looking forward to starting the next year with the same students and building on the training I gave them this year in art. At the beginning of school I will be able to start creating with them right away since I have already taught them for an entire year. The only new students I will get are Kindergarten, and of course the transfer students.

Today we are limited to our work outside. Over the last few weeks it has rained close to 3 inches, if not more, and our garden soil is still soaked. The hope is that next week it will warm up a LOT and dry the ground so we can till it and plant. Our goal was to have the plants in the ground by now, but as long as we can get them in before the second week of June we will be fine.

As a side note. For years I was the yearbook adviser for my schools. Teaching children how to design pages, use technology, and to write captions for pictures was all part of it. Now, for these three years of blogging, I am still using the same format for my post titles. I still really enjoy coming up with "caption" kind-of titles for the posts I write.

never a done deal . . .

It's just about the season of the year where I can wake up in the morning, finish milking chores, and then decide what I want to do for the REST of the day! Did I mention that I like being a school teacher for that reason? It's not like I spend the whole day sleeping, or here on the computer, but it is nice to wake up, spend some time leisurely in the morning, and then work hard all day with my hands. I really enjoy manually working. So much of my work at school is mental, and when I am working here at the farm, I can relax while I work because it is just a mundane, slow, enjoyable type of work. HARD work, physically, but enjoyable.


Animal update . . . The gosling died, and Macy buried it in the woods. One morning it had just keeled over. Apparently for no reason. Since then, the children have had some other wild animal experiences. While we were cutting a Disneylandish path through the woods, the dogs attacked an opossum that was carrying four young ones. Two died on the attack, Asher and Macy rescued two of them from the same fate. They cared for them for a few days but were unable to keep them alive. Also, they attempted to keep a young chipmunk by giving it to the cat that just gave birth to a litter. He ended up scurrying away. Our two female cats both gave birth this past week. Nine kittens in all. One has past since this post. Fly, the flat coated retriever, got to it. And we now have three mallard ducks added to the mix. They are young still, and they are slowly being introduced to the pond. We don't want the two-foot catfish eating them! :) And yesterday was the coming out party for the meat birds. Nolan and I finished repairing the chicken run that was partially destroyed but a huge rain last year, and then added a few changes to the design. It is a movable play yard where the chickens get fresh grass daily and are sheltered from the sun and rain with the tarp. We'll see if it works out. That's one thing we are definitely learning here. Nothing is truly ever a done deal.


And lastly, a housing update as well. I am finished with the master bath minus a couple TEENY details. There is a small vestibule of sorts that has a closet, and the room has a 9 foot ceiling height. I chose to paint it the same Buckwheat color that I used before since it is a neutral, versatile color. I re-finished an old outdated vanity painting it black, and distressing it a bit. And I married a little modern look by adding a metal magazine/book rack to the old country feel of most of the items in the room.


Two weeks left of work until I get to stay home and work on the farm. Lots to do . . . and I like it that way.

filtered water from the sky . . .

Justin and Dave, who happen to have the SAME brown hoody I have, have been somewhat regular visitors to our home in the five short months we have lived here. We are on a fun first name/story basis. :) This last visit they came to replace the sand filter that had a faulty backwash function. It was as cheap to by the whole tank and regulator as it was just to buy the regulator. Now, we are UP-TO-DATE . . . in code . . . and drinking FRESH water from our pond. "POND WATER?" you ask. Yep, we drink the water that falls from the sky!

The well water we have here at the house is horrible to say the least. It smells of rotten eggs due to the large amounts of sulfur content. The sulfur isn't necessarily bad for you, but it does have a rotten smell, and it does damage to items in the house after being exposed to it for a long time. The owner before us had a pond dug and were also using it for their drinking and washing water. However, they, like most people around here, used chemicals to "clean" it. As you are probably thinking, I'm not sure how clean it was though. Anyway, wanting to have a natural water cleaning system, I had the guys install a series of filters to clean the water before it reaches us. It has had some bumps along the way, but today they installed the last piece to keep us up and running for a long while.

Here's the breakdown. The water gets pumped from the pond using the small blue tank. (there is a filter on the hose in the pond to collect some of the debris wanting to get into my children's mouths) It then goes through a sand filter first collecting most of the gunk that ponds grow naturally. It then passes through the charcoal filter that takes virtually ALL the smell out of the water. Then it is drawn upwards to the two filters pictured to collect the remnants of pond life before it is sent to the ultra-violet tank to kill off the micro organisms. At that point, it is ready for our use in the house for all our water needs.

The system has a backwash built in that causes it to flush out the junk each night (around 2:00 am) and send all the stuff collected to the septic. There for a couple of months it smelled a little pondy when we drank the water, and taking a shower was sort-of like having a pond sauna, but all is good now. Water . . . from the sky to our home. It's beautiful.

And for the barn animals . . . they get the well water. (they don't care about the smell)