Been a long time . . . a lot of "stuff" has happened. :)

brand new summer . . .brand new driver

Yikes! Summer is already in full swing.

Spring came quickly this year, and it seems the older l get, the faster the seasons go.

This spring, Lady had another filly. Beautiful little horse. She came into the world with a real sketchy start but seems to be doing quite well now.

And now l have yet ANOTHER driver in the family. Asher took his driver training course, finished his hours behind the wheel, and then ACED the drivinng portion of the test. Go Asher!

And then there are the projects on the farm. We've added a couple of things to make life here a little easier. . . and some items just for fun.

The raft being just for fun. It still is at the beginning stage but we should have it up and floating within the week.

Asher and l finished building the water tower a couple of weeks back.  And minus a pump from the pond, and plants in the bottom of it, it is finished

And last week l started on the pond waterfall l have wanting to do dor awhile now. It will have two waterfall areas with a small catch between the two for plants. What l love about projects like this is we are using all recycled materials and even making most of the rocks out of concrete.

Newest addition....

Bella. Our new dog is a Siberian Husky! Just pretty much exactly what we wanted. She's really wild, her yipping at night really a different sound other than Fly...But she's really pretty and she looks like a wolf.  We still have a lot of training to do with her! Her shyness still kinda freaks me out, it's so weird having a new pet like her. And she has been after the cats ever since she stepped paw on the farm. Apparently, she's still nervous to be petted. Doesn't stop me from trying though. Four years old, and a energetic puppy still!

Me taking a whole bunch of pictures, because I'm crazy like that.

new spring...new life...

 I really do enjoy all the different seasons here in Ohio, but there is something WONDERFUL when we start to see the signs of Spring after a cold, cold winter. This shot was taken out of the family room window just two weeks prior to the break in the weather. Literally, we went from zero weather to the 40's in just two weeks. PHEW!

 And along with Spring...comes new life to the farm. This year our heifer Lizzy had her first calf. A beautiful little brown heifer. It was a little difficult getting her used to being milked and feeding her calf, but now after a month, she is doing a great job as a first time mother to her young.

 And Janey, our family cow for almost six years now, gave birth to a little black bull. This is a photo of him a Sunday several hours after he was born.

And then there are the new lambs. Here is one of the four that were born this year. Unfortunately, only two survived the harshness of being born in the middle of winter.

1/2 century, bicentennial farm, millennial kingdom, eternal living...

WOW! What a landmark in time for my life this year. This is the BIG 50 for me. And I am SOOO glad.

For years I have always enjoyed the idea of getting older. I welcomed the gray, the pains, and the seasoned attitude about life. I am not sure why, but I have always liked the idea of becoming an older man. And now the time is here. I can actually say that I am an "old" man.  And I like it! As a result, some of my students at school call me grandpa now, and I am growing to like the endearing term.

Meanwhile....back on the farm. My newest work has been to restore the barn doors that were taken out years ago for the beef operation that was in operation here. A new neighbor friend needed a barn taken down, so I am helping by salvaging the doors and adding them to my barn. I am trying to keep the look of the barn the age that it is by not adding new material to it. This next spring I will be cutting them apart, and adding hardware to make them Dutch Doors.  YEAH!

 This is the back side of the machine barn that I was able to build a door for as well. I just attached it with a few screws for now, since it is so cold out, and come spring, will attach it to the track.

 And in the weigh station I created another needed door to to keep some of the wind out of the barn. Last summer I had the scale area filled with dirt, and now use this area to park the big van.

 And the inventing is still in swing. Since I freeze practically everything, I came up with this structure that would hold a ziplock bag without using my hands. I am able to set the bag on it, pour what I need into it from a pot, a pan, or the sink, and it holds itself up. The day after I made one I took it to school and sold EIGHT of them to teacher friends. My next stop.....SHARK TANK! :)

 And a few weeks ago I created Scarlet, another one of the sassy pigs I have been working on at school. She is a librarian fit with hipster glasses and a nose stud. The next one, Fong, is already started, and I am finishing her hair when I return from break.

 Phone photo from my back porch of the pond a few weeks ago. Did I mention that I love living here on the farm?

on the creative side . . .

Got to love those crazy kind of conversations you have with your children.

                                   

 Gresham is going to public school this year. And part of the public school experience is sometimes not knowing what is going on, or where things go! In this case, he had made some artwork during art class and is not really sure where the artwork ends up. I found it considerably funny because I am actually and ART TEACHER in the public school system. Not as his school though. And I know the ins-and-outs of it from the teacher's perspective, and now get to hear it from the student's point of view.

Some random phone photos from this past summer/early fall. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE living here on the farm.

 And a couple of my newer inventions...I do think that I should have become an engineer/inventor. This is the undergarment/sock carousel. It fits up to 70 items and swings with the wind! It helps by giving us more space on the lines. Made from a upcycled cycle rim.

 And my laundry basket/bag jack stand. I used a restaurant jack stand as a model for it, and made it to fit in an unused section of the bathroom closet.

And at school I am currently on a "decorating the pig" kick. We had a United Way penny drive and each class decorated a pick to put in the display case. I decorated this one for the Office, and worked on another the other day for the United Arts (art, pe, music teachers) team. It's one of those things that once I get into something, I run with it!

best of both worlds . . .

Love so many things happening on the farm, and elsewhere! Asher, and a new FOUTFOLK FARM friend spent a few hours butchering a goat the other day. It was a great experience for him to process another animal and help create a business here at the farm.

 And last week I took a few of my people to the BEST amusement park in the world! Cedar Point. Since they had not been to a park like that before, it was hard to get used to the crazy rides.

 Nolan, Cail and I spent most of the day riding the LARGE, FAST rides like this one.

Even though it is nice to go to the city, and do the park things once in awhile, it is still great to come home to the quite, peaceful farm. It's like we have the best of both worlds.

spring garden . . .

I am right in the midst of the whole 2014 garden thing again!  And it seems like spring comes, and then I am suddenly thrusted into the larger picture and find myself wanting to just till a small garden spot, and throw the plants in it.

Instead, I am going to stay focused, and continue to remind myself that I am doing the work for the future of the soil.  That I am not going to sell out and just "plant a garden" knowing that I am tearing away the life from the soil.  That I am actually trying to do something that BRINGS life back to this hard, clay ground.

These are the permanent rows that are going in the third garden spot. They appear diagonal but they are actually curved in an "S" shape.  We lay a two foot wide path of manure down and then space them with a two foot walking path that is covered with mulch.  This week I am in the process of covering the beds so that the grass and weeds won't have a chance to get any larger than they already are.

 The greenhouse is finished with the seed trays now.  I experimented with heat/temperature control in there and have now the ground mulched and electricity out to it.  I bought an electric blanket off of Ebay and am using it at a seed tray heater to keep the soil at an even 80 degrees.

 At night, when I have the lights on, it looks like a beacon for gardeners! It's about 300 feet from the house and it's pretty to see all lit up at night.  The beams of light shoot up to the sky refracting through the glass.

 And behind the greenhouse Gresham and I have made a wood sculptural obstacle course.  The disks of wood were dropped off by the tree company that gave me all the mulch. We arranged them so we could jump from one to another, and play follow the leader on them

Did I mention that I LOVE spring on the farm?

10 years later . . .

MANY years ago, Miss Leisa came on one of her many visits to the US.  That year was 2004.  And since she is here now, EXACTLY 10 years later, it was only appropriate to take another photo just like the one back then.  This photo is the one now, with some of the children grown, some a lot older, and a new addition to the family.  

ice skating . . .

Over the Christmas break this year I took the children ice skating. This is the seven year old at it!