Despite the ridiculously long, cold, wet Winter, we eventually did encounter Spring. And we were so happy to see her. We had snow in April which is just not right. Planting of vegetables had to be delayed, fruit trees suffered from hard freezes after they had already bloomed and were setting fruit, and the month just seemed as if it would NEVER bring some temperate weather. Finally, as April came to a close, Spring finally found her season and claimed it.
We were eager to get outside and start working the farm. But fate has her way of demanding we march to her rhythm rather than to the one we choose. One of our projects slated for the Spring was a remodel of the front porch of the old farmhouse. We have used the front porch for four years as a temporary greenhouse during the winter months. This has been fine, but has required a lot of maintenance, as we've had to wrap the porch in plastic sheeting, inside and out, to hold in the warmth. We decided to frame out and install sliding patio doors on all exterior walls of the porch. This would allow us to have the doors open, with screens during the warm weather, and would allow us to close the porch up tight during the cold weather.
We secured bids, we awarded the bid, and then before the work could begin, Joe's mother passed away. She would have been 88 in August. We were happy that she and Joe's sister had been able to make a trip out here in 2012 to visit us here in Virginia while we were in the process of rehabbing the old farmhouse. RIP Olga. We will miss your spunk and love of life!
Out to Dinner Their First Night in VA
Joe and his Sis Doing a Little Sightseeing
Ma and Sis, BBQ by the Pool
Joe's mother's passing meant that Joe had to return to California for several weeks to help his siblings begin the process of settling her affairs. I stayed behind, tending the farm, and overseeing the porch remodel.
Before Remodel
After Remodel, but Before Painting
We still need to paint the siding on the porch and build a small front deck, but the porch is very nice and much more functional now.
In June, while Joe was in California, a friend of ours, who we met on the eBay blogs in 2008, passed away from cancer. She was only 47 and left behind her handsome, pre-teen son. Sometimes life seems to defy logic. Rest in Peace BunnyHoppinPhooPhoo (Tamara). We will miss you, your wit, your art and your kindness.
RIP Tamara
Joe returned from California about a week ago. In his absence, six of
our hens went broody, and at the height of broodiness, there were 72
eggs being incubated by these hens. Several black rat snakes later, we
are down to four broody hens with a collective 47 eggs in their nests.
We hope to have some chicks actually hatch out over the next week or so.
Broody Hen
Eggs in Nest
Snake Retreating After Eating All the Eggs
Joe, Displaying One of the Snakes
Now, with the hens secured (hopefully) from further snake attacks, we are able to concentrate on all of the other farm chores that have been awaiting our attention. We had four rabbits produce a total of 18 baby rabbits in April and May.
We sold our mother goat and her two kids, and bought another, seven
year old goat for milking. We get more than 1/2 gallon of milk a day
from Pearl. Our other goat, Whitey, keeps Pearl company and the two of them help continue the clearing of the brush from our woods.
Pearl is a Sweet Girl
Whitely, Enjoying a Snack of Hay
And, of course the dogs are having a blast, chasing every squirrel that dares flip its tail in their yard. They root out the moles and bark at the snakes and the turtles. They alert us to stray dogs, raccoons, deer, opossum, and whatever else calls our woods home.
Blue and Ruby... Fresh From a Mole Hunt
Miah, continues her patrol of the farm, the woods, the chicken coops, the goat yards.... pretty much anywhere there is action, we are likely to find Miah... usually taking a nap in all of the commotion. I guess that's what a cat does when she reaches 15 1/2 years old.
Miah Snoozing in the Rabbit Barn
So, Spring has sprung and given way to summer. I am looking forward to making more headway on our farmette, as we continue our adventure!
It has been more than four months since my last blog post. I keep meaning to sit down and take the time to gather the photos and stories together. And then I end up finding myself knee-deep in some other project, and so the months go by.
2013 closed out well for us here at the farmhouse. Though I'd been working out of my office in the rehabbed farmhouse since January 2013, by the end of the year we had finally reached a point in our rehabilitation of the old structure where we felt we could make the move from the garage apartment. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were spent moving our things into their new places in the old farmhouse. Still lots of work to do, but we made the move.... nearly four years after we started our big rehab project.
Joe installs hooks in the bathroom
Joe installs antenna for old farmhouse
There were advantages to moving in full-time. The kitchen is SO much nicer here than in the garage apartment. I'm not complaining at all, but what a liberating feeling it was to be able to prepare a full meal, using MULTIPLE pots and pans! The master bedroom is spectacular. Waking to the early morning light coming through the stained glass window is such an awesome experience. I just love that room. My sewing machine... I am FINALLY able to reconnect with my old friend of many, many years. I am slowly, but surely, making the window toppers that I prefer to curtains. I even have my own little sewing room.... well, except when the lovely Miss Eloise is visiting....during those times it is "Eloise Room!" She is such a delight. But the best part about living full time in the old farmhouse is that Joe now only has to worry about keeping one woodstove going. Of course, when we are working in the garage apartment, he cranks up that woodstove too, but, well, it's been a cold, wet winter and we have been hibernating as much as possible.
Panoramic of old farmhouse living room
Panoramic of old farmhouse living room looking toward stairs
Ready to enjoy some TV
Baking lots of bread
Joe enjoys breakfast in bed in the new bedroom
Though 2013 closed out well for us, 2013 brought some very sad news for one of our friends. She discovered that the cancer she'd beaten a few years ago had circled back, and with a vengeance. She is a young woman, with an 11 year old son. To-date, the chemotherapy has been unsuccessful and, save a miracle, her prospects on this earth look grim. I continue praying for that miracle.
2014 has been COLD so far. This may have been the coldest, wettest winter I have experienced in Virginia. I am so looking forward to spring, and yet, even as I write this, we are battening down the hatches for more wind, and wet stuff --- 3-4 inches of the white variety. I would love to have one full week of no precipitation, and reasonable temperatures. I'm ready to start planting seeds.
Snow on the service deck outside the bedroom
Chicken....determined to be outside,
but not wanting to get her feet in the snow
During the past couple of months we've had the pleasure of hosting the lovely Miss Eloise in our home for several days at a time. She loves all of the animals and awakens each morning with a huge smile on her face, eager to go, "feed the co-cos, goats, rabbits, dogs and cat" -- Co-cos are chickens. She is quite the little farm helper.
Joe and the lovely Miss Eloise
The lovely Miss Eloise reads to her babies
They love to read!
The kitchen table has drawers..
which make perfect tables for toddlers.
She is at that stage where she is a complete sponge. You need only tell her something once and she remembers it. Every time we go to get the feed for the critters, she stands well back from the feed van, and reminds me that she is standing there so she will not get her head bumped with the back door of the van. Once the van door is open she climbs in and starts filling up feed buckets.
A farmer girl at heart!
Let me show you my goats!
Here you go baby!
If she sits down, Miah comes to be petted
Helping Gaki fill the feed bowls
Petting Fluffy
Fluffy is "FOST!"
This most recent visit she learned to, "cross the bridges," all on her own, not holding Gaki's (me) or Joe's hand. This is a big deal because these bridges are simply 2" X 8", and 2" X 10" boards that Joe has laid across the open trenches which are deep and wide and which, should the weather EVER decide to cut us a break, will finally be closed in. The lovely Miss Eloise eventually got so confident in her ability to cross these bridges that she made a little game out of jumping off the bridge at the end. This worked well until she was crossing the bridges while carrying a basket of eggs. Though she did not break the eggs, I cautioned her that she should not jump off the bridge if she was carrying eggs. From then on, when crossing the bridges, she made a conscious and verbal decision as to whether to jump or not to jump. And, if she forgot to jump off the bridge when she was not carrying eggs, she would retrace her steps going back over the bridge, JUST so she could jump off the end!
Learning to cross bridges on her own
Still getting a helping finger from Joe
The day after this crossing,
she was crossing the bridge on her own
I think that before her next visit, we will need to set up a little puppet theater. She is just enthralled with playing dolls with Joe, who practices his ventriloquist talents with her baby dolls. She reacts so wonderfully when the baby doll cries that "she" wants this or that. It is quite enjoyable to watch.
October was a month I had been looking forward to since May, when my niece Heather announced her engagement to her boyfriend Bill. He proposed to her while they were in Ireland attending their friends' wedding. From May to October did not seem like a lot of time to get everything done, but they managed to pull it off.
Family and friends from near and far traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where Heather and Bill were married in her parents' back yard.
Eloise, washing her feet in the sink at the hotel....
gotta be clean to be Heather's flower girl!
Everything was perfect. Well, OK, there were maybe a few minor "glitches," but those just added to the memorable event. Sure, the bus driver who was to drive attendees from their nearby hotels to the wedding site had no idea where he was going or what he was supposed to be doing.... no problem, those on the shuttle bus helped him find his way with the trusty GPS apps on their phones....they arrived a little late... resulting in a 30 minute delay of the beginning of the ceremony.
Eloise, barefoot and carefree
as she waited to be the flower girl
My brother Ray rests awhile in the
theater seats my brother Dan created
as guest seating at the wedding
But, really, if the driver had known what he was doing, had known where
he was going, had managed to get the guests to the shindig on
time......we would not have been able to experience the true beauty of
autumn leaves that fell like rain as the couple stood facing each other
ready to say their vows. Of course, had the ceremony started on time,
we would not have had the marriage proclamation being made as the skies
opened with REAL rain, resulting in a hundred or more drenched guests
dashing to the "reception tent," to take cover and to dry their faces with
towels. They say a wet knot is harder to untie, so the downpour on the
wedding bodes well for Heather and Bill!
Heather and Bill get some good
advice from Heather's uncle Mark
They do!
See the video of the leaves falling as they say their vows here! Raining Autumn Leaves
Dad and Lynne, (grandparents of the bride)
arrive at the reception tent soaked!
Jill, sister of the bride, and maid of honor,
arrives at the reception tent looking stunning!
Mom (grandmother of the bride)
is drenched but happy!
Meanwhile, back on the farmette, October was all about preparing for the new carports to be installed. Preparations actually began last spring with the felling of trees to enable the clearing of the sites for the buildings. Then came all of the root grinding, leveling (loads of road dirt,
crush and run and gravel) and finally the erection of the units. Joe
put many, many hours on the tractor in October!
Joe gets dirt for leveling pads from
mountain of dirt removed to deepen the back pond
Dig, dump, spread, compact, REPEAT....
One of the original carports had to be moved
and Joe had an idea of how to move it....
Oh, yeah, this looks like it'll work!
Well, he got it started....
And sure enough, he rolled her into her new location,
about 150 feet from the original location
Installing new carport
From the side of the house
Joe is EVERYWHERE on that tractor!
Once the buildings were in place, Joe moved right on to trenching. He is running water and electricity to all of the buildings and, at the same time, finishing the water diversion project we've been working on for the past 3 1/2 years. He rented a trencher and for three days trenched an amazing number of trenches.
The beast!
A-trenching we will go...
A-trenching we will go...
Heigh-ho, the derry-o, A-trenching we will go!
Of course, the chickens thought he was simply helping them find new and exciting places to find bugs to eat and new places to take dust baths in the afternoon sun, and they went about to scratching every which way... carefully refilling trenches with fresh dirt!
Joe made us SUCH a nice place
to take a dust bath....
While Joe was trenching, I busied myself with the electric log splitter,
getting the small woodshed filled for the first fires in the wood
stoves.
Many hours of wood-splitting later...
Before we moved on to the actual laying of water lines and electrical lines, it was obvious we needed to get our 42 free ranging birds into a closed pen where they would not be able to immediately undo Joe's work. So, we took a break from the dirt duties, and focused on erecting a new chicken coop. The critical feature of the new coop is that it has a chicken wire roof so the birds cannot fly over the 6 ft high fence. So far, it is working pretty well.
Getting everything ready for the chickens
Introducing the chickens to their new digs
Chickens exploring
Dogs are "next door" to protect the chickens
And now, as we head into November, we are ready to lay the water pipe and electric lines, split a LOT more wood for the winter, finish grading the new roads after the trenches have been closed, and maybe, just maybe, when the weather turns too cold to work outside, we will, once again, turn our focus to the completion of the old farmhouse rehab.... sure, it's just lots of little things, but we haven't been indoors in MONTHS it seems!
And, of course, no October post would be complete without pictures of the lovely Miss Eloise on her Pumpkin Farm field trip, and in her Hallowe'en costume..... Mama was apparently making her eat (something that was too hot) BEFORE going out on the town!
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