Feeling our way through another week.....

On the same adventure when we picked up the puppy we also stopped at a farm for some chicks.  We hope all of our chicken clean up the yard by eating all the bugs, most importantly the ticks.

Here's a girl I found passed out in the feed.  Guess she had a rough night !! There's a few of us who can relate to this happening after a night of parting !!  What happens in our 20's stays in our 20's.

This is what the chick above will look like when she's grown

This is what the other ones will  look like.

This is Junior, I didn't want to name him but the kids did.  He's an Orphan cow from a farmer in Hopkinsville.  He has never been fed corn, yippy.  We are bottle feeding him to help him get a good start.  Now the question is how do I possibly allow him to be put in the freezer.  Tom will be eating the meat we get from our farm, me not so much !!  I'll stay a Vegetarian for the time being.  

Projects are mounting every day.  I have so many remodeling projects rolling around in my head my head feels like a bowling alley or a pinball machine. There are days when I ask myself when I thought all this work was going to be a good idea.  Then I have to look at the end result which will be a place where I know what's in my food.  I don't have to rely on a grocery store or a Costco for supplies. 

  

We'll find a way to get it all done.  We always do.  I am exhausted but having a great time knowing someday this place will be what we envision.  I miss our friends immensely but hope that we'll be making some new friends here to share this experience with.

Thanks for following the blog.

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” 
― George Bernard Shaw

Summer Fun with Kids...

The grand kids came to visit and had a blast.  Their mom came along too but had to work via the internet so her days were spent inside mostly.  The kids helped feed the animals and clean up after them.  A new experience for all of us city people !!

We went on an adventure one day after finding a puppy we liked to be a guard dogs to the animals.  Once we met him we knew he was the one.  The kids named him Bear because he looks like a Bear.  I would have rather had a different name but kids come first.  He's a Great Pyrenees and at 30 lbs aged 11 weeks he'll be a big boy.  His Dad was over 100 lbs.  

Bear likes the garden, maybe too much.  

A little ride around the property for Grandpa and kids. 

A Little of this and that.

  There is a long list of projects that need to be completed some will have to wait a while. We just found out Tom has to have hand surgery, on both hands.  Put's a little crimp in the plan.  Hands are rather important for doing this type of work.  He is scheduled for surgery on one hand July 2nd.  After that heals he'll have the other hand done.  So he'll be down for a bit.  I'll take up the slack where I can. 

This is what he has.

Dupuytren's (du-pwe-TRANZ) contracture is a hand deformity that usually develops slowly, over years. Dupuytren's contracture affects a layer of tissue that lies under the skin of your palm. Knots of tissue form under the skin — eventually forming a thick cord that can pull one or more of your fingers into a bent position.

Once this occurs, the fingers affected by Dupuytren's contracture can't be straightened completely, which can complicate everyday activities such as placing your hands in your pockets, putting on gloves or shaking hands.

                              

Our first piece of Rustic Furniture is an old barnwood 

table I found which will be used as a desk for us.  New Appliances are on the list as well. Some much
needed remodeling of the house will be forthcoming.

                              

Since this farm is all about being Organic I am embracing a non chemical practice.  There are lots of weeds around our house, driveway, etc.  Some are good and some are not so good.  I have made up a solution of Vinegar, Epsom Salt and a few drops of dish soap.  Spraying the weeks from a back pack sprayer and hoping for best.  I found that the this solution works great.  It's off to Costco or Sams for cases of Vinegar.  Best of all it's a whole lot less expensive then the nasty Round Up !!!

                              

                                             

                                 

                                            

Frogs in the flower beds are a cool thing for California girl to find.   Not something 

I ever came across in our Redondo Beach backyard.  Unless you are my friend Leslie

who saves them from her local Asian Market and puts them in her garden.  

I have to say that was a genius idea !!!  

Check the whole blog because I am doing a few posts this morning......Sorry I have to carve out time to do this when I can.

Kombuscha working

One of the things I like to drink is Kombuscha which is a Fermented Tea.  It sounds gross but the Probiotics in it can help heal the gut.  So I started a brew about 3 weeks ago with a Scoby which is like a starter for Sour Dough bread and you can keep moving it from one batch to the next.  I know it looks gross !!  They are sold at Whole Foods, Sprouts and most health food stores.

                                            

Scoby growing in the tea at 80 degrees.

The finished batch as of Friday.

My additions to the tea for flavor were Blueberries, Raw Ginger and Basil.  

The Basil was from our garden.  The other items will be grown here soon enough. 

The finished product wasn't bad for a first attempt.  I think it could have had a little more kick and maybe been fermented more. Which would actually give it a low percent of alcohol content.  Next batch is in the making.

Check the whole blog because I am doing a few posts this morning......Sorry I have to carve out time to do this when I can.

                                                      

The View Keeps Getting Better

Out for an early morning walk with the dogs and one cat.  Last evening cooled enough to bring all the forces together to give us this beautiful fog rising from the pond this morning.  We sat and enjoyed this for a long time.   Our challenges have not gone away but when you come outside and find a view like this with birds singing how can you not say your are blessed.

The walk out to the pond from the house.

Our grass is still on the ground and is pretty much rotten.  Our baler still not working properly and the place where we bought it hasn't sent anyone out to fix it.  So we have decided to bale without tying and turn it into the biggest compost pile in Western Kentucky.  There is a bright spot in this situation. 

Check the whole blog because I am doing a few posts this morning......Sorry I have to carve out time to do this when I can.

Courage to Continue .....

The last few of days have been a bit of a downer.  Starting on Friday we tried to bale our grass which we cut over a week ago.  Since our tractor hydraulics were not working properly we were not able to bale when it was dry.  We got a window of opportunity and Tom was able fix the tractor.  It seemed all was right on the farm.  The baler was hooked up and we were ready to put this project to bed, or so we thought.  It seems the baler was not going to cooperate and we couldn't get it to tie the bales properly. Which means when you spit them out the back they fall apart like a jenga game !!  With heat and humidity beating down on us we tried again and again and again to get this thing right.  NOTHING. Tom pulled hay into that baler tried to tie and we would just eat up the string.  Then it would get jammed and we had to clean it out again and again.  It was after 5 in the evening when we gave up.

This is Kentucky so nothing happens on the weekend.  The place where we purchased the equipment was closed by the time we stopped.  So a plan was made to handle it on Monday and hope no measurable rain happened.

Well measurable rain happened !!!!

The brown lines is the grass that needs to be picked up and baled.  
It rained Sunday and  last night so it's soaked !!

The bales we did get rolled but not tied.  A little tree trimming in foreground. 

Hay bales rolled but not tied.  Look pretty sad !!!

With the weekend upon us we did some chores, met some neighbors and looked through Craigslist for stuff we might need.  I found a closet organizer in Nashville so we headed down there on Sunday afternoon.  Didn't turn out to work for us so we opted for Sushi dinner and headed home.  The ride home is about 90 minutes and about 10 miles from home we see a deer on the drivers side of the road. This is a big doe !! She looked like she was going to run in front of the truck.  Then she turned away but then in a split second she ran right into the driver's side bumper !!  I am screaming don't hit the deer. Tom is doing his best not to kill us on this country road.  We hear the loud bang, the airbag didn't deploy but something happened to it inside the engine.  The hazard lights came on automatically, the seat belts stopped working and locked us in.  Our bumper was rubbing on the tire.  Safe to say all this happened in about 5 seconds or less.  

We drove home slow and asked some people behind us to follow us just in case something happened to the tire.  After making it home we surveyed the damage and found the bumper smashed in, the airbags needing to be serviced and some damage under the frame.  

My heart aches for the deer.  I wish it has just stayed where it was.  Such an emotional experience to hit and kill an animal on the road.  With only one car right now we had to get the vehicle to the nearest city and then rent a car until repairs can be made.  

 Which brings us to today Tuesday.  

We are waiting on a few pieces of furniture we bought a couple of weeks ago so we can stay in the little house on the property.  There is some major remodeling that needs to be done to the place but that will come in time.  I see potential to do some positive things.  Our goal is to live in it a year before we make major changes in order to see what we want to do.

This is the small living room we'll be expanding at some point.
Yes those fixtures on the ceiling will be replaced SOON.
We already purchased can lights for that !!

Hopefully life will go a little more smoothly now.  Makes us appreciate the boring days...or so my brother tells me.  We'll just take one day at a time make the best of every situation.  I am just happy to be in a beautiful place with a husband and animals I love with all my heart.

Just call him TRACTOR MAN....

We purchased a new tractor to get our grass cut and rolled.  Needless to say we were both excited.

Tom spent a good portion of the day cutting grass with his John Deere cutter.  We raked it and got it ready to bale only to have the baler not work properly.  

After many hours of trying, phone calls to the tractor company, the equipment company, internet searching we found that the hydraulics were installed improperly.  Tom, being the mechanic he is was able to fix it and onto baling the hay we went.  Well come to find the old baler we purchased which was new when I was in Jr High...Just sayin... does not work properly either.  It won't tie and does not bale !!!  GRRRR it's the weekend so the place is closed and have to wait till Monday to take it in !!

So the grass sits out waiting to be put in it's neat little rolls.  

AND WE WAIT .............................

On a funny note we found a mole or I should say Sam found a mole which we have now saved for our grandson Ashton to inspect upon his visit here on a couple of weeks.  When he saw this picture he was very excited !!  

Coffee has decided it is her job to find all the mice and moles in the field.  Our barn kitty Beebe likes hanging out waiting for the mice to run from the hole.  She then grabs it and does what all good kitties do to mice.  I guess it's a tag team effort.  

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Baby steps at the Organic Farm

The work has been tough for this city girl.  There is no more manicure, pedicures or shopping at Whole Foods on a whim here.  The closest Costco or Whole Foods is 65 miles away.  So we make every trip count.  I love this life.  No more sirens running all night in the city, fighting for a parking space on the street, sitting in traffic on the 405 at 4:05... Nope I don't miss it what so ever !!!

Our chicks are growing by leaps and bounds.  They will be free ranging here soon.

This is a Barred Rock chick hanging on the roosting perch.  

The Turkey eggs began hatching night before last so I spent most of the night up being a mid-wife to these little stinkers.  They were so cute.  We started off with 5 eggs ready to hatch.  At one point 4 hatched and we were waiting for number 5 when on an hourly check we found one chick had passed away leaving 3 and the one in the egg couldn't get out and died as well.  

                                    We now have 3 and are happy with them.  

This is how they will look when fully grown.  

After many calls and lots of internet searching I was able to locate a Non GMO, no soy, no corn chicken feed custom mixed by an Amish farm.  I am over the moon having found this.  With my corn allergy this means I can eat eggs without getting sick !!!  

Tom and I are having a great time on this journey.  

Another week

We have had another week working on the farm.  So many projects I can't even count.

Tom and his friend Tom went to Idaho and retrieved our truck with all of our belongings in it.  They drove it here in 54 hours.  I think they both thought they were 25 again.  Great to have our stuff back but we had water damage again in the truck.  Thought we fixed the crack but apparently we did not.  Lots of items got soaked.  On top of that we had rain the last two days and all the items we had in boxes we put in the barn for unpacking.  Well we set them on the floor on top of some plywood, not a great plan.  A river of water ran through the barn with the downpours we had.  The bottom boxes had 3 inches of water soaking them.  Very disappointing.  Something else that needs to be addressed.

Tom and Tom making me nesting boxes for the baby chicks. 

Baby chicks... Australorps and Barred Rocks.  These babies will lay brown colored eggs. 

                                              

                                                    

My wonderful friend from Texas sent me these Turkey eggs.  Hope a couple hatch !!  They are in a incubator now.  I turn them daily like a good mother hen.

                        

This is the second story to the bee colony.  Now the bees have an upstairs to get away from the 

queen if they so choose.  I put a queen restricter in.  This way they go up and make their honey and the queen does her thing on bottom floor.

                            

I have more photos to post but first I have to go check on chicks and eggs.  More to come....

New Chicks.

We have so many projects I can't even begin to list them all.  Tom is on his way from Idaho with his friend Tom bringing our possessions which were parked there for the last 4 years.  

Bebe walks with us like she's a dog in the morning.

She finds the pond for the first time.

I had to pick up some chicks locally.  There are 6 Rhode Island Reds and 4 Ameraucanas 

They are getting acquainted with each other.

More chicks to come.  I have my eye on some rare breeds.  When I decide which ones I'll post.

The First Few Days.

We have arrived and been exploring our new homestead.  Sam and Coffee love the pond.  We walk every morning rain or shine.  The first place they go is to the pond to check if there are any ducks. 

A beautiful still morning....

Really can't beat this view.

These are my bees.  I plan on having several hives.  Gotta start somewhere.

Some of you may remember Anastasia (renamed Bebe) because she responds when I say come on baby!  She was the cat at the Organic Farm in Texas.  Well we stopped to say hi and she jumped in my arms.  She wouldn't leave me and hung on with her claws dug into my shoulder.  She made the trip from Texas to Kentucky like princess.  Now she is our farm kitty.  She is in charge of ridding the property of all mice.  From of the looks of things she is taking her job seriously.  

This is our new Hay rake.  We'll be gathering the grass for use later for our sheep, goats and cows.  When we get them.

Stayed tuned for this transformation.  This will turn into our Chicken Mobile.  Which we will move around the farm so the chickens have fresh grass and bugs to feast on.

Had to put in a mailbox.  This place has never had one.  I guess it's real.