Isn’t it funny how I hit snooze 5 times on workdays and can still barely get up when I have to – and then this weekend I bounded out of bed by 7:30 AM all on my own, with no alarm at all!? My husband likes to say that he can work 14 hours on the farm and not feel as tired as after 8 hours on the clock. This promises to be a productive day and I’ll be back later on to post about it. Just thought I’d stop in and wish every one a good morning! Enjoy your day! 🙂
Continue readingCategory: thankful
Weird/Bad Dreams
I have really weird, and usually scary, dreams several times a month. Brian says I’m crazy but I blame it on watching too much America’s Most Wanted as a child. Watching CSI in recent years probably doesn’t help either. Last night we went to the snowmobile races. Several of our friends were racing and it was a pretty good show. There were a couple wipe outs that made me cringe but no one got hurt. We got home around 11 PM. I let the dogs out right away but soon after I let them back in I heard our cat, Baxter, meowing frantically. He was outside on our front porch!! Now in the summer he does go in and out as he pleases but he hasn’t been outside since the first frost last fall and he never tries to get out when it is this cold. I still don’t understand how he got out. Brian insists that he must have darted out when we left and I hope he’s right. Our door was unlocked and I question whether someone stopped by but I still think they would have pretty much had to throw him outside to get him to go.
Continue readingLemons
Wow – what a great blogging community this is! I can’t express how wonderful everyone has been by leaving wonderful comments here. So, you can imagine how touched I was to receive The Lemonade Award – twice! From my understanding, this award is meant for people who are positive, show gratitude, and of course: make lemons out of lemonade! The rules for this award are that you post the graphic for it, write a post that links back to the giver, and then pass it on to up to ten others. Leave a comment on the blogs that get the award, so they know what’s happened. First, I would like to thank Joyce at tallgrassworship (haha does this sound like a Grammy speech?) for passing along the award and for spreading the word about the fire with the other APLS. Thanks to Ruth at Everydaywoman as well for also passing this award my way. I don’t think I ever commented back to you but you should know (& Abbie too!) that by sharing the story of your family’s barn burning you really helped me to see past this. We are so lucky that our animals are okay – I’m sure
Continue readingDisaster at the Farm
Don’t know where to start – there was a fire at the farm here today. Half of our big shed is ruined along with the big lean-to we added on last fall. Thank god for our dogs, we were trying to sleep in this morning and they saw the fire out the window and barked until we woke up. It was too late to stop the fire but we saved all the cattle, the tractors, and the hay. Losses include all of the corn and oats we had kept to feed and heat our house, plus our planter and multiple gravity wagons/corn wagons. Our friends and neighbors have already rallied around us and helped in every way possible. We are so grateful. I took some video of the damage today so I’ll be posting that if I can get it to load properly. I figured this will be a part of the farm’s history and we might as well record it to show our kids someday. It just feels like I’ve been punched in the stomach. I’ll be posting updates in the coming days.
Continue readingSunday Stroll
Here’s found I saw today as I walked around the yard. The garden freshly mulched for winter: Lots of hay ready to be fed: The last of the new landscaping, until spring: Chickens happily eating apple scraps: And then later, it snowed!!: Check out who else is stolling today over at Quiet Country House. Today I’m thankful for the space we have here to call our own. It is so nice to relax at home on a weekend and take a break from the rest of the world. I love having the yard to decorate the way I like and the house that feels more like home every day.
Continue readingBob Waldrop and Someday: A Tri-Cities Food Coop!?
So I attended a very interesting presentation Tuesday night titled, “Re-inventing the Family Farm”. I found the flyer at the Greenstone Farm Credit office of all places, which made me a little leery to attend. However, the presentation was by Robert Waldrop, President and General Manager of the Oklahoma Food Coop. The coop is incredibly successful, more so than I would have ever expected. Mr. Waldrop was hosted by Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU), almost an hour away from where I live. I had no idea there was so much great work in progress at SVSU. They are working on everything from vermiculture and hydroponics to alternative energy development. For more information on the projects going on there check out the Green Cardinal (the cardinal is the school mascot) and the last few posts on Bob Waldrop’s blog. While you’re on Bob’s blog scroll down to the post about 20 Things to Do Now that the Election is Over. I found it very interesting and motivating. So, back to the presentation. Really it was mostly practical advice and tips on how to start and operate a large food coop. I have considered in the past the idea of trying to
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