Category: farm
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Messy art party
To celebrate Neko's sixth birthday with her friends, we held a Messy Art Party (a brilliant idea by the ladies at Big Bash Productions). As I'm always reminded when we have friends over, we are so fortunate to be surrounded by such good folk.
A good time was had by all. Paint splattered and squirted. T-shirts printed. Cake consumed. The Adventure Trail run again and again. The weather hung in there, and the sun shined until the end.
Of course, after everyone left there was the inevitable crash into tears and tantrums. And more tears. And more tantrums.
But the party? Loads of fun.
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Tractor graveyard
When we moved here, we noted the patch of woods to the side of the house. When we finally explored it for the first time, we made an amazing discovery. For years, the people who farmed the land parked their retired farm implements in the woods. It's an amazing collection of rust and gears and mechanical contraptions.
There are wagons with wooden seats, belts and gears, old chicken houses and an old barn that sits at a 30-degree slant. Some day I'll take more time to properly document, but I snapped a few when Ellery and I wandered in, looking for Neko, Shep, and Tom.
We found them later on the patio, with their treasure—an nearly complete skeleton of what we think is a deer. Documentation on that to come later.
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Bug season
I declare it officially open.
There is no ribbon cutting ceremony or anything, but we will share with you the first specimen of the season—a stink bug, also known by its more scientific name, Pentatomoidea.
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Happy new year
We've been absent from the blog world for a bit. We've been busy merry making. And then cleaning up from merry-making.
And while we were cleaning, we moved on down to the basement, and finally cleaned up the tricycle area. Piles of junk were cluttering the area for months, and we finally gave it the heave-ho. I think we made up for my falling off the 30 baskets wagon. Loads and loads of stuff exited this house.
The kids were beside themselves, whizzing around the basement, working off all their pent up energy. We even broke in the easels.
Just don't look at the rest of the house for another week or two, because, um, we had to kind of let that go so we could focus on the basement.
A good way to start the new year. My thighs may not be smaller, but I already feel a little lighter.
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Happy new year
We've been absent from the blog world for a bit. We've been busy merry making. And then cleaning up from merry-making.
And while we were cleaning, we moved on down to the basement, and finally cleaned up the tricycle area. Piles of junk were cluttering the area for months, and we finally gave it the heave-ho. I think we made up for my falling off the 30 baskets wagon. Loads and loads of stuff exited this house.
The kids were beside themselves, whizzing around the basement, working off all their pent up energy. We even broke in the easels.
Just don't look at the rest of the house for another week or two, because, um, we had to kind of let that go so we could focus on the basement.
A good way to start the new year. My thighs may not be smaller, but I already feel a little lighter.
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Farm Day 6
I declare Farm Day 6 a success—a perfect fall day. We are lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people, both family and friends. A special big shout-out to Bryan and Amy (and Matt and Sophie), for traveling the farthest to join us. One from each coast.
The only thing I ask is that next year, someone needs to detach my children from me for 20 minutes so I can run around and take photos. At the end of the night, this picture of Ronan was one of the few sitting in my camera.
Farm Day 7 is October 10, 2009. Mark your calendars!
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Tree, tree, tree
What's that? You say there's something we forgot to clean up from the storm? We really need to get out the weed whacker?
No, actually that's one of our new trees. For the first year, we bought some trees through the parks system, which holds a sale each fall. They said the trees were about three years old, which I know isn't too old for a tree, but I have to admit, I was a little surprised how tiny they were when we arrived.
But the plan is a long-range one, planting about 10 trees each year, so as time marches on we have a yard with a bit more shade and a screen from the ever-encroaching development. So little trees are fine. Little trees become big trees, given enough time and patience.
A big shout-out goes to Tom, his brother Jeff, and Semia's husband, Ken, who dug holes in our yard, which is apparently 90% rock. Investing in some beefier equipment might not be a bad idea if we plan to make this an annual event.
