A Quick "Hello"

I start my day as dawn is breaking standing in the open door of our home with my favorite sheep mug full of hot coffee, looking out over the farm. I make a mental plan of what is hopefully going to get done that day. It has definitely been a challenge lately to plan much of anything. Rain, rain and more rain.

We had two days of partial sun and warm temps this past week. Most days it's drizzly and humid or it's pouring buckets. The predicted forecast: rain/showers/thunderstorms through Friday. This weather is wreaking havoc with the farmers and gardeners. Hay is already is short supply - luckily many folks put in extra last year and it will get them through. The hay in the fields is lodging from all the rain and on dry days, farmers cannot get their tractors on the fields for fear they will sink out of sight in the mud.

A notice came today from the Extension service regarding late blight appearing on tomatoes and potatoes. The cloud cover protects the spores from being eradicated by uv radiation. They are advising if you find it to pull up your plants, seal them in bags and dispose of them to keep the spores from spreading. So far I haven't seen any but if it keep raining fresh vegetables are going to be in short supply here in the Northeast.

The days it did not rain we managed to put in 200 bales of new hay (mowed and baled the last three day stretch of good weather we had and stored in our hayman's barn) mowed all the grass on this farm that needed mowing (I see myself changing lawn into sheep pasture:) weeded all three gardens, planted a few more crops and worked in the new farmstand/shop.

Tyler had a friend over for the week and my cousin, Jake was here for the week as well so our house was busy. The boys all get along great and everyone really enjoyed being together. My Mom loved having them all here - she baked and baked. That's her favorite thing to do and of course, everyone loves to eat it :)

Our kittens, Jinx and Jade are getting big and have made themselves right at home as you can see from the photo above. When they are ready to sleep, they land and conk out. No matter who's arm or lap it is. They are tons of fun :)

We have three baby ducks (that's another post and I'll try to get photos) and we also have a new bunny (photos coming as well).

I'm off to the city for a meeting tomorrow and to hopefully find new curtains for the shop. Fabric hunting has been a huge disappointment. The Curtain Factory Outlet is my next option.

I hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods - if you wouldn't mind, send some our way :)

Busy weekend ~

Although our rainy weather pattern continues and it's gloomy and wet, we can still find plenty to keep us busy. June 19th, our youngest, Tyler, graduated from the 8th grade! It's hard for us, like other parents I'm sure, to believe that he's headed for high school in the fall. We aren't worried, it's just we miss the years that have passed already.

Caution: Shameless bragging ahead :)

We are very proud of Tyler. He's been an honor student all year. He received a perfect attendance award and a scholastic achievement award in math. He's a kind young man who is loyal to his friends, very tolerant of others and definitely loves his family. We couldn't ask for any more than that.

We spent most of the weekend working on the farm shop. Both entrances have a new porch/landing. Steve put up these great track lights in the center of the ceiling and we bought a ceiling fan/light to install over the new glass display case that was given to us by a friend of Steve's. Mom and I washed all the windows inside and cleaned the screens. Cleaned up the cabinets and the base of an old Hoosier cabinet that Steve brought home for me.


A little electrical work left to finish, a good through cleaning and curtains and we will be good to go. I've hard a hard time finding material for the valences I want to make. You know how you have something in mind but you just can't find it? That's where I am right now. Guess I need to be a little less fussy. I need 10 valences and I know I can make them cheaper than I can buy them.
School is out for the summer. Tyler has a buddy staying with us for a few day and my cousin, Jacob is here for the week. I needed to go to the store to pick up a few extra things and while shopping, I found these great baskets. Aren't they adorable? I purchased two for the shop.

With the additional man power I have here this week we are going to move my big blanket loom and a few other items out of the attic and into the farm shop. I have several other projects in mind that we can get done if the forecast of sunshine proves true. These young lads will do anything for my Mom's chocolate cake!

~Hope it's sunny where you are ~

A Father's Day Thank you........

"Happy Father's Day"

I dreamed as a little girl of growing up, marrying my handsome prince and having beautiful children. I'm one of the lucky ones - all of my childhood dreams came true. Not without bumps in the road but I think those only make me stronger along the way. The handsome fellow on the left is my husband, Steve. He is my best friend and a great Dad to our boys. He takes great care of us and we have a good life. We have a wonderful partnership - I give thanks every day for this wonderful man. My boys and I know just how lucky we are :)

"Happy Father's Day Dad"

This good looking guy is my Dad. We all have homes here on the farm but Dad spends his spring, summer & fall giving horse drawn carriage tours on Mt. Desert Island in Acadia National Park here in Maine. My Dad has been a cowboy long before I was born. He was born in a lumber camp and was driving team, hauling logs when he was 11 years old. He has a natural way with horses that is a rare gift. He taught my brother & I to ride before we could hardly walk. We always had a large selection of horses to choose from and always had friends around to ride with on the weekends. Dad spent alot of time with us as kids and taught us all the right things about being good horseman as well as good people. I miss him when he's gone but I know he's doing what he loves and that's what is important in life :)

Happy Father's Day to all the great "Dad's" in your life.

View out my window..........

I was standing in the kitchen this morning, looking out the window. It's raining again - it's been pouring since last evening. The amount of rain we've had lately really is a double edged sword. We are too wet right now but I'm very thankful that we do not live in an area that is suffering from years of drought. Georgia is finally out of a drought after 3 years. I can't imagine how those folks survive with little to no water. I don't think that is something we need to worry about but things change so quickly, buy August we could be extremely dry and it just pays off to be prepared for everything. We collect rainwater runoff from our outbuildings for the gardens. I haven't set the rain barrels out yet as we haven't needed the water. I'm sure we will set them out soon.

Our property sets on an 8000 acre aqua fir (underground lake). Water is plentiful as we have many natural springs on the farm as does our neighbor next to us. The chance of us running out of water is slim but the natural water table does diminish when we have an extreme dry spell. We do not take this natural water source for granted and conserve water wherever we can. As much as I would much prefer to be outside working today, I'm not going to whine about the rain. It's truly a gift that we always seem to appreciate more when we don't get any.

Wordless Wednesday....

Gardening progress.....

The sun is shining :) It is sweet to feel the warmth from the sun and see the beautiful, brilliant clear blue sky. It rained for a week steady. Not always hard, driving rain but always raining. Our soil was dry and we did need rain but not inches and inches of it.

The gardens greatly benefited from the rain - almost everything we planted has germinated and emerged. Today we weeded the two front gardens. With the two or three days of sun that we are supposed to have before showers set in again, the gardens should thrive.

Linda from Life on a Colorado Farm sent me four varieties of Heirloom been seeds. As the photo shows, all the seed germinated and we anticipate a bumper crop of beans! Thank you Linda :)

Broccoli, cabbages, peppers and celery are all doing great. Unfortunately our potato experiment was not a success. As I posted earlier, we planted our potatoes in holes that we planned on filling in as the potato plant grew up through. Due to the all the rain and cold, damp weather, our seed potato rotted in the holes. Thankfully, we can start over so we will shallow till that area tomorrow and plant the potatoes in our regular trenches this time and pray for better luck. We also staggered our planting of some crops and it's time to re-plant a few more things such as green beans and cucumber.

Hope all your gardens are flourishing - thanks for stopping to visit with us at Tylerfarm :)

Forever Friends -

"Banjo"

At 4:30 p.m. today my sweet, faithful, companion, best friend and work mate of the last 9 years was laid to rest. He has been battling with diabetes since last June and had recently developed a tumor behind his right shoulder which was determined by our Veterinarian to be bone cancer. It was quickly spreading. He had lost the use of his right leg and it was spreading to his other legs, making it extremely difficult to get around. He never complained and still accompanied me everywhere even though he limped on three legs. I have never nor will I ever again have a dog with as much courage and loyalty as Banjo.

at 7:15 we had a slight shower and this beautiful rainbow appeared. Perhaps it's just my mind trying to ease the enormous ache in my heart but I believe my friend has crossed the rainbow bridge and is now at peace. I believe I will be reunited with him someday and until then, he will be happy with with his friend, Barney whom we lost a few months ago.

I feel his presence everywhere I turn on this farm. I'm sure I will look for him around every corner for quite some time. I will be forever grateful to have had 9 magical years with this incredible animal. He taught me so many wonderful life lessons.

Thank you my friend. I shall miss you always ~