I can't believe June is almost over!

Time just seems to get away from me, lately. We've been busy and had many projects to work on. I'd like to add and many of them are completed, YEAH! I posted pictures of Mike swathing, well..... on Friday afternoon a bit of a rain storm came, which delayed the baling until Sunday, just to be sure it was dry enough. Mike baled on Sunday morning, netting us.......... 20 bales! Anything was more than we'd expected as we'd decided we'd just graze it this year but with all those Spring rains it grew quicker than the animals could keep up with. This will be enough to get us through the summer and well into Fall. This way we won't have to break into any of the hay we're buying for the winter. We only feed a light flake in the mornings to the horse and cows and then Mo gets a light flake in the evening. Mo only gets to graze for 2 hours, Fjords are such gluts they will founder themselves if left in a pasture all day. He literally NEVER picks up his head when he's out on pasture, LOL!!!! We also got a majority of the garden paths tilled and I weeded several of the rows. It's looking like a garden again, instead of a weed patch. There is still lots to weed yet and we all know it's a never ending job. Mike also got the wood splitter all beefed up and running. The trailer was full of a load of wood he'd cut and brought home last weekend. We need the trailer to pick up hay this afternoon, so Mike and I decided we'd split the wood rather than simply unload it to the ground where it has to be handled yet again. Some of this wood was LARGE pieces and were quit heavy, so if we don't have to pick them up, but rather roll them off the trailer onto the splitter it makes it a bit easier job. Our Dexter cow, Addy will stay with the bull until after her next heat cycle, July 13th, to be sure she took. We're going to visit her sometime this week. Cortney wants to see Abe, the Dexter bull as well as the variety of sheep on our friends homestead. Cortney and I went into the city on Friday to stock up on some personal hygiene items on sale at Shopko as well as pick up 100# of unbleached, Natural White flour from Wheat Montana. The prices of everything are soaring! I'm so thankful that we can raise the majority of what we eat. Having a well stocked pantry it key as well as buying in bulk, IMHO. When heading in, we stopped to drop off garage sale leftover items( mostly VHS kids movies, some clothes and knick knack items)at the community center. This Community center doesn't charge for anything, you take what you want and it works on donation or free will offerings. We decided to look for some summer shirts for Cortney and myself. Around here on the farm they don't have to be fancy, as they usually end up stained. We ended up finding some beautiful dress shirts, several Old Navy T's and a couple a brand new sweatshirts( which Cortney likes for layering in winter) for Cortney and I picked up three very nice T-shirts and two like new sweat shirts. We gave an offering of $10 and the lady insisted that was to much, can you imagine? The Old Navy T's probably cost $15 to $20 new and we picked up two that looked new, I felt like it wasn't enough. On slate for this week is finishing weeding the garden, watering, mowing, weed whacking, picking up 6 ton of hay tonight( out of the field, for a better price). Then Mike is off Tues. morning and he's picking up materials today to shore up the barn roof, it sagging in the middle a bit, and will work on getting a ridge beam installed as well as adding extra 2x4''s to the rafters for more weight bearing( Mike's weight, mind you not that he's heavy but we don't want him falling through*wink*). This is because we are also ordering metal roofing to re-roof the barn. The metal roofing will help to keep snow from collecting in winter. Then the next project will be to build a roof framework to install a metal roof over our firewood stacks. We're taking this in steps because of the cost. Between the two projects it's going to cost over $1,500. Metal prices are supposed to be coming down, I'd hate to see what they were before, GULP. Mike bought a piece of 1/2" x 10"x 5 ft steel, to build the new splitting wedge for the splitter and it cost...... $72 We also added a new cylinder with a longer stroke( to split the larger pieces better) and it cost almost $200, now add in fuel for the chain saws, truck and trailer, the cost of maintaining these items, and sweat equity and gathering wood is getting spendy as well. Although it is far less than the cost of electric and natural gas and it is a warmer heat too. Well.... enough said and we need to get busy on dog poo patrol, planting another half row of radishes, plant some more mini pumpkins( they didn't come up well with all the rain),and getting a load of laundry washing before setting out to mow and weed whack. We have some fun pictures we found from 4 yrs ago we want to post, maybe tonight if not tomorrow! Blessing for your day.

Here is a sample of one of Cortney's graduation pictures. I
need to crop and play with the rest a bit more.

Mike swathing hay. We didn't cut it as short as usual,

because we hadn't intended on haying it at all. The

rains we received made it grow quicker than the animals could graze

it down. We left it longer for grazing and it helps cut down on the amount

of irrigation needed following haying.

Mike estimates that we should get about 10-12 bales of hay.

the windrows are pretty thin, compared to previous years.

What a blessing this old swather has been. We purchased it at an

auction for $400 and we've used it for four seasons of haying with

only basic maintenance needed. This year it did run kind of rough to

begin with but seemed to pull out of it and run fine the rest of the

morning. If our weather holds we hope to get it baled and in the barn

on Sat. :o)

We gave Mo a both in prep for the graduation pictures. We didn't

have enough hands to get pictures during the bath and I didn't want

to get the camera wet.

This shows the traditional Fjord haircut. I've been just cutting it flat,

( the white and black the same length, due to time constraints) but

opted to do it right for their pictures. It take several hours and lots

of patience, on Mo's part as well as mine! ;o)

You probably have to click this photo to see the larger version,

our Narraganset hen and her two poults. The babes have great

camouflage!

This is the rest of the gang, minus one hen who is still setting.

We're praying she has a better hatch than the two before her.

This year we've only got three turkey poults, compared to 11

last summer, of which only 9 survived. Dang turkeys are hard to raise.

Thankfully it's just for our own use and if we happen to be blessed

with extras we then sell them, alive or butchered.

Today is weeding and watering day( the yard and orchard, the

garden has already been irrigated).

In the heat of the day we may run to town and drop off the garage

sale leftovers at the local community thrift shop. They don't sell

the items, it's free.

Our temps. were well into the 90's yesterday, YEAH, we need

the heat. The mosquitoes are so thick because of all the rain. You

have to dowse yourself in spray just to keep them at bay for

an hour or so. I made the mistake of spraying my face a few days

back ( my skin is sensitive anyway) and now my face is broke out

in tiny blisters and I look just awful, like a teenager again! I've

been putting comfrey ointment on and it does seem to

be helping it to heal. Two years ago I went to help Mike load up

some corn we'd gotten from a local farmer. We used their auger

to auger it from the bin to our trailer, the dust was terrible.

The next morning I woke up with my eyes swollen shut and my face

swollen twice the size it should have been. I didn't have any other

symptoms, and I treated it with cool wash clothes, and vitamin E oil

because it was almost like a burn, it began peeling. After the

initial shock and worry( this last a week) Mike began calling me

his Cabbage Patch Baby, LOL!!!! That is exactly what I looked

like too, once the swelling in my eyes went down. Before

anyone asks, NO, I don't have any pictures of that. Our son, Jon

was mad Mike didn't get pictures, so he could see how bad

it was. This will be one of those stories that passes down through

the generations, as a funny!

Good day to you all, we're off to replant mini pumpkins, zukes

and more radishes, as the first crop is almost done. Then I need

weed out the cantalope row, they are being choked by the weeds.

Blessing to you this day!

Potatoes, weeded and hilled.
Rhubarb harvested( second harvest) and asparagus weeded
The strawberries, just beginning to ripen. Strawberry smoothie here we
come!

Our raspberries aren't far behind, Yeah!
The view from the corner where the raspberries are planted. The

continued picture is below.

This should give everyone an idea of our garden layouts. The 1/4 acre

plot is up front, then a plot runs along the fence that divides the front

garden/ orchard area from the back orchard and garden areas.

The salad garden is behind our garage( in the background you can

see the walking onions and garlic) The tree in the foreground is a

heritage apple, Liberty and the deer have been nibbling the leaves on

on the bottom, we need to surround it with wire this week. It just makes

it such a pain when mowing.

We won't have a beef for the freezer this Fall, and venison is sounding

like a good substitute *wink* Actually I like venison, but since we've

been raising our own beef Mike hasn't hunted. We hunt for meat, not

for sport or for horns.

Well.... I didn't get everything done that was on the List of To Do items.

We hauled 4 wheelbarrows( holds approx. 60-70 lbs of weeds per

load) full of weeds to the burn pile. We didn't get

the second planting of sweet corn in, we're still weeding the rows

it needs to be planted in.

It rained another 1/2 inch of rain last night and we had showers off and

on all day today.

Mike did get to cut and haul two full trailer loads of wood home. Now

to get the wedge built for the splitter and get it all split and stacked.

If the rain stops long enough Mike also needs to get our back pasture

swathed and if we'd be blessed with a few days of sunshine

he could get it baled and in the hay loft.

This next week is going to be hectic and I probably won't get to

blog much. *sigh*

May your week be filled with blessings big and small. We'll be

back ASAP! Until then we'll be missing you, fellow bloggers and will

need to catch up on all your blogs.

Isn't this cute? Cortney ordered it for my birthday. Yep, my b-day
was yesterday and I proudly tell you that I'm 44 yrs. old!
Aging means so little to me that I thought I was just turning 43 yrs.
old when Mike corrected me and said no you're two years younger
than me and I'm 46 yrs old( as of May) WOW! I feel like I lost a
whole year somewhere! *giggle and winking*

This is a functional decoration for our kitchen, in the

tail are measuring spoons; Tbsp., Tsp.,1/2 tsp. and 1/4 tsp. It is

all ceramic,even the spoons, so we'll need to be careful when

using them.

This shows how they fit. She's so thoughtful and picked something that was not only beautiful but functional. Maybe she does take after me just a bit?

When Mike got home and saw how much we'd weeded in the garden, he said get changed and cleaned up we're going out for supper.

We've all been making an effort to cut back on the portions we eat and we all ended up bringing home leftovers.

My Mom bought a pineapple upside down cake, for my B-day, so we had dessert at home, later after supper had digested a bit.

Typically we don't make a big deal over adult B-days but this year I was truly blessed. Cortney's gift, my folks getting me a card and some $$$, plus the cake and Mike taking me to supper after a long day of fighting weeds.

I'll post pictures of our progress in the garden, we're seeing daylight now, WaHooo! I also worked on hilling up the taters, still have 3-1/2 rows to weed and hill today. We had a 100% germination of our seed potatoes and the plants all look healthy, so we pray for another high yield crop of spuds this Fall. Now I do snitch from the hills to BBQ and when the green beans begin producing we have our traditional ham, green beans and new potatoes meal, Mmmm, Mmmm!

The pole beans are just beginning to get their runners, so Mike will put up the cattle panels sometime next week.

Mike only has Sunday off this week and he needs to work on getting firewood hauled home. He also needs to make a trip to the city to pick up some steel to rebuild the wedge on the splitter and then the splitter will be all ready for several seasons of splitting wood.

Today's To Do List:

Clean the barns

Water the greenhouse plants

Finish weeding and hilling the taters

Finish weeding the strawberries, enjoying some berries while I'm at it. Then cover with netting to keep the birds at bay.

Wash to dogs, they are still shedding and really stink!

Plant our second planting of sweetcorn

Transplant some cabbage, more late cabbage, in the garden

Get the Mangle Beets planted

and.....

if time allows weed some more and possibly run the small tiller through the rows( walking areas), after we weed them. This seems to slow the bindweed a bit and anything is a blessing!

Praying your weekend is filled with lovely weather,relaxation, the wondrous blessing of the Lord.

Sunshine for the garden and a breeze to keep.....

the ravenous mosquitoes away! What else could a lady ask for
before setting out to weed the jungle! *wink*
Reminder: to view any of these photos larger simply click on it.


This is the pink tea rose, the ONLY flower here when we moved in.
In this garden are; Mountain Blue Bells, the Tea Rose, Echinachia,
Marigolds and Zinnias. The bush to the right is our black Elderberry
and next to that is a Choke Cherry tree, which is loaded, now to keep
birds at bay!

Some irises shared by a neighbor last Fall. Mama chicken is in the

background and behind her is the salad garden and garlic.

The salad garden, left to right, parsnips( 2 rows), a lettuce mix, next row

is split between mustard greens and spinach, then to the far right

are two varieties of beets.

Some of the plants are now tall enough to be seen , the furrows are

deep. Of course you can see the mess of weeds too!

A portion of my herb garden, this portion has not been weeded

since it began raining. Look at the bind weed, this is what we deal

with all season*sigh* You can't even see the Horehound seedlings,

the Parcel and Chamomile are holding their own.

The first row of cabbage we were able to weed before the rain began.

it needs to be gone through again, but look at the red cabbage, that

is what it would have looked like, 98% bindweed! *Grrrrr....*

Praise the Lord our apple trees are simply loaded! We need to can

sauce, pie filling and press cider if we have extra.

The backside of the root cellar, it's really filled in with a

variety of wild flowers this season.

This is a telephone pole next to our driveway. Over the past 6 yrs

we've rotated flower crops. This year we have Iris(light purple and

yellow), Petunias( pink and purple), a Maximilian Sunflower plant

and Day lilies and Tiger lilies.

View from half way up the drive, looking toward the barns and beyond

that the back pasture and then the river. You can really see the cellar

flowers in this photo.

What's new in the hothouse?

These will be our earliest tomatoes. Those in the picture are a little
bigger than a golf ball. We need to re pot them, as they are beginning
to get root bound.

Cortney's snake gourd, looks good so far!
Hot house cabbage and a few more tomato plants to carry us into late

Fall and winter.

Our Spring lettuce mix, still going strong. The garden lettuce is

still a week or so out from it's first harvest.

We've taken 5-6 harvests from these two

planters. Next Spring we'll start cucumbers, radishes and peppers

early enough to have available with this early lettuce mix.

I'm going to really like having this greenhouse! In fact Mike

and I have been discussing building a permanent Hoop house in

the main garden. This will help to hasten and protect our tomato, melon

and bush bean crops.

Last season and so far this season, our weather has been cooler than

normal as well as shorter( later Spring frosts, as well as earlier

Fall frosts) Thus the reasoning behind finding ways to urge crops to

produce quicker and protect them longer.

Well, it's late and we have a LOT of weeding to do, plus mow and

weedwack the yard.

Blessings to each of you throughout this week.

We've received another award!

Debbie from Happy Days blessed us with this award. Thank you so much Debbie, we humbly accept this award. Debbie was I believe my first official follower. She is such a talented lady, has two beautiful homes, beautiful yard, very talented photographer and most importantly she's a proud Grandma to two of the sweetest little girls. As per the award I've been asked to post; Seven Things About Myself That You Might Find Interesting...or not...lol 1. I'm blond, naturally. I must ad that I don't fit the bill of a typical blond, instead my personality suggests I should have been a redhead! *wink* 2. I didn't grow up in a homesteading enviroment, although we did raise a garden and even had chickens, turkeys and bottle calves when I was young. So where does the desire come from you ask? It was God given and I praise Him everyday for blessing our homestead. 3. BC( before children) I worked at a job, that's right I wasn't always a SAHM. My profession; Cosmetologist. Yes, I'm still currently licensed and try to keep current with products and new procedures. You never know when you may just have to fall back on such a career. 4. When in Cosmetology school I was on a hair design team. We competed at the state level and I placed first in our venue. Then our team traveled onto the national competition in Seattle, WA. where I placed second. We were to go to the World competition in CA, but Mike and I were just newlyweds and couldn't afford such a luxury, so I had to decline. After the nationals I received several offers from Hollywood agents. Honestly can you see me in Hollywood! It was fun to receive the offers. 5. I had to quit working when I was 4 months pregnant with our son, Jon. I had a condition known as Placenta Previa. I went into labor 3 months early, the Dr. stopped it with medication. Then I went two weeks overdue and had to be induced into labor. All ended well and our son is now 20 yrs old! How time flies I still remember the feeling of holding our first child, like it was yesterday *sigh*

6. I've been blessed with artistic talent. My favorite medium is water color, then pastels. I haven't had time to pursue this talent due to home schooling, homesteading and daily life, but plan to begin again this winter. I'd also like to get more involved in quilting.

7 .I'm scared to death of heights. I used to be afraid of spiders, but in the country you adjust or die of fright, LOL! I still don't like spiders but don't run screaming for Mike to come kill one for me, I just grab a shoe, book, newspaper, etc... and get it over with.

Thanks again Debbie, we are truly honored by your awarding our blog.

Gotta love garage sales!

Yesterday was our big community garage sale day. In total there were 36 garage sales between two towns. Our first salers arrived at 7 am( early birds) when we were still setting up, it wasn't due to start until 8 am. Right off the bat we sold a chipper we'd been given in return for some labor in cleaning up an elderly couples homestead. Mike never had the time to get it all tuned up and the blades sharpened. So..... we opted to sell it and get it out of our way. We priced it at $25 and it sold to our first saler. We also had a pull behind sprayer, that we only used twice. We marked it reasonable and it sold to our third saler. Cortney had more stuff than Mike and I did and she did quite well. She had some books, VHS movies( younger kids, and some Disney movies), some clothes she'd outgrown, an older bike( still in good shape), a couple of board games, etc..... All total she made $55, which is good considering her highest priced item was $5 down to $.50 We made $65 from our few items but they were items just sitting taking up space. My Dad had several items in the sale, many were big ticket items( A new self propelled mower, a tiller, a leaf blower, a generator, hunting scopes, and expensive fishing stuff. He made the most, selling the mower, generator, tiller and many of his fishing tackle and reels. It's amazing but sitting around and answering questions and I was beat. Mike worked on the wood splitter off and on between questions and helping load items. Today, Addy, our Dexter went to visit the bull. Mike was hoping we'd get her to load easily. I put the halter on her and she lead right into the trailer. She got her two front feet in and then hesitated and I simply gave a gentle pull and up she came. We only had to take her 8 miles to our south, what a blessing to have another homesteader so close who loves Dexter's as much as we do. She doesn't haul well, she moves around, a lot! When we arrived and pulled back to the bull's corral area, he got excited and began bawling, Addy quickly answered. The bull is quite the handsome fella, his name is Abe. We got Addy unloaded, with some excitement, she hopped out before I had the lead rope attached and I only had hold of her halter. All was fine, Mike grabbed her while I got the lead hooked. We then led her into Abe's corral, removed her halter and the chase was on. He wanted to meet and greet and she was busy looking for Bessie and Button, so couldn't be bothered. She was fairly excited and was pacing the fence, hitting the hot wore twice. Mike and I stood and talked with our new friends in hopes she'd calm down. She found the hay feeder and that was the end of pacing the fence lines. She's such an oink! She's due to come into heat on the 16th and Abe was checking her pretty close, showing signs of interest. She'll stay for a week, we'll pick her back up next Sunday. Praying she takes this time, if not she'll get one more shot in July. If she doesn't take then she'll most likely end up in the freezer, as we can't afford to feed her for nothing, no milk, no calf. We've contracted for 4 tons of alfalfa hay and are waiting to hear about the grass hay. The man we've purchased from isn't wanting to set a price, but we can't save $$ if we don't have a price either. If we can't get him pinned down for the 12 ton we want, we have another source and the price is already set for this hay. Last year grass hay was selling for $120 a ton and alfalfa for $100 a ton. I'm getting the feeling both of these prices will rise this year. We'll be taking a cutting off our back pasture, which should yield us about a ton. We then pasture it the remainder of the Summer and Fall. We worked on weeding and watering the corn, onions, carrots, the salad garden, and potatoes. The potatoes are the most important right now because they need to be hilled up. Mike worked on them for several hours, until his knees couldn't take it any longer. Cortney worked on the onions and moving the bubblier from row to row. I worked on weeding beans and replanted in a few areas that the seeds didn't come up. The corn rows had a few areas in which I filled in with seed I'd soaked for a quicker start. It was getting cloudy and ominous looking in the South West, so we opted to get the garden hoes and such put away and the pump shut off. Once in the house it began to spit some rain, within moments it was pouring. It rained a good steady rainfall for about 20 minutes. Mike checked the rain gauge after it had subsided and we received 4/10th of an inch, what a blessing! Well.... it's late and we've got a busy week ahead of us. Cortney is helping teach, Vacation Bible School at a local church. This will be her fourth year as a helper/ teacher. She's such a natural when it comes to children, they simply love her. She'll be gone from 8am to noon all week. I will enjoy the time to myself, although I will be busy without Cortney's help. Blessings to you and yours

What's up for today?

Our weather has been wet and cold for the last several days, so.... we've been working on indoor chores. Although, yesterday afternoon the sun did peek out for a bit so, we snuck out some laundry to the line and started pulling weeds. We actually finished the front flowerbeds, along the walk first( they'd been a work in progress) then we moved to the garden plot behind the garage, our salad garden. We have but one row left to weed and the garlic needs a quick run through and it's looking GREAT! The main garden is a MESS, but Mike assures me if we all pitch in, it will look GREAT again too. The last several nights our lows were down into the mid to low 30's, last night being 34F. I prayed the garden produce that we couldn't cover would fair well. PTL, it didn't frost at all! We've hung onto some potatoes in the cellar, just in case we'd suffered frost damage. June 10, 2008 we had a total freeze that wiped out many of our area gardeners. By this time the greenhouses were pretty well sold out, so finding replacements was a challenge. Thankfully I was behind last season and only had in our spuds( which weren't up yet), corn and cool weather crops. The corn did get bite by frost a bit, but recovered. Since we grow our own seedlings (from OP seed stock we've saved), I'm weary about loss to frost. This is why the greenhouse is going to be such a blessing, we'll be able to grow several stages of seedlings, for the "Just In Case" moments and if those moments never come, we'll have greenhouse crops growing well into the late Fall. Today our plan is....( not that it always works out the way we plan*sigh*) to finish laundry and hang outside, PTL the sun is shining in and out. Then I hope to get some vacuuming done, the kitchen and bathroom floors scrubbed and clean the back entry. Right now the back entry has muddy dog prints and hair everywhere! I love the dogs, but when they blow coat, I think twice*wink* If the temps. climb back into the 80's they are both scheduled for baths. We've stripped bags of undercoat from both and still it comes, it's all over the house in the corners, on the rugs and on all of us! I always say if I don't have hair( dog, cat, cow, horse), manure or mud on my clothes, something is missing.Those are of course my homestead accessories, who needs designer jewlery, shoes or a purse? LOL!!!! Well, I'm off to see how many dogs I can round up with the vacuum and broom *wink* Blessing for your day!

The last of our potatoes from the root cellar. They are just starting
to sprout. We do have some smaller potatoes, and the plan is to
either can them or slice and dehydrate them.

This was my thrift shop find on Saturday, when I took Cortney

to Youth Group.

Here is an better picture. It's in really nice shape and absolutely usable.

I picked it up for a mere $8, told you it was a good find!

The picture of our supper! Well, the main dish anyway. We did have

pickles, pickled beets and dilly beans for our sides.

This is:

Lentils and Brown Rice Casserole

3/4 c. lentils, uncooked

1/2 c. brown rice, uncooked

3c. chicken stock

3/4c. chopped onion

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp.thyme

1/2 tsp. sweet basil

1/4 tsp. garlic powder or one clove crushed and minced

1/2 c. shredded cheese( of your choice), added the last 30 minutes

Blend everything together in the casserole dish and bake @ 300F for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Bake covered for 1 hour, then uncover, add cheese and bake 15-30 minutes.

I add a loose sausage( cooked before adding) sometimes.

This was Cortney's dessert! It's Pioneer cake( choc.).

It's easy to make and is very moist. It has a secret ingredient....

Vinegar!

Pioneer cake

3c. unbleached flour

2 c. raw sugar( we decrease it to 1-1/4 c.)

2 tsp.baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6Tbsp. baking cocoa

3/4 c. olive or grape seed oil

3 Tbsp. vinegar

3 Tbsp vanilla

3c. cold water

Sift first 5 ingredients into an ungreased10x14" cake pan. Mix and make 3 wells. In the first well add oil, in the second add vinegar and in the third add vanilla. Pour cold water over all. With a fork mix together. Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes.

When cool you can dust with a powdered sugar or top with a cream cheese or sour cream frosting( made from scratch, of course!).

Meet some of our Fellas

Let me introduce; Spot. He's a Speckled Sussex and he is the #1 roo
here on the farm.

This is; Jr. He's one of our special bred MUTTS and he's #2 roo! *wink*
Say a big howdy to; Clint. He got his name because he's Black, get

; it! LOL!

Greeting you all so graciously is; Snowball. There is a story behind his

name. When Snowball was gifted to us over 5-1/2 yrs. ago, we were

he was a hen. Cortney of course named everyone apropriately and

the name given was: Snow White. Of course when he first gobbled we

quickly changed his name. *wink*

Praises all around!

We've received 1-1/2 inches of rain in this last few days and now the sun is shining! We'll be able to watch the produce grow, as well as the weeds *wink* Today I set out to get some much need organizing done upstairs. The room between the bedrooms upstairs, I keep our file cabinets in there as well. We think it was possibly used as a sewing room or a nursery, it only measures 8ftx10ft. Lately has it has become the catch all room and was a HUGE mess! I had been inspired to get this done for two reasons, to clean the room, as well as find items un-used to put into a garage sale we'll be having on the 13th. Our small town is having a community garage sale and we chipped in for advertising our address. I found several items; books, small children's games, an Easy Bake Oven Cortney never used,etc..... I also cleaned our our file cabinets, well...... it's a work in progress but at least I've started. *wink* I found I still had taxes from 1988 in one drawer. I went through the drawers and removed old out dated items and placed in bags, to be burned in the burn barrel. How many of you keep warranty info on purchased items? I'm so efficient that I had a whole drawer full of warranty items and at least half of it was stuff we sold, or got rid of! LOL! I did find the warranty and manuals for the wood chipper and the pull behind sprayer( behind a riding mower or three wheeler) we'll be selling in the sale. When we moved here we'd downsized from a 2,500sq ft home to this house, which is 1,090 sq. ft. Even though we gave away loads of items away and held a garage sale we still packed and brought items with us that......shamefully are still packed in boxes, we've been here for 6-1/2 yrs. *sigh* Those boxes are all going into the sale, Mike and Cortney are forbidden to look, because then they'll want to keep something,*wink* LOL! I look at it like this, if we haven't needed or missed it in 6-1/2 yrs we really don't NEED it, right? Maybe now that I'm motivated to get this part of my life in order I'll actually get time to repaint Jon's old room. Then Cortney and I will have a place to work on crafts and sewing and still have a bed so if company comes we have a spare room too. I'm going to have to primer the one wall in his room because he camouflaged it and the black and dark green will be hard to cover otherwise. I haven't decided on a color yet, but I'm thinking a light yellow or a light sage green. This room has a nice sized window and a wood floor. The closet will be used for storage of items we don't have room to put anywhere else( the new catch all*grin*). Well, I'm signing off and going outside to finish weeding in the front flowerbeds, while the sun is still shining and the weeds pull easily due to the soil being so wet. Blessing to you all in this coming week.

Update photos of garden and more.....

This is one of my cherished keepsakes.
I picked it up at an auction and got a real deal too!
After I won the bid on this a gentleman approached me
and said I'd paid 1/4 of it's market value, he agreed I stole it!
The picture doesn't do it justice. The cabinet is Birdseye
Maple, although it is an overlay and there are ornamental
carvings on the draws and sides.
This machine came with all the attachments, extra bobbins( round,
not oval) the original manual and the bill of sale from 1932.
I intend to learn to use this, it's in working condition. First I need to
complete my sewing class, along with Cortney, then we'll
go to town sewing this winter!

I took about 8-10 photos of these chicks and mamas
and this is the only one where you can see a chick.
They are good mama hens, hiding them from the camera *wink*


Here is a portion of our herb garden. The rest is beyond
the Concord grapes. We also started a new herb bed in our
quest to cover all our needs of medicinal as well as culinary herbs.
From foreground to background:
Peppermint, Chives, Catnip, Greek Oregano,Horehound, Chamomile,
Russian Tarragon, Sage, blue flax, English Thyme( the grapes),
Lemon Balm, Sage, Parcel, Yarrow, Anise Hyssop, Wormwood,
Comfrey and Borage.

The new bed contains:
Choc. mint, Spearmint, Chamomile, Cat nip,Basil, Marjoram,
more chamomile and Peppermint



Lettuce mix( left) and Mustard(right) This small garden plot
our salad crops. We have; Walking onions, Garlic( soft neck),
Parsnips, Lettuce mix, Mustard greens, Spinach, and two
varieties of beet( one is a flat and the other a globe)




These are Kentucky Wonder pole beans and beyond the pathway,
are bush beans, a rare variety called Bochiccia(sp?). The
bush bean, beans are small purple and white and die for soups
and casseroles nicely. We also dry leftover Kentucky wonder beans
to add to soups. After all a beans is a bean when dry, right? *wink*

You can see the onions and a 1/4 row of radishes( foreground,
in center of pic.) Yes, you get to view the wonderful BINDWEED!
IN the Walls of Water are the peppers.

Potatoes( foreground) then in the open area beyond
the potatoes are Cortney's mini pumpkins and then our cabbage
Red and Flat Dutch, both OP varieties.( click on photo to see a bigger
version) The tomatoes are now growing out the tops of the
Walls of Water.

The corn is coming up nicely, although there are a few gaps,

that need reseeding. This is a sweet corn, OP and it's called

Sugar and Cream.

Strawberries, look at all the blooms! I'm just thrilled that so many

survived last seasons neglect. My mouth is watering to pick and

of course eat the first rip berry!

Well, the butch job I gave the raspberries doesn't seem to have hurt

them any. They too had been neglected last season and were way

to thick and lots of deadwood needed to be cut out. They are

full of blossoms. It's looking like, it may very well be, a great berry year!

You'll need to click for the larger version, this small photo just doesn't

show the beautiful wild flowers beginning to bloom on the cellar.

I seeded this last season and it came up so sparse, but this

season it's looks to be beautiful! To the right of the cellar is a tree,

Under this tree, until this Spring, sat a HUGE pile of leftover dirt.

Well..... I moved the dirt( 14 wheel barrows full) and then hoed

in some composted manure to the soils under the tree.

Cortney and I decided more wild flowers would be just the trick

fill in this awkward area. The wildflower seed is germinating nicely.

We can't wait to see that all blooms this season.