Happy New Year (Eve)!

Maybe it's cheesy but I love song lyrics! Poems put to music.  This song is one of my favorites...written by an Irishman, no less. 

Hope you can ditch some baggage from 2015 that doesn't need to travel with you in the overhead bin into 2016!

Falling Slowly; 

Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova

You have suffered enough

And warred with yourself

It's time that you won

Take this sinking boat and point it home

We've still got time

Raise your hopeful voice, you have a 

   choice

You've made it now

Falling slowly sing your melody

I'll sing it loud

Tuesday morning...

Cinnamon roll dough 

Proofing on top of a warm oven

With some fresh grated nutmeg

Nothing is more sexy than my farmer's manly hands covered in flour 

My littlest man's hands were covered in marker so I kept trying to get him NOT to help...

Toasted pecans on half...JJ said no to nuts

Using my new baking ingredients I got from farmer J

This note was inside

Ceylon and Vietnamese cinnamon added

This dough was way softer than even a baby lambs nose!

Not much smells better than cinnamon rolls baking in the oven.

It's beastly out today!

Old man winter found us...granted, it took him until December 28th to do so, but he tracked us down and is hitting us hard with cold and ice.  Long gone are the sunny and mild 55 degree days of "winter" we were blessed to experience earlier this month.

The frozen rain/sleet is hitting our farmhouse windows and I hear the wind howling outside. The temperature on the farm is 26 degrees and likely to plummet when the darkness takes over the daytime. Today is a day I'm very grateful that Farmer J is a teacher and home on winter break. My goal is not to leave the warmth of our house today, and so far, I'm on target to meet that goal!

Our old farm was nestled in the woods and Kettle Moraine landscape.  This farm, our farm, is surrounded by flat farmland on all sides.  We have ~4 acres of woods but the open fields around us leave our little bungalow open to the whipping wind coming off the barren corn fields. 

So far, our sweet bungalow is holding its own against the wintery winds and cold.  At times, especially when upstairs and in the north part of the house (i.e., Pickle's room), it feels like the whole house is shaking and you can hear the wind rush through the walls.  But Farmer J keeps the kitchen cozy with a chuck roast and root vegetables in the slow cooker and hot chocolate for the boys when they come in from the blustery outdoors.  Pickle is taking a long winter's nap under a hand made quilt with the only light in the room coming from the Christmas tree and faint bluish grey light coming in through the windows from the setting winter solstice sun.  JJ is reading a book while sitting on the hard wood floor right next to the heat register.  I'm working at my desk with warm slippers covering my frozen feet and a scarf wrapped tightly around my neck.  My nose is cold and has just the faintest hue of red. 

Yes, winter found us.  Better late than never? I'm not sure about that.  I am sure thankful for a warm home for both us and our animals.  Safe travels to all that had to venture outside today.  May you arrive home to a warm house and warm food!

The Farmers Almanac

We got this for Christmas this year! And to go with it, nothing other than the Farmers Almanac calendar.

And with the Farmers Almanac comes "words of wisdom for the new year" like this one below:

"A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it."

Wow, a calendar that lets me know how to be a better mama AND reminds me when the boys have their dentist appointment...not bad for $4.99.

Learning to let go...

I think our Christmas tree could win an award for "least likely to appear on Pinterest!" 

The boys and Farmer J cut down the tree from our very own farm, which is quite cool! Unfortunately, the tree size was a little too big for our tree stand so it kept tipping over...a few times when all the lights and ornaments were already strung and hung.  Add two kittens to the situation and the only way to keep the tree upright was to use a fluorescent orange ratchet strap attaching the tree to the heating vent on the nearby wall. Ever see that on Pinterest?! No, me neither.

The boys begged and begged me to decorate the tree on a school and work night. I was tired and hungry so I quickly broke down and said "yes" and my little elves went to work. They were efficient with their decorating, often putting 2-3 ornaments on the same branch.  Because of my boys height and the kittens batting at the tree, 75% of the ornaments are located on the middle 1/3 of the tree.  Some ornaments were put on backwards. Some ornaments were broken, by felines and humans. And some ornaments are still miraculously hanging on despite all rules of gravity!

The tree needles are already drying up and falling off, as the kittens prefer drinking the tree water instead of their water in their dish! In the kittens defense, Pickle does often forget to fill their water dish. 

This year, our first Christmas at our first farm of our own, I wanted our home to look perfect and be decorated perfectly...six months after we moved! Yeah...realistic goals have never been my thing!  

Amazingly, despite our ugly tree and the fact that our stockings weren't hung until the eve of Christmas Eve, we had a lovely holiday. Some highlights: Volunteering at Pickle's Christmas party at school, Christmas Day fondue with my family with the goats making a guest appearance in our kitchen, watching our boys wish a "Merry Christmas" to their classmates they saw at church, Farmer J and I wrapping presents to cheesy holiday music late into the night on Christmas Eve, the boys and their cousins singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus, Papa K reciting a traditional family poem about cremation (yes, I did write cremation) and JJ giving a special ornament to his Mima.

Someday, our farmhouse will be ultra cozy and cute at Christmas, maybe it will be next year, maybe it won't be until the boys are in high school or college...until then I'll breathe deeply when I sweep up yet another broken ornament on the floor, quietly chuckle at our orange ratchet strapped tree and thank God for all the rich blessings in my life!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had the chance to feel loved and rest a bit over Christmas! 

Christmas Eve

A little treat after church and before bedtime...but really, who can sleep with all this talk of baby Jesus and Santa and presents and parties and sugar plum fairies dancing in our heads?!

I'm sure Santa and his helpers will appreciate the delicious, local Egg nog coming his way! Not too mention a cookie or two...

I better get to sleep before he arrives...

I'm dreaming of a dry Christmas!

It's been a wet winter. And due to the warming effects of El Niño, our precipitation is coming in the form of rain and not snow. 

Farm animals + Rain = Messy!

Think poopy mud. 

Instead of wet snow making its way into our house, our entryway is full of muddy/poopy snow boots. Most of the year, these nasty boots can stay out side and never make there way into our house. But I can't leave the children's snow boots out in the near freezing/freezing evening weather. I don't miss much from our last farm but I do miss our old mudroom! 

As much as my OCD brain hates the mess of this weather, I'm fully embracing the safe driving conditions and unseasonably warm weather. I'm sure the time will come when the wet, drippy snow pants are once again hanging in my hallway or on tumble dry in the dryer but until then I'll enjoy today's high of 54 degrees!

Despite my Nordic and Germanic heritage, I've never embraced winter or snow. I mainly dislike winter as I'm always cold. My Chinese birth year animal is the snake; despite my normal 98.6 temp, I think I'm cold blooded. From the first frost of the fall until the first 70 degree warm spring/summer day (which often doesn't come until June when you live in the upper Midwest) my feet and hands are ice cold. Farmer J, who runs hot, is always trying to warm me up with blankets, hot tea and these unbelievably lovely rice and bean bags, that he warms in the microwave and puts in my bed. I slip into our bed with warmed sheets and start to defrost my frozen feet by burrowing them under the piping hot bean bag. 

Wishing you all warm toes and safe weather for your upcoming holiday travels!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

I love baking with my boys! Quality time and snitches...

Winter Solstice is upon us...

Today is significant for so many reasons.

First, it's the winter solstice, the day darkness dominates daylight and children can be tricked into an even earlier bedtime (at least until they learn to tell time) as its pitch black when they gaze out the kitchen window while they finish up homework and set the table for supper. Sunset at 4:23 pm. Bed by 7:23?

Second, it is my mother in laws birthday! Happy birthday Mima! We will have a little something for you to open come Christmas Eve. 

And third, today starts a new project for this Wary Farmwife. My hope (note that I didn't write goal or plan or project) is to write a blog post every day for a full year. 365 posts related, somehow, to living on a small farmette for one winter, spring, summer and fall!

Some posts will be short and sweet, some pictures only and some may go on and on and on...

I hope these blog writings give you a sense of daily life on a very small scale family farmette.  

I'd write more but I have presents to wrap, little boys to get to bed and a messy kitchen to clean before I can lay my head down on its pillow. But how sweet to know that when I wake up tomorrow, the sunlight will start, ever so slowly, taking back the day! 

Three new posts

are now posted...but under December 4th, when I started writing them. Just almost a week later...

You'll find them after the post on Ciaran, our ruminant garbage disposal!

A new wary farm wife adventure

...will begin on the winter's solstice!

More details will come soon!

Our garbage, his supper!

Ciaran eats up the fruits, veggies and bread products we don't eat. He is our goat garbage disposal! And we love him!

Homemade fudge...

Can you spot the fudge on the table? I hosted this table for our women's ministry advent event at church last Sunday. Beautiful music by candlelight with new and old friends!  

What winter?

60 degrees in December is just fine for these ruminating creatures!

Koselig: my new favorite word

Farmer J and I really enjoyed this article:

http://m.fastcompany.com/3052970/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/the-norwegian-secret-to-enjoying-a-long-winter

And we LOVED the word and meaning behind the Norwegian word: koselig 

This fellow blogger wrote a great post all about Koselig!  Check it out! It's worth the read.

http://afroginthefjord.com/2014/02/02/how-to-make-things-koselig/

I'm only a quarter Norwegian and Farmer J is even less Scandinavian but we may just end up naming this place "Koselig Farm".

But maybe that is too much coziness to live up to?

Right now I'm laying on the couch, with a fuzzy robe on (sheep print no less) with a warm kitten on my lap and looking at the twinkling lights of our Christmas tree. 

Now... If I couldn't hear my boys playing like wild animals in the basement, I'd be in a state of "Koselig." 

Wishing you all lots of koselig this winter and holiday season.

Welcome!

New owners, new door. It's an odd tradition, but with our first home and our first farm rental, Farmer J painted our front doors (remember the bright red chicken coop door) a bold color. Ever since we traveled in Ireland, we have loved colorful entryways into homes.

I decided to paint our back door (we have the typical farmhouse where no one uses our front door but always comes in the back).  

Reasons for painting the WHITE door:

- we live on a farm

- we have some boys who often have grubby hands

- the wreaths I hang for the different seasons got lost amongst all the white

- the hardware store was running a special on paint

- I found a paint color I was dying to have somewhere in our house

Here is our old white door...

And then after these steps,

The color is Railings by Farrow & Ball. 

http://us.farrow-ball.com/railings/colours/farrow-ball/fcp-product/100031

The color is a steel grey/blue- that really will look different depending on the lighting and time of day. It was a nice contrast to paint with a dark color after so much white in the kitchen! Kitchen remodel pictures coming soon!

You'll see more Farrow & Ball colors in our home in the future...and some of their wallpaper (if I win the lotto)! 

In case you are intrigued...or recently won the lotto yourself...

http://us.farrow-ball.com/patterns/wallpaper/fcp-category/sub?gclid=CLafi6z5k8kCFY-CaQodEQgJrA

Here is the door all finished!  All it took was a few hours, three coats and less than $15 dollars in paint and supplies! Not too shabby, if I say so myself!