Rain, snow, cold, warm, snow, cold...

We have had such odd weather lately from freezing rain to heavy snow then horrid below freezing temperatures to almost 40 degrees, all in the same week.  Our lawn is paying the price.  The heavy rain on the frozen ground (covered by a thin layer of ice from the previous freezing rain) has created little ponds and puddles all over the place.  Now, it's snowing so all the puddles are becoming slushy snow.  As of late, we are unsure if we should be wearing snow or rain boots.

Life is pretty quiet on the farm, as to be expected in the middle of winter.  The hens are still doing well, they are 12 and strong!  They DO NOT like the snow and stay in the coop whenever there is snow on the ground.  

We are starting to plan for the spring.  Farmer J is now thinking that we should get a couple of sheep instead of goats.  After traveling in Ireland, I have always wanted a few sheep.  I would love to have the boys experience having some baby lambs on the farm as well-- we just have to make sure Farmer J doesn't want to cook them up for supper!!

The farmhouse is staying nice and warm.  The wood burning stove continues to work well.  I am still not a very good fire starter but I'm great at keeping a hot fire going throughout the day.  

The one major annoyance in the farm in the never ending amount of Box Elder bugs and Japanese Beetles that we find.  I can't tell you how many I flush down the toilet on a daily basis.  I thought they would just be a summer nuisance... but I was severely wrong!  

Better go...looks like JJ's school might be closing (due to the snow) after all!  

I'll leave you with some of J's recent pictures from a snow camping trip (staying in the below yurt) near one of the Great Lakes. 

Paradise lost...Paradise found!

A week ago, J and I were basking in the tropical sun of Key West, Florida. The trip was to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary! (Our anniversary is in April but we didn't want to leave the farm in busy and exciting spring time!) We left our fridgid, icy, northern climate on a dark and cold Monday morning and arrived in a sunny, island paradise by lunch! It was surreal to go from shivering to sweating all in less than 8 hours.  Our skin was in shock from going from the very dry environment of the north to the ultra humid environment of the south.   Every day the weather was the same, sunny and 80 degrees.  The vacation was full of good food, daily trips to the beach, daily bike rides and daily Rum drinks.  We stayed at the 'Speakeasy Inn' above 'The Rum Bar'.  "Bahama Bob" made the best Pina Colada! If you are in the area, it would be worth your trip to check out this lovely establishment.

Thankfully, toward the end of our trip, we were longing to be back with our children and back to the farm.  It's a wonderful feeling to be excited to return to your 'normal' life.  Without living here on the farm, I'm not sure that would be the case!  Farmer J missed his chickens and was glad to see that our "chicken sitter" did a great job! 

When we first returned home, it was quite warm (for this area) but very icy!  You could skate on our lawn and making the trip to the chicken coop was (and still is) a slippery feat!

Despite the cold, the chickens are doing well.  J has the lights and heaters connected to timers to decrease extra chicken chores (i.e., trips to the coop) and decrease the electricity bill.  We can tell the chickens feel "cooped" up but we are hesitant to let them out as we have spotted a hawk flying around the farm!  See below! 

Here's the hawk high above the farm in a tree right above the garden. 

Minutes later, the hawk took out one of our beautiful song birds that was happily eating away at our bird feeder.  The hawk is definately a bird of prey.  Yikes-  we have to protect our chickens!

Slowly but surely, we are taking down holiday decorations and gearing up for the last leg of winter! I can tell the days are getting longer and Groundhog's Day is just around the bend!  We are dreaming of spring baby chicks, the arrival of seeds in the mail and wearing mud boots instead of snow boots!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from us all!  From our family to yours, we wish you peace, love and prosperity in 2013!

We brought in 2013 with a dinner of surf and turf, mushrooms, couscous and sparkling grape juice.  We said thanks for a healthy and happy 2012 and toasted to a great 2013!  Today is especially meaningful for Farmer J and I, as we met 17 years ago today.  J- you are a gift from heaven above and I thank Him daily for sending you to me!  (We are also so thankful for Mima & Papa watching the kiddos to grant us some 'peace on Earth' on this New Years Eve day!)

2012 brought us many blessings; some of those blessings included finding the farm, moving to the farm and  living here on the farm.  I pray that we will be able to live here for many, many more years!  Moving to a farm has brought us closer to the land, closer to each other, closer to God and closer to living the life we always dreamed of living.

Years ago, we had dreamed of living this life.  We dreamed big and prayed a lot.  I think we are living proof that dreams can come true and prayers are answered...you just have to be patient, open-minded, a little gutsy and a little creative.  And... have amazingly supportive parents, family and friends!

So here is to dreaming big in 2013!  And now, I'm off to bed (we celebrated New Years in Icelandic time). Hey, some of us have to work tomorrow!

Dreaming of spring...

Earlier this week, I ventured through the snow to the road to check out mail.  Our mailbox had around 2-3 inches of snow on top of it and the door was slightly frozen shut.  Winter.  Around the holiday season, I love checking the mail because the post office delivers not just bills and junk mail, but actual cards from family and friends.  On this trip to the mailbox, I was surprised to see what else arrived!  

Not just one, but three garden seed catalogs!  Not yet January and we are receiving physical reminders that spring is just around the corner.  After living with Farmer J for many years, I knew he would be very excited to see the seed catalogs.  I also knew my oldest would be quite happy as well.  Last year, he spent hours going through the catalog and circling what he thought we should grow in our garden.  He tended to circle more fruits than vegetables.  Most kids circle toys in toy catalogs and mine circles fruits and veggies out of a seed catalog.  I think he was meant to be a farm kid!  

I am rather new to the seed catalog.  I figured out what zone we live in, to best determine what we can successfully grow on the farm.  I was surprised to see that we could try to grow not only eating grapes but also kiwi.  Like my son, I tend to gravitate to the fruit over the veggies!  

Here's a reminder of our last garden.  Hopefully, seeing the fresh garden pictures will remind you as well that spring is just around the bend! 

Full moon

Tonight is a full moon.  Here is a picture that J took of a few moons past.  This is a picture of the moon peeking behind the barn.  You really notice a full moon when you live out in the country.  The otherwise dark sky shines with the reflection of the sun.   

On Christmas Eve, for the first time, I helped J put the "chickens to bed." The coop was cold but not freezing. The birds did not seem to mind the recent drop in temperature.  J turned off the light and only the reddish, orange glow from the heater could be seen.  At first, the chickens are clucking and making lots of noise.  Within a few minutes, the clucking had stopped and most of the hens were completely silent.  One hen was snoring.  But it was unlike any human snore I've ever heard.  It sounded the most like the snore of Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street.  

The day after...

Today is the 26th of December.  For some, it's Boxing Day.  For others, it's "Return Items to the Store" day.  But for most of us, it's "Back to Work" day.  I was in the last group.

J stayed home with the children and the piles of presents, half-opened boxes and huge pile of opened boxes/parts to secure toys to boxes/parts of toys we didn't know how to secure to the toy.

While at home, J and the children shoveled our front door walkway, brought more wood into the house, got caught up on "chicken chores", played with all their new toys and did a 'whole lotta nothing.'

Before the big snowstorm, we had a "cord of wood" delivered to our house.  A cord of wood is 4 x 4 x 8 of stacked, dried wood.  Definitely something I did not know before moving to the farm and having a wood-burning stove.

Here are some pictures of the children helping to stack the wood in the barn:

Highlights of our first, "Country Christmas":

-Our crazy looking Christmas tree with white lights, colored lights and bubble lights.

-All of us in the basement opening boxes hoping to find our ornaments! Mama found them!   

-Opening presents in front of a warm fire

-Making a "Winter Wheat Berry" salad for Christmas day

-Time with family and friends

-Listening to the children's sleep sounds while driving home on a dark but clear night

-Singing "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus

-Listening to each 'cousin' sing their favorite Christmas song

-Finding new Christmas cards in the mailbox- at times, covered in a tiny bit of snow

-Eating Mimi's fudge

-Eating Auntie Jess' variety of desserts while J and I wrapped presents late Christmas Eve

-A "White Christmas" with many hours of playing in the snow

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!  We hope your holiday is full of family, friends and good food.  Safe travels for all that our venturing out today!