Rural Farmgirl

Farming In A Winter Wonderland

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 08:02:56 0000

"I can never remember
whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve
or
whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six."
Dylan Thomas

Blue running in the snow

A Year at the Farm In Photos

Mon, 13 Jan 2014 08:31:15 0000

2013 was my first calendar year living on a farm. Whew!
I ended the year feeling rather overwhelmed. Both my husband and I lost friends at the end of the year and it put us in a contemplative mood. (another way to say "in a funk")
Man, we've got so far to go...
And then I started looking back at the photographs I took this past year.
And that made me realize that
Man, we've come so far...

Oh Christmas Tree

Mon, 2 Dec 2013 09:19:12 0000

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone and we have all rested up from the big feasts

(Blue and Tom)
it’s time to think about Christmas! And Christmas Trees!

Oh, but just to update you, I'm eating a big ole turkey sandwich right now.
Yep, there was turkey on the Thanksgiving Day table. Hubs insisted.
And next thing you know, I'm serving myself a slice of white turkey breast and some home-made gravy.
And. It. Was.
GOOD.
Real good. So good that I'm having a sandwich of leftovers.
(note to self: never raise turkeys. never raise turkeys. never raise turkeys.)

Turkey Day Fowl

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 13:29:24 0000

A declaration was made in my house by my daughter: no turkey for Thanksgiving dinner. Dag-nab-bit. She has become such a poultry lover since we moved to the farm and got baby chicks. Little fluffy, precious, peep-y baby chicks. So what shall we have for a main dish? That remains to be seen. She recommended that we make a tofu dish and shape it like a turkey.

Favorite Farm Day

Mon, 4 Nov 2013 07:18:27 0000

I received the sweetest email from Tracy in Florida. Shall I spare you the flattery contained therein? (Flattery gets you everywhere.) Well, maybe for the beginning of this post. Further on, well, no indeed, I shall not spare you. I shall boldly and unabashedly and without humility, BASK in the flattery. Cause I love it.
But for now. Let me just share with you the question she asked that really really really REALLY got me to thinking.

Another is Waiting

Mon, 21 Oct 2013 10:12:08 0000

I’m standing in the cold mountain stream that runs in front of our farm.
The water is freezing, but I've got my muck boots on so my feet are cold, but dry. (cold feet, warm heart, or something like that)

I’m here to harvest sand for my chickens....

Take the Long Way Home

Mon, 7 Oct 2013 06:40:59 0000

Late last week I attended a legal conference.
Legal conferences are not usually a serene, enchanting, pleasant affair.
But this one surely was. It wasn't the conference that was serene, it was the venue where it was held. And my trip back home.
It was in Asheville, North Carolina at the Grove Park Inn.
Autumn was in the air.
Leaves were beginning to turn from green to red, yellow, orange.
Pumpkin Spice coffee.
Gingerbread.
Apples.
Life is tough, I tell you.

How To Wait

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 07:46:10 0000

I met this toad earlier today in my garden.
"What 'cha doing just sitting there, Buddy?" I asked.
He said nothing.
He just sat there.
And waited.
For what I don't know.
"What are you waiting for, Little Dude?" I asked him.
Nothing.
He seemed happy enough to just sit there.
I wish I could learn to wait like that toad.
Wait, wait, wait.
He was still there when I headed inside for a cup of tea.
"See ya later, Alligator..."

My Old Barn

Mon, 9 Sep 2013 13:33:20 0000

I never thought I'd have the joy of owning an old barn, much less several old barns.
When we moved here, the buildings were in various states of disrepair. I only saw their potential at that time, never thinking much about the actual process of them REACHING their potential.
Whew. It is a process, a definite process. We are tuckered-out with the process.

Foggy Mornings, Brains, and Beans

Mon, 26 Aug 2013 06:58:47 0000

My farm is slap-dab in the Appalachian Mountains.
That means the view is awesome, the climate divine, and the people here are warm and friendly.
That also means that when I moved here, I found myself living in a place rich in its own unique, special traditions. And music. Oh the music and traditions of Appalachia!