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**Welcome Wagon:  WINTER 'DOWN ON THE FARM'  |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 17 2005 : 07:08:51 AM
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farmgurlz ... i ran across some of my 'ramblings' from my first winter here on the farm in Kentucky .. and with colder weather setting in (and YES .. i know i'm sliding right through the glorious autumn season and inviting olde man winter to arrive early .. but i did so enjoy this time in my new adopted home-state. so many people dislike this cold, silent season (ahhh .. but with the leaves off the trees, i can hear the nature sounds from nearby farms ... chickens clucking and cattle 'lowing' .. hmmmm .. is that a real word .. or did i get that one from a christmas carol from my childhood (the cattle were lowing, the poor baby wakes) .. or something like that! well, anyhoo ... since i don't have either chickens or cows .. i must admit .. at this stage in life, those critters will probably have to be 'visited' rather than living here at cabin creek farm .. two puppies and a wild husband are about all i can handle .. and since we plan to do LOTS of travelling in our 'retirement' years .. i can see returning home to utters bursting and 'chicken-cannibalism .. if we were to take on more than these two rowdy olde english sheepdogs! my 'farming' experience which is very gratifying to me is pretty much limited to learning to cook and bake (HA! it's about time i'd say!) .. gardening .. (had my first veggie garden ever .. started out with tomatoes (had jillions of those little cherry ones -- and even in chlly october, i see my husband out there plucking those from the bushes and eating them before he hits the door with an empty basket!) and a smattering' of big red and green tomatoes .. don't use 'chemicals' .. so .. the buggies did feast gloriously all summer .. but that was o.k. too. tried corn .. none of it got very big .. but oh how lovely it was to watch it grow .. my biggest crop (about 6 stalks!) i know .. i know .. too small to actually be an official 'crop' .. but to this 'city sister' .. it was a 'field of dreams' .. and i planted it smack dab in front of the cabins where one of our dogs digs for gold .. i swear .. there must be a body in that spot .. because no matter how many times i fill that hole .. she goes right back to it! (she left it alone while the corn 'crop' was coming in though!) my favorite 'growie' this summer was my 12 foot tall SUNFLOWERS .. they have got to be my most favorite .. such a 'friendly flower'! we have three apple trees (one of which is 'deader than a doornail' as my country 'nannie' used to say! HOWEVER .. the two living ones made the cover of Country Living Gardener magazine one year (before we moved to the farm)! Right now .. we have a hammock under them and nothing beats lying about in it with a good book .. with specks of sun peeking through the autumn leaves .. and watching these 'tree stars' bravely let loose of their branches and dance to the ground. We have two very prolific cherry trees and blueberry bushes .. and if the birds (which are wonderfully plentiful) are having their fair share .. they leave plenty for us!) Now the plums and peaches just rot before they mature .. can someone pleeeeeeeze share with me a non-chemical way of getting healthy fruits from the trees??? OH .. and i had a pumpkin and gourd field this summer .. what a treat that was! Didn't grow any HUGE pumpkins .. but there is a little olde man in our county that sells those big cinderella-carriage pumpkins for only a dollar each .. and most of his other huge gourds and pumpkins are only a quarter to a buck! (I bought $65. worth of them from him .. and it looks like lots of Cinderellas are getting ready for the ball in our yard!
Well, i guess i started out to tell you about my first winter here .. and just naturally fell into summer and autumn delights .. will write more of 'spring' when 'cabin fever' sets in!
Get a hot cup of coffee and a sweater .. cuz' here comes winter:
MY FIRST WINTER AT CABIN CREEK FARM, KENTUCKY: Roaming the winter backroads .. I found a quaint town called Glendale tucked in these hills of Kentucky. Did a little 'tiquing and had lunch at The Whistle Stop Cafe (I expected to see Andy and Barney come 'round the corner at any moment! .. I swear .. I had the very best bean soup I've ever had in my life (and my Nannie could make some killer bean soup!!) .. I had to ask the waitress over to tell me why RELISH and A PANCAKE was served with it. She laughed and told me that 'we southerners like relish in our bean soup .. and that is a HOE cake!" (hoe .. being 'corn' .. not the kind of "ho's" we easterners have standing on our street-corners with short skirts and low-cut blouses!
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January .. WHAT A WONDEROUS SURPRISE MET MY SLEEPY EYES .. when i stumbled out on the front porch .. THE SNOW FAIRIES HAD COME DURING THE NIGHT! tiny bird tracks .. bold deer tracks, playful puppy tracks, peaceful boot tracks (mine), warm unidentified animal tracks (where some forest critter crawled under my jeep to keep dry in the softly falling midnight snow). I ventured into this winter wonderland and felt the cool 'angel feather' snowflakes gently falling on my face and melting from the glow of my contented smile.
Nature has reasons for winter and I revel in it. I followed the deer tracks from the woods ... past the cabin and to a thicket of trees where they vanished as did the deer .. with the night sky.
These olde english sheepdog puppies were made for winter .. with their natural fur coats.. they romped and ran .. playing leap frog over rocks .. and each other .. they ran a race, using ME as the goal post! Knocking me over in the snow until i 'rolled about' with them!
Now .. they rest peacefully, curled up together at my feet .. she using him as her pillow .. and he, I SWEAR, is SNORING like a contented old man!
I sit and sew in the silence of my big country kitchen with the delightful aromas of cinnamon pot pourii simmering in a pot, burnt toast (YEP .. still haven't learned to boil water without burning it! .. and 'wet' puppy fur at my feet.
THIS IS BLISS!
(hope you gurlz are enjoying my ramblings as much as i am living this life) would love to hear more of your stories of the 'seasons' of your farmlife!
frannie |
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KJD
True Blue Farmgirl
402 Posts
402 Posts |
Posted - Oct 17 2005 : 07:58:13 AM
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| Frannie, I could read your ramblings all day long - keep 'em coming! Maybe you could post them in the forum called A Farm of My Own, or Across the Fence? I look forward to reading more! |
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 08:21:04 AM
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Across the Fence I look forward to reading more!
thanks for the sweet words .. i'll start posting them 'across the fence' frannie |
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quiltedess
True Blue Farmgirl
296 Posts
Nancy
Priest River
ID
USA
296 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 09:34:21 AM
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Frannie: It sounds like paradise . . . and it's familiar too.
Nancy |
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Kay in Kentucky
Farmgirl in Training
35 Posts
Kay
Dunnville
Kentucky
USA
35 Posts |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 5:36:44 PM
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Yes, do post more I get right into the story. I have a larg Yellow Lab I use to warm my feet, she thinks she is getting attention laying on my feet. I call her velcro dog because she is always leaning on me or wanting to be petted and or following me about.
Kay
My blog;
http://oakspringfarm.blogspot.com |
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kydeere40744
True Blue Farmgirl
1132 Posts
Jessica
Kentucky
USA
1132 Posts |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 09:48:57 AM
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Hello my fellow Kentucky Girls!! I'm sorry that it took me a while to post up on here. Crazy times around here in Lexington indeed. I look forward to hearing more stories on the farm, whether it is inside of Kentucky or not. :)
Jessica~Miss Wilma's Niece
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CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
Posted - Nov 30 2005 : 4:27:38 PM
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Jessica .. i think that makes THREE of us farmgirls in kentucky now! (maybe more?) we reeeeeeeely all have to have a gathering sometime soon! (i'm in Green County .. near Greensburg). come on down!!!!
True Friends, Frannie |
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**Welcome Wagon: WINTER 'DOWN ON THE FARM' |
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WINTER 'DOWN ON THE FARM'
