The Flight of the Elph

This post could also be titled  Do It Yourself Aerial Photography Gone Bad…Gone Very Bad. Let me explain…

We moved to out to the country to our hobby farm a year ago. My husband has been talking about getting some aerial photographs of our property taken. Only my darling spouse (who really truly is an intelligent man, I promise!) decided to do it himself…not with a plane, mind you, but with giant helium balloons and MY camera.

So, last Friday was THE night. My husband got everything set up. He had 2 giant helium filled red balloons which he tied together. Also tied to the balloons was a metal apparatus my husband specifically made to hold the camera. From there, the whole thing was tied to kite string. And off to the field across the road my husband went…Long story short, the balloons were up in the air in a bit and it got somewhat windy, so my husband was brining them back down . Only the kite string broke. Yep, that’s right folks! The red balloons AND my camera floated off to oblivion!

I can laugh about it now. It is just one of our misadventures out here in the country…I am sure there are more to come!

Well, well, lookie there…I have returned

I am truly one of the world’s worst bloggers…seriously. It has been 5 months since my last post! Ouch. In those 5 months, though, lots has been going on here at our little farm.

We have chickens! Ten to be exact…5 Rhode Island Reds and 5 Buff Orpingtons. They have grown from itty bitty fluffy chicks in a rubbermaid tote to good sized, fully feathered hens happily roaming about in their huge pen and roosting in their coop.

We also have kittens.  Tiger, one of our adult cats, had 2 kittens at the beginning of May. They are adorable balls of fluff! It has been fun to watch the changes in them daily.

We have a 9 week old black lab that came to live with us on May 17. His name is Gabe and we love him so very much! He and the kids are learning how to deal with one another and we are also working on acclimating him to the chickens. That may be a long process. LOL

A couple of Nubian goats are forthcoming as well! One of our goats has already been born and is a little boy. He was born May 22. We are still awaiting the arrival of the other kids and once they are born, we will choose our 2nd goat and then once the 2nd goat is about 6 weeks old, they will get to come home with us!

Aside from our newly formed and growing barnyard, I have spent the last several weeks getting the vegetable garden in. Keeping the weeds under control was proving to be difficult, so I employed paper grocery sacks and straws to help me and it is helping.  My goal was to grow everything from seed, but I am new to all of this and screwed up my tomatoes and pepper seedlings, so those were planted from transplants from a local nursery. I couldn’t have a garden without home grown tomatoes! We have already had lettuce from the garden and it was delicious. I am looking forward to more greens, peas, green beans, sweet corn, melons and various peppers and tomatoes as summer gets into full swing!

I will try and post some pictures of all of our furry friends for you to see!

Dreaming of Spring

So here we are not even halfway through January yet and I am ready for spring! I am so tired of wind, cold and ice. I can’t even say I’m tired of snow, because we haven’t had much at all except for the bit we got Thanksgiving weekend. All we have seem to have had the last month is freezing rain, ice and more freezing rain! Ugh! All this nasty weather has me dreaming of spring!

In the spring, we will be putting in a full fledged garden complete with heirloom seeds. Last year, we got a late start to the garden as we didn’t close on our property until the end of May. We planted some tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, leaf lettuce and sweet corn(although the animals got the corn). We really had no plan last year, either…just stick the plants in the ground and see what happens. This year, I plan to have a plan! I just need to break out the graph paper and get to work and also figure out when to start my seeds indoors. I want to take advantage of as much of the different growing seasons as I can.

We also have plans to add farm animals to our homestead. Chickens will be our first foray into farm animals. I am doing some reading currently on the subject, but need to get serious about it. I need to decide what breeds we want, how many, etc. etc. Then there is the whole building a coop thing. Luckily, we have fencing and everything all ready to go thanks to the previous owners.

So, I am going to dream of spring while I research raising chickens and plan my garden. Nothing says spring like yummy produce fresh from the farm (whether it’s my farm or the local farmer’s market!).

Here are some links to help you dream of spring:

Local Harvest

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you and yours! I always love the start of the new year. It is a great time to reflect on the past and also to  look forward to the future. Like many others, I have resolutions for the new year, although this year I am calling them goals.

Two of my big goals for the upcoming year are to run my household more consistently and to develop our family’s hobby farm. We are hoping to add some animals this spring and we are planning an heirloom garden.

I would love to hear your goals for 2009!

Can you say crazy weather?

Last Sunday, the high temperature was -1 degree and the wind chill was 25 degree below zero. Tomorrow…the high is supposed to be 63 degrees!! What the heck?!

Funnies from Christmas Mass

Didn’t know Mass could be funny, did ya? Well, you haven’t been to Mass with my 2 year old then! We arrived early to Christmas Day Mass to ensure we could find a seat. (There are 7 of us, so squeezing in somewhere once the church is full is not an easy task)

Upon finding a pew, getting our coats off and waiting patiently for Mass to begin, my 2 year old climbs up in my lap and looks up at the crucifix hanging above the altar. “Hi Jesus! ” he says  *very* loudly and he is waving frantically. Awwww! It was too cute!

About halfway through Mass, darling little 2 year old says, and not quietly I might add, “POO!” and he is holding his bottom. The people in the pew behind us are trying to stifle their laughter. Me? I am thinking you have got to be kidding me. Off to the bathroom we go…

So, we are back in our pew just in time for the collection and presentation of gifts. 2 year old likes to put our offering in the basket each week. As the usher walks past our pew to head up to the front of the church, he is frantically calling for her to come back. “I ri here!” he is saying (translation for those of you that don’t speak toddler…I’m right here). When the usher makes it to our pew, he puts the envelope in and enthusiastically claps and says “yay”. As the usher moves to the next pew, 2 year old says loudly for all to hear “Thank you Bye Bye!” and waves oh so happily at her. People all around us are laughing, which just further encourages our toddler comedian to try and be funny.

I hope that your family had a most Merry and Blessed Christmas!

Winter is Upon Us!

Our first winter in the country has officially begun. We woke up yesterday morning to snow on the ground. Nov. 30 is pretty early around here for 2+ inches of snow, so let’s hope this is not a precursor of things to come! Our family had a great time playing in the snow yesterday, but I don’t want a winter full of snow. I like some warm, dry days mixed in there…I am totally not a cold weather loving girl!

The previous owner of our house told us that we are one of the last roads in the township to get plowed and she wasn’t kidding! The snow plow just went by for the first time at 3:35 in the afternoon. Again, we woke up to snow YESTERDAY morning. Now, granted the roads are passable with the amount of snow we got, but narrow, curvy country roads packed with snow are no fun in any case. Let’s hope that come February when we get 8 inches of blowing, drifting snow that Mr. Snowplow Man makes it through a bit quicker!

I will say that the snow has certainly put me in the Christmas spirit!

An Aerial Shot of Our Property

Look at all those trees!

The Adventure is about to Begin!

So, what happens when city slickers move to the country? Well, we are about to find out! My husband and I are about to become the owners of a 16.5 acre hobby farm. We will close on the property at the end of May.

Some may call us crazy, but we are so excited about the opportunities that this move will bring our family. We are only moving 6 miles, but it will be a major lifestyle change for all of us. We believe it will be a change for the better. The kids are a little less sure than we are of the benefits…after all, there is no cable in the country. Oh, the horror!