October 23, 2011
The Farm
Wow, it's been a very hectic time. Not only did we go to Ohio for vacation, but we've been working our butts off trying to get the farm ready for us to be able to move in to it... we're getting closer thanks to a lot of help from our friends. (Sounds like a Beatles song).
| Rose CottageThis is where I feel like I've spent the last 2 weeks. It doesn't look like much in this picture, but it will. See the ugly institution blue? It's getting covered up with Bright White - I think it took me 3 coats. All those cracks between the blocks are hard to paint. The roof has been re-covered and the floor looks like a war zone from all my spilled paint - but I'm 80% finished. I just have the bathroom and windows to finish and then the new tile.
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The reason for the name - I'm going to be painting the outside, walls as well as what I've done inside. It is currently the beautiful dull grey color that blocks usually are. Then I'm going to plant roses all around it - the most fragrant ones I can find. (I have a poor sniffer.) On the inside I'm going to stencil roses along the top of the wall as a border. This is going to be my retreat. My artist studio; My Canning Cottage; My Guest House. Kevin gets a "Man Cave" (a closed in porch) and I get an entire building. It actually looks good on the inside (though I have no picture to show you yet.) with the fresh paint. I'm so excited to get this area done. There is a storage room attached too (a covered porch that was walled in). That's where I'm going to keep my food storage. I have exceeded the available room in my pantry here at the house. My food storage took over the dining room, then like a creature alive in a horror film it's been creeping into the living room. First it was along one side of the room in front of the fire place, then it grew in bulk and went to a second tier. Then it made a left turn and continued along the next wall in front of the entertainment center. Do I have too much? I don't think I have enough.
Victor Magaña
My BFF and her family came to the farm on Saturday to take part in our "Painting Party" - I have amazing friends by the way! Victor turned our horrid dining room paneling into a beautiful room where I'll feel blessed to eat in.
I wish I'd gotten more pictures, but we were busy - in all 8 (10 if you count kids) friends showed up from a last minute request for help. | 
Suemy, Victor, Kassandra and Jasmin Magaña showed up. Wade & Kathy Thomas; Tim
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| Tubman, Mitch Caldwell, Pat & Don Goodman. The dining room is finished thanks to Victor and so is the TV room, thanks to Tim. The kids room I finished about a month ago. Don & Pat got a wonderful start on the 'Man Cave', I think it needs another coat and the ceiling done. We are also going to put up some sort of wooden border between the wall & the ceiling because the tiles keep falling down.
Kathy & Wade, then later Mitch & I worked on the Master bath / bedroom - I think that I'm finished with the bathroom except for touch ups (and new tile since I slaughtered what's down right now - if I'd had red paint it would look like I killed someone. The bedroom looks pretty good, I just need a second coat on the walls near the ceiling and the floors. I'll have to really look at it again in the day time. (We got home at 11 pm, so I'm not positive what we left.) Kevin worked in the kitchen getting the wallpaper (yellow and white check) off the cabinet doors. Then started with coat #1 of paint - that coat didn't get finished, so there is going to be a lot of work to do still in the kitchen. What hasn't been touched yet is the front bathroom and the living room. So I want to finish all the other rooms before I start on those. So with 11 of us painting there is still SO much left to do. It would have taken us months to get this far if it had been just the two of us. THANK YOU to all of our friends who helped us out on what turned out to be Make A Difference Day (Thank you Wade for bringing this to our attention.) |
New Additions to the farm...
This is D&J - the are both Does and were born in February of this year. When I first saw them 2 or so months ago they were SO MUCH SMALLER. Okay, they are still small, but not like they were. They are a cross between an Alpine and a Nubian. D is the browner one on the right and J is the one up close... and it looks like J might be pregnant.
The only question is - by which father. I got these from the neighbor and he has a 'herd' of goats. There are two bucks, one is a nubian and the other is a boer. I just hope that if she is pregnant that it's from the nubian which is a milk goat. Boers are meat goats. They still produce milk for their young, but not 'extra' for us. I want to keep the milk lines.
Eric (the neighbor that I got them from) said that I can borrow their nubian buck around December to breed them.
The only question is - by which father. I got these from the neighbor and he has a 'herd' of goats. There are two bucks, one is a nubian and the other is a boer. I just hope that if she is pregnant that it's from the nubian which is a milk goat. Boers are meat goats. They still produce milk for their young, but not 'extra' for us. I want to keep the milk lines.
Eric (the neighbor that I got them from) said that I can borrow their nubian buck around December to breed them.
Here they are closer up. As you can tell in the bottom picture J looks much 'thicker' than D.
Don't they have the coolest eyes!
So why DJ for their names? It was girls night out and I was telling my friends about the 2 goats for sale next door. Donna and Jennifer decided to go in together and buy us the goats as a gift. So in their honor, they are named D&J.
When Donna asked which was which I told her it was up to her - did she want the pregnant one to be named after her? Her response was Hell No! LOL Jenn's never been pregnant, let that one be named after her. :-) Sorry Jen.
We are housing them with the chickens and ducks - who took no notice that there was a couple of much larger animals sharing their space. (It's a huge space for them.) The goats are currently stressed out and terrified about coming to their new surroundings. The dogs were running around the outside of the barn and chicken yard barking at them. I was inside the chicken yard giving fresh water and feed. So they decided they'd had enough. They fit (very easily I might add) their HUGE (in comparison) bodies into the TINY hole that is for the chickens to get into the coop. ZIP and they were in. So I went around the other side and took the opportunity to pet them and try to sooth them... and made sure they had more fresh water in there. They hunkered down under the nesting boxes and probably felt safe for the first time in a couple of hours.
So why DJ for their names? It was girls night out and I was telling my friends about the 2 goats for sale next door. Donna and Jennifer decided to go in together and buy us the goats as a gift. So in their honor, they are named D&J.
When Donna asked which was which I told her it was up to her - did she want the pregnant one to be named after her? Her response was Hell No! LOL Jenn's never been pregnant, let that one be named after her. :-) Sorry Jen.
We are housing them with the chickens and ducks - who took no notice that there was a couple of much larger animals sharing their space. (It's a huge space for them.) The goats are currently stressed out and terrified about coming to their new surroundings. The dogs were running around the outside of the barn and chicken yard barking at them. I was inside the chicken yard giving fresh water and feed. So they decided they'd had enough. They fit (very easily I might add) their HUGE (in comparison) bodies into the TINY hole that is for the chickens to get into the coop. ZIP and they were in. So I went around the other side and took the opportunity to pet them and try to sooth them... and made sure they had more fresh water in there. They hunkered down under the nesting boxes and probably felt safe for the first time in a couple of hours.
I did have a fright...
It being close to Halloween and all, this was appropriate. I was at the farm with my friend Mitch who was helping by being my 'muscle' for the day. We were loading up a bunch of junk to take to the dump. Old smelly mattresses were on the top of my list to get rid of. While picking up stuff I'd tossed out of the cottage (that had sat for a few months) I came across a little tiny thing that scared the crap out of me.
It wasn't a rattler, just a gopher snake or something that was there to eat bugs - but still. Mitch had to continue picking stuff up, because I wasn't going anywhere near that area. ICK! SHUDDER! SCREAM! He just laughed. If Kevin had been there he would have picked it up and loved it a little before letting it loose.
Classy Lady (& Gentlman)
Yes, I've become a 'classy' lady - meaning I'm taking all kinds of classes right now. Not only do we have the farm, the animals, moving, and a wedding that still isn't planned - I am (we are) taking classes.
Mondays are food storage and personal self defense classes - they rotate.
I have to tell you about GroceryConnection.org. This site is by a fabulous lady named Shellie (who teaches the food storage class) and it gives you tips on where to get your best grocery deals. She trends her grocery bill over time so that you can see what is happening to our food. She talks about what's going up in price soon and why. There are recipes for things like making your own dried onion soup mix (to save money). She has links to legislation that affects your food prices. There is a gardening page that talks about what to plant NOW... this helps keep the cost of your grocery bill down.
Alternating Thursdays is the Master Gardener class. We have class time and volunteer time with quizzes in between. We just haven't found time to make it to any of the volunteer opportunities yet - but hope to come November.
Mondays are food storage and personal self defense classes - they rotate.
I have to tell you about GroceryConnection.org. This site is by a fabulous lady named Shellie (who teaches the food storage class) and it gives you tips on where to get your best grocery deals. She trends her grocery bill over time so that you can see what is happening to our food. She talks about what's going up in price soon and why. There are recipes for things like making your own dried onion soup mix (to save money). She has links to legislation that affects your food prices. There is a gardening page that talks about what to plant NOW... this helps keep the cost of your grocery bill down.
Alternating Thursdays is the Master Gardener class. We have class time and volunteer time with quizzes in between. We just haven't found time to make it to any of the volunteer opportunities yet - but hope to come November.
Romance
We have a little romantic weekend coming up soon - we are going to the Welk Resort for a little time away from the stress of everything that isn't done yet. It's close - just in Escondido... hopefully neither of us will be sick, injured or just too tired. ;-) I can hardly wait.
