Summer Update

Suddenly I’ve realized it is Mid-July, and I’m not sure when this happened or where summer has gone.

Our chickens, or 1/2 of them at least, are officially laying eggs now! So give us a month or so, and we will also be offering eggs for sale for $3 a dozen! You can visit us at the farm and pick yours up, or we can arrange a time to meet somewhere in the area if you live close.

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Clearly, Harper is not afraid of the chickens at all. She loves going in there are and running around with the ladies. We have 1 rooster right now, who will be going to the butcher shop soon, but it has been funny listening to him learn to crow!

I was also able to plant a small garden. No produce from us to purchase this year, but maybe next year. We are looking at planting additional blueberry bushes and possibly some sweetcorn for next year. Harper hasn’t quite learned that you eat the lettuce, not throw a fit and lay down in the lettuce! I’m excited to see how my cucumbers grow and my tomatoes are thriving. Green beans and carrots are a staple in our garden. I also planted a pumpkin plant for Harper for Halloween, and a watermelon plant.

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Our 2 bossy mares on the farm, Windy and Razzy, are getting along pretty well. We have only been able to fence in a temporary pasture at the farm due to a new septic install. Their other pasture will have to be cultivated and replanted, but we can’t do that until the septic is installed and we can finalize placement of fencing.

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Housing renovations are moving along…slowly. We have officially completed: a  new roof on the house, updated plumbing, updated electrical, insulation, pulled-up carpeting, have new carpeting for 1 of 2 rooms, sheetrock installed (currently being mudded and taped), and a bid on refinishing hardwood floors. I have finalized paint for 3 rooms, and am now struggling with living room and kitchen colors. I’m also repainting all of the kitchen cabinets, we are getting new light fixtures throughout the house, and new flooring downstairs in the office and living room.  We also re-did electrical to the pole barn, cleaned out an entire shed, cleaned the garden shed, figured out we need to hook-up some plumbing for the pole-barn yet, and got a bid on rewiring the the honey house.

We have realized that this year, we will only get so far, and then next year, we will be doing things like landscaping (so please don’t mind the weeds that are all over), more building work, site preparation, etc. The house sat vacant for a year, so there has been a lot to tackle.

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These are two splits we have been babying out at the farm. We have been struggling with getting these hives moved due to flooding at two of our locations. Hopefully this weekend, these will get moved, and we will be pulling some frames from our others for extracting!

We have been able to fit in a few other things like parades, a 4th of July celebration, and swimming lessons for Harper!

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Despite all the craziness, and sometimes looking at each other wondering if we really know what we got ourselves into, we are so thankful for the opportunity to raise Harper on the farm and have a gorgeous view overlooking the fields every night.

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This is what is all about folks.

Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, Thank you for supporting our little dream.