After dusting off my Canon in the last couple of weeks, I thought it would be fun to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to snap a few sunrise shots of the sunflowers at Grinter Farms nearby. Boy, was I wrong. Our little dude is on week #2 of a double ear infection. What was a hellacious …
Water for the Calves
Aaron has a general mantra for pretty much anything that challenges either fo us: “We will always find a way.” As annoying as it can be to hear it sometimes – he’s generally pretty right. When the cows moved out to the pasture, getting water to them became a pretty big challenge. The longterm goal is to build them a …
My Banana Bread Addiction
This time of year, I’m seeing tons and tons of posts involving canning, jamming and all of the amazing things friends are making from their gardens. To say our garden was a bit of a bust this year is an understatement. For all of the work that we put into it at the start, things have really fizzled late in …
The Freeloading Chickens
They finally quit being complete and utter freeloaders. After the recent loss of another chicken and our last guinea – we are officially down to 7 chickens. We think we have 4 hens and 3 roosters – but our opinions there tend to change day by day. Finally. Fiiiiiiiinally. Our chickens are no longer total freeloaders. I’ve been telling Aaron …
A Snake in the Garden Shed
There is a massive python-style snake in the garden shed. Ask me how I know. Do it. Ask me. Today, I ventured to the garden shed to get my tree trimmers. Innocent enough – I just wanted to clean up some of the ridiculous limbs hanging from the trees in the backyard. What I was greeted with – however – was not …
Double Rainbow in the Pasture
This morning, we were greeted with a pretty spectacular sunrise. The grass in the backyard is freshly mowed and the warm sunshine creeping over the farm was the perfect way to wake up. And then, about the time we decided to drive into Lawrence, a double rainbow appeared over the pasture. The misty sprinkles of the day were completely weird …
Chore Training
Have I mentioned that, at the peak of mowing season, we have about 8 hours of lawn mowing to handle every week? Just the two of us. Aaron and I take turns cutting what we can in the evenings and on weekends. Of course, with the bouncing baby thinking he needs to be into everything – that keeps the other …
Simple Gratitudes
I realize a lot of my posts lately are centered around how difficult it has been to stay on top of the garden or keep up with the chickens or find a way to move the cows out to pasture. I’d be lying if I told you that running the farm while working a full-time job quarantined at home, taking …
The Farm’s First 4th of July
Last winter, Aaron and I had some pretty distinct discussions about how to celebrate the 4th of July this year. Surrounded by farmland, we imagined that the yard and pastures would be alive with friends and cousins launching rockets and popping firecrackers. We thought up ideas for socializing on the deck, swimming in the pond and cooking from the garden. …
Family Ride to Leavenworth State Fishing Lake
Nothing combines fun and social distance quite like a ride on the side-by-side. Exploring the area’s rural roads and trails with our Honda Pioneer has become a popular family pastime. Today, we roamed toward Tonganoxie, Kansas, to visit the Leavenworth State Fishing Lake. I grew up in Northeast Kansas and was aware a lake existed in this area near Tongie …