July Monthly Moos {Our Farm Story}

The entrance to our farm

 



This is the story of our farm.   As I've been pondering this blog post,  I keep thinking I need to leave out the beginning of the story, but it's a big part of how we came to the place of buying our farm so I can't really leave it out. 

Our driveway through the woods

It starts like this:  before my husband and I ever got married (31 years ago) he told me he wanted to buy a farm someday.  So, during our first 20 plus years of marriage when he had a good job as a Mechanical Engineer and we were raising our two children, we would talk often of retiring early and buying a farm.   In 2005, when we were just a few years from acting on that dream, the unplannable happened:  I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  I was 42 years old.  Our daughter had just married, our son was in his first year of college. 

The first glimpse of our house as you come through the woods.



 

I remember clearly the first words that came out of my mouth when the Breast Surgeon gave me the news.  I said, "My husband and I were going to buy a farm.  I'm afraid that now this will change everything in our lives and we won't be able to buy our farm."  I'm sure he wondered about this crazy woman, but he was kind and said, "Lets just take it one step at a time". 

Our beautiful pond and the main source of water for our cattle.

Fast forward over the surgeries and the chemotherapy to my last check-up with the Breast Surgeon and his words to me, "Dori, it's time for you and your husband to find your farm."  I had actually forgotten my words to him and it tells you what an amazing man he was that he had remembered.

My perfect garden plot at the bottom of the hill.



So... the hunt was on! We had always dreamed of moving to the Southeast and with a daughter and son-in-law in Alabama we decided Tennessee would be the place to start looking.

The first glimpse of the hilltop - notice my husbands smile!

 

Long story short, it was Thanksgiving 2005 that we followed a sign on the highway that said "Farm For Sale" and drove across a pasture, through the woods, meandered up a hill, slowly climbed another hill to the hilltop. 

Thanksgiving 2005 - Our family

(My hair just growing back from chemo!)

 



Our daughter and her husband, and our son were with us and we got out of the car and stood there with our mouths hanging open.  We looked at each other and said, "this is our farm".  And 4 months later, it was!

 

The view north from our house.

 

It was six years, in 2011, before we were actually able to retire and move to our farm, where the work really began!  (If you haven't already read about it, you can read all about our farmhouse progress here.)

 

The view east from our house towards our daughter's house.

During those six years before we were able to move, our daughter and her husband drove out to the farm from their home across the border in Alabama, to hike around and check on things.  It was on one of those trips that the farmhouse they had always admired just down the road, was for sale!  Long story short - they bought it and moved a few years before we did!  We cannot see their house from our farm, but we can see the the red rooftop of their neighbors house! 

 

The view west from our house.

 

 Maybe you can understand why this farm means so much to us.  It was a lifelong dream for my husband, a miracle for me, an incredible and amazing bonus to have our grand-babies just down the road, and it felt like we belonged from the first time we stepped foot on it. 

 

The view south from our house.

 

We love that we have an ever changing view (in every direction) from our house.  We love that we have a taste of the smoky mountains by the "smoke" that rises from the hollows.  We love that we see our cows every day.  We love the friends we've met that, in just two short years, feel like family to us now.  We love living so close to our grown children.  We love everything about being here on our farm....  listening to the birds during the day, the sounds in the woods at night, and how everything grows!  We even love to mow (and mow and mow)!

 

Our driveway coming out of the woods and around the bottom of the hill.  (That dead tree you see there by the road in the woods is going to be cut down soon.  It is massive though and will be a huge job.)

 

Thanks for visiting our farm! 

Canning On The Porch!

 

My garden is producing full force and I have cucumbers and green beans by the bucket full. 

 

 

Living in a travel trailer is not too condusive to canning and last year I wasted so much fresh produce because of not being able to can anything.

 

 

This summer I decided to set up an outdoor canning system.  I think even when we are moved into our house (SOON!), I'll still use this set up.  It is amazing!

 

 

I bought a two burner propane camp stove, put it on our porch and got to work!  We always have a steady breeze on the hilltop and with the shade on the porch it is very comfortable temperature wise and creates a great outdoor canning kitchen!  These propane burners are a very high BTU output so water boils fast!

 

 

The burner had no problem bringing my pressure cooker up to the 10 pounds of pressure that I needed and easily held it steady for the 20 minutes I cooked my jars of green beans. 

 

 

Seven quarts of perfect green beans!

 

 

I set up the cooker close to my picnic table and I used that for my counter top! 

 

 

Then I proceeded to the pickle making session. 

 

 

My large water kettle boiled in just a few short minutes and I had my jars sterilized and ready on one burner....

 

...and my pickles hot and ready in the pot on the other burner.

 

 

Pickle jars don't need to be pressurized, so they only had to boil for five minutes in this large kettle.  I loved how the water was up to boiling in just a few minutes.  I made 9 pints of pickles in no time.

 

 

Perfect pickles!

 

(The above picture is my "can pantry" in my new kitchen. I would really, really love to be able to show you my kitchen, tell you about my lovely cabinets, take some gorgeous pictures and show you around. Unfortunately I am STILL waiting for the cabinet guys to come and finish. I have faith that it will be this week - however, I know I said that last week too.)

 

My daughter and I have been picking and purchasing fresh fruit for the last month so I have a good start to my pantry now with strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and peach jams! 

 

 

So.... with an outdoor canning "kitchen" on the brain, I've been doing a lot of surfing around the blog world and pinterest for outdoor set-ups.  There are a lot of them out there!  Eldon has some good ideas, I have a few good ideas, other experienced outdoor canning people have awesome ideas...  its my goal for next summer to put some of these ideas in place and really create a great outdoor canning "kitchen".  I'm already on the look-out for an old farmhouse sink. 

 

 

What are your thoughts on the subject?

 



The Perfect County Fair Skirt!

 

I follow a number of sewing blogs but there is one that I absolutely love.  If you like to sew, you must check out her blog, danamadeit, here. She made these darling skirts for her daughter and friends and I fell in love with them.  When my daughter said she was going to have a County Fair two year birthday party for Rosetta, I remembered those darling skirts and thought of my little grand-daughters and their friends!  So.....

 

I gathered fabric, rick rack and thread and got started!   Dana gives great instructions on her blog, so  I just set up my kindle next to my sewing machine and could easily refer to it if necessary.

 

I'm kind of weird where I like to have everything all organized before I start sewing and since this project was going to require all different colors of thread I got my bobbins all wound up ahead of time.   I was really excited about this project because I love color so much that I knew I would have fun putting different colors together.

 

 

A really funny thing happened when I started sewing.  I wanted one of the skirts!  So I made one for myself so I could match my darling grand-daughters!

 

 

And then even funnier was when my daughter Andrea said, "Mom I want one of the skirts too"!  I sent a picture text to Ciara, my daughter in law, and asked her if she wanted one - her reply; "I'm in".  So back to the sewing machine I went to whip up a couple more skirts!

 

 

My grand-daughter Jillian and her little friend Ruth were so darling in their skirts.  These two little girls look so much alike that the times we've dressed them in matching clothes we are always taking a double-look!

 

 

 

They were so easy to make, so fun, and so comfortable.  I'm actually thinking about making myself a few more in varied styles!  If you're thinking you'd like to make yourself or some special little girl a fun summery skirt, this is the one to make!  I made each skirt in about 25 minutes.

 

 

I pulled this picture off my daughter's blog so that you could see it was a darling little birthday party!   

 

Hope you are off to a great start to your week!  (Watch for the July Monthly Moos post coming in a few days!)

Is It July Already?

 

Do you ever feel like you have one of those weeks where you are going constantly, working like crazy... but yet you can hardly even remember what you did?  That's how I feel this week.  I actually have several blog posts in the works, but decided to just scratch them for now and share my week with you instead.  (If I can remember what I did!)

 

I've been working most every evening in my garden and it is producing and beautiful.  I'm so happy with the Baker Creek heirloom seeds I planted.  So far the yield is amazing.  My garden is at the bottom of the hill and gets the late afternoon and evening shade, so it sure makes it nice for weeding.

 

 

 

I think I bought 4 or 5 varieties of heirloom zinnia seeds that are blooming and I love them.  They are one of those flowers that just make me so happy when I look at them. 

 

I bought these antique milk bottles last year at Bella Rustica and they are so colorful on the picnic table with the zinnias.  I'm surprised at how long they stay pretty too. 

 

 

I've been sanding, staining, and varnishing stair treads for Eldon and in between all that I've been working on this wall in the laundry room.  Ever since seeing the plaid wall in the Southern Living Idea House last year I've wanted to copy it. 

 

 

Its not quite finished yet, but I'm hoping for the best!  I'll be sure to tell you all about it later!

 

I'm not ready to share any more house progress pictures yet, but I will tell you what we've done in the last couple weeks...  all the butcher block counter tops are installed and absolutely gorgeous, center island in place (that was a job), farmhouse sink and new Pfister faucet installed, flooring and baseboard trim installed in the living room, stair treads and risers in place, stail rail and balusters installed on that dangerous open wall in the barn room overlooking the kitchen, and Eldon working on the main stair rail and balusters now.  I come behind and caulk and paint wherever needed!  I'm really, really excited to share my kitchen cabinets and do a full post on that, but we are waiting for the cabinet guys to come back and install all the doors and hardware.  Keeping my fingers crossed for next week!  My next house progress post is one of the ones I have in the works!

 

 

I've also been working on a Monthly Moos post for July and have really enjoyed taking pictures of our farm.  This morning we were having a good steady drizzle and I looked out and saw these wild turkeys enjoying the rain.  I love the wild animals on our farm. 

 

 

And speaking of the wildlife on our farm.  I happened to have my camera around my neck when I came out of the woods to this sight the other day.  Isn't she the most beautiful animal?

 

 

 

 

My daughter and I also picked blueberries and I made jam.  I have tried to stay away from it but I've had a bite of Eldon's jam and biscuit a few times and oh it is so good!

 

(In the background of the above picture you can see my butcher block island top with newly installed Pfister faucet.  I think I'm gonna love it!)

 

 

And the last thing to happen last week was that we had a weekend of fun with all of us together.  Our son and his wife are on the left, Eldon and I in the middle, and then our daughter and her husband and gorgeous girls on the right.  It was one of those weekends where we didn't realize how badly we needed to get away from the work on the house until we actually got off the hilltop and dipped our feet in the water!  No, it wasn't the ocean but it was a close second!

 

 

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth - we've had inches of rain and are all ready for some sunshine now!  (And then I'll be mowing and mowing!)