Easter Weekend and new projects

Thursday, April 9

What a night! You’da thought there was a disco party going on outside our bedroom window. A storm came through about 3 o’clock in the morning bringing with it copious flashes of white light, some wind and a little rain. We had a little bit of hail but, thankfully, there was no damage here at the farm. There was a downed tree across the road on my way in to work but someone had cut one lane’s worth of the tree up so that cars could get through. On my way home from work the rest of the tree had been cut and cleared from the entire road. The rain did water everything we have planted so far which is always good.

It’s my Friday! Work was slow. I was outta there by 2:30 and back at my beloved farm by 3:00. The temps were cooler today, in the upper 50’s, but the wind made being outside a little uncomfortable. The house was cold so CountryBoy started a fire. The greenhouse was comfortable so I straightened it up and set our camp chairs in there. CountryBoy had the door from the house to the greenhouse open trying to let in some heat which is what prompted me to go out there. After sitting there for a bit I decided I needed to straighten it up even more. The shelves in front of the windows that were intended for plants and starting plants had become littered with stuff. The new plants were sitting on top of the stuff and it made it difficult to see out the windows. I stored the unused pots and trays underneath the shelf which made space for the new plants to sit directly on the shelf which then made it possible to see out the windows. We hung out in there until supper was ready which was leftover spaghetti turned into baked spaghetti with mozzarella on top. Mmmmm!

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My heart is heavy. I saw a couple of posts on Facebook from various local news channels today about farmers in Florida being told to dump their produce. This disturbs me greatly. I scanned the article and the points that stood out were that the farmers could not get rid of their produce because restaurants were closed and not buying. I may be wrong but I believe restaurants are still open just doing curbside or drive-thru. The customer base may be less but they would still need produce. The article also stated that the produce was being given to food banks and that they were full and couldn’t take any more perishables. I get that. But… dumping FOOD? Real food when there are so many hungry people? It seems more could’ve been done to find a use for all that fresh produce. Like, how ’bout giving or selling it to the canning companies? or, putting an ad in all the papers within a 50 or 100 mile radius offering the produce at discounted prices so that others may can or eat it fresh? I just know there are other solutions. The waste is just wrong on so many levels. So very many people are hungry. Food is being intentionally dumped. It disturbs me greatly. Why is this happening? Why are we allowing this to happen? Why are we not asking why?

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While I was at work CountryBoy got started on the ‘pitcher pump at the cabin’ project. He got the stand for the pump made. He also brought a couple loads of wood in for the upcoming cooler temps.

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Farm news: 30 eggs. We finally have five dozen eggs in the egg fridge.

Good Friday, April 10

Slept in till 7. Coffee in front of the fireplace. Not much planned for the day. While having coffee we talked about part of CountryBoy’s conversation with his Mom the night before on how he’s physically not able to sleep on the floor anymore during the annual Thanksgiving gathering at his Mom’s. I mentioned that if we ever got that pop-up camper we’ve talked about for years that he could pull that to his Mom’s and sleep in there. Brilliant idea! He jumped up and started looking for one online. I laughed thinking he’d never find one in our measly price-range. But, guess what? He did! He contacted the seller. That afternoon we headed two hours north to check it out. We came home with this…

It’s very small (the perfect size actually) and in good condition. But because we can’t leave anything alone we will be working on it making some cosmetic improvements both inside and out. There was another pop-up a little closer but it didn’t have one of these…

… a cute little awning! We are very excited to own this and to fix it up just a bit. We’re also excited to be able to finally join in on our adopted family’s annual camping trip to a nearby campground. We love to camp and are thrilled we’ll be able to do it again. It’s perfect to take for the Thanksgiving gathering and will also be convenient as another guest room should we ever need it.

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Farm news: 33 eggs

Saturday, April 11

It was a slow start to the morning. Coffee in front of the fireplace again while a load of laundry is in the machine. I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to accomplish today other than washing our sheets and finishing up the laundry.

I ended up piddlin’ around all day. I managed to design and print some labels for our jams & jellies; I got the outer border strips of the quilt sewn together; took some photos of blooms just waiting to unfurl:…

… and pink tipped grape leaves with teeny tiny clusters of grapes;…

… and supervised (yea, right) CountryBoy while he started on our next project…

… the tack room. What a mess it was as much of the stuff we don’t know what to do with was stored in there along with stuff that doesn’t get used very often. (We did find some useful stuff for our newly acquired pop-up camper!) I had an idea a while back to turn this great space into something actually useful and functional.

This space will eventually be my Dremel shop. I got a Dremel two Christmases ago and some more accessories for it last Christmas but I have no place to actually use it as it creates dust and debris when in use. We had thought about turning half of the greenhouse into the Dremel shop but I wasn’t sold on that idea because I really want to keep it as a greenhouse with a small space for the farm market. The idea to utilize the tack room came to me while reading a book I just finished. The character had turned an unused carriage house into her study and workroom. I have an unused tack room that would be perfect for my little space. Dust and debris wouldn’t matter in there and it would be easy to clean up. Brilliant!

In my mind I’m already seeing the interior space and placing my workbench but – and there’s always a but with an old farmstead – there is repair work that needs to take place first…

Yep. That’s a big ‘ol hole in the floor due to years of a leaky barn roof. CountryBoy will use some wood from other areas of the barn to repair the floor so that it will have the same look and the same patina. It doesn’t have to be perfect because an old wood-stove is going in that general vicinity. I had found that old stove at our local antique & vendor mall last year. It was such a great deal that I had to have it. I didn’t know where it would wind up but I knew we would eventually make use of it and the price was too good not to snatch it up before it disappeared.

CountryBoy finished clearing out the space, he removed the saddle log that stuck out the side of the barn, donned a bandana and swept the floor, then hosed it down calling it quits for the day on that project…

After a little break he went to his shop and worked on the stand for the hand pump that will be installed up at the cabin. He cut a piece of cedar for the top of the stand, cut a hole in it for the plumbing and sealed it.

While he was working on that I worked on the jams & jellies labels on the front porch with my trusty assistants…

While there I spotted my first hummingbird visitor at the feeder. He sat for the longest time getting a drink. I’m so excited they’re back!

Farm news: 32 eggs

They don’t get any fresher than that!

These girls sure are faithful in their egg laying…

… and for that we are thankful! The white girl lays beautiful blue eggs.

Easter Sunday, April 12

HAPPY EASTER!!! It’s a different one for everyone this year but the one thing that remains the same – He is Risen! What more hope do we need during these crazy and trying times? We will get through this!

I woke up with a headache this morning. I’m sure it was an unconscious/subconscious tension headache. What the heck is that you ask? Well, I made it up. See, we were asked to sing at our drive-in church service this morning and I had intended on getting the song book out yesterday and practicing it but the day got away from me. I did not think I was worried about singing but apparently, my subconscious would’ve preferred that I had practiced and taken a load off it and during my unconscious state of sleep it worked itself into a headache.

The service was great! We have some tech savvy church members and they had ordered and set up an FM radio transmitter. The sound system was hooked up to it so everyone was able to tune in to their car radios and listen to the service. Our sound check went great but there were technical difficulties when the time came for us to actually sing. Apparently our music could be heard through the radio but we couldn’t hear it to sing. After a quick switch of a monitor all was good. Whew. It’s definitely a different way of ‘being in God’s house’ but I am so grateful that we can still worship. It pays to be flexible and I’m grateful for all the tech-savvy minds that help us continue to have church. Whether it’s listening over the radio or with the windows rolled down at a drive-in church or listening online at home, live or taped, it’s great to hear words of encouragement during these very unusual and sometimes difficult days.

This afternoon I finished the quilt top. It’s too windy to hang the quilt top on the line for me to get a picture but I will. I think it turned out great and can’t wait to show y’all. Sashing was definitely the way to go. I believe the rest of the evening I will work on the hexagon afghan. I’m SO close to finishing. I need to make myself weave in those ends and get ‘er done.

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Farm news: 27 eggs and no signs of plant life in the garden yet. We are currently getting a nice rain. Maybe that will give the seeds the boost they need to come forth.