One Step Closer

After a few failed attempts to figure out our flooring installation, Joel and I got into the groove and "got her done".   Whew!   The ceiling and flooring were two huge endeavors and we are both soooo glad to have them behind us.   Now, it's on to the fun stuff like trim work and cabinets.   Those are easy compared to the ceiling and flooring.

We choose a medium toned wood laminate plank flooring that actually went in fairly easy once we got into the groove.   We knocked the whole floor out in 2 days.   Yippee!   And I love how it looks.   You never know exactly how it's going to turn out when you order flooring while looking at one little piece of it.....it can turn out quite different when you do it in a whole room.   But I love the tone of this wood.

By the time all the sewing furniture and area rugs are in here it will serve as a nice neutral backdrop.   Can't hardly wait to start bringing my sewing goodies in here, but that is going to have to wait another couple of weeks.   We still have plenty to finish up in here first.

I did get the wood window frames painted and we installed those a couple of days ago.   Next, window trim......bought that last night at Lowe's.   But first we need to cut it and I need to give it 2 coats of paint, and then we can install it.

I used to be really afraid of Joel's saw, but now I feel really comfortable using it all by myself.   I managed to do all the cuts of the flooring by myself and am quite proud that I conquered my fear of "The Beast".   Looks like I'll get a lot more practice with Him as I have a lot of cuts to make for the trim of the windows and doors.  To hold down the saw dust we put down a tarp and placed Him in the storage room.   That worked pretty well to contain the dust for now.

I took this shot while standing in the storage room, looking out into the main part of the studio.   It sure looks like a lot of real estate in there.   But I bet it'll soon get filled up once we start moving my sewing furniture in there....and I have even designed a space for an old, large round oak table that I plan on using for scrapbooking and maybe some sewing classes. 

I think we have just enough flooring left to do the floor of the enclosed breezeway we have yet to build that will connect the studio to the house.   And I think I may use the leftover ceiling planks as a backsplash over the cabinets.....or maybe as a different wall covering in the breezeway.   We'll see how that develops over the next month.   At least now I feel like there is some light at the end of the tunnel.  

I am excitedly waiting for the day when I can sit in my favorite chair in the studio, watching Sunday afternoon football while working on some hand sewing or knitting......and not feeling guilty watching football on the tv in the living room.   Neither of my guys like football.   I know!   Go figure!   But I love it and now I'll soon be able to watch all I want in my very own "girl cave".   Yippee!

Getting there,
Debbie

Pumpkin in Jars

Yes, I seem to be behind the proverbial 8 ball these days.....especially when it comes to canning the produce from the garden.   We have so many projects going on behind the scenes that sometimes I hurriedly harvest food from the garden, breath a sigh of relief that I picked it before it was too late, and then kinda forget all about the fact that I still need to either eat it, freeze it, dehydrate it or can it before it rots.   Yeah, I know......dumb blonde.    Actually, it's more like new Farm Girl.  Giggle.

 We've been so preoccupied working on the studio that the pumpkins just got lost in the shuffle.  And, besides, I really liked using them as decorations for Fall.  Umm, yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.   As you can see, though, the pumpkins were starting to develop signs that they would soon rot if I didn't do something with them.   Alright, alright, I guess it's time to figure out how to can pumpkin.

It took a while, but I started by cutting the first 3 of them into manageable wedges.  I have NEVER cut into pumpkins with such tough skins.   This year I decided to grow a variety called Amish Pumpkins as they are supposed to be delicious pie pumpkins.   These would most definitely not make good Jack-O-Lanterns......your thin knife would break trying to cut out eyes, a nose and a mouth.   I've got a good sized blister on my right hand from working with these orange orbs over the last 2 days.

The bowl on the left is for the pigs....they love to devour the rinds, seeds and flesh of the pumpkins.   The bowl on the right is for the chickens......they get the inner seed/gooey stuff.   Yes, that's the actual scientific name for the inside of a pumpkin.....inner seed/gooey stuff.   Seriously, look it up!  Anyway, the animals went crazy for their pumpkin treats 2 days in a row.   The pieces are then placed into the Ball jars and boiling water is ladled over them....put on the lids and screw rings and repeat.

Thank goodness my vegetable peeler worked just fine removing the outer peel.    Then I cut the pumpkin into 1" pieces.   After that, everybody gets dumped into a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes to blanch the pieces of orangey goodness.   I can almost taste the homemade pumpkin pie and bread now.

Because pumpkin is a low acid food, it has to be processed in a pressure canner instead of a water bath canner.  That raises the temp inside the jars high enough to kill nasty bacteria....and we don't want nasty bacteria, do we?

 Seven quart jars fit nicely into the pot, 3 quarts of hot water gets poured over the jars and the lid gets locked onto the pot.   Turn on the heat, bring the pressure up on the gauge and watch it for 90 minutes to make sure the pressure doesn't go too high or drop too low....if it drops below 11 lbs. I have to start timing the processing time all over again.   And no one wants me to have to do that......no, let's not go there.

Because there is so much heat and pressure built up in the canner, you need to let it sit and cool down for several hours before even attempting to open the pot.   That meant I did one batch early Friday morning, let it cool down and did another Friday night so it could cool down overnight.   Then I repeated the whole process on Saturday.   By Saturday night I still had pumpkin left over!!!  

 Well, I was done canning those babies, so I cooked the remainder of the pumpkin, drained it and pureed it in my Cuisinart.   It sat in the refrigerator overnight to chill and now this morning I will portion it out and freeze it.   Hey, there's more than one way to skin a cat.....or something like that, right?

In between all this fun (ahem), Joel and I finished the ceiling in the studio.  Yippee!

Because of Joel's eyesight, I did all the cuts with the saw and the jigsaw.   I'm feeling pretty empowered right about now, can you tell?   And can I just say it?   I HATE the nail gun.   Working overhead with that sucker for 2 weeks has killed my shoulders.   I am soooooo glad we are done working on the ceiling.   But I love how it has turned out....just farm house-y enough to make me smile.

Joel's really glad the ceiling is done, too.   He had wanted to have it dry walled, but I pleaded for the wood and he readily admits now that it looks awesome.    I think he'd say anything now that this mammoth job is complete.  

So, yesterday we built the boxes to frame in the inside of the window frames.  I got them painted while the guys blew some of the bajillions of leaves into piles and burned them.  I guess we'll try and install the frames sometime over the next few days and then it will be time to trim out the doors and windows.   After that, the flooring can commence.  

We're getting closer to "done",
Debbie

Cock-A-Doodle-Doo

Yes, our roosters have matured to the point of crowing early in the mornings.   It was so cute to watch them exercise their voices over the last few weeks as they strutted around the chicken pasture, trying their best to crow.   The sounds that came out of their beaks was a bit weak, but they were persistent and then, finally, one of them crowed.  Joel and I were standing there watching them and the rooster was so proud of himself.....and a little surprised, too!

Meanwhile, the "girls" daintily walk around the pasture making the sweetest soft coo-ing noises. 

It's been so interesting to watch them all grow over the last 5 months and to see the maturing in their demeanor as well as their physical bodies.  Pretty soon it will be time to cull out the majority of the roosters to eliminate any fighting over the "girls".   That means humanely butchering the roosters to fill our freezer.   Such is the cycle of life on the farm.

Last week we cleaned out the nesting boxes in preparation for the hens to start laying their first eggs.   The boxes got lined with clean straw so the girls have a nice soft, clean place to lay the eggs.   While we were in the coop the guys looked up to see where a noise was coming from up near the top of the highest roost.  

 One silly bird had followed us into the coop and flew up to the top roost to watch what was going on inside.  

Then it was time to put fresh straw in the Pig Palace.   Funny thing about pigs.....they are the Diva Decorators of the animal kingdom.   No, I'm serious!   Pigs are known to rearrange the straw in their shelter until it is "just right".   They don't like it too thick, and they don't like it too thin.....and it has to be piled up in a precise manner to suit them.   It's hilarious to watch these muddy, grunting, slobs get fanatical about rearranging their straw in their shelter.  Yup, these are the same animals that pee in their water trough, roll in mud, and eat off the ground.  But don't mess with their shelter straw!

See?   There they go, moving the straw around to suit themselves.

"Ahhhh, that's better now.   Whew!   Glad that's done, aren't you Bacon?  Yes, Pork Chop, thanks for all your help."

Yes, you're a cutie.....well, sorta.   Pork Chop has the sweeter disposition of the two pigs. 

Bacon, however, will practically knock you over when you walk into the pen with her....she's so excited to see you.    She and Jeremy were having a conversation.   Don't ask!

And here is the last of our critters, Molly.    She has been under the weather this last week with a bladder infection.  One of her favorite places to relax is in the crack between the back cushion and the firm back of Joel's comfy leather love seat.   Doesn't she look rather pitiful with her ears flopped on top of the cushion?

Top of the Mornin' to you,
Debbie

Studio Update

In case you didn't know it, we recently brought a building onto the land near the house and it will soon become my new sewing studio.  Joel and I have been busy working on projects in the studio in between taking care of the pigs and chickens and putting the garden to bed for the winter.   For a girl who likes to feel productive, the farm life certainly lives up to the popular saying that the work on a farm is never done.    And yes, I love all that we accomplish every week.

As for the studio, it began life as an empty shell of a building....one that was completely finished on the outside, but the inside was void of anything but rafters and stud walls.    Over the last month we've had a combination A/C and heat unit installed for climate control.   Whew!   Just in time, too, before the snow started blowing and the temps dropped into the 30's. 

 It's an energy efficient Mitsubishi unit that will climate control both the studio and the old sewing porch.   That's going to be a bonus for us this winter, especially for me as my computer and desk are going to remain out on the sewing porch and I was a little cold out there last winter.

Because the workers were back and forth installing the units in the sewing porch and the studio we had to close the door to the kitchen in order to keep the dogs corralled.  They just kept watching out the long window of the door to keep an eye on all the activities.

Meanwhile, outside the install went great and is neat and tidy.   The area between the new studio and the farmhouse will soon be attached with an enclosed breezeway so I can pad out to the studio in the morning in my jammies without having to go outside.   Woo-hoo!  Since I am in there at all hours of the day and night it just made sense for us to connect it to the house.   I'm not exactly sure when that is going to get done, though.   Ummmm, yeah, just another "little" project.

Next came the dry wall guys.   It took them the better part of a week to dry wall, mud the seams, let the mud dry and sand and repeat until the walls were nice and smooth.  So glad they did it and not us!

Then it was my turn.....to paint, that is.   I decided to paint the whole studio the same color as the kitchen and laundry room.  I love this soft robin's egg/Tiffany box blue.   It's a cheerful color and  makes me happy just to look at it.

And here you can see how small the inside A/C unit is as it is tucked up high on one wall.   It has worked great while we are in there working over the last 2 weeks during the ups and downs in the temperature outside.   I'm so grateful to have climate control where I plan on spending a lot of hours each week.

It is taking me 2 weeks, but I have been really busy painting the tongue and groove ceiling boards for the huge main room of the studio.    The small back room that is for storage has a drywall ceiling, so, that is already painted and ready for flooring.   I can only paint so many boards at one time as there simply is not enough space to lay out wet 8' boards....I'm currently using 2 sawhorses and a 6' folding table.   As soon as they are dry, Joel and I are installing them on the ceiling as well as putting thick insulation up above the boards, and then I paint more boards and the whole process begins anew.

This is how far we got yesterday.   At least we are more than halfway and feel like we have a "system" going now.    It takes more time when we get to the ceiling lights and I have to stop and draw circles on the boards and cut them out with the jigsaw, hoping to line up the arc cuts on the boards with the lights.   I was teasing Joel yesterday that it's a good thing I'm a quilter and love geometry because the skills from both have come in handy while making these cuts on the boards.  

It's going to take us a considerable amount of time to complete this mammoth project, but it's going to give us much needed additional storage in the back room and also give me a real place to do my sewing....hopefully to blossom into a business once again.  More on that in the year to come.  Then wait till you see what we have planned for the old sewing porch.

Thanks for checking on us,
Debbie

Earliest Recorded Snowfall in Crossville

Yup, that is exactly what happened to us beginning Halloween evening.   By the time Joel took Molly out for her evening stroll of the yard last night, the windshields of our cars were already covered with newly fallen snow.    And it had been 75 degrees only 4 days ago!    The thermometer never went above 34 degrees all day today. 

 Just over a week ago, this is what our tree in front of the house looked like....it's leaves had barely begun to change color.

And then, 2 days ago the leaves on the same tree were splendid!

And the trees down in our valley were gasping their last little bit of color before all the trees went bare.   Still, it painted a pretty picture with the green grass and the lovely blue sky filled with clouds.

In the next few weeks all these trees will become nothing more than stark trunks and branches until next Spring, so I've been enjoying each and every day outside, taking in all the nuances of late Fall.

And getting back to today.........this is what our vehicles looked like at 7am this morning!    It was quite a shock to wake up and see snow blanketing the ground.

It was still snowing until 9am.....and I must admit it was really pretty.   And windy!   And cold!   I had hoped to ease into winter..........not be jolted into it!  ha!   I guess it's time to get out all the boots, hats and mittens.

So that's how our weekend began.    I had to find the ice scraper in the backseat of Joel's truck to scrape the thin layer of ice off my windshield before heading out to a knitting class in town this morning.    Wow.   Now that's a phrase I haven't used in years...........using an ice scraper on the windshield.  Whew.  That takes me back a few decades.

You can tell how much the snow had been blowing by the amount on the screens of the rocking chair porch.    The plants in the bed in front of the porch were not expecting to get hit with snow yet, were they?

As I drove into town I stopped and snapped these couple of pics on the country road along the way to the highway.

The tops of Hinch mountain had a lot more snow on them than the valleys did.   The roads were just wet, not icy at all, and it was a pretty drive up to the yarn shop as I looked around at a preview of winter's beauty yet to come.

At knitting class, the ladies who grew up here were telling me that this is the earliest recorded snowfall in Crossville's history.   Well, how about that?

Snug in our house,
Debbie

The "End" of Fall

Yes, Fall is almost over for us.  So many of the trees have already lost their leaves and the colors are not quite as vibrant as they were even a week ago.   It's been such a joy for me to be able to chronicle this first Fall of ours here at Whispering Oaks and I have been taking pictures to capture the season.   (Big surprise there!  right?)  Joel just shakes his head whenever we go outside for any of our projects and I run back into the house to grab the Nikon.   Seriously?   He knows I have to take pics of everything we do here.

By the back porch screen door we have one last light pink variety of mum?daisy?flower thing that bloomed in the past week.   Talk about a late bloomer....bah-ha-ha-ha!

The leaves look like a chrysanthemum so I cut it way back in July, getting it ready to set buds for Fall, and then it bloomed like this!    Anyone out there know what kind of plant this is?   Anyway, it's pretty and the bees have enjoyed the final blooms of Fall.

Here we have the last of the onions drying out before I store them in the house along with some huge and some not so huge carrot-shaped sweet potatoes from the garden.   I have discovered root veggies do better if you let them dry for up to 2 weeks before storing them.  Live and learn....there's always a lesson to be learned here on the farm.

And we harvested 7 varying sized pumpkins, too.   Those babies will get canned this weekend and then pumpkin pies will be a breeze during the holidays using our very own pumpkin.   I can hardly wait to taste them.

These are the last of our pears from the granddaddy pear tree.    The harvest was so small this year compared to last year, but when the blossoms freeze during a freak snowstorm in Spring, that practically eliminates a Fall harvest.

And even though our black walnut trees yielded a fraction of what they did last year, friends of ours had an abundance and let me pick all I wanted from their trees.   We have learned that walnut trees have one year of a bumper crop and then 2 or more years of lesser crops.   I'll be sure to take advantage of those years when the harvest is great, trust me!   Over the next few weeks I'll be busy cracking these little beauties in preparation for Christmas cookie baking.

Isn't this pumpkin just so pretty?    It tickled me to place pumpkins around the porch as an autumn decoration.    Yes, I really do love Fall.

Especially the gorgeous leaves on our trees.   It took a long time for our maples to turn, but this last week they suddenly blushed bright red.   Simply lovely.

Is it just me or do you find this to be glorious, too?

 Wow, in just 5 days we went from this, our maple towering over one of the grape arbors filled with bright red and yellow leaves........

......to this.   Yes, almost all the leaves have dropped in just 5 days!

While taking a walk thru the herbs in the potager garden, I decided to take one final cutting of them  before our first frost and then they were put in the dehydrator.   Now we should have enough herbs for cooking until we can grow more next year.   Mmmmmmmm.......it smells so good in here.

I love strolling out onto the rocking chair porch early each morning as I take Molly out for her walk.   The first thing I do is scan the barn and our buildings and then look out into the valley to see what the new day will bring weather-wise.   I'm never disappointed.   Yes, I'm in love....in love with this land.

So, say goodbye to Fall and hello to early Winter,
Deb