December

Well blogger doesn't like me any more it seems and I am challenged technically so I'll see if I can post just these few words.... I miss blogging seems I try and it just shuts down!

so here goes!

Lately

Well it's been a whirl wind here for a while it seems.

Our lucky dog was very ill with blastomycosis, and it took about a month to get a diagnosis. But we did and he is finally getting better. It was touch and go for a while and left him blind in one eye.

But we were very blessed to be able to adopt our new 4 year old Bella. She is healing our heart one day at a time. And helping lucky heal better I believe.

It's been a beautiful fall here in central Indiana. With warmer than usual temperatures. 

The shop is going well. 

Busy getting ready for the Christmas season.

I hope your having a beautiful fall where ever you are!

Vintiques is open !

After a lot of hard work we did it! If you read this little blog and you are local please come see us! We sell MISS MUSTARD SEED MILK PAINT. And tons of other really fun things. Also check us out on fb. It's been a really long year but our first day was great the weekend flew by and exaughsted doesn't begin to cover it. But very happy my dream shop is in reality form. I hope you are well this fall season. More blogging coming soon.

Ellie

Ellie came to us  4 years ago. After we lost our Hannah , lucky as well as the rest of our family was grieving immensely. We went to the help shelter and Ellie found us and healed our hearts. She hid behind the couch till she felt safe to come out and love us. She was terrified of men. It took her a long long time to love Willie Mullins . To watch Ellie run was a thing of beauty. There's grey hound in there somewhere. We watched her fall the first time she ran all out. She had to learn the power of her legs. Being in a cage at the shelter for all of her 9 months then only on a leash. Then here on her farm to run free and wide open. Which she did often. But never far or without us. Because this was her farm and her people. She loved children and other animals. But she was a fierce hunter. She chased the horses. She was proud nothing or no other dog could out run her. She was luckys loyal friend and companion. Rarely would you find one without the other. She had her own bed but so carefully snuck into ours at night.  She finally did except will. And claimed him as her own. And then it was an all out love affair. Always there to greet him at the end of his day and always ready to take will for a walk so she could show off her running abilities. To him. She was very sensitive. If for what ever reason ( smelly dog) she had to spend the night on the porch... She would shun us the next day.  And we were very aware of it. Animals are a sure gift to us from God. Our whole farm is missing her today. Ellie had a special deer friend who showed up and around the farm this spring and all summer. I caught them playing several times this summer and just last week. Never saw anything like it. The unexplained sudden illness took us all in shock. And when moment came  to let her go as we held her I leaned down and whispered in her ear " run girl run"....

Waiting for Vintiques

Waiting is difficult. I have stuff ( merchandise) stashed everywhere! The plumbing is almost finished, heat and air done, drywall done, painting has started as we wait for the flooring to come in.

Will has done such an awesome job. I have list after list I need to do. And ideas. It's going to be late summer early fall before we open. Ugh it's so hard to keep my mind on anything here in the in between time. I will be ordering my retailers kit for the miss mustard seed milk paint line soon. It's all very exciting but soooo slooow. I know I should be doing a 100 things but it's hard to start a project knowing I will have to find storage 

for it because the shop isn't ready yet so I   wait. Both farm camps are over. I miss the kids. It's sooo hot and humid here. The flowers and gardens, pastures are doing well. We have had rain. But the heat is starting to wilt many things. Including me. So looking forward to creating things/spaces again. And visiting with terrific customers. I know this is the calm before the storm. Our annual trip to Maine is coming. It will arrive at about the time we will be ready to reopen the shop. Timing they say is everything. Trying to keep a relaxed mind and atmosphere.  Hoping you whoever that is... Has a peaceful end to your summer!

July

Just some views from my front drive, on my walk last night. It's a soft rainy morning here at hannahs creek farm. I was going to try and get a lot of mowing done today. That's not going to happen. So I will have lunch with my best friend today instead. I love fairy lights. So much nicer to sit  on the porch in the evenings than having the porch light on. July farm camp begins next week on Monday . So this week my list is long of stuff to get done. The shop is coming along nicley just real slow. It really is going to be my dream shop. I can't wait to get it open with all of the fun stuff I have to sell stashed everywhere. I will be making candles the week after farm camp. Along with a bunch of other items I've been putting off. 

I hope you had a nice holiday over the 4th. I have slacked off on my purging the house of stuff lately due to having so many shop items around. It will be so different I hope when we get open and I have space for everything! In my mind it will be anyway. Looking forward to having classes and gathering women together for special events. In a special space. 

Farm camp June 2016 is over!

Well another June farm camp is over. 

Soooo much fun and sooo much work to do before it starts! This year we had so much mowing and weed eating to be done. Going from 8 livestock eating grass to 1 is hard in many was and easier than others. Our camp is Monday through Thursday from 9 to 4. We do crafts, cooking, creeking, and critters. In the afternoons we mostly swim. 

Making fresh squeezed lemonaid.

Watching the farrier do his job!

Making homemade ice cream, fairy houses, homemade mac n cheese, our own stepping stones. Learning new camp songs! I swear I have more fun than anyone. But honestly it does leave me a bit exaughsted. So today I sip coffee on the porch, do some laundry, clean up a little here and there. And reflect on how lucky I am to have shared a bit of my time and a bit of this old farm with some very special young people.

Summer is here!

Hoping everyone is enjoying the start to a  wonderful summer. Thinking about my summer fun list lately . The shop progress is slow but steady. But summer is for sure here! Some pictures of the farm to enjoy!

Spring

Morning coffee looks like this these days I'm not complaining. 

Saying good bye to a friend.

This is a picture of my broken heart. It's my horse nestle you see standing in the field. What you can't really see is over to the right a little is the body of our 30+ year old, American quarter horse penny. She had been failing in health for sometime now. Not really ill just old. I begged her to live through the winter. I babied her. But in the end I called for the vet. It was time. It was a beautiful warm spring day. She had layed down in the barn the night before. I was sure I would find her there in the morning. But no sometime in the night she managed to walk to the back pasture and lay down in her favorite spot. I went to her. The night before I held her head in my lap in the barn. We had stuff to say to each other. I had to let her go. I called the vet, my daughter and our friend with the backhoe. The weather was calling for bad storms later that night. My daughter got here first. The vet followed her in the gate. We all walked to penny in the back pasture. We said goodbye and rubbed her neck as the vet quickly did his job. She was gone. It was ok. It was over on a warm spring day with the sun warm on her fur. Then we went back to the house. My daughter left. I waited for the backhoe and talked with nestle. This really was going to be the hardest part and I knew it. The evening came, and so did the very bad storms with hail. Nestle would not come to the barn. She stood in the rain and hail over penny's body. I cried. The backhoe couldn't get in till the next morning. We waited. He came and dug the hole. Nestle was right there. I thought if she was there she would not try to find penny. It was the saddest thing ever. After the burial nestle ran the fences calling for penny her long time friend. Her pasture mate. Here it is a week later. She is still calling for her. Not as much but still calling. It has been a grieving process for us all.

My daughter Kelsey in what could have been her last year in 4h I think 8 years ago.with penny. 

This past spring with her blanket still on. 

Just last year in the summer, she looked so good. Nestle is on the left in this photo. 

Doing what she did best giving littles their first ride on a horse. At farm camp here on the farm. And now for the funny parts there always are. Penny was a jumper from a nearby college when she came to us for a 4 h horse so many years ago. She had been poorly trained ( kneed in the side when putting on her cinch). I know this because every time I put a saddle on her she tried to bite me! I have always been gentle with all of my animals. And they know it. Because she never did actually bite me. When I was going through my divorce after 25 years... We rode at the park every Tuesday for a year. She was the best horse ever. Once I got the saddle on her. I loved those rides. Just she and I. We caught the first snowfall, watched the deer, spooked up wild turkey, listened to Cowboys on the trail who never knew we were there. Walked through woods , up and down steep hills, rivers and ravines. I gained so much confidence in myself. She was just a quarter horse. As a little girl growing up in a town, I wanted to grow up and live on a farm with horses.  I've had llamas, goats, chickens pigs , a calf, bunnies, doggies and cats. And penny was one of my dreams come true. All of our big animal friends are gone now except for nestle. I already miss penny so much. My daughter is grown now and I really should not get another horse. And make more work for myself. Let's face it livestalk = money and work. But the rewards ... The rewards are plentyful . Till we meet again old girl I will miss you. 

Almost there! The huge purge of 2016

Well it's official! I've purged all of the rooms in the house now. And it feels great! Here are a few before a and afters! 

It feels really good to have so much stuff gone! I've let go of all of my shelter magazine collection. And tons of stuff I've collected over the years. And now that my daughter has her own home that really helped too. These rooms didn't always look this messy and unkept. It was accumulation during the purge process. And honestly doing a fb share page from clutter to clean before spring. With funky junk ( blogger ) really helped. We had all read Marie kondos book. I read it last year and had started with my wardrobe/ closet there. And now I can say it's just what I needed. Last to Finnish was my back porch mudroom. And our little guest area where I had stored things to be purged. After many trips to good will and the dump. It's staring to look and feel just like I want it too. I still have a few projects I'm working on for the shop. And it will be so wonderful to have a workshop space at the shop for project. Not here so much. Well that's what's gapping here in a nut shell! 

Yo yo weather....

Yep that's Indiana, snow one day 72 the next. We've lucked out we had a very severe thunderstorm here. Some wind damage in the area. My greatest fear. 

But on the bright side, we are safe and these greet me daily. I need to get mypansies out! 

Easter shoes!

Yes ! It's almost that time of year. Spring has come to the farm. Oh yeah I'm still in my muck boots around here. Cause it's the kind of boot sucking mud right now. Especially with days of drenching rain. 

But I'm dreaming of new spring shoes. As a young child there were always the white patent leather kind with the little strap. I think I probably got a pair for my girl too, at some point in her preschool years. Now I go for comfort and durability . Last night we drove into town for ice cream. Yeah I'd been working in the yard most of the day. Got my peas planted. Hurrah for me. Anyway on the way in will looked down at my feet and said " nice socks". I was wearing a pair of his long white tube socks. And my most comfy pair of slip on crocks. Easy to take off mud caked foot ware when running in and out of the house all day. And what a picture perfect spring day it was.

So like I was saying new spring Easter shoes. Nothing like a splurge here or there. On Sunday I had to have the vet out because nestle had-inhaled her food. So much so she was literally choking. $300, later she was fine and the vet was gone. Always nice to see him. ( that's sarcasm )especially on a Sunday or holiday. Any way back to the Easter shoes.

 Are they not lovely?? Custom fit! 

I can tell she is so proud of them!