A Fly By of the Year!

So.. it's been a while hasn't it. *sigh* It's called life. Very very full life. Which means that there's a lot to share.

So without further ado, here is a long, and long overdue overview of the big events from the last few months (of course it's a quick fly by, so I'm skimming but you'll get the idea! :)

Early May saw Faith and I abandoning the house for nearly an entire week (or most of it anyway) to help prep for Banbury Cross Tec's annual Derby Day Fundraiser. As always it was a wonderful event, though Faith and I enjoyed the week of getting ready as much as we did the actual day!

This is just a collaboration of adorable photos taken the week before Josiah was going to leave (oh.. more on that later) and Squishy was over to visit. *shrug* just had to share :)

And this was the everything party held the 3rd week of May... I believe it was titled "Welcome to our new home, Thank you for helping us move, Good bye Josiah, and Farewell Christianna Party" Or something like that. Basically it was an excuse to have a bunch (yes there was a TON of people.. almost too many at one time for this introvert) of friends over all at one time! It really was a blast! The food was great, the fellowship wonderful, and then fun almost never ending (I think the last group of people left somewhere close to midnight. And that's late for a Sauve party!)

So I mentioned "Farewell Christianna" as one of the party reasons. Well it was only a temporary leave taking. I went on a week long trip to Haiti to visit an Orphanage I support and also meet a dear friend in person for the first time, who does Special Needs advocacy in Haiti. The trip itself was amazing, this girl's first time by herself on a plane, let alone international. But God was gracious and I honestly had the smoothest traveling imaginable! Haiti itself was an incredible experience that I will never forget.

I loved putting together these collages.. looking through all those photos again (over 1,000) remembering stories, special moments, names. Truly, I made so many friends and learned ever so much. The things I miss most are "my boys" who followed me around and played with my camera, the babies (Taina, William, and my little Watson) who I had the privilege of holding and loving on, and the Haitan Mommies' Rice and Beans (that I actually got to help make one morning! It's a complicated tiring process!).

Another one of my favorite things, was watching those that lived there and were with the children 24/7. Their self sacrificing commitment, Christ like love, and untiring nurturing was a beautiful thing to watch. It's not easy, or all fun and cute kids, there's a lot of hard work and decision making that goes into it.

I arrived home from Haiti, stayed a week, and then the second week of June took off again (This time by car. Oh oh! My very own new car! :) to the west sideish of the state to help out at Camp Living Water's for Special Camp week! Like always it was an upbeat, fun time, full of hugs, laughs and some hysterical moments. This year I had the opportunity to be even more involved in the teaching area of the Horse rides we gave, as well as having a wonderful surprise visit from some friends for the last 2 days, and a wonderful long trail ride to cap off the week.

 Here's a glimpse into the rest of our June. Random walks through the woods, Moths found, Driveway finished (it's beautiful!), friends visiting, Daisy fields visited, Goats moved (pretty much every other week.. they destroy brush pretty fast), and moveable Chicken coops built. 

The next big event back home was Faith's Birthday!!! Since we had a wedding to go to (for which I was the photographer) on Faith's actual Birthday, we celebrated it a day ahead on the 3rd. It was great to have family, including our dear Aunt Myrt, over for a nice relaxing meal and afternoon.

Random July bits: We got our Piano tuned, we watched (and heard!) wrens raise babies next to the driveway, we had a last minute 2 day early celebration of Mumsie's birthday, and Shine (Grace's Golden Retriever) came to live with us. 

There! That catches us up to this month, which is almost gone itself, and deserves a post of it's own! :) Hope ya'll enjoyed that brief aerial view of our year so far!!

~Chs

Here on the Farm: A Unique take on Gardening

One fun, yet daunting thing about the first year at a new place is getting/having to create a garden from scratch.

This means a lot of planning, digging, chopping and back breaking work. 

But the result is fulfilling! To be honest, Faith and Mom did most (ok allish) of the work, but it was fun to help a little, and watch it all come together.

Even before all the beds were done, Faith was planting seeds in the first few that were done. Little Radishes, and Lettuces.

Even some little Carrots. The soil of our new garden is exactly opposite of our last one. It's sandy, well drained.. and oh SO rocky! Carrots like moist soil while they're germinating, so to facilitate this we placed a board over where we planted the Carrot seeds to keep them moist.

Planting Spinach seeds.

All the little beans coming up!!! (Awwww!)

{Transplanting Peppers}

Beans are one of the most dramatic plants to come up from seed, and I was waiting to capture one right at the most difficult stage, because Faith had found this quote that needed an illustration..

"They tried to bury us: They did not know we were seeds"

This year, the pole beans get to try out a pretty awesome Cattle Panel arbor trellis! Faith was just full of good ideas.

The garden about a month ago.. There's a lot more green and a LOT less dirt showing now!

Little baby tomatoes (now they are huge) in their nice cages and cozy hay bedding. We only did cages on a few tomatoes, the rest of them we are weaving through cattle panels, which I do not have  a photo of yet.

Fava Beans had wispy twig supports which looked quite lovely with the green plants leaning against them.

Faith also did a darling Chevron pattern on the lettuce! Which was quite stunning when the lettuce was at it's peak.

Since this picture was taken, the peas have climbed to the top of the fence, flowered, fruited, been harvested and then have been pulled up, the fence removed and their bed re-used. You see how much can happen when you're not paying attention!!? I started this post nearly a month ago now, and then I got busy, caught up in life, and now it's old outdated news!! But that's alright, you go enjoy it anyway, and I will try to be more prompt and up to date in the future! (no promises though!!)

~Chs

Here on the Farm: Additional Updates

Over the past 2 months of silence, our farm has been expanding, and we have had quite a few additions.

If you remember, I introduced you to Pansy and Phlox earlier. Well, we decided that 2 goats was not enough...

So we multiplied to 5!! :)

Please meet, Red-Maple Bud (She just goes by Red),

Pennyroyal (again, simply called Penny)..

And..... Buck Hawthorn! (Bucky for short) Penny's sweet little baby boy!

Bucky made quick friends with "Aunt Pansy" who is the gentlest sweetest goat around. (a little bit of a pushover and wimp.... but very sweet. :) )

Handsome little man! Currently Mom and Faith are working on setting up the third pasture for the goats since their arrival. Goats are GREAT at clearing land and helping prepare for other animals that need more graze than brush!

The next animals added to our menagerie, were Turkeys. These actually came in several different groups. Some we hatched out from some friend's eggs, and some we ordered.

Turkey's are pretty odd little creatures, but super personable. They love people's voices, and would respond whenever you whistled or talked to them! The downside is that they can get really loud and obnoxious when you leave them. :) Dependent little birdies..

Sadie Rose is the best farm dog ever!! She is so good with all our little animals.. she might be tempted but she never harms anything, and is actually a very good protector for them. For instance chasing away the not-so-good Kitten who likes to stalk them.. :P

Sadie is also very patient with us when we want to do crazy things like take pictures of Turkeys on her head.. :P Love the look on her face in the second photo... "Ummm guys.. whats going on here?"

  

Turkeys grow up fast, and so we moved them outside, where they loved to strut around and poke at bugs in the grass. 

 It's pretty funny how these 4 inch tall tiny baby boys poof all up and strut around like big ole Toms.. :)

 But they're not so little anymore! Here's a photo of them just the other day! Gettin' big!

 The last current addition... (and who knows, we could be adding something else any day now!) is 6 meat Ducks!

 Cute funny little Pekins. One of the nice things about ducks, is they don't fly very well, and don't tend to push boundaries, so using twine, old heavy fence pieces we picked up off the side of the road, and a gate that was left in the middle of no-where from the first goat pen, we created a Duck pen!

So there you go! You are now updated on all the current additions here at the farm! :) But I am sure there will be more to add soon!

~Chs

Thankful Thursday

I am here to solve 2 problems in 1 blog post. First, I have too many random pictures of beautiful things that catch my eye in this place called earth. The second problem is more serious. We as humans, and Christians, should be much more aware of our blessings, and in response more grateful.

So, I have decided to start "Thankful Thursday" posts (yes I know it's cheesy... sorry) where I'll combine the 2, by posting a photo of something I am thankful for.

Thankful for: 

{Beautiful Mother}

{Bouquets of Lilac}

{Window Light}

{Black and White Beauty}

Spring Visited

 It's been a couple months since Spring visited our little "Castle," but even though it was a brief visit, it was one to remember!!

Full of blooms, and beauty!

Here is a glimpse of our little visit with Spring!
(Warning: this post is picture-full)

{Birthday Tulips brought Spring inside, before winter had quite opened the door to it outside}

 One of the first signs of Spring's visit outside were found hidden in the bushes along our driveway - Pussy Willow.

 {Maple Buds}

 {Spring Green}

 I was thrilled to find that we actually had Daffodils here at the new house!! Only a few, but still a balm to this Daffodil lovers heart!

 The Moss in the woods picked up their little heads with the warming weather...

{May Apple peaking up}

{Tulips arrived outside}

{Cheery Daffodils}

The fun about living in a new place when spring visits, is getting to discover all the little secrets and surprises - like the Orchard floor being covered with sweet little Violets.

{Trout Lilly}

{Barefoot Swinging}

{Buds beginning to swell}

The birds accompanied Spring on it's visit. It was thrilling to hear the air swelling with different bird songs every morning.

{Flycatcher}

{Wren}

{Bursting Blossoms}

The Lilacs sent spirals of perfume into the yard.

{Robin's Eggs}

{Cute little Froggy}

{Happy Dandelions}

{In full Blossom}

The smell of the Apple Blossoms in the Orchard was incredibly beautiful!

We even found some Morel Mushroom in the woods! (yuck!!)

{Wild Flowers}

So there is a brief glimpse into what our "Castle" and it's surroundings looked like when Spring came to visit.

~Chs