Happy Birthday Lance!

This past weekend Lance turned another year older and I could not help but plan a surprise fire-pit party. On Saturday I filled the coolers full of his favorite tasty beer, spent the afternoon cooking appetizers and then friends -many that we hadn't seen in a while, started showing up. Lance always tells me he does not want anything for his Birthday...but at the end of the day, he is always glad I did.

Sunday was his actual birthday and the weather was so reminiscent of the coast, my heart ached to walk on the beach. There was a breeze in which you could almost smell fall and the clouds stayed low...with a drizzle here and there.

It was beautiful...

This Big...An Announcement!

Growing our family by one come March, is what my mind is completely preoccupied with. This young plum from our orchid is about the size of our fetus right now...

Add a townhouse to sell, a farmhouse to move into fully and you could describe my life as a scrabbled egg. The best description I have heard yet.

Good thing I like scrambled eggs, eh?

(scrabbled eggs and a baby announcement in the same post...kinda funny to me. You can excuse my pregnant brain if you'd like)

Last Years Goodness...

From last years jamming session, spiced plum jam...one of my very favorites. This year I look forward to collecting and jamming up fruit from our own little orchard.

Learning Water Ways...

Every eight days we receive 40 shares of water, which will take a bit of imagination when it comes to our everyday gardening. But for watering pastures, its just fine. Early morning on that eighth day, when the sun is rising, this is where you'll find us...opening gates and moving water. First we hit the orchard and the west pasture, then we move it back to the east pasture. So rewarding just to walk the pasture in irrigating boots, controlling where the water flows. Looking out over our land and imagining what will be, and wondering what once was...

Yummy Recipe to Share...

Pasta Salad with Mozzarella, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Olives: a yummy fix you must try! My photo does it no justice. Seriously, give it a go.

Birds Love It...

I was teasing Lance about not having a flower cutting garden, and that the native species just weren't doing it for me -a sure fire way to get his goat. Of course, I know there are plenty of Southern Idaho natives with beautiful blooms. I just wanted them NOW. I love fresh cut flowers in my home, and it is rare that I have them sitting on my dining table. So, as his way of teasing me back, he planted these cone-flowers. Sounds like a blooms flower, right? Nope, and I should have known by that certain smile he flashed me. But, I must not complain, the big cones attract so many pretty birds.....

Better than cut flowers? Perhaps.

How It Goes...

Sunrise at the farm...

Apricot trees on the farm...lots of yummy jam made...

Can't even begin to tell you how much I have painted!

Grounds work...in the works!

The potential consumes us...

Sunset at the farm...

I have been missing my time spent here quite a bit. With our move still in the works, I must come into town to sit at my computer...and with all the amazing finds and happenings at the farm, I find it hard to get back into town. I am sure you can imagine. I had wondered if we would be the ones to enjoy our garden bounty, but with how it goes, we are! Which ultimately means...I have yet to finish packing and list our townhouse for sale. The beauty in that is that we are enjoying home-grown goodness to no end -salsa, fried zucchini, stuffed bell peppers, steamed green beans and fresh carrots dug right out of the ground!

I have so many things and photographs I would love to share with you all, if I still have any readers left that is... Soon, so very soon, I hope to be in closer reach of the blogosphere. My finger tips are loving the feel of this keyboard!

Townhouse garden still provides...



Until next time...
(You can find more of us on my Flickr...)

Native Landscape Gone Wild...

Our front yard landscape: something I will miss when we move. I sure hope the new owners, whomever they may be, appreciate the goodness happening there. Yes, I say I will miss it, but not too terribly bad. If you follow along here, you will have seen what my man can do with a shovel. I know that at our new place, it will only get better.

I have been watching him look out over the 5 acres we are moving to...and dream. We have big plans folks, big plans. Plans that include a huge garden, green house, potting shed/canning kitchen, cob oven, sweat lodge, ponds, rock gardens...oh, and the animals. Their space is already in place, just needs a bit of love...and no worries there, we have a lot of love to spread.

Farmhouse up-date: We received the key last Friday - Happy Day to us! We were concerned Lance would be out of town for a length of time when this actually happened. Which would have meant he would miss the first camp-out inside the farmhouse. Luckily -that is not how it all went down. We were able to holiday together over the weekend. Yesterday he left for a ten day work load at Glacier National Park, where he is working to keep invasive plant species in check. My job, as soon as I hit the publish button here, is to pack, pack, clean and then pack some more. I will be splitting my time between the townhouse and the farmhouse. I have a few rooms to paint in the farmhouse before I start unpacking there. I definitely can't do it all alone. When Lance gets home, and on his four days off before he heads back, he has 3 egress windows to install and some wall studs to build. Once the studs and windows are in place, I can truly finish my job...but that is another post for another day.

Belly and Mind...

Gardens...no matter the size...feed your belly and your mind.

My Salsa Garden is a Tease...

Our garden went neglected for about a month while we worked our tails off on that rental (the work paid off, it sold the first day it was listed!). We're happy that it didn't feel the neglect and just shrivel up and die on us...I have the unusually wet and dark month of June to thank for that.

Ours is not just a salsa garden...but the salsa makings are high on my list. I love fresh salsa. I'll put that in bold so perhaps you get the point as to how much I love fresh salsa. Luckily, I have found another source of fresh-enough salsa to satisfy my buds when I don't have my own home-made goodness at hand. Although I know my peppers and tomatoes are not quite ready, I want to just pluck em, chop em and eat em up!

If we're lucky, and I know this sounds really weird, we won't get the chance to fully pick all of our salsa produce. Yah -Huh?- is right. You see, when we planted this garden, we had no idea that the farmhouse would present itself in such a manner. If I am lucky, we will be selling our downtown home of 7/8 years by this fall. If we're lucky that is. I have yet to pack, move and then put our beloved home on the market. I will be content with however it all goes down.

So, besides the occasional ready-to-pick pepper, someone else may be enjoying my freshly picked veggies. At least, I truly hope the new owners will appreciate the garden space we have created. As for now, I will continue enjoying photographing them and dreaming about the salsa garden of next year.

I'll be back tomorrow to share more of our garden goodness...

Check It! Killdeer...

During one of the first visits to our farm (our farm...loving the sound of that!) Lance and I happened upon a Killdeer nest. I love the antics of this particular bird. We knew they were close to the nest by the adult birds behavior. As soon as we heard their call, we stopped walking and started searching the ground. Didn't take long to find the nest. Meanwhile, the parent bird was trying to get our attention by using the broken-wing-act and calling out...which kinda sounds like it's name -Killdeer Killdeer. When we returned to the farm a week later, the eggs were gone.

How we both loved finding this nest. Can you hear me sighing and saying, "Oh Lance, our own Killdeer!" Guess I took it as a good sign......


(Photo from Wikipedia)

Little* Miss Independent is Five!

In this whirlwind of house flipping and farmstead buying (we close this week -YAH!) my baby turned five. Hard to believe it has been five years since our little butterfly was born. She is such a ray of sunshine. Always a smile and quick wit, just like her Daddy. She is my bug searching, dirt loving, Miss Independent, soon-to-be farm girl. Can't imagine my life without her. I tell myself the baby fever I am having is normal. Watching my baby turn into a little girl is what does it. Knowing that she may very well be my last baby makes my heart ache. Secretly, or not so secretly, I hold onto the idea of having another, another amazing young one to hold and show the world... Believe me when I tell you, I am pleading my case. Goes something like this: We'll be on the farm (always been a dream of ours), Roxie is five now (we like years between our babies), life will be a bit more simple (I know there will be lots of work -but the work is different, it is work that provides)...Good time to grow our family by one. You never know, we might even have a boy!

Hidden Jewels Delight

Taking a moment to share more of the hidden jewels we've found on the farmhouse property. Offer has been accepted, tying up loose ends...and that jazz. In the meantime, we are flipping a rental property for more cash on the farm. Check out the work we've done (outside only so far) here.

I'll keep you posted!