Its Now Almost Mid June!

This June has been very rainy which has been keeping us inside more than I would like to be. It has also given us some time to work on things in the house.

Jeff put trim around the window in the office over the weekend and it looks great! The window was a little tricky to do because it's in the corner but I think Jeff did a great job of figuring out what to do with the trim.

Today my mom is coming over to help paint the trim on the windows in the office, that will be a huge help!

Over the weekend I finished painting Natalie's bed frame. She is really excited about it! She says "is that my pretty, pretty bed?" all the time now.

(her bed frame in the kitchen drying after I painted it)

(Natalie sitting on her bed right after I set it up in her room.)

She has been really enjoying having her bed off the ground.

In the end of May beginning of June we planted our garden. We have a nice variety of plants consisting of rhubarb, horseradish, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, peas, beans, cucumbers, red peppers, jalapeños, lettuce, thyme, rosemary, chives and brussels sprouts. 

(A picture of most of the garden.)

Some of you may be wondering if we still have cows and chickens, the answer is yes we do. The cows are growing up nicely.

(Left to right Prime Rib, George, Fred and Chuck Roast.)

They are so happy that it is Spring/Summer now and they don't have to eat hay any more. They are loving being able to graze on fresh grass/hay all day. They love it so much that they escaped so they could get to the tall stuff on the other side of the fence the other day.

The chickens are busy laying eggs and are also enjoying roaming Jeff's parents farm. Right now we have 2 roosters and about 20 hens, we have a variety of breeds that all lay different shades of brown eggs. They spend most of their time in the barn by the cows or in the pasture by the cows. Every day is like an Easter egg hunt because the hens like to change up their laying spots all the time. 

They love being by the cows!

Jeff made me some nest boxes for Mothers Day this year and its so fun when I find eggs in them.

Natalie and Charlie are keeping me as busy as ever with art projects, toys, outside stuff and visiting different farms every other day. Just about every morning we go and do farm chores at Jeff's parents since 1/2 of the animals are ours (some day we will have our own farm). 

Then my good friend and riding instructor Carly works at the horse barn that I ride at. Natalie loves to see Carly and all the horses especially Carly's horses. Tilly is Natalie's favorite of Carly's 3 horses, Tilly loves Natalie too. 

Then about once a week or so we try to make it to my other good friend Melanie's farm to visit with her and her girls, she also has 29 baby goats that need to be bottle fed right now and that is just so much cuteness all bunched together. She has many other animals but I only have recent pictures of the baby goats.

Thanks for reading! 

Keep checking for more blog posts I will try and be better about posting about my life over the summer.

Horses!

I have been taking horseback riding lessons for a little while now, and it is the best! I would recommend lessons for anyone who is interested in horses no matter what your age. My lessons are every Monday night at 6 pm with Carly the best instructor I could have asked for. 

I ride her horse Tilly.

 Tilly is a 12 year old paint, 

Carly also owns Tilly's daughter Tulip and if I remember correctly Tulip is 7 almost 8 years old. She is also a paint. 

Then Carly also owns a little mini horse named Brutus ;he isn't even 2 yet. 

I think Brutus is so cute! When he is older Carly is going to train him to pull a cart.

On the day of my first lesson I was so excited for many reasons! 

First, I was excited about finally being able to take riding lessons at the age of 28.

Second, I was so excited that I get to ride Tilly because paints are my favorite kind of horse.

Third, I was really excited at how nice everyone one was at the barn especially Carly.

Last but not least, I was very excited to be getting out of the house, because if you know me you know that I'm home a lot during the week.

On my first lesson I learned how to groom a horse! 

it was very exciting for me, since I had never done it before. I even learned how to pick the dirt out of a horses hoof!

I was very excited because I want to learn all about taking care of horses as well as how to ride them, since my ultimate goal is to own some horses of my own. 

I would say that so far the hardest thing I have learned so far is posting. If you don't know what posting is its how you ride your horse when it trots. 

Let me tell you there is a lot to remember! 

You need to keep your heels down, ankles relaxed, knees and thighs out so you don't grip the horse with your upper legs. Then you need to use your calf muscles against the horse for keeping it going and I'm sure something else but I can't remember. Then your ankles need to be under your hips and your hips under your shoulder. You need to relax your hips and pull your belly button in towards your spine and you have to let your body move with the horse using the energy from the hind leg on the outside of the direction your moving in (it doesn't matter what leg you use if your going in a strait line) and when your posting you go up and down in the saddle. If you do it right it doesn't feel weird and is easy to do but learning to do it right is a lot to remember.

 I'm sure I forgot something in my description of posting. I'm still learning!

You have to remember all that and then you need to be able to tell the horse where to go. 

Horseback riding lessons are one of the best things I have done! 

(aside from my family of course)

I can't wait till the day that I can get a horse of my own!

I would have never met Carly if it wasn't for Gina and Cheryl! 

Thank you Gina and Cheryl!

Some Future Plans!

We are fixing up our house so we can sell it and buy a farm of our own. We won't know until our house is ready to sell if we will be buying land and building a house or if we will buy an old farm and fix it up or if we will buy land with the out buildings and build a house but we do know that its not likely that we will be buying move in ready place. I would like at least 15 acres but ideally I would like 25-50 acres. For the land I would really like to have some woods ideally with oak and maple trees, But I will take any kind of trees, a small creek running trough it and then pasture for the animals. 

 Our goal is to finish some inside projects from now until spring, then we will finish up scraping and painting the outside of our house and garage. After thats done we are going to remodel our laundry room/ mud room. Then we will remodel the bathroom, and lastly the kitchen! We have some smaller projects but thats all our big projects... Our time line is to get all of that done from now till the summer of 2014. Once the house is done we will either put our house on the market right away or live in it another year to try and pay off student loans.

Once we move and are settled in we will start getting our animals! If you know me you know that I want lots of animals around. Right now we have 2 dogs that will move with us. Then we have chickens and cows at Jeff's parents but depending on when we move the cows may already be gone to the freezer. Let me tell you my vision! We will have hens for eggs and then we will raise some for meat. I would really like to have a turkey or two for Thanksgiving dinner. I may get some ducks so my dad can get duck eggs from me (my dad gets then from my good friends farm right now). I want sheep for wool and meat. I would really like to learn to spin wool into yarn so I can knit things from my own sheep. Then we have the cows! I would like at least one dairy cow so I can make butter, cheese, ice cream and then have milk and cream for the house. then I would like to have a heard of beef cattle. Next we would like to have a pig or two for meat. We may have a few goats but I'm not sure what I would use them for. I just think they are such fun animals! We will add to our dogs maybe get a barn cat or two and then I would really like to get 2 horses for riding and maybe for work also. I know if we live with some woods I will teach the horses to pull logs out of the woods for me.

Then I want big gardens! 

I would really like to be food self sufficient, if there is extra food I might consider doing a csa or selling at a farmers market with all my extra time. But my goal is to grow and preserve a years worth of food, I will buy things that don't grow in Minnesota but if it grows here I want to grow it. 

We have big dreams but we are working to make them a reality.  

P.S. I'm sorry I haven't posted any new blogs in a while. I will try and be better about it.