Home Again, Home Again!

After an exhausting but exhilarating weekend at Locust Grove in Louisville, KY, for the Jane Austen Festival, it's good to finally be home!  The husband and I drove out to LG for the 5th annual JA fest.  We met with many friends we haven't seen in nearly a year and met some new people as well, all making for a wonderful, fun-filled weekend!  The husband hadn't met many of these people in person yet, as this was his first year at this event.  Before the weekend was over, however, he was already making plans for next year!  We were able to chat with some friends who attend War of 1812 type events and they encouraged the Husband to come out and "play" soon!  He is really looking forward to perhaps getting more involved in that era!  I think it's mainly because he has been promised a little play with the big cannons!
I had been working on our clothing for the event for the previous few weeks, and, let me tell you, I am more than glad that's all over!  Well, kind of over.  We have a few events left this year that I still need to get things together for so I guess I'm not done yet!  And I've vowed not to wait til the month of an event to begin working on items for said event again!  It's just so hard for me to work on something so far in advance.  It feels like I have so much time ahead of me, that working on something now will just waste time I could be doing something else.  But, I will not procrastinate this time!  No, I will begin work on things now so that I may take more time and end with even better results!
Here is a picture of the Husband and I at the ball!

We also added two new kittens to our farm yesterday, thanks to my sister!  Her kitty had kittens several weeks ago, and she doesn't want to keep all of them.  So we brought home two sisters from the litter!  Now our farm has two farm kitties to, hopefully, keep them vermin down to a minimum!  Well, when they get a little older!

Here's Pip!  She's the incredibly inquisitive one!  She greets the dogs with a hearty hiss, leaps off of the patio with glee, purrs like a little broken motor, and is generally an all-around fun kitty!

And a picture of Cookie!!  She is much more reserved than her sister.  She's a bit fearful of things still and would rather run and hide than try to take on anything!  But she loves her belly rubbed and will sidle up to you with a tiny click-noise (rather than a meow) and roll over as soon as you begin petting her!  Very sweet little thing!

As for the rest of the farm, everything seems to be going smoothly!  We hatched out ten of twelve eggs that we received through the local extension office's hatching program.  They're now outside in their new pen, scratching away in the grass!  They are some kind of hybrid meat bird.  I cannot now recall what breed the extension office told me they were.  They are very cute, though, as all baby chicks are!  We still have plans to order some Araucanas and some Rhode Island Red roosters, as well!  

This fall, we will begin work on our garden plot for next year.  We'll start out smaller and hopefully build on it each year, as we become more and more used to this farm life we've chosen!  Much work is planned on the outbuildings as well.  The children are all eager to get the summer kitchen fixed up and turned into a schoolhouse!  There are great plans in the works for that building, for sure!  And the Husband is really hoping to get our smokehouse back in shape and usable!  I'm just hoping to get the cellar beneath ready before next tornado season arrives!!!

With big plans and too much heat and humidity, we're not sure which plans will be achieved this year and which will be put on hold.  Please, Lord, let us receive some cooler weather!  And rain!  And soon!  But careful what we ask for, no?  All in good time, I suppose.  All in good time....

Closed and Moving In

We closed on our farm nearly 3 1/2 weeks ago!  The day after closing, I was on a weeklong trip to Florida with my mum.  In which time, my dear husband had to do the majority of the moving!  I figured he'd be full done by the time I returned home but no.  The dear, sweet man left plenty for me to "help" with!  We managed to spend the next week moving the last of the boxes and random items left in The Cave.  Then it was on to cleaning The Cave for our final inspection so we could clear out.  We managed to complete both tasks on time and pass inspection!  We followed the inspector back to the base housing office to turn in keys and sign off.  Huzzah!!!  And let me tell you, freedom from that cave of a house feels so good!!!
As to the new farm, we're still "moving in" as there are still many boxes left to be unpacked.  Unfortunately, I have to clean as we go as I wasn't here to deep clean the place before our items were moved in.  It's mostly fuzzballs and dust, dirty windows-type cleaning.  And then there are the fleas that keep popping up.  I wouldn't say it's an "infestation" at this point.  But we are definitely going to have to bomb the house.  Again.  The husband bombed it before moving our stuff in but I think they were just waiting in the yard.  So, we'll bomb the house and spray the yard.  Ah well.
The house is beginning to look like Home already, though!  As I sit on our sofa in the living room and look around, it seems as though our belongings have always been here.  The sunlight shining in through the large bay windows is a welcome sight after living for over a year in The Cave!  So much sunlight!!!  And sitting on the swing in the yard last evening, nestled comfortably against my husband's side, listening to the cicadas roar their evening song....  Perfection, if there is such a thing.
Our dogs are both outside puppies now.  And I think they'll love it... Once the weather cools down!  It's been over 100` every day for the last week!  Both of our horses are home now and enjoying an entire pasture all to themselves!  We'll hopefully be adding some chicks to our numbers sometime in the next month.  We have an incubator through the local extension office and will be picking up some fertilized eggs this week.  Hopefully all 12 will hatch and grow to a good fryer size!  They are, after all, a hybrid meat breed.  Yum!  We'll still need to order some laying breed chicks, as well as a rooster or two.  Very exciting!
That's the abbreviated version of what's going on out at Moose Spitt right now!  There is so much we want to accomplish but we really have to pace ourselves!  It would be way too easy to get in over our heads the first year when excitement and dreams are running high!
What are you doing with your property this year, be it country or in-town?