Wahsega Valley Farm

A white Christmas

 
 
I had my first white Christmas this year - and it was beautiful! It snowed once on Christmas day when my son was around 14, but it lasted only a couple of hours and didn't stick around. But this snow came down for almost three days in chunky soft flakes and covered most everything - until the wind blew it out of the trees. The cabin was cozy even though it was in the 20's outside, and we enjoyed the whole day watching the snow and enjoying the quiet. Here are a few pictures.

The creek in the front pastures...

 
Looking at my garden area with the mountains in the background...
 

The bench above the garden...

 

A close-up...

 
Our cabin...

 
Looking out the kitchen window as it snowed...

 

And looking out the same window the next day (a little to the left) when the sun came out and after the wind had blown the snow from the trees...

 

And here is Sophie hanging out inside when there was just too much snow for her to deal with...

 
It's finally warmed up and the snow has melted, though there is still a patch here and there. Tomorrow or the next day I'll post some inside pictures and some of the things I made, including Margot modeling one of her sweatersI crocheted. We didn't finish our Christmas festivities until yesterday since my son's family couldn't get here before then because of the weather. Making Christmas last longer was pretty nice though.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

18 degrees

 
 
Winter is definitely flexing its muscles... it's almost 10:00 a.m. and is only 18 degrees F and crazy windy. And we got snow yesterday - with more flurries today. The high is supposed to be 21 and with the wind - brrrrrrr. Even Sophie doesn't want to go outside! I've been keeping the fire going in the fireplace from about 7:30 in the morning until we go to bed at night and it keeps it quite warm in our little cabin. We have electric heat, but with all the free wood available, it just makes sense to use the wood - and I love a fire. 

 
Wood on deck waiting to be burned

Fortunately, our fireplace has blowers and most of the heat gets blown into the cabin rather than out the chimney. But keeping it going is work! Not hard work by any means, just constant watching over and tending it... poking the wood, shifting it around, adding wood, fetching wood, cleaning out the ash... I'd say I'm doing something with it at minimum every 30 minutes throughout the day. But guess what? I love it. We've been traipsing out to the woodshed and piling the wood up near the door. The fire smells nice and is cozy and pretty too. And it's the perfect weather for bundling up and crocheting while watching old movies.

 
"Green" wood Mike recently split with the new log splitter

I've not left the cabin in over a week and haven't got cabin fever at all. When it's this cold like this, I don't want to get out and about if I don't have to! It's a luxury I can tell you. Mike, on the other hand, is building out his new shop (much larger than the current one) and there is no heat in there at all! No heat! So he's wearing all kinds of warm coveralls and things to stay warm. I make sure the fire is roaring hot when he comes home. I really don't know how he does it. Men are definitely tougher in certain ways than I am.

This weather - while I am actually enjoying it - will make spring all that much nicer when it starts to make an appearance in March. We have short winters here and by this Thursday it will be up to 50 degrees. It'll get cold again, but what makes it fun here is the unpredictability and constant fluctuation; it's all over the place. We never know what's around the corner.

Scuppernong walk

Day before yesterday I walked down to get some scuppernongs in one of the front pastures. Here are some pictures of my little walk...

In this shot, I was leaving the cabin. This is the view from the deck... it was a beautiful day.. You can see the woodshed, old chicken house and funky storage building on the right. Someday they will be gone!

As I walked, you can get a better look at the ugly storage building, and see the direction of the garden; it's down the hill below the bench to the right...

 

A quick detour takes me to the autumn garden that's just getting going - and Sophie keeping watch...

 

In this picture, there is a a fork in the driveway. Going to the right is the old driveway we no longer use and to the left is the current driveway that goes towards the mailbox and scuppernong vines... so that's the direction I went...

I turned the corner and headed on down the driveway through the woods...

And almost got bonked on the head with one of these; I'm not sure what it is and need to find out. It's quite a bit bigger than a walnut and there were lots of them scattered about. Just a tree seed? I've got some investigatin' to do.

Here you see the pond in-between the trees in the middle of the picture, as I approached it and the open pastures.

Here is part of the pond; it's a little low...

 

A little right turn and I saw Mike out in the distance hand-mowing some of the tall grass. Normally he would be on his new "cadillac" mower, but it caught fire about a month ago. He came running up the driveway calling for me in a crazed panic! He was so lucky he didn't get hurt; he was sitting on it when it just ignited! It's in the process of being repaired and fortunately we got the fire extinguisher to it before it was totally destroyed.

I turned left to head towards the scuppernongs after waving to Mike...

Turned around when I got there and took a picture of the vines...

Here is a shot while underneath the vines - looking up - the best way to pick them. They are loaded with grapes! I picked some, but there are so many there. I wonder if the deer like them?

Behind the scuppernongs is the little birch forest near the creek and a little pond where a natural spring is always pumping up water...

And some tiny, little flowers I've never seen before...

 
 
After walking around a bit there, I headed back towards Mike, going past my old truck...

And see him and one of the neighbor's horses. I stopped and chatted with Mike for awhile before heading for the mailbox...

This shot shows some of the trees we had to cut down in order to level out our pastures... which is still in the process of getting done...

Amid the dead trees were flowers popping up...

I picked up the mail and turned around to go back up to the cabin...

 
Back up the driveway...

Can you see the cabin in the middle of this picture? It's pretty well-hidden by the trees and foliage...

There it is... up the hill...

And here are the scuppernongs I picked...

Few words... mostly pictures

I have no time to write at length, but wanted to check in today since it's been awhile. So I thought I'd just slap in some recent pictures for your viewing pleasure. We're closing on the house next week which means we have to make the final move this weekend. Everything must be removed from the old house! So I'm taking time off from work beginning today to pack all the little stuff and then Mike and a worker will handle the heavy furniture and boxes this weekend. We will be super dooper busy the rest of this week.

I also wanted to thank a few people for sending me comments and emails about Zena's disappearance. I haven't had time to respond, but I will and I just want you to know that they were greatly appreciated - and helped a lot. Thank you.

For now, here are some shots taken from the last five days or so here at our cabin and acreage...

Mike brought this fella home the other day because he was in the middle of the road.

 
I let him go near these flowers. 

 
Nearby, Sophie had fallen totally in love with this pile of hard concrete, rubbing her face over it again and again.

 
And look! My corn is coming up!

 
Here is the most recent shot of the garden. You can kinda see the sweet potato plants near the front corner that have been planted too closely together. And the electric fence is totally up.

 
This beautiful visitor loved our organic fertilizer.

 
I fell in love with these wild daisies near the garden.

 
Here I am after work when we walked down to check out the garden, relaxing in the grass and clover.

 
And, finally, some mountain laurel beginning to bloom. 

Thank you for all your earlier comments; I will respond soon!

Changes are a-comin'

Yesterday at our staff meeting here at work, my boss announced my retirement plans. It's now official! My last day is July 31st; can you believe it? After all this time! I'm filled with excitement, anticipation, anxiety, happiness, a little fear and impatience. I've never not worked. I've always wanted to not work, but it was never possible before. Thanks to Mike, I can finally get out of the official work-a-day world. Not that I won't be working, because I'll finally be really working. But I won't be generating an income any longer, at least not initially. That will be weird. I told Mike I'm not sure how I'm going to like not having my "own" money.  He said, "You'll still have your own money. It's not mine you know, it's ours."   

And he meant it.

So...

No more alarm going off at 4:15 a.m.
No more buying work clothes and shoes
No more packing my breakfast and lunch
No more wearing makeup unless I just wanna
No more having to go to bed early during the week
No more rigid schedule day in and day out
No more trying to squeeze in the things I want to do

Instead, I'll be:

Getting up with the sun
Buying jeans, overalls and work boots
Eating at home
Wearing little, if any, makeup
Going to bed when I want
Scheduling the day as I see fit
Doing things I've wanted to do for years and years

After so much time, it's a hugechange. I'm up for it! I'm ready for finally having time to pursue my interests, talents and desires.

In other news, Zena has not returned and I think she is gone for good. Just a gut feeling from that first morning silence when I opened the door and she was nowhere to be found. I am assuming she is a wild, happy cat running freely through the vast national forest adjacent to our property. Since I will most likely never know what became of her, that is the vision that I have planted in my mind.

I miss her.

Our garden it progressing. I'd hoped to have pictures today, but was so tired at the end of Sunday I said, "nah, I just don't have the energy to walk back up that little hill again". I was worn out, but in a real good way. Mike put in the remaining fence posts and most of the electrical thingamajigs he had to attach to them and helped me move some dirt in the garden after he tilled it one more time. I made a bunch of raised beds and then planted some tomatoes and corn. I don't want to plant much more than that until the fence is up because of the deer and rabbits and who knows what else who could chow down on the young plants. But the garden is looking good!

While working in it I was reminded once again to always be aware of what might be lurking on the ground at our farm. I'd been sitting in the dirt of the garden going through the beds making sure all the rocks were out as well as clumps of hard clay and roots that might come back to life. I mean I was scooting all over the place not paying any mind to what might be out there with me. When taking a quick break, Mike pointed out a huge, very unattractive spider in the garden with me. I'm not the squeamish type and am a fan of many bugs and spiders, but this creature gave me the willies.

 

I wish I'd had my camera because I just know you guys would love to see it. It was one of those thick legged types that looked like a tank and it was about 2 inches long and wide. I've tried to identify it online, but can't find one like it at all, so don't know if it was dangerous or just a scary sight. I gently squirted it with the hose and I think it enjoyed the shower. It then moseyed on away towards the woods, showing no interest whatsoever in the two humans recoiling at its presence.

Life is an adventure.

I love rain, BUT...

I've had enough. More than enough. We love listening to it pouring down on our little cabin, especially when we're up in the loft; and we feel all cozy and comfy inside. But enough is enough already. I certainly understand the expression "cabin fever" better than ever. We'd started to come down with it on Sunday afternoon just before the clouds broke for a couple of hours and the sun came out for a tease. But today the rain is back with a vengance and I feel as though mushrooms might begin sprouting from my head.

So, to make my eyes feel better, here are some pictures from the last sunny day we had at our farm... two weeks ago? I can't even remember now.

A beautiful spring day in north Georgia...

And Mike getting ready to test the mower part of his Honda. Uh... does it look like a guy lives there? Out of camera view is also our tiller, bush whacker and a machine that pounds dirt down. Mike the tool man...

Zena and Sophie hanging out with me while Mike tests the mower... It works, but isn't nearly efficient enough. It'll do for now though. With all the rain, the grass is really shooting up.

Zena, just before taking off and running back up the hill with Sophie... you can tell she is plotting something by that far-away look in her eyes.

Sophie loving life on the dirt and gravel...

And walking up the driveway at the end of the day...

Mike's boots after helping the neighbor across the street (the one with the horse and goats) get his stuck truck out of the mud...

This moss looks like green carpet from a distance, but up close like this, it's awesomely beautiful. Click the pic to blow it up to see how pretty it is.

In the two hours of sun yesterday, Mike got some of the fence posts up around the garden - yay! He was hoping to do more after work today, but too much rain has come down; it'll be like chocolate soup out there now. My garden will be late getting planted, but that's just the way it is. We can't stop the rain.

Patience? We're trying...

Patience. It's hard to have it right now... now that Mike and I are living at our little farm. We have so much we want to do and so little time to do it because we're both still working full time. And, of course, we want it done now... now now NOW! We can't plant the garden until we put up the fence, but can't put up the fence if it's raining. And we can't get chicks until the chicken house is built, but can't build it 'til the garden is in. Ack! We're both frustrated, but maybe the rainy weather last weekend was intended to slow us down so we could reflect a little bit. I mean, after all, we've been overwhelmed for months now. A little down time should be good for us, right?

No! We want to get busy!

Tomorrow there is a chance of showers, but we might not get any rain... so we'll do our best to get the garden fence up. I will be a happy camper once my seedlings and seeds are in the ground. Then I can concentrate on my herbs, though... we're thinking that we're going to move the garden next year. Yeah, sounds crazy, doesn't it? It's just that the area we had thought we'd use for the barn we've decided not to use for the barn, and it's ideal for a vegetable and herb garden. It gets sun all day, not just six or so hours like our current spot. And it's very close to the current garden. But the land has to be changed there a lot before we switch, so we're hoping to set it up this autumn so that it will be ready for next spring.

So no permanent plantings (re: asparagus and many herbs) for now. Well, I might plant lots of herbs and just move them. Can't not have herbs for cryin' out loud. My deck is too shady for them in pots, so the garden it will be for now - and later.

And, speaking of putting fences, we need to put up fencing around our pastures because we've pretty much decided to get some... cows. Cows! Pet cows of course, to keep our pastures from growing out of control and us from having to mow them and to provide our gardens with lots of natural fertilizer. We can use our next door neighbors' cow poo, but we'd rather generate our own. Along with the cows, we're thinking about a few goats as well. They could help us clear out the brush in the woods. They'd be pets too, of course.

For the cows, I'd love to have two or three jerseys. This is a Jersey calf; I think I'm in love.

 
And, for the goats, I'm just not sure. I love the look of Nubians and have had people tell me theirs were sooo lovable and sweet, but I read somewhere that they are not as healthy as other breeds. Anyone know? They are very cute though... see?

 
And to protect everyone at our place, we'd like to get an Anatolian Shepherd. I've not had a dog in at least 15 years and prior to that had always had one. We're about ready to get at least one. Not until I'm retired though. Here is a picture of an Anatolian sleeping with a goat... cute!

 

It's hard being patient; I've wanted this kind of lifestyle for as long as I can remember. And while I want the whole process to be fun and enjoyable, at the same time I want to hurry hurry hurry so we can have our animals and garden and be smack in the middle of it.

A clothes line for me

I've missed having a clothes line. For quite a few years I didn't have a dryer so hung all my clothes outside. I hated and loved it at the same time. Loved it because the clothes and sheets smelled wonderful and hated it because on days when it rained I had to schlep to a laundromat - sometimes having to dash outside to rip the clothes off the line as the rain starting coming down. I really don't like going to laundromats.  

I also have memories of hanging out the clothes as a kid before my parents got a dryer. There were six of us and lots of clothes and things to hang up, but I never minded it; in fact I kind of enjoyed it. I liked being outside.

At Mike's and my house, we weren't allowed to put a clothes line up. Neighborhood covenants y'know. I had a real nice laundry room there though. 

Now I'm out in the country and if I wanted to I could hang hundreds of clothes lines from tree to tree to tree and no one could say anything about it. But I'll just stick with one line that will be near our cabin - invisible to everyone but us. It's a conservative little retractable line, nothing like the permanent structure at my parent's house with 6 looong lines. I plan to use it for all those things I never put in a dryer... my jeans, delicate things washed in cold water and something I've wanted to hang outside for years - sheets. So it will be a wonderful thing... I can use the line when I want, and if it's raining or too cold, I can use a dryer... which at this moment is outside on the deck behind the back door where I am currently using it until Mike can convert our gas dryer down in the basement to work with the propane we have here at the farm. Yep, I'm hillbilly drying.

Things sure are different here

Yep, things are different in the country. Mike asked our neighbor if he'd plow up our garden area with his tractor since we don't have one yet - and he said sure. When Mike offered to pay him, he refused any sort of payment. And, when we were driving down a new road not too far from our place just checking out the area, we saw a huge pile of what appeared to be good organic fertilizer/compost. There wasn't a for sale sign and it looked like someone's private stash, but Mike knocked on the door anyway to inquire since we need some. A nice woman directed us across the street to another family member of hers who was just pulling out of his driveway on a real purty tractor, with his maybe 4-year-old daughter sitting up in the seat with him (and what a lucky girl, I thought!). He told Mike to talk to his father, who just pulling out as well. Bottom line: we were told it was chicken poo and that we could have as much as we wanted. Mike went back to get the big truck and trailer and they gave us a huge amount, refusing any payment! That's just not done in the city I tell ya! 

Now that the garden is plowed up, we need to till it (we have a good tiller), and then probably hand-work it to get rid of all the clods, rocks, etc. Not sure about my garden this year. There is so much prep work to do in the dirt itself that I have a feeling the seedlings will go in a bit late. (And, more about the seedlings later. Some are doing great and some are being annoyingly stubborn.) Here is a picture that shows with the white lines the size of the garden and what has been plowed up already (though not in this picture, obviously). You can see Mike in the process of taking down the old fence around the old garden.

 

And, on another note, Mike has been an animal rescuer the past few days. Zena disappeared on Saturday when we had our first "real" two full days at the farm. "Real" meaning days spent there since we actually moved in. We decided to let the cats out during the day while we're outside and they love it. Love, love, looove it. It was hard going in and out of the cabin without them getting out anyway, so we just gave up. Anyway, we wondered where Zena disappeared to after not seeing her for several hours... when Mike discovered her here, near the garden area:

 

She was crying and crying, which is something she never does. I didn't even know what her voice sounded like; she's normally so quiet. I'm sure if she got hungry enough she would have figured out how to get down, especially after going up and down her 13-foot cat post at the old house, but something scared her up that tree and she seemed freaked out. So Mike got a ladder and carried her down:

 
He's a good cat daddy.

 
I'm wondering if the guineas might have scared her up the tree. Our neighbor has six of them and they're all over the place. They are fearless and very noisy! Cats usually leave them alone, but it could be that Zena, not knowing anything about such creatures, tried to check them out and they ran at her flailing and shrieking. Ha! Here is one of the guineas on our driveway as Mike was trying to even out some of the gravel... over on the right hand side of the picture...

Then, a few nights ago while Mike and I were just beginning to fall asleep, we heard an odd flapping noise above us and Zena frantically running all over the room. We turned on the light and couldn't see anything, but the noise was so distinct. Zena was staring at one spot on the wall with big ol' saucer eyes and there it was... a very small brown bat, hanging upside down. It was a cute little thing; we think it was the little brown bat.

 
  
Image source: http://www.exploringnature.org/graphics/mammals/

Mike got a ladder and very gently put one of his t-shirts over it to get it down from the wall. It made some scared little noises until Mike set it free off the deck. They are protected here and are voracious insect eaters. But I really don't want them flying about in our bedroom while we're sleeping. Nope. But we're thinking about putting up some bat houses in the trees.

I love being out of the city - for so many reasons. We've not spent much time at the farm yet even though we now live there, but on Saturday morning we went outside and sat on the steps of the deck and just looked and listened. There were all kinds of birds singing and chirping and the foliage seemed to suddenly be bursting out of the trees. It was just so peacefully quiet, save the chirping and rustling of leaves as a breeze came through. It's a whole world away from the noise and pace of the city. 

And, one more thing: We got an offer on our house! Just three days on the market and we got an offer! And it's not too bad an offer either. We countered this morning and will see how they respond. Fingers crossed!

A grand birthday gift

 

There is waaay too much to write about, so I will condense it a bit and say... we've moved! Yep, we spent our first full day living at our farm this past Sunday. We were surrounded by boxes and too many projects that need to be done to even begin to list, but we are at the farm! And our old house is almost completely fixed up and staged to be put on the market. Mike and I worked lots of 10-hour days during my vacation from work and it was truly exhausting. But most of it is done now - at least for the first stage of moving. We're leaving all our "real" furniture at the old house, along with lots of books and items to make it look inviting y'know. When it sells, we'll have to rent a storage unit to put all that in until we add on the the cabin. Our storage shed and chicken house are now stuffed to the gills with our belongings... mostly tools and building materials.

Our new commute is a doozy. For me it's only temporary until I retire, but Mike will have to make the trek until he retires - and we don't know when that will be yet since he's still a young'un. But at least he is his own boss and can drive in on his own schedule, unlike the way it is now. My drive used to take 30 minutes and I got up around 5:15 a.m. Now it takes and hour just to get from our cabin to our old house, where I pick up my vehicle and go on to work, which takes the same 30 minutes that it used to. That's one long commute! When we sell our house, we'll shoot straight in to my work though and it will be faster. Fortunately, we drive in together from the cabin and that's super nice. I wonder how people who drive similar commutes every day, day-in and day-out handle it. I guess we all do what we have to do, and adjust to the changes. We're also adapting to getting up at 4:30 a.m. now too, but that's nothing for me though because I've done it for years and years. 

This morning when we left the cabin it was 5:30 and there were stars all over the dark sky sparkling like diamonds. It was a sight to behold just before leaving for work and helped start the day off with a little punch of "wow". It was like a special little gift. My mind is muddled with everything we need to do, but I am thrilled to be living in our little cabin after all this time. That's my birthday gift from Mike this year - to be at our farm... and what a grand gift it is!