Farm Party Number One

We bought the little farm last March, and since then we have had plenty of visits from friends and family, but because last Saturday we had family that included out-of-town relatives at the same time as our good friends, it really felt like our fist official party at our new place.  If our future parties at the the farm are as much fun as this first one, we have so much to look forward to!  

This party had all the best ingredients - friends and family to visit with, hot dogs and some of Joe's chickens smoked with wood from our very own apple tree, kites, adorable children, Easter egg hunts, mom's famous deviled eggs, cake (Happy Birthday Brandon!), birthday gifts, a snuggely baby, delicious salads and side dishes, butterfly nets, home brewed beer, croquet, foot ball, more beer, a campfire, overnight guests in tents, corn hole, a tractor, and some dangerous vodka punch.  

Luckily, Shanna and my nieces arrived early enough to help get the Easter eggs primed with chocolate before everyone else arrived, and to take the butterfly net that I brought home from work out for a spin.  And we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather!

With Brandon's help, this lovely black and yellow butterfly was finally captured in the net.  I think the butterfly is pretty, but the grin with two missing front teeth is even better.  As Jamie said, it's a classic look.  

Jamie and Leigh borrowed extra kites from Leigh's mom, and the airplane kite was a team effort to assemble and fly.  I don't think we ever got it in the air for a really long time, but even watching it try to fly was fun.  

I didn't get any pictures of folks sitting in the shade of the pear tree, or photos of the food, which was definitely photo worthy.  I was too busy enjoying the company to think of photos.  I wish I could have captured the campfire and the amazing display of stars too.  The sky was perfect for star gazing.  

Even though Brandon thought I was a little crazy for having an Easter egg hunt when it wasn't Easter, I had a whole crew of adorable kids who were thinking just like me - you can't have too many egg hunts!  And the kids were so good.  The bigger kids shared with the littlest ones, since the youngest were more interested in opening the eggs and eating the chocolate than rushing to find more eggs.  

I was only slightly worried about having nearly thirty people come to a house with no working bathroom, because a few weeks ago, Brandon and I built an out house.  We built it all from scrap lumber we scrounged from the barns, and used a door that came out of the old house.  We put metal roofing on that came from the front room of the house before we got the new roof, and put the composing potty that mom and I built last summer inside it.  We even put a light with an extension cord to the house, just to be extra considerate of our guests.  I put several rolls of toilet paper in a metal popcorn tin, and put a bag of pine shaving next to the potty to used for covering the, uh... deposits.  It worked very well for a group that size, but I don't know if it could handle more than a day or two at a time.  

Because our only running water it to the hydrant in the yard, we used the sink we bought at the farm auction to make a place to get water, wash hands, and do the dishes.  We had to be careful not to get our shoes wet, since the water just come pouring out the drain onto the ground.  I used a bucket to catch really dirty water from washing the dishes so I could pour it somewhere away in case it would attract flies or something.  

In this photo you can see the outhouse and sink (ignore the scary lady sculpture behind the outhouse - if you can!).  I think having such rustic accommodations made the party seem like it was at a campground.  I even think it was a little nostalgic for some of the folks who remember using outhouses and outdoor sinks in other lives or at other campgrounds.  

I can't wait to have another party, but maybe next time I will be living in the house, so the facilities may be slightly upgraded.  Slightly.  

Setting the Scene for Easter Weekend

This is my wish list of props that I think would set the perfect mood for Easter weekend: 

1. Baby chickens!!! (of course)

2. Easter eggs

3. Easter eggs that become Easter chicks (also, of course!)

4. A fuzzy white bunny with long pink ears

5. Baby cows

6. Lambs

7. Chocolate

8. Panda cows with babies

9. Turtle (Turtles are not classic Easter, I know, but nothing sets a scene like a turtle.)

10. Spring wildflowers

11.  May apples

12. A morel mushroom

13. Fiddle heads

14. A walk in the early spring woods

15.  Red bud trees in full bloom 

16.  Frog eggs 

17.  Tadpoles

18.  More baby chickens (the more the better!)

19.  And children with kites 

Fortunately, I have had all of these things in the last week, so I am perfectly primed to enjoy the upcoming Easter weekend.   Starting with the arrival of chicks from the eggs I put in the incubator.  The adorable yellow chick at the top of the page greeted me at the office this morning.  Number 1 - Hello Easter!  

It's just not Easter without Number 2 - Easter Eggs.  These are the eggs as I saw them before I left the office on Wednesday morning.  I have been away from the office so much in the past twenty-one days, that I was convinced this would not be a successful hatch.  At various times I let the water dry up, the temperature got too high or too low.   But, these are some tough eggs!

And this is what greeted me at the office when I arrived this morning - seven perfectly formed Easter chicks, with more on the way.  Hooray for Number 3!  

On a visit to Joe's farm last Sunday, I got to see his newest additions to the farm.  By far the most adorable addition is his new baby (yes, an actual human baby), who is almost seven weeks old, and already accompanies his dad on farm tours.  I really wish I had taken a photo of Joe hopping electric wire in the cow pasture while burping his baby and holding the baby's pacifier in his own mouth.  Joe, with baby in tow, led us to the barn, where he introduced me to his new meat rabbits.  This big fuzzy lady with long pink ears is perfect to satisfy Number 4 on my wish list.   

Joe was hopping fences so he could show us the new calves that were recently born at the farm.  This little girl with brown back and white face was my favorite.  

While Joe does have sheep at his farm, it got dark before I really got to see them, but I don't have to miss out on Number 6, because my boss treated us with these funny cupcakes today.  And some of them were chocolate - which perfectly combines Number 6 and Number 7 on my list - chocolate lambs.    

This is one of Joe's cows with a panda face, and this is her first calf ever.  Joe says she's a really good mom.  Turns out panda cows with babies are perfect for Easter.  Who knew? 

While working out of town this week, we met this impressive snapping turtle.  He was quickly walking away from us, but when we approached he turned around to offer me this friendly hissing smile.  

Trillium in the forest.  

And may apples.  Thousands of them popping up through the leaves on the steep slopes where we work working.  I know that if I come back to this same spot late this summer there will be little evidence that they were here.  

The friend I was working with said to look for morel mushrooms when the may apples pop up, and the leaves on the trees are the size of a mouses ear.  Wouldn't you know, I found one!  My first ever.  I didn't pick it, but we were very excited to actually see one.  Now that I've seen a morel in the week prior to Easter, I will always keep my eyes peeled when I see mouse sized leaves and may apples around Easter time.  

Number 13 on my list of ideal Easter props is fiddle heads.  I love to see the ferns uncoiling in the early spring.  It almost seems like I can see it happening.  If I didn't have work to do, I would have planted myself in front of a fern for a while and watched to see if it really was uncoiling before my eyes.  I love time lapse videos of plants growing, and ferns are some of the best.  

A walk in the early spring woods to see the wildflowers is the perfect way to set the mood for the season, and getting to spend a couple days working outside in the sun and forest makes it easy to forget that I get paid for this!  

The red bud trees are blooming everywhere I go right now, and I think they are the perfect spring color.  

I tried sniffing the flowers, but I couldn't detect a smell.  

Check out the massive balls of frog eggs we saw in a small stream yesterday.  Hundreds and hundreds of eggs.  

When I looked closely at one of the eggs, the little tadpole in the center was still very formless, but I'm still counting it toward Number 17.  

Most of the newly hatched chicks are a dark color like this one, being held by a friend and coworker.  Its so much fun to have chicks hatching at the office, especially when it's timed perfectly to happen on a Friday before a holiday weekend.  Everyone is in the mood to admire new life on a Friday.  

Number 19 - Children with Kites.  This includes big kids too, like Brandon when he gets nailed by a falling kite, but even better was when my nephew visited the farm last Sunday and we spent some time flying the kite in the sun.  My wish list is complete. I'm ready for the Easter weekend, are you?  

Kite Attack on A Perfect Day

This scene from the front field at the farm house on Saturday looks innocent, doesn't it?  Bright blue sky, colorful kite, waving sprigs of tall golden grass, all with a picturesque back drop of rolling country side.  Don't be deceived, this was the scene of a brutally hilarious kite attack!  Luckily the event was captured on video and cleverly edited by my friend so we can all have a good laugh at Brandon's expense.  Enjoy the short clip below.  I've enjoyed it over and over again!  

Make sure you watch it with your sound turned on, because half the fun is listening to Brandon's squeals.  

It really was a perfect day.  During the early part of the evening, the wind was gusty, which made trying to fly the Dollar Store kite very challenging (and dangerous!), but we made sure to take frequent breaks to enjoy beer and admire the buzzing of the bees in the blooms of the pear tree.  

Even with the strong gust of wind, we managed a few good runs with the kite.  Almost all the string was unwound and the big eyed alien in his saucer wasn't discernible on the kite because it was so high in the sky.  

Of course we had a few failed attempts with the kite too, like when we tangled it in the power line, or got it stuck in the pear tree.  Fortunately, the calming influence of the pear tree blossoms (or the beer?) would encourage us to retrieve the kite and try again after we took a short break.   

Pretty, pretty pear tree!  

By the time the sun was going down, and the moon had risen in the sky, the wind stopped gusting, and we had some really great kite flying conditions.  In the photo above, the tiny black speck in the top right corner is the kite, which Brandon is flying higher than the moon!  

The sunset was gentle that night, but it made a wonderful back drop for the kite and I considered just lying down in the field and watching the kite soar until it was too dark to see.  A perfect day.  

Epic Kite Failure

Let me just say right away -the kite did not work.  At all.  It might have even been, as someone predicted,  and "epic fail."  I hate it when Brandon is right.  Even after I went to all the trouble sew a colorful tail and coax Brandon into painting on it, it still let me down. 

If I had decorated the kite, I probably would have chosen a butterfly or a bird, or something that made me think of flight.  Brandon decided to paint a snake.  I don't know why I ever doubted his choice.  It looked really great took him only a few minutes.

Maybe I put too much emphasis on form over function.  Or maybe we should have followed the directions.  Investing in some quality materials might have been the best thing we could have done.  Apparently pine dowels are not a strong as oak dowels, which is why they are cheaper.  Since both dowels snapped before I could even get it off the ground I never got to see if it was balanced or if the bridle needed adjustments.  I'm not defeated though.  I will try again.  Maybe.