Hello my sweets,
Last time we left off, I shared some twists and turns after over a decade of sharing our adventures as a young family. Well I'm not so young anymore. Panda & Lil Man are living their own adult life adventures, as college students. Panda after a few changes in her major, will now graduate in 2023. Lil Man has just begun at the same university with his big sister. As for Frog? 2 more years of highschool and as stubborn as her mother. Don't forget our trusty sidekick Moose dog who is now 10 years old. With grey replacing the black on his face along with plenty other reminders he is an old man. For an extra large size dog, he still tries to kick it like he is half his age.
Just like Moose dog, I now have some grey starting to replace the black in my hair. My body softer and a little heavier. With plenty of body aches to remind me I'm aging closer to 50 than I am to 40. It feels like a lifetime ago when The Unusual Farm Chick was created as young 31 year old. Just writing that feels so strange.
Life has a way of adding unexpected turns and dips as though to remind us there are plenty more adventures to be had. Slowing down does not mean boring and we have already established, my life has been far from boring.
I sold the Brick ranch 2 years ago. My younger two children decided they wanted to do their last bit of high school living with dad. It was too much house for just me and Moose Dog. Around the same time I bumped into an old friend. Both of us recently divorced. Finding that we have a lot more in common than we thought previously. We first met on that 2010 Memorial Day Weekend camping trip I had with friends. Swimming in the creek of the Allegheny forest. Laughing and feeling very in my element.
After I sold the brick ranch, I moved in with him an hour away in the middle of Amish Country. An old Farm house on 7 acres, he dubbed The Far-out farm. Mostly because people complained he lived so far away. They rarely came to visit once he bought this old place.
Together, we are slowly moving in the direction he and I had always wanted. A country home with plenty of land for more reliant ways. The only farm animal left right now is Penny, the diva Pot belly pig.
We are cleaning up and clearing out spaces in the barn to bring a few hens back to the " farm". No need to have more than we need for ourselves. We have 2 large Food gardening plots, one by the house & berry patches. The other out by the barn. We rotate between each year.
He has lots of currants he has planted along with raspberries over the years. There's an old Concord Grape area we began cleaning up and hope to get the vines up on a trellis system this Spring before they leaf out. We added a bee hive last year which is a first for him. The hive swarmed and were lost so new brood will be brought in soon. I also introduced him to growing Winecap Mushrooms. It was not as productive as I have previously grown due to the spot having too much shade... As well as being too far into the woods which served more as buffet for the population of squirrels and chipmunks.
I am happy. The children are happy. Life keeps moving. The kids come to visit every few months. All 3 have multiple jobs and go to school full-time. Between University and of course Frog with high school, their lives have transpired into the next stage that begins the rest of their lives.
I'm not sure how often I will post. The Adventures of the Unusual Farmchick are not as plentiful being I have to work a full-time job. I work from home for the same hospital system I've worked with for the last 6 years. I love working from home. It has given back almost 3 hours of each day during the week. No more hour long drives each way. No More early morning preparations for the work day. It is exactly what I had yearned for in my career.
So what adventures do we have coming up? We have begun preparing to put a root cellar in the basement. This old farmhouse used to have one, one clue being the sign above an old doorway that exclaims " Fruit cellar". Unfortunately, I cannot utilize that space anymore. At some point most likely in the 50s or 60s someone put in an oil fuel tank for heating the house. And as modernization came in the 21st century, a second bathroom was added directly above the old Root Cellar. So now there are septic lines coming down in the space to connect with the out line. Not exactly the kind of space you would want to store your food in.
My postings for now will be done from a smart phone. My picture quality will not be what it has in the past. So hopefully you can bear with me at least for another year for an upgrade will be made.
Sweetest dreams,
Tammie
The Unusual Farm Chick is BACK! ....sort of....
** And same rules apply. Spam, harassing or anything else that I decide that is left as a comment, will be removed. You don't have to agree with me just like I don't have to agree with you. Play nice or Move on.
