Well, I Certainly Need to Update!

I have neglected this blog for quite awhile, it appears.

So none of you know the BIG NEWS!

Steven got married in April 2019!  So now he very happily has someone to share his farm life and dreams with.  Susannah is a wonderful woman - very much in love with Steven and his lifestyle on the farm, and they are getting much accomplished toward all their goals!

Since the newlyweds now have my blessing for full control of the home place, I moved into the nearby small town and care for my elderly mother there.   Small town living takes a bit of getting used to after years and years in the country with no neighbors, but I'm learning to adapt.  It is the same small town where my other son David has his little retail store, so I get to help with that.

I still go to the homeplace often and try to help out when I can, but these old muscles and bones are feeling the age, and it is hard to keep up.  Susannah is wonderful at cooking and canning and everything needed to run the place, so they don't really need my help; but I sure miss the farm some days. 

However, I firmly believe, just as I think my great-great grandfather did, that the whole purpose for all we do is to pass along to the next generation.   My ancestors did all their work on the place so that it would be there for my parents, and for me.  Passing it to Steven is the fulfillment of that legacy to me.  Much like a king raising his son to be a prince and prepare for the throne.

I get so sad when I see so many farm families around me that have wonderful families, and then after they send their kids off to college, the kids never come home.  No one feels the need to carry on the tradition of their forefathers.  I am so very blessed by God that Steven felt the call and loves the homeplace.

Tracy
(p.s. - I going to be a grandma in July!! )

Oh - almost forgot!  The traditional, obligatory 2019 Thanksgiving Family Photo below!

Annual Thanksgiving Post! 2018

Hello all!

Yes - I remembered to update with my annual Thanksgiving family photo for 2018.

It was a beautiful Thanksgiving day, and we were blessed with loads of food, family and fun.

Some pics:

First - the table all set and ready for company!  Our antique table has six leaves, just enough to stretch it across the room as much as we can and hold everyone at one table!

David took this pic since he is tall and can squeeze us all in the frame.  Starting with Steven (lower left), clockwise: Tim, Amanda, Krista, Sharon (grandma), Toyia, little Henry (age 2), Lacy, Jared, and me! (you can just see the top of my head.  That's all you need to see!) ;-)

On the table:  Leg of Lamb, Turkey, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, two kinds of gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing(dressing), and cranberry sauce.

 David's photo was much better than the one I attempted just before it:

Krista (my daughter Amanda's  best friend) and my mom, Sharon, conversing at the far end of the table.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017!

I'm dutifully posting our annual Thanksgiving round table photo, as per tradition.

I'm sorry the exposure is so bad -- it was a gorgeous day with bright sunlight, so the bay windows really let all that beautiful light in, which is wonderful in person, but very hard for the cameras to adjust to.  If I still had PhotoShop on my PC, I could fix some of this; but, alas, I don't.

So-- going around the table from left front:  "empty plate" is David (#2 son) who is actually taking the photo, so not in it.  Clockwise from his plate is my son-in-law Tim,  Amanda, Krista (Amanda's best friend, who always shares Thanksgiving with us because her family is all in Wyoming); myself (Tracy), my mother Sharon, my sister Toyia (obviously, she and I are just talking to each other and not paying attention to the photographer); then baby Henry, then Henry's mom & dad Lacy & Jared  (my sister Toyia's middle son family).  Then of course at the head of the table, was our wonderful host, Steven.

Steven roasted the turkey and made the pumpkin pie. David offered the tasty lamb roast (one of Steven's lambs), and made the gravy;  Jared & Lacy brought the sweet potatoes casserole; Toyia brought a wonderful salad; Amanda & Tim made the potatoes and green been casserole, as well as bringing rolls; all I had to do this year was make the dressing/stuffing.  It all turned out quite wonderfully.

Below are some photos of the table setup that aren't such a bad exposure.  Steven went to a lot of work to make the day memorable and traditional.

Steven chose an eclectic group of antique dishes from the china cupboard to grace the table. Everything from fine antique china to Jewel-Tea ware.

Waiting for the arrival of everyone

He also decided to shine up his great-grandmother's glass toothpick holder collection to add color to the bright sunshine streaming through the windows. It was beautiful.

After the meal and the clean-up; most of us went for a walk to enjoy the day.  After we returned, we played some lively rounds of Apples to Apples; and cards and other games.  It was a wonderful day of family fellowship.  Everyone went home happy, and with leftovers!

View from the top

We don't have any "hills" in our river valley area of Kansas.
So I thought I'd share some photos my son recently posted on his Facebook page -- of the views he gets of our place while up the 30 foot windmill tower doing maintenance on the windmill head.

Seems like the only time I get around to updating this blog site is during this special holiday of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving has always been a BIG deal in our family.  I have many wonderful memories of Thanksgivings around this same table, in the same room, with my grandma cooking, and all my cousins and aunts & uncles around us, when I was a child.

We have tried hard to carry on that family tradition - which gets more difficult each year as family members spread out and go their separate ways.  But it is important to us to gather and give thanks to God for all the blessings He has provided for us this year.

It is also fun to go back through this blog on the #Thanksgiving label and see how we've all changed through the years.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!




(our camera had dead batteries, so we had to make do with a cell phone camera, which couldn't quite handle the bright light from our bay windows!)  We miss having Uncle Paul with us around the table.

Happy Thanksgiving from: Steven,  Amanda, Tim, grandma (Sharon), Aunt Ida, and myself! (David not pictured because he's taking the photo!)

First Day of Spring, 2016

Since today is the first day of spring, I thought I'd show you a few of the things keeping us busy (and keeping me from having time to blog) these days:

Spring has definitely sprung around here!

Harvest!

More photos!

Here's some shots from around the farm this past week:

Steven's garden is looking especially good so far this year
(you can click on the photo to view it larger)

and we have a set of twins born to my Katahdin ewe (sheep)

and this week we finally had another Boer doe give birth

(she actually had twins, but one was stillborn)

Isn't this little babe cute?

~ Tracy

New babies

Look what hatched out this week!  :-)

She's very protective.  I had a cute little video of her with the ducklings but I haven't been able to upload it from my phone to here.

We also have about 20 chicks from two hens that recently hatched, and of course the lamb twins.  Still waiting on more baby goat kids to arrive any day.

Fruits of the harvest

I love this time of year when our plants begin to bear fruit.  I know there will be a lot of work involved with harvesting and preserving, but it is still always amazing to me how God designed each plant to bear so much fruit!  Far more than you would think a plant would need to simple reseed itself - no, it produces fruit in abundance - to make sure of its survival!

These currant bushes near our wash-house are especially heavy with berries this year -- which probably means that the gooseberries are also really loaded right now, down in the lower 40.  We haven't had a chance to go check on them - but I hope to this weekend. See if there are enough berries to make a pie for Steven.

The garden has been very good so far this year, as well, with the wonderful rains we have received this year.  This is some of the varieties of squash/zucchini that is currently ready to pick!

House Painting

Little by little, we are gradually making our way around the house, painting it (by the time we make it all the way around, it will be time to begin again, I'm sure!)

The issue with painting a house that is 140 years old, is the wood is so dry that it doesn't hold paint well, or for long.  It takes a tremendous amount of prep work to get the surface ready for a layer of paint.  We've had lots of people "offer" to come paint the house (like, spray it).  I tell them, "the painting is the easy part - it is all of the detail work to get the surface ready to paint that takes time."

Steven is a perfectionist, so that means besides a thorough scraping off of old paint,  there is wood filler used for any holes,  bad boards replaced, nails fixed, cracks filled, window sills repaired or replaced, etc.  Then hand-brush on a heavy sealer/primer, in order to really work it into the wood, caulk any seams and apply top coats.  It takes days to get one small area done in that fashion.  But we are trying to help the house last another 100 years as well as it did its first 100.

The photo below is of a small area we applied primer to this week -- such a difference!  It will still need a couple layers of top coat, and then we put up the new storm window.   You can't tell after the paint, but the bottom three siding boards are new - concrete board siding, to prevent the issue of the bottom-most siding always rotting out.
(On the left side, we haven't yet finished prepping that area - although we have finished the window).

Photo a Day for 365?

Okay, so I'm not doing to well on this "photo a day" challenge thing.

Believe me, I have been taking lots of photos. Just not much time to edit and post them, with it being summer; family members moving; gardening, new baby livestock, etc. etc.  I  don't know what I was thinking!

Maybe I can post all the pics during winter; and it will feel like re-living my summer!  :-)

Tracy

Project 365 a photo a day for a year Week 1: May 10 - 17

Theme for this Project 365 is Thankfulness

Thankful for beautiful spring blossoms

Thankful for my wonderful daughter and son-in-law

Thankful for glorious colors throughout God's creation

Thankful for opportunity to own a business and help community

Thankful for the legacy of my grandmother's garden

Thankful for beautiful days and beautiful cars

Thankful for Kansas agriculture

Thankful for the sweet smell of roses

2013 In Pictures

Well, I haven't had much time to write on the blog this year.

So to close out 2013, I thought I'd just post a review of our year in photos.  It was a great year, and we are blessed.  May this find all my friends healthy and happy going into 2014!

(review photos bottom to top!)

NOVEMBER 2013

SEPTEMBER 2013

AUGUST 2013

JULY 2013

JUNE 2013

(family reunion - June 2013)

MAY 2013

APRIL 2013

FEBRUARY 2013