Ralphie to the rescue

Today was one of "those days"....totally too full of the unplanned, unexpected & the unwanted. Too much of a day, too much. All that was on my mind coming home was to escape from it all, to just get away. So, as I walked out to the barn to feed the animals with the day on my mind, I watch my too full of life goat, Ralphie, push his way through the smallest of openings in the pasture gate and out & free he is there to greet me. He is as surprised as I am with this unplanned escape. I hold my hand out to attempt to coax him back into the fenced area, he begins to follow but stops with this awareness of this new grass he walks on, this realization that he is in a place he has only looked at through a fence. I try to grab his horn to pull him back in...doesn't work. So, not knowing exactly how to get this big goat back into the pasture, and feeling just a tad defeated, I just throw open the gate and walk into the pasture...and he follows me. I guess sometimes you just have to give in to the unplanned & unexpected. Sometimes we need a little reminder that grass is green on both sides of the fence.

up in the hayloft

As the story goes, I spent Saturday & Sunday up in the hayloft. 

Shifting furniture, arranging vignettes, beginning to unpack finds stored over the past months.  

It was such fun! 

I surprised myself with all the goodies I had tucked away for the Spring Barn Sale! 

Chippy, rusty, farm-related, spring stuff, planting stuff...cool stuff for sure.

So, as a reminder...

the Spring Barn Sale is May 12 & 13, 2012

We hope to see you on Saturday from 9-5 or Sunday from 12-5.

Check back for the super secret password to get 10% off your purchases Saturday.

For all the details -- jump on over to "Barn Sales" under Chapters to the right.

Oh......we will have door prizes at the sale this year. 

Good old fashioned gift certificates for a future sale! 

          

Here comes Peter Cottontail...

So how did it happen that Easter is so early in April that it caught me by surprise? 
April 8th, really?
That is less than 3 weeks away! 
How ever will I get all my wonderful vintage Easter goodies out & up in time?

Decided this year I just may not....may need to pick & choose.

I definitely choose this little guy!

How about you -- are you a less or more decorator for Easter?

getting ready

With our May Barn Sale no longer just down the road, but around the corner...we continue our preparation. This weekend on the list was to move heavy furniture in the hayloft to their "look at me" places, clean & sort the porch & potting shed (taking lots of goodies up to the hayloft for the sale), and wake up a few gardens. We started with the porch, unloading it all to the the yard (oh my how did we ever have so much on one porch?), then cleaning & rearranging. We also carried down a harvest table from the barn to await a new spot on the porch. As I'm scrubbing the porch floor, a van pulls up in our driveway getting just to where ALL the furniture is waiting for the Great Sort....the man gets out with a, "see you have some antiques for sale" looking at all the furniture & such across the yard. Made me smile..."not just yet" ~~~~~ Our Spring Barn Sale arrives on May 12 & 13! And we are indeed getting ready!

Porch inspiration:

picture credit

Hope exits, Faith arrives

I try not to read too much into the animal adventures on our little old farm...but every now and again, stories unfold that make me wonder.

So, here it is....our first barn cat arrived as a stow-away on a truck full of goats in 2008.  We named her Hope.  It took over 2 months to build trust with her...and she eventually gifted us with three litters of kittens.  She would often wander off to neighboring farms, several days away would not alarm us.  Last year at this time, she left for a week - but returned.  However, this year -- she has been gone since the end of February -- with sightings at the neighbor's farm.  Seems she may have moved on.  So, Hope moved on.

Now here is where the mystery of life unfolds -- in her stead, we began sensing another cat in our barn.  And we soon found a black & white fluffy cat -- somewhat rough around the edges -- appeared to have traveled to get here.  Whisper & Chestnut show no fear or trepidation about this new friend, and we now find this cat in the barn, eating, sleeping, taking this as a new home.  He is slow to trust us as Hope was....but is learning not to run.   We have named him Faith.

And so it is...

Hope departs  

and Faith arrives.

And so it is. 


March 17th update:  Hope has returned!

first robin

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And just as if they never left, I looked out to see a very nonchalant robin

poking around in the grass in the front yard on Sunday.

Hopping about as if there was no journey, no leaving --

as if our farmyard was the happening place all the time.

Just like that, the words, "it won't last" spill from my mouth

as I think of any more snow we may get.

I hurry to round up any last remnants of winter decoration,
making a note to self to get those lit deer put away and
gather up all the evergreen boughs.

The weather forecast for 65 degree days makes me feel so

ready for mud on my boots and dirt under my nails. 

Even mucking out the goat stall sounds like fun.

This is what we wait impatiently for

-- these first days of

extra sun light, warmth....spring.

And, just like that....it is here.

be in the moment

I recently received my April-May copy of Mary Janes Farm...with the theme for many articles - "smitten". Today I took a moment to look through it, and found the following excerpt from an article, "Smitten by a Farm" by Victoria Strauser: "I saw my first fireflies at the farm, and thought it must be a magical place for something so beautiful to choose to live there." Be in the moment, I said to myself. Last night as I tucked in the goats for the night, I came out of the barn to bird song...back again. Be in the moment, I said to myself. This morning I found two little girl kittens asleep on the porch, wrapped in each other's little arms. Be in the moment, I said to myself. We all collect magical moments when we are smitten. Perhaps they are songs from the tree tops, fireflies in the meadow or a soft loving look...and we know for that one moment all is indeed right in our world.

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Oh my

So...I am quite certain that I have a mix of A.D.D. & O.C.D....

combined with a gathering gene.

And when you package it all into one Kari,

you get a compulsive gatherer that gets bored easy.

And so it is.

Every little holiday, every season is a march down to the

basement and storage containers hauled up and unloaded.

Every year I vow it will be the last.

I make these goals to limit my finds for each holiday,

to make it manageable....

but then I open the containers and

swoon over the sweet holiday adorables

that have waited patiently for their turn.

How ever could I not change out the decor to

nod to each celebration?

How ever could I limit myself to sameness?

Can't do it, not in my genes.

And so it is...

Oh, and isn't that the cutest little gold bunny and the sweetest jar?

I do adore enamelware pitchers

These utilitarian pitchers are on my "must have" list.

They hold pansies in the spring.

They take water out to bird baths in the summer.

In the fall they may pour birdseed into our feeders.

Evergreens find their way to them in the winter.

One blue with a group of white.

Ready for work on the top of the Jelly Cupboard in our kitchen.

Are you an Enamelware Aficionado?