sometimes 5:00 a.m. is the best time

It is dark outside at the farm...the kind of night that feels like a blanket.

I am awake early, pretending my instant coffee is the real deal in my 

mug from the first Starbucks in Seattle.  The house is quiet, just the

ticking of the mantle clock.  As usual, my Lucy cat is at my side.  This 

quiet moment calls for reflection.  I will be anxious to say farewell to 

2017 in just a few days, hoping that bringing out a new calendar will truly

turn the page.  But, I suspect that it will not be quite so easy.  There will

be more 5 a.m. mornings, more reflection.  That will be my word & my

work in this new year.  

from our home to yours...

                                               ☃️Happy Holidays!☃️

gifted...

                       ...at collecting, not baking!

our sweet woods

Today we cut boughs from our sweet woods in Winter, Wisconsin.

We truly must be caretakers of a million trees on our property.

Today they were dressed in snow!  ❄️❄️❄️❄️🏠❄️❄️❄️❄️

silver & gold

"more" is always more!

                     A peak into my craft room!

holiday kitchen

          Christmas begins to arrive at the farm...

sunrise at Meadowview Farm

Thankful...

                            May your cup runneth over!

behind our barn

Oil painting by Marian of Miss Mustard Seed as part of the 

100 Meadows Project.  From right behind our barn.  💙

Benny & Joon

Baby goats have arrived at Meadowview Farm.  This is the first 

time these three month olds have been in a big grassy pasture.

They ran, jumped, hopped...and chased our big boy goats.  We 

are delighted to have them join our little farm family!

Celebrate...

Winter has arrived at my booth at the Hixton Schoolhouse Antique

Mall in Wisconsin.  I am enjoying a more subtle palette this year.

snuggle-icious

bits of Christmas...

quietly and in neat little batches, Christmas is beginning to arrive

in my booth & case at the Hixton Schoolhouse Antique Mall...

turkey in the straw

No sooner do the black cats & jack o' lanterns depart, then one 

hears, "gobble gobble" at Meadowview Farm!

Halloween magic...

I was recently with my sisters...part of our outing was at an antique mall.

We reminisced about the boxed costumes of our childhood, the ones with those

plastic masks held on by an elastic band.  We checked out the price on the 

plastic Halloween candy containers that decorated the picture window in

our Healy Lane home.  

I still decorate my home for Halloween...even though trick or treaters are

nonexistent in the country.  I still love the autumn orange and the pumpkin

faces.

And decorations from my childhood still make me smile...

Amish autumn

         Our Amish neighbors ready the corn for harvest. 

blackbirds

                    Blackbird singing in the dead of night

                    Take these broken wings and learn to fly

                    All your life

                    You were only waiting for the moment to arise

to happiness

I will never treat October as just any month.  This is the month when

Dave & I were married...and 4 years ago, it was the month of my final 

surgery in my breast cancer journey.  So, as October begins, I send out 

my reminder that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

And, early detection truly matters.

our bowl runneth over

We planted baby jacks this year.  Gourds self seeded from last year.

This is what I will lovingly call my "2 minute harvest"!  Too hot to 

hang out in the pumpkin patch...so a quick in & out!

there she is...

                         lovely Autumn 🍁🍂

ever grateful

Thank you for you patronage & support of my little antique booth & 

case at the Hixton Schoolhouse Antique Mall in Hixton, Wisconsin.

fall, lovely fall

Autumn arrived last night at my booth at the Hixton Schoolhouse 

Antique Mall.  The mix of orange, green, black with bits of red,

yellow & brown makes me swoon.

Added some farmhouse goodies, vintage cardboard farm animals,

a terrific Purina chick feeder and lots of tin.  There is even another 

single chicken nesting box...hard to find!  Also added some charming

canvas pouches, perfect for use or to fill with autumn foliage & hang up!

Ralphie

                           That's all...just Ralphie!

go big or go home

We have beat the annual rainfall record by 7 inches in Wisconsin.

And it shows!  Our Peegee Hydrangeas are flourishing!

                     Heaven for hundreds of bees!

    And our miniature pumpkins!  Will be a bounty...🎃

living in history

I sit in the quiet of this home, built brick by brick...square nail by square nail in 1857.  I feel this abundant awe living in the midst of history and recognizing those who stood here before me.  Knowing that Augusta became a town in 1857 and that the Civil War was yet to be when this house was built is humbling.  Thank you Joseph Strader for coming here from New York to build this "magnificent brick house" 160 years ago.

The following excerpts are from "The History of Augusta" written in 1874.

Buildings, fruit trees, fences, improvements and everything, denote order, industry, and economy. ... Joseph Strader with his magnificent brick house, Fletcher Dighton, S. E. Cooledge, I. G. Bills, William Arries, James Surgeon, Lindsey Wright, F. A. and S. H. Denison. Peter O’Blair, and scores more, all model men, now well-to-do, though they were all poor but a few years ago when they came to the valley. Nothing short of good markets, health, good habits and rich soil can produce such results in so short a time. This is a truthful picture of this beautiful valley, and it is by such men that we are surrounded, as neighbors and friends; intelligence and true friendship are embodied in such a class of men.

Up to 1861, the local advantages were about all our citizens took any special interest in. but when the news came that Sumpter [Fort Sumter in the American Civil War] had been fired upon, the people of this valley, in common with those of the surrounding country, felt the insult as though it had been specially aimed at them and from the first three months until the final surrender the valley had its full show of representatives in the deadly strife [of the American Civil War]. During all those years of weeping and mourning, we had in the Union army a large list of our best citizens, many of who never returned to their families and friends. Some of them do not even share the honor of our decoration day, but are buried in the shade of the Rocky Mountains or in the sunny south, where their dearest friends may never find their graves. 

May their memories be for a blessing.  Happy Birthday Meadowview Farm! May you always be a home to compassion, hard work and the democratic spirit.

home, finally

Barn cats are necessary on a farm...and over the years, many have called Meadowview Farm home. Every now & again, an extra cat arrives at our farm, as was the case with Patches. An older boy, he would watch from the edge of the field when I called in the kittens at day's end. Slowly he followed the call. Slowly he let me pet him. Slowly this farm became his too. I am glad that he has a home, one he now protects with ferocity. He has taught me that you are never too old to find where you were meant to be. 

barn painting

Our 100+ year old barn has been getting a new coat of paint this 

summer.  As much as we love weathered wood, painting is part of 

barn preservation.

It was a bit tricky getting to the peak.  An extension rod that 

extends three times was the ticket.  

My husband, Dave, has been the master painter!  This is rough 

work for shoulders...but Dave has been stoic.  He loves this barn!

even in Seattle

Found this urban garden complete with farm statuary on my recent

trip to Washington...right at the famous Pike Place Market!  Love these

secret places once you get a bit behind the main attraction.

take the long way home

           Traveling home from my office clears my head...

with liberty & justice for all

happy summer

right across the road

           I needn't go far to find my color palette....

                                       There it is.

           Literally right across the road from our farm...

cute is cute is cute...

Shhh...

There is this secret, back behind the barn...
                                                                  acres of wonder.

my home, my heart

Dave has been in Seattle this past week with our Ian.  We both agree, 

Seattle fits Ian well.  This was my gift to Dave as he celebrates a 

milestone birthday.  They are both 1800 miles away as I type.  My heart 

resides in Mill Creek, WA...indeed.

In the midst of this week, a Maywood kindergarten friend asked where

we should go next year to celebrate our milestone birthdays that are a 

week apart.  I laughed a "seriously?"  She responded, "Hawaii, Europe?...

the flight is on me".  With her husband employed at a major airline, she is

indeed serious.  

Yesterday I traveled 270 miles round trip to a flea market in MN...I was delighted 

to go, and thankful to be home.  I actually relished the 2 hours on our riding

mower as much as the 2 hours traveling to Minnesota.

What I know is that I am a home body...and feel most content here.  I enjoy day trips,

but want to be home, in my own surrounds, at day's end.  Ian is pushing my 

boundaries, as home is now expanding to include a mountain community on the west coast.

My first answer to my friend was to travel to Norway or Sweden (and of course I would 

cover my flight)...but secretly, my heart says home.  I would need to pack my ruby

slippers.