Christmas Traditions

I just couldn't end the year without posting about our Christmas traditions here on the homestead! Ever since we moved out here, each Christmas we choose a tree from the woods to cut down and bring inside. They are never full, gorgeous trees, but there is something charming about the skinny, non-traditional trees that I love.

We took Duchess with us this year to search for a tree and I think she may have enjoyed the hike just as much as us.

We found a cedar deep in the woods that we decided on, and David went to work on cutting it down and dragging back to the house.

We had to do quite a bit of trimming to the tree, but finally managed to get it just right. I'm really into the simple, natural look for Christmas decorating, so I added some white lights and called it a day. I love to pull out my vintage enamelware this time of year, and found that leftover cedar clippings and half-melted candles made a pretty display for the trunk/coffee table. I'm still adding some festive touches around the house as I get sudden bursts of inspiration!

Another fun tradition is sending out Christmas cards with photos I've taken from around the homestead.  This year, I was looking through some photos and when I happened upon a snowy photo of Duchess from last winter, I knew it was the one.

Thankfully we haven't had snow like that this year (yet!), but we'll see how the next few months go.

On a non-related note, I just wanted to say thank you if you are reading this! I know I haven't posted in a long time, so if you are still following me that's awesome :) After starting a new job this spring, I just got engulfed in my new responsibilities and trying to learn everything about my new career path as I could. I'm feeling more comfortable now and have more of a schedule figured out with balancing work and homestead demands, and have found that I really do miss the blogging part of my life. I haven't had a creative outlet in a while and haven't taken many photos at all, and that makes me quite sad to be honest. Taking photos and blogging was such a big part of my life for a couple years (as you can see if you read back through the archives) and it feels so odd that I just basically stopped cold turkey. All of that to say that I am going to try to update the blog on a more regular basis (although not as often as before) and take more photos. And of course I miss the community that I had here as well, because that is what made blogging so rich for me. So I hope you're still out there, and I wish you the happiest of holidays!

~Tammy

Our 2013 Christmas Card

I really lucked out several months ago when my mother in law forwarded me an email with an incredible deal on Christmas photo cards. I was able to create my card quickly and easily online, but the best part was the price - it was just over $3 for 20 photo cards and envelopes with free shipping! It was awesome to mark one thing off my Christmas to do list so early, and at such a low price.

For the front of the card, I used a favorite photo taken last year during a snowstorm (it's also the new blog header photo). The back of the card was left blank for writing a personal message to the recipient.

Prints of this photo are for sale in my Etsy shop as well.

Use the code "BLOG5" to get $5 off any order over $25!

I was very pleased with how the cards turned out and can't wait to get them all mailed off. Do you create personalized Christmas cards each year?

~Tammy

PS - Here's our 2012 Christmas card.

PPS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and Sue today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie.

First Snow Of The Season

So last Friday we got a bit of snow...

It was quite a bit for us! We first got a solid layer of ice on Thursday afternoon, then about 6" of snow on top of that. We were prepared in case we lost power, but thankfully we kept our power all weekend long. Normally the ice is what gets us when the limbs get really heavy and fall off onto the power lines, but we didn't get enough ice to weigh down the branches.

The chickens refused to leave their coop on Friday and were pretty grumpy being stuck inside.

"You expect me to come out there?!"

Even some of the guineas hung out in the coop all day long. Finally on Saturday, a few of the chickens ventured out once I made a path for them and threw out some scratch. A few more braved the snow yesterday, and today it seems like everyone is used to the snow and decided to leave the coop to stretch their legs a bit.

Duchess is in her element when it snows, and she had so much fun running around in all the fluffy snow. And apparently eating it as well.

I was worried about Emma kitty, so I brought her inside into the guest room for a few days. But she seemed like she really wanted to get back outside, so yesterday I took her back out. At first she didn't like the snow on her paws, but before I knew it she was running around in the snow having a blast. I've been keeping an eye on her, but she is doing great outside and seems content to be back where she is happiest.

Did you get any snow over the weekend?

~Tammy

PS - Today Sue is posting her recipe in our Christmas Cookie Tag series. Head on over here to see what she is sharing with us!

Shared with Saturday's Critters, Maple Hill Hop  

Yellow Leaves

On my walk with the roosters last week, I observed all the leaves changing color. We have so many trees out here, but it seems like the majority of them turn yellow in the fall. There is some brilliant red here and there, but what stands out the most to me is the bright golden color so prevalent in the woods.

I just love how the yellow pops behind the red rooster coop and think the colors look so beautiful together (Duchess likes to sneak into the little run when she sees me).

The color reached its peak out here about a week ago, then we had a storm that blew a bunch of the leaves off the trees so we didn't get to enjoy the color for too long. But I'm always grateful for the moments of beauty that I am able to witness in the woods. I just love seeing the transformation each year and know I will never tire of it!

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Clearing The Camera: Early Fall Edition

It's looking more and more like fall around here! I find myself constantly reaching for my camera, so I thought I'd share a few of my current shots. (PS - click here if you'd like to see more photo posts.)

Newly fallen leaves create a vivid blanket of color on the ground.

Early morning dew hangs like pearls on the strands of a spider web.

Emma kitty's eyes pop against the still green grass.

A slowly ripening pumpkin looks beautiful with the fallen leaves.

What signs of fall are you seeing out your back door?

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse 

PS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and and our new blogger, Sue, today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie.

Clearing The Camera

Here are some recent photos I've taken that I wanted to share. Go here if you'd like to see more photo posts.

Our marigolds have done so well this year! We're saving the flowers after deadheading so we can plant the seeds in our garden next year.

On Saturday I took my grandma to a local parade to see David's marching band. It was so cute to see her enjoying herself so much, waving at all the floats and clapping along to the music. She forgot her sunglasses, so I let her borrow some of mine. She thought she looked silly but I think she looked adorable.

90 years young!

I posted this photo on the blog's Facebook page over the weekend with the title "The Homesteader's Entourage." It was one of our most popular photos ever posted. If you aren't following along yet on Facebook, click here to like our page!

I've really been enjoying my play time in the woods lately. It brings out the kid in me!

We've been harvesting and using so much butternut squash lately (go here for a good soup recipe). I love the vivid orange color that greets me when I slice the squash in half.

Sylvester photobomb level: expert.

Our sweet little Emma kitty is getting fixed tomorrow morning. It makes me so sad when I have to drop off animals for surgery, but of course I know it's for the best. She has to stay overnight, so I'll be counting the minutes until I can pick her up on Wednesday evening.

Hope you've enjoyed a slice of our homestead.

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse 

Celebrating Fall

It seems like everyone is celebrating fall earlier and earlier each year, but I just have to wait until the official start to begin my celebrations. I don't know why, because fall is my absolute favorite season, but I feel like I need to wait until summer is officially over before indulging in everything pumpkin. Since Sunday was the first day of fall, I decided to get it started off right and embrace everything the season has to offer.

I harvested some more pumpkins on Sunday, so now our front porch is looking like a respectable pumpkin patch! Sylvester decided to make an appearance in the photo as well :)

The weather was incredibly nice over the weekend, so I spent time outside with the boys while they free ranged amongst some newly fallen leaves.

We've been harvesting lots of butternut squash lately (head's up - great recipe to come on Wednesday) and the squash looks so festive displayed in an old wooden soda crate.

I haven't posted a photo of Duchie here in a while, so thought I'd show you how she's gearing up for fall. Since her big summer shave, her coat has been growing back in thick to prepare for the colder weather. (She was tired of my snapping photos by this point!)

I caught a shot of the guineas doing some morning preening. The one on the far right had just been screaming up a storm and it was a chilly morning, so you can see a little wispy cloud of her breath.

Some of the leaves are beginning to change color already, and there are feathers scattered everywhere on the ground from molting chickens and guineas. I love seeing the bright pops of color here and there.

How did you usher in the first day of fall?

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse 

Happy Trails

Last summer we got our property logged, so the woods are a big mess right now. Before the logging, we made several different trails through our 20 acres of woods and loved to take walks together each evening. Logging ruined our trails, and we were pretty depressed about that and avoided the woods altogether for a while. It was just too painful to see our property in shambles. But recently we decided to begin work on constructing new trails, and I'm happy to say that we just finished up one trail!

I say we loosely, because David did all the work, I was just along for moral support. Last night he was with his band at their first parade of the season (they won 1st place, woohoo!) so he didn't make it home until after dark. I decided to walk the trail after dinner to unwind and get a little exercise. Since David wasn't home to walk it with me, my faithful companion Sylvester joined in for the hike.

I decided to take my time during this walk and focus on my surroundings. I noticed a few things I hadn't seen before. Funny how that happens, when we take the time to slow down and be present in the moment.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to slow down and just live in the moment?

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and Amber today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie.

Year In Review

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of this little blog of ours (you can see our very first ever post here), so as we did last year this time, we thought it would be fun to look back on the past year and see what all we've accomplished. Sometimes it seems like we aren't moving fast enough toward our goals, but seeing a list of all we've achieved in the last year is very encouraging and keeps us excited to continue our journey to self-sufficiency. Here's what we've been up to this past year.

1) Expanded our flock of guineas when one of our hens went broody and hatched out her own keets.

2) Got our first big snow since moving to the country and learned about being prepared for winter storms.

3) Tried our hand at making maple syrup (part 1 and part 2) from our own maple trees.

4) Contributed to our first e-book, Farm to Table through the Year.

5) Developed an easy (and beautiful!) method for drying herbs from our garden.

6) Delved into the world of beekeeping when we brought home our first nuc colony.

7) Added to our flock with five new pullets.

8) Witnessed the magic firsthand of letting a broody hen hatch out her own chicks.

9) Rescued two tiny kittens (Gizmo and Emma) who just appeared in our chicken coop one day.

10) Successfully transplanted fig trees from my grandma's garden and harvested our first figs.

11) Had great luck with planting cucumbers for the first time.

12) Opened an Etsy shop to sell prints of photos taken on our homestead.

13) Grew sunflowers for the first time.

14) Built our own reclaimed wood farmhouse table.

15) Tried a new heirloom variety of tomatoes with great success.

We're really proud of all we've learned this past year and can't wait to see where the next year takes us. We hope you'll continue to follow along in our journey!

~Tammy and David

Clearing The Camera

Here are some recent photos I've taken that I wanted to share. Go here if you'd like to see more photo posts.

Some of the gorgeous lettuce we've been harvesting lately.

Water droplets on our Lily of the Valley.

Fern transplanted from my grandma's garden.

The first strawberry we harvested this season. It was really delicious!

A beautiful Asiatic Lily just opened up.

Sunlight streaming through the trees during an evening walk.

Super tiny, fuzzy headed baby bird just hatched in a nest by our garage.

Hope you've enjoyed a slice of our homestead.

~Tammy

Shared with Rurality Blog Hop 

How We Homestead: Our Future Goals

It's hard to believe, but this is the final installment in our five-week series called How We Homestead. I have really enjoyed writing each post for this series and I hope you have enjoyed reading! For the final installment, I'd like to talk about our future plans and goals we have for the homestead. Looking back on the past two years, I've realized that we have accomplished a lot so far, but of course we still have more we'd like to achieve. Here is our vision for the future.

Animals
I am a huge animal lover, and that was a big part of our reason for moving out to the country. I didn't want to be restricted by city ordinances on the types of livestock I could keep, and I also wanted plenty of room for my animals to roam and enjoy their lives. I told David a while back that one of my goals was to have some of each type of fowl, and so far we only have chickens and guineas, so we have a ways to go! Our next addition will be ducks to help with garden pests, and we are hoping to add them next year.

A little further out into the future, we want to get some sheep or goats. To me, there are few things cuter than a tiny goat kid jumping and bouncing around, so I really want to experience that firsthand. And of course it would be wonderful to have goat milk to make my own goat cheese. Yum!

Just visiting with this sweetie, but hopefully I can have one of my own in the future!

Garden
We have adopted a "learn as we go" mentality with gardening, and we still have so much to learn! Each year we are discovering more about our land and soil to help us maximize the efficiency and productivity of our garden. We recently expanded the garden and added lots of raised beds, and we are still working on enclosing the entire area to keep thieves from our harvest.

Gathering fresh lettuce for a salad.

In the future, I hope to keep adding new veggies to our garden each year and grow as much as I can from seed. One of our big long-term goals is to grow enough food each summer to last us year round. I think we are quite a few years out from realizing that goal, but we are working towards it. I need to learn more about food preservation as well so that we can safely store food to get us through the winter months.

House
We love houses with lots of charm (like our first home, a 1914 bungalow in the city) but our current house is really lacking. It is a newer house which is wonderful, but there isn't much in the way of the architectural detail or character we typically go for. We have been saving up our money for a while now, and today just purchased new flooring to go down in our living room and kitchen area (currently there is a commercial style carpet and linoleum). In July, David's mom and stepdad are coming to help us install the floor so we are very excited for that! We want to build bookshelves and make a new mantle for the electric fireplace as well to give the living room some more interest and charm.

A few more years down the road after we have saved up enough money, we'd like to change the outside of the house a bit. On the bottom part, we want to add a natural stone facade to make it look a little more cozy and woodsy. The previous owner was a big John Deere fan, so everything is green! It does fit in well with the landscape of the property, but we prefer brown tones, so we may also look into painting the roof to fit in with the stone on the bottom of the house.

Land
The thing we wish for the most on our property is to have a pond dug behind the house. So far, we've had local conservation agents come out to map and flag the best location for a pond and got several quotes for the work ($18,000 - yikes!). Since it is so pricey, we are looking at other options and trying to figure out how to best make this become a reality.

Back here is where the pond will go (looking out from our back porch).

We had the property logged last summer and it is still a mess (the photo above is pre-logging). Shortly after we moved out here, David made several trails in the woods and we really enjoyed walking on them with Duchess whenever we could. Logging destroyed our trails, so over the next several years we hope to clean some of it up and make some new trails. Right now it seems daunting to tackle a 20 acre pile of sticks and downed trees, but somehow we will make it work!

Of course all of these goals require money, so we would like to be able to do something from the homestead to earn some extra income. Not sure what that will be just yet, but we are always thinking and open to new ideas. In our ultimate dream, we would both be working on the homestead each day and making a living somehow off our land. For now we still have our day jobs, but we are always dreaming for the future.

Four other awesome bloggers are participating in this series as well, so don't forget to check out their posts to read more about where they are in their homesteading journey. You can find them here -

Staci at Life At Cobble Hill Farm
Meg at Little Homestead
Daisy at Maple Hill 101
Amber at Making A Home

Thanks so much for reading and please do let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'd love to hear from you!

~Tammy

A Faithful Companion

One of my favorite things that came out of our move to the country was crossing paths with Sylvester. He started coming around pretty soon after we moved to the house but he was so very shy. I thought he looked hungry so I tried feeding him, but he ran away as soon as I got close. Eventually I was able to coax him onto the back porch for some food, and he hasn't left since.

Up until just a couple months ago, we thought he was the neighbor's cat. She told us they had a black and white cat so we just figured he was coming to our place for a visit and a second helping of dinner. But we recently learned that their cat is a female, and Sylvester is definitely a boy. I was secretly thrilled to discover that he is all mine!

Sylvester always follows me everywhere I go. He waits for me in the mornings to go down to the chicken coop (and he has to get in cuddles with Duchess - he loves her so much!) and follows me back up to the house when the morning chores are done. In the evening he hangs out with us while we work in the garden and he helps Duchess protect the chickens when they are out free ranging.

But one of my favorite things about Sylvester is our walks in the woods. Last night after the rain ended I was itching to get down to the creek and splash around in the water. He followed me all the way and waited patiently beside the creek until I was ready to move on.

During our expeditions through the woods, he prefers to walk behind me. I just love looking back and seeing him following close behind.

He really is such a great companion with a laid back, cool attitude. Occasionally he does like to make his presence known and can meow louder than any cat I've ever met! Of course when I hear his cries I come running. I guess I am a faithful companion to him as well.

Do you have any faithful animal companions?

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse