Vintage Home and Farm

When we first toured our property before we bought it, we came across these hooks in the ground near the back door of the house.    Upon seeing those, my first thought was that perhaps one day long ago people used to hitch their horses up close to the house so as to go inside for a spell.  But I quickly learned that those unusual-looking hooks in concrete blocks by the back door weren't used for hitching horses. Nope, that there is the septic tank.  The hardware is used for lifting the concrete lids up so that you can pump out the sludge inside.   Yesterday, we had the unfortunate experience of getting up close and personal with the septic tank.  While there are three lids, I learned that there are actually two tanks. One tank has two lids and the other has one bigger lid.  The whole area was completely covered by moss until yesterday.  The area closest to the house had mud on top, at least for a while I thought that was mud. It wasn't. I lea...

Winter is traditionally a time when gardeners begin perusing seed catalogs, dreaming about and planning for next year's garden. Most seed companies will mail their catalogs to you for free and signing up to receive them is easy enough from their web sites.  Have you ordered your seed catalogs for 2021? Our family prefers to use seeds that are heirloom, organic or non-GMO, as these present fewer potential health and environmental risks. As I've been learning more about seeds, I've realized that most of the larger heirloom seed companies actually serve as cooperatives or networks involving family farms from many regions that grow and save seeds for them.  Some of our favorite seed companies include: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds ( rareseeds.com ) Seed Savers Exchange ( seedsavers.org ) West Coast Seeds ( westcoastseeds.com ) Deep Harvest Farm ( deepharvestfarm.com )  MIgardener ( migardener.com ) Annie's Heirloom Seeds ( anniesheirloomseeds.com ) Maine Potato Lady ( mainepot...

 The Winter Solstice arrived yesterday and it was also our first snow of this season!  We were a bit surprised because the snow wasn't anticipated very far in advance. Local forecasters had only been predicting a few days of heavy rain. There is something magical about a first snow.  Like two little kids, my daughter and I are drawn outside to explore, enjoying the way the snow covers everything in pristine white. Here is a short video of the snow falling: About an inch total accumulated by the end of the evening. We didn't spend very long outside due to the cold. It was a heavy, wet, slushy kind of snow.  The kind of snow that quickly chills you to the bone.  We only went outside a couple times, mostly to take care of the chickens and ducks. Hope you all are keeping warm! 

Patch the Donkey There was finally a break in the rain today and so we headed outside to visit with the farm animals. As we entered the community barn, we noticed how festive it looks with red ribbons hanging along each stall. Our neighbors have been busy decorating. Each of the animals in the barn has a Christmas stocking as well.  Mocha the Horse Mocha is always eager for attention. She's a rambunctious horse and so we handle her with care. Before long, we were also greeted by Barney the Barn Cat, who hopped down from a bale of hay to come over and greet us. Loud meowing and purring are hard to ignore and so Barney was thoroughly petted before we headed back outside. Barney the Barn Cat We walked out to the end of the field to take in the shiny foil decorations hanging on the fence posts all along the horse field.  The decorations are a tradition for our neighborhood.  Before we left the barn, we were fortunate that Andrea stopped by to get Reggie dressed up for his hol...

This project was fairly simple and the stools with their new padded seat covers looked so nice that I thought I'd share a few photos.  Recently, we picked up a couple of old bar stools for dirt cheap at an online auction, for using in our kitchen. After cleaning up the stools, we decided to staple padded covers onto the seats.  I purchased the canvas fabric, called Watercolor Houses , from Jo-Ann Fabric.  My sister has added padded seat covers to chairs a number of times over the years and I've always thought they looked so nice (she has an amazing eye for color and design!). With her creative ideas to inspire me, I decided to give it a try.   For about $16 at Jo-Ann, I purchased two green foam seat covers.  I already had some white felt for laying between the foam and the fabric. (The white felt isn't really necessary; I just decided to use it to give the fabric a smoother look, since I already had it in my fabric drawer.) The only tools that were nee...