Out on a walk with these cats...

is a great place to be!

 

As one of the mommas with a baby, I don't often get to sneak away with the big kids.

 

Lil' Ruthie and Q man were taking a nice long nap one beautiful afternoon at Four Sisters Farm.

 

I offered to take the four big fellas on a little walk. 

 

I needed the exercise and they needed the activity.

 

They each grabbed their buddy and away we went.

 

 

At one point, they huddled up and created some kind of plan. 

I was not privy to the plan but I did document the meeting.

 

Of course, no walk at Four Sisters Farm is complete without a stop at Grandkids' hill.  They climbed to the top and gave me their best "tough guy" look.

 

I was glad I had my camera handy for this walk. 

These are the kind of moments I want to remember forever.

Snow Day at Four Sisters Farm

Boys + Mud = Good Fun

Summer Days at the Farm

Pop and Grammy have a hammock these days. 

Pretty fancy!

The kiddos love it. 

They take it as a personal challenge to get themselves into it and then to stay there. 

I was impressed to find four of them on there together. 

The silly babies were busy playing in the back of Pop's truck. 

I love their facial expressions in this pic. 

They are so funny!

My Fellas

A Time to Plant - Sod, Etc.

Things never stand still. We are on the roller coaster ride we call life now and will be until we go to be with God. We are constantly in a cycle that is aptly described in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Right now, it is a time to plant! Things are turning green at Four Sisters Farm! Some of it naturally, and some of it by owner design. Some good, some bad. We have grass growing (good), weeds everywhere (bad), radishes peeking up from their row in the garden (good), and did I say weeds everywhere? Yeah – you get the picture. If there were such a thing as a “weed farm” we’d be a top producer! There are the spring bulb flowers popping up…some in strange places like around the perimeter of the well house and around the hedge apple tree nearby. Then there are the flowers and the yucca plant that apparently will grow even in crushed rock…where I don’t want anything but grass. We took matters into our own hands with our back and side yards this year. The farm hands came to help out and we laid down sod…ah…instant yard, instant gratification. Good stuff. Of course, there was all the prep work – like tilling the ground, rock removal, raking and more raking, etc. Pop and EJ even had to dig up a drainage system designed to handle rain water from the guttering that only served to wash out a portion of the back yard…now that is fixed too. I’m SO grateful that Pop knows how to do these things and that they need to be done. I’ve lived much of my life in a glorious and safe “bubble” of not knowing these things (much to Pop’s dismay).





We will enjoy the yard and the garden produce and revel in the way the Master Gardner (God) makes things grow. I will never get too old to marvel at the way God designed the reproduction of plants…real food from little bitty seeds…Good stuff.

dynamic duo

Sod is on it's way to Four Sisters Farm.  Pop and Grammy have been prepping for the big day.

One of the tasks was to remove rocks from the dirt where the sod would be laid.

Enter the dynamic duo of Grammy and Wubba.

First Wubba digs up some dirt

Next he dumps it on the rake

Then Grammy dumps it in the colander

Then they "shake it don't break it baby"

Now it is time to carry it to the wheel barrow

and dump it right in

Look at all those rocks!

Grammy and Wubba are a fantastic team!

A tale of bravery and lots of dirty, wet laundry

Once upon a time there was a pitiful looking garage roof. 

It had rotting wood and tar covered shingles.  It was a sad sight to behold.

One day (which turned into a weekend) a team of brave heroes came to the rescue!  Pop lead the charge with Doc, EJ, PhoJo and Romeo (The four sisters' men if you are new here). 

DW even got in on a little roofing action.  This team was strong and determined. 

They worked many hours in dangerous conditions. 

They laughed in the face of the wind and rain that tried to back them down.

When the last shingle was nailed to the roof they raised their nail guns and cried out...VICTORY!!!

Ride 'em cowboys (and cowgirls)

Meet the newest additions to Four Sisters Farm. 

These buckin' broncos are in for years of

big grins and belly laughs.

The Farm Life

The farmers who harvest our hay came out today. You should have seen the look on the boys' faces when they asked if the boys wanted a ride. Both Bubba and Wubba got to ride along with Daddy. What an amazing day!

EJ and I worked in the garden while the cowboys kept busy swimming in their little pool.

EJ thinned the carrots and did all kinds of weeding and mulching.

We decided to harvest some new potatoes. It's kind of like opening a present when you dig up the plant and find all those little beauties. We still have a TON of potatoes left to harvest.

A Bit of Flower Gardening

So we tore out all the elm trees that were about 2-4' tall, in this bed. It had not been maintained for 5+ years. There were probably 100+ trees in this bed. So we tore it out and then tilled it all up. Then Farm Chick took a box of wildflower seeds meant to be spread over 750 square feet and put it all here in about a 150-250 square foot area. So we'll have LOTS of flowers! Ok Farm Chick says that I have to take part in the blame of putting the seeds in there also...ok so I got carried away.

Puppy Love is Expensive

Here is my terrible tale...I was backing out of the garage (very slowly!) when I apparently ran into Daisy. She howled and pulled up her back right paw. Upon a trip to the veterinarian we learned that Daisy's femur was broken. Bad.

Tomorrow Daisy will be having surgery to the tune of $800+.

I would just like to say that my love and respect for EJ has grown greatly through this experience. First of all, he never made me feel bad (I did that myself) and he was the one to take her to the vet. I couldn't show my face in there.

Also, he never made me decide if we should put her down in lieu of paying a ridiculous amount of money for dog surgery. I was trying to put on a brave face but my heartache was just below the surface. EJ called and explained the procedure and recovery time. I immediately started bawling and said, "thanks for not putting my doggy down!"

Apparently, I'm not cut out for this country girl, old yeller stuff. I am tender hearted and I really love that dog. Here's hoping she lives a long life at Four Sisters Farm!

My Heart Goes Pitter Pat...

Aunt Rock Star came out to the farm for a photo shoot with all the kiddos. She has gorgeous photos of each of them...do a post, Rock Star! :)

Anyway, I got this shot while 4 of the cousins were walking thru the field. Aren't they precious! I put memories like this deep in my heart because I know that these boys will grow up so fast. I highly doubt they will allow us the dress them in overalls when they are teenagers! Hee Hee.

Wicked Cool Wood Chairs & Table

Aren't these neat-o? Pop had the idea to use the trees that were cut down to make this lovely set.

Free Bird

We were hoping to let the chickens free range but we were unsure of how that would work. They already have their coop and yard to play in but we wanted them to get out and eat more grass, bugs, etc. Give them a little room to roam. However, we were concerned about these guys. We certainly did not want a farm tragedy.
Huckleberry, a face only a mother could love!

We were also worried about all the cats. As you can see Ranger has been dreaming about getting his paws on the girls for a while now.
One afternoon while EJ was outside and could keep a close eye on everyone he let the chickens out. They LOVE the freedom and the other animals seem to leave them alone. Check them out...

Look, Coal has a new BFF
Trigger has an identity crisis
and this chicken just had a heart attack!

Farm life. It's growing on all of us.