Catching up…

I took the girls over this morning to meet Mr. Chrome.  I’m not sure that they understand how exciting this is but I have a feeling they’ll figure it out.  I hope they figure it out.  They actually haven’t been ‘figuring it out’ on their own so I’m hoping that having them near this Big Boy will encourage them.

I left them there.  It makes me sad to have them gone.  You would think that I would enjoy the freedom of not having to milk every twelve hours but I’m not enjoying it at all.

I will, however, look forward to little ones in the spring and lots more fresh milk.

This would be a great place to mention that I love my car!  It’s the perfect car for me.

Last month I attempted to bring Chrome’s scent home on a rag.   It’s a great trick to use when the girls don’t have a buck around but it wasn’t as effective as I had hoped.

Mr. Chrome

I didn’t mean to take a blogging break over the past week and a half {or so}.

I’ve been busy getting ready for winter, submitting info for a magazine article, working towards a new website, making charms…and then there was Thanksgiving.

I picked out a somewhat nice RED for the barn.  I would have preferred a real [brighter] red but I’ve seen enough pink barns that I feared choosing the wrong kind of red would give me a pink barn.  That simply did not appeal to me.  I played it safe and it’s a nice red!

I’m so thankful for some of my favorite guys who have helped me get my goats inside for the winter…my brother put in many Saturdays and built the main structure, my dad helped with a variety of things and Mr. T has put in countless hours.  thanks guys

The snow was falling hard as we were moving them into their new home.

Milking inside that night, where it was dry and much warmer,  was so wonderful.  It has felt very luxurious {if that’s possible} after milking outside for several months.

We’ll probably have to wait until spring to get it all finished {and cute!}.

I wish this was still the scene out of my living room windows.  We lost all of our snow last week.   so sad    Now I have to start wishing again until it comes back!

There is still a give-a-way going on.  Click HERE and leave a comment with that post for a free custom charm!

Celebrating Autumn

Living in the country has so many benefits…for me!  I realize that I am so, very different from most people but I feel like it allows me to do so many of the things that I’ve wanted to do for years…

…like taking time to celebrate Autumn with family.

We did just that on Saturday.  There were 15 of us and we pressed 36 gallons of cider, the kids carved pumkins and played in the leaves and we ate wonderful food.

I’m hoping that we have just had our 1st Annual ~ Bowe Family Celebration of Autumn!

   Now that we have had our practice run {which was a fairly spontaneous happening} we’ll need to invite the rest of the family and really get it on!

My brother slipped away before, after and a little during to get the trusses up on the little barn!

country fresh…

a favorite charm…’country fresh’

I’m excited to pick apples tomorrow and make cider with the family. 

Is it possible that this might be the beginning of a family tradition?…hoping so!

…what to do with salvage?

Do you love to take something and find a creative, fun, never-thought-of-before use for it?

I recently entered a ‘sale’ {in my neck of the woods} with a group of like-minded gals/friends who came out from the Spokane area to shop for great finds.  At one point I came upon two of my favorite junking life-friends, Celeste & Holly…they were standing there staring an item down with deep intent in their eyes. 

The definition of that look?: we making something out of nothing…right here and now.

I just wanted to climb into their little heads.  I could vision an idea for that piece of junk, but what was their vision?  Certainly it was completely different than my own.

A couple of weeks ago I had a great fire going outside.  When I burn, I BURN…I start looking for anything and everything that can just….be GONE! 

I had two old chairs that really needed to be GONE!  Honestly, I probably could have put them in my booth at Farm Chicks and had somebody PAY me to take them off of my hands but I could see no vision for them….until I turned them over and saw the fun coils that filled the underside of them.  My first little coils.  You see them at all the sales but now I had my own.  {silly me}  I enlisted my Mr’s help {who couldn’t see my vision AT ALL…but willingly helped} and we cut all of those little coils out of the bottoms of those chairs before they hit the burn pile.

Yesterday I finally brought one inside.  If I have something sitting around that seems to have no use I can begin to envision many creative uses for it just by having it around.

It took just minutes to slip one of my green, jar flower vases {still sitting on the table from the weekend’s art retreat} into one of the coils…perfect fit!  Since my eye likes things in 3’s, I went back out and got 3 coils that were still tied together….voila!

Another one of my… sweet pleasures = simple joys! 

{and it was free….I know my Mr. can catch that vision…btw, he think this post should be titled, “Spring Flowers”…he’s such a clever one}

We have had our share of hard freezes so the blooms are looking quite sad but yesterday I was able to pick a lovely bouquet of parsley and included blooms of sage and oregano….beautiful and fragrant and untouched by the frost!

Oh, for the love of Autumn…

I seems that with everybody I talk to I say, “Isn’t this the most beautiful fall?” 

Since I don’t remember saying it here, I’ve just got to also share with you that I am in love with Autumn this year.  ♥

It seems that so many of life’s sweet pleasures come in the form of simple joys!

Take notice of those simply joys in your life…and then smile!

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

– Albert Camus

building a barn….{love}

I have wanted  my own barn nearly my whole life.

When I was young I loved playing in barns. 

I loved the loft. 

I loved the hay. 

I loved jumping from the loft into the hay.

But, I decided a long time ago that I would probably never have my own barn.

Then we got these funny little goats. 

Goats need a barn.

Since {at this point} we don’t plan to ever have more that two milk goats, we don’t ‘need’ a large barn so we are in the process of building a very small barn for our two goats and their spring kids.

The concrete truck just pulled away and I can’t wait to get it done.

We’re all pretty please with ourselves!

As the seasons change….

This has been my trusty Market Shopper.  It’s accompanied me to our local farmer’s market and a variety of other happenings lately.

I think that this Friday will be the last Market of the season.

I generally have mixed emotions as each season comes to an end.  I know for some it seems like summer ended a while back but I’ve still been hanging on to remnants of it.  We did have a pretty good freeze this week {30°} so that helps me to make the official transition to fall…which makes me long for a hard, cold, snowy winter!

My own garden/orchard is winding down too but I still have [some] apples and pears and lots of potatoes, carrots, tomatoes and [hopefully] some tomatillos [just waiting for them to do their thing…I’ve been told that you know they’re ready when they drop off the vine…if they don’t freeze first].

I really love pear.

I don’t find it as versatile for my family as apple but I still love it.

It’s a beautiful fruit!

I made this Pear Custard Pie this week.  Oh, so Yummy!…and it just got better on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th day!  Next time I would make it a day ahead.

The goats and chickens are benefiting from the garden clean-up!

Boho~style – crown making and picnicking…

I’ve been ‘talking up’ the Royal Lady Workshop and Summer Picnic with excitement and expectation for a while now.

And, taking into consideration that I will always be biased, I will say that it exceeded those expectations.

It was a beautiful day that involved amazing ladies, delectable food and glittery sensations.

With the use of that word ‘sensations‘ I’ll also say that it was a day that touched each of our senses in a fun and somewhat unexpected way.

There is always a lot of planning and preparation involved but something that is a favorite element is that the over-all outcome seems to exceed the ideas that are floating around in my head.

I had amazing {marvelous, wonderful and impressive} help.

Amber and Trisha showed up a day ahead of time to help ‘get things done‘…and get it all done, we did!

My daughter, Lauren and daughter-in-law, Jackie were here for some added help and moral support as well.

Heather prepared and served the food from her summer-fresh menu…it was splendid and grand!  Yum!

The crown-making workshop was another hi-light of the day.

The creativity that each lady displays makes me smile.  I often have gals who come even though they don’t really get that crafty bug that so many of us have and I enjoy watching as they create something so fun and even enjoy the process.

The remaining pictures were all taken by Trisha Love.  I love each one that she has taken.  She adds a beautiful touch to everything she does.

The next opportunity for a fantastic get-away, crafty-retreat-in-the-country is October 20-22.

Chewelah Farmer’s Market

In our little town of Chewelah, Washington :population~ 2,309: {can I hear a unified, HeeHaw-worthy “Yee Ha”?} we have a nice little Farmer’s Market every Friday afternoon.  It is located in the beautiful setting of our city park.

There is a great variety to be found.  For lunch we ate some freshly made Piroshky-type goodies. 

The live entertainment was a perfect addition to the quaint setting.

I purchased a grocery bag full of these garlic scapes for a $1.  This was another 1st-time experience for me.  I cooked up some for dinner and I loved them!

Here is little Noah {grand guy #1} at his first Farmer’s Market.  He actually slept through the event but I wanted to get a picture of him in his cute little hat.  When his mama pulled his head slightly back, this is the face we got.  

We were able to get in on another ‘sweet treat’ on the way home.  My nieces decided that, with their grandma’s help, they wanted to sell cinnamon rolls in front of their house.

so they did…YUM!

I think my favorite thing about a Farmer’s Market is soaking in the environment and talking to people.  I love to hear their passion about their home-grown harvest, their artisan breads,  their fresh, local honey, etc…  They {generally} love to share their stories and their knowledge. 

It’s heart-warming, fun and worthwhile!

It also makes me think, “What could I contribute to a Farmer’s Market???”

Serendipity…

ser·en·dip·i·ty noun \ˌser-ən-ˈdi-pə-tē\

: the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not looked for

Six mornings out of the week I meet up with a friend and together we walk 4 miles.

Living in the country offers so much beauty and on these walks we are able to drink deeply that beauty that surrounds us…daily…year ’round. We’ve seen moose and elk and each day we see deer and scenery that is breath-taking. This time of year it’s fun to keep a watch out for fawn…the sight I never tire of.

This morning we heard an earnest, desperate cry coming from a deep ditch. I climbed down and found this cute little kitten cowering at the bottom. I could tell that he had somehow been injured but it didn’t seem too severe.

I brought him home, warmed up some fresh goat’s milk and he ate and ate and ate and ate.

Now he is sleeping so soundly that nothing stirs him.

Although I don’t plan on keeping him, I’ve named him Serendipity as he was an accidental discovery.

This picture shows that he has a fairly severe mouth injury but he eats well, purrs well and sleeps well and I know that’s a good sign.

{that kind of has a ring to it…could I sell a sign that says“Eat Well * Purr Well * Sleep Well“…probably not}

My concern will be to watch out for infection as it heals. If anyone has any suggestions {besides the veterinary clinic} I would love to hear them.