Gourd Harvesting,creating birdhouses.

Our first garden here at our hobby farm was last year. 2012 produced wonderful vegetables, melons, ... And gourds. I always wanted to grow birdhouse gourds... To make ,well yes, birdhouses. So,one plant grew,and grew ans grew as it climbled and produced a bounty of gourds. I thought maybe I would get 3 or 4 gourds. My beautiful gourd vine gave me well over 20 . They stayed on the vine curing well into winter, through the frost, snow, frozen fog. Yesterday I decided that they just had to be ready. I harvested them,and began the process of cleaning them. The gourds all had a nice shape... But were quite ugly, with mildew, spots and ugly skin. I scrubbed, scraped soaked in bleach water and prayed that all this hard work would pay off. It did!. Once the gourds imperfections were removed I held beautiful pieces of nature. Next I need to decide on designs, cut,clean and paint.. I'm feeling like I have found yet another hobby. Thus is going to be fun!

Valentine banner workshop.

The ladies in the farmgirl henhouse asked me to teach them how to make banners for the upcoming valentines holiday. We had a great time, chatting and creating.

Growers Own Conference

Today I volunteered at the regristration desk as a volunteer for The Growers Own conference. In exchange for helping out, I was able to stay and soak up all the knowledge for us to use at our own discretion. I came from this conference with the knowledge and confidence I needed . With the small acerage that we have... And my love for growing food and flowers... I've committed myself to starting my CSA.  Fresh organic veges.. all grown from my land... My goal is go serve 10 families this year. then expand yearly as money comes in to plant fruit trees. Berries etc.I was born for this... My grandparents taught me well.

Bunk house is emerging....

So far I have most of the curtains finished. I re upholstered the valances in Jean material with a horse print fabric. The curtains reflect country with red gingham & blue bandana as well as red bandanas. It's coming together, but has a ways to go this is just a start. I'm working on a rag quilt for the bed, pillows too. And a re do in the kitchen cushions, walls and a few other touch ups.

Glamping...

My friend Sandy has this cute adorable vintage camp trailer. She Glamd it all up adorable and now instead of camping with her husband.. she glamps!.. she took one look at my camper,said let's glamp your camper up.. its to boring. It is boring.. its the original  color scheme from of manufacturer.. GREY with a little beige. I'm all over it. My husband was nervous, made me promise no flowers.. no pink. Sandy and I agreed.. no girly Glamper. So, I went for a fun theme to reflect my Idaho life. I'm turning it into a bunk house!.yep, with the accentss of a country Western bunk house, we will be glamping in comfort and style. Here are the before pictures. so, think... From boring camper to stylish county Western bunk house.

Frozen fog

This morning when I woke up and looked outside I thought it must have snowed a lot. My husband told me ... It did not snow. It is frozen fog. This being our first winter in Idaho... I'm in awe.I'm loving it. It's beautiful. Our chicken coop run was covered with it. Good thing we keep a nice warm atmosphere in the coop for our girls. They keep laying eggs for us, despite the cold.

Farm fresh Homemade sour cream

The best tasting sour cream came right from my kitchen. Today I made my very first batch of homemade sour cream from raw organic milk. The best ever! Bye bye store bought.