Anyone out there - it's been over 2 years since I've posted

Well, I'm in my 3rd Spring of living off-grid in a southcentral KY county. I finally got a garden planted this year, and it's coming along nicely. No pics this time around. I rarely get online anymore, just when I come to a friend's home to charge my cell phone. Last time I was online was in February!

Using a woodcookstove has now become routine, as well as heating water on the stove to bathe, do dishes, and do laundry. I still need to get better at preparing for Winter as far as stocking up on wood. Though the past 2 Winters have been mild with very little snow. My first Winter here, I got snowed in twice, even though I have a 4WD truck.

Learning to can on a woodcookstove has its challenges. Keeping the fire hot, and getting a good amount of coals going to begin with is the key. I bought some pig meat from a neighbor whose son had raised two hogs - I got 65 lbs of ground meat, and 10 lbs of loin. That was at the end of March, and I'm hoping they will raise more hogs, and then get them butchered in the Winter, and I would buy a whole hog this time around.

I've gotta get a new digital camera, and will take some pics of the place, and see about getting some of the garden. My dogs got ahold of my other camera, I haven't tried it, but maybe it still works. Sorry it's been so long since posting - I hope someone is out there somewhere! LOL

I'll try to post each time I get online from now on with any news. At least then it will be a number of times in a year. HA!! This is a rather boring post, isn't it - I just don't have my creative cap on today!! Take care everyone, and I hope to be in touch more often than every 2 years!!LOL

Simple Sunday - just some shots

Just some photos today - here is the view looking to the back of the cabin.

There's my bathtub on the wall, and the door to the left is to the

dumb-waiter that is lowered to the sub-basement to keep things cool.

I think there may be something wrong with my camera, but this looks a bit

blurry on the left, but this is the back of the cabin, so you can see the

size of the place in this photo. And it is built on a hill, so that is what

you see from the front, the three levels. There on the right leaning up against

the cabin is my mailbox post, someone pulled it up out of the ground

before I had a chance to put up a mailbox. So, my landlords are gonna

get it put back up and I'll then get a mailbox.

That bar across the top got into the photo - it is one arm on the

clothes line frame, but I need to get some clothes line wire for it.

Here is a photo of the woodshed, and also the outhouse, and you can't

see it, but the rope is attached to an old farm bell, just in case I run into

trouble. I don't get any cell phone reception down in the valley. My neighbors

down the valley should be able to hear me.

This is a little blurry thru the windshield of my truck - it's on the way down

the ridge into the valley where the cabin is located.

Another photo out of the windshield. This is what it looks like coming up

from the valley, onto the ridge opening, then I go thru this little bit of

wooded area to get to the main road.

Hope you enjoyed these photos today. I meant for it to be a simple

Sunday post, and it turned out more complicated than I thought.

I'm getting online mainly at my friend's home, so I don't have to

go into the public library.

Take care All - and have a blessed Sunday.

From Casey Co.

Thoughtful - Thankful Thursday

I was thinking today of how many years ago it had been since I'd wanted to be involved in farming, and it was back when I was in grade school and into high school. Back then, I wanted to marry a farmer, and have 12 kids, work on the farm, as well as cook huge dinners for the family and hired hands just like the farmwomen of old.

Things changed, life happened; I did get to raise some chickens, a few hogs, and a couple of heifers when I lived in Bismarck ND with my then husband, but my management skills had much to be desired, I know better now. Then I worked for 9 years with a university swine research unit; and before that helped on another university's farm with their hogs and sheep.

After working on the swine research farm, somehow I got lost, and forgot about farming and working with animals. Probably because the farm was a confinement system, and I couldn't see working with livestock in that environment any longer.

Somehow, come 2006, my yearning for farmlife returned, and I started reading up on raising chickens, and goats, and sheep - the Storey Publications. Began learning more about intensive grazing, and its benefits.

Then, that fateful day occured when I heard Suzanne McMinn on NPR's Inside Appalachia - about her blog Chickens in the Road. That's when things really turned around. But maybe some seeds were again planted when I made friends with a gal in Casey Co KY on a Yahoo group, and back then, which was about 2006, I had dreams of moving there and helping her on her farm.

I think that things happen for a reason. Most of my life I have wanted to live and work on a farm, work with livestock. I've had the chance to do a lot of that along the way, even marrying a son of a farmer, and though it didn't work out, and Steve had no want of farming, I still got to work with his Dad some on the farm and come to love it even more, and get his Dad's support in my wanting to learn and experience farmlife.

I honestly believe that God has been preparing me for this moment of getting the chance to move to Casey Co, and become involved in farming full-time. Even the experiences I had when I went camping in Amish country in Lancaster PA have shaped me to this day. When I was there, I went next door to an Amish dairy farm and asked if I could help them finish milking because it was starting to get dark, and they looked like they may need a hand, if just to carry the milk buckets to the large holding tank.

All of this reflection is just to say I've been thinking a lot today, and am increasingly grateful and thankful of the experiences, good and bad, that have brought me to this time in my life. I am thankful for all of my blogging friends who have given me the courage to do what I have dreamed of, and for their encouragement and support. I see through your experiences how many possibilities there are, and to not give up on my dreams. So I now say a heart-felt thank you.

These are my reflections for a Thursday.

I hope Ya'll have a great rest of the evening.

Take care, from Fayette Co KY

Soon to be Casey Co KY

Tuesday's Treasure or Keep Believing in Dreams

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

Keep believing in your dreams, Ya'll!

Field of Dreams

Take care everyone, have a blessed Tuesday, and keep dreaming.

From central KY - the Bluegrass region

Thankful Thursday

This Thursday, I am thankful for sore muscles - all over my body!

There has been construction going on at my apartment complex, inside and outside the buildings since the new management took over in January of this year. Lately, the banging, sawing, heavy equipment moving has gotten on my last nerve.

So, yesterday I took a trip to my beloved Casey County KY to visit my friend Bobbett, whom I will be farming with when I move there at the end of September. We spent the day clearing out her no-longer-producing tomato plants and weeds from six cattle panels. Then moved the panels to the barn.

You wouldn't think it would take about four hours to do such a thing, but it did. There were still some good tomatoes on the vines, some ripe, some to make fried green tomatoes with. We took our first break for a drink after about two hours of work, and to cool off since it was in the upper 80s yesterday, though there was a nice breeze blowing.

Our second break, though, was the one I was looking forward to the most. We went back out and worked some more after our first break. Then, this is what was waiting for us during our second break before we ate lunch.

Bobbett and her parents have a nice swimming pool at their place, and we both jumped into the pool with our work clothes on. I had on shorts and a t-shirt, and Bobbett had on the same. It was delightful to say the least. We spent about thirty minutes in the pool, then went in to have some pasta salad for lunch. Then we were all rested up and satisfied with food, and went out to finish our task.

I left there about 5:00pm, having gotten there about noon. It takes almost two hours to get there from where I live. And today, I am sore all over from my finger tips to the tips of my toes, and what a wonderful workout it was. I think that the move to the cabin, and my future in farming with Bobbett is going to be a success. And we'll get more done outside as the weather cools, than we did yesterday.

Take care, Ya'll. And have a blessed Thursday. What are you thankful for today?

thanks to fotosearch.com for the use of their photos

News from Casey County KY

I was standing in line at the pharmacy today, and my cell phone rang. But I was talking with the gentleman behind the counter about my prescription, so I didn't answer my phone.

So I looked at the number that had called, and it was from the Mennonite couple, Mr and Mrs W. They don't have a phone in their home, but near Mr W's shop is a public phone booth for the Mennonite folks to use to make phone calls.

There was a message on my voicemail from Mrs W saying that all of my references had checked out, and that I could rent their cabin from them. They are going to be cleaning inside and out of the cabin for the next couple of weeks to get it ready for me. No one has lived there for almost 3 years, and the grass/weeds have grown up quite a bit. And there are some things inside the cabin that need to be repaired.

So I hope by about the third week of September I will be making my move down to Casey County KY. I need to call Mr and Mrs W back to let them know I got their message - and find out how much rent is going to me - we didn't decide on an exact amount when I was down there a couple of weeks ago. But I know that it will be way less than what I am now paying in this 2 bedroom apartment in Lexington.

I'll keep ya'll posted. I am headed to Casey Co on Wednesday to help my friend, Bobbett, with some of her garden work. I need to get out of town for a day, and be somewhere where it is quiet. There is construction going on around the apartment complex with heavy machinery, etc, and it's making me a little edgy. Time to head to the country for a few hours.

Take care, Ya'll. And have a blessed Monday evening, from Fayette Co KY.

No News . . . And On The Hunt

No news is good news?

I haven't heard from Mr and Mrs W yet to see if I am going to be able to be their renter. I believe I will contact them next Saturday if I don't hear this week, since I need to let my apartment management know soon that I will not be renewing my lease at the end of Sept.

In the mean-time, I am trying to figure out how I will bathe, and how I will do laundry.

I will be on the hunt for one of these for the cabin:

or maybe one of these:

or maybe one of these:

Then I will need to find a gas-powered one of these:

or this one, without the electrical cord, but a gas motor:

Besides getting a good supply of wood, and even more wood, for cooking and heating, I will be on the lookout for these items to make my life a little more simple when/if I move to the Mennonite cabin.

I'll keep you posted on what transpires this week.

Ya'll have a great weekend, what is left of it. Take care, from Fayette Co, the Bluegrass Region of central KY.

A Trip to Casey County

Note: None of the photos were taken by me - they are from the Internet - I forgot to take my camera with me on my trip to Casey County - 8-(

On Saturday, I drove SW of Lexington to Casey County, where I will be moving at the end of September. I met a great Mennonite couple, Mr and Mrs W, who have a small home or cabin that they may rent to me - if my references check out! LOL

Some of these photos are ones of Amish and some are Mennonite, I know that there is a difference between the two, but I wanted to share some of what I found on the Internet.

The cabin is small, just 16 x 20 with a half loft for sleeping. There is a porch on the main level, and also one on the loft level, which has a porch swing. The area is hilly, and down from one of the hills comes the spring that furnishes the cabin with water. The cabin also has a dumbwaiter where I can put items that need to keep cool, and it is lowered to an area that is in the sub-basement, or below the basement, into a spot that has a spring running in it. The full basement is poured concrete for plenty of storage area, and a lot of shelves for keeping canned goods. The cabin is built on a hill, so the basement is a walk-in.

There is a kitchen area with a deep sink, counter space, and cupboards that run high up towards the ceiling for plenty of storage space. There is a small vanity next to the kitchen counter to wash hands and face. The source of heat and of cooking is like this Pioneer Maid wood cookstove.

Up the hill behind the cabin is an outhouse and a woodshed. There is a large boiler tub where a fire can be started under it to heat for a bath in the warmer weather. I haven't figured out how I am going to do laundry yet, but could conceivably get a gas powered wringer washer, and put that in the woodshed. There is one of those umbrella-type clothes lines so that soon the back of the cabin will take on this look.

For the time-being, when I first move in, I will be doing laundry at a friend's home and bringing it out to the cabin to hang and dry. There is a laundry line in the cabin on pullies that is located in the loft for drying clothes during cold weather. One thing that concerns me is that the lines from the spring to the cabin may freeze in the winter, at which time I'll need to haul water from my friend's home.

I was glad I just bought Ruby, my truck, last Monday because I couldn't have gotten to the cabin without her on the one lane gravel roads. On the way back from the cabin, we drove on a road that went thru a creek, and then up a steep hill. My Toyota Echo would've never made it.

It's going to be an adventure. And I'm not sure how much blogging I will be able to do except maybe once a week when I go to the public library in town to use my laptop. I'm not even sure I can get cell phone recpetion out at the cabin. My current carrier Sprint doesn't have any reception in that area, so I will have to find one that will. I was hoping to get a BlackBerry and keep up with email that way, but time will tell.

I'll keep you all posted on what transpires with this move. My first concern after moving will be to get a good supply of wood for cooking and heating before the weather turns too cold, and the prices go up. I imagine I'm gonna be eating a lot of store-bought canned food for a while until I get my feet under me and figure out how to cook from scratch on the Pioneer Maid. I really want to be able to do some boiling water bath canning and pressure canning to stock up for the winter, but I'll just have to see what time allows. I could easily see myself getting snowed in if we have a bad winter. Oh, and there is a large pond on the property, so like FarmerPam at Life on a Southern Farm, I may be taking my Ivory soap and take a dip in the pond to bathe while the weather is still nice.

Wish me luck, Ya'll. Take care, from soon to be Liberty KY in Casey County.

What's in a name . . .

Meet the new member of my family - The Toyota Pickup Truck

I have yet to name her - and need some assistance in that department

I posted my Toyota Echo on Craigslist very early last Friday

morning. And by 8 a.m. I'd received my first call from someone

wanting to buy her. Then, by 11 a.m. had recieved 4 or 5

more calls. By noon, the first caller took her for a drive

and to her mechanic, had come back and offered to buy her.

I then contacted the seller of this truck to see if they were still

interested in selling at the price we had talked about, and they were.

I went to Harrodsburg KY to pick her up on Monday, and though her

body is not in that great of shape, she runs like a top for a

gal that is 16 yrs old. Her former owner called her Red,

but I need something more substantial than that.

Any ideas? All submissions will be taken into consideration.

Now I feel like a farm-gal. More news to come on my

move to the country after this Saturday afternoon.

Take care Ya'll, and have a blessed Tuesday.

It's a Mystery . . .

A Percolator Coffee Pot

A Coleman LED Lantern

A Camp Toaster

An Oil Table Lamp

What do these four items have in common?

Hmmmm?

It's a mystery.

And, No, I'm not going camping.

More to follow sometime next week.

Hopefully.

Have a great Monday evening.

Take care All, from KY.

The Wombness of God

I was thinking this morning as I walked out to get the mail of when

I worked for the Forest Service, and was doing

wildlife surveys before dawn,

and at dusk in southern KY.

There was always some mist in the trees emerging from the ground cover.

We had to get out before dawn because an endangered woodpecker

species that we were following left its nest at dawn,

and would spend the day in the trees

and we would have a hard time getting a look at it otherwise.

And we wanted to keep track of the location of the birds.

When I would drive home after the other night surveys

that had taken place near Laurel River Lake,

there would be mist on the narrow two-lane winding roads.

I always felt that this must be what it feels like

to be enclosed in a womb.

The comfort, the moistness, the protection, the closeness.

And it made me think of God. So I came up with the term

God's Wombness.

I dream of my home in the country at dawn

with a mist rising from the fields.

And feeling the closeness of God in all of His Majesty.

May you feel Him too.

Take care All, from KY.

Some Favorite Books for a Tuesday

I decided to post a few books that are my favorite small farm

books. The photos ended up a little blurry because I

enlarged them to get a good view. I'll put the title

and author(s) just in case you all want to look

at these on Amazon.com or some other book source.

The Year of the Goat

by

Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz

Margaret and Karl spent about a year and 40,000 miles

in search of the best goat cheese. And they were also

trying to decide if they wanted to follow their dream

of raising goats.

Living with Goats

by

Margaret Hathaway and Karl Schatz

This is kind of a sequel to The Year of the Goat.

It chronicles much of the couple's first year or so

running a goat dairy in Maine. But more than that

it is a good beginner's guide to the raising and management

of goats. There is basic information, but also a lot of

specific information that a lot of other general guides

do not have. And it is from first-hand experiences.

You can visit Margaret and Karl's blog to see what is going

on daily at their farm  - Ten Apple Farm

and you can also follow them on Facebook - Ten Apple Farm

Living with Sheep

by

Geoff Hansen and Chuck Wooster

This is the "Living with" series that Living with Goats is

also included. It is a practical first-hand account guide to

raising a small flock of sheep. The neat thing I found is that

the author will write about mistakes that he's made so as to

save the reader and potential shepherd from making the same

kind of mistakes. Again, this is a basic guide, but as with

Living with Goats, it gets into some specifics and is very practical.

50 Acres and a Poodle

by

Jeanne Marie Laskas

This is more of a factual account of a couple's search for

a small farm in New England. It doesn't really go in to any

type of livestock management. It's more in the vein of

The Year of the Goat, where it tells the background of

how the couple realized their dream of living in the country.

I noticed when I was looking on Amazon.com for these books

to get photos, that there is a sequel to this book

by the same author, called

The Exact Same Moon: 50 Acres and a Family

You Can Farm

by

Joel Salatin

This is a nuts and bolts "motivational speaking" book by a farmer

who lives in the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. He is very

serious about letting you know how you can go about making

a living off of your small farm, but he pulls no punches at all.

He's almost "in-your-face" in my opinion, but he is so realistic

and truthful that I believe it is a great guide if you really

want to try and make a living off of your small farm

without having to work off the farm in another type of job.

You can find more information about Joel Salatin's farm

and his other writings at his farm website - Polyface Farms

I hope this has been a little informative for you all. I found all of

these books at the local library, and also through Inter-Library Loan.

That's it for this evening. Take care everyone. From KY.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

I was recently emailing back and forth with Sandra at Thistle Cove Farm and was asking her questions about some ideas I had of what I want to do with my small farm in the country, when I get there. When I got her responses to all of my questions, I wrote back and told her thanks for not saying my dream was impossible. This is what she said to me: What's impossible, Kathy, is not following your heart. If God leads you to do something, He'll take you through to the end.

So, I was doing some studying, and came across these Bible verses that really struck home with me, and I'd like to share these words of wisdom with you from the Book of Psalms.

Psalm 20: 4-5
May he give you the desire of you heart
and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.

I know that there are some bloggers I follow who have not quite seen their dreams of having a small farm and self-sufficient living come to fruition. But hang in there. Your dreams will come true. May the Lord grant all your requests.

Take care, All. And have a blessed Wednesday.

From KY.