Spring Summer and Fall
The farm is a wonderful place to live. Friends and family love to visit and hang out here. Below is the arbor in the center of the 2 acre garden, which is surrounded with an eight foot high deer fence. We have lots of deer here. They're almost like stray cats. We love and welcome them on the farm, but NOT in the garden!
This is our lovely maple tree located in the front yard. She provides shade for the summer and a nice place to visit with friends or just sit under and contemplate life.
These are of course Poppies. We grow them for their beauty and seeds.
The water wheel runs from a 98 foot long flume that comes off the irrigation ditch. It's right next to the pond. It has become a community landmark and when working properly, develops electricity.
Lynn in the garden tidying up.
Many of these pictures are from last year or earlier so some of the scenes have changed. Like the pear trees below, they're a little bigger now. If you look closely you can see the black irrigation hose running between the trees.
We have three tire ponds in the garden which provide water and homes for various creatures. Two of the ponds are pictured here.
This is the chicken coop. They have prime real estate. The north creek runs in the back of the coop so the chickens have a fresh water supply year round, unless the creek freezes.
Notice the solar panels in the back on the right. These panels run the solar water pump that irrigates everything in the garden. If you have any solar power experience, that would be cool. Sometime we have to track down electrical problems, or replace switches. The DC pump also needs low, but regular maintenance. There are thousands of feet of irrigation pipes and tubes to drip irrigate the plants. The emitters are a constant chore during the growing season to keep them dripping properly.
Apples!
Hmmmm. How am I going to get this thing to work??? This older generator only gave me 35 watts. I know I can do better.
Is Lynn weeding? Listening for gophers? Or just wishing I would go away and let her get on with her work?
This is Rebecca planting potatoes. Yes, we get lots of great tasting potatoes.
Another look at the maple tree this time with no leaves. She's fun to climb in and all around. We love her.
All through the summer we have fires when guests stay here. We play guitars, toast marshmallows, and tell stories. We have a lot of fun hanging out by the fire pit.
I try to get Rebecca to go mountain biking with me, but she'd rather just play with her worms! She loves her worms and treats them very well. So well, that she won't even let me feed them to the trout. What's up with that???
Guest bedroom in the old part of the farm house.
Music room in the old part of the farm house. Rebecca and I are professional musicians and play music at wineries, festivals, and weddings over the summer. Do you play an instrument?
Morels picked right from our garden. Hard to spot, but so delicious.
Two chicks in the hen house. Rebecca's the chick on the left! Sunny, on the right, is now a full grown rooster.
This is the big barn. The one bedroom apartment is upstairs. It's very cool, with a nice deck that overlooks the garden and meadow. I'll be adding a carport roof on that ledger you see above the doors. Do you have any framing skills?
This is inside the apartment before it was finished. The apartment is done now, with only a few finishing touches needed, but the open framing is really nice.
Almost everything from the garden except for the walnuts.
The winter sank the floating island, so I'll be building a new island this summer. The trout need a place to hide from predators. Another very nice spot to hang out and relax to the sounds of the water wheel and a small waterfall into the pond.
This is Julie. She was living and working here last year with her husband Josh and her daughter Suyana. Julie would just strap Suyana to her back and joyfully tend the garden. It was cool to see. Suyana is going to be one very cool kid, she already is!
Here is a pic from the street. You can still see ice storm damage from the previous winter. There is still wood to be cut and split. Wait till you see the "winter pics." Are you ready?
Oh yeah, do you see the sign in the lower left hand corner...there is a world famous white water river just down the street and we run kayak shuttles for kayakers who need it. You may be asked to run some shuttles. Who ever runs the shuttle gets to keep the fifteen dollars. It is a fifteen mile drive and takes about a half hour of your time. I always just put the cash in the ashtray to buy gas. Running shuttles helps the kayakers, and the environment, and gives us a little money to fill our tanks.
Oh yeah, do you see the sign in the lower left hand corner...there is a world famous white water river just down the street and we run kayak shuttles for kayakers who need it. You may be asked to run some shuttles. Who ever runs the shuttle gets to keep the fifteen dollars. It is a fifteen mile drive and takes about a half hour of your time. I always just put the cash in the ashtray to buy gas. Running shuttles helps the kayakers, and the environment, and gives us a little money to fill our tanks.
Another viewpoint of the farmhouse. We collected a lot of downfall from an ice storm.