Category: Featured

Why the Sight of These Swallows Filled Me With Awe

barn swallow

It’s mid-March and the annual bird migration has begun. Around here, the robins returned in February, and I thought I saw a turkey vulture. As the weeks go by, I will hear plenty of different types of birdsong in the woods, letting me know the seasonal residents have returned and are ready to breed. 

But this migration took on new meaning yesterday. Here’s why…

After feeding the cows, I happened to catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and I saw about a dozen barn swallows flying overhead. At first, I was excited because I thought it was “our” barn swallows returning for the summer. But they just kept flying and I realized, “Oh my gosh. They’re still migrating. They are headed somewhere farther north than our farm.”

All of a sudden it hit me and I was awestruck: Those birds are exhausted and hungry and anxious to be home. They had already travelled thousands of miles to get to where I was standing and they had farther to go. I was watching the wonder of nature play out before my very eyes.

I spent some time pondering why this sighting caused such awe in me. I’ve watched geese migrate. I’ve watched Turkey vultures meander south. I’ve seen the swallows gathering to head south in the fall. 

But I’ve never before seen a flock of migrating birds near the end of their journey. It gives me chills even thinking about it now because this wonder of nature goes on around us all the time. This migration has been going on long before we were here and I hope and pray it goes on after we’re gone. 

Seeing that those birds working so hard to fulfill their destiny despite everything makes me that much more committed to doing what I can do to help by fighting light pollution, planting native plants, and choosing organic (because pesticide use kills off the insects the birds like the barn swallows eat)…just to name a few.

And seeing that wonder reminds me once again just how much beauty there is to be seen all around us if we slow down and pay attention. 

May you also witness a wonder today.

That’s all for now. 

Barn swallow photo by Mike Kit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/barn-swallow-on-wooden-stick-17326952/

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The Pond Is Full! And It Is Beautiful!

We had a lot of rain and the pond that is the cornerstone of the wetland restoration project filled up…and overflowed. But I guess that’s the nature of a wetland! (You can see a video of the pond full of water here.)

To be honest, it is shocking to see how much water is in that pond, yet still overflowing. And the swale leading into it is full too. Yet, we still have standing water. Just think how much waterlogged ground we’d have if so much of it wasn’t captured in the pond!

Part of the swale. The swale goes over a gravel road that was installed for access to the project in order to haul out all the dirt. It’s called an armored crossing in wetland speak.

Full of water, it looks like it has always been there, even though the 500 native trees and shrubs have yet to grow. It has definitely become a happy place for us. We love to visit it each day, and we are anticipating migrating waterfowl will also be visiting it soon. (You can see it without the water here.)

This is where the swale goes into the pond. You can see all the standing water around the pond.

Personally, as much as I love birds, I’m also looking forward to seeing salamanders since they are one of my favorite creatures. We have them all over the farm and the garden, and we see them when we hike and ride the logging road. But I hope to see several of them moving in to the wetland area.

So for now, we sit back and enjoy, and wait for trees to grow and wildlife to show up!

And that’s all for now. 🙂

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We Built a Cow Barn. And It Flooded.

flooded cow barn

I’ll apologize in advance because I am going to whine. Ready? 

Why is this so hard?? All we want is to start a small farm, that’s it. We’re not trying to change the world or anything like that.

We have the best of intentions, we really do! 

This time, it was to have a cow barn built—well, the shell of it anyway—before the end of October when we had a calf due. We succeeded with that goal. The barn (shell) was done October 25th and Pumpkin arrived on the 28th. 

It did rain before the roof was installed, so the barn was full of mud, but we had some crappy hay and I was putting that down as bedding to keep the cows off the mud, assuming the barn would dry out. 

The gutters were installed a month after the building was complete.

And then it rained. And rained. And rained.

And we had several inches of standing water inside the building…inside and out to be accurate. 

At first I thought it was because the downspouts on the new gutters emptied onto the ground. When we had our garage built—and that has more roof surface than the barn—we had the downspouts installed that way and we’ve never had a problem. The water is absorbed into the ground without even puddling. 

But—I reasoned—the ground had been compacted by the equipment during building so that must be the reason the water from the downspouts wasn’t draining. We installed PVC pipe to carry the rainwater away thinking that would help to decrease the standing water from future rains, as a temporary fix. 

Nope. We are getting just as much water simply from the rainfall.

So. Our two cows, one heifer and one calf are all trying to crowd into the milking shed for shelter, which is also flooding now.

To be honest, I am stumped. We’ve had the milking shed since we bought our first cow in 2020. Yes, we’ve had far too much standing water and mud because it has been the only shelter, but nothing like this! And now it’s flooding behind the milking shed too, where we’ve never had standing water before. 

I understand the ground probably was compacted by the equipment? Maybe? 

When summer gets here and the ground dries out, we will have a contractor come in and do something to drain the water away from the buildings. We will put in plenty of gravel to build a base inside the barn. We will add a lean-to to the front to keep weather out and get the doors installed. We will, we will, we will make this right. 

But for now and the long winter months ahead of us, the cow barn is flooded. 

ARGH!!! 

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Reminding Myself Where We Started…and How Nice It Is Now

our farmhouse living room with Christmas tree

I love Advent and Christmas. I love the buildup of Advent. I love the Christmas season. And I love how are living room seems perfectly suited for this time of year.

I was taking this picture of the farmhouse living room and it struck me how far we’ve come. The renovation sort of ended a few years ago, although we still have projects to do in the house as part of that renovation…but let’s not talk about that.

This was our living room from the outside during the renovation…when the walls literally came tumbling down.
east living room wall during renovation of farmhouse
This is the east wall in the living room during the renovation. Nice, huh?
After the south wall fell off the house
Here’s our living room. Really airy, don’t you think? After the wall came tumbling down and Bob pushed the pieces the rest of the way off, this is what we had at the end of the day: Nothing. This living room wall was completely open to the outside. Did I mention starlings nested in the house during all of this? No? Well, they did. And I can’t stand starlings on a good day!

Let’s talk about how years ago when I was active on Facebook and I would post photos of the renovation and people would ask for “After” photos and I didn’t offer any for all kinds of reasons and now I look at our charming little farmhouse living room all decked out for Christmas and I think “yes, now this is an after picture!”

Our farmhouse is small–tiny really. It’s 1,293 square feet, to be exact. But it’s laid out well. We have two bedrooms, one bathroom, an office, a mudroom, a living room, a dining room and a kitchen. Yes, the front door opens straight into the dining room, but does one really need an entry way? I think not. (Not that I wouldn’t mind having an entry way, mind you…)

Plenty of people would balk at the idea of living in such a small house. We only have two closets, after all. But it’s not that hard once you realize you simply can’t have much stuff…and that’s a good thing!

We do struggle with clutter and with two dogs and three indoor-only cats, we struggle with pet hair and dirt. On the other hand, I only have the 1,293 square feet to keep clean, so maybe all those animals in a tiny farmhouse is easier to manage than in a huge house?

As I type this, it’s January 2nd. We have three more days of Christmas, and then the tree and decorations and lights will be put away on January 6 (Epiphany). Until then, I hope to spend as much time as possible in our adorable farmhouse living room.

And then? Even after the Christmas decor is tucked away until next year, I’ll still enjoy sitting in our tiny farmhouse living room in our tiny farmhouse project while I think about how far we’ve come.

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