ONE OF THESE COLORS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER

 Funny how a color seems like one thing until you see it by another.

With the house newly painted...

...we realized that the barn and shed really need to be repainted.  Of course, the same color as the house.

They will look awesome with a fresh coat of paint to match.  Not sure if we'll have that done sooner or after we move in.  The really fun part though, is going to be figuring out how to "connect everything", make it all look deliberate and like they've always been there.  Connect flower beds, pathways, etc.

I have visions of a winding path that goes from the house to the area with the barn and shed.  We have to find a new garden spot too.  Might do that on the back side closer to the fruit trees.

So much to think about and plan for...but we'll work on getting these painted first. 

DAYDREAMING ABOUT PLANT THINGS

 Recently, I've started subscribing to seed and plant catalogs and having them sent to the farm address.  That way, we can start getting regular mail out there and it'll be nice to get something fun out of the mailbox on a regular basis instead of tax bills, insurance and offers to buy our house/land, ha.

 I enjoy a glass of wine or in this case, some wonderful hot tea, and a quiet night or two of perusing through the pages of a catalog.  They are so fun and give us hope for the future.  In the end, isn't that what all planting is about?  Hope for the future?  We stick the seeds/plants in the soil and we hope we get to enjoy the end result of our hard work?

Six catalogs came.  I would have subscribed to just as many more but those companies are website only, no paper catalogs.  It's amazing how many no longer offer print catalogs.  I'm still old school and enjoy a physical copy in my hands, one that I can dog ear or highlight or circle the heck out of on the inside.

Anyone have any good gardening catalog ideas?  Tools, plants, seeds, general gardening, it's all good.  We don't mind on getting on some mailing lists like that, ha.

Because isn't daydreaming half the fun?

THE WEEKEND AND HOUSE UPDATE

How's this for cold and dreary?

Gray and gloomy day

This was Saturday.  Got there about 9:30am and it was overcast, gray, windy and in the 50's.  Not COLD per se, but definitely a bit cool to be outside in the wind.  The ground is also still a bit too wet for mowing but oh my, you can see the grass growing and these little white flowers on some kind of weed.

Last weekend, you may recall that we posted about going to look at some modular homes by a couple of different builders.  We went with a higher end dealer at first but wow, they are really high end.  The dealer said they run about $175/sq foot.  So a 2000 square foot modular/manufactured home would be $350,000.  Plus delivery, plus a permanent foundation, plus whatever else we needed to have done.  Probably a hard no, on that brand at least.  Another brand was a step down but still a lot. We have to acknowledge that if we are going to spend a lot, what do we get for it?

More gray and gloomy from another angle, ha

Now, we are leaning toward a new build but instead of a standard home, we're considering something a bit different.  More on that to come as we get more details...we've reached out to three companies and one is already working up some estimates for us.

We used to always joke, early on when we met and talked about the future, that if we ever built a house, we'd start with the kitchen and work our way outward, ha.  A new build may give us that chance to get something that is exactly "us" and that we have a hand in helping to design/create.  If we're going to spend money on something, we have to consider what we get in the end and how it will work for how we live.

As we mentioned with the remodel, we'd spend the lowest amount but end up with a pretty house that's still old with potential problems underneath.

If we go with the modular or manufactured, we spend a whole lot on the high end but can't modify it to be something that works for how we want to live.

If we spend somewhere in between the two for something a bit bigger than we have now but not over the top big and we get to help design it exactly the way we want it...

Maybe that will be just right!

We actually have a list with pros/cons for each option.  When all the decision making is done, we'll go with one of the choices!

There are some other things coming soon as we prepare for the house change.

Stay tuned!

LOCATING A MINI ORCHARD

After I mowed over the weekend, we roamed around planning (and daydreaming).  Here is our dilemma.  We have some fruit trees on "standby"...bought and being cared for but still in containers until the Fall when we plant them and of course we'll be buying more.  There are two places we are trying to decide between.  We have already planted a few trees scattered around the property but it turns out they are too far from water sources and therefore, much more difficult to care for.  

So we've narrowed it down to two spots:

The first spot is here.  

This is just behind the house.  

Our backyard I guess you'd call it.  A big, wide open space with a water faucet on the back of the house.  This space is bigger than the other one.  Plenty of room for the trees, and we'll still have space left in the backyard so it's not like we're giving up our yard.  It's not too close to the house either, this picture is a bit skewed.

Here is the second spot.  

This is directly behind the garden.  

Again, water access is pretty easy, coming right from the garden.  This spot is smaller but still enough room for just the fruit trees, which is all we are needing.  The thing with this site is that we had thought that it would also be the perfect spot for a future greenhouse but that is still a few years down the road and we need to get some more fruit trees started now. Plus we have many more alternate places for a future greenhouse.

Both areas have the space, both would provide privacy, with the one behind the house providing more personal privacy (somewhat hiding the back of the house from the property behind and whatever someday ends up back there.  The one behind the garden would sort of shield the garden from view as well, not that that is so important.  The backyard is bigger and gives us more leftover space for future use.  The backyard would also be closer to the house for easier monitoring.  The garden  of course would be right there with the vegetable garden so it's sort of like working it all at once, having tools and things already nearby if needed.  Having large trees could, someday of course, put part of the garden in the shade.  

The soil is the same in both spots so we are going to plant the trees in 4x4 raised bed boxes to give them a better head start.

We have to make sure we are happy with the final spot because wherever we decide, they are there forever... 

CONSIDERING A SPINNING CLOTHESLINE

We spent the long weekend tossing future ideas around, so I guess you can say that we were daydreaming and planning!

We don't have a washer at the farm.  Don't really need one at this time.  There is a space for one (where our utility sink is in the mudroom) so someday, we can definitely have one.  Or of course, I could buy a washboard tub and a wringer but 2nd Man proooobably won't go for that.  

But even without one, we are considering one of these:

Hills Rotary 7 Clothesline

Why you might ask?  Well the obvious of course, that sun dried laundry is amazing!  We're considering this part of the infrastructure for the future and we can store it in the barn when not in use.

We were talking this long weekend and what we'd like to do is occasionally take a freshly washed and still wet load of items to the farm when we go out one morning and let it dry while we are there.  I guess we'll have to time it juuuust right, ha.  

We thought about just a standard clothesline with poles at each end, but this, while more expensive, solves many issues we've have, namely being easy to take down and remove.  It also takes up less space in the yard.  That might seem odd with so many acres, but of course, we have to keep the clothesline close to the house.  We don't want it in the front yard, one side yard is shaded, the backyard we have other plans for, and so the other side is probably the best location.  It's gets full sun and a breeze (on breezy days).

Anyone have one of these types?  
Do you like line dried laundry?