Surprise Announcement!

We have some very exciting news to share...

We're having a baby!!! And we just found out last week that it is a little girl. I am the happiest I've ever been and sometimes I have to pinch myself because I still feel like it's a dream. 

This morning I was standing in her room and looking outside the window. I saw beautiful flowers right in front of me, a field of cows to my right, and a coop full of happy chickens to my left. I am so thrilled that our baby will be growing up in this environment with nature all around. We can't wait to teach her about this homesteading life and I hope that she will grow to love it as much as we do. 

~Tammy

Waking up to spring on the Homestead

It was so beautiful out this morning that I had to grab my camera and go for a walk with Emma kitty. Here are a few shots of what spring looks like on the homestead.

I have a busy weekend ahead, but I'm so glad I was able to carve out a little time to be creative. I feel like it is so important to have unstructured "play" time to recharge. And for me, there's no better way to recharge than this. Nature, animals, photography...give me those three things and I'm a happy girl!

~Tammy

Mother Nature

Here in Missouri, it's not uncommon to have wild swings in temperatures. Case in point - just ten short days ago, David and I snuck away to the Lake of the Ozarks with some friends and were enjoying 70 degree weather.

Our private dock on the Lake.

We caught up around a bonfire at the lake's edge at night, feeling comfortable in light clothing.

Today, this is the reality in our part of Missouri.

That's me, under about twenty layers of clothing. We ended up with 11 inches of snow, and this morning when I woke up the temperature was -10. That's not the wind chill, that's the actual temperature!

The chickens and Emma kitty are not coming out of the coop, and who could blame them. I have been refreshing their water every several hours and taking the chickens hot oatmeal and scrambled eggs to warm their crops. Baby is hanging out in the garage and the indoor cats are watching all the action from the warm house.

Duchess is built for this weather, so she is having a blast running around in the snow. I do put her in the coop at night as well since it's getting so cold, but during the day she is out and about.

The guineas, hardy as ever, are just fine as long as they have a perch to rest on. Some of them have found their way to the coop, but others are still outside like this old timer.

We're all hanging in there, but not exactly happy! It seems the snow is here to stay as the forecast does not show us getting above freezing at all, so we'll just have to get used to it for now. As I say nearly each year, spring can't come soon enough!

Have you been buried in snow this winter?

~Tammy

Living Room Feature Wall: Part I

Making the decision to move from the city to the country 3 1/2 years ago was a no brainer for us. The only hard part was leaving our historic home full of character and charm that we had grown to love dearly and had fixed up to make our own. If only we could have just moved the house!

Our home in the country is just a few years old which is awesome (the windows don't leak!), but it lacks the character that we really miss about our old house in the city. Ever since we moved out here, we've been trying to incorporate charm into our home little by little, and have always wanted to create a big built-in shelving unit on the feature wall in our living room.

It took us 3 1/2 years to decide what to do, but finally we are getting started! Phase 1 was creating a focal point in the center of the room with our electric fireplace and some old reclaimed wood David received in exchange for helping out a friend with a project last summer (which made our project super cheap - can't beat that!). 

David was the brains and brawn behind this phase of the project, so I mostly just supervised. He gets all the credit here. It turned out great!

The fireplace is at the very center of the living room/kitchen open area and really anchors the space. We are still deciding on whether or not to put a mantle and artwork up or keep it clean and minimal as is. I think as we go along with the rest of the project we will get a better idea of exactly how we want the fireplace to look.

We are getting started on the next phase right now, but this will take a bit longer since it involves more prep work with the materials. Here's a sneak peek - any guesses as to what it may be?? :)

~Tammy