Big changes for us farmgals and farmboys have kept me from being in contact with all of you, but I am trying to get back on track. I have set some pretty awesome goals for Backyard Farmgals over the next few years and am excited for you to share this journey with me.
About 18 months ago Woodman and I bought a dilapidated mess of a barn house and have been fixing it up bit by bit. It is right across the street from the farm which makes life really easy. Before I was driving to the farm a couple of times a day, although it wasn't far, it was a chore. This house went up for sale and we jumped on it; and the realtor thought we were nuts (we might be, but that is a whole different blog post or series of posts).
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| The day we bought the barn - it's a horrible mess |
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| There are no words for the epic hotness of this house |
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| Bright yellow, now it is a happy barn - isn't it so much better? |
The Big Yellow Barn, as we lovingly refer to it, was built in 1981 and has had a number of owners, with the last few being less than ideal. In fact, the last owner of the home, after painting the barn a horrible color of baby poop brown became extremely depressed after his wife left him. He had the gas turned off in the house in the middle of winter, but he forgot to turn off the water and all of the pipes froze and burst. Water reduced the once finished basement to studs, there was no flooring in the house - only plywood subfloor, and big holes in the ceilings where the water had pooled from the second floor leaks before waterfalling down through the sheetrock to the floor below. With all of this water park damage, we got the house for a song...
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| New door that Woodman made - it has an antique piece of stained glass in it, don't you love it? |
We spent the first several months cleaning up, patching plumbing, installing lighting (the living room did not have a single light), and replacing the twenty-three windows in the house, three sets of french doors and five other exterior doors. Sheet rock had to be patched and the electrical wiring is a disaster, there have been several times where Woodman and I have looked at each other in amazement that the house had not yet burned to a char. Three giant (40-foot) ponderosa pines were felled, picket fencing has been put in and the landscape completely overhauled but has yet to be planted.
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| Brown kitchen to match the brown barn - make it stop! |
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| Fireplace has potential... |
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| The horror... |
It has been a lot of work.
And we are not even close to done yet. *sigh*
The best part about this whole mess is that I have basically had a camp stove to cook on for the last 18 months. That is why I haven't been cooking for you, my little farmhands, and for my sanity. I am slowly loosing my marbles because I have no creative cooking outlet - you know what I mean, it is really relaxing. But guess what is happening this next week? That's right, I am getting a new kitchen!!! There is no way for me to tell you how excited I am. In fact, I am doing cartwheels while writing this. I will be back to creating all kinds of farm grown goodness in no time! In fact, I think my first dish will be be none other than Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon because it would seem inferior to christen the new stove with anything less dramatic.
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| Demolition is my favorite part, I think I have penned up rage that only a sledge hammer can cure... |
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| Kitchen is gone, we are ready for flooring, finally! We have been living on plywood for 18 months. |
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| Even the farm cat is getting into the construction... new wood floors through the whole house |
Can I get a hallelujah?
Lots of farm love to all and see you soon from the new kitchen!
xoxoxo,
Farmgal
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