Pages

Saturday, August 31, 2013

A Reprieve

Big Steve and I enjoyed sleeping a little late this morning, at least for us.  Actually 9 am is excruciatingly late for us, and that's exactly when Elsa and Pearl decided enough is enough and licked our faces till we laughed our hearts out and got up and got going.  It's so nice to start the day with doggie kisses.

We lazily went through our morning routines and then headed out to Argyle for an order of beef.  I can't say enough good things about Locust Grove Farms out in Argyle.  I have been buying meat from them for decades now.  The cows are pastured, grass eating beasts.  The gentleman owner who butchers them, Bill, is just that....a gentleman.  Many of you know how I feel about eating meat.  But it's the inhumanely, commercially raised meat that I have a problem with.  The animals at Locust Grove Farm are healthy, well cared for and happy....cows, pigs, chickens.  Bill is a truly kind and gentle man.  I have a good feeling about eating meat in this way.  When he calls you about your order (which doesn't happen instantly, he is very fussy about the beef he sells and picks out just the right beast for your wants and needs) he will tell you about the cow...details that only a concerned cattleman would know or care about.

They smoke their own bacon, ham, etc., make their own jerky, pies, candies, dressings and marinades, you name it.  It's a real treat to visit that smokehouse - I encourage you to take the drive if you have nothing to do on the weekend or in conjunction with an apple picking day - I almost guarantee you will come home with a car full of goodness.  Or a freezer full -- like this (don't be jealous, but there are THREE prime rib roasts in there):



I always feel so incredibly blessed when I fill up the freezer with this good beef.  We'll eat well all winter.  What a blessing!!!

At any rate, on the way out and on the way back, Big Steve and I had an opportunity to really talk.  I guess we have decided to wait till Spring to list the house.  Whew!  It's not that I don't want to move, I really do.  It's just that it was too soon.  And if we sold the house and the coop with it and left the chickens, I wouldn't have a really good feeling about rookie urban homesteaders (chicken parents) overwintering my babies.  I'm not sure we would leave the hens, but if someone wanted an established situation, we thought we might.

So the pressure is off.  We'll do more to prepare the house for the next family than we originally intended to do.  But we love this place.  We can't control what the next owner does or doesn't do, but we have to do it correctly, our way, on our terms.

Friday, August 30, 2013

All Good Things Must Come To An End

It is with a somewhat sorry, but seriously excited heart that I write this post.  We have decided to sell The Haney Place and find a place outside of the city with a little more land and a lot more potential.  Don't get me wrong, urban homesteading has been a very good thing.  A colleague did me a real favor at work yesterday.  She didn't have to, and I wouldn't have even known otherwise, but she did it, and I truly appreciated it.  So my hens sent her a dozen eggs.  You can't buy that kind of neighborliness, it's just a gift.  Even so, it's just time.  This blog has struggled for a while because I have struggled because hey, there is just so much to say about "living in the city, fed the chickens, dogs, cats, cleaned up poop, spread poop in garden" that we could do.  We adore the hens, dogs and cats, but we need to spread our wings.  We would love the opportunity to raise a cow, a horse, a goat or two, make our own soap (not just the laundry detergent we make here but real soap from goat's milk (like you have too much and you can't waste that precious goat's milk and you already made enough cheese, so we'll make soap).

So my first order of business is washing and dressing windows.  Which touches my heart...I spent more than a little bit of time researching, purchasing, searching for vintage and making dressings for the windows here.  I took a survey just now -- there are a total of 23 windows in The Haney Place (not counting doors).  And I have lovingly dressed many of them....I would love to share the historical research I did, the period curtains I searched, considered, purchased.  This Haney Place is market priced, but does anyone really consider the life and love of a home...some of my childhood/facebook friends can recall the criss-cross curtain discussion.  I never did find a criss-cross curtain or a pattern, but I still did dress the windows with love.  A few photos:


It's night and I'm tired.  I know my photographic skills are limited.  That second picture is a gorgeous antique lace that we found at a thrift store.  It has been so happy here - Specifically in the "Amish Room".  We've named every room here.  Oh yes, it's going to be hard to say good-bye to this place.

Tomorrow we'll travel to Argyle for a side of beef.  I know, we're moving.  We'll move the beef with us, when the time comes.  After all, these goggies need their meaty bones!  After that, I'll come home and polish all these hardwood floors and post more pictures.

Yes, it's going to be hard to leave this Haney Place.