Simon keeps himself busy outside when we are working. He enjoys eating dirt and playing with garden tools...

This is our Garden Goddess. While Grandpa was cutting trees down during his visit he left us some interesting cuts. One Adam named "the Boobies" and of course Ben, being very familiar with these, thought they were great. A few weeks later while raking up pinecones and stacking wood I found the belly and casually joked to Adam that I found a piece to his sculpture. Adam must have been ready for a creative tangent because he started sculpting...and now we have our Goddess. We aren't sure where she will reside quite yet but we like her!

Ben's Pumpkin patch is growing! He has lots of sprouts that he is quite proud of. All of us worked on our hands and knees removing weeds and roots as we prepared this little bed. Ben was interested in all the worms but he preferred covering them with soil so they could go "night, night." He really enjoyed breaking up the soil with his hand shovel...while Simon preferred using his shovel as a spoon for some more soil...I am thinking that at one point he is not going to like it anymore...maybe. We will keep you posted on the pumpkin patch progress.

Yesterday much was blooming. Ben enjoyed smelling the roses, first he sampled the yellow roses, then he moved on the the red. We are excited when we think about slowly moving plants from the old house to our new gardens. We have already started a small orchard with apples, pears, peaches, plums, and cherries. We keep ourselves very busy...

Aren't they so cute!

One of my dreams growing up was to be a farmer...after a hard year (and maybe another) of making ends meet to relocate the family to a five-acre parcel of land the farm dream is beginning to fruit. We have been in the new house for about a month now and already I can't imagine a better life for my family. I am enjoying all the hard work and planning so much. The only sadness is that my family is so far away. So from Georgia I am writing...and hoping that up in the mountains of New England my family can follow along as the Painting House Farm grows!

Now that we have settled into the house the farm has welcomed some new arrivals! 12 chicks! They have now been with us a week and we are enjoying them. We can hear their peeping all around the house as they reside in the shower stall until they have grown enough feathers to live outside. Adam built a lovely coop out of the cabinets he ripped out of the kitchen during demolition. We are looking forward to fresh eggs in the months to come! Ben and Simon think the chicks are pretty groovy. Ben enjoys petting them and was brave enough to try to hold one all by himself. It was an unsuccessful attempt as the little feet freaked him out a bit. Simon on the other hand attacks the poor babes with such vigor I am concerned that if I stepped back he would squeeze one to death or try to put it in his mouth!