Welcome, come on in!

A couple of people have asked recently if it is okay to share this blog, and in case you were wondering the same thing:  the answer is a resounding yes!

 Amaryllis and snowball tree blooms

We know this farm means a lot to so many people, and there are many who have fond memories of it, and we want to share our love for it with them.  We also want to keep family and friends up to date on what we're doing. We want to share our progress with all who are interested, and we hope to tell a good story in the process.  Feel free to pass the word to any and all.

Having someone tell us that they are enjoying keeping up with what we're doing on the farm is a thrill that never gets old.  Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement!

Blueberry blossoms

Most of our readers get here from our Facebook posts, but that's not the only option.  You can subscribe via email to get notified when we publish a new post - there's a box on the right hand side of the screen where you can enter your email.  Or you can get here directly via this address:  http://thehaganfarm.blogspot.com

Honeysuckle bench

However you get here, we're happy to have you - take off your shoes and sit a spell.

Critters!

No snakes in this post, I promise. This is just a dose of cute for your Monday blues.

First up, my obsession lately has been this guy:

I feel like somebody's watching me...

And occasionally stalking me...

I've been seeing him quite a bit (around the rental house), but he's shy and doesn't hold still for pictures.  Also, it turns out he is maybe a she, but more on that later.  This is a fox squirrel, which I'd heard of but wasn't really familiar with until we moved to Georgia.  They are bigger than a regular squirrel, and they look like a cross between a squirrel and a ferret.  Except cuter.  They can be typical squirrel colors, and some are solid black.  Ours has a white nose and ears - she's a reverse panda!

You can just barely see the white face in this blurry, thru the window picture.

According to Wikipedia, their ideal habitat is "small stands of large trees interspersed with agricultural land".  So our yard should be teeming with them, except fox squirrels are usually solitary, and this is the only one I'd seen until yesterday.  Then, cuteness overload happened:

Hello!

This is the very definition of frolicking.

Or possibly cavorting.  This is when I realized that our black squirrel was probably female, and the gray one is her boyfriend.

So now I'm hoping for fox squirrel babies, and wondering if I can kidnap...er, relocate them to the farm.

We see a good bit of wildlife around here, and we keep binoculars handy for when we do. Unfortunately we can't always get good (or any) pictures.  We were treated to peeks at turkey courting for weeks, but could never get a picture.  Here are a few critter pics we have managed to get.

We see plenty of rabbits around the rental house.

This guy didn't appreciate having his picture taken, either.

Kamikaze cardinal flew into the window

Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated. 

Peek-a-boo squirrel

Sometimes the wildlife camera can get the pictures that we can't.  Mostly of deer.

Not camera shy at all.

Wait, get my good side.

The deer version of water cooler talk.

 Occasionally the wildlife camera gets a glimpse of critters other than deer.

Red fox, just going about his business 

Not a fox.

After extensive and exhausting analysis, we've decided that last shot is of a coyote.  We saw him once in daylight, and have seen evidence of his visits to our yard.  We had some other shots to compare with as well.  Plus the most important evidence:  I want to believe!

Adventures in Spejunking, part 2

I finished the barn clean up recently, or at least as much of it as I plan to do for now (translation: Craig can clean out the rafters).  You may remember the before shot from my first post about the cleanup.  Now there are finally some after shots.

Before

In Progress

The pile of hay and debris in this picture is what the entire floor looked like when I got started.  It took about 20 trips with our extra-large wheelbarrow to get it all to the compost pile.  But finally it was somewhat clean and organized.  There is still work to be done before Craig can use this as his workshop, but it is a huge improvement over where we started.  Now that the house is gone, having the barn as a staging area and storage is a huge help to us.

After, left side

After, right side

I made a few more cool discoveries in the second day of cleanup.  I can't wait to redo this mirror and find a spot for it in the new house.

Mirror, mirror in the barn

These will be going on display somewhere, too.

Vintage veterinary bottles (complete with vintage medication!)

My growing collection of found bottles & cans

Cast iron dutch oven

Of course, now that I've been inspired by my visit to The Barn at Olde Homeplace last weekend, I want to renege on the workshop plan for the little barn.  I'm sure we can turn this:

Our barn

...into this bit of loveliness.  Oh sure, our barn could fit in the corner of The Barn, and I'm not planning on hosting any events in our barn, but a girl can dream.  Just imagine some twinkly lights hanging from the rafters (once Craig cleans them out).  I might have a hard time convincing Craig, though.

Not our barn, sadly.

At least I can re-create this display of rustic antiques from The Barn that I loved.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?!

old bottles: check
old plow: check
old horse collar: check
old cast iron: check

A big shout out to Mary Sue, Lee, Debbie and all the rest for extending the invite for the family reunion at The Barn.  The venue was lovely but it was nothing compared to the hospitality.  And a big thanks to Pam for letting us know about the reunion and saving me when we got lost on the way there!  

Getting Stuff Done

It's been a busy time since the last blog entry so there is a lot to show and tell.  Progress on the cabin has been steady and recently we've had a full house of workers with the completion of framing, along with electrical, plumbing and concrete for the carport.
All of the outlet and switch boxes are in.  There are light boxes in the ceiling in all the right places, ready for can lights, ceiling fans, pendant lights, etc.

The plumbing was completely replaced throughout.  A new hot water heater was installed in the attic to save room, lines were run for spigots on the front and back of the house and the shower was installed.

Plumbing for the kitchen

The new hot water heater stands alone.

Washer/Dryer hookup in the bathroom nook

5 foot shower insert

The concrete was poured for the carport.

What you can't see is the huge hole next to it where they got fill dirt to level the area.

Up at the main house, the last of the lot clearing was completed, which meant cutting down the big cedar tree that was next to the old porch.  We are sending all of the big pieces to a sawmill to get some usable wood from it.  We hope to get a plank or two from the main trunk that is wide enough to make a coffee table, along with some other pieces.  We may have enough with some of the larger branches to line our closet as well.

The trunk and top of the tree.  The other limbs are up at the top.  There were a LOT of limbs that are straight
enough for additional boards we hope.

Center left are my reading glasses hanging from the trunk to give
you perspective on the size.

A clean site.  The snowball bush to the right of the porta potty is finally seeing more sun.  So is the camellia behind it.

The site is ready to start laying out the outline of the main house.  We hope to have that done by the middle of next week and then they'll start to dig the footings.  In other words, we'll be breaking ground.  WOO HOO!  Sorry...down here it's YEE HAAA!!!

In other news, we continue to GSD: Get Stuff Done.  I used the word "stuff" because my mother reads this blog.  Neta has put in the garden and I've been clearing brush and trees along with general clean up of different areas.

Neta is planting, while Robert works the rake.  Plant (anti-deer) cages in right foreground.

Neta nurturing...always nurturing.

 One of the areas being cleared is along two ditches that run down to the big pond.  Lots, and I mean LOTS, of trees grew up in those ditches over the years and we want to clear them out.  It's a couple hundred yards of just trees (gum, maple and mimosa) and weeds (blackberries, honeysuckle, etc.)...times two.  I've made about 25 yards of progress so far...on one side.

The overgrowth used to start at the Private Property signs, but I'm slowly clearing it away.  You can see the giant pile of
brush (some of it is the small limbs from the cedar tree) that I'm building.  Big bonfire coming in Fall of 2016.

It would almost make a picturesque lane if it wasn't so overgrown.

A couple of other notes...  Neta and I were walking past the ditch on the left, when she stopped me.  She saw a snake.  My first thought upon seeing it was that it was a copperhead, but it was too brightly colored.  Realizing it was a harmless Corn Snake I got down in the ditch for a closer inspection.  Imagine my surprise when...

WARNING:  Snake pictures follow!!!  Graphic content of a "mature" nature (nature...get it?).  Viewer discretion advised.

There's two tails in that picture

Snake love

And finally, for my non-Facebook friends a few pictures of a recent encounter.  On Friday night we all arrived home from dinner out when we came upon an armadillo.  One had been digging up the yard for a while and we weren't happy about it.  We all got out of the car.  I asked Neta to keep the headlights pointed in his direction while I ran to get the shotgun.

By the time I got back outside, he'd made his way almost all the way down to the far end of the yard.  I managed to catch up to him and shot him.  I waited until the following morning to take some pictures so friends and family back north could see what they look like up close.  Those claws are amazing and they can dig a huge hole in a matter of minutes.  I cropped out the graphic parts.

Well...that's all the news and excitement that we can think of for now.  Neta may chime in soon with an entry about cleaning out the barn and putting in the garden.  Keep an eye out for that.

Talk to y'all again soon!

Raise It!

If you could see Neta and I right now, we look just like this.  She's on the right.  ;-)

That's right, we've raised the roof!  This was the progress on Wednesday.

And this is how things looked on Thursday.

As you can see, things are coming along.  Next week the plumbers, electrician and spray foam insulation goes in.  Neta and I have picked out a siding color (no spoilers) and we'll go and pick out flooring today.  We've provided the layout for the kitchen appliances and cabinets as well.

The timber operation has ceased...for now.  There are some wet and swampy areas that they can't get to so they'll have to come back later and finish up.  It's a dramatic change, but after the initial shock, we like it.  Terrell gave his seal of approval as well.  The land has really opened up.  I promise pictures as soon as I can put together a set of comparisons.

One more picture for our non-Facebook friends who didn't get to see it.  This is the view of our pond this past Tuesday.  It was just about sunset and the water was smooth and calm.  Let this image take you into a relaxing weekend.  Enjoy!

A moment of Zen