Asking for a friend :)
THE HORNS.
If there’s one thing my husband loves in abundance, it’s animals. And we now have the space to finally get the ones he’s always wanted- the ones he hasn’t had since his magical childhood growing up on his family’s farm.
How many sheep is too many sheep? I may have to get back to you on that one.
Let’s all remember to take in a deep breath of fresh air, get outside as much as we can, and treat the earth a little kinder today (really, every day should be Earth Day, but you get the picture).
Some photos of our beautiful earth around Ocoee Farm, below:
Have a good one, y’all!!! xx
When you have two older brothers, you get to wear the clothes they no longer fit into, and sometimes, they look better on you than they did on them! Case in point: little sis’ mustard yellow pants she wore yesterday that I bought for little brother last year at Goodwill. How cute do they look on her?
He was only able to wear them for a few months before they became too small and now they fit little sis perfectly. They may have come with a little blue paint stain on the bottom pant leg, but you can only see if it you look closely :).
Sis has basically been living in her brothers’ old clothes lately since we’ve been staying out at the farm so much. They’re perfect for getting dirty and come in handy when we just need to throw something on. When we’re not getting dirty, though, she’s actually really started to take an interest in what she’s wearing and it’s the sweetest thing ever. She loves pink (which happens to be one of my least favorite colors ever) and anything with Minnie Mouse on it.
I don’t think she could get any cuter if she tried.
The other night we went to our cousin Lauren’s house for a cookout with her husband Brent and their two girls. And friends, we it was exactly what we needed.
The air was cool and breezy in the most springtime way that only this time of year in Tennessee can bring. Lauren and Brent made us dinner for the second weekend in a row: last weekend they camped out at the farm and Brent smoked a pork butt for everyone and it was so delicious and wonderful to not have to cook dinner!! Truly, having someone else make you dinner is suddenly my love language as an adult. I know how much work goes into making meals now that I’m cooking for our family of five, so anytime someone makes us dinner, I am eternally grateful.
Our kids and theirs play so well together and it’s such a treat for us to see our kiddos interact with others. Does that sound weird? It sounds weird to read out loud, but, as sad as it is, because of social distancing, our kids don’t play with other kids and haven’t had a chance to make real friends this past year. We are sending the boys to school in the fall, so we’re both excited to see them learn from other kids, to form friendships, to bond with someone other than each other, etc. It’s going to be an entirely different phase of parenting and life in general, but we’re excited for what it will mean for them and their development.
Anyway, the kids ran off and played together in the big field and on the trampoline and on their playhouse jungle gym and we were able to relax by the fire with a glass of wine and a yummy burger. Like so many others, this is a new experience for us (spending more time with family, being in the same vicinity of others), one the importance of can’t be underestated. Last year was, to but it plainly, horrible, so even a night with family around a fire can feel like the absolute greatest night in the world. And it was!
We talked about PJ and Lauren’s childhood memories at Lauren’s house (which was their grandma’s house when they were growing up, and where they spent every day playing- the same grandma that PJ adored and who instilled his love of plants and gardening), we talked about the pandemic and how we’re all dealing with it a year later, we traded stories of our kids and their quirks and how much they make us laugh. Lauren and Brent are amazing people and we have all been making plans to spend more time together this summer, starting with the other night. We just enjoyed each other’s company for a few hours.
A few lovely, much needed hours.
I woke up early this morning, before anyone else, to drink my coffee in the blinding morning light and to write/work on a few things. Then, I heard a noise coming from behind me. Someone was heading to the bathroom…
…thinking it was PJ, I made him a quick cup of coffee so it would be ready for him when he got out. A minute later I heard someone behind me, so I turned around to tell PJ good morning. Only, it wasn’t PJ. It was little brother!
I gave him the biggest good morning hug I could and he immediately asked for cereal, so I poured him a bowl of their favorite as of last week (Fruity Pebbles) and we sat at the new island in Holiday House’s kitchen (that is currently being torn apart and put back together) and had a little breakfast date, just the two of us.
And it was very, very nice.
“Happy Friday! What’s for dinner?”
This was the text I received from my sister a few hours ago, and it’s not unlike the texts I receive every night from her. She lives almost five hours away so we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like, but we try to always make a point to ask each other what the other is cooking for dinner, and I love it every time (no matter what we’re cooking that night).
She and her husband have six kids, so she’s my go-to for parenting questions and dinner ideas. She’s been through and seen it all, and I’m so grateful for the quick test exchanges we have regarding what we’re cooking, drinking, doing, etc.
Tonight I made Pad Thai for the first time! I was surprised by how quick and easy it was to make. eat Pad Thai from a local place in town once a week, so I thought I would try my hand at making it. It wasn’t Fuji Express good, but it was first-time-ever-making-it-good. You know what I’m talking about. Right?
Right now PJ and the kids are outside running around and climbing trees and I just cleaned the kitchen and am now listening to jazz music while sipping on a glass of white. After a horrible, horrible day yesterday (having to do with a contractor we hired to work on the farm), it feels good to relax tonight. We were going, going, going, all day today, and I don’t think TGIF has ever been more appropriate in the history of phrases than it is tonight.
Happy Friday night, friends!!! I hope it’s a relaxing one. xoxo
Happy Friday friends!
I have such a love/hate relationship with springtime. I love the feelings of renewal and rebirth that come with it, but absolutely loathe pollen and what this time of year means for my allergies. I get them so badly right around this time annually and wouldn’t you know it: they’re back again with a vengeance this year.
My head is foggy and stopped up, which leaves me feeling lethargic and so very blah. We have a busy day ahead of us so I’m taking all the Claritin and Flonase and hoping they do their jobs.
Sending you love today and hoping you (and your allergies) have a great weekend!!
Y’all!
We can officially call our land a “farm”. After years of talking and dreaming and planning, we finally did something a few weeks back that feels like the first step (of many) towards the future of our land.
Oops, of our farm.
Over on Instagram last month, we talked about getting chickens, and PJ even took the kids to the store to look at them (they were obsessed). After talking about it more, we decided to hold off on getting them for the time being, as we didn’t have anywhere to put them right then (and chickens didn’t really fit in line with our 2021 word of the year “simplify”). Also, at the time, we weren’t really spending as much time out at Holiday House as we are now. We’ve been spending almost every night out here for the last few weeks and our mindset has started to shift a little. Okay, a lot.
Things that seemed like they would be impossible before, suddenly seem doable. And honestly nothing has really changed but our desire to start living a little differently. Holiday House, and now the farm, now seem like a realistic endeavor for many reasons, some of which we’ll share at a later time, but for now, adding sheep and even chickens doesn’t seem as impossible as it did before, and I think it’s because we finally just committed to spending more time out here than we used to.
Because our house in town is pretty far from the farm, the idea of staying at our townhouse 24/7 and then driving out to the farm to take care of animals every day didn’t make sense logistically. The animals wouldn’t get the care they needed to thrive and the eventual farm would suffer because of it. There would be no realistic way to do this thing the right way unless we were 100% committed to the land, to the animals, and to the new lifestyle we’re slowly inching towards. SO, we decided to make small changes to make spending the night out at Holiday House more enjoyable (more on that in future posts).
(Showing the kids and our cousin’s daughters the sheep)
We plan to have a few fences built on the farm so we can keep most of the animals together while they add nourishment to the land. The guy PJ hired to build the fence for us called PJ yesterday and said we are on the schedule for this Monday (!) which is about a week sooner than he originally said, so we’re now even more excited about the whole thing. We both know contractors sometimes fail to meet their deadlines because, well, life happens, but we’re hoping everything goes smoothly with the fence building so we can hurry up and move these babies into a bigger pasture.
Look how cute they are!! Don’t they look a little like baby deer? The brown ones are a mix breed of Katahdin and Mouflon, and the all-white one (with a brown eye patch) is full Mouflon. The Katahdin (named after Mount Katahdin in Maine) are apparently some the easiest sheep to take care of- they require no sheering and very little maintenance and are super adaptable. PJ loves the brown coloring and how “wild” they feel, whereas the white one is a little more tame.
For now, before the bigger fence is built, we’re all enjoying coming up to the little fence every day as PJ feeds them, and trying to pet them (key word: trying, as they run away from us every time we get even a little close to them. Hoping they warm up to us all soon!). It’s funny how having a few “farm animals” out here changes the feel of this place for me. Before, when we first bought it, it was just a bunch of overgrown grass with a ton of possibility. Now, after PJ has been creating roads (yes, he is digging out roads himself with the tractor!), bush hogging and mowing, clearing a few trees to make way for more trees, building a small pond, and fixing up Holiday House, our farm is starting to actually feel like…well, a farm.
And it feels great, friends. And we love it out here so, so, so much.
PS: We need names! We think we have one nailed down for the white sheep, but we really want to let the kids name them. The only problem with that is, every time we ask them what we should call them, they just keep saying their names should all be “Sheep”. TBD on if that name actually sticks.
The Property Lovers is a daily lifestyle blog by PJ and Thomas about our adventures as husbands and dads living in our small hometown, life in our 100 year old Craftsman home, and fixing up our farm. Welcome!
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