I promised to deliver our summer 2021 recap. Personally, I wanted to get this done before our last visit at the end of September, but to no avail. SO- this will cover June- September. Can you tell that we've been a bit busy?
It's early morning, Saturday, as I write this. The sun is starting to peak over the horizon and even though a sun-rise anywhere is a beautiful sight, it doesn't compare to the farm. I find myself thinking about the country sun-rises frequently. I long for them somedays. I typically go for a deep morning walk when we are there, always accompanied by my fierce protector, Nova; sometimes a kid (big or small) or two join me... in any case, it's my favorite time of day. These walks allow me moments of reflection and praise. Plus, they get my blood pumping (which I need plenty of to take on a day at the farm).
In order to write this update, I had to go back and dig through my (2,000+!!!) photos in my phone, because I honestly can't remember what we've all done! I need to say that when I did, I was pleasantly surprised at how far we have come on the project over the last few months!
JUNE
Main Focus- 3rd bedroom/ the worst bedroom. Remember in the last post, O, Romeo, Romeo! Nakia had decided to go ahead with the build of a Juliet Balcony off of the back of the house? Well, the balcony is still in motion... with the extreme heat that we experienced over the summer, we did as little as possible outside. The balcony itself probably won't appear until next Spring, but priorities tend to shift when working on project of this scale.
Nakia worked on securing the patio door in that 3rd bedroom, while I continued to repair the walls and started to paint the other side of the room. I did run out of my Thundercloud Blue (same paint as the kitchen cabinets, so I had to stop). Naquan came in with the assist in putting up the house wrap in order to finish prepping the West side of the house for siding. A dining room window was broken in the process... no it wasn't the one that was already cracked so I'll leave that here and on the to-do list.
JULY
I realized that all work and no play makes Holly a dull girl. The fourth of July weekend was fabulous! We popped a screened tent up in the front yard to give us some shade and a break from the bugs, we took the boat out and enjoyed great food and even better company. We took several walks along the tree lined junk yard road and watched the butterflies dance for us. I might add that is was 90+ degrees, we had 10 people in the house, and NO A/C! Yes, the A/C blew out right when we needed it most. Good thing we had fans, refrigeration and a lake.
Of Course, we did have to make valuable use of the time and was able to squeeze in some bedroom painting & furnishing for me (Including a brand new XL Twin mattress set from "THE STORE" in APPLETON (best mattress prices in the area!- make sure to check out the shameless plug for my parent's store at the end of this blog post). Nakia installed the permanent bedroom patio door trim & trimmed (LOTS of) trees all over the property. We did start to clean inside and outside the shop- filled a trailer full of scrap iron and found a decomposed downed tree under it all that provided me with an abundance of landscaping mulch. IT WAS HOT! SO HOT! Even in the shade, but we did have great help from our future daughter-in-law.
Check out that beautiful bedroom! I did deep clean & organize (AGAIN) and decorate the "back/frount" (family joke- ask me) porch with a few accessories and curtain (not photographed... looking at the photo below prompted the curtain & then I'm sure I set my phone down for 10 hours and never remembered to take another one.)
AUGUST
August was the first trip that we sat back and (tried to) chill, there wasn't much work done. We took naps (remember, no a/c)! Nova was obsessed with the newly remodeled 3rd bedroom and this became her nap location of choice. Sa'Riyah's nap choice was hanging on Grandma's lap. What can I say, my momma just has that vibe.
We did take care of a couple smaller projects, like running electrical outlets into the bedroom, installed the bedroom door that I bought off of a lady on Facebook Marketplace for $60.. that happened to fit like a glove! (it still needs stain and a door knob but it's up!) I finished mudding and painting the bathroom walls in the hallway upstairs, (repeating the creamy Navajo White by Behr color) it's now ready for the sliding door to be installed! I was finally able to hang up the wall art that Gaby had made for me over a year ago (specifically for this hallway), and it looked beautiful.
Naia and Jax played on the way home, well... Naia played, Jax tolerated.
SEPTEMBER
This trip made up for our low-key last one. The weather was perfect to dig in outside, literally! Saryna, Kelsey & Family came to help and we were a force to be reckoned with! We began to clean up the old torn down mess of a school house in the back yard. We cleaned to the point that all the crap was cleaned up to the base of the foundation so now we can get heavy machinery in there to handle the rest. We literally burned for 3 days straight.
THEN it was off to the ditch where over the coarse of the last few decades has been used as a local dumping ground for peoples unwanted beds and furniture (we're talking broad here). I've been putting this project off for a year because it's just ridiculous and irritates me how people can be... but we just dug in- pulling out old box springs (8 total so far, more to be discovered!) and other random junk. We had a glass pile, recycling pile, burn pile & scrap pile. We made it half way down the span of the ditch and then filled that section in with dirt. I must say how impressed I was at the level everyone worked all weekend. Team work truly makes the dream work. On top of those two major jobs we cleaned more of the shop- in and around, fixed a tractor, worked on the siding, and cleaned up the rest of the stuff by the garage (Including an old dog house that I enjoyed watching my husband meticulously balance on the top of the burn pit and then it burning in one piece, not one bit fell off the side during the process. This man has some serious skills, guys!)
This Aster plant that was planted during the August trip has been lovingly named "Asher". (Sa'Riyah has been making sure it's had water during the hot dog days of summer and has taken such good care of him.) We were admiring the beautiful Lily garden that we planted last year and how Asher was a very welcome and colorful addition to our landscape. Speaking of new additions... inspired by my sister-in-law... I ordered and shipped, and she installed all the panels of a lovely fence around our LP tank (which as of now is completed on the other side, but have no photo proof). Big shout out to them for all their help and love they show the farm.
Okay, everyone... this was a brief update on 4 months worth of farm projects. It is now Monday at noon. 2 sunsets have happened since I started to write this... seems appropriate as this is a true testament to our life. We're busy, time flies, but we try to enjoy all the rises and sets of each day. We thank the Lord for his ever present Love in our lives and as always, we appreciate your support and prayers. We are looking forward to our next trip and continuing to share our journey with you all. Sending our love! - The Sheppard's.
THE STORE
If you haven't already, please follow my parent's store on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/thestoreinappleton/ or better yet, stop in and shop!
Everything that we've used to furnish our farm project has been purchased from this store. Even the brand new mattresses! You may get lucky and be able to meet the Sheppard girls. They always enjoy a trip to The Store to find "treasures".
If they aren't open, just give them a call (phone number posted in the door) and they will come let you in!
Thank you for supporting local business!