This past weekend the weather here was pretty iffy; quite chilly and raining off and on...so we decided to tackle a project inside that has been looming over us for years. In fact, it's been almost two years since we last did any major work in our mudroom...which is a...
Revising our plans for 2010
The weather here is still yo-yoing between winter and spring...but I have little doubt that we will turn around twice and spring will be passing us by, with summer setting in strongly. Which makes me turn to thoughts about our garden, our hopes of growing all our own...
Why electronic radiator controllers are worth every penny
Last year, we got a new heater in our living room. It's got three heating channels inside the unit (I'm sure that's not what they're called but fins seem to be name for the old-fashioned radiators we have) and it heats up the living room in less than 30 minutes (maybe...
Nico makes some much needed repairs
After Nico pulled all the ivy and whatever else was growing on the barn down, we started taking a look around the corner of the structure (which faces our neighbors and we can barely see) and noticed that one patch of plastered wall was about to fall out of the timber...
Building a pump house for our Gardena system
When we bought our farm house almost 3 years ago (I really can't believe it's been that long already) one of the great things about it was a fully functioning water system run off our own underground well. This area is full of underground springs and one of Germany's...

Bringing in the reinforcments to paint outside
You might remember my post from March when we tore down the vines on our storage buildings. After all the vines were gone, the wall was in pretty bad shape. It's been shedding salt and just starting to crumble off due to improper care and the wrong materials being...
Please, daddy, can we keep him? The farm hand I mean
I don't mention it often, but those who know us recognize that we are in a bit over our heads on the farm. We simply don't have the time to maintain everything as it should be, do the projects we want to do, keep our businesses running and spend time with Mackenzie,...
A bench for all seasons – Building a harvest kitchen part 3
In case you missed the first two installments about our new harvest kitchen, check out part 1 and part 2. On Tuesday, Stefan took the day off because I had to go to the dentist. The last time I went with Mack in tow, it did not turn out so well. She screamed pretty...
Sweet Lady Propane: Building a harvest kitchen – part 2
Last weekend we started building our harvest kitchen. We were able to level the floor, lay tile and grout last week so this weekend it was time to install the kitchen cabinets. We're eager to get this project wrapped up before the Lantern Festival (the first weekend...
Building a harvest kitchen – Part 1
We have a little covered patio area outside out kitchen door which we've been throwing around ideas about for a while. We finally came to the conclusion that the best thing to have in there would be a harvest and canning kitchen where we can prepare everything for...


