The farm house

I am a very organized person.  This is not simply a self-proclamation, several of my past employers would attest to this fact.  If you were to walk into my kitchen this morning, you would think otherwise.  The farm house is the center of the operation on every farm, even this fledgling operation.  Every project is born within these walls perhaps only as an idea, then a doodle on a napkin or the back of an envelope, then materials lists, and online searches or library loans to layout the project.  Once the plans are in place, the tools to craft the project and even some of the supplies are usually stored within.

 

Several projects lay in various states of completion throughout the garage, back room, workshop, and kitchen.  The word I want to highlight from that last sentence is completion, it has been a productive week.  Tools from the completed pig pen remain on the work bench in the garage for the last few punch list items and for easy access in the event of a cleaver fugitive.

Dandelion flowers recently went into the freezer from the kitchen table, the goal, to make dandelion jelly for farmers market this year.  Lilac jelly doesn't look as promising as a frost after early warm weather appears to have taken its toll on those blossoms.  Geraniums sit on the front porch waiting for their assigned spot in the front flower bed this year.  Other flower bulbs and seedlings occupy the kitchen table and the counter where the microwave used to be waiting their place in line for planting.  Garlic scapes which have been harvested now rest in the kitchen sink for processing when the little man is sleeping or otherwise occupied by his toys.

Recycled egg cartons and the last of the cleaned home-brewing supplies from the first batch of ale rest atop the dryer because they didn't make it into the cupboard when the rest of the components were put away.  My back room is filled with all sorts of containers for anything from jams and jellies to maple syrup and baked goods for farmers market. 

My kitchen remains the staging ground for various projects and my garage, well, besides being home to rabbits and four week old pullets captures whatever other projects we are working on.  I am not worried that Better Homes and Gardens will be visiting any time soon.  But, the dishes are clean, the floors are swept, there are clean sheets on the bed and the bathrooms are disinfected regularly - the rest will get done when it gets done.  This is the story of a farm house - well used, well lived in, witness to the birth of plants, animals, people, and pets - if only the house could tell us its story.

Farm house drawing by Robert Hammond