Weekend visitors....

The girls came to see us this past weekend! Mallory and Morgan (biological daughters), Nina (not biological but ours just the same) and Sweet Pea (aka - Taylor Fayne our granddaughter. Morgan also brought her dog, Cooper (Monroe, Savannah and Tallulah's brother). This was the girls first trip up and the weather was spectacular!

Mallory, Nina and Morgan

View of the farm on the climb to the ridge.

HB's favorite tree.

View from the ridge.

Sea of gold.

Morgan and Cooper

More views.

Aunts Nina and Morgan and one tired little girl!

Valley view.

Update on animals coming soon. We are pleased that in three separate moving trips with the animals we only suffered one chicken casualty. We have since lost 3 more birds but with moving 60+ chickens I'm still happy with the result. The goats made the trip with no problems (including 2 new ones that I will introduce in the coming days).

That's all for now.

Live simply, love fully and smile!

Cha - cha - cha - changes.....

Well, it's been way too long since I have posted......and do I have some major changes to share with you regarding Spring Lake Farm. Here is the bare bones break down:

July - Resigned from my job, effective 8/31/10.

August - Trip to the TN, NC and VA mountains to look for potential farms to lease. Found one on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. Lease application submitted and approved.

September 15th - Moved Spring Lake Farm to the mountains of Tennessee!

We are located about 15 minutes northwest of Boone, NC in a small community named Trade, TN. Lots more details to come but here are some photos of our new home....

Old farm house....

Old tobacco barn (current home of goats and chickens)....

Corn crib with stables in the background (current home of chickens)...

Photos of the land...

Needless to say, we love it here! Lots of details to fill in and many more pictures to share. I have missed by blogger friends and am looking forward to catching up with everyone soon.

For now, from the hills of Tennessee....live simply and smile!

Sandy

Boone...

...you will always have a very special place in my heart.

We love you and will miss you terribly!

"2004 - 2010"

We lost our precious boy to a tragic, freak accident yesterday.

I want to go to there...

...actually I want to "move" to there.

I have often been asked, "do you prefer the mountains or the beach?"

And while I love visiting the beach and appreciated it's vast beauty, my soul yearns for the mountains! It's where I feel alive and where I seem to become the "real" me. It's hard to explain, but it feels.....spiritual.

So, after a recent family bike trip along the Virginia Creeper Trail, I have decided the following:

I want to live here...

...in something like this...

...and see this...

...or this, when I look out my kitchen window...

...and be able to play with Sweet Pea in one of these...

...of course, this wouldn't be too far away...

...and just a short drive down the road, you would see this...

...or this...

...and views like this...

...or this, are common place...

...BUT...

...this...

...will just have to come visit Mammy and Papaw....OFTEN!

Multi-purpose building...

...do you have one of these???

It's part goat shed, chicken coop, egg laying station and now (thanks to HB) we have our very own "Spring Lake Broody Resort and Spa"!

(Please excuse us, while we are in the process of staining the exterior!)

Our first two "spa" guests!

Broody #1 sitting on 4 Welsummer eggs and 1 Black Australorp/BLRW cross egg.

Broody # 2 sitting on.......golf balls! ;)

(I plan to get some day old Java chicks to put under her in about 10 days, so for now we are just going to pretend......shhhhhhhh.)

Have you read...???

...Georgia (the Coonhound) Goes to the Beach!

There was a lot of things to do and see.
I spent most of my time "people watching".

It was very hot.

And very bright.

And this thing really freaked me out, so I barked at it really loudly and everyone ran over to see what I had found. Mom, said that I was just acting silly!

We had movie nights but I was usually very tired and had a hard time staying awake.

My favorite time was when Mom took me for a walk at sunrise every morning. I met so many new friends! Most of them were allowed to run in the waves and chase the birds but Mom said that she didn't want to have to go find me and pick me up 10 miles up the beach so I had to stay on my leash.
Still it was the best time of the day!

If I was hungry, I would do my very best sphinx impression and someone would always come up and tell Mom what a good dog I was, pet me and give me a treat!

I will miss the beach!
I hope Mom brings me back some day.

THE END!!!!

Newbies....

New Mama and babies...

New breed...(Java's)

New heights and new breed...(BC Maran)

New morning chore...

New "digs" for the Silkies...(they have been moved to the garden)