Its hard to believe its been a year since we were downtown Brownsville for our first holiday celebrations here.  Brownsville has a great weekend the beginning of each December to kick off the holidays and we have a new tradition of making and giving out fresh popcorn at the art center.  It really draws people in.  We were there again this year.

Home for the Holidays (click for more information from the city calendar)

Festival of Trees is a fundraiser for the local food bank.  Each local business donates a decorated tree for auction.  You walk around and visit the trees placing your bid on the clipboard.  Some are amazing!  If you win, you get to take the tree home.

Silent Auction happens each year with items from tickets to the Willamette Valley Country Music Festival, to homemade goods, weekend getaways to the coast, local artist crafts, wine and movie packages.

Library Book Sale happens as well at our adorable little public library.  They had a pretty spectacular Clifford the Dog themed tree for auction!

Christmas Art Market  is a great sale of local artist goods and art at the art center.  This is where we take our popcorn maker.  Its also where Santa is stationed for pictures with Santa

 

I tried to get a few pictures of the day as we went along to showcase all the fun events.  Its really my favorite Brownsville Event.  Here is a little slideshow throughout my day.

Dec 3rd Brownsville (click here for pictures and video of our day)

And….

Side Note here, we had an injured Rosa chicken a few weeks back.  She acted normal but we noticed her leg had a huge laceration.  She went to the chicken vet for quite a few stitches and healed very nicely.  We aren’t sure if a hawk or fox tried to get her and she escaped but either way, she got away and deserved some stitches to fix her up.  Shes happy and doing great.  The vet had a picture to show us when we picked her up….  While under anesthesia, she laid an egg on the table.  Ha!

And here is your daily dose of Layla face!

We miss everyone!  Merry Christmas to you all!

 

Wow, it’s been a while since I have posted.  Nearly all of Spring has whirled right past us.  Things have been soooooo busy. My schedule had been pretty rough for couple months as I was transitioning to a store closer to home and there are many projects around the house we have been working on.  Phase 1 of the remodel is almost complete, garden is mostly in,  the pastures have been mowed down and new animals have arrived, wild and domestic.  We have been busy around here!  The more we clean up, plow down and plant, the more it looks like ours.

Many things have been a buzz quite literally (bzzzz). The status of the orchard trees remain “special needs” due to several years of neglect and no time to prune this year.  Nature however, is determined and everything has flowered, everything has bloomed, everything is showing signs of making food. The plum trees were the first to sprout their leaves and the cherry and apple blossoms were beautiful.  Layla and I have checked each week for signs of progress. Happily we have found the cherries and pears starting as well as Apples and walnuts. Thankfully there has been no shortage of bees around. You can hear them buzzing in all of the trees. Tiny fruit is happening.

 

A few of the Mystery  trees I pruned in the winter (while unsure of what they were), turned out to be gorgeous lilacs. They smell amazing! The largest and purple lilac tree seems to be appropriately placed just outside the office window and in full bloom is an amazing natural mural of flowers. I wish I had gotten a perfect picture to share!  The other tree by the driveway finally bloomed and I still have no idea what it is. It’s the strangest shaped flowers.  I have never seen these before, but I like them a lot.   Just this week the magnolia tree has started to flower.  Right now there is just one flower open and many other blooms looking like they are almost ready.  I can’t wait!

Now back to the remodel. Phase one is nearly complete! We have a hallway! Also, a bigger laundry room and the entire house works like a normal house now.   I can smell my coffee brewing in the morning now that our master bedroom is connected in a normal way.

We also have a few new animals around here now.  There are 4 new little chickens that just joined the big girl coop in the “chicken nursery” side of the coop.  This side is closed and safe feeling but they can still see the big girls. They will live here for a couple weeks while the grow a little bigger and the current girls get used to seeing their cute little faces every morning.  This should make for an easier transition when they are all set loose. The older girls are all laying eggs every day now and singing about their success.  Click here to listen to their song.

  

 

  
We also now have a resident horse named Bentley.  He is renting our front pasture.  A local Brownsville couple are in between houses with no luck house hunting.  His stables he was being kept at closed suddenly and Bentley needed a field to stay in, and we always need a horse to hug.  He’s very sweet and gives long hugs at the fence and rest his head on your shoulder.

Things are looking back to normal around here with work and school. New posts coming soon as the harvests begin! 

We have had plenty of rain! The pond is full and flowing into our little creek and across the back pasture. Layla loves taking a walk down to the pond.  When you open the gate she waits with anticipation then sprints across the property like a racehorse! 

  

 
 This week we explored the pond again and something caught my eye. We have salamanders. Three adorable little aquatic lizard like creatures were wiggling around in the weeds. With all of Layla’s excitement in the water I am surprised she didn’t scare them away!  

In other news…..Nessie has been exploring lots and getting more comfortable. She like to sit in a lap for a bit and surprisingly loves being brushed. Recently she showed us what she has been up to in the shop when she climbed right up on the beam like a catwalk and strutted her stuff.  Now we know what she has been up to! She’s getting in a little bit better shape each day and enjoyed a nice sunny day we had. 

   

   

It’s been dry and cold this week with nights down to 22 degrees. The chickens received an inch and a half of new insulation to the coop for colder nights and Nessie got a new insulated bed.  We haven’t had much time for projects and have been enjoying visits from dear friends. Here is a late post of a couple weeks ago when I discovered two more apple trees by the pond. They are a different variety then the orchard trees, green apples. I had just enough to make apple sauce and it’s delicious!