Never Plant Broom Corn!

So my mom and dad have always had a huge garden. Last year my dad planted a massive amount of broom corn (two rows). If you don't know what broom corn is here is a pic. It is sort of a decorative plant.

It is fun but the worst is having to pull it all out. The roots grow like a web and grow into each other and get really entangled. I finally got it all cleared and now mom has a much more manageable size garden that is coming along great. Here are some of the before and after pictures of the garden.





Here is what the garden looked like in March.

This is the garden now. Mom loves watching the Marten house and her peonies are blooming.

This is the beginning of mom's garden drawers back in March/April.

This is the garden now with great lettuce coming up. Mom's rhubarb has been great this year too.



My brother-in-law built my mom this great garden box over Mother's Day weekend. Now the tomato plants are coming up great!

So now we are working on planting some more flowers and we are getting her shed moved back over next to the house so mom has all her plant things together. 



Hot Days of Spring in Indiana!

Well there has been a lot of activity here at Sugar Run. Mom and I have been very busy. After we finished her bedroom we started working on the office so mom would have a place for her paperwork, computer, crafts, and sewing. We finally got it finished. Here are the before pictures...I didn't get pictures of the full scope of the before but it was basically 35 years of receipts, bills, floppy discs, and family pictures. The best part was pulling out the hideous green carpet!

Before pics & the empty room pics



Dad's old desk



Empty office with shelves removed



Office before with carpet pulled out

Office before with green carpet.

Office empty

Here are the after pictures. It looks a little messy but it is organized chaos. Mom is working hard on organizing all the stuff she wanted to keep. It is coming along really well and we have the desktop computer up and running.

We painted the walls a beautiful "evening glow" yellow to brighten up the small room.

Mom wanted a hard floor so it would be easy to clean after craft projects.

These are the old shelves dad built 30 some years ago. We pulled them off the wall, I stained them, and you put them back up so she has a wall of shelves.

Beautiful view out the window!

Another project we worked on last week was cleaning out the fruit cellar and bringing all of mom's canned food out so she can use it. For those of you that don't know what a fruit cellar is here is a little history lesson and clearly dating our house back pretty far.

A cellar is a type of basement primarily used for the storage of food and drink (especially wine) for use throughout the year. A cellar is intended to remain at a constant cool (not freezing) temperature all year round. Cellars are more common in the UK in older houses, with most terraced housing built during late 19th, and early 20th Century having cellars. These were important shelters from air raids during World War II. In parts of the U.S. that are prone to tornadoes. Cellars still serve as shelter in the event of a direct hit on the house from a tornado or other storm damage caused by strong winds. Cellars were also used frequently used as safe houses during the Underground Railroad during the 19th century. Here is one map showing several routes through Indiana.



Underground Railroad Routes through Midwest


It took several trips and one hot afternoon but we got the cellar emptied. It was always one of my favorite places as a kid and I remember it like yesterday when we would run to the cellar during tornado watches. But now it's just too dangerous to store food there and run outside in the storm. Mom has a great closet under the staircase that is safe for bad weather.

From here it just looks like a small hill in the backyard.

Doorway into the cellar.

Dark and cold.

Dad built these shelves to store food on them.

Steep stairs to climb out of.

All of Mom's empty jars.

We have more pickles than we know what to do with and Mom's pickled asparagus.

We also got into a patriotic mood and decorated for Memorial Day. We are leaving everything up until after 4th of July. I also got a little crafty and spray painted some old milk jugs gray. They are now flower pedestals on the front porch. Mom has all her flower beds planted in the front yard. She was weeding the other day and didn't realize there was a snake about 5 inches from her hand. Could have been ugly but a neighbor friend came over and took it away for us.

Patriotic Porch

Flower bed where a snake was living.

Well that's all for now. I'll have more soon. 

We've Been Busy!

Well I know it's been too long since my last post, almost two months. Mom and I have been very busy since the bedroom makeover. We've finished the office (new paint and flooring) and have a huge amount of the "spare" yellow house cleaned out. We are going to enjoy a nice Memorial Day weekend, watch the 500 race, and grill out a bit. I'll have before and after pictures for you next week. Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all!

Family, Friends & An April Fool's Surprise!

Well we pulled it off! For the last few months my mom's sister Chris, mom's friend Mona, and my sisters and me have been plotting a great April Fool's Surprise for my mom. The plan was hatched and developed by Chris and Mona, and since I moved home, I was in charge of implementing the details without giving too much away.

Since Dad's passing in December we all really wanted to redecorate and refresh mom's bedroom. It wasn't part of the house in the summer remodel and we really wanted it to be a sanctuary for her. Below are a few of the before pictures. They aren't great...not sure what was going on with my camera that day, but nevertheless it gives you a good idea of the before. And yes that is hot red carpet. As I liked to tell my mom, "the 70's called and they want their carpet back!" (she actually picked that carpet out in 1973!)

Before...


Like any bedroom...a bit of clutter



Old blinds...we have new ones but we are waiting to get them installed.

Red carpet with no padding.



All white walls 

So two weeks ago Mom and I pulled all the furniture out of the room. We donated a lot of items to the Boys & Girls Club (which after the amount of donations mom has given them they might name a wing after her!) and we donated the old mattresses to St. Vincent of DePaul. Mom moved upstairs for a few weeks and we told her that Shannon, Erin, me, and the fourth Schenk daughter Mary (my best friend since college) were coming down to help paint on April 2nd (a day after Fool's Day). Well the weekend before we were in Indianapolis for our cousin's baby shower and her sister Katrina hosted. Katrina is a wizard at refreshing furniture and distressing old antique furniture. Mom loved some of the pieces in her apartment so I asked if she could come down and distress mom's bed frame which was originally my Dad's bed frame as a boy.

Mom also wanted the ceiling to be texturized so you can't see any cracks in the ceiling (it is a very old farmhouse after all) and I pulled up all the old carpet so we could have new carpet and PADDING installed.




Room with no carpet...

 Originally the carpet wasn't going to go in until April 5th but they called on April 1st and said it came in early and they could put it in that day. Mom said no because we hadn't painted the room yet but she didn't know about Chris and Mona and that Chris was staying until Tuesday so she would be able to help us move the furniture back in. So I called the carpet guys back ASAP on Friday morning so the carpet would be in and we all just needed to be very careful while painting.

With all the pieces were coming together and mom still had no idea about Chris and Mona's involvement. She thought she would be around all day to help us paint but we had to trick her into taking a shower so she would be ready to go shopping with them. They arrived while she was in the shower and we had already started painting. Everything came together perfect! She was so surprised when she came out of the bathroom. Chris and Mona took her, along with Cole, (the 2 & 1/2 year old grandson with no business being around wet paint) to pick out some new wall hangings and bedding.

The weeks prior mom had selected the paint colors and she wanted to center everything off of her favorite picture of a stage coach which came from my grandfather who worked with the president of Wells Fargo in San Francisco and this picture hung in the office. As a result mom now has a fresh new bedroom which is all her own and makes her feel refreshed and relaxed. After going through so much no one deserves it more. We still have a few finishing touches. There are three new doors (two for the closets and one for the bedroom) which just need to be cut and hung. We also have new blinds for the window to put up. Here are the after pictures...enjoy!



In the corner is another antique piece of my great grandmothers. Her old sewing table is now my mom's bedside table.




Mom's beautiful new bed set with the wonderful distressed bed frame that Katrina did!




In the corner is an old antique desk that once belonged to my great grandmother.




Mom's antique dresser fits perfectly and the new carpet is wonderful to walk on!



Here you can see the lavender accent wall and the stage coach picture. We are still hanging more family photos on the other walls.

We had a wonderful weekend with all the friends and family that helped. It truly was great...we even had some beautiful weather. However, it is rather stressful keeping secrets from my Mom and minimizing the email screen every time she comes in the room. I'm glad this is over and now we are on to the office (so excited to rip up the GREEN carpet!)

We've also been busy the last few days on some other projects around the house. These are for everyone that was down last weekend.



A level towel rack in the old bathroom!




A new shelving unit for the garage so mom can access all her cleaning and gardening supplies easily.

 Thank you again to everyone that contributed. I know someone took pictures of us painting but I'm not sure who so send them along if you didWe are busy as ever and getting ready for some rough weather tonight but will hopefully have some days in the garden. A lot of cleaning up to do outside now! I'll have some new pictures soon.

Signs of Spring!

It has been a busy few days around the house. Mom and Aunt Judi planted a lot of flowers around the house and cut back a bunch of the goose berry bushes. The daffodils are blooming beautifully out front of the house (see below) however they are calling for another shot of snow this week so we are going to enjoy them as long as possible. We also moved one of the bird feeders to the front window so mom can monitor the traffic while she works out on her bike.

We also have mom's garden started for the year. She had a great idea to use the drawers from Dad's old office desk as garden boxes since she doesn't need the huge garden from year's past. She spray painted the drawers green and white and we put layers of manure from the barn, top soil, and compost to make the garden boxes ready to plant. She wants to get the lettuce in ASAP but again with a call for snow this week we might be holding off a week. I think the drawers are a great idea and a wonderful way to still utilize the desk that Dad built over 30 years ago.

Another project I'm working on is clearing out the old garden patch. Its a huge space and Mom is thinking about eventually planting a beautiful meadow out there so that it won't be a lot of maintenance but will still attract insects, bees, butterflies, etc. Before we get there I need to clear out all the old broom corn stalks and old plants from last year. I got the lawn mower out and working and mowed down the asparagus patch so that will be ready to go when they start sprouting but the broom corn is a pain in the ass (although hacking away at it with a hoe is a good stress reliever). Here's the old garden right now. We have the Martin Bird house up too so that's good. I'll post another picture once we have the garden cleared and tilled up.

And now for another sign of spring that's not so nice. Last week was spring break for the local school system and apparently the kids out here had nothing better to do on Saturday night but beat our mailbox up with a bat. So Wednesday we are making our weekly trip to Menard's to pick up a new one and hopefully our neighbor can help us get it in.

So that's what is going on here. Enjoyed a beautiful day of almost 80 degrees and a wonderful breeze. Looks like Wednesday is going to be wet and Thursday is going to be cold and snowy. Hopefully this is the last blast of winter before...TORNADOES! Gotta love Indiana weather :)

I Built A Wheel Barrow!

Ok, so I'm totally going to give myself a big high five here. Tuesday Mom informed me that we needed a wheel barrow so on our weekly trip to Menards we looked at wheel barrows. It hadn't crossed my mind before but wheel barrows don't come in one piece. If you ever wondered, this is what they look like...

So needless to say I was a bit worried since I'd never assembled a wheel barrow before and it's usally something I would have done with my dad. But, I think he would be rather proud as it only took about an hour or more to put it together. The end result is...

So if you ever find yourself in need of assembling a wheel barrow you know who to call!

I See Semen!!

I thought that would get your attention! No it's not what you think. I'm organizing and documenting all the dairy goat and cow semen we have in the semen tanks so we can sell it or at least figure out what to do with it. For those of you unaware...artificial insemination was going on with livestock long before humans. Livestock semen can be very valuable depending on the quality of the bucks/bulls offspring. My dad collected many things, and yes, that included livestock semen. We have two semen tanks that have to be filled every three months with liquid nitrogen to keep the semen frozen until it's ready to be used. Since breeding season won't be here until the fall I'm hoping to sell as much semen this spring and summer and make some profit. I've gotten through the smaller tank but still have the big tank to itemize and figure out what all is in there.

It's been hard going through some of the papers and looking back on pictures of showing the goats, remembering all the great times we had at shows. I guess it's just all part of the process and since I'm the most familiar with the farm I don't think my dad would want anyone else to go through it but me.

Projects!

It's finally warming up a bit in the Midwest. Mom and I are starting to work a little more on projects in and around the house. We are having a few neighbors over for dinner tonight and mom is cooking duck!  I think after next week she'll have the taxes behind her and we'll be working on revamping her bedroom. Shannon, Erin, and I are going to be painting it the weekend of April 1st and we're getting new carpet and a new mattress for her. We'll be starting some of the gardening soon as well. I'll keep you posted as things go along. I'll try to get more pics as well. Stay tuned!

Tax Time!

So it's been a busy week of errands and meetings so we are stepping on the brake a bit with the clean out until mom has all your paperwork together for taxes. I'm still working on cleaning out the office a bit at a time and trying to do a few things in mom's bedroom while she works on taxes. It's been a productive week but just not much in terms of pictures. It looks like a pretty overcast and rainy weekend so we are working inside. I'm looking forward to next week. I should be warmer and I'll be out in the barn a bit taking pictures of the equipment. Gotta figure out what some of that stuff is! I'll have more next week.

Busy Few Days!

Since last I posted Mom and I have been busy around the homestead. Mom's getting things in order to get her flowers and plants started as soon as the weather warms up. We've continued to clean out the office with the help of Mom's best friend Mona coming down on Friday. Five hours and three people we really put a dent into it. It's amazing to go through all the stuff my dad kept over the years. It's certainly emotional to go through all the stuff but therapeutic at the same time. He kept just about every single birthday and Father's day card my sisters and I gave him, as well as all the cards m mom gave him. It's crazy to look back at what I wrote him when I was a little girl and realize how much it means now.

Mom's looking at the room in a different way and really excited about it being a functional space for her to do paperwork and enjoy the beautiful view of the barn. While I didn't get an accurate before and after pic of the clean out here is a picture with the desk cleared off and another with the desk out of the room. I think within another week we'll have the whole thing pretty cleared out! A paint job and new carpet and the room will be completely new and go along with the rest of the house. Can't wait for mom to be able to really use it and get her dinning room table back!

After clean out - before desk is gone

Desk gone!

We also sold 18 bales of hay today and made another massive trip to the dump. About 6 trash bags of stuff this time. We are looking into renting a dumpster for the next few months to make things easier as the clean out continues.