Uncategorized – The Crafty Farmer

Easter Sunday

Published on April 22, 2019April 22, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

Happy Easter Friends! It was a wonderful laid back morning here at our house. Brunch and I treated myself to a mimosa… or two. It was a little chilly here but the sun finally peeked out around 2 or so. Every Easter we take a walk or ride down to this little spring we have in the back pasture. The kids and dogs love it. It has become some what of a tradition here on the homestead.

We played a little baseball, did some target practice and even snuck in some yard work.

The fun never last’s around here though. Mid way through the kids showers the water completely shuts off. So I tell Eric and he does his thing. He ends up having to go down into the well. We have this creepy man dug well, and you can climb down about 50 ish feet. The well goes farther than that but it has this old metal rung ladder you can climb down on. Anyways he goes down just a little bit to see if something is off, and of course it is. Thankfully he could get it fixed and get our water going.

While replacing the part he drops his electrical tester and some tools. He was not happy about either. Oh well shit happens. I’m just happy he made it out okay, I hate the well, it give me the creeps, I was sick to my stomach the whole time he was down there.

To Do List, + Cuteness Overload

Published on April 19, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

As you know we are making big changes around here. I’ll only be working part time so I’ll have more time to do things on the farm.

During the month of May I’m hoping to…

Build a chicken coop
Build a pen for Pixie
Build a greenhouse from old windows
Build a roadside stand to sell vegetables, eggs and other items
Lots of yard work – We have someone coming to pull about 40 stumps from our yard

I will try and take as many pictures of my projects, I want everything to be as inexpensive as possible all the while looking presentable.

And I’ll just leave all this cuteness right here for ya

Spring is here

Published on April 19, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

I have been MIA for awhile but I’ve been working on making some big changes. I’m quitting my full-time job for a part-time job that’s closer to home and I’ll be working more on the homestead. Hoping that these changes will make the family (and myself) much happier.

It’s calving season and we’ve had FIVE babies so far and two more to go. This is big for us. Last year we only had to two calves. Lots of worry going on around here. When I’m at work there is no one here to help my husband if something goes wrong while someone is in labor. We did have to help two mamma’s get their calf out. Everyone seems to be doing well so far.

So between working and taking care of animals, family, and trying to keep the house clean I haven’t had much time to spend on here.

I’ve starting lots of seeds for my garden. They are currently taking over my house, hoping to build a greenhouse this Spring/Summer, we’ll see though. Next year I’m sure I’ll have more to start and will need a lot more room.

I’ve taken the month of May off before I start my new job. So lots of things I want to get done before June.

Build Chicken Coop
Build Greenhouse from old windows
Lot’s of yard work!!
Work on Blog 😉

Valentine’s Day Fun

Published on February 13, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

Looking for a Valentine’s Day snack to send into school for your kids classroom party? I made a great trail mix to send into school tomorrow. I was able to make three big containers for each of the kids to take in.

Just simply distribute the snacks equally to each container.

I wasn’t real happy with the m&m’s they were really large and not many came in the package. But it was a welcoming change from the usually pepperoni, cheese, and crackers I’m always sending in for class parties.

Friday on the Farm

Published on February 8, 2019February 7, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

This week on the farm the weather was all over the place, snow, freezing rain then more freezing rain. I had more days off than I worked due to weather.

I didn’t get very many pictures this week but hopefully in my future “Friday on the Farm” posts it will be much more interesting!

Have a great weekend everyone!

DIY Command Center

Published on February 6, 2019February 7, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

Are after schools at home crazy? I know it is at my house! Need a Command Center that actually works? Then you’re at the right place.

I’ve been trying different ways to make this less crazy and give the kids more structure once they walk through that door. Usually they toss their crap all over the floor and are complete slobs! ugh! Then I have to nag which turns to me yelling, then I’m the worst mom ever.

I sat down with the kids and had them help me come up with this checklist. I thought that if they helped make the list, they would be more willing to do it.

This is what we came up with…

I’m giving you a free printable so you can try this out with your children!!

FREE PRINTABLE AFTER SCHOOL CHECKLIST

I hot glued a magnet on the clipboard, put the print out in a page protector and then taped it to the clipboard. This way they can use a dry erase marker to check off what they finished and I can swap out their chore.

They are simple chores that don’t take very long. (They helped me come up with the chores too) we wrote them on popsicle sticks and hot glued a magnet to the back of each one.

As for the activities, I wanted them to do something that didn’t have anything to do with their tablets or the TV. I also have those on popsicle sticks and they have to pick them out of a jar. I have ones like, color/draw, perler beads, slime/play dough, kinetic sand, craft (which I’m working on mini crafts for them to do), and read.

This is not a fancy command center, but it’s a practical one that seems to be working great!

Anything important from school goes in the black hanging basket. We have a calendar that we can note any school activities, birthday parties, concerts, and sporting events that are going on. We also have a message board and a corkboard.

The kids have been very excited to come home and use these checklists and see what activity they have. So far they have spent the whole evening doing their activity. Mom win!

Garden Planning

Published on February 5, 2019February 5, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

This morning I’m home with my youngest, she’s been coughing for a few days and don’t want to send her to school like that. So I get to stay home too.

I decided to get my seed catalogs out and start to really think about what I’m doing for a garden this year. How do you plan your garden?

Garden books

While I’m maping out my garden plans I’m also enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Coffee cup2

I’ll be sharing my garden plans with you in just a few short weeks!

Pineapple Birthday Cake

Published on January 18, 2019January 19, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

Pineapple’s and Cacti seem to be all the rage lately and my daughter has jumped right on board with it all.

This month she turned ten. She wanted a pineapple and cactus birthday party. Well, I like to try and save a buck wherever I can, so I decided to make her cake myself! Learned a super easy technique to make her a pineapple cake, made the topper out of an old file folder then ordered cactus cupcake toppers from Amazon, and BAM! Best. Mom. Ever. Well, at least for a few minutes.

Barn Door

Published on January 2, 2019January 1, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

My laundry room is attached to my dining room. Not really ideal but It’s what I have to deal with. So with three children still at home, we have a shit ton of laundry to say the least. It gets thrown in there, dumped in there, piled up in there. It’s the most frustrating thing. Anyway, I’ve been wanting a door to close when the washer is running or we have guest over.

I think I finally have a system down it’s just trying to keep up with it.

And for Christmas my husband built me a barn door. eek!

I still need to stain it but it’s there until spring when I can take it down and get it stained in the garage.

Let me see your barn door. Post picture in the comment section below.

Christmas on the Farm

Published on January 1, 2019 by thecraftyfarmer1Leave a comment

So I’m a little late posting this but still wanted to share my farm themed Christmas tree. I’ve wanted one since we moved into this house and it has taken about three years to do so.