Our Life In The Pacific Northwest....

                            (This years ornament to commemorate the completion of our new barn)                                I love the Christmas season... The family traditions and rituals that we celebrated in Christmas's past live on in our celebrations of today. Now that our three oldest children/girls have homes and families of their own, some of our families traditions will evolve/grow and be carried on.                                          (Our 1st ornament bought 35 years ago)  In our home Christmas usually starts the weekend after Thanksgiving. The hubby brings in the ever growing boxes of decorations and sets up our tree in the stand. After that, the job of decorating falls to me and who ever is home to help. This year our son Nick was home from college and our daughter Ashley and boyfriend Matt were home for Thanksgiving so I had lots of help.                                       (One of my favs, Patriotic Santa)  One tradition I started

One of those old time honored chores, a trip to the wood shed.:( This shed is one of the most important structures on our farm. We cut on average 7-8 cords of wood every Fall for our winter heat. A HUGE money saver for us. Plus the trees we cut in the woods are dead or blown down trees which cuts down on dry brush. From here we store about a 1/2 cord in the garage for convenience which the "Hubby" usually keeps stocked. Unfortunately we went through quite a bit during the last cold snap so... I'm going to load a wheel barrow full for now, and when he gets home he can restock the garage.;) Life here is always about planning and prepping ahead... Have to give credit to the two guys... Cutting the wood is the first step, unloading and splitting goes a lot faster when you have a log splitter and a assistant.

   This is our eleventh winter on the farm.... Much of life here on our farm revolve around projects and scheduled routines. A life that the "Hubby" and I thrive on. When we bought our 20 acres it was a blank slate, just pasture land. We had so many ideas, always keeping in mind to plan wisely as we grow older and someday retire. We drew our dream layout of what our farm would look like in five years. Each year looking back at our design and checking off the projects we completed. The five year plan contained the house, decks and garage, done. The woodshed, done, 20 acres fenced and some cross fencing, done. The small lower barn and tack room, done, lower fruit orchard done, large fenced vegetable garden, done, landscaping surrounding the house, done and chicken house and runs, done. All projects were built and completed by the hubby and I with our son Nick to save money, other then the building of our home and garage.   The one item that wasn't completed in our five