Spring Time!

It was a long, cold winter in Minnesota this year an while we did a bunch of work in the house, I fell out of practice of posting. Now that the weather is nice, I am looking forward to getting back into the practice




I have always loved tulips, especially white tulips. There is something exiting about seeing them come up in Spring. I love how their heavy blooms sit on top of those stems, which keep growing after they are cut. i love the green of the leaves, I really love everything about about them. Having been an apartment city dweller, I have not had much chance to plant gardens with an eye to what they would look like in 10-15 years.

Things are different at Bunbury. Here we are planting things and letting them grow, just to see how they look in a space. Last fall I planted a couple hundred tulips in different area. Some at the edge of the meado, which were beautiful, some by the backporch, which did not come up in the numbers I had hoped, but as the picture above shows, the ones that did come up are beautiful.



Tulips are not the only things coming to life at the farm. Hostas, lily if the valley, day lilies, violets, ferns, and, of course, the apple trees. The apple trees are covered in bloosoms this time of year. It is hard to walk by the apples and not smile.

We have a dining room table on a smally patio near the apples and it has become a favorite spot for me to sit and have coffee while the dogs do their morning business in the nearby woods. The barn is visable in the picture beyong the trees, the chicken coop sits nearby.

At the edge of the lawn behind the chicken coop, where it meets the woods, I have started to build a rock wall with stones I find in the woods and out in the field. It is slow going, but taking shape. The tulips that really did well were planted behind this wall, so I am planning on adding a couple hundred bulbs this fall.




The adirondack chairs were a wedding gift from my Dad last year, and are a favorite place for him when he visits. The chairs face west, so it is a relaxing spot to end the day.




The flower beds on the south side of the house were not touched at all last year and are rather overgrown. there are some peonies, lilies and these pretty little white flowers that I am planning on keeping.





The kitchen opens to a small porch that has a view of the woods. This is also an excellent place to relax with a cup in the morning. It is a peaceful spot, chickens, frogs peeping, the occasional pheasant screech are all that fill the air. The diverging roads in the wood behind the house have been made by brush being pulled out as we clean the space up.





We are looking forward to Spring and Summer, glad that warm nights are back. Hopefully I will be able to stick to my resolution of posting more often.

Holidays at the Farm

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas at Bunbury Farm. Decorating the property is a rather daunting task. I thought the boxes and boxes of outdoor decoration I had for my place in Uptown would be just fine.
I have found that I will need a couple more light bulbs for next year.

There are so many places that call out for something sparkly. Windows that need wreaths, there are 25 windows at Bunbury, we have 8 doorways that also need wreaths, boughs of evergreen are called for on the railing of the house, the railing of the bridge, all the split rail fences and the along the stable.


The pond has frozen over, which made hanging the decorations on the bridge easier. I added much more "bling" than I would normally, but it still seems to disappear when I am up at the house.


Next year will be flashier, and I really want a giant wreath for the barn.



The chicken coop is missing a wreath on the door in this picture, but they do have single wreaths hanging from silver ribbons on their windows, so they know they are included in the holiday spirit.



While the chicken coop got silver ribbon, we used red satin ribbon for each wreath, in all the windows. You know how flashy chickens can be!



The bough on the porch are really pretty, the house looks especially nice from the road, viewed through the evergreens. Next year we will go bigger and brighter, I am already looking into solar powered options, but for now this is Christmas at Bunbury Farm, year 1.
















And it is perfect.

Reasons for Thanksgiving

Winter has arrived at Bunbury in time for Thanksgiving. Getting the Farm together for winter has been a great excuse to not keep the blog updated, but now that the winter is here I hope to be more active about farm life here.






A few weeks back, while leaves were still falling we had a group up for an Autumnal gathering. pumpkin painting, pinata's, chicken feeding and good times with friends filled the day.



It was a wonderful afternoon, and so great to see friends from across the country.


The chickens have been producing eggs, we now have white, brown and green eggs everyday



They are wonderful additions to our table and the tables of many of our friends.

Hope everyone has as many wonderful things to be thankful for as we do this year.

First Egg!

Well after 3 months of nuturing and loving the chickens,they have rewarded us with a perfect egg! the first of many I am sure.

I never thought that I would get so excited about an egg, but then I never was so connected the the creator of the egg.

Thank you Ladies



The egg is now safe in the house, waiting for Peter to come home and see it.


One last look at the amazing egg outside the henhouse.

time flies

I am not sure where the summer has gone. It is expected to frost here tonight, so all the plants that will be wintering indoors made the trip today. we have also bee winterizing the chicken coop. putting up storm windows, planting bulbs, it seems I have been doing everything except blogging lately.


Autumn has been beautiful in Minnesota this year, the sugar maples have been putting on an amazing show. It is our first Autumn in the country and there is not a day that goes by where we do not find ourselves grinning with delight that we get to live here.





There has been a lot of work going on inside the house, more pictures on that at another time.




Right now it is just nice to enjoy the short but beautiful days we have here on the farm.

a place to stop and sit

Moving to the country was a big shift. Until May I lived in the heart of Uptown, Mpls, near lakes filled with activity and surrounded by running paths and Sunbathers. The high end grocery store, Lunds, was a short walk away as was the hub of Upton, Lake and Hennepin. I couldn't leave the house with running into someone I knew and loved that there was always something to distract me from life.

Life changed with the move to the country. Recently married and living together for the first time we had to learn to adjust to schedules and habits, and of course there was the career change to add to the excitement.

During all of this I am learning to relax. To take some time to slow down and enjoy the land, watch the chickens, keep tabs on tadpoles becoming frogs, just chill. the perfect furniture to relax on has always been wicker. So, on a recent trip to my folks in New York I brought back, among other things, my Grandmother's wicker.





A perfect fit for the stable, it has been a favorite shady place to escape the heat and read a bit, listen to music, or nap. I quickly recovered the cushions using some awning stripe material and a staple gun. There are three more chairs to paint, they are big ones, the rocker needs to be recovered and there is a large side table that needs a bit of repair and paint, but it is a good start.

So, if you are in the neighborhood of Bunbury, let me pour you an Arnold Palmer and we can watch the grass grow.

On second hand, if you are coming over there are a couple projects I could use a hand with...

What are you asking for on this old box?

Peter was working today, so in order to escape working around Bunbury for a while I headed off to a little antique mall in Osceola, Wisconsin. Dad is coming next week and the guest room needs to be closer to "finished" and there was a need for a bedside table.
Sadly the majority of the "antiques" were manufactured by the Corning Company for their Corelle line...not a lot there. Feeling a little annoyed at the contents of the antique store, I headed home and drove past a thrift store with a giant white stuffed panda outside. Figuring that sometimes things can be found in the oddest places I went in. the shelves were filled with thrift store dregs, coffee cups, candle holders that cam in floral arrangements, nothing good. Behind the counter a young man in a Led Zepplin t, with blond dreds was talking to a friend. On a whim, I asked if he had any tables, and he took me into the locked next door storage area where there were 2 bad dining room tables. As I was about to leave I spotted THIS out of the conner of my eye



a nice little wooden chest, looked to be about the right size for a bedside table. There was something different about it, but I didn't want to pay TOO much attention before I knew the price.

"What are you asking for on this old box", I casually asked. the young man thought about it, said his mom wanted it, although there was another, plastic, box in the shop she could store stuff in, then said...

"Would 6 dollars be ok?"

I said that would be fine. :)



The box is an old mechanics case. On the back was a name plate for the owner



and the lifted back reveals a series of drawers




and when the lid is lifted, more storage




It is now cleaned, oiled and placed in the guest room, where it fits perfectly. As soon as the room is settled I will post a picture. I love a good find!