A Beautiful Landscape

I love the landscape in rural upstate New York.  I really love looking at all the different farms and I wonder what they are raising or growing. The pretty landscapes makes our 7 hour trip up to the North Country more palatable.  I hate being in a car that long but to be able to look out the window and see all the different kinds of farms and houses makes it fun!

Each one has a story and is so unique.  I love the big silos.  And especially love it when there is livestock grazing outside.  I really want to pet a cow.  LOL.  They are so cute!

There are also lovely Victorians, this house is one of our favorites.  My husband always says, I want to live there! He says if he ever sees one on sale and it's reasonably priced, we will re-locate there.  :)

Dreaming of a Wood Stove

On the family farm, they have a wood stove that I am so envious of. This stove is not only used to cook meals but also produces enough heat to heat the entire house.  I love appliances that are dual purpose, it's so fantastic!  The hubs and I have been thinking of whether we want to get a smaller stove like this for our own kitchen.  We are planning to gut our "70s" kitchen and think it would be so nice to have a wood burning stove.  The smell of the burning wood is amazing, and the fact that I could cook on it too is really appealing.

Here's the firewood on their front porch.  They get it delivered by the Amish by horse drawn buggy. That must be quite the sight!

Ice Fishing

During our winter visit to the farm, we took one of the days to go ice fishing on Black Lake.  Black Lake is a natural glacier lake, and is one of the best bodies of water in New York for fishing.  All the fishing gear went into a sled and we trekked to the middle of the lake.

Isn't this just gorgeous?

We headed straight for the green fishing shanty in middle of Black Lake.  The shanty was built by my father-in-law's friend. 

The shack / shanty was so cool!  It had a kerosene heater, a portable cook stove, lights, benches, shelves and a table.  He thought of everything it was brilliant!

Here I am in front of the shanty, I really wanted one of these!  I kept thinking, this would make a great garden shed!

I loved their sense of humor, this sign was on the door.  LOL

A photo of the hubs and I.  It started to snow when we were fishing.

The hubs and his dad drilling fishing holes with an auger.  They drilled 18 holes.

Here is the hubs setting up a tip-up with bait.  A tip-up is a jig for ice fishing, you put bait on the hook and then set the flag.  When there is a fish on the hook the flag will go vertical because of the tugging and pulling from the fish on the fish line.

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend setting up more tip-ups.  It was cold outside so two people working on the tip-up makes it go faster.  What is so great about tip-ups is that you can set them up and then go inside the fishing shanty to warm up and wait for the flags to be triggered.

We didn't catch any fish, but our fishing neighbors did.  Here he caught a nice size Pike.  I'm not sure why we were so unlucky, it's a bummer that we didn't catch one fish!

We saw this drawing on a plate hanging inside the fishing shanty.  I'm not sure who drew it, but I thought it was so cute, especially the picture of the squirrels, the rabbit, and duck.   There is a lot of waiting around when it comes to ice fishing, so I guess there's a lot of time to sketch or doodle. 

Feeding the Chickens

When we are at the family farm, I love to be in the barn and be around the farm animals. Here I am in the chicken coop helping with feeding them and giving them fresh warm water. Being that it's -10F out, they need warm water twice a day because the water freezes pretty quickly despite being in the barn. The barn is not heated, but it's a completely covered structure so they are out of the wind and snow. It's still pretty cold in there.

The farm has mostly hens, and 2 roosters.  In total, there's about 50 or so chickens in the coop.  The chickens are free range, they have a little doorway at the bottom of the coop for them to go outside to get fresh air and roam around the farm.  However, being that it's so cold, they mostly stay inside during the winter.  They eat only organic feed and organic vegetables.  Their egg production is less in the winter, but they still produce enough eggs for the family to eat all winter long.  None will be sold.  Eggs are sold starting spring, and they are so delicious.  100% organic and free-range chicken eggs are like no other!  So rich with flavor!

Here's a photo of the nesting box.  The hens take turns using the nesting boxes to lay their eggs.  Sometimes the hens are impatient and lay their eggs on the perching areas.  Hey, when you gotta lay, you gotta lay!