A visit to Calovine Farm

 Last Thursday we had the opportunity to visit Calovine Farm just down the road (about 40minutes) from us in Williston...Lady Farmer Ruth was wonderful and gave us a tour of her farm and all her lovely animals...We came away with a better understanding of how much more we need to get done before we bring sheep onto our property....But this was not the only reason for our visit...Ruth has generously agreed to allow me to use one of her lambs in an upcoming photo event I am hosting at my place.

 She breeds St Croix...A meat breed that has hair not wool and more suited to the Florida climate...They not require shearing because they shed their winter coat in the spring.

 She also breeds St Augustine hybrid sheep, but alas I did not get any photos of those lovely ewes because,  wally that I am, I left my camera backup battery in the car.

This is one of her very Handsome Rams.

And her new  Great Pyrenees  puppy...yes puppy, he is but 12months old and just as sweet as can be...that is unless you are an intruder or predator then look out....I dream of the day we have enough sheep to warrant owning such a wonderful animal to protect them.

Anyone that knows me knows I am a sucker for a Jack Russel...

This little guy a wire hair was just too cute for words..

We had picked up Sara straight from Head Start and headed over to the farm...I did pack her a change of cloths but she would only agree to switch to her boots...She was so funny, climbing up on the hay bales and yelling..."Take a photo of me"....makes me wonder if I spend to much time pointing cameras at this kid hehe...Notice the disheaveled hair and dirty knees...She had a blast running (crawling) around with all the dogs...Picking flowers for Miss Ruth and just loving being on a true working farm.

Can't wait to visit again....So inspired and encouraged that my dream of raising sheep in FL WILL indeed come true..

Blessings Kelsie

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First pear blossoms for 2012

Wow can you believe it is that time of year here again already....I *heart* pear blossoms...Shame they smell so bad or I could have branches of them in vases all over my house.

Blessings Kelsie

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Around the Farm update....

I know I have kinda been neglecting my farm related updates...Not because I am neglecting the "farm" but because I am trying to juggle all my regular chores, the extra attention needed for Rocky and trying to get my ducks in a row for the photography...so anyway here is a quicky off the top of my head update.

Thursday afternoon we are head over to visit Callview Sheep Farm to get a tour and meet some lambs...This is a double duty trip because we are going to be looking at their set up and what it takes to raise hair sheep...possibly adopt a bottle baby 4month old lamb who is to small for breeding and needs to be culled from the herd...Plus looking at the new born lambs for me to borrow for my Easter Photo Booth next month...so it is both farm and photography related...excited much?? you better believe I am...Will be sure and take a camera :)

Oh our boy Rocky...Snapped this photo of him last night with my phone...he has 2 favorite toys...the chicken "dolly" shown and a pink Disney Princess ball he has laid claim too...such a manly dog lol....He has also been a little naughty about chasing cats and chickens still...and yesterday to be honest I was ready to find him a new home...Instead...He (we...the entire family) will begin Dog Obedience classes next Thursday....Then if (when) those have been completed and we are all bonded and well trained we can think about going to a sheep herding clinic later in the year...Here's hopin'

Chickens are still laying well and roaming our 5acres and the neighboring 55 acres of hay field...truly free range chickens at our house...Bless her little heart, yesterday Sara was so excited to find 8 eggs in the nest she came running back to the house to show me...stumbled up the steps, scrapped her knee and egged my front porch...OH how she cried over those broken eggs...she did not even care about her bloody knee...that girl is a true farmer.

Hubby has already put 150 corn seeds in the starter trays...we have about 20 pks of organic tomato seed that was given to us to also get started....also cucumber, squash (zuc) and peppers...think I am going to plan to just keep to these basics this yr with a few herbs thrown in for good measure....oh and lots of onions...I think hubby plans to put them in the ground tomorrow.

Poor hubby has mountains of trees to put thru the wood chipper (Nancy) and still plenty more clearing to do.

Not sure where our fencing budget lies right now...or if hubby is going to talk with the neighbor about this project or not...Sometimes you just got to stop asking because the non-commital answers of the other party is likely to drive you nuts.

I would be so happy if we could get the feed shed and new chicken coop built...Maybe the photography $$$ will help get this project under way...it really just requires the wood to build the frame because I would like to recycle the materials we are pulling off of the old barn...slowly slowly.

ummm I think that is about it...the front gardens are a mess, my herb garden is stripped bare....why??...one words...CHICKENS....Oh how I dream about fences lol.

Blessings Kelsie

Up and running...Ready or not...

I have spent the last week trying to get things in order for this new venture I am undertaking...I have had long talks with hubby and lots AND LOTS of second thoughts about whether I am up for this...Do I really have the talent to be a portrait photographer??

It is one thing to take photos of my own kid/s...but to get paid to take photos of other ppls kids??

Regardless I took the plunge...I ordered new software to help streamline and improve my photo editing...yup, after all these years I am finally caving in and getting an Adobe product again...Photoshop Elements 10....Actually pretty excited to get my hands on it...From what I have read in my research it should give me those functions that I have coveted about the new Photoshop that I do not have in my current Fireworks MX software..

 My first Family Shoot on Sunday went great...They were so much fun to work with and today I handed over her final Photo Disk...So feel really good about that...and have a few more ppl wanting shoots just have to lock in some dates...

I am going to host a Easter Photo Booth in March and do some mini photoshoots with kids and baby animals....Lil Sara helped out as a model in the booth mock-up today...

I started a separate blog/site for the photography 

http://photographyourcountryhome.blogspot.com/

Please stop by and show me some love :)

and of course Facebook.

Business cards and model release forms are next on the todo list.

So Ready or Not...HERE I COME.

Blessings Kelsie

PS: to all the dear friends that responded to my now deleted vent, thank you from the bottom of my heart...Sometimes we just need to get it out to a girlfriend or two 

My Happy Mess

 Is this mess not a lovely sight to see??

Called a GF this morning to see how she was going with the final touches for her Daddy's wedding tomorrow and found out she was in need of some clips for the bridesmaids hair....Being so last minute the last thing she has time for is shopping for such things....So I did what any friend would do...

I asked her what colors and is there a theme?...She told me the girls are in yellow sundresses, denim jackets and boots...Yup, country cute for sure ♥...And this is what I came up with.

So with that out of the way I better git back to my house work and prepping for the Photoshoot I have booked this weekend...Excited much?? You betcha

Blessings Kelsie

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Old Water Pump

Hubby and I went location scouting this morning while taking Rocky for his morning run....Can't share those photos with you, because shhhh they are for a secret photoshoot...But on the way home I did snapped a couple of farm photos to share.

Love this pallet with John Deere stamped on it...and it is mine...YAY @ neighbors that let me have their trash.

Believe it or not this old water pump works...It was the one used to irrigate the watermelon fields last year.

I have a feeling they have had this baby for just a few years.

What is not to love about a rusty old gauge panel...for some reason it makes me think of the Tom Baker Tardis.

Blessings Kelsie

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Rocky, COME!

Snapped this while working with Rocky this morning in the back field...We practiced him returning on command...As you can see by the photo he would return as fast as he could...He is not loosing his head as much during these outings and today we got back to the house without him taking off in pursuit of a cat or to round up the chickens...

You might also notice the new watermark on the photos, this is because I have been branching out and doing some portrait photography using our small little farm as the backdrop...I even have a shoot booked for this weekend and many other exciting things planned.

If you would like to see the photoshoots I have already done and/or follow on Facebook I would love you to come "LIKE" my page.

https://www.facebook.com/OurCountryHome

Also thank you to everyone that has sent comments these past few weeks...I have been sadly neglectful in responding or leaving comments during my return visits...I want you to know I do appreciate all the love and support from blog land...You ladies often help to keep me sane.

Blessings Kelsie


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Wasted time?

So I spent most of yesterday creating a lovely wedding gift...At least I think it is lovely...I would show it to you but then it would spoil it for the bride...Who is now a married woman.

I picked out my outfit and shaved my legs.

I stayed up after the wee one finally dozed off last night to give myself a Mani-Pedi so I could wear my cute little sparkly pink flip flops with my cute little pink and white dress....All the time hoping that I was going to wake up today feeling refreshed and renewed, no longer suffering laryngitis.

Instead I awoke coughing and hacking even worse, I am tired and fell ick and just want to sit on my butt and do nothing...We skipped the wedding because I was just not up to the drive (I get car sick on drives over 30minutes) on top of the sore throat, pounding head and now exhaustion...Sadly 3yr olds are not very sympathetic when mummy is sick...

Oh and if that is not enough, we discovered someone (prob the stray cat as it was left right outside the hole to under the trailer where he lives) dragged home a road kill possum (or big dead mouse as lil Sara refers to it) that just smelled lovely...yup even all stuffed up with allergies I could still smell it.

So blah and bar-humbug today officially stinks....Well almost completely, at least I got to spend an extra day this week with my sweet hubby who had got the day off for the wedding...and my tootsies look cute :)

Blessings Kelsie

  

Walking the dog...

Took the new dog Rocky, out to run on the 12acres behind us...The original plan had been to work on voice commands with him today, but I am suffering my 6monthly bout of seasonal laryngitis, so that was off the table. But I figured he could at least get a good run...Sadly once we got out there I could not take him off of the lead because the stupid cat followed and he is not a cat friendly dog....Yet.

He is now running freely in a 25x50 pen and not on a chain all the time, so I am happy about that....The goats like to wander up to the shared fence and visit with him....Still not ready to mix them together without a dividing fence. So far he has not shown any aggression towards the goats and seems to enjoy the company...He did give chase to the chickens the other day when I was not home...Hubby said he did not try and actually catch them, just ran at them...My guess is he was probably trying to herd them them.

So as you can see he is getting lots of interaction throughout the day...I just wish there was someone I knew of close by that actually trains working dogs so they could teach me how to teach him.

Blessings Kelsie

These are a few of my favorite things...

Yesterday after school Lil Sara put on her favorite dress and favorite cowgirl boots before we headed out to help with the new goat fences....

 How could I resist but to grab my favorite camera and capture a few fun snaps before we got to work?

These images show so many of my favorite things that I just had to share....

Warm afternoons even in Feb.

Wide open spaces for us to play in.

Hay bales to sit upon.

Girly pink, mixed with country chic.

My little girl...

All pitching in to get the work done..

Silly moments that make me laugh...

Blessings Kelsie

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