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Now my husband already proclaims that my chickens are the most loved (re: spoiled) chickens in the world but I have to tell you, they need a new coop. The one they currently reside in has always been a temporary fix until my farmer had the time to build the coop of my dreams and, lets be honest..the more time he takes, the bigger my dreams get 😉

Its not that their current coop isn’t safe or comfortable. Trust me, I requested Fort Knox before I could leave them in there and minus the one fateful day of the Chicken Rodeo, my chickens have been safe and sound! Its just more..well…about the looks of it and the space. They have enough room for themselves but if I am ever to add more chickens, they won’t have enough room to roost let alone peck around the pen!

You see, their current {temporary} coop looks like this:

Its safe, it keeps them warm at night and dry from the natural elements but, lets be honest, its a bit of an eye sore! Now, most people respond with, “So what, they’re just chickens”. But they aren’t just chickens to me…they’re my pets..and I really, really love them 😉 I want a barn style coop (we farm grains but no livestock so, sadly, we have yet to have an actual red barn in the yard..don’t worry though, I’m going to change that!) and I want doors from the outside to collect eggs if I don’t want to walk in and disturb any layers while in their nesting boxes. I want a bigger coop so they have plenty of space to roost while I walk around and check things out. I want a bigger pen for them so they can have space to forage and peck. I want a roost outside as well for them to laze around on hot summer days while feeling safe & content (the reason roosts are off the ground is because chickens only truly feel safe if they are off the ground at night)…I want, I want, I want…lol

Okay so I may be crazy but I really have dreams of a sweet coop such as this..

 
Am I crazy? Maybe so. But I figure, I live on a farm with tons of space and I have a hubby and a dad that love to build and can make some amazing things..so, why not? Will it happen this winter? Who knows..but I can see a shiny new red barn in my chickens future..they’ll never know what hit them!
 
And, once our new coop comes to fruition..I saw this and it made me swoon, I really think its such a cute idea..putting their names on the door. You know, spruce it up, make it homey 😉
 
 
Speaking of names..I want to name my hen house but I want something clever! I’ve been thinking of the Cluckhouse but I think I’d like something else better..I mean, The Egg Plant {above}..now thats clever! Any ideas my friends?! I’d love to hear them!!
 
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I’m so sad that its time to trim down the stems, rake up the wilted flowers and pull up the stakes to store again until next Spring. The Summers can never be long enough to satisfy my love of flowers in the backyard but, I must admit, its a nice feeling to have worked so hard in Spring & rewarded our family with such delicious farm to table goodies all Summer long. Now the garden is bare and we’re enjoying the crunch of leaves underfoot, anticipating the first snowfall that could come visit us any day now.

My garden was a pure joy for me this year. It was my first vegetable garden and I loved every minute of it. It was so exciting to see what grew well, what failed and how much I learned in the course of just a few months. It was my haven, my sanctuary and my place to get out of the house and think while I surrounded myself with the scents of fresh tomatoes on the vine, rich sweet peas growing up the trellises and watched my pumpkins ramble about the corn and grow in every which way.

 
I would sit amongst the zinnias and watch as bumblebees hopped from one stem to another and would be amazed at how gorgeous they were..
 
 
I planted 4 long rows of potatoes (I plan on growing even more next year – we sure love our potatoes) and I can still remember the day I reached in to that dirt and grabbed out my first new potato! I was so excited, I ran to find Adam just to show him!! We feasted on the best tasting potatoes all summer long and, thankfully, we’ll do so well in to the winter now that they are freshly harvested and ready to go!
 
 
I learned that next year I want to try brussel sprouts for sure and I think I’ll wave goodbye to the Swiss Chard, which we really never ate (flea beetles attacked it early on and it just never seemed appealing after that!) But I will continue to grow tomatoes (cherry tomatoes and a few beefsteaks for sure, no more romas..they took way to long to ripen and weren’t that sweet!), definitely green and yellow beans again..they were so creamy and delicious!
 
 
Next year I will try my hand again at popcorn & sweet corn but when I plant it, I’ll make sure it goes in earlier and gets way more water than it did this year. Being I had a temporary garden, we made due with a couple of sprinklers that did their best but my garden could’ve used a lot more water with the size it was!!
 
And next year I am definitely growing pumpkins again, although I think I might grow them separate from the rest of my patch as they took over my tomato cages and even some potatoe plants!! I’ll research pumpkins more this winter to see how to get ginormous ones for carving as, although mine turned out sweet & cute..they’re more for baking up delicious pies than spooking the neighbors 😉
 
 
If you planted a garden this Summer I hoped you reveled in every moment in it. I hope you took the time to sit back, relax and actually enjoy the fruits of your labor as well. I’m thinking a nice sturdy old rocking chair on the back porch is a requirement of any gardener 😉 Gardening is such a rewarding hobby to have and I can honestly say I’m already planning and dreaming up my garden for next year!! So if you’re interested, I’ve got a pot of cranberry cider simmering on the stove and some new seed catalogues to pour over. Come on over and help yourself!!
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  • dawn - Hi Dawn, this is such a great post. I can feel the love for your garden in your words. This was fun for me this year too in the garden. My hubby is the main gardner but I like looking and taking pictures of it all. This is the last of our garden too. Makes me sad when it’s time to see it go and get till it down for the spring.
    I’m very impressed with your veggie garden and how good everything came out. BE PROUD AND BRAG!!! Great job on the pumpkins, lots of good ones you have. They do tend to take over the garden don’t they, lol
    Enjoy your harvest thru the winter and spring will be here before you know it.ReplyCancel

  • penny - You should be SO proud of yourself and your garden. I wondered if you would be overwhelmed by the work that goes into harvesting all those wonderful growing things ….you seem to revel in all of it :-) The Romas are great for making tomato sause based dishes, thats why I grow so many. I spoke with an older lady that recommended Oxhart tomatoes. Will look for them next year.
    Your garden was a work of art…as is you photography!ReplyCancel

While Americans celebrate their Thanksgiving in late November, the holiday has always landed in early October for us Canadians..and today is the day!! Growing up, I always saw ads/commercials for American thanksgivings and was always jealous at how celebrated it is there. Here, in Canada, we do the celebratory dinner complete with turkey and all the fixins, but it just seems to really hit home way more South of the border!! I have always dreamed of hosting my own Thanksgiving dinner, having family & friends at my dinner table and, once we get in to our farmhouse and settled in, I really hope we can do so! I think it would be so nice to plan the meal, shop for all the requirements and prep the food, just like my mom and grandma did for us growing up..I think its time to take over & return the favor 😉

I have loved the above Norman Rockwell photo for years. It symbolizes what Thanksgiving and life is really all about, family. To be blessed with a loving family that you can sit around a table full of delicious food and laugh and share stories is what it really is all about, isn’t it?!!
 
Now that I am married, live in the country and have this romantic view of our farm life, I truly feel holidays will be that much more if I can get everyone together here at our farm for fun filled weekends full of laughter, food and tall tales. Theres just something about living on a farm, I can’t explain it!! In fact, I have already requested a dinner bell off our front porch to ring and call in the family whenever dinner is on the table..how fun would that be?
 
DING DING DING….. DINNER!!!!
 
this was taken this past Summer at the farmhouse in Heritage Park, LOVED this dinner bell 😉
 
 
Now, truth be told, I have never made a turkey before. I mean, I helped mom a few times here and there but never have I made one from scratch on my own! Sure, I’ve roasted chickens before..but only recently. And yes, you can guarantee I’d still want my mom in the kitchen with me if they were to come to the farm for Thanksgiving, but thats all part of the fun!!
 
 
So today, if you are Canadian..I hope you put on your cutest aprons and enjoy the day with your family! I can smell the turkey already…Mmmm, Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!!
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  • dawn - Happy belated Thanksgiving!!! This is my favorite holiday of all, can’t wait till ours in November. I loved reading this and hearing the excitment for this big day. Some people are nervous and dread the cooking they have to do, not you though.
    I’ve never cooked a turkey either, my sweet hubby cooks almost all our dinner. He gets up early and puts the bird in and comes back to bed. We use to just eat dinner at my moms and take home leftovers. That just wasn’t enough for us so now we make our own dinner and go to my moms too.
    The only things I do is make devield eggs, bake beans, cranberry sauce from the can and the pie. It’s making my mouth water just writing this. CAN’T WAIT!!!
    I can see you cooking your own dinner one day and ringing the dinner bell, those are cool.
    Oh and we love love the leftovers for the next 3 days it’s all we eat, lol.ReplyCancel

I have been meaning to write this post for months now. I know many of you are curious and have asked for a photo tour of our current lodgings and, today is that day!! As I have mentioned previously, we have a bit of a different setup going on here at the Cosgrove farm. When I first met Adam, they had started the beginnings of building a monolithic dome in the yard that would be his parents’ dream/retirement home. They wanted something different and efficient, and they came up with a Monolithic Dome Home. After touring the established domes in Texas, they drew up plans of their own and began building a dome of a home 😉 What they came up with is 2 x 60 foot tall domes that are connected by a saddle. But, because we are farmers first and foremost…this has been quite the process! Two years later and we are hoping to have this project completed come Spring.

Since Adam & I met and quickly fell in love, our timeline didn’t exactly fall in line with that of the dome and once we got married, we knew we needed a home of our home {I lived with my inlaws for 3.5 months} So the decision was made to complete the ‘family room’ that sits over top their garage and make it in to a temporary ‘apartment’ for Adam & I to live in until the rest of the dome was completed. Once this happens, we will renovate the old farmhouse to our liking and then and only then, will we finally have things straightened out and normalized around here, and I can tell you with 100% certainty that all parties involved are very excited for that day!! Every time I walk in to the old farmhouse I dream up what I want to do with it, colours to paint it and fixtures to change..darlin’, its going to be fun!!

Until then, we live in a lovely & comfortable 2,000 sq ft ‘apartment’, finished with temporary OSB walls and sparce lighting that we balanced with a multitude of tall light fixtures that allows us to live in the light:)

Okay, here we go. Welcome to the tour!! Upon arrival at our farm you will notice the dome to the East of the driveway..

 
It look like 2 ginormous igloos in the middle of the prairies, don’t it? I love the front windows though, my mother in law will be heaven when she gets to cook and stare out those windows!! The colour of the house is not its forever colour, this is strictly its shell..which will later be finished off with stucco and stone!!
 
The other side faces tree rows and the highway that runs past our farm. There isn’t a garage door in it just yet {its completely sealed off with these tarps though!} but I have to giggle when I see these..don’t they look like 2 little piggies watching out over the highway?
 
 
This dome here is where we currently reside! That open window is my craft studio and the one further down is our bedroom
 
Now this is our deck from which we get to enjoy quite the beautiful view from morning to night! Eventually it will have a railing and be finished off, but again..this is a work in progress
 
 
Alright, lets come inside now!!! If we walk in through the garage door you will see my father in laws future drive thru 4 car garage. He’s pretty excited about this one, let me tell you!! Currently it holds our building supplies and tools, every saw, drill and hammer that they own can usually be found in here!
 
 
Alright, now through the garage doors we walk under the saddle and in to the 2nd dome. This will be the main hub of the home. The kitchen, living room, dining area, master bedroom and guestrooms, laundry room, office will all be situated in this dome. Currently the main floor is framed and, starting next week the 2nd floor will be started as well!
 
 
 
From the second floor {which houses guestrooms, bathrooms and my MIL’s craft room} they will have this beautiful view that overlooks the kitchen, living room and outside
 
 
Alright, now how about a peek in to our ‘apartment’? Come on up!! The view you receive the minute you open our door is of the beautiful windows that look out on to our deck and beyond. I purposefully made this photo dark so that you could really see the windows!
 
 
Upon coming through the door, if you look to your left you will find this cozy little nook full of photos, decorations, books and a sturdy old coat hanger to hang your wares
 
 
To the right of this photo is our bedroom door. Its not much but its a private space that we get to crawl in to every night. and let me tell you theres a lot to be said about having that space all to yourselves when you just need a little peace & quiet!
 
Just as you walk in is our comfy living room area..
 
 
Behind the tv wall is the door to our bedroom at left and at the right is my craft studio area. I am telling you now that a photo of that space has not been included in this tour..its as though a craft bomb has exploded and the maid just hasn’t been around 😉 So…we’ll save that space for another day, m’kay?
 
And behind the living room is our dining table and kitchen..
 
 
And right beside the kitchen is my sweet old Singer sewing machine. An inheritance from my paternal grandmother. I’ve adorned it with photos of all our grandparents {plus our very first photo together} I’d love to include our parents and other famiy members but I don’t have any more space on here and I do not want to put holes in their walls..just one more thing to add to my to do list at the farmhouse!}
 
 
and just to the right of this is our bathroom. But I didn’t take a photo of it because a bathroom is a bathroom 😉
 
And there is a little peek in to our crazy homelife!! To answer anticipated questions: the shell was blown up using aeration fans and then foamed with polyurethane foam. Then rebar was attached to all sides, followed by approximately 3 inches of concrete. This home has in floor heating on the main floor and thats it..no furnace, no air conditioner..it doesn’t need it! The concrete makes this home so green, its incredible!
 
Now, as for me..I have always dreamed of having a home like in the movie Stepmom, can you picture it? Here..I found a photo:
 
 
So although my tastes run more Queen Anne/Victorian..this home has definitely grown on me! Adam would like to one day build a dome home of our own and I’m definitely not there yet {I don’t want to give up on my dream home!} Adam is convinced he can create a home that we both will love. Until that day though, I’m perfectly content in settling in to our old farmhouse and cozying it up to our liking. I have big dreams for making that place a true farmhouse..I can’t wait!!
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While up North fishing, we came across the most delicious wild blueberries I have ever tasted. I couldn’t believe their abundancy in a place that feels as though nothing could possibly thrive, but they were truly everywhere (which is probably why we never saw a bear near camp, he had enough food to feed him for a long time!)
 
One sunny afternoon, we parked our boat on the side of an island and while Adam continued to cast into the lake, I picked a large freezer bag full of fresh, juicy blueberries..
 
 
and what have I done with all those berries? Baked with them, of course!! We were craving blueberry muffins and so I have been baking batch after batch of these delectable little muffins to feed Adam for breakfasts or even quick snacks. They are perfect for either!
 
 
Don’t they look delicious? They are…trust me! Have a few extra blueberries on hand? Heres the recipe (from Companys Coming)..please, please do yourself a favor and makes these…today!!
 
Blueberry Muffins
 
1 3/4 Cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
 
1/4 Cup Margarine
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
 
1 Cup Blueberries
1 Tablespoon Flour
 
In large bowl put flour, baking powder and salt. Stir together thoroughly. Make a well in center
In another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg until quite smooth. Mix in milk and vanilla. Pour in to well. Stir just to moisten, batter will be lumpy
Stir blueberries with light flour. Fold in to batter. Fill greased muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake in 400 degree oven for 25 mins until nicely browned. Makes 16
 
ENJOY!!
 
 

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  • dawn - Hi Dawn,

    So glad to catch up on your blog, looks like you’ve been busy and happy. These muffins do look good, how wonderful to have fresh blueberries. My grandma use to make the best ones, the only ones I’d eat. Might just have to try this recipe.

    WOW, look how pretty and FALL your blog is, love love the Mr.& Mrs. pumpkins, so cute!!ReplyCancel

    • Dawn Cosgrove - Hi Dawn!!
      I would love it if you felt like sharing your recipe 😉 I’m always scouting out new ones! So please, feel free to share!
      Thank you so much for stopping by, I’ve missed seeing you around here too! I will pass your compliments off to my hubby, he made those last year for our wedding day! They were at the centre of our head table for the reception 😉ReplyCancel