Girls Coffeeshop Talk

[Peppers90]

J, I can feel myself relaxing just looking at your pictures! WOW I could only imagine how quiet it is at night.....just bugs making noise. LOVE THAT ;)

I live on a busy street, by a stop light, on a bus route-UGH!

Your garden is magnificent!

[chicfarmer1]

Thank you. Yours is stunning too, S. Some urban friends visit and get a little freaked out by the quiet at night, but boy is it a welcome change after traveling to more dense areas. :)

What varieties are your deep coral and ivory roses?

[Lisa]

J, thank you so much for the barn photos. Wow - that one is huge! The smaller one is in really beautiful condition. Is the roof galvanized metal? The inside shot is very interesting - such beautiful construction.

Looks like you have a lot of land... I've probably asked before, but can't remember, how many acres.

There were several old barns around us when I was a kid, but all were torn down over the years. I remember playing in them... looking for litters of kittens... (Mr. McKee's barn held an ancient farm truck - an REO Speedwagon. So then I knew how the band got its name.) We have a particularly interesting survivor near us on old Route 66 - the Round Barn of Arcadia. Luckily it was rescued by a preservation group.

When I see you pictures and envision your lifestyle I start to feel a tug.... you're a reminder of where and how I grew up, with farmers for neighbors and horses and cattle next door that we could pet through the barbed wire fence. I'd have a pond for bass fishing... lots of trees... then I think about upkeep and maintenance... and a husband who grew up in the suburbs who has little interest in living in a rural area... I guess my little 3' by 5' garden will have to satisfy me urges. And our occasional possum visitor. Oh, and my duck egg.

[FeelingTheBlues]

J, your pictures are amazing! I do enjoy looking at big fields while driving outside Montreal but can't recall really paying attention to barns (although there are a couple of them here and there). You just made me realize that I should probably admire them more!

[chicfarmer1]

Aww, L--well, just put us on your itinerary sometime and get reacquainted. We knew nothing when we came here, having both grown up in the East in the city. Talk about a learning curve.

BTW I guess it's obvious that the interior photo of the main barn is only the second floor...the downstairs is large enough for lots of uses, including parking all the vehicles.

Yep, there are standing-seam roofs on all the outbuildings. They do get a coat of silver paint every few years.

--
Thanks, Carl. All I can say is, most people feel good when they get closer to nature.:)

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by chicfarmer1

Thanks, Carl. All I can say is, most people feel good when they get closer to nature.:)

Well let's just say that I will soon have to drive for an hour and a half twice a week to go to my apartment. This long drive will make me admire a lot of places that are still very close to nature. I'll let you know how it feels to pass by those places that often!

[East Bay Rider]

Oh boy look at those barns. Imagine all the cars, trucks, bikes and tractors I could fit in there. I could put up shelves, and a workbench, and have space on the floor and...
Whew, I'm getting dizzy. Head rush.

Truthfully I'm imagining a barn dance in there.

[chicfarmer1]

Aww thanks, Bill. Actually, there's a whole separate machine shop outbuilding, complete with ancient old welding equipment and all manner of stuff I can't identify.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

Truthfully I'm imagining a barn dance in there.

Let me go get my cowboy hat...

Lisa, would you like to be my barn dance date?

[East Bay Rider]

Originally Posted by chicfarmer1

Aww thanks, Bill. Actually, there's a whole separate machine shop outbuilding, complete with ancient old welding equipment and all manner of stuff I can't identify.

Old machinery?
Pics please.


I may not know about old machinery, tractors and implements. I may not know what it is for or how to use it but I respect it's purposefulness and think all of it is cool.

[chicfarmer1]

How about a classic tractor pic for now. Don't wanna be a thread hog.:)

1952 Allis-Chalmers, with brush hog attached.

[Lisa]

Originally Posted by FeelingTheBlues

Let me go get my cowboy hat...

Lisa, would you like to be my barn dance date?

Of course I would! Except people would think I was your chaperone or mom or something. Maybe I should go with Bill instead.

[Lisa]

J, you need to be a thread hog right about now... look at that tractor! Did it come with the property or did you get it on your own? It reminds me of my dad's - down to the red brush hog, too.

I'm with Bill - would love to take a peek inside the shop and look at all of the old equipment. Maybe we could put our heads together and figure out what some of it was for!

Danged nosy, aren't we?

[chicfarmer1]

You guys. Ok, we'll supply the music.

L, there were two Allis-Chalmers ("AC") tractors here on the property, originally co-owned by the farmer and the neighbor across the street. I can't remember if we bought them or they were just here, actually. We were very fortunate to inherit the farmer across the street in the deal, too...he became a lifelong great friend. Anyway, he took ownership of the sexy 1934 one, and we kept the 1952. He used our machine shed/shop to keep them running and mainly came around to shoot the breeze.

Around here vintage tractors are a big deal, with enthusiast clubs and collectors as obsessive as Rolex folks. The neighbor did a beautiful restoration on the 1930s AC, and it still shows up in local parades, now driven by his grandson.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by chicfarmer1

How about a classic tractor pic for now. Don't wanna be a thread hog.:)

1952 Allis-Chalmers, with brush hog attached.

Good grief, what a great looking tractor!

I'm not an expert in those but I must say it looks very nice.

Originally Posted by Lisa

Of course I would! Except people would think I was your chaperone or mom or something. Maybe I should go with Bill instead.

But...but...I asked first!

[East Bay Rider]

Oh wow. Look at that. That's amazing.
Allis Chalmers. Very nice.

Have you read these books by Roger Welsch yet?
Very clever.
http://www.amazon.com/Love-Sex-Tract...8031058&sr=1-1



http://www.amazon.com/Old-Tractors-M...8031115&sr=1-1





I think that there's a TRf bylaw that states there must be more detailed pics of all old tractors owned by members and even a Rolex/tractor wrist shot.
I understand if you didn't know that. It's the same for motorcycles and antique cars.

[East Bay Rider]

Originally Posted by chicfarmer1

How about a classic tractor pic for now. Don't wanna be a thread hog.:)

1952 Allis-Chalmers, with brush hog attached.

That pics belongs in a calendar.

[Lisa]

Hey, Bill. Maybe J's out taking pictures of the stuff in her shop. I'll wait here with you.

[East Bay Rider]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Hey, Bill. Maybe J's out taking pictures of the stuff in her shop. I'll wait here with you.

Prolly a long walk to the barn from the computer.

[chicfarmer1]

Spent the day out and about doing farmer's market, eating and shopping in Amish country...lots of great visuals. Like Amish farmers in the fields with teams of draft horses doing hay. And then on the road, two teen Amish boys perched probably more than 10 feet in the air atop freshly baled hay on a flatbed wagon, smoking cigs and drinking orange and green soda pop. Everyone is out baling right now. And small roadside produce markets "manned" by Amish young women, barefoot. Barefoot in public, just as they are in private. I think they're onto something with going barefoot so much, actually.

It was a gorgeous, hot sunny day here. How's everyone?

[East Bay Rider]

Fixed

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

Prolly a long BAREFOOT walk to the barn from the computer.

[chicfarmer1]

Originally Posted by East Bay Rider

Have you read these books by Roger Welsch yet?
Very clever.

OMG those books would be catnip around here! I just wish our dear neighbor was still around to show those to.

I would like to comply with the bylaw of in-depth photodocumentation, I really would--but it's y'alls' turn!

[East Bay Rider]

It was back before I had Internet that I had sinus surgery. I knew I'd be laid up for a week so I bought these books to keep me busy.
Bad idea.
The first bad idea was thinking I'd be reading a lot. I spent that first week with my bandaged and stuffed nose pointed skyward, as I could not look down.
Kind of hard to read that way.
The second bad idea was buying these particular books. They're too funny.
Ever laugh right after sinus surgery?
Bad idea.

[Lisa]

But I, too, have hogged enough space here with garden pics. We want some more of yours, J.

Hey, I cooked a pot of turnip greens today - picked from my micro-garden. You'll laugh but I didn't realize you could pick off the leaves about all you wanted and the turnip would continue to grow. Here I've been thinking, "Sure wish those turnips weren't so bushy because they're making too much shade over the strawberries and tomatoes!" I could have kept that under better control all along. Some of the purple tops peeking out of the ground are about two inches across, so I guess I could be pulling them up about any time, too.



Sweet corn - there are five plants, but the healthiest one has three ears growing.



Turnips after thinning the greens considerably.



Okay, your turn.

[Runnin' Rebel]

Hey ladies, posted this on the general forum but figured you girls would appreciate it more. They bloom for 5 days then that's it until next year.

Took these today, catus plant in the desert garden at my dads home.

Have a nice weekend

1st picture is 2 In full bloom
2nd picture another is getting ready to bust open

[Lisa]

Really nice, Mark. Is it the camera angle, or are those blooms HUGE? So pretty - glad you came by to share 'em!

[Evil bendy]

Ok farms are nice but I'm a bit of a city slicker ;) just throwing it out there...




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[Runnin' Rebel]

Originally Posted by Lisa

Really nice, Mark. Is it the camera angle, or are those blooms HUGE? So pretty - glad you came by to share 'em!

They are HUGE and incredibly beautiful.

[chicfarmer1]

Originally Posted by Evil bendy

Ok farms are nice but I'm a bit of a city slicker ;) just throwing it out there...

It's not an either-or neighborhood here on this thread. This farmer is from a great Northeastern city and spends plenty of time in urban places worldwide. Most nights, though, I prefer to walk outside and see the Milky Way.

Mark, great pics. Thanks for sharing. The desert ecology is thrilling and so different. I'll be browsing around in the desert myself very soon.

[chicfarmer1]

And in other Wild Kingdom news, I just discovered a raccoon mom and babies nestled way up high inside an ancient huge maple. The cute factor directly contradicts the nuisance factor: the babies are occasionally popping out to try their vertical dexterity (you can see a tail in one pic). Standing close by, you can actually hear them. The coon has a kind of feline purr-growl.

No wonder the dogs have been going bananas every night, patrolling the tree.