What's New???

I wanted to be productive yesterday, but I wasn't. Instead, I went to bed early with some strong pain medicines to attempt to sleep off the Migraine I had been fighting for 2 days straight- uggghh. Not good. Tucked into the recesses of my mind lay the inviting thought of "sleeping in"this morning and wakening to a quiet home in which to putter about and "work" on some pieces for our Etsy shop. Instead, at precisely 6:36 am, I woke to thump, thump, thump... knock, knock, knock... and the ever-dreaded, anxious cry of, "We missed the bus!" A fraction of my brain engaged, considered the unenviable task of dressing and then driving 40 minutes (round trip) to drop my teens at their schoolhouse for a few nano-seconds, and decided, "You're staying home today." As much as I love my daughters (and I do with all my heart), the shattering illusion of my quiet day home was almost more than I could handle. I fell in love all over again when Sean said, "I'll take them to catch the bus. Go back to sleep." No lovelier words had ever been uttered in all of human history.

Of course, once awakened, sleep alluded me. At least my Migraine was reduced to a dull ache- much more manageable! Rather than lay in bed, awake, I dressed and went upstairs, ready to help Sean with the morning's chores. We took care of our routine haying, graining, and watering of the hungry hordes. Everyone looked in good health and fine spirits, despite the rain that threatened.

As, we collected the morning's eggs, I noticed one of the Mallards has gone broody in the corner of the chicken coop. Poorly placed, her backside was splattered with chicken droppings. I added Sean attaching a wooden guard to cover her area to my list of things to do today. Sean assured me it would be a relatively quick and easy thing to cut a board to fit over her nest, giving her some privacy and protection. Once that is handled tonight, I will return 10 of the duck eggs we've been collecting to her nest and we'll see what happens!

Chores completed and plans for the evening firmed up, Sean headed off to work and I began my day. First, I settled some housework that needed my attention. Then, it was time to tackle some projects that needed doing. These included:

 

Inoculating milk to make a fresh batch of cheese.

 

Starting seeds of 5 non-GMO, organic varieties of tomatoes. We planted 12 each of Soldaki, Hogheart Paste, Amish Paste, Heinz Paste and Cherry tomatoes today.

 

Additionally, I took some pictures of my latest eggshell art projects, updated the look of our blog,and attempted to sew my first grain-bag tote. That was a little rough, as my sewing skills are rusty, but the project is coming along and I certainly learned a few things not to do! I'll post more about the tote bags later. For today, I want to share some images with you of the wooden eggs I created over the weekend.

Crimson Mosaic Goose Egg & Teal and Cimarron Blue Mosaic Egg
 

Look carefully to see how the shades of teal change to cimarron and then to
 marine blue. The bottom is painted marine blue, signed and numbered.

 

Teal, Cimmaron, & Marine Blue Mosaic Egg next to our
fresh hens' eggs. ♥

Crimson Mosaic Goose Egg next to our fresh goose egg. ♥

I use the same technique to create these unique Mosaic Eggs as I do our custom jewelry pieces. First, I have to boil our hen's eggshells and peel both membrane layers from the inside of the eggs. These must dry overnight. Once they are ready, I use a quality glue to carefully mosaic the eggshells to the outside of the birch wood form. This must dry completely before I begin the multi-layered process of painting with watercolors and sealing each egg with glaze. From start to finish, it takes about 2 days to create each egg.

I am very pleased with the results. Each egg is hand painted with water-colors I mix specifically for that individual egg. No two will ever be exactly alike. Also, I personally sign and number each one.

You can use them to decorate your home for Spring, place one as an interesting paper-weight for your farm fabulous desk, or group them for a stunning county chic table centerpiece. I am betting you creative readers can think of several other ways to display one or more of them in your home or office. ♥

Our Mosaic eggs will be available for purchase shortly on our Etsy shop and listed with full details as to exact sizes, weight, and colors available and of course, we'll have more images! Come on over to browse our selection of items.

Remember, if you use the code: FARMCHICK, you'll receive 10% discount on any of our hand crafted goodies until March 31, 2013.


Sean just called and he is on his way to pick up a new addition for our homestead. We received a call yesterday about an animal needing a home. After talking with the owner and asking some questions, it seems like we might be a good fit. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but if this new creature does come to live with us, I will spend some time taking pictures and posting about it tomorrow. Anyone care to guess what it could be???

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today, friends. We're glad you came.
Sean and Sonja ♥

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