From the fall…and our Christmas card.

They are my world.

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As I got Bella off on the bus this morning I couldn’t help but leave the front door open and let little Miss Lilly come on out and enjoy the absolutely amazing weather. It’s so hard to believe this is really winter with gorgeous weather like this! And the forecast is calling for above average highs 10 days out! What a winter this has been. Although I’m not complaining.

Lilly normally isn’t this dressed up this early in the morning, but she saw Bella putting on a twirly skirt and starting saying “kirt, kirt!!” She had to be like her big sister. And when Bella put her shoes on Lilly went running to find her own shoes. I can foresee that Bella is going to have quite the little shadow over the next few years.

She seems confused as to why I left the door open, lol.

It was so foggy this morning, but as soon as we went outside it started clearing and was gone within 15 minutes.

Watching all the birds flying around.

Silly little cutie.

The last of the fog fading away.

*All photos were edited with my Color Workflow action (opacity turned down) and with the Lilly action set.

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Just a simple photo of my oldest and youngest from last fall while he helps her stand.  I will always love the simple moments most.

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As I was adding some photos to a farm website I’m on, I thought it would be nice to share some here. We have decided to call our farm Wayward Lane because our place can be tricky find, located down a road with bends that never shows up on anyone’s GPS. And our house and barn are at the end of a long drive/lane.

Anyway, here are a few photos taken over the summer and fall.

Sunset looking out from our front yard.

Bella and our Pyrenees puppy

Pretty rainbow colored eggs from our hens.

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I just ordered seeds from three of my favorite seed catalogs!

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
They have a beautiful catalog with fun pictures and an amazing selection of seeds!

Fedco Seeds

The catalog isn’t as easy to browse if you love real photos, but the eclectic descriptions are great to read!

Seed Savers Exchange

Another beautiful catalog with great photos.

The garden is going to be MASSIVE this year. It’s my trial run to make sure I can produce enough to provide for our family and also sell come via CSA shares or farmer’s markets. I will be offering at least 2-3 CSA shares this summer. Starting small, but we have big plans!

Get in touch with me if you’re local and looking for fresh veggies this spring/summer/fall!

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Artistic Indoor Photography Workshop

Are you a photographer struggling to make shooting in the winter work when you don’t have a studio? Worry no more! I’ll be teaching a beginner’s class on how to shoot artistically indoors with only available light. Whether you’re working out of your own home or traveling to your client’s homes, it can be done. Keep the clients coming year round and have fun doing it!

Shooting successfully indoors does require you to change the way you think and it often means learning a few new skills, but it opens up another avenue of income for most photographers in colder climates.If you want to expand your client base and keep income flowing when you can no longer shoot outdoors, than this class is for you.

Just a few of the topics to be covered…

Indoor versus outdoor shooting-think differently!

Lifestyle or Portrait-which is best?

Using your home – the pros and cons

Finding the light anywhere

Background “clutter”

Backdrops and flooring

Camera settings

Lenses and equipment needed

Editing

Setting the stage for your clients

Drawing the clients in

…and much more!

The Details

Dates: December 8th 2011 and January 9th 2012

Tuition: 500.00 with a 250.00 deposit due to secure your spot. Balance due 2 weeks prior to the class date.

The class will be from 10am to 4pm and will include hands on shooting in different indoor environments from simple to more difficult.

Lunch will be provided.

Classes will be limited to no more than 8 participants in order to allow adequate shooting instruction.

Email me to reserve your spot today!

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One year ago nearly to the day we moved to our new home. Some of our family wasn’t thrilled that we moved so far away from our cute little suburban home and I admit it was a hard decision for us to make. But we had a goal in mind for our children, our family. We wanted to raise our kids in the country, to teach them that there was more to life then video games and the latest, greatest gadget. We wanted to raise them knowing that good things come to those who work for it, that there is pleasure in the peaceful moments and  joy in the simple things.

More has changed in this last year then I could have imagined. We planned on having a large garden and raising a few chickens. What we didn’t really plan out is the direction our lives would go given this land we now live on. About 7-8 years ago I raised a flock of chickens for eggs and started researching and learning about sustainable living. However on our 3/4 acre lot surrounded by growing neighborhoods, my dream felt out of reach. When we moved here 10 acres seemed like Eden-it almost felt like too much land-what would we do with it all? My how things have changed. I’m now itching to buy more land or rent some nearby!

As we learn more and more about the way our food is supplied here in America, we wanted to get away from buying most of it at grocery stores. We grew a garden (another post on that in the next few days) that supplied us with much of our food this summer and is still feeding us now. We now have about 10 mature laying hens and another 20 pullets who should lay soon. We are about 2 weeks away from processing our first batch of meat chickens (we still have a few left for sale). We have a small flock of heritage breed turkeys-most of which are destined for the freezer and a few of which we’ll keep to produce next year’s flock. Since we weren’t quite ready to grow larger animals for meat, we bought a side of beef and a whole pig for our freezer. Next year we hope to raise some pigs ourselves. We plan on bringing a dairy cow into the mix to supply ourselves with fresh milk and to make cheese and butter. If I’m able to buy more land someday we’ll raise grass fed beef, but for now our 5 acre pasture can’t support them.

Our kids have learned to care for the land and the animals. We have a strict no electronic rule during the week and 45 minutes of game time per child on the weekends. We do often have movie night  with the kids on Fridays.  Christian has had time to pursue his love for cooking and tends to make delicious desserts for the family when he gets bored. Garrett likes caring for the chickens. He’s still a kid and sometimes balks at going out to do the chores, but once out there he gets lost in watching them and we don’t see him for 45 minutes.

It’s been a learning experience and many things have gone according to plan and some have not. Next year we plan to expand what we’ve done and offer locally grown, naturally raised meat (this means no GMO’s, antibiotics or hormones and and it means letting the animals free range and feed on forage) as well as possibly some vegetables. With 4 kids in tow things may grow slowly, but we have some big dreams for this place.

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I had the pleasure of photographing this sweet boy 3 years ago when he was just a baby. I can’t believe how big he’s gotten! And he now has a beautiful little sister who is just as sweet as he is. I’m so glad I still had the little blue chair I used in 2008. And I’m so happy I had the chance to see this wonderful family again.

2011

2008

And baby sister 2011

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Over the summer I made a chart to help the kids remember what they needed to do to help around the house. Damian and I feel that along with free playtime, it’s very important that our kids learn to be a contributing member of the family. Whether that means simply helping me sort laundry or cleaning up after dinner or caring for the animals, we want them to help out. We also want them to know what is means to work hard and to appreciate their ability to accomplish tasks.

The chores on this chart are ones that (for the most part) I expect them to do daily during the summer. During the school year I ask them to do less because I do want them to have time to just be kids. We also assign larger chores about once a week such as clearing out dead plants in the garden, cleaning the van inside and out, cleaning out the stalls and so on. We typically pay them for these larger chores instead of giving them an allowance.

I had trouble finding an chart that I liked so I thought I would share the one I made here. I have boxes beside each chore that we fill in with a dry erase marker every week. Each child has a color; for example Garrett is blue, Chris is green and Bella is red. At first I let them pick chores, but after a while (and some arguing about who got which chore) figured out that it was better if I just assign them weekly and try to mix it up. It worked great this summer and for the school year I plan on just assigning 1-2 easy chores per day. The extras will just stay blank and Damian and I will pick up the slack. Although having the kids gone all day makes for less mess.

I had my chart printed as a 12×18 dry erase board at a professional photo lab. For those of you who aren’t photographers, I’m certain there are plenty of other places that will print a dry erase board as well.

I hope you like it!

Download Link

Please note that the file is a layered file (so you can change the chores) and you will need Photoshop to edit it.

The chart is free, but I would love a comment to hear how you handle chores at your house.

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One of the reasons we moved out here.

You can see it a little bigger HERE.

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