Merry Christmas!

 Well Christmas is upon us all. Amy and I have traveled back to WV for the holidays to see her parents and family and friends. We were up over Thanksgiving as well. It is about a 7 hour drive for us each way and with the weather being so cold this time, it was definitely harder as we brought the pups with us. We left the house at 46 degrees and hit 0 degrees 2 hours later at the top of Fancy Gap, VA. It never really warmed up from there. And to top it off the WOF mobile developed a running problem we diagnosed on the final leg, so that means repair work this morning. Some very close friends of ours have offered the use of their shop near their farm so thankful for that. I say that as it is 2 degrees this morning with a high of 16 forecasted today. Definitely better than yesterday but still cold for transplanted Tarheels. 

I am starting to get the seed-  ordering feeling this year as the catalogs have been steadily arriving at the farm. I have some work to do on the beds and then I am going to make a solid plan on what we will be planting this year. I also have thoughts on a greenhouse build as I am taking down a pool deck and will have some excess materials (after back deck repair.) I cruised by Our Happy Acres last week and noticed Dave had one and inquired how his was built. This is something I have wanted for a while so we'll see how it plays out in this spring's preparations. As far as the seeds, I definitely will be getting some heirloom tomatoes as we love a good tomato. Also will get our standard cucumber and green peppers. We'll see what happens. I do have some left over seeds from last year that I need to check for viability. I usually order from Territorial Seeds, Sow True Seed and Peaceful Valley. 

And with that we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. 

Winding Down 2022

 Hello and how are you doing? I hope everything has been well for everyone. There have been many changes here on the 'farm' so let's dive right in to that.

Our business slowed down this year, more than likely due to the economy, so I searched for a full time job. I was hired in July at the same company my youngest son works at but was laid off three weeks later, dur to 'going in a different direction.' It took me a while to get that one. So I went on a short golf trip and started applying again when I returned. I eventually was hired by The Town of Benson, NC as their project manager. I started at the end of October. It is a little different from what I have done in the past but I do like the work environment and people. I will say it is demoralizing getting so many rejection letters and emails. I know my age had a lot to do with that although companies will not admit that. I will also say that my commute is a lot shorter than my last one was a few years ago. 15 to 20 minutes to get to work now. I would love to have my wife find something closer too as I know her commute is hard on her. 

Here we have Sir Benjamin Woffington the Third

And Lady Matilda Mae of Woflandia.

Otherwise known as Benjamin, B- dog, or Scooter and Tilly, Tilster or Brat Dog. They have been with us for a little while, Benjamin 3 years and Tilly 2 years. Benjamin is a mix of Saint Bernard, Boxer, and a few other things and Tilly is a Husky/ Malamute mix. She is definitely wild at times (especially when she was little) and Benjamin has taken up the role as farm WOF. He is definitely attached to my wife and Tilly hangs with me mostly. Always something with these two. And Princess Leia the cat is still going strong, sleeping everywhere and letting the dogs know she is in charge. 

We still have our Etsy business running and we have reduced our booth presence to one location now. 

We need to work on more than we do but now time is limited with me working full time now. We sell antiques and vintage items, both online and in the booth. We also sell repurposed and original furniture in the booth. With the holidays coming up I hope we do well. Check us out. Google WOFdog Farms Trading Company. 

The garden this year was pretty much a bust except for some cucumbers. It all falls on me as I didn't put the effort into it. Next year it will definitely be different and I am expanding it. I don't think grocery items are going to drop too much so it is good to plan ahead. I am on the fence about chickens but Amy isn't. She is not too keen on them but I am still considering getting some. I think now is the time to place the order for them. I have downloaded some coop plans and will build one, hopefully to make it a little mobile. 

The 'fix the garage door' item from last post was this. My oldest bought a trailer and lent it to me to move some furniture out of a storage building. One day I was going to hook up to it and take it up to where he works so he could have it back. I pulled out of the driveway to back up to it, saw my neighbor coming up the street, panicked, reversed too quickly and hit a bush on the side of the driveway. I then really panicked, pulled forward, then reversed even faster. I hit the trailer which hit a set of metal nesting tables, that hit the garage door hard, knocking it off of the tracks and putting a good dent in it. Took me the better part of 3 hours to get it fixed enough to operate correctly. What a way to start a day. It seems my to do list keeps growing. 

That's about it for now. Back to watching Hallmark movie and list a fe more things on Etsy. See you soon.

2022 Has Rolled Around

 And here it is. Almost another year between posts. Almost. As stated last time things have changed here on the farm for us and a lot has happened between then and now A quick run down:

I started working full time on our 'side business' 
We have picked up a new WOF and another companion for the WOF
Garden was decent last year but I plan on a good one this year
Cat still being another WOF around here. 
Amy still works full time and has been doing well in that regard
We have expanded our original Etsy business to include a website and currently two antique booths.
I have been redoing furniture for some time now. 
We look like we live in an episode of hoarders at times. 

I have been pondering on what to do for the garden this year and I think we'll be trying some new varieties and more items that we can keep for the remainder of the year. A true year- round (almost) garden. I have also considered getting chickens this year too. 

I have a ton of photos and detailed information to come but as of now I have to get some packages ready to ship and fix the garage door (more on that later too) so I can get furniture out to the booths. Until this weekend stay safe kids. 

And....

 You thought one post a year was long. Here is another one. Life has been busy for us but that is changing today. I left the corporate construction world to work on our business full time. 

A quick note but I will have more this weekend. 

2020?

Hello. Very long time between posts for sure. Seems like life, work, changes in general seem to catch up to us. But as a resolution for myself, I decided to revive this blog.

Ides of.............Well March

Happy March to everyone. I know the Ides are on the 15th but I thought about getting a head start.
Here on the homefront a few things have taken place. I finally reached to big 50 yesterday. No big deal for me, just another day. But I guess a milestone nonetheless. Well Bailey and the cat have had their rounds and rounds. She hates the cat. Period. After some time of trying to get it worked out it never did. So sadly we called and gave her back up to the spca where I got her. Maybe again some day.
On the garden front I finally got some seeds started. One platt. Beyond planting cucumbers, green beans, everything else is in one platt. We decided to go small this year to give ourselves more time to do other things.
I spent last weekend mowing (yes, mowing in February) and tore apart some of the beds because they were rotting out a lot. I'll have to replace them with something but not sure what yet. Also found plenty of my buddies, the fire ants.

Overall shot. Bad garden.

Ants galore.

Apple trees really blooming out.

Bed remains waiting to be burned.

Garden sign needs some attention.

A nice video to close everything out. 

Busy weekend coming up. A lot of work to do. On a side note we are in the process of setting up an Etsy shop so stay tuned for more information on that as well.

New Year of 2018

Hello and welcome to my 2018 blog posts!
We've had an interesting few months so let me catch you up.
1. First and foremost we had to say goodbye to The WOF. She developed a rare type of skin cancer. We tried several treatments but weren't going to do anything too extreme due to her age. It eventually caught up with us so we made the call and stayed with her for the last moments. She was with us a long, long time and I have to admit it was one of the hardest things to do. But she's better off now.
2. Christmas: My sister, niece and her husband spent the holidays with us. We had a good time although interesting for the cat as two new dogs were traveling with them. They left on Christmas Day back for WV. December 26th I got the same virus I had the previous year. On the couch for three days before I was able to move again. I didn't wait this time and sought our treatment from the emergency room. A long wait later and I had a few meds but not anything over the top. I made it to work that Friday, the same day my boss made it back in from his illness. As of today I'm still on the mend with a bit of a cough and congestion. Trying a few new OTC meds now and they seem to be helping. Hopefully get through this soon.
3. First snow of 2018. I drove into it in South Carolina. I was coming up from Alabama at the time. Took me 12 hours total for a 9 hour drive. People in the south can't drive in snow.
4. New WOF. Much to Amy's hesitation I had to have another WOF in the house. Her name is Bailey. She's a 6 year old lab mix we rescued from the SPCA. She and the cat are having their rounds but I think they'll slowly work it out. I saw her on our local county animal control website early Thursday morning, called 3 times before I got through to someone. We went over her history and I told them my son would be around after lunch to check her out. He calls me and says that the dog was moved. We found her at the neighboring county SPCA so I spent Friday afternoon tracking her down and finally got her. She looks like she has part greyhound or whippet in her. She has seemed to taken over the WOF torch for the farm.

Well that's the Cliff notes version. As far as the garden this year I still have to repair/replace the garden beds and plan everything out for this year. Tomorrow I plan on testing some seeds I saved from last year. More on that Monday. Also have a list of things we need to get updated around the house. We've lived here since 2012 and haven't done any updating so now it's time.

Quick post so I'll see you soon.

Miss Bailey.

Im memory of The WOF.