Photog share & Year 2 Mrs. Robin in the potter's shed

 Remember last year when a certain Mrs. Robin made a nest on my garden hoe blade that leaned on the back wall of my potter shed? Her eggs hatched out & the babies survived, flying away by June. I finally had my shed back with plans to thwart such an event from ever keeping me from enjoying the benefits of a potter shed.

That didn't work out so well... She's back and this time she made a nest in the corner of the shelf under the window. It began as 3 eggs...

 Within a week of our discovery, 3 became 7... As of the other day, what I assume were the first 3 eggs, hatched out. I have not been back to grab my tools since this shot taken last Saturday.

Apparently my sharing of the shed with her 2 years in a row does not cause enough distress to where she does not feel it to be a proper nesting sight. In fact, I think she is & feels far safer being hidden yet surrounded by the openness of the field. Safe inside with a view from both windows and the missing door  giving a great defense from sneak attacks.{yeah, I never did get that back on}.

I'll keep you up to date on how this whole 7 eggs things work out.

Photography has been my consume all of late. I've stepped down from my previous consume all of the gardening and animals. As mentioned before, it became too much work and not enough enjoyment being the main & majority source of labor. The garden is not as big. We are bringing in a trio of Welsh Harlequins due to hatch the end of this month and will keep things simple from now on. 

I have debated a new site, like I have not done that a hundred times. I may very well do it this time, linking into this site or simply share the link for those who wish to stop in and watch my progress and experiments within photography. I'm hooked on themes & story telling with my photos. No matter how small, my drive is behind the inclusion of a theme.

 I thought I would share my latest practice & experimentation which consisted of Panda & a guy friend. Yes. He's a guy and not a boy being this Fall they become Freshmen.

This time out was not about capturing the right light as most know really makes the shot. I've had some beginner issues using my new 50mm 1.8 lens. Getting both faces in focus, finding the right angle, the right pose & surroundings to make it happen. This happens to be in the #1 slot of the top 5 in the shots that day.

I really do not like having my signature copyright image overlay in the photos but stealing images is rampant on the net. Not giving credit of source as well as playing it off as their own. I try to make it more discreet but hard to hide should someone post or share elsewhere..

Yes. That's Panda. Lil Miss going on 14 in 6 weeks. 

I strongly feel railroad tracks have been overdone in the sense of so many doing "the walk down tracks" look. My own treasured photo from May 2010 showcasing my 3 kiddos is of that very scenario, taken with a point and shoot. I love that photo and will recreate the same shot every 2-3 years as they grow for a series on my future "old lady hall of photos". Just not a shot I would willingly take for others.
 I discovered this great abandoned warehouse environment a few towns over. The railroads are dominant in our area from the Past industrial meets farming life. The two of them proceeded to do their own thing, wanting to explore around the factory as I snapped away.  It's not the common railroad scenario, giving it exclusion from my above mentioned notation.

Panda is showing her own interest in Photography with plans of having it as her Minor in college.. which is in just 4 years... She has become my assistant {the reflector holder} as well as a source of inspiration & ideas with our themes. The clothing and hair for this very shoot were all her doing.

There is something about this shot I just love. The softness of her face and the playful shadows dappling with light from the apple tree above. I would have played more within this area but alas, the heathens were tired and hungry. An area in the plans for another day playing with light & shadow experimentation. 

To see the full set of this practice session, which I titled Summer of Youth, hop over to this Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/95517275@N02/sets/72157633434194768/

I'll try not to be so absent from my posts in the future. The decision on the start of another site may come into play being I have less Farm Chick and more Shutterbug going on in my life. I'll let you know what I decide.
Sweetest Dreams,
~Tammie

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True story: in Chase of the Moose & a Deer

Ohio has enjoyed a most beautiful abundant of snow. Sleds have seen more use in the last week with squeals of joy then we thought would be possible with the odd warmth had well into November. This year, The Captain purchased a few double inflatable sleds. Thanks in part to a previous Tailbone bruising occurring from our  inner child playing on the hills. We are not as young as we once were... 

The snow has also brought energetic joy to our Moose.  He flips & digs. Rolls and pounces with his 100 pound puppy body, retrieving his football & playing tag with me outback. I remove his leash for our romping and did not think twice the very morning one of our playful jokes became a reality. Moose is young and still learning self control in a few areas. With the mix of breeds in him, the instincts can be a bit over powering.

We had a decent 6 inches of snow on the ground in the more flat areas. Uneven ground seemed to provide more depth of snow banks. Almost topping my snow boots. As usual, I wore my Camo Coveralls, snow gloves and full face mask being the total woos I am in anything under 40 degrees {F}.

I removed his Leash & gentle leader collar, placing it onto a picket of my garden fencing. Moose went to the tree line, which is normal in his anticipation of our football play. But this time it was different. He was zig zagging where the tree's begin, normal to his picking up a scent. I thought rabbit in that few seconds before I saw him dart into the tree line.  Raising my eyes to the movement I saw ahead of him, a beautiful Buck with thick antlers rose & hopped out of the brush just 20 ft away. No need to insert the explicit instantaneous thought which popped into my mind.

The chase was on! I tried calling him back while trying to keep an eye on him & where the Buck was heading. Burdened with the weight of snow wear and the depth of ground coverage, my movements were slow. I quickly made way to the path clearing into the field just in time to see the Buck head up the back hill, towards the deep ravine. Moose was still in the brush, yet hot on his trail. There seemed to be no breaking of the zoned mind set in instinctual hunt.

 Moose has the coloring of White tail deer, complete with white tail underside. To an inexperienced or idiot eye, he very well could be mistaken for a smaller deer. And BOTH buck skins were heading towards the public hunting grounds! Once I made it to the hill & ravine side, I lost sight of the Buck but scanned the trees to see Moose had already made it to the other side. I lifted my fleece face covering, calling out his name, upon which he must have lost the scent track, wagging his tail in response to me, making his way back up to where I stood. Well, Almost that is...

He caught wind of that dang deer when he was close to my outstretched arms. Shooting off again before I could get to the opening in the old livestock fence.

I lost patience in that moment and doubt began to set in. I cried out his name, out of breath and sweating in my coveralls. I lowered the top half and tied the arms at my waist. My boots getting heavier & heavier with every dip & climb. The snow covered grapevines, wildly growing everywhere the eye can see, began to hamper my hunt even more so. Catching the toe of my boots, I stumbled & rolled down hills far more then I wish to recall. Becoming frustrated and full of worry, I began to cry. My face so hot from all the chasing & adrenaline rush, the tears did not even have a chance to feel cold. I could not see or hear him. The deer trails were such a mess, I could not see which split of path he had taken. I truly was at a cross road of decision. What if he chased that buck into the public Archery hunting grounds? His neon orange vest was not on, nor a collar. I joked about his one day chasing a deer through these woods but did not think I would find myself in the midst of winter snow chasing him down.

I continued on, determined to find him. I will NOT give up. I traced back towards the bottom of the ravine. Thinking I should make way towards the field and turn into the hunting grounds where he may double back.  Remembering in that moment, I was so worked up by calling his name, I had yet to whistle our special call. I looked around, positioning myself toward the hunting grounds, just high enough the sound should carry well despite the trees. Calming myself just enough to catch a good breath, I whistled our bird song. I waited. The only thing to hear were creaking of trees. No barks. No stomping. Nothing. With my back turned to the woods, facing to the side of the ravine, I let out one more loud whistling...and before finishing was plowed down by a massive MOOSE coming down a hill to greet his Momma. As my face fell into the snow with a thump of my body, I shot my hands out and grabbed that loose skin hanging from his neck. A trait from his Saint Bernard mother I am ever so thankful for. I rolled with his massive body until I had my back into the snow. Moose panting, licked my face with his excited greeting and looking rather satisfied from his big adventure.

 I found him! Or rather, HE found me. Holding onto his neck skin,we hit the field clearing and stumbled in a ground hog hole, hidden beneath the snow. I lost grip and fell again. Face first into the snow. I was beginning to feel a pattern here.Thankfully, Moose stayed close when I raised my head, completly exhausted and becoming a tad ticked off. I told him to get back to the house, NOW! regretting it after considering I should just letting him drag me through the field like a rag doll.

 And so my Moose did follow command, running his butt to the Garden yard. I found him paiently waiting by his ball, looking as though he were intent on some football romping. Not today Buddy. I think you've had enough fun for the both of us. I slipped his leash back on & he calmly walked backed to the house where everyone had no clue to what adventure we had just been on and laughed as I shared the story of our Moose chasing a Deer while I stumbled along in his trail.

Sweet snowy dreaming my Dears,

~Tammie

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Les Soeurs Anglaises

Care to do a little dreaming with me? I recently came upon Les Soeurs Anglaises (via Meighan of My Love for You) and have been dreaming ever since.  I mean, what could be better than a little creative adventure in the south of France where you make and learn and enjoy some amazing surroundings? Whether you’re someone who would like a break to focus on learning a new craft or perhaps getting better at it, or just someone who would like to hang out with like-minded creative people and be inspired, Les Soeurs Anglaises is a workshop facility in the south west of France (in a part called Verteillac) and is run by four women who started it 6 years ago - see more about them here. The 2013 workshops include Mixed Textiles, Knitting, Writing, Stitched Calligraphy and textile sculpture. All workshops are led by leaders within their field and the facility offers a combination of luxurious suites, single rooms and dormitory style accommodation (meals included). More after the jump.

A quote from Katie Elliott Armitage (one of it's founders): "We decided to start Les Soeurs Anglaises because of a desire to share all things textile, tactile and beautiful within the amazing countryside of South West France with it's rich history of needlework. Our goal is to allow participants the freedom to explore their own creativity in a safe, supportive and nonjudgmental environment with the best teachers available. 2013 will be our 6th season. There is always a subtle crossover between the arts and this year we have chosen a literary theme for the workshops.  Introducing our first writing workshop we have carefully selected a group of first class artists/teachers to lead interrelated events that we are confident will be different, exciting and attitude changing." 

Oh and they are doing giveaways (M-F) everyday on their blog til the 20th of the month! Bonus!

For more information on Les Soeurs Anglaises visit them online at lessoeursanglaises.com.

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Sailing Day 6.. finally the boat starts going

Sailing day 5

So day five, which saw just about every bit of news , email, phone call received be nothing more then bad news finally turned out much better then expected.. Let me begin by saying i had an account closed then reopened then the number was changed through a PayPal linked interface, then my BOA was 9,000 negative with more 35.00 fees then you could count on one hand, my Citibank card was cancelled because of a mistake made by yes this true Citibank and blamed on me.. Of course my true friend Jessica which remained cool headed even after the 1 hour wait going through BOA telephone SUPPORT SYSTEM" or as i call it the twilight zone ride into the big underworld of sketch where it seems no matter what you say you end up right where you started where a seemingly nice man says befpre i can transfer you to an associate i must first get some information from you to transfer you to the right one... Over and over again and finally as you teach a living live person ithe United States and not half way across the world silence envelops your phone.. Your signal has blinked and at that moment in time well lets just say my phone is lucky to be alive..

Then on to Citibank where they decide on their own to take a payment out of your default account when none was due, not to mention the fact that we called them and let them know we had made a mistake in accidentally clicking Citibank payment from a non existent account number two seconds after it happened and we were personally guaranteed by the National of some other country that nothing would come of this and yesterday as we again talked to someone outside the United States, and please get this very carefully.. We asked why the account was on hold and their reply was oh yes sir you are a wonderful person as well have a great night.. And hung up the phone.. Hummmmm .. Makes you wonder..

Then its paypal and car payments.. Seems someone got into my. Redit file but with fast movement by my partner and friend.. I now believe everything might be ok.. Then of course there was the incident in which my best friend crashes again (twice now) while on his way to pick me up.. Claims he was in Rose something city off orlando and was waiting for hertz.. Then hertz arrives (the closest local hertz ) and instead of taking him to the closest agency decides to take him to Miami to fill out the paperwork.. Seems a little fisjy yo me.. Especially since policy is to take you to the nearest car rental place having the same brand.. But oh well .. So I am stuck once more in New Smerna Beach... However i must say one thing.. I aglad i was here to see us finally get the engine on the boat and clean it up and make it look for once like an actual niceclean sailboat, both inside and out..

So tomorrow we set sail for Miami and final,y are set to embark on our long ago promised journey through Indian River Florida, through mosquito swamp, and through the river all teh way down to Miami... Its now been over 6 weeks since we started but seeing the excitement on Jessica's face as the engine fit right into place was what do you call it priceless.. And i can see a commercial that goes something like this..

Koa being lazy in tbe morning and storing for wrong so that its useless he following morning.. 100.00

Jessica spending so much time in the bathroom it literally costs us slip time..150.00

Alex cleaning every five minutes using up  towels, cleaners, water, and other resources.200.00

The look on all our faces as the engine slid right into place and the back of the boat was free from debris... PRICELESS...

UNTIL NEXT TIME...

AG HOME GOODS

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Video spotlight~Plant swap & heirlooms seeds

When growing a garden, you will most likely have plants which will need thinned out each year. By attending a plant swap, you can trade out your extra plants & seed for others you may like to acquire.

I found a very intersting woman in Nova Ohio who has begun holding an annual plant swap & heirloom seed sale. Her farm is called "Harvest Thyme". A woman after my own heart with her love of heirlooms. She shares some very intersting information pertaining to how and why she grows exclusively Heirloom variety produce during our visit to her plant swap.

The day was very windy, a few minutes of pea size hail came down and the chill made us regret not bringing gloves. Our late Spring visit was a bit too early to see her crops growing in the field. Later in the year we hope to visit again when Dawn will share more on how to properly save seed and give us a glimpse of her abundant fields.

As always, the split second editing on my computer is not the best. There are hiccups but none the less, enjoy the video. I hope you feel inspired to find local Plant & seed swaps in your area. Bring a gardening friend as I did and be sure to read up plant swap etiquette.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheUnusualFarmchick



Video made possible by: Overstock.com ~ Lehmans.com

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