by Susan | Dec 11, 2012 | Family, On My Mind
A basketball game day, all of the players have to dress up (i.e., no jeans and jogging shoes). As I watched Hannah get ready, it struck me like a bolt of lightning that my little girl is growing up. From the borrowed scarf to dress up? a t-shirt to the tiny brush of...
by Susan | Dec 7, 2012 | On My Mind
Last year when our chickens started laying, we quickly realized that a dozen hens lay enough eggs in one day to last us almost a week. We started selling extra eggs to friends and neighbors who appreciated farm fresh eggs. One week, overrun with eggs, Paul called the...
by Susan | Dec 5, 2012 | Family, On My Mind
It’s junior high basketball season. That means between two jobs, and now with basketball pick ups, drop offs, and scheduling in games, I have entered the craziest season of the year. No, it’s not the holiday season – it’s basketball season. I...
by Susan | Nov 27, 2012 | On My Mind
Hannah enjoyed the mild temps over the holiday weekend making Christmas wreaths. In the spirit of the swags she made for the porch posts, she made these elegantly simple nature inspire wreaths to hang underneath the windows. Downeast Maine is a region where many...
by Susan | Nov 22, 2012 | On My Mind
Wishing you and your family a safe and happy Thanksgiving day!
by Susan | Nov 19, 2012 | On My Mind
I have been creating these little bird felt ornaments for almost a year now. This hobby started when I made ornaments for Christmas gifts last year using patterns I found online. Not until I turned the Downeast Thunder Farm blog owls into ornaments did it occur to me...
by Susan | Nov 17, 2012 | On My Mind
Each of our five porch posts now bears one of these pretty balsam fir swags Hannah created. Hand-crafted, she decorated them with things she found in our woods – pine cones, white pine branches, and ribbons of birch bark finished off with a raffia bow. I’m...
by Susan | Nov 14, 2012 | On My Mind
During hunting season. I hate that we have to be worried about our safety when heading out for a walk in our woods this time of year. Better safe than sorry! Yes, she’s wearing her orange, Mom!
by Susan | Nov 13, 2012 | On My Mind
We purchased our first generator eight-and-a-half years ago when building our home. It provided necessary power to begin our building project until Bangor Hydro connected us to the grid. I wrote about the demise of the generator in The Seven Year Slump back in...
by Susan | Nov 12, 2012 | On My Mind
My love affair with owls started when I was a little girl. My grandmother, Ruth Bender Nerviani – affectionately known to me as Mother, had a few owls in her home – some have since made their way to me. As a child, I wondered why she had so many owls...
by Susan | Nov 3, 2012 | Chickens, On My Mind, On the Farm
The Girls are looking a little rough around the edges lately. At 17 months old, they are going through their first molt. I had no idea they’d look so ragged. We have some bad feather days ahead! Miri and Gilfy, on the other hand, at six months old, are quite...
by Susan | Nov 1, 2012 | On My Mind
The sun is finally making an appearance after five days of doom and gloom associated with Hurricane Sandy. Yippee! I am ever so grateful that Maine was only touched lightly by this disaster.
by Susan | Oct 31, 2012 | On My Mind
by Susan | Oct 25, 2012 | On My Mind, Out and About in Maine
One of the most beautiful sights you will find Downeast are the blueberry barrens in October. Lush, vibrant carpets of red fill the countryside like patchwork quilts. This picture is straight out of the camera with no color enhancement. Click on the image for a larger...
by Susan | Oct 23, 2012 | Chickens, On My Mind
Miri and Gilfy are the Barred Rock/Buff Orpington chickens we hatched in the incubator earlier this year. Since leaving the brooder, they’ve been sleeping in a little dog kennel set up next to the chicken coop at night and free ranging with the big Girls by...
by Susan | Oct 15, 2012 | On My Mind
This mother/daughter picture taken on Pigeon Hill over the weekend has captured my attention. I keep going back to it because I’m stunned by the differences I see in Hannah over the past year. It seems like overnight she’s changed from an awkward child to...
by Susan | Oct 9, 2012 | On My Mind
It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day. Although I had two web project deadlines looming, I had a hard time sticking to my desk. I puttered the day away searching for inspiration that just wasn’t coming. In desperation I headed outside with my camera. I think this...
by Susan | Oct 3, 2012 | Family, On My Mind
Today’s soccer game didn’t go great for Hannah’s team. She looks so dejected as she leaves the field here. I love the transformation in her face when she sees me snapping pictures. Looking at her smiling face fills my heart with...
by Susan | Sep 11, 2012 | On My Mind
Why is it that I find slugs so abhorrent and snails so darn cute? They’re kind of the same thing, aren’t they? While helping Hannah hunt for grasshoppers for her science class terrarium project, I found this trio of snails on a purple coneflower....
by Susan | Sep 4, 2012 | On My Mind
I have been cursed blessed with naturally curly hair. Only a mother with fine, straight hair could wish this on their daughter. Mine did. Of course, she had help. Dad has naturally curly hair. He wears his in a crew cut. Grandma Jordan, born in 1900, had naturally...
