Graduation!

Let's start with the sad part: the tomatoes just couldn't handle all the rain. They are ghosts of their former glory. It's kind of ok at this point, because with Fall coming I'm excited for some pumpkin soup and roasted winter squash. That is the joy of seasonal eating.

There was a huge party at the farm with all our friends and families for graduation. My Mom and Dad and Rebecca and Anthony all came to help us celebrate. We kicked off the afternoon pressing cider in the orchard.

Mom helped take the leftovers down to the pigs. They were so excited! (And huge!)

I think the most amazing skill anyone has learned this year is the rare ability to levitate pitch forks. Theo is obviously a master.

We all sat on hay bales (and were given the above pitchforks as a present) for a wonderful ceremony full of poems, thank yous and a violin duet by Emily and Rebekah.

We made Sara a cake for her birthday on Tuesday.

I put a rabbit on it in honor of the angora rabbit she has taken care of over the last year.

Post graduation on the tractor!

With Maggie's Field in the background.

And our diplomas!

And the best graduation presents ever! Sweatshirts for our new farm. I'll post more about this soon, I promise!

Dad, who used to be a welder, checking out my fire cube with me.

And finally, the T-Rex that Betsy and Sarah gave Theo as a graduation present with the Prosecco from Rebecca and Anthony. You can also see Theo's bingo card from Thursday night with Josh, Stephen and Justin on the coffee table as well.

Fire Cube = Success!

So incredibly awesome! We all got together to have an inaugural fire and enjoy some s'mores.

Since it sits a few feet above the ground, we got to watch the fire burn from underneath. Very cool and a unique view.

I'm so happy with how it turned out and the fact that so many of our farm community came to help celebrate. I can't wait for many more nights around the old cube, especially as the weather starts to get colder and the nights a bit darker.

There were some pretty awesome things that worked out well that I hadn't planned (or... I mean, I did...). Such as, getting to watch the fire from underneath, the perfect height at which to roast a marshmallow, the fact that it's raised off the ground so the smoke doesn't get in your eyes and the light shining through the pumpkin is orange. So perfect, if I say so myself.

My Lovely Project

You know you love your project when you end up standing over it with a sledge hammer.

I was really just trying to straighten out all the panels that got warped by heat while I was cutting them. I finished welding them together and I'll post picture soon of the inaugural fire!

Chicken Heads

See that brown chicken with the excellent comb and waddle?

See my headless chicken with no comb and no wattle?

I call this: operation draw the head on the chicken. Not so easy, it turns out.

Getting Closer!

The tractors are almost done!

Independent Project!

So I'm building a pretty awesome portable (if you can pick up many pounds of steel) fireplace. I'm cutting out images on four panels which I'll weld into a cube. I'm assembling a base for it as well, so that it'll sit on legs above the ground and have a place for ash to fall through. I'm really excited about working on it and so far it's been pretty fun.