Pink Squirrel Farmstead

If you are reading this, most likely you are well aware we have an Amish Farm we have purchased in Kentucky. If not let me give a little overview.

When we originally purchased the farm a little over a year ago, Chad had not seen it in person. My Dad and I made the mad dash (which from Lamesa Tx -to Livingston Tx-to Kentucky is 23 hours and 54 minutes one way) the day after we seen it on realtor.com

When Dad and I first got to the farm, we were a few hours early for our appointment with the realtor. So we drove by to see it from the road, and drive around and explore the area.

I knew the minute, I saw it with my own eyes;, my “Hallmark Christmas Movie” farmhouse of my dreams had been found !!!!!

At the time I did not want to get my hopes up to much, because I’d be devastated if the Amish Farm fell through. It was an adventure exploring the house and barn and land. As I walked around it brought me back in time, when life was more simple, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, just a lot of possibilities!!!!

When I called Chad and showed him the farm thru FaceTime and photos, he was not real interested in the house itself. His first question was, “can I hunt safely?“, second question was, “show me the barn and workshop area”. His last question was “can I turn the basement into a Man-cave/Game room?

After I said yes. He stated “ok sign the paperwork and pay the lady”. I was, do you want to know about the house?? He said “Babe, you know all I need is the four S’s (somewhere to sleep, shower, sit and $h¡% 🙄) in a house, the rest of it ;that’s all up to you if you like it”.

Now mind you, buying an Amish farm is interesting to say the least. Their was a long list, of figuring out how to go about modernizing the farm.

1. How to get electricity installed to the house and barn?

2. How to go about installing plumbing ?

3. Since it was Amish Built house, it was a very simplistic design and finishing. Example no indoor bathroom, except an outhouse and only plumbing was water to kitchen sink and a small hand wash sink.

4. Lots of unfinished aspects: •Upstairs 3 out of 4 bed rooms had drywall up but not taped and mudded or painted. •One bedroom had exposed studs the drywall was not installed yet. •The upstairs floor was only underlayment. •None of the doors or windows had been trimmed out. •Most rooms did not have doors at all on them. The list goes on and on.

Side note. Found out the Amish considered it to be boasting and prideful to have these finished out.

Now most people I have talked to about the farm ask (2) two questions. Why, in the world would you want an unfinished home and why do you want it in Kentucky??

The Answer is actually an easy one. “ Why not”? I mean, I get to choose where to put Everything. I get to choose where to put electricity plugs, light switches? Trim? Flooring? Painting? Bathrooms? Entire kitchen design? and so forth. (Except when Dad, says “No, Casey you can not have that there” 🤣😂🤣😂)

Second answer is just as easy. I grew up with my Dad in the Navy, Chad grew up an Army brat. Both of us have moved a lot as adults. With Chad being a Warden, with TDCJ we also get moved around Texas, at the drop of a hat. So we are not tied down to any particular town or area.

Kentucky is absolutely beautiful. The weather is nice, the people are very nice. Most of the people we have encountered act like we been family or neighbors, All of our lives. The prices are so much more reasonable there as well.

July 21,2021 the Amish Farm became the “Pink Squirrel Farmstead” and was officially ours !!!

Luckily my Parents and Hunter were willing to move to the farm and work on projects. Hopefully by the time Chad can retire in a few years it’ll be mostly the way I want it to be.

So we have had, my Hallmark Movie farm of my dreams just a tad over a year now. I do not even know where to start at on the transformation that has occurred in the last year. I’m sure if I went to try and list something I would miss a ton 🤣.

We now have one bathroom with toilet and sink and old fashioned cast iron tub. In laundry room we have 2 washers and 2 dryers. Electric in the mud room, kitchen, living room, 2 out of the 5 bed rooms and multiple other places.

So now we are on to some of the more exciting and fun. We have made several trips back and forth from Texas to Kentucky. The last 4 1/2 days we spent on beautification projects. The living room we put up shiplap accent wall. I painted it chimney smoke grey. All around Kentucky you see black tobacco barns. So I think it is quit fitting to the area. Painted the rest of the living room and trimmed out the walls, door and windows. Chad installed a windmill ceiling fan (more parts than an IKEA project). I just love the ceiling fan, Chad was probably using some inappropriate language most of the install process. Normally the fan at Home Depot is over $800. We found it at a store in Wichita Falls for less than $50 🤯. Shiplapped the stairwell. Installed shiplap on several of the walls in various locations. And installed flooring in the upstairs library and one of the bedrooms.

This may not sound like much; but trust me. It was wayyyyyy more of an accomplishment in 4 days than you would ever want to conquer. We are definitely Glad we had help from Dad and the kiddos !!

Not sure if you have ever used a wood planner or not, but Chad found a “cheaper” shiplap alternative. You buy fence boards and run them thru the planner 2-3 times. What a price saving, but lots of work 🤣🤣.

We also had the opportunity to walk around and dwindle down some of the designs I want to tackle in the future.

This workcation definitely , whooped all of our butts, however the difference was worth the long hours.

Oh and it was awesome to play with the baby Goats !!!!!!!!!

We are back in the full swing of work. Chads foot has still been swelling a lot, but he is on the mend and glad to be back to work. Payton is done with her schoolwork about a month early (thank goodness) and life is grand. Payton has a couple church camps this June, but then she is off to the farm for the summer to help out. I’m pretty sure she just wants to snuggle with goats and papa wants her to work.

We now have 2 sets of twin baby goats. The second set was born on Mother’s Day, a girl named Sunshine, and a boy named Willy. Of course they are cute as can be. At first the momma goat Allie would not let the other babies play with her babies but now I think she is totally over being a protective momma and just wants a break (haha). Gingers babies are getting big quickly, they bounce around like crazy and are even starting to get their horns.

Mom and Dad have been working on their garden at the farm. Dad said his rows look like graves and I cannot believe my mom is in a jacket while we are melting here in Texas with 100 plus temperatures. I hope their garden does well. In addition to the garden, we purchased 4 apple trees and it’s the beginning to our fruit orchard. I cannot wait to add more tress but, we will try to add more in the fall or next spring.

Another one of Hunters barn cats had 3 kittens. We might need to get some cats fixed or he will be the crazy cat man and be working to feed cats. I am glad he enjoys them and makes sure they are well taken care of. I do wish they were more friendly but at least they keep the mice population down in the barn.

We have been working on our garden here in Texas as well, trying to learn as much as we can before we prior to moving to the farm. I wish it was now instead of years down the road. I have learned how to harvest, clean, and dehydrate Italian oregano, basil, purple basil, and thyme. Our tomato plants are looking amazing, strawberries have had their ups and downs with having a zinc deficiency and it got too hot for our lettuce which turned bitter.

We are trying to grow onions and potatoes for the first time, hopefully we will have a decent crop from them. It’s is hard to grow something that you cannot see growing underground. We may have planted more zucchini and squash than we will know what to do with, so hopefully our friends like fresh veggies. I am so excited to see what we will harvest from our green beans and cucumbers, I want to try out canning them.

I can see why people love to garden. It is rewarding, challenging, and peaceful being in the garden. But I must say I do not like weeding and we plan to have raised planters on the farm. The bending over to pull weeds kills my back!!!

For Mother’s Day Chad and the girls surprised me with a new flowerbed and planted flowers in it. It was perfect! Chad also got me a composting bin so we can learn how to compost. Wish me luck!

These baby goats are so full of energy. They are running and jumping full force. Don’t you wish you had this much energy? Allie is still pregnant and getting bigger by the day. I am sure she is ready to pop any day now! I can’t wait!!! April (the white and tan one) is the trouble maker and gets into what ever she can reach.

I love seeing videos and pictures of them! I wish we were on the farm! A few days after they were born they fell asleep outside and no one could find them. They looked all over the goat paddock for them. After that, dad cut their area in half. Can’t say I blame him.

Dad made them a swinging platform to play on and they love it! At first they were a little to short to get on it but that did not keep them from trying. Dad made a few modifications and they got it figured out. They climb and play on everything! They also found a big stump they love to play on. How can you have a bad day with baby goats to watch.

Luckily, Ginger has been a good mom and is very attentive to them and Sugar has been having fun with them as well. I would not get anything done on the farm because all I would do is take pictures and videos of the babies.

Hunter became a cat grandpa. When the momma barn cat passed away Hunter stepped up to be the momma cat and make sure they were taken care of. He even taught them to use the litter box. They literally only like Hunter. Well one of those babies (Chimney) just had babies. She had 3 but one was stillborn. He named them Soot and Milo.

On April 6, Chad went home sick from work. Many of you know that it takes a lot for Chad to go home sick let alone get him to the doctor. He has worked many times with the Flu, different colds, and stomach bugs and just kept truckin’ right along. Payton had STAAR testing in Amarillo on the 7th so her and I drove down that night so we wouldn’t have to get up early in the morning to drive 2 hours for testing, but Chad stayed home sick instead of going with us. I knew he was pretty sick because even with a cold he would have went with me. He loves spending time with me. ❤️

After testing we grabbed a smoothie and headed back. I could tell Chad was pretty sick, he had fever and a migraine that wouldn’t go away. That evening he got a weird rash that wasn’t itchy but was hot to the touch and was painful, it was probably about the size of a softball on his upper thigh. The next morning the rash had tripled in size on his thigh and then was now also covering most of his leg from the knee down. I was very worried about him at this point, and talked him into going to the doctor. Thankfully we got him in because he was running a 103.7 fever and was septic. I was told if he had not went into the doctor that Friday he most likely would not have made it to Monday.

He did not realize how sick he was he just wanted the headache to go away. He was admitted to the hospital but while still in the ER when they started his antibiotics and pain medicine for his migraines his blood pressure dropped really low, after he was stable for a couple hours they moved him to a room. The next night we were transferred to a bigger hospital 2 hours away for additional treatment and specialized doctors and got there about 2 am. He was reassessed in the ER in Lubbock at UMC and then got moved to observation around 5:30 am. And the nursing staff asked a bazillion questions, then the dr came in to chat with us. He had 3 IVs at one point and 2 strong antibiotics going.

Sleep was pretty non-existent in the hospital for either of us, and his migraines continued for several days with some very scary side effects. The doctor was able to give him some meds that got rid of the migraines during the day but then by night time they were back. These migraines were all due to the infection he had. On day 6 in the hospital the infectious disease doctor came and took a look at it and said it was some sort of streptococcal infection. He changed one of the antibiotics and told him it would take several weeks to heal. Luckily a couple days later he was finally migraine free.

He was in the hospital for a little over a week and has been recovering at home since. It was very painful to walk, and he was pretty much tired of being in bed. I move the recliner out of our living room into our bedroom so he would be able to sit in the recliner (he had to keep his leg propped up above his heart). It has been slowly getting better and he finally got the okay to go back to work this coming Monday. I am sure he is ready to get out of the house and back to work but I am still worried about the pain and swelling. I’m sure he is tired of me asking him how his leg is doing and I will miss him in the mornings before I go to work. But, I’m sure Payton will not miss someone being home to nag her about her homework.

This has been a very scary and emotional time for us (mostly me on the emotional part) and I am glad Chad still has his leg. It could have been so much worse and I am very thankful for family and friends that helped us through this last month. We appreciate all the meals that were provided to our girls, and all those that checked on us. I am thankful for our work being understanding during this time, it is nice to work for people that truly care. I am glad that in the midst of it all we we’re blessed with 2 baby goats to lighten the mood and bring smiles to our faces. We all needed a bit of baby goats to brighten our spirits.

Do you remember when Buford was in rut and he because such a butt head? Well, we ended up having him taken to the sale because he was just too much of a jerk for my parents to deal with during rut. We had three other female goats that are as sweet as can be.

Well apparently there was some love connections because recently my dad noticed that Ginger and Allie have been getting quite round and their bags are filling up with milk. Ginger surprised us yesterday evening with twin girls. Ginger is an amazing momma and is doing great!

Carla got the honors of naming the babies. She picked April and Mabel! Such adorable names!!!! So without further ado:

They are so adorable and tiny!

About a month or so ago I purchased a basil plant in the produce section of Walmart. I wanted to be able to have some fresh herbs available for cooking and I also wanted to learn how to dry them to have on hand in the cabinet. Leaning how to be as self sufficient as possible is very important to me, along with good storage.

Unfortunately yesterday Oreo, our cat, knocked over my basil plant and broke the pot it was in. Trying to make lemonade out of lemons, I decided to try to keep the plant alive and use up the leaves on the broken stems. I pruned the basil plant, we shall see if it survives. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try my hand at drying the leaves. I have been reading about the care of a basil plant on various blogs and stumbled across a blog that gave instructions for drying basil 4 different ways.

This is the blog, if you want to take a look:

https://driedfoodie.com/how-to-dry-basil/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=1105367090_53547042_249413

I started by washing the basil leaves one at a time and drying them with a couple paper towels. Payton helped with the drying of the leaves, only because she wanted ice cream and she had to wait until I was finished, but I will take the help when I can get it.

I wanted to try the microwave method, mainly because it was already 9pm and I also don’t have a dehydrator. I simply put a paper towel down on a microwave safe plate and placed the leaves on the paper towel, making sure not to over lap the leaves. I cooked the leaves in 2 minute intervals until the leaves were crispy and easily crumbled.

It took me approximately 6 minutes in my microwave but all microwaves are different and the size of the leaves matter. You can leave the leafs whole or crumble them. I chose to crumble them because I plan to use them in a lasagna this week.

I let the crumbled leaves sit out for an hour before placing them into a small jar. This can reduce the chances of mold. Eventually I will get a small dehydrator and try that method as well. And I am hopeful my basil plant will make it.

Spring is getting so close, I can almost taste it. Or maybe it’s just the dust from all the high winds we have had lately here in Texas. We have had a few nice days lately and it just makes me want to start planing my garden.

Chad built me a new cabinet for my office/craft room and I just love it! He took the time to find the perfect latch, and hinges. Luckily we both have the same taste in furniture. He made it look rustic and worn and he did an amazing job!

On the farm my dad has been putting up electric fence around where we want to keep the goats. Pictures are hard to show the electric fence. He did get Hunter to touch the electric fence a few times. And one of the time he said it didn’t work so my dad touched it and it shocked him pretty good. The first controller purchased didn’t work as good as we would like so he returned it and got another. I know absolutely nothing about electric fences so this is all new to me.

Here in Texas we have been starting some seeds for the garden and some flowers. They are doing great! We also purchased some small bell pepper plants and they had teeny tiny aphids on them. We quickly did a google search and found out to spray them down with soapy water. I meticulously squished all the bugs I could find and Chad vigorously sprayed them down.

At the farm dad and mom have also been getting the garden ready. Mom has some plants starting in the house and dad has been tilling up the ground. They have even seen a critters around the farm. He has also been working on the fence around the garden. There are a few wild rose bushes that were right on the fence line that had to be chopped down to fix the fence posts.

They purchased a few more baby chicks to add to the flock. Hunter has been making sure they get lots of snuggles and turned them in to a plate of chicken nuggets. Hunter also has a new cat that moved in with his barn kittens. Hunter just recently had a birthday and turned 19!!! I cannot believe my baby boy is 19! Man they grow up so fast!!

In addition, dad lowered the coffee/tea/cocoa bar so mom doesn’t need a stool to make dad his coffee now. Hopefully winter is done and spring is here to stay!

We are hoping to get some fruit trees planted this spring, up passed the garden. The orchard will be approximately 100’x100’. I sure wish I was on the farm to help out. the gravel has all been spread and the grass is already peeling through! I just love how green the grass is!

The roads are now a little less safe, Payton got her permit and is learning to drive! But she is very excited to have gotten her permit. What an exciting time for her! congratulations Payton!!

We are finally mostly over covid. Coughing has died down for Chad and I, but Payton still has a pretty yucky cough. The fatigue is still very much present and so is the brain fog. Slowly but surely we are all getting better.

My dad has been hard at work on the pantry. It is a slow process with the cold, rain, and snow. And dad has also been putting in the electric fence up on the hill(he has neglected to send me pictures 😉). Unfortunately for him, I have changed my mind a gazillion times on the plans but I think it is turning out amazing! He built the canned good holders and put them on each of the walls. In addition, he built a pull out cubby unit for the pantry as well. It will be great for gravy packets and rice packets, powdered sugar etc. Then he started on the shelves today. Mom has already started putting groceries in it, I’m sure she will love the pantry being in the kitchen area.

Doesn’t it look so good? I love it! When I go next time I will paint it, but I still have to decide on paint colors. Any ideas? I was thinking white to keep it bright, what do you think? should I paint the canned goods holder and walls same color and then shelves a different color, or should I keep it all one color?

While we have been recovering, Chad and Payton have been working on building a cage for a puppy we were getting. They worked hard on it and it turned out beautiful! Payton and Chad also built her a toy box.

Meet the newest member of our family Bug! Bug joined our family on Valentine’s Day. We met her and picked her out when she was just 3 weeks old. She was super sweet and a lot less sassy than she is now. She is full of energy and is into everything. We are currently working on house and crate training her. Payton has been working with her on leash training and teaching her to sit.

Back here in Texas we have been sick. Between colds, allergies, migraines and Covid we are hopefully on the mend. The weather here has been warm one day and freezing the next with lots of wind and it is not helping us get better. But, we did get some snow here and it was just beautiful!

I have been working on my first quilt for a while now. I have been trying to squeezing it in little by little during my days off and I finally finished it. It’s a small baby blanket size quilt but I didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew, and you gotta start somewhere, right? I learned so much on this quilt and can’t wait to start working on a bigger one. It is definitely not perfect but I am happy with my end result. Chad even built me a wall hanger for it for our living room. He did an amazing job on it and I love it so much!

Back on the farm the kitchen food pantry is going up. It will have a wall with can storage and then shelves around the rest of the sides. I love shiplap and I am excited that we found a blog talking about a cheaper way to do shiplap in your house. You take fence boards, plane them down and they look great! Dad has been working hard on the pantry and it is coming right along.

It’s looking good so far. I am so excited! I would have never thought to use fence boards but it looks just like shiplap! Can’t wait to paint it and to see it with the shelves on it! Great job Dad!

I will still have the butlers pantry for kitchen gadgets and some bulk food storage but this pantry will be for every day food storage. It’s closer to access from the kitchen and it will be an awesome addition. I am so excited for my kitchen to slowly form into my dream kitchen!

Hmm.. I wonder if we could put shelves in-front of the can storage? Why do you think? Think it would be too much? Or do you think it would be great extra storage since you only need to access the cans from the top and bottom. Now do you see why I have a hard time making decisions on the house.

So, the farm got more snow yesterday, I love it but, my parents pretty much hate the snow. I think this is an abnormal snow year there but only time will tell. I think weather everywhere is abnormal this year and last. Dad built a small little faceless snowman but it slid off and plummeted to the ground. I wish we were there! Cheyenne would love to be out there sledding instead of being in her room staying away from all the germs we have right now. I can’t wait to see what February has in store for us!

We had another birthday in the house! Cheyenne turned 25! She is always so excited about her birthday and starts counting down months before her birthday. Since we were all sick I didn’t make her a cake this year, but took her to Walmart to pick one out. She decided on an Oreo Mousse instead, and I am glad she did, it was amazing! 10/10 recommend it! We celebrated with dinner, lunch, coffee and a little shopping spree. Thank you to everyone who wished her a Happy Birthday!

The new year has been quite busy for us. We took a trip to the farm to spend some time with our family there for Christmas. My Dad had surgery the first day we were there and was stuck watching us do stuff and got Camera duty. He prefers to be in there helping out and not just watching. Mom was glad to have a break cooking dinner while we were there. I did have her help a little. Oreo got quite a bit of rest and relaxation.

While we were there we did a lot of planning and decision making. At first I wanted to do board and batton on one of the walls in the living room but ended up deciding that I just want to do ship lap on the wall instead. I don’t care if it could go out of style in a few years, I like it and it gives it the homey farmhouse feel that I want. Heck, I have been out of style for a while now too.

We were able to spread some gravel around to help with the mud and the no parking area issue. It was nice to get out and get dirty and enjoy the wonderful weather. Of course Dad was chomping at the bit, to get in there and help and Mom kept yelling at him to not do stuff.

We brought some lights we purchased here in Texas with us. Chad was able to get one hung temporarily for more light in the kitchen. It definitely brighten it up in there but it is a permanent placement and will have to wait awhile, until the island is put in so it can be centered above it. I just love the Antiqued Stained Glass, it is so beautiful!

Since the weather decided to dump a bunch of snow on us we started working on opening up the stairway. I want to be able to decorate it for Christmas, but I also think it looks so much better opened up. It still has a long way to go but it will look great in the end. We made a lot of noise cutting out the sheet rock and the 2x4s. It was neat to learn how to properly use a Sawzall.

I love the snow and I was so glad to get it. We got 7-8 inches and it was so beautiful! Of course I had to get out and take pictures of it. Cheyenne got out there and went sledding down the hill. She was having so much fun until she took a wrong turn and hit a tree. Luckily, she and tree are fine with no injuries at all. It did scare this Momma as I saw her go off the side of the cliff, (ok it was the side of a hill, but you know it felt like a cliff) as I was telling her to put your feet down to stop over and over.

Zep loves the snow, he chased Cheyenne down the hill while she was sledding, he walked with me up to the chicken coop, and he went down to meet the goats. Allie was not excited about meeting him and invading her space and tried head butting him…Let’s just say that Zep was thoroughly confused by this and just wanted to smell her and lick her. So I put him on the other side of the gate. He just wanted to be friends.

On our way to Kentucky a hawk landed beside the road then right before I got to it, it decided to fly up right in front of our SUV and I hit it going around 80 mph in Missouri. When we stopped for gas, I didn’t really see any damage at a glance so I didn’t think much about it (this was on Monday). Well right before we were about to head back home on Friday, Payton noticed there was a bird in the SUV. She called me from the SUV and said, “ummm, Mom there is a bird in the car”. I was like what!? Why are the doors open it’s been snowing you’re gonna get snow all in the car. She said no it’s in the front by the grill and sent me this picture.

I wasn’t really sure what to do, or how to get it out. So I did what any woman would do, I pawned it off on the husband. Chad went down and to check it out and realized it had broke the grill right on the edges and was trapped in between the grill and radiator. So he finished breaking my grill off my car to let it free. He called his friend that is a Falconer to find out what to do for it. I tapped my foot under the bumper and it hopped out onto the bumper.

With his advice to let nature takes its course, we watched to see what it did. I am not sure if it found somewhere to recoup or if it unfortunately was something’s dinner but, nature will run it’s course. We looked for a rehabilitation center. But could not find one. (Thanks for the advice “Cookie”)

In better news Mom’s chickens, finally decided to quit being freeloaders and are now producing a couple eggs a day for her. I think they just did it for the meal worm treat treats, since the day before she told them no more treats if you don’t start laying me some eggs.

We were able to make a great deal with the Amish Lumber Mill right down the road, on 2 pallets full of hard wood (over 200 rough cut real 2×4’s). They are about 6 months natural cured and still have about 6 more months to fully cure. They are going to be used by my Dad to make my beautiful kitchen butcher block counter tops and island tops. We unload the wood and stacked it so it could dry out and finish curing down in the basement. We got my Dad a new toy to play with. So he snuck down stairs with Chad and I to play with his new DeWalt wood planner. We just did one board to see what they will look like and didn’t let him lift anything. I can’t wait it is gonna be so pretty!

While we were there, I attempted to get a load of firewood delivered, so we could stack it for them before we left. Unfortunately due to the weather, they didn’t make it out until after we left along with more gravel. There is still another load of gravel being delivered after the snow melts off. The wood ended up being around 3 to 4 ricks of wood. Hopefully it will last the rest of the winter.

We discussed in the future possibly below the deck and in front of the basement building Barn Doors to inclose the area. We figured it will help keep firewood dry, the side by side out of the weather and a fantastic place to put our Hot Tub!! By the way, we sure missed it back in Texas after all the hard work we did on our “Farmcation”.

We played the Saran Wrap Game, with Dad, Mom, Cheyenne, Hunter, and Payton. We all had a blast! We went to the covered bridge while we enjoyed some ice cream. I should have went back to take pictures of it after it was covered in snow, but the roads were not great and we had to head back home in the opposite direction. It was a great time with the family and we can’t wait to go back again soon!

While I was packing the car to leave I was able to snap a few photos of an Amish buggy going by. It would have had to be really important, if that was me, to get out in the cold like that. I wonder how they keep warm in the buggies. Hope you have a Blessed new year!