I turned 30 last week, and to celebrate, Jimmy and I went on our first hike since we’ve moved up to the farm. My friend Genevieve’s fiancee Sean is a local dude, and he told us about a hike called Bears Den which is about 20 miles outside Winchester down Rt 7. It was a gorgeous drive out past lots of pastoral views and plenty of cows. We even spotted a few other places to check out like Watermelon Park, and had a great little detour into Berryville.

The hike is a short one (no more than 30 minutes to the top) along the Appalachian Trail to a spectacular rock outcropping and overlook called Bears Den. There’s a short trail up to the AT which was beautiful. Flowers, rocks and roots were everywhere.

Then it’s a short part of the AT up to the Bears Den overlook – it was a steep hike with a few switchbacks, but a short one. I love hikes like this. You get sweaty, you get a little workout in, and you’re richly rewarded with views and cool stuff to do at the top. And, you’re not dead later in the day because you went a ton of miles. Win, win!

There were all sorts of little caves to explore and rocks to jump on. There’s also a nearby hostel for thru-hikers on the AT. After we hiked, we stopped at the nearby Shenandoah River and checked out the spot to put in boats and fish. It was under a bridge and reminded me of Richmond. Check out this hike if you are in Clarke County or near Winchester, you’ll love it! We’ll definitely be back and plan to take some friends here soon.

The weather out here sure is fickle.

For the first week we were here, it was all bright blue skies and puffy little clouds. The weather was very spring-like: cool in the morning, hot after the sun got above the ridge, and then cold after the sun went down. When we do get rain, it sounds great hitting the skylights and coming in through the windows, which we usually have open during the day.

Then one week, after it had been in the 70s for days, it dropped to the 40s and snowed all day. Then we had more sun and it got hot enough that we waded in the creek after working in the garden and getting all sweaty.

It’s rained since Saturday afternoon, and today it snowed hard all day. I’m glad I haven’t planted anything outside yet. I thought weather at the beach was up and down!

I think I’m going to paint the farmhouse. Not like paint the outside, but make a little painting of it. Watercolor, I guess. Gonna go down the hill and scout a location tomorrow.

Did I mention the wind?

I love wind (except when I’m riding a bike), so this was a welcome surprise. I’ll have to build some little wind screens for my seedlings when they go into the garden, I just know they’ll snap right in two with the gusts we get up here. I love looking up at stand of tulip poplars behind the house and seeing the wind blow through them.

They wave like a thousand little hands.

Since we were establishing a compost pile from scratch, I figured I’d post our step by step process. Here on the farm, we’re using John Jeavons‘ biointensive grow method, and so we followed his recipe for compost, too. It’s pretty much this: 40% brown stuff, 40% green stuff, 10% soil.

Since we don’t have neighbors to see our compost pile, we just went for an open pile, but you could use pallets, chicken wire and a few posts, or even really fancy compost bins if you want it to look neater. We just put ours above the garden sort of near the barn.

How to make a compost pile – step by step

1. Pick a spot. Under a deciduous oak tree is best, because this environment is already sort of a compost pile (leaves fall and are turned into soil at the tree’s base). Stay 6 feet away from the trunk to avoid creating a home for destructive insects.

2. Loosen the dirt in the area for your compost pile (a minimum of 3×3 feet) to facilitate critters coming up from the soil and into your pile. Lay down 3 inches or so of brush, branches, or sticks to allow some aeration between the soil and your pile. Then cover with a layer of “brown stuff” – or what Jeavons calls “mature vegetation”. Also known as leaves. Water this layer well.

3. Cover with a layer of “green stuff” or “immature vegetation” also known as grass clippings, weeds from your garden, kitchen scraps, etc.

4. Water in the green stuff.

5. Add your kitchen scraps (egg shells, veggie scraps, coffee grounds) and water that in.

6. We also added ashes from our woodstove, and watered that in as well.

7. Get a layer of soil ready to cover the whole thing. This will keep everything in place and also keep out flies or other curious visitors. We used soil that we dug up from the garden beds, which is also full of “green stuff” AKA weeds.

8. Water in the layer of top soil.

9. You’re all done! Now each time you want to add to your compost pile, remember it goes brown stuff, green stuff, soil. Water between each layer.

You can turn the compost pile once in a couple weeks to facilitate the breakdown process, but it’s not necessary. You can just let nature do its’ thing!

Let’s talk compost

Have you made compost before? Use it in your garden? Any tips or steps you’d have added? Tell me in the comments.

Well, we’ve made it through our first week here at Bucklebury Farm. That’s right! We picked a name. We waited to see the votes come in (on Facebook too) – thanks to everyone who weighed in! I was secretly rooting for Bucklebury Farm, which won by a landslide, and was also Jimmy’s favorite. Hooray!

Spring is in full swing up here. The redbuds and dogwoods are blooming, I’ve seen tulips in some of the less rustic yards, and the Apple Blossom Festival is right around the corner. We are doing full battle with the insect hordes of Gore, Virginia (paper wasps, stinkbugs, big scary wasps, oh my!) and have declared all out war on a family of carpenter bees who have made a home in the deck, but other than that it’s just gorgeous. It’s barely rained since we’ve been here, every day it’s blue skies and puffy clouds.

The house is coming together slowly. Did I mention there are no stairs to the second floor? Only an attic pulldown ladder. We are officially OVER that, and will be putting in a staircase as soon as time allows. But the house is full of gorgeous, natural light. And I can’t tell you how at home I feel looking all around me and seeing trees and mountains.

I absolutely love how dark it gets out here at night. I start to doze off when it gets dark (around 9ish) and wake up with no alarm clock when the sun comes over the eastern ridge (around 6:30). A few nights we’ve gone to dinner or whatnot and it’s absolutely creepy driving back at night. It gets SO dark out here.

Speaking of creepy things…

Unpacking my craft room and setting it up in the glassed-in-sunroom among the trees was fun (more pictures of that coming soon). Also, here’s what’s blooming on the farm, and a little kitchen scene.

I’ve got a post in the works about how to make a compost pile (since we just made ours), as well as pictures from my 30th birthday which included an awesome hike to Bears Den – a really cool rock formation on the Appalachian Trail. I love having the AT just miles from us! We’re digging garden beds this week, and Jimmy is rigging up some fishing poles as I type this. I like mountain country life!

What have you guys been up to this week? Any farm-ish picture requests? Tell me in the comments!

This past weekend, Jimmy, my mom, Jimmy’s mom, my dad, and Dave went up to the farm house to get it ready for our big move-in. We’ve been going up every couple of weeks to work and get the house ready for us to live in. We packed up the owner’s stuff, moved all of it plus his furniture out to the barn, and this past weekend was the big CLEAN.

The property is just more gorgeous every time we go up there. The daffodils were all in bloom, it was like having our own welcoming committee.

The peach blossoms were just beautiful, and the bees were absolutely drunk. They were racing around, fighting each other, hovering and playing.

Can you blame them?

It wasn’t all pretty, though. We had several daunting repairs, plus lots of good ol’ fashioned cleaning of the elbow grease variety. Here’s the downstairs bath subfloor ripped up, that’s the root cellar below. Scary! We put stuff in front of the door so we wouldn’t forget about the hole in the floor in the middle of the night! We sealed up a bunch of holes, got the house hornet-free, cleaned and cleaned. We couldn’t have done it without mine and Jimmy’s family to help, thank goodness for hardworking people that love us.

I can’t wait to pick cherries off this bush in a couple months!

Daffodils and mountains.

Jimmy chillin’ in our ENO on the deck, staring out at the garden. And the creek, which is constant music to my ears.

Our big move-in is April 7th. We’re so excited, a bit daunted by all the work that’s ahead of us, but mostly excited. I’m slammin’ busy with work the next couple weeks, and did I mention we haven’t packed the first box? I’m sure we’ll get it all done somehow.

Help us pick a name

Jimmy and I will both be blogging about our first year in the woods – right here on this blog. But instead of “the farm” we figured we should pick a name so everyone knows which farm we’re talking about. Help us decide! And yeah, this list may or may not be comprised of places in The Shire (well, except Dimrill Dale), and I may or may not have obsessively made notes about said places while I read through the Tolkien books for about the 10th time last fall. Help us pick a nerdy, Lord of the Rings-themed name!

Stop postponing your life until you lose the weight

Please stop waiting for some magic moment (that may never happen) to come around. Some magic moment where you are tall, thin, have smooth skin, no cellulite, have a voice that doesn’t sound annoying when you hear yourself recorded.

Please stop waiting to go live your life, put on a swimsuit, dance at a club, give that hot guy your phone number, buy a pair of shorts, join a book club, show up for that exercise class, start practicing yoga, start lifting weights, start moving your body.

Just show up. Just go do what you love.Stop worrying about whether or not you look cool or nerdy or fat or stupid. You look fine. Your body is fine. You are the only one judging yourself as harshly as you are.

I have more to say about this. Please read the full post right here.

Wearing Ishbel near the bay

When I was at Stitches East 2008 I bought a wonderful skein of Spirit Trail Fiberworks Orihime sock yarn. It’s a blend of 80% merino and 20% cashmere and just too nice for socks. I’ve been saving it ever since for the right project. It’s a gorgeous variegated yarn in colors from light aqua to midnight blue-green.

A million people on Ravelry have made the Ishbel shawl, and I’d had my eye on it for a while. I had just enough yarn so I decided to make it up!

Lace - ain't it pretty?

It was a really quick knit because a lot of it is stockinette. I completed this in just a few evenings of TV watching. The pattern has two sizes, and I made the smaller size based on the yardage I had. I had a good deal of yarn left over though, so I wish I’d made the larger size!

This was my first lace knitting project and I really liked knitting lace. I think yarn-overs are fun to do, the lace went quickly, and the pattern was easy to remember. One thing I really liked about the pattern was how it blocked out into neat little points on the lace edge. Mine isn’t so pointy, and I think it’s because I bound off too tightly. When it says bind off loosely, she means it!!

Ishbel on the bay

This is definitely a pattern that I’d make more than once, it’s quick enough and small enough that it’d make a great knitted gift. I may have to make up a couple of these to use up some sock yarn in my stash!

Last week I did my hair up in the fancy-looking, but super-simple-to-execute Gibson Tuck. Since I wasn’t looking like a wild savage, I pleaded and Jimmy indulged me with some finished object photos down at the bay, and I love the way they turned out. The colors in this shawl actually remind me of a stormy day on the Chesapeake Bay, and I named it thus and so!

Here’s my Chesapeake Bay Ishbel on Ravelry.

Ishbel

Me wearing the cowl - Jimmy took these at The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia

More finished knitting to show off – this time it’s the Honey Cowl pattern by Madelinetosh. Everyone and their mom has been knitting this, and I really loved the texture so I figured I’d join in!

My Butter & Honey Cowl in a white wire basket

My friend Genevieve and I met up for a visit in Charlottesville near Christmas and she bought me two skeins of Tosh Vintage, which was a joy to work with. It’s so squishy!

Stockinette is drapey and all, but honestly I love a good textured knit which is one reason I was drawn to this pattern. It also looked like it would be long enough to wrap twice around my neck for warmth if I needed to, but short enough that I could wear it as a scarf necklace accessory thing.

Verdict – it’s a little snug when wrapped twice, but makes a great necklace scarf.

The cowl wrapped around a bear (by A.Bel Studio) and rolled up

The pattern is easy but slow to grow because it’s a lot of purling and slipped stitch rows. But it was an enjoyable and easy knit!

Here’s my cowl on Ravelry. The pattern is free and you can download it on Ravelry or on the Madelinetosh website.

I took some time off from crafting when I quit my corporate job, I think for a couple reasons. One, I was feeling more fulfilled at work and didn’t need quite so many creative pursuits outside my job. And two, I was so darn busy trying to figure out the whole self-employment thing! I’m happy to report that I am back to knitting with a passion, and I also am working on my first quilt! I can’t wait to show it to you guys.

I have a couple finished knitting projects to show off, but I couldn’t wait any longer to tell you about my friend Kristin’s first published knitting pattern: the Whisky Cowl!

Whisky Cowl – an easy beginner’s infinity cowl pattern

The infinity scarf and cowl trend is still going strong, and tons of them are showing up on the street, in magazines, and of course on Ravelry in people’s finished projects! I have made a couple myself.

Kristin asked me to test-knit this pattern for her before she started selling it and I was happy to oblige!

The yarn Kristin picked for the pattern is Berroco Vintage Chunky, which is a wool/acrylic blend. I normally do not knit anything with acrylic, but I would have never known this yarn was a blend unless I’d read the label. It’s great to work with and the texture reminds me of Cascade 220 or a similar superwash worsted wool. The acrylic blend also makes it machine washable which is great for something that’s so close to your face and neck. If you’ve ever gotten makeup on a scarf, you know the situation can get funky quickly if you don’t wash it, haha.

The garter stitch makes a wonderful, nubby, bumpy texture and makes the cowl squishy and cozy. I think the length is perfect – I almost always wear v-neck or scoop-neck shirts and so it’s nice to have something to go between my jacket and my shirt to keep my neck and chest warm, but not have to wrap it or fiddle with the length.

This pattern is easy to knit – it’s garter stitch so it’s a cinch for a beginner, but it’s for the more adventurous beginners out there because you get to do fancier things like hold two strands of yarn together, work in the round, and learn grafting. The grafting makes a totally seamless cowl, which looks great as well. If you buy the pattern, there are videos included which show the techniques used in the pattern like the crochet chain cast-on, twisting the scarf, and how to graft your stitches. I helped Kristin make the videos and I think they are super helpful and a great addition to the pattern.

It’s a quick knit on size 13 needles, it took me probably 4 to 5 hours! A fun weekend project you can complete during a Downton Abbey marathon (or maybe that’s just me). Here’s my finished project page on Ravelry.

Buy this pattern

Try this one out, you’ll love it! You can buy the Whisky Cowl pattern for only $3.00 on either Ravelry or Craftsy!

Buy on Ravelry:  or buy on Craftsy:

Photos by Kristen Runberg

Jimmy and I had a wonderful vacation a few weeks ago. We went to southern California, Disneyland, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Red Rock Canyon. It was a total blast! The desert is gorgeous, but I definitely learned that I’m a girl who has to have trees around to feel at home! Check out all our pictures from the trip!

Death Valley highlights

Dante’s View: 7,000 feet up, get a super panoramic of the Badwater Basin (lowest point in the Western hemisphere)

Zabriskie Point: We watched the sunrise here and it was breathtaking. Wish I’d had a tripod, the photos would have been amazing.

Furnace Creek Ranch: Home of the 20 Mule Team borax miners, they have a date palm grove, a wonderful hotel and cabins, a saloon, the whole bit! Expensive, but we loved staying here.

Badwater Basin: Salt formations – it looked like we were walking on ice!

Dunes: 100 foot high sand dunes in the middle of nowhere

Mosaic Canyon: Smooth rock walls honed by water and wind, cool rock formations, and lots of wonderful towering walls of rock all around you.

Other stops along the way

Disneyland with mom for her birthday. Laguna Beach for a totally gorgeous sunset, and discovering an amazing hidden stairway that went down the beach under some cliffs. Pacific coast highway. Red Rock Canyon outside Las Vegas was totally breathtaking but VERY crowded. Vegas was Vegas! We love how over the top it is, and that there’s always something to do.

Glad to be home but what a fun vacation, and our first since the honeymoon in Belize! Next big trip: Ireland and the UK!!!

Check out all our pictures from the trip!

1. red rock canyon, 2. red rock canyon, 3. jimmy in mosaic canyon, 4. laguna beach sunset, 5. red rock canyon, 6. mesquite trees near the dunes in death valley, 7. date palm grove at furnace creek, 8. at the griffith park observatory, 9. mosaic canyon, 10. on top of dante’s view, 11. on top of dante’s view, 12. on top of dante’s view, 13. mesquite trees near the dunes in death valley | View all pictures