Doc and I just got back from an amazing long weekend on a farm. We were lucky to be invited by our friends Chris and Allison to go with them to Allison's folks' farm. It was SUCH a great weekend, and I have approximately 687 pictures to prove it. I am slowly sorting through all of them and trying to figure out how to categorize everything. Prepare yourself for several farm-related posts this week! Meet Jack and Jan.
It's their farm that we went to and, like Chris and Allison, they are good, good people. They were so gracious to invite us into their home for the weekend. Well, sorta. We didn't actually get to sleep in the same house as they did...
Maybe we should start with a tour of the property so you can see why we didn't sleep in their house.
[Before we start, I should warn you that a lot of my pictures are blurry. I'm a little mad at my camera(s) about this. But, it's probably because I'm not a very good photographer. In fact, I think I'm getting worse.]
The farm is lined with all kinds of different fences to keep the animals in, and all the fences were built and put up by their 3 farm hands. My favorite fence was this black fence that ran along the roads.
With lots of fences comes lots of gates. Not just anyone can make it up to the farm house, first you have to be buzzed in through the main gate.
To the right of the drive is the newly planted orchard.
And just past the orchard you can see the big farmhouse! (Oops, this picture was actually taken while I was still outside the gate.)
When we walked up to the front door, we were greeted by a stone fountain
and a BEAUTIFUL fall display.
Now, moving inside. I don't have pictures of the entire inside of the house, but I still have quite a few. You'll have to use your imagination for the rest.
From the front door, you enter into the living room.
And just past the living room is a small sitting area with tv. In case you can't tell from the pic, those would be the Hogs that are playing. Woo Pig Sooie!!
Also in this big open room is the dining table. The whole wall behind the table and the tv area are really big windows that overlook the property.
I loved the long wooden candle holder that sat on the table.
Here you can see the big windows.
Just behind the living room is the kitchen.
Let's spend a few minutes talking about how seriously, completely, ridiculously awesome this kitchen is.
As you can see in the picture above, it's bordered by two pine(ish?) trees. These trees are awesome. They have split naturally since they were built into the house, creating very cool cracks.
Here's one tree post:
The other one has a really big split in it, and I think the shiny spots in it could be tree sap. Maybe?
Ok, now let's go back to the super awesome kitchen. Check out this breakdown of its awesomeness (you may have to hunt for the letters - click the picture to make it bigger).
A - farm style sink B - island sink C - dishwasher D - two dishwasher drawers (on side of island) E - trash compactor F - oven G - stove top H - another stove top I - steamer (back of island) J - pizza oven K - pantry L - refrigerator M - pot filler (it's the silver spout on that white tile wall) Not labeled - wine fridge (on island across from pantry) Not pictured - another oven and microwave (on wall to the left of the bar)
I know, right? Even I would be up for learning how to cook if that's the kitchen I got to do it in everyday.
Wine fridge side of island:
Dishwasher drawer side of island: (The two dishwashers were Jack's doing. As he said, if you have two, you'll never have dirty dishes sitting around. I can get behind that.)
Wood storage for the pizza oven:
Awesome farm style sink:
And the microwave and oven that weren't pictured above:
In this kitchen, even the pantry is cool. It starts like this:
Then, you open the doors to this:
And then, you can swing open those shelves to even more shelving!
I would kind of like a closet like that for my shoes.
So, phew! That's the kitchen. Also on the main floor is the master suite - huge bedroom, his and her bathrooms joined by the tub and shower, a workout room, and a closet that's as big as our playroom, at least. It even has a window bed in it (similar to a window seat, but bed size). And from the workout room, you can go down into the tornado shelter basement that will soon be turned into Jack's wine cellar.
Upstairs is where Chris and Allison stayed.
Not pictured is their bathroom, which is so big it used to be the guest bedroom and had two twin beds in it. Yep.
From their room, you can go to the enormous game room.
On the very back wall is the big tv that was delivered while we were there.
And if you turn and look back from there, you can see the pool table that was also delivered while we were there.
So that's the jist of the main house. From there, you can walk past the outdoor fireplace,
and head to Jan and Jack's offices.
If you head up these stairs, you'll see why Doc and I did not stay in the same house as everyone else.
We had our own little apartment above the offices!
I was obsessed with this artwork. The paintings are done on tar paper and then glued onto wooden canvases. Who's going to make me some?
Another sitting area:
Our super comfy bed:
Across from our bed was a little kitchenette, complete with, yep, another dishwasher.
And the tv and microwave were hidden in those cabinets:
So that's where we stayed. Here's a picture of the front of the house so you can try to put it all together.
And a pic from the back:
Now, let's see what else is on the property. Outside of the house is the small barn, home of the alpacas.
(Doc and I are not alpacas. We're just posing in front of the barn.)
This is the big barn that's not near the house. In it is the Farm Manager's office and another bedroom and full bath.
It also houses big tractor-like things. Every boy's dream.
Did you know these big tires are filled with water instead of air? I sure didn't.
On the property is also Jake's house. He's the Assistant Farm Manager and the only person that lives on the farm all the time.
Outside his house are these two buildings - they were already there when Jack and Jan bought the property.
The little silver-ish building is cool - it's where they weigh all the cows. They herd all the cows through these runs
and then, one by one, they step on the electronic scale. This is probably the only time when the bigger the number on the scale, the better.
Holy cow! It's 9:24. I started this post at 7!! It's the longest post ever, and all I've done is show you the farm. There are still a ton of pictures of what we actually did while we're there. Yeesh.
Come back soon to see pictures of alpacas and Sheryl Crow and other fun things!