Bread…

I literally love bread! I do not think it makes you fat. And here’s why! It has to do with moderation. And good ingredients! I am a firm believer in having what you want but learning what your body needs. Bread done right is not horrible for you or your waistline, especially in small amounts. Especially if you aren’t really allergic to the ingredients. Anything that you have too much of is a problem. Having said all of that, I do understand that not all bread is made the same. Have you ever looked at what is in your loaf of bread? Have you seen the comparisons of what used to be in a loaf of bread versus what is now in a loaf of bread? The simple truth in healthy eating is that anything that has to be made in one place and shipped or stored in another for an undetermined amount of time will require chemicals and things that make it shelf stable and last longer. My grandmother made bread everyday. We used to shop at the “bread store” when I was younger. Merita had a store on Old Pineville Rd. Now we shop at a grocery store and our bread comes from who-knows-where. Even some of the baker’s breads, like LaBrae, will have stabilizers and additives to make them last longer, but those are better for your gut and the environment, and yet so much more expensive. So my solution has been this journey of making my own bread.

My favorite sourdough loaf so far!

I started with a really terrible relationship with yeast. I tried for years to made bread in a bread maker, then just dough of any type, like pizza dough, with yeast. Nothing really turned out well in my house. Until I moved into my new house! The only thing I can figure is that the old house was drafty and often cold. Seriously! Dough would not rise in my old house! Now I have no problems making yeast breads, pizza dough, you name it. I’ve really had some yummy successes in the last 3 years since we moved.

My relationship with bread comes from my Dad! He could make the best bread and cornbread, and did so at least once a week.

Then my friend at church brought me some of her sourdough starter. I was so intimidated! But she walked me through step by step what to do. I don’t need the science behind it, just the directions. I have had my ups and downs. One time I thought I put too much water and the dough looked really runny, but once it baked, it was perfect with big airholes and chewyness except it molded stored on the counter for 4 or 5 days. Another time I didn’t put the oven temp high enough and the inside of the bread didn’t cook. But there have been way more successes than failures! Here are some things that I have learned…

• There are a million recipes and directions out there I’ve always been told that baking is exact and that is really why I shy away from it. But it is not! Choose one method and stick with it long enough to feel comfortable experimenting away from it.

My first experiment…tiny loaves for Christmas presents for my friends!

• Don’t invest in a bunch of things until you know you want to continue doing it. You can proof your loaf in the pan or bowl. You can use bread pans, clay bakers, whatever to bake them in. The starte can be stirred with a knife and covered with a towel. Don’t overcomplicated it!

• Plan your schedule. The one down side I’ve found is that it is time consuming and requires a plan…the starter has to sit for 12 hours, the dough sits for 12 hours, the dough proofs for an hour before baking. I personally take my starter out to warm it up on Friday AM, Feed it Friday PM, Make the dough Sat AM, proof and bake Sat PM. Different recepies will have different steps and times, but it will take you 2 days or so to make bread. Where as yeast bread can take just 6-8 hours.

• Be part of the community. Where ever you get your starter or favorite recipe or favorite process from will create a community. Follow people on social with different ideas. Take tips from any one who will offer them. The friend I started with and I talk about sourdough every time we see each other! She will try something new and share it with me. I send her pics of all the things I try. It really is all about being part of that community!

My First Loaf!

I think the biggest lesson is just to try! Don’t be scared! Cooking good food has always been an accomplishment for me. Making that first beautiful, perfect loaf gave me such a sense of self sufficiency. I don’t have to depend on buying bread from a bakery or store. I don’t have to have fancy equipment or tons of time on my hands. I can make something really good and healthy for me and my family right here in my own home with my own two hands. Absolutely worth it!

Spring Babies

As the temperature warms and the sun shows up in the sky for more hours in the day, things on the farm begin to change. We had a rough winter for our chicken flock and I was waiting for those two things to happen so I could add baby chicks to the farm. Now it is here and so are the babies, but I thought I would update you on how we got here and the lessons we learned.

We had experienced a few seperate issues that got us to this point.

Hawk attacks…On two separate occasions haws got into our chicken run! Wanna know how? Human error! It was not the hawks fault or the chickens fault so much as it was our fault. There was an entire section of the run not covered in fencing. Hawk flew right in, attached the smallest chicken, my only remaining hen, and then struggled so hard to escape through a different section of the fence it ended up injuring it’s wing all while the 2 roosters and other hen watched from the other side of the run. The second hawk attack was similar, a section of the fencing not attached well to the frame of the run. (anyone see a theme here?) The interesting thing about both attacks is that we had been watching whese 2 giant hawks hunting a mole in our pasture for weeks, worried about them and the chickens. But those two didn’t do it! It was 2 smaller, adolescent hawks that made it into the chicken run. Now, we have gaurdian owls!

New, Homemade, Made from Pallet Wood Coop and Run!

Perimeter Breaks…Wanna guess whose fault number 2 is? It follows the theme! When putting fencing around the perimeter of the run, there were these brace boards that caused the fencing to not sit flush with the board or staple close enough to the board. It created almost like a little tent between the board and the ground. Did we go back and fix that issue after the fencing was installed? Not soon enough! Something, still no idea what, managed to get under that area and pull out the 2 remaining chickens. I was able to follow a string of feathers to find this little fence tent that got left for nothing less than laziness.

Old age…This one isn’t our fault, but I learned a lot. A few years ago my oldest daughter brought home 4 chickens that she bought at Tractor Supply, completely without permission, of course, as she has done with all but 1 of her animals. I had no idea what type of chickens they were, still don’t really. If I had to hazard a guess, they were something like a Long-Island Red (we have had those before, but they were bigger and meaner that these girls were). The benefit was, they laid a ton of eggs! So I kinda forgave her after a while. In the last year we lost 2 hens for seemingly no reason. They didn’t seem sick or have any signs of problems. They just slowed down and one day were dead. I believe it was old age. Chickens can live to be 7 or 8, but when they lay eggs, especially large eggs every single day (these girls laid double yolks all the time) their life expectancy shortens. They are working too hard for their bodies to keep up. We have bread them to give us more of what we want, but less of what they can handle.

I waited for the weather to get warmer before I got new chickens because I don’t have anywhere in my home for a brooder. I Was considering getting older chickens, but found a local lady that breeds Silkies so I picked up 6. The breeder looked very well kept and the chickens seemed healthy. And yet, as I sit here, I have one baby that is not thriving. I have her sectioned off in a container by herself for a little extra warmth and am trying to get her to drink water through a syringe, but I have no idea if she will make it. Such is the #farmlife. It is always something and not for the faint of heart. But I wouldn’t trade it for any other #life in the world, #lakelife, #citylife, or whatever.

Barn Cats V2

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about our barn cat BoJangles who was missing. I lamented about the heart wrenching job it is to own barn cats with all the dangers and troubles on the farm. We worried about him all the time! He got into tons of scuffles and close calls. He fought every cat that came close to the property, very loudly and usually in the middle of the night. But he would curl up in your lap by the fire pit and purr for hours. I am sad that Bo never returned to us like we wished. A barn cannot be without cats for too long or the mice will overrun it and then the snakes show up. If you have never seen how a horse reacts to a snake in or around their stall, consider yourself protected. So we had to rescue 2 little kittens from under my mother’s HVAC unit in downtown Charlotte and bring them out to the farm.

Baby Kittens

This was a trick! February of 2023 my mother sends me this picture of tiny kittens under her HVAC unit and we go on and on about what to do with them. We call animal control and they can’t take them because they are full. I don’t think she even got an answer from them for like 2 weeks. We decide to leave them alone and monitor until they were big enough to be away from their mother. Momma Kitty moves them to the neighbors house, probably because my mother has one of the most obnoxious little dogs you could ever imagine. And I am on the farm just hoping and wishing BoJangles comes home.

Finally, in April, I decide that we are going to need a barn cat for the upcoming summer and I cannot keep holding out hope for Bo. He would have been home already if he could. He would never willingly leave his barn. Mom talks to her neighbor, who by this point has been feeding them tuna cans and says he can’t keep up with all of them. I agree to catch 2 and bring them to the barn and the neighbor will keep 2 while mom and dad are also still around. Have you ever tried to catch a feral kitten?? Pro tip…do it much more before they are 3 months old! It took us over an hour, moving a bunch of junk in the neighbors backyard, and one seriously determined teenager of mine with gloves and blankets, but we finally got them. Boy were they angry! I wish I had taken a video of that crazy teenager crawling around through junk to catch them!

Once we got them to the barn, I realize I have no idea what I’m doing! I have only had like 3 cats in my whole life and they were indoor only. You know, liter box and a pile of food and you may not see them for 4 days. These kittens were out in the wild, far away from their siblings, and there are dangerous things on our farm. I had to come up with a plan! I took it step by step. And everyone told me I was wrong! We started with them in a dog kennel in the tack room of the barn with a litter box and food. Once they got too big (and WAY too messy) I had to seal up the cat door on the tack room and let them out in the room. They hid all the time, sometimes so well I had to search for a while to find them. As they got a little older, and it turned colder in the winter, I would close the big barn doors and open the tack room door so they could play in the barn. They were super timid, but began to run around and play. They even started killing mice! I had a lovely present in the middle of the barn one morning.

As the weather warmed up and the kittens turned a year old, I knew I couldn’t keep them closed in the barn forever. And everyone still kept telling me I was wrong! That first day of opening the barn doors scared me to death! But I think it scared them even more! Pretty soon they were following me to the pasture as I took out and brought in horses. For a while, I closed the doors at night to keep them safe, but that had to end as the weather warmed. Mick and Chick now have full reign of the farm, but they don’t venture too far from the barn and the safety of each other and their tack room. They don’t cuddle by the fire like Bo, but they are my favorites. They watch the farm from the barn doors day and night, tell me long stories while I clean stalls, and keep all the rodents out of the barn. I can pet and snuggle Chick when she’s looking for food. Every now and then I get a little nose pet in on Mick. But they are still crazy and feral as can be.

I am impressed with myself how I figured this out. They are totally dedicated to that tack room in the barn being their home. Yes, there are scary things out here that could hurt, but they have a safe place to run to for protection. BoJangles used to come to our back door and play with the indoor cat through the sliding glass door. Mick and Chick barely come down the driveway most of the time. But maybe that will change with time. They are their own little adorable personalities. And this farm is theirs to manage. Bojangles left them a home and a role to step right into.

Mr. BoJangles

I learned a few lessons this past year from this experience. One, everything happens for a reason. Two, the way I do it may not be the same as the way others would do it, but this is my show not theirs. And three, the 3day/3 week/3 month rule we always talk about in animal rescue does not apply to feral cats!

Building Things

I absolutely love building things! What I have learned about myself in my last decade on Earth is that I truly enjoy figuring out how to do something myself. It brings me so much joy when I have an idea or plan and it works out! But what I’ve noticed the most is that my plan never works out exactly the way I plan it. There is always some variation that, inevitably, works out better. I have enjoyed learning the faith involved in that element of building. I have built a farm, a business, a family and a home. I have many plans to build many more things in my next decade. Building things takes a little knowledge, a bit of strategy, and a lot of faith.

My best example of building things, in real estate at least, is my current house. If you are not familiar, we built a new construction home on our existing farm. I had so many plans and ideas that didn’t work out! The biggest change that had to be made was in the location of the house. I wanted it placed in the woods on the other side of the creek. We built (and paid for) a culvert, an extra long drive way, and tons of gravel that gets absolutely no use today. But in the end, the house is perfect. We have a brand new home in a great location that gave us a ton of instant equity. I brought the knowledge of how to build the house using a contractor mainly from researching and working through a million different scenarios. We strategized the entire time, learning about land development, financing rules, and building issues. But the real magic came in the faith that it would turn out for the best. And it sure did!

A more recent example of building in real estate is the new construction project that my clients recently went under contract on. It is a gorgeous new house outside of Asheville. An independent builder bought this lot in a new neighborhood and designed and began construction on the home. We went under contract when it was at about 70% complete. This is a unique dynamic where the builder agent is NOT controlling the process of the build for my clients, the way a community home builder or track home builder would. In this case, a buyer agent, such as myself, has proved to be more important than ever! I am trying to help my clients understand what they can and cannot do, since the construction is nearly complete. We recently had an issue with granite. The buyers were able to pick granite, but they didn’t like the selections the builder gave them. As always, my philosophy of real estate is that there is always a solution, so that skill has proved invaluable in new construction!

Probably my most valuable thing that I built is this homestead! It may never be complete, either. But it is truly exactly what I wanted. My goal out here on the farm is to be a self sustaining as possible. I am no doomsday planner, but I grew up in a family that grew our own food and relied on family and friends to get things done. We have been able to create that out here, on a small scale, and I have tons of plans to continue that building…like solar panels on the barn, a deck and detached garage, and increasing the garden.

Building things is my biggest goal in life! I want to build more houses. But I also want to build family and business. I want to help other people build businesses. I want to build more houses for other people. I truly enjoy watching the process, even if I end up cussing the majority of the way through, like we did on our home! That’s the proof that I’m meant to build things. I have a small amount of knowledge and plan to really increase that, maybe even getting my own contractor license. I am great at creating a strategy in all the areas of building! And my faith in the process gets stronger and stronger every time I am proved wrong! I look forward to a long line of more things to build!

Drop Back and Punt

WELCOME to the 2nd half!

Yep, we are half way through the year. Do you remember all those plans and goals that you had for 2023? How’s it going?? I think this is a great time to re-evaluate where you are, what your doing, and where you want the year to end up. I’ve put together a little plan for myself to evaluate just that and decided to share it here, along with some of my own answers.

Step 1: REVIEW

If you are like me the last 6 months have been pretty hectic. I think everyone’s life is hectic. I don’t care if you have a farm full of animals and a house full of people like me or not. Your life is likely just as busy. Maybe you put all of your time and energy into your work. Or maybe your extended family takes up all of your time. Either way, you have many things pulling you in different directions and the 3 goals you made for your 4 Categories 6 or 7 months ago are probably really hard to remember! That is why we wrote them down! So go back to your Life Planner, Daily Journal, whatever it is called, and look them up. What were you hoping to accomplish this year?

When I review my goals I am actually surprised. I thought I was way off on everything because the year has NOT gone for me as I expected. But in actuality, it’s really just one category that is way off track. The other 3 categories have been fairly successful for a mid-year check. Take some time to read back through what you wrote down and committed to as a goal for this year. You should have written a reason or importance to the goal. Review that too! Is that still true today, half way through the year?

Step 2: REFLECT

This is the point in the process that you have to dig in a little deep to find out why. Sometimes it’s not easy to answer. Sometimes the honest answer is an inside force and sometimes it is an outside force. The big thing is to be HONEST. Try NOT to blame only outside forces. Be sure to identify the things that you have the power to change. I think during COVID, we all learned the difference between the things we had the power to control and the things we did not. I couldn’t control the shut-downs and school closings, but I could control what I personally did every day.

In my Career goal, I am no where close to the number of closing and home sales that I want for this year. I’m only on track for about a third of that goal. Yes, a large portion of that could be attributed to the market slow downs, inflation and interest rates. All of those things are true! But what, in all honesty, could I have done differently to increase my business and work flow? If I am completely honest with myself I did not make the new connections in the community I wanted. I did not stay on top of social media posts and marketing plans like I had intended. If I’m completely honest, I didn’t even really make solid plans to get me there. So now I know there is plenty of work to do the rest of the year!

Step 3: ADJUST

Logistically, do you want to adjust the actual business plan? I think this is a great idea! Let’s make some edits and changes to the plan. Maybe the goal doesn’t change, but the steps to get to that goal do. Or the mode that we use to acheive that goal changes. Take a look at the goals you have set for the year. Do they still align with you? Is there an adjustment that needs to be made based on the last 6 months?

Just like at the begining of the year, you have got to write them down! You have got to communicate them to the universe (and maybe your significant other). You have to make it known that this is what you want to do so someone can help hold you accountable or celebrate your success or send potential help your way. Without the communication part of setting goals you are doing all of this on your own, and that is just not really possible. I am surrounded by an army of strong women, and that is why we are an army, because we need each other to make things happen.

Step 4: DESIGN

Take a look at the goals you have for the rest of the year and work backwards in your head to design a plan that will get you and keep you on the right path to achieve those goals! Here’s an example.

GOAL: I want to close 2 deals a month. (How many contracts do I need to write?)

Write 4 contracts per month. (How many meetings do I need to schedule?)

Schedule 2 live meetings per week. (How many phone calls do I need to make?)

Connect with 2 people (clients/prospects) per day.

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The point is that sometimes we have to take a step back and see where we have made progress and where we haven’t. We have to be honest about our expectations as well as our limitations. Self-reflection is the key to improving, no matter what is being improved. Looking at what obstacles we faced this first half of the year is important to growing and learning and improving. Placing blame will get us nowhere but in the failure circle (I failed – I feel horrible – I don’t want to do it anymore – etc).

I want to share some of the tools with you that help me plan my business.

mid-year-review-plannerDownload

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Spring Cleaning Checklist

What’s all the hub-bub about Spring Cleaning? Is it anything that people actually do? I think it was more commonly practiced when the home served a different purpose. For many people their home is just a place to stop for rest or to kill time. During the pandemic, when we were forced to stay in our homes, many people began to treat their homes differently. Many people even changed what they called home. Unfortunately the statistics are something like 80% of those who made the decision to sell or buy a home during the pandemic when the real estate market was crazy regret that decision in some way. HOME has taken on a new meaning for most people. Whatever you do there, it should be taken care of and Spring, a time of refreshing and regrowth, is a great time to spruce up the space around you!

My mother, and new Assistant, spent 20+ years with a cleaning company called Cottage Care cleaning other peoples homes. So when I asked her for some tips and tricks to Spring Clean, she had plenty to say!

Appliances:

• Stove/Oven – Use the self cleaning setting or just wipe everything down.
• Refrigerator – Clean out old things and clean up spills or drips from the shelves and in the doors.
• Dishwasher – Run a cycle with a dishwasher cleaner or a solution of white vinegar.
• Washer/Dryer – Run a washer cycle with white vinegar and clean the outside dryer lint trap.
• Microwave – Soak a sponge with water and microwave for 10 or 15 seconds to loosen dried up bits.

Rooms:

• Windows – Clean the inside. Clean the Outside if they tilt in. Pressure Wash if they don’t.
• Blinds/Curtains – Wipe or vacuum blinds in closed and open position. Take down and wash curtains.
• Furniture – Spot Clean cushions.
• Walls/Doors – Wipe down walls with dry duster. Wipe doors with a vinegar solution and remove stains/dirt.
• Fans/Switches – Dust off every blade of the fan. Wipe switches with vinegar solution or window cleaner.

Declutter:

• Closets – Remove the clothes or items that don’t fit or aren’t used.
• Pantry – Clean out expired food or things that will not be used.
• Desks – Clean and organize drawers.
• Cabinets – Throw out expired or unused items.
• Drawers – Organize items so that drawers close easily. Throw away anything that doesn’t fit or doesn’t get used.

Outside:

• Porches/Patios – Sweep, clean, wipe down, or power wash the deck and patio.
• Furniture – Wipe down the furniture to remove dust and debris Clean or repair cushions.
• Flower Beds – Refresh the flowers and mulch.
• De-Pollen – Wipe down surfaces including columns or rails to take away pollen.

I am not the cleanest and most meticulous home owner in the world, but I did grow up with a mother that might be. A few of these are pet peeves of mine! The doors and light switches are one of them. Dust on the blinds is the other. The list is pretty extensive and I don’t know if I would ever get all the way through it. But it’s a great list to guide me! Spring brings some of those quiet, secretly beautiful storms that make a great day for cleaning out some of the years yuck. Spring is about renewing and rebuilding. The forest around me on the farm rebuilds the tree canopy so I can take some time to rebuild the order inside my own home.

Barn Cats

Have you ever met a barn cat? They can be a little ellusive. Usually they are wounded or scarred, stay away from human touch, and hide in plain sight. We inherited a barn cat named Mr. Bojangles when we bought this farm. When I first moved here as a renter, he welcomed me with loud cries for food and scary hiding spots in the rafters of my car port. But he was nothing like most barn cats I had known. Unfortunately, he is missing. We are worried and confused but still a little hopeful because he is such a special barn cat.

We always had barn cats on the farm I grew up on with my grandparents. They lived in the basement at night and roamed the farm in the day. I do remember one story of a particular cat who climed into the engine of my grandfathers old Dodge and wasn’t found until after he started the car to go to work that night. I don’t remember any of their names, though I know they had names. And I don’t remember ever snuggling or playing with them.

That is what made Bojangles, or Bo, so different. He was the best fire side cuddler on the farm. If it was cold and you had a fire going, he would curl up in your lap for a little snooze. Most evenings, fire or not, he would come to the house for some loving and an extra scoop of dry cat food, though he had just gotten a can of wet food in the tack room for supper. He loved to be picked up and cuddled like a baby, but only by me and my hubby. At our new farm house, he would sit at the back sliding glass door most nights taunting the inside cat into a game of show and tell. She would show him her toys and he would pretend he didn’t care. When we were new to his farm he had what we called a broken purr. It was rough and incomplete. We always said it was because he didn’t get enough practice. Over the years it fixed itself, or we fixed it, with all the loving he got. He greeted newcomers, human and animal, with caution at first, but quickly taught you how to respect his wishes.

I have always said he will be the subject of a childrens book one day. When the lady built this barn she adopted him and brought him here as a barn cat, but he soon won her heart and she decided to take him to her house for him to live as a house cat. One day, he got out and they couldn’t find him. A few weeks later he turned up back at the barn. This was his home. He chose it. Which is why it feels so empty now that he’s gone. It’s been 2 weeks now and there have been no signs of him. But I haven’t completely given up hope.

He’s been gone for a day or two before, but this is unusual. He’s lived on this farm for 10 years or more and avoided every preditor known to man, and probably some we don’t see. I have watched him run from a fight straight up a tree. He’s tough, but most of all he is smart and fast. I don’t think any of that changed. I don’t see him loosing speed or timing, even if he’s gotten older. He still doesn’t trust people or animals enough to get in trouble. We had a foster dog that didn’t know what to think of this big fluffy cat that came so close to him. The foster dog, Felix, was old and had spent a few years roaming the woods of a neighborhood when we picked him up. We were sure he had seen cats, but he didn’t know what to do with them. It was almost as if they had terrorized him and so he had to chase them away from his food. Bo just sat there and let Felix sniff him. He didn’t make a move or run or hiss. And Felix gently opened his mouth slowly around Bo’s neck. Bo was giving him the benefit of the doubt. But he quickly taught the old man to be a little more respectful.

If he’s lost, I know he can take care of himself. Sure, we feed him. We actually feed him a lot because he always looks so skinny. It’s a true testament to what an active lifestyle can do. But he’s resourceful enough to feed himself. And he absolutely LOVED to show you. He presented us with twin chipmunks laid perfectly side-by-side in a horse stall, birds of all sizes on the door mat, baby bunnies one after another when praised for a being a good boy, and more mice than you can count which he would swallow whole while our dog watched with great envy. If he’s been captured by someone else trying to turn him into a couch potato, he might get out again and come back. Or he might choose the indoor lifestyle for a bit!

At the end of the day, he’s a barn cat. We should envy their freedom. He can do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants, and be whatever he wants. There are people that love him and respect his independence right here on this farm. With that respect comes the unknown, a little bit of sorrow, and maybe some fear. Barn cats come and go sometimes without the help or permission of humans. I guess that’s what makes them so special.