This Week...

For week of Monday, July 21 to Sunday, July 27, 2014 ~ 

Monday: So my weekly work calendar is now infiltrated with little yellow sticky notes all over it with house/move related to-do's and deadlines. There is so much to do and to plan and think about and wow! Well-water quality, cell phone that works in the new location, utilities at both houses, change of address, all sorts of stuff!

I cannot wait until we've unloaded the truck in Georgia and spend the following day doing nothing but exploring our land, sitting by the pool, eating good (not necessarily good-for-you) food, and sipping a little adult beverage or two. Just to relax and not be a grown-up and not make major financial transactions and major life decisions that impact more than four people - for a day. Ahhh....

Our closing for the North Carolina house is set for July 30 at 3pm. It's 17 hours earlier than my preferred timeline, but it is what it is. Everything sped up by 21 hours today!

Still anxiously awaiting the appraisal on the property in Georgia so we can set that closing. I should be able to close in person in Georgia now rather than by overnight-mail. The logistics are overwhelming and I'm thankful for my Realtors especially Susan in Georgia for their guidance and help.

Tuesday: My daughter's braces were removed from her teeth today and she got her retainers! Such an exciting event when you're 14!! I visited "my" hometown farmer's market and my favorite feed 'n seed (and it's owner) for the final time today. I posted the last monthly mortgage payment I'll make on this present house and set up disconnections for all my current home utilities.

We pick up the moving truck in one week. Only seven days left here in my birthplace and hometown. For in August 2014, we build a new hometown.

Wednesday: Had my car serviced and tuned up for a long road trip next week! My daughter baked four very gorgeous loaves of bread and got her retainers today (not all at the same time). I harvested radish seeds and hung the stalks to dry. We picked more dry beans and cucumbers today, too. We made a big pot of homegrown great northern beans and cornbread for dinner that was served alongside fresh homegrown tomatoes (farmers market), cucumbers, and onions. Mmmmmm!

The best part of today? We got the appraisal on the new house and it was valued at more than our sale price/loan amount and everything is full steam ahead! The closing attorney also called me today to go over a few details. Only six more days here!

Thursday: Today we set up the electricity at the new house! I made our hotel reservation for next Wednesday. I chopped down the long radish stems full of seed pods and hung them in t.he carport to dry so we can remove the seeds for planting this fall ON OUR FARM! :)

We all had a wonderful afternoon visiting my Aunt Pegge and Uncle Jack at their farm in Rowan County, NC. We left there and drove to Iredell County, NC to visit and have dinner with my brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Allison and my niece, Sarah. Needed to get in a visit, hugs, and kisses before we head down to Georgia. Wow...is this happening in just five days?

Friday: We have an appointment with the closing attorney in Georgia for 3:30pm on July 31!!
I got to see my two best friends, Katie and Stephanie again today. It's hard to be sad when I'm so excited about my farm...but it is sad to leave people you know and love and connections that go back sometimes more years than I've been alive. But if live our lives to make other people happy, then we can never honor our own dreams. I am so thankful for my good friends who are sad to see me leave but who are excited to see my dreams come true. Really? Four more days?

Saturday: My daughter got to spend the day with her grandmother, they went to the salon, shopping, and to lunch. We enjoyed showing Mimi pictures of the new farm! We worked and packed up and visited with neighbors. Chris grilled chicken breasts, corn, and potatoes on the grill. I have a plan to use up all our perishable foods by the time we leave here in only...wow! three more days!!

Sunday: Had a few more goodbyes / see you laters today with Chris' Aunt Phyllis and cousin Mike, at church, and to Chris' loyal green little truck. Visited with a neighbor while Chris trimmed the bushes in her backyard. {Please say a prayer for Mr. V.} My sweet daughter made homemade buttermilk biscuits, sausage, scrambled eggs, and I made French toast for our dinner this night. Now there are only two more dinners to be eaten in this house, in North Carolina.

Stay tuned! Next week's post (Monday, August 4) will be from the new Ramsey Farms...in Georgia!!

This Week...

For the week ending Sunday, July 20 ~

Monday: Two acquisition specialists employed with the home investment company that is under contract to purchase my home came by for their walk-thru cosmetic inspection of my NC house. They were super nice, insisted we stay, and spent less than twenty minutes walking through the house and yard. I know he took a picture of my great room fireplace and presumably other areas in the home and possibly measurements.

I forwarded the home inspection, termite inspection, and well-water analysis reports to the lender in Georgia.

I'm still not 100% sure that everything is a done, done, sign on the dotted line, here's the deed, done deal. But...we are supposed to close on the farm in Georgia in about 17 days.

Tuesday: The kids and I have all had our annual check-ups and doctor visits and dental visits and

prescriptions refilled for the next year. Barring any unforeseen incidents, I should not have to deal with finding new doctors until we're good and settled down south. Jeez the waiting to hear is soooo tough! I finally called my sister-in-law and my brother today to tell them the news! I haven't seen them in more than a year, but need to before we go and have so made my first major "announcement" about the move and yes, we have plans for dinner next week.

Pickin' lots of cucumbers and the first squash of the season today! Still using our onions and garlic and harvesting herbs, green beans, and dry beans. The mator plants are full of heavy, green tomatoes! I will harvest all the leeks, carrots, beans, potatoes, radish seeds, and herbs before we go. I'm taking cuttings of herbs and geraniums and jasmine. I hope my potted aloes and cacti survive the trip (well first I hope they make the cut to get on the truck!). A good solid downpour Tuesday night means I don't need to water early Wednesday morning!

• Side note to self: I need to service my car, change the oil, check tires, etc. before the 300-mile road trip.

Still not ready to make any major public announcements about this deal yet...but, we are scheduled to close in 16 more days. (Heart pounding.)

Wednesday: Emails and calls with my Georgia team (my wonderful superwoman Realtor and the mortgage broker and underwriter) began early this morning to tie up all loose ends and ensure everyone is on task to close July 31. My on-the-ball Realtor in Georgia took and submitted the second well-water analysis sample today. My North Carolina Realtor contacted my buyer's agent letting them know I'd like to close as early as possible on July 31. Back in June that agent had indicated that closing on July 31 should be no problem.

I was so pleased to have a planned visit from a dear friend of mine I haven't gotten to hang out with in awhile today! Alicia and her youngest daughter came for a farewell visit this afternoon and we had a wonderful afternoon talking, showing her pictures of the tentative new house, talking about our gardens and kids and church and work. Don't you adore those people in our lives with whom you can always pick up right where you left off, even though you can't spend as much time with another as you once did?

For dinner I made a chili / soup that only included tomatoes and ground beef (and salt & pepper) that didn't come from our garden. The herbs, potato, green beans, carrots, onions, garlic, and hot pepper came from right here in our backyard! If the tomatoes were red, I could've used ours in the soup. Another few days and those big beefsteaks will start turning!

Spent the evening packing up the arts & crafts / game armoire, the china cabinet, and the infrequently used kitchen items. Is this really going to happen? I'd hate to unpack these boxes without taking them to a new place. Check it out - I have updated my Planting Schedule post with my tentative Georgia fall/winter 2014 plan! T-minus 15 days and counting....(stomach does a couple little flip-flops)...

Thursday: This morning  my NC realtor emailed me that my buyer's have ordered the title and that the closing attorney should be in touch ASAP to schedule closing. I'm still holding my breath, but I do believe ladies and gentlemen, that I have sold my house!!! I called my Chief Farmhand, my mom, my sister, and my Georgia Realtor right away. The sign in the yard now shows that the sale is pending! Let the packing continue! Closing is planned for 14 days from today...!

Friday: Well the sign changed my house's status before I got to tell my next door neighbors! But I did get to chat with them this morning about it and they were excited for us and a little sad at the same time. Although the younger son next door did ask if this meant he could have our tomatoes! lol My four-year-old son asked me if the neighbors can come with us.

My daughter and I created four (beautiful, aromatic, and delicious) loaves of farm bread today. I cut back 2/3 of the German thyme plant in the herb garden,we de-stemmed it, and laid out the herb leaves in the dehydrator for drying. We picked more cucumbers and green beans, made more fridge pickles, and sauteed garden onions, garlic, squash, and green beans with fresh herbs for a dinner side dish.

Will the next 13 days go by fast or drag out slowly and dramatically? Let's pray for the first option! :)

Saturday: Packing, packing, and more packing! We ate some super delectable fried green tomatoes (I even fried a couple green beans) from the garden served with my own version of a creamy rémoulade sauce. {Note to self: Must grown my own horseradish!}We ate these with turkey burgers, fresh cucumbers, and pickled beets. The fried green beans were awesome and I will definitely do those on a a larger scale next time. I cut back and began drying Greek Oregano, next is the hot & spicy oregano plant. Tomorrow's forecast? More packing! :) Twelve days and counting until proposed / tentative closings and only 11 more days until we pick up the truck.

Sunday: Yep, more packing!

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week ending July 12 ~


 Well the ads for the big moving-yard sale are published.  I received an email Tuesday that my 26-foot rental truck reservation was confirmed. The house in Georgia will have it's lender appraisal this week. Monday my buyers will do their inspection. My daughter's braces will be removed in two weeks. I have a big stack of not-yet-assembled boxes. I've purged most every shelf, every drawer, every closet, every nook, every cranny of this house.  About 100-square feet of floor space is devoted to yard sale merchandise boxed up and ready to sell.

I despise yardsales. Luckily for me, my daughter and Chief Farmhand, Chris did all the heavy lifting (literally) and most of the work for this sale. (Because I hate them. Vehemently. And they know and respect this.) We made less than eighty bucks and then Chris made two trips to Goodwill. :( Ho-hum. At least it's $80 more than we had, two tax deduction receipts, and got rid of a whole bunch of stuff we didn't want. So you may call that something. As for me, I still hate yardsales and I am never doing one again. Ridiculous.

But in other news....This week we've been harvesting and eating carrots, celery, green beans, and cucumbers! Still getting lots of fresh herbs and picking and drying the great northern beans as they wither on the vines. I pulled all the beets that remained in the Back 40 and pickled two quarts. I also made a small batch of refrigerator pickles.

I made a hair rinse tea from chamomile flowers and lemon balm leaves. The cooled tea smelled beautiful and seemed to have brought out the blond highlights in my hair! I am rooting several swatches of my herbs so that I can take my herb garden with me to Georgia...

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week ending July 5, 2014~

It's been a hectic week of due diligence and waiting.

Chief Farmhand, Chris finished painting the great room (6+ coats of primer and paint not counting the ceiling!) much to his delight. This 400-square foot room feels even larger now and is much brighter reflecting the existing light now that it has gone from deep dark 1970's brown wood paneling to a nice, light, refreshing light green-blue shade.

I harvested all the green onions and garlic, cleaned out the cold frame save the radishes gone to seed and the celery, harvested and used a lot of carrots and green beans, researched dry beans and when to pick (have harvested a few handfuls that are still drying), learned about sunflowers and their harvest times, educated myself on how corn self-pollinates, and Chris built a trellis for the wild and unruly cucumbers (as some of the corn is not sturdy enough to be the sole support).

There are a good many teeny-tiny cukes all over the vines. We've counted at least three ears of corn forming so far (don't judge - we're new here). The summer squashes have blooms all over the place and there are miniature crooknecks growing. The furry purple-blue stars of the borage plant are finally in bloom (so pretty)! The cinnamon basil is flowering! The geraniums are spreading. The oreganos and thymes are in bloom! I harvested a huge basket full of sweet basil that's been drying in the dehydrator this week. There are thousands (!) (okay maybe that's a little exaggerated) but there are a bunch of green roma and beefsteak tomatoes hanging from the plants - some of which are as tall as I am! The sweet peas have dried out and died back and I am waiting on the potato plants to produce more tators.

We celebrated Independence Day together by heading downtown to watch the fireworks, hitting Tony's Ice Cream for a landmark milkshake, then back home for sparklers and beer! Thank you to our Founding Fathers and those who dedicated their lives and deaths to ensuring America remains the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank you for fighting for our freedoms so that we could dream big and follow our hearts even to a little farm in the backwoods of southeast Georgia.

Meanwhile in Georgia, we had the home inspection, termite inspection, and shocked the well. We are still set to close July 31. So the countdown is on. I just hope everything in NC and Georgia aligns just so. This buying and selling and moving to another state is challenging and difficult and stressful work - I'm ready to get it all over with and get settled into a new place!

Be sure to check out the updated Garden Photo Album!

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For the week ending June 28 ~ 

Wow...another crazy week. I did get an offer an my house, I countered, they took a week to respond and then...I said YES! Then I submitted my offer on a 14-acre homestead in Georgia and by the end of the day, I had another deal! Let me just tell you, there was boisterous whooping and yelling and literal dancing in the street!! I'm sure my neighbors wondered what in the world was wrong with me! :)

There has been so much to do since then and keep up with the day-to-day here! Sending what feels likes thousands of mortgage-related documents to the lender, coordinating home inspections, termite inspections, well-water testing, and learning everything-you-ever-want-to-know (and don't) about septic systems! Getting home owner's insurance and flood insurance quotes, sending another fifteen-hundred docs to the lender, printing a novel-like stack of papers, and signing my name about 75 times. And waiting for my buyers to set up their walk-through inspection. Waiting. And worrying.

Worry wastes time and puts wrinkles on your face - I should not worry about the things I cannot control. I keep trying to remind myself of that, but it's easier said than done. There are still things that could go wrong and nothing is done until it's done. So far this has been an easy process (frighteningly too easy actually) and those nagging little fears or doubts keep trying to creep in and stress me out!

This process is all-consuming and it seems as though nothing else is going on around here. We have been enjoying the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beets, green beans, basil, and all the fresh herbs from the garden. The tomatoes are lush and full of small, green 'mators and the sweet basil plants alongside the 'mators are tall and full of large, dark green leaves!

The cucumber have bright yellow blossoms all over them and the vines are attaching themselves to the corn stalks. The corn is awesome - some stalks are about 4.5' tall with a fluffy red grain-looking flower on top of the tallest plants. The great northern beans have climbed the trellis well and are full of large, swollen bean pods. I have learned that for these we will have to wait until the plant starts turning brown to harvest these dry beans. The summer squashes have yellow blooms and several sunflowers have opened in all their glorious beauty.

I've made my Georgia planting calendar and have a plan ready for when we get there. The growing season is much longer there and I'm excited to have so many options and ideas for planting August through December and right on into 2015. Gosh this waiting is so difficult!!

DIY All-Natural Sunscreen

Ingredients

1/3 cup Shea butter
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup organic beeswax beads
3/4 Tbsp Zinc oxide

Directions

1. Heat beeswax and shea butter in a glass jar (use double boiler or microwave on 50%). Heat until nearly melted. 
2. Add coconut oil. Heat until melted. USE CAUTION JAR IS HOT!
3. Stir contents until well blended. Add zinc oxide powder. (Safety note: you should wear a mask or bandanna around your mouth and nose when working with zinc oxide powder to avoid inhaling the particles. Once blended into oil the risk is eliminated.)
4. Using a immersion blender (or I use my hand mixer with just one beater installed), blend your lotion until smooth. 
5. Allow to cool to a solid form.

This lotion will work as a terrific sunscreen, it is also used as an effective underarm deodorant, and highly effective cream for rashes and quick healing of pimples/acne. I have modified this recipe based on one I found for diaper rash cream. :) This is a stronger version of my original sunscreen blend. I do like the original blend better for deodorant, but this version is much less runny. It has the consistency of a thick paste.

Update: Check out WHY these ingredients are beneficial for you!

This Week at Ramsey Farms

For week ending June 20 ~

This week the painting in the great room continued...it looks to be about 80% complete now. The pale blue-green wall color is so much nicer than the dark, dark fake wood paneling brown. It's actually really pretty and bright in this big room without enough windows or lighting. I wish we had painted in here 14 years ago (yes, I know...My mom had been telling me for 14 years to paint this room!)

I made raspberry cobbler and a small batch of pectin-free raspberry jam this week. Apparently the raspberry seeds have enough natural pectin, so I am excited to see how it turns out and have a small test cup in the fridge to try.

Harvested the rest of the beets from row 1 and canned three  pints of pickled beets. We had a delicious stir-fry of homegrown veggie: carrots, onions, garlic, and herbs and lots of delicious homemade bread this week. I made a loaf of sweet potato bread that no one has a clue has sweet potatoes in it (they think it's "cinnamon bread" and it does contain a good deal of ground cinnamon and brown sugar).

My dear daughter baked dinner rolls one night this week and has been so helpful in housecleaning and chores and taking care of her little brother. She is also just noticing that her mom is hilariously funny (usually she thinks I am just "dumb" I bet) and even told me I should do stand-up. (I'm pretty sure she was not kidding.) I am blessed with fantastic kids.

This week has been a little bit of a whirlwind. Mainly on account of...oh yeah, that offer I got on the house!! Wooot! Yay! You did not want to be inside my brain at that point because it got jammed packed with lists and to-dos and ideas and fear and doubt quite fast. To make the long torturous week short and sweet for you my dear readers, I'm waiting on their counteroffer. And I squelched my doubts and fears by reminding myself of the dreams I've had for the past 20 years of living on my own farm. No doubt it's been a long journey and it's time, I'm ready.

The person you are destined to be doesn't live in fear, she is held back by nothing and no one, she is propelled by her dreams and ambitions, she is emboldened and empowered by her inner strength.