Gryder Farm and Minglewood crossing paths

Allen is taking on a new project that grays the lines of Gryder Farm and Minglewood. With our baby chickens quickly approaching full grown chickens, it is time for them to have more space. What this translates into is more chicken tractors.

Taking this a step further, we are now taking orders for custom-made chicken tractors and chickens. Never considered having chickens? They are fairly low maintanence and so much fun to watch. Even in a neighborhood (our brother/sister-in-law have them in their suburban Raleigh backyard!), chickens can be fun pets while providing your family with fresh eggs. If you are interested, just leave us a comment, and Allen will contact you with more information. Hopefully I will be able to photodocument the making of the chicken tractors for later posts. I know the chickens will be excited to be movin' on up!

Mary Claire's first play date

Tuesday Mary Claire had her first play date. Normally bombarded by two year old visitors, Mary Claire was quite curious about the new friend her own size... even though she is about five months younger! After popping a finger in Aly's mouth a few times, Mary Claire decided that she was okay. Adorable Aly fit right in... she was even color coordinated with my girls. Aly's mommy (a friend I had not seen since way before kids) and I strapped on the babies and walked around the farm. Beautiful day to check out the chickens and cows while the babies enjoyed the ride.

Meanwhile, farmer Allen got quite a bit more planted for our fall garden. Emma was more than happy to lend a hand. After he carefully planted some greens, kale, and other leafy plants, Emma demanded that it was now "Emma turn." Into a small 6 by 6 inch square goes the remainder of all the seeds. There will be no denying Emma's presence in the garden this fall.

The farm is alive....

...with the sound of music!


Mary Claire's favorite new past time is piano playing. She is thrilled with her new found ability to pull herself up and pound away at the piano keys. It's a beautiful sound to hear!

She's not the only baby with new freedoms on the Gryder Farm. Most of the younger chickens are getting their first taste of free-ranging this morning. They are thoroughly enjoying exploring the field right behind the house, scavenging for bugs and grains.

The Gryders drop by

Three and a half years after Allen and Mr. Gryder's first phone conversation, we finally met Mr. and Mrs. Roy Gryder Jr in person yesterday. Emma, Mary Claire, and I didn't get much of a chance to visit due to the Gryder's schedule, but the girls were quickly won over since they came toting balloons! Emma wrangled all the balloons into her bedroom to ensure they were all hers (not Mary Claire's!). No one ever said sharing is Emma's strong suit.

Allen left the girls, the farm, and me behind to ride to Lexington, NC with the Gryders to look at some cabinets. I got the second hand version of how well Mr. Gryder tells a story (in a way Allen hopes to some day be telling stories to his grandchildren). Looks like I will have a revision coming on my original post of how the Gryders landed on this farm! Since Allen got to hear the story first-hand, maybe it will finally be his turn to write a post!

Even though this weekend was slightly warmer than the last week, the weather is still gorgeous. The whole family spent as much time outside as we possibly could. Emma, Allie (friend), and Mary Claire had a marvelous time playing in the sandbox, running around the pastures dancing, and checking out the cows. Emma had a slight meltdown when she wasn't allowed in the pen to feed her cows. Allen said it has just gotten too crowded in there since all of the cows come right up to him. This was demonstrated to be true when he had a cow stand on his foot while feeding them. Ow! But better him than Emma ;)

Refreshed

Allen and I sat to the task of going through the house, attic, and garage for a yard sale. Boxes that have not seen the light of day since we moved to the farm 3 years ago were finally brought out and gone through. The highlight of the day was finding Allen's banjo books that he has torn the house apart for. They were, of course, neatly packed away in my old college satchel up in the attic for the last three year. Hopefully this means the girls will be dancing to more banjo tunes in the near future.

With our first ever yard sale under our belt, we are loving the newly cleaned out spaces and are motivated to continue simplifying our lives. After talking to death all the details of how we can simplify and move towards a more wholistic lifestyle, we have no where to go from here except action. Hopefully this spring Gryder will start a journey towards becoming a fully function farm catering to our community. If you have an suggestions on what you'd like from your local farm... please speak up!

A weekend off

We enjoyed last weekend off the farm and in Raleigh. One of Allen's oldest friends was in town briefly from Fiji. The whole family enjoyed seeing some friends we haven't seen in years. Now looking forward to a few weeks of no travel to continue working on our fall garden.

Gryder in all its glory...

Growling -- Mary Claire's favorite past time.

Emma and Allen head out in the old farm truck to check on the new cows and their calves. Nothing wrong with wearing your "ballerina" while farming. It's important to half a nice mix of culture in with our farm activities.

Grass.