“By the River,” 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas A heartfelt thank you to my friend, Donna as well as my art teacher, Mrs. W for their helpful input and kind encouragement on my latest painting. “An extraordinary dream by Lord Charles Wellesley. (Charlotte Bronte) ‘In this slumber I thought I was walking on the banks of […]
“I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day When it’s cold outside I’ve got the month of May…” ~The Temptations Well, we haven’t exactly had a typical warm and cheerful month of May around these parts, but today is fair and beautiful. And, all of the rain has made my New Dawn climbing rose the loveliest it’s ever been. […]
Last weekend, Farmguy and I gathered our sheep for their spring shearing. We’ve had a number of warm days since early April with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s, and the sheep were appearing a bit stressed by the heat. I was happy to finally get a shearing date, but also a little nervous about rain as we seemed to […]
The Tuesday Tune for today’s post is one of my favorite hymns. “For the Beauty of the Earth” is a Christian hymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint, M.A. (1835-1917). Folliott was born at Spa Villa in Bath, England and was educated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, graduating in classical honours in 1871. “For the Beauty of the Earth” was first published […]
I recently completed this painting of our beloved Maud. “Sweet Maud” is an 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas. It was just an ordinary summer day on Green Hill Farm. I’d been busy all morning with housework and farm chores when I decided to take a little break to relax. After a cup of tea, it was time to […]
This is the third and last of the Retrospectives on restoring my family’s home. Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂 Looking back on the experience of saving my family’s homeplace, I’ve realized that not only was it a gesture of love, but more importantly, it was an act of faith. Faith, or wearing my rose-colored glasses as I like to say, sustained us through difficult times and propelled us forward. I don’t know where we would have been without it. At the beginning of this journey, shortly after my parents offered us the homeplace, my mom and I took a walk through the house. I remember walking through the dark, dimly lit downstairs hallway, the musty smell of rooms left undisturbed for too long, and cobwebs carefully covering yesterday’s treasures. I remember slowly climbing the stairs, counting each one as I went up. It made me think of Granddaddy. He once shared a story of the time his Grandmother Rieley visited when he was just a boy; she asked, “John, how many steps are there?” He quickly replied, “16!” He told me that he knew the answer because of the many, many times he had carried firewood up these very same stairs. So, after climbing all 16 steps and arriving at the top, I began to look around. Metal and plastic buckets, and maybe even a pot or two, sat strategically placed to catch any drips of water. I glanced around […]
Green Hill Farm: A Retrospective #2 — Perseverance “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~Lao Tzu (c 604 bc–c 531 bc) Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64 There’s a sign that hangs in our vestibule or small covered porch that reads “PERSEVERANCE,” and it’s been our mantra since moving to Green Hill Farm. Farmguy and I were in our early 30s when we decided to take on this project. Sometimes when we look back at pictures we say, “WHAT in the world were we thinking? Were we INSANE?!!” Whatever the answer, it was the path taken. This path has lead us on a journey that has been difficult and challenging at times but rewarding and enriching, too. Anyway, we all know that anything worthwhile isn’t easy. Which brings me to the next piece of our story. The first day we visited the house after construction started was surreal. It was a hot, humid day in June, and the grass was starting to need cutting. I could smell the fragrance of something blooming that I didn’t recognize, and the wrens were singing away–weedeater, weedeater, weedeater, tweet! As I walked toward the house and started to process what I was seeing, I felt sick to my stomach. The large, white columns that had stoically stood sentinel in front of the house had been removed from the front porch; and where they’d majestically once stood, skinny, dark, wooden […]
A Prayer In Spring ~ Robert Frost *Read at the Dedication of John F. Kennedy Park, May 29, 1987 Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today; And give us not to think so far away As the uncertain harvest; keep us here All simply in the springing of the year. Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white, Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night; And make us happy in the happy bees, The swarm dilating round the perfect trees. And make us happy in the darting bird That suddenly above the bees is heard, The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill, And off a blossom in mid air sands still. For this is love and nothing else is love, The which it is reserved for God above To sanctify to what far ends He will, But which it only needs that we fulfill.
Originally posted on fourth generation farmgirl:
Ten years ago this year, my husband, Scott and I moved to the place where I grew-up. Although Green Hill Farm in rural Virginia is a 100-year-old family farm, the main house was built around 1790, the brick cottage between 1750-1775, and the farm was referred to as Green Hill as early as the mid-1800s.…
I think we can all agree that music has the power to inspire, uplift, entertain, motivate, and move us. I know it certainly does for me. For those folks who are familiar with this blog, you may recall that I’ve shared posts regarding my love for music and dancing. In my experience, music is like therapy, transforming my mood and motivating me at challenging times. Not only does music soothe or entertain us, but hopefully, it enriches us as well. With this in mind, I’ve decided to add a music post as part of my weekly contribution to this blog. I enjoy all kinds of music, so you never know what you may find here. This musical selection is my first endeavor for Tuesday Tunes. It’s from Act II of Puccini’s opera La Bohème, “Quando Me’n Vo’” or “Musetta’s Waltz.” I hope you enjoy this beautiful and moving soprano aria by Anna Netrebko.
My name is Tonya, and I grew up on a 300-acre farm in rural Virginia that has been in my family for over 100 years. After graduating from college, receiving my master’s degree in speech and language pathology, and living and working in a small city for six years, I decided to return to the place of my childhood. Here, in this rural area, on this patch of green, where for four generations my family has farmed, gardened, and lived, I, too wanted to be a part of this continuity. As a fourth generation farmgirl, I have many interests that not only include, but also go beyond the basics of farming, gardening, sheep and chicken-keeping. It is all of this and more that I plan on sharing in this blog.
fourth generation farmgirl 