Around the farm after 4 inch rain the night before...

Took a little walk around the field. Down to the far south point we saw where Belleau creek jumped the bank last night. Wendy went with us. Silly girl. Kiddos had to help catch Easter chicks to put to bed when we were finished.

Emma's loft & reading nook...

Wheat, brush hogging & chickens!

 Jason mowing the ever growing grass from all the rain we have had.

First crop in high tunnel - broccoli

High Tunnel Farming

Hopefully the first of many exciting posts about the high tunnel. Jason and I (mostly Jason) finished the construction of the high tunnel on January 6, 2013. Looking forward to growing (and maybe even selling) some fantastic produce out of this building and getting a jump on the growing season.

Suprise on the farm...

Nature tells us babies are born in the spring, but Miss Harriet had other plans, we knew she was missing for a while and suspected that she had been sitting, but what a shock we had on a cold 19 degree morning January 5th... Jason saw them running around behind momma. Unfortunately we lost two before we found them due to the cold, but we have two little chicks, Emma is calling them Zebra & Sunlight until we know if they are hens or roo's.

First Christmas

First Christmas at Belleau Bend was fantastic, spent Christmas Eve relaxing at home with the kids and woke up to Santa in the morning. This was the calm before the storm...

Better late than never... the final inpection

Little late in sending these out, but attached are some new photos. 

The deck and stair rails were finished before our occupancy inspection on 5/11.  Seamless galvalume gutters to match the roof were put on – if you look there are 5 people holding a 100’ long piece of gutter when it was installed on the backside.  Driveway is rocked up to the concrete aprons.  Standing seam shower surround is finished (glass wall panels will be installed this week).

The final inspection was 5/11/12, Jason was up all the night the night  before the final inspection tying up loose ends. Things came down to the wire the day of the inspection with cleaning and sweeping, oh and waiting for GIANT stainless steel countertop to arrive and be installed, and the plumber to show up and plumb the kitchen sink. We were not sure if we were going to make the final inspection but with fingers crossed, tears cried and prayers said we went in to the inspection at 10 am hopeful but worried.

I was never so excited as to hear Steve give us the final OK, and know that we were really moving, for the final time into the wonderfully awesome home that Jason had put some much of his heart and soul, blood, sweat and tears into for the last 9 months. So this is the end of the building of the house at Belleau Bend and this is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime...

The end is getting closer all the time!!!

Electric trim out started this past week and we have permanent lights and receptacles in some areas.  Plumbing trim is 50% and HVAC is complete.  Painting and decking were delayed on Sunday due to weather.  Doors are set on the 1st and 2nd floors.  We were able to dig the deck piers on Saturday afternoon just in time for the rain to turn everything into a sloppy mess.  We strategically left the holes open and the concrete bags next to them so everything would be pre-wetted.  We also wanted to practice building a lean-to keep the rain from ruining the finish.  Partway into the rainstorm the wind blew the lean-to’s over so I enjoyed the opportunity to get outdoors and re-secure them in a downpour and witness a lightning strike blow a tree in half about 150 yards from me.  (Don't you just LOVE Jason's sarcastic sense of humor...)

Siding Finished AND painted!

Cabinets are all complete!

Siding was finished on Saturday afternoon – finally!  Painted some more on the outside, set the kitchen and office cabinets, and the deck was framed. 

A colorful Sunday night update...

Jason's notes: The entire inside of the house was painted over the weekend. Emma’s room is bright blue and Logan’s room is bright orange and both of them were ecstatic with how they turned out. Also, all of the outside lap siding was caulked and some parts were painted in the evening this past week. The deck is still on wheels (the rain didn’t allow for it to be installed so it’s still sitting on the trailer). The siding at the 1st floor is complete, just need to finish up the 2nd floor front side next weekend.

Sarah's notes: the green color in the house is the same throughout, it looks lighter in the office pics, but its dark like the paint in the front hallway. LOVE the paint. I brought out alot of the lighting today, Mark will be installing lights this week. The cabinets come Wednesday and the appliances come Friday. Jason clear coated all the interior doors today and painted the metal door frames as well.

Jason's notes: Drywall sanding is complete. Spent Sunday afternoon and evening vacuuming up sanding dust and scraping joint compound off the floors. Siding is 90% - need to put the flat stuff on the 2nd floor front side and have a few hours to finish up the laps above the front door. Exterior caulking was done on Sunday in preparation for the painting to get done next weekend. Interior painter starts tomorrow night. Doors are in the basement ready to be installed as soon as the painting is complete (Richard). Cabinets arrive in STL on Monday. Garage door needs some special track to clear a soffit so it couldn’t be put in on Friday, but should go in this week.

Sarah's note: Sunday cleaning of the floor was nasty work in my bare feet or I was tracking mud all around... Kiddos did great entertaining themselves for about 3 1/2 hours playing in the sprinkler, sliding on the rock pile, building forts in the barn and lining up nails... (Logan's work).