its the ups and downs..

we have been home on the farm for a week now from our family vacation in Hawaii and life has been happening all around us. The weather has been unseasonably warm and I have soaked it up as much as one possibly could have, spending mornings letting the chickens out, cleaning their coop, raking leaves up from the beds and pulling foliage from cosmos and sunflowers for the compost pile. I excitedly planted my first tomatoes and flowers on my potting bench and stared thru the plastic dome like an excited child waiting by the oven for that fresh, hot chocolate chip cookie..waiting. We moved our farm machinery back to the yard for its yearly maintenance before we start seeding in a couple of weeks and even spent evenings out on the swing in t-shirts while dinners cooked on the bbq. Its Spring here on the farm..and I love it!

of course with all the excitement that life offers, so comes life's trials and challenges. this week Hudson is teething something fierce and my heart breaks for this period in his life. Two days ago, he began cutting 3 new teeth..all at once! his nose was running, drool trickled out from his sweet little mouth, a painful diaper rash erupted on his bottom and he was NOT happy!! My poor little baby is growing up!! Its exciting but challenging..

beyond the aches and pains of toddlerhood came even bigger heartbreaks for our family this week. My husbands grandma landed in the hospital near the tail end of our vacation with pneumonia and only recently was released. Then my mom let me know my uncle was hospitalized for stomach pains and was diagnosed with stomach cancer and is needing his entire stomach to be removed quickly. Then a text from my best friend about a personal heartbreak of her own...it was just one thing after another. People around me are hurting and I wish I could take that hurt for them and give them hope.

Then yesterday, I received a text from a very dear friend of mine that finally broke me. Her beautiful daughter, who just turned 1 last week and was born with down syndrome, has been diagnosed with a form of leukaemia. I was shattered. This family has already been through so much and this precious little girl..why? Why is this all happening? What is going on? I know its not for me to question the why's or the how's of this world but somedays I cannot help myself. Everyone is going through some form of struggle and I guess thats "just life"..whatever that means..

so here's to the ups and downs of life. the struggles and the victories. the hurt and the joy.

here's to life..

the weekend lens

we arrived home on the farm Friday evening and I can't even explain to you how comforting it felt to pull into our yard. My dogs were happily barking and chasing our truck and I understood then how much this farm means to me. this weekend we were blessed with beautiful Spring-like weather, to which we played outside as much as we could. playing with our flock of chickens, cleaning up our yard from winter, swinging off the old tree, cooking meals on the bbq and getting my hands in the dirt to begin seeds again for this summers garden. the birds are happily chirping, the snow has almost disappeared (for now, at least) and our farm smells of musty earth and wet grass..I find myself looking for robins and meadowlarks..knowing that this could all too soon leave us for another wintry spell. but for now..I'm soaking up this sunny Spring weather. here's a look at our weekend thru my lens..

The Farm Life Inspired Series - February

oh that beautiful winter light..

While many may complain about the cold bitterness of Winter, the photographer in me embraces it for its beautiful low light. I love how it sparkles off of freshly fallen snow and how it covers a frozen field in golden embers before tapering off for yet another evening. I find myself scurrying outside in the first and last hours of daylight just to watch it turn our farm from blue to pink to orange and yellow..there is no artist on earth who could ever outperform the prairie sky.

What inspired me to snap this photo was how the Winter light could transform my morning walk to the chicken coop into something so beautiful and peaceful. I walk this farm every morning to take in the beauty that surrounds us in the country and in the winter? A fresh cup of coffee is a constant companion..

Please continue on to view Lisa and Laurie's entries for this month

new here? click here to read all about the farm life inspired series

the week in farm photos - February 2nd to February 8th

Happy Sunday, friends!!!

This was a crazy good week for us here at the farm!! We honoured & celebrated my dads life on the 2nd anniversary of his death on Tuesday, on Wednesday we celebrated 31 years of my life (I still feel 25, is that odd?!?), we have had snow this week, rain, and sunshine..everything has been thrown at us but one thing is for sure - it definitely feels like Spring today and I am LOVING it!! A few weeks back, Adam left for the city while Hudson and I watched over the farm solo. It was a good week but I ended up having one too many problems with a few coyotes so I asked Adam to teach me how to properly load, carry and shoot a firearm..and this week we finally got to it! I'd say for a newbie that my aim was pretty dang good ;) Today we culled the last 2 roosters from this Springs hatching..its been a long time coming and today just felt like the day! We have been wandering around outside with our rubber boots on and light jackets. I have all the windows open in our farmhouse and I am dreaming of Spring! Today I ordered seeds and made plans for my clothes line and cutting gardens..have I mentioned I love living on a farm? Or Spring? or gardening? 'cause I do! I really, really do!! Here's a small peek at life here this week..

it never fails..the skies over our farm get me every time!!

this little man marked 1 month post op this week and I couldn't be more proud of him and his recovery..such strength babies have!!

as mentioned above..this week I learned how to properly shoot a rifle..I don't appreciate coyotes going after my chickens one bit and this should help!!!

 not bad aim for a former city girl, eh?

my ladies have ramped up production and this week I sold my first 10 dozen eggs..so excited!!

the stores are stocking up on tulips and I am biting the bullet hard these days..love filling our farmhouse with fresh signs of Spring!!

most definitely the biggest part of this week is that my farmer has been taking a lot of time out to work on a big, very special project that is just for little old me...anyone want to take a guess as to what that might be?!? (photo below is your hint!! More to come soon!)

so that was our first full week of February! As I type this the wild birds are chirping on all four sides of our home, the sun is slowly setting and I am enjoying a cup of tea and taking in the beauty of this Sunday..hope you all enjoyed your weekends!!! Here's to another full week on the docket...

plans for preserving the harvest - 2015

I have been thinking a lot lately about the direction I would Iike to see this blog take in the future. I know I haven't been the best at keeping this space updated these last couple of years but oh how I love this place. Taking a quiet moment out from our busy life here on the farm to write and update has always felt so special to me and I cannot tell you how immensely passionate I am for this life I live out here in the country! Reading a new comment or hearing from readers always makes my day and I want to continue to inspire and share with you all as life continues here at Cosgrove Farms!

My hopes is to have the farmgirl diaries be a hub of farmlife inspiration for you. Whether it be posts about farm life in general, farming operations, the farmhouse, the farm garden, recipes and canning and of course the farms feathered and furry creatures! I would love to hear from you about what you would like to read about more often or even learn!!

This year I really want to preserve more of my own harvest here from the farm garden. I have been going through all of the new seed catalogues with excitement and planning up new plans for a new garden space (more on that soon!) and have been reading through all of the canning cookbooks I purchased in the last few years but have yet to actually preserve from. Then I thought well maybe I could blog about canning as well! But then I was feeling silly thinking, "well how can I write blog posts about canning when I barely put up much of my own?" Sure I make dill pickles every year and my homemade raspberry jam last Summer is still causing cravings..but what about preserving the rest of the harvest? So here's the deal. This year I am going to learn everything I can about putting up the garden..and I am going to share it all with you right here on the blog. Every failure and success..and hopefully there will be more success than not but hey, we've just got to start, right?

So last night I went through my books and marked out my favourite recipes using produce I know we will enjoy. I am not wasting my time on preserving things we won't eat..ain't nobody got time for that!! But what we do have time for are things like: dilly beans, pickled asparagus, vanilla-rhubarb jam with earl grey (!!), salsa, boozy canned peaches, pickled beets, tomato sauce, tomato juice..ack I am so excited!! Below are the cookbooks I will be preserving from (as seen above as well)

Personally, my favourite books are Canning for a new Generation and Food in Jars

My list above of things I will be attempting to make this Summer are recipes found in either of these.

I can't even tell you how excited I am for this year..so many exciting things planned for the horizon!!

and then winter came back..

Friday night we enjoyed a golden hour so lovely, I actually believed Spring was around the corner. We went out for a walk and put Hudson in his still-too-big rubber boots and tried to show him how to splash in the little puddles..it felt like a dream and I absolutely soaked every minute of that evening with my boys up..

and then we carried on with our evening routines until, eventually, we fell deep asleep..

...and woke up to Winter

yes I knew it was still January and yes I knew we were still in the midst of Winter..but for 2 glorious weeks it felt like April around here and, I have to say, I was getting quite used to the 'no jacket required' weather! But it has now been snowing for 24 hours straight and things are looking a little bleak here on the farm once again..

... well, the Spring-like weather was fun while it lasted...hello old man Winter, once again...