If heaven were a place on Earth...

...it would be the Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine. This place has captivated me over the past three days since I read about it in this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. The article includes the most gorgeous photographs of a lush organic home garden, including perennials, annuals, edibles and orchard fruit, hedged by forest and dotted with chickens. The home on the property is equally organic, and echoes the natural setting of the homestead. Guys, this is where I want to live when I grow up.

I wish I could scan and post the photos from the feature, but alas, copyright laws prevent it. Do yourself a favor and get the magazine. I can't find the exact photos online, so here is a taste to give you an idea...





There's so much more...a stonewall-lined edible garden, the chickens running around, the most quaint sun-warmed green house ever. It's incredible and it's exactly the style of garden I adore.

How's that for a little Monday escape?

(all photos from www.fourseasonsfarm.com)

Bar Cart It Is!

Guys, I can't even fake it. I am DEVASTATED about the Super Bowl last night. Ugh, I wanted the Pats SO badly. I can't even talk about it yet, too soon. Mike is equally devastated, he's sent me at least 12 texts this morning reiterating that fact in different ways ("I'm glum city USA." for example). We'll have to kick butt next year. Brady and Belichick WILL get another one. Trust.

Anyways, because my mind was so preoccupied with football this weekend, I didn't write a post and now I'm too bummed to write one. But just as a quick peek, here are a few pics of the bar in production. (Bar Cart won!) We drew up a good (I hope!) plan, went to the big orange and picked up parts and started with the painting and sanding. I'll be working on it this week so hopefully a final product is not too far off! Here's what we got for now:

 Drawing up plans and putting parts together at Home Depot.

The wood slab that started it all after the first pass of sanding,

and a gratuitous Oats shot. This was going on while we watched the big game. Clearly he's not as into the Pats as we are.

Alright, is anyone as sad about the Super Bowl as I am? I will try to stop sulking ASAP.

Homey Media

We all get tips, tricks and inspiration for our home projects from lots of places. And imagine this, some of those places are not blogs! I know, blasphemy. Today, I'm going to divulge who's in my multimedia circle of trust, those podcasts, shows and magainzes that I use to fill my commutes and lazy hours. I can only imagine your intrigue.

But truly, I hope this is a 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' type deal. As much as I love my old standbys, I'd love to add some new ones to the lineup, so share away! (Future Link Party idea??)

Podcasts

For listening to with a male counterpart: Ace on the House

I actually only regularly listen to one home improvement podcast, and that's Ace on the House. Available through iTunes like any other self-respecting podcast. New episodes every Saturday. It's hosted by Adam Carolla and his childhood buddy Ray Oldhafer and they take e-mail and phone questions about home improvement projects.



Now, if you listen to the Adam Carolla Show podcast (which I also highly recommend, it's definitely rated R, though) you know what an outspoken, sometimes harsh yet absolutely likable and always hilarious guy the Ace Man is. If you don't listen to the Adam Carolla Show, Ace was a carpenter (the real kind, not the weekend kind) before he made his living in comedy and espouses useful advice for anyone's questions. Ray still works as a contractor and their banter is entertaining because Ray is not afraid of giving Adam some $*%@, and he's hilarious in his own right. If you're not offended by curse words or questionably tasteful analogies, this podcast is the bomb. They talk about everything from fixing a squeaky subfloor to filling a yolked-out screw hole to hanging towel racks that won't pull through the drywall. My husband and I listen to it together when traveling in the car or while making eggs on Saturday mornings. Great stuff.

TV Shows

For your fix of Canadian dudes who still highlight their hair: Property Brothers

Or, ProBros as Mike and I call it. This HGTV show features 2 brothers, one a contractor and one a realtor (how convenient!) who help couples find the house of their dreams. The only catch? They can't afford the house of their dreams. Womp womp. But that's where the magic happens, the realtor ProBro shows couples some subpar homes and the contractor ProBro explains (and demonstrates via computer graphics) how the house can be transformed into their dream home all within their budget. The couple picks a house and then the demolition begins.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="378" caption="The ProBros Themselves"][/caption]

It gets really addicting to see how these once derelict homes turn out to be incredible places I'd love to live. Sometimes the couples are *ahem* difficult so it sates that love-to-hate drive. The brothers are entertaining and it shows you the potential in everything. Worth a watch. We've definitely spent more than one afternoon watching episode after episode after episode.

For good tips and tricks from old timers with Boston accents: Ask this Old House

The small project version of This Old House, this show is a PBS classic. If it ever goes off the air I will be DEVASTATED. Rich, Rodge, Tom, and the host Kevin visit people's houses to help them with home conundrums. They tackle stuff like banging baseboard heaters, burping sinks and uneven asphalt. These guys fix things the right way, to the code and to the book. No shortcuts here. It's great information, though, and I find they show me a lot of products you never knew existed like under cabinet LEDs or  screws whose heads break off when torqued the right amount. The best part of the show, though, is 'What is it?' Oh, that segment slays me every time. One of the guys brings in a product and the rest offer their comical guess at what it is. Trust me, it's worth watching the show for just that.

Magazines

For feeling like an inadequate homemaker: Martha Stewart Living

Ok, it doesn't really make me feel inadequate, it just makes me feel like I wish I had 10 more hours in the day and 10 million more dollars so I could outfit my named estate with personalized projects and extensive collections of things such as taxidermy and watermelon pot holders. I love the Martha Stewart aesthetic and this magazine has fabulous ideas and recipes.  I find myself ripping out multiple pages from each issue and even the articles I can't relate to (taxidermy collection? really?) are beautifully shot. I'm sure you've seen this magazine, because, who hasn't? But, if you are a subscriber, and own an iPad, I highly recommend the iPad version. It is interactive and intuitive. I've totally come to love reading magazines on my iPad because of well-done versions like this. The only problem is you can't rip pages out of the digital version, but I've started to use screenshots...not as satisfying, but you can't have your cake and eat it too, I suppose.

So, good stuff, eh? (I just found out via my father-in-law and ancestry.com that I am Canadian 3 generations back and it has severely up-ticked my use of 'eh' because, well, I'm Canadian! No wonder I love the ProBros!) Ok, I've shown you mine, show me yours!

Programming Note

Hola hola...just a little FYI for all my beloved early adopters: I plan to post on Mon, Wed, and Fri for the first couple weeks and then, if all goes well and I'm feelin it, I'll move to 5 days/week. These resolutions are about making steady, long-term changes, right?

Anyways...I am chomping at the bit to reveal what's going on here:

This blogging thing is kind of addicting.

It's About Time to Start a Resolution

I loooooove resolutions (not that I always keep them, but, hey, I do try). I love the clean slate feeling of a new year and all the promise and optimism it brings. I'm totally the kid who was stoked to get a new school planner and put all my goals and appointments in it as soon as I got it home. With color coding and everything.

This year, my resolutions are:

• more precise budgeting (using YNAB...love that program!)


• not to be lazy when getting dressed for work 


• wash my makeup off before bed (I am the WORST at this)


• host a yard sale (lots of duplicates because of wedding gifts, and Mike is starting to call me a hoarder)


• call my brother and sister more often (at least once a week!)


• Folksy Home

Yeah, that last one is this blog, and dare I say, it's my 'BIG' resolution for the year.

The reason I'm starting this blog is well...the reason most people start these kinds of blogs. I do lots of home-related stuff (at least I think I do) and I want to share my personal experience while keeping a diary to look back on (so when I'm old and gray and have no interest in what I did to that curbside-found-dresser in my 20s I can be comforted by the fact that *if*I did want to know what finish I used, I could look it up). On top of that, I read approximately 1 million blogs every day and it seems like a really great community to be a part of...so much sharing of ideas and constructive feedback and support seems to interlink the blogs I read, and selfishly, I want in!

So a little background: My husband and I met while in grad school in Boston and moved to Bucks County in 2009 after he got a job here. We 'acquired' our dog in January 2010

and got married August 20, 2011 (yes, the Kim K. wedding day).

We love to be home and do home improvement type stuff. We constantly have projects either in the works or in the pipeline. Though we rent, our landlord is tres awesome and lets us paint/personalize etc. We are saving for a home of our own, but we're not there yet.

However, I haven't always been so DIY. Here I am on my prom day (with Dad) before DIY was even a twinkle in my eye:



Neither of my parents are particularly into the DIY scene (even though they are awesome in a million other ways), but I do have a ridiculously creative grandpa, below, who would never buy anything when he could possibly make his own (he has more than 1 plastic bottle part attached to his lawn mower). Maybe that's where it comes from.

As a teenager, I spent a lot of time doing homework, reading teen magazines, planning outfits and downloading from Napster. I kind of had a renaissance when I got to grad school in 2006, started being more conscious of my place on this planet, and taking more pride in intrinsic things, i.e. DIY, baby!

My husband compliments this revelation and often when I am unfamiliar or need his steadier hand, he will jump in and help. He has the experience; here he is working on the canoe he built:

So, long story short, this marks the official beginning of my blogging new year's resolution. Viva Folksy Home. Let's do this!

**btw, that pic at the top is of when Mike and I got back to the hotel room after our wedding. We were just a bit excited to be married :)