Early March 2007 - Marking the Spot

Nick is getting pretty good with the shovel.
He dug the firepit, the hole for the outhouse and now he's moving earth for the gravel floor of our first new farm building.  What a way to spend spring break!

November 2006 - Dam?

Jeff built a dam on November 5.
It appeared to be working when he and Palmer returned two days after Thanksgiving.

October 2006 - Company Comes

Autumn arrived and so did some city folks looking for a countrified good time. Jeff and his Uncle Palmer did some chores, cleaning up dead trees, chopping  and transporting cooking wood for dinner.










The ladies visited at the campsite after touring Covo Hills with Jeff on the ATV. Aunt Rita enjoyed the ride, but Chris (my mom) kept her eyes closed and held on for dear life. Jeff shouted questions back to her but heard no response, so he rode around until she yelled, "Yes, I saw the corn" and "The view from up here is beautiful"and "Can we quit now?"

We stayed by the fire from dusk to darkness, watching the fireflies in the cornfield, when suddenly the ladies saw the lights come on in the condos above the distant trees. "There's no condos over there!" Jeff exclaimed. "That's the glow of the moon over the trees." We all laughed.

June 2006 - Taking Form

By mid-June, tiny evergreens were visible down by the ponds, especially in the carefully mowed areas. Covo Hills is starting to take form with walking and ATV riding paths winding through the hills and flat lands.

And it looks like a real farm with harvested hay bales evident in the distance.

May 2006 - After the Planting

Digging holes, planting and hand-watering 500 evergreen saplings in one day is no small task even with a willing team of  workers. Which is probably why we didn't take photos that day in late April. We were too busy working! Some funny moments came out of that day. Well,  they didn't seem funny at the time, but in retrospect, they're the kind of moments that bear repeating time and again.

Ten-year-old Mitchell and his older sister Jessica were positioned down at the creek refilling the empty jugs used to water the plants. He silently watched Jeff scoot around on the ATV delivering saplings to be planted and jugs to be refilled while commenting on one thing or another as we all worked down on our hands and knees. Later, Mitchell innocently observed, in a classic "out of the mouth of babes" moment, "Gee, I didn't know Jeff was so bossy!"

We all chuckled, even Jeff, who said, "It's  a tough job being supervisor, but somebody has to do it."

Look very closely to see the tiny saplings popping up through the grass. As small as they were, larger holes had to be dug in the hard ground. Jeff rented an auger to bore the holes and put Uncle Palmer in charge of returning it on time. Uncle Palmer! The guy who never changes his watch from eastern to central time. You guessed it! Uncle Palmer had the auger back by 5 p.m. Michigan time - forgetting that we folks in Illinois could have used it another hour. Out came the shovels to finish up. Deena was good at digging!

Enjoy the springtime shots of Covo Hills, all dressed up with wildflowers, courtesy of Mother Nature.

October 2005 - After the Harvest

It wasn't long before neighbors along Rt. 78 were curious about the out-of-towners who bought the farm on Blue Mountain Road. Dan and Jeff were  dubbed "city boys" by Tim next door and local farmers who saw them coming and going on the weekends with high hopes and a minivan full of supplies.  So Dan did what every aspiring gentleman farmer would do - he bought a truck!
A nice truck!

In mid-October, the corn has been harvested but the foliage is still green with just a hint of autumn color.





                                                                                

A sweeping view of the countryside from the velvety hills to Tim's woods and down Rt. 78 towards Mt. Carroll. The camper (found and purchased by Dan in August) and hay barn are barely visible at the bottom of the woods.

Our home away from home. In late October, the camper was collapsed for the winter. You can almost feel the chill in the air with a daytime fire and changing leaves.

August 2005- ATV Meant to Be

We  had a special delivery in August that made the land a more exciting place to be.  Our first farm vehicle is a Kawasaki ATV with more than enough power to traverse the hills and valleys.



Jeff won the ATV at a casino in Winnemucca, Nevada while we were attending a Ruiz family reunion. What are the chances of winning such a prize? And what are the chances that we could   use an ATV? One year earlier, we would have traded it in for they money.

July 2005 - Knee High by the 4th

The good news is the corn that wasn't showing in May is green, healthy and knee high by the 4th of July. The bad news - for us - is that the corn is not the luscious sweet variety we can throw on the grill. 

This is our future campsite, a little overgrown at the moment, but full of potential. The firepit is off to the right with some logs for benches. Life at the farm is pretty rustic this first summer. 

The milking barn looks very clean on the inside,
but it wasn't that way in the beginning. We're guessing it hasn't been used in quite awhile because the floor was filled with manure. Nick was a good sport and shoveled it out. Poor Nick! The corn wasn't the only thing knee high by the 4th of July.

May 2005 - Moving In with the Cows

We "moved into" the farm in May 2005. There were some uninhabitable barns and a herd of cattle that belonged to David Keller, the former owner. Keller leased back land for grazing, corn and alfalfa. The cows added to the pastoral nature, but made me feel a little uncomfortable when they approached in herds. Jeff and Dan also worried that they would eat baby trees and plants and make it hard for us to transform the farm into a wildlife habitat. The cows didn't stay long - but it was nice to see the springtime babies.

The first priority for a farm with no house, water and electricity was an outhouse. Jeff built the frame in the driveway of our Hinsdale home, then transported the pieces in the minivan - or tran as it is fondly called now because it functions as part truck/part van. He camouflaged it to fool the cattle, deer and turkeys.

Next, Nick dug a keyhole firepit for cooking and warmth, then they chopped fallen trees for fuel. We fit a old grill top on the keyhole and cook over hot coals.   

This is the first alfalfa cutting of the spring season. We're like a real farm with Keller baling and transporting the alfalfa.

An early view of the cornfield.