My little Window

95 degrees in my kitchen!!!  Whew, that is hot!  Herman the wood stove has been working on keeping us warm but he is trapped.  The air is trapped in the kitchen and Mr. Fix-It, my very handy husband, knew there had to be a solution!  The rest of the house is cold, but the kitchen literally feels like a sauna, then you step into the living room and then you are in the refrigerator.  Stand in between and there is comfort.  But we can’t stand there all day, so I am very glad he had a solution.

He said he was going to put a hole in the wall going up to the upstairs to circulate the air.  I looked at him up on that ladder and I thought, why not do something cute?!  He looked at me like, What?! cute?!  How can a hole be cute?

Well, I tend to think out side the box, I thought, why not get one of the old windows we tore out of the house, REPURPOSE it and use it for the hole!  He and I went for a walk and a treasure hunt.  We had to cross through the pasture to get to the  barn on the other side of the creek.  The cow followed us into the barn, a tiny barn and I am telling you, it was a bit hectic with a big cow huddling around us as we were on the hunt!

Mark said, “She is lonely!  She loves us!  Watch this!”  He preceded to run out to the field and started dancing, frolicking, and jumping like I had never seen him do before.  I was like, Wow, this is a cute side of my husband.  Then the cow bolted out of the barn to follow after him and she started to frolic, jump, and she was kicking her heals out and leaping into the air with glee.  There they were, my husband and the milk cow, dancing in the field, I wish I would have had my camera.  That was really something special!!!

And as we walked away from her, she just stared at us in a very longing way!  We are her special friends.  Oh, I forgot to tell you, her daughter just had a calf!!!  A little bull calf just this past month.  Soon we will put the two steers and the other cow together to be one big happy family.  I am so blessed to get to be a part of these animal’s lives.  They truly are special creatures that God made.

The green grass you see is our garden plot.  Mark put seed in their, some good rye grass seed, for our green manure.  I am sure our cow wishes it was all for her.  I oftentimes pick large handfuls of the grass to feed to her as a treat.

As we walked in the barnyard, I just had to giggle at the 3 little piggies.  They followed us around the outside of the pen and made little snorting noises.  My husband started to talk with them in pig language.  He snorted at them and they snorted back!  But they are most happy to see us when we have a pail filled with old milk or whey from making cheese!  That is pig heaven for them!

Our pullets just started laying.  They are in our chicken tractor that we move each day.  They seem very happy and when I walked into their pen, they huddled round for me to pet them and talk to them.  Have I said enough that I love homestead life? ​
As soon as we entered the home, Mark climbed up on the ladder and started to cut the hole and pull the nails out of the wood…
Here is the pretty vintage window we found on our adventure in the barnyard!
Mark popped out the piece of wood…
I can see him from the second floor as well as the wood stove.  I was feeling the heat pour up through the hole…
Now for the window… he wanted to put hinges on the window so we could adjust the amount of heat pouring through, but because of the slant of the old lean-to shed that we turned into the kitchen, there was no way!
Now for the glass.  He had to knock the glass out, of course outside in a trash bin.
Isn’t that cute?!  I love it!  And the kitchen stays a very comfortable temperature, in fact, the entire home feels warm.  What a great idea he had!
The kids enjoy talking to us through the window and it just looks like a pretty photo of the kids hanging in my kitchen.  You can’t beat that!
On another positive note, Miles shot his first deer!  He had waited 6 years for this moment.  Miles wanted to help the family stock up some more meat for the freezer.  It was a 4 pt buck, so it probably weight about 140 lbs or so.
He was learning how to field dress it from Owen and then he skinned it out.  Next he carefully cut all the meat off the bones and Mike Pearl just came to visit last evening and said that was the cleanest carcass he had ever seen.  He did a really good job!  Helping butcher all of our livestock on our homestead was really good prep training for this moment!
He and Owen spent several hours grinding the meat and we ended up with about 26 pounds of ground venison. The back straps, they used for filleting steaks.  Oh boy, we had a nice meal last night.  The young buck was tender and tasty.  We are so blessed!  I told him to get some more, please.  I am sure that is one thing he would like to do for the family!
What a nice winter so far, we are very blessed and thankful for this past year on our new homestead.   God bless each of you this week.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him,
upon them that hope in his mercy;
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.
Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.
Psalm 33: 18-22

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11 thoughts on “My little Window”

  1. WOW!!! Great job Miles, what a blessing you are to your family.
    Erin~ I LOVE the window…really love it. What a creative idea and what a wonderful husband Mark is that he can take care of your needs around the house.

  2. What a great idea with the window. Looks good!! With your winters coming there in U.S it ‘s so good to have all the animals there and all the bottling and preserving you have been doing waiting in the cupboards. Well done to you all. Great photos too, love the chooks in the portable chook house, another great idea. xx:) vicki

  3. Hello Erin,
    Just found your blog. Love the new kitchen window and such a practical way to distribute the heat throughout your home. My farmer boy did not harvest an elk or deer this year and would jealous if he saw this post.
    Blessings to you and your lovely family,
    Mrs.B

  4. What a super idea and a great bit of recycling. We love your kitchen and homestead. Well done to Miles on his first deer and what a blessing for the family, we had some venison from a friend and are looking forward to a hearty stew. I’m saving for a canner I already have a pressure cooker which is so economical to use. God bless you all Diane x

  5. This post blessed me today! We have been in a season of trials, and it was such a beautiful picture of what our Lord does in our lives, cuts out what needs to come out and makes it beautiful! Not sure that was the purpose of your post but looking at your window and reading your post that is where the Lord took my heart! Thank you for your little window!! :0)
    I hope you see the Lord’s hand at work in your day today and that the manifold blessings! Thanks again for your blog!
    Heather

  6. Erin, y’all have done a wonderful job of making that old homestead a comfy home. I wish I lived closer, I’d love to come visit and bring you supper. <3

  7. Erin,I miss you and your family and your beautiful homestead! Thanks for writing. Whenever I get a blog update in my email I always click on it right away.
    You might be glad to know that our nephew and his wife purchased your book and really like it.

  8. Dear Erin
    I am so jealous of your homestead life. It is beautiful and wonderful at the same time. So full of joy and wonders.
    I would love to see the cow dancing. I have never heard of such a thing.
    It is always very special to read your blog. So much love flows from your heart.
    God bless you and your family.

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