Sweet home [Indiana]

It's funny how you appreciate home the most when you haven't been there for a while. Ungrateful beings that we sometimes are, we don't see the beautiful things that are right in front of our noses until our perspective has been changed. Growing up I didn't care too much for the day in-day out rigorous farming schedule but my first trip here to the D.R. in 2007 changed by perspective and I truly cherished my last full year (I think my last full year--we'll see how life goes, lol!) on the farm.

A wave of homesickness hit me this morning and so for therapeutic reasons I decided to post photos of home in my blog today instead of photos from here. Pictures can't quite capture the beauty of each season; you can't feel the crisp air of the fall or smell the warm earth of spring, but pictures are the best we can do to preserve memories and moments. I've tried to select a variety of pictures to show the beauty of the seasons from my farm perspective. Hope you enjoy them!

This is a spring morning after chores. I love the brilliant greens of spring in Indiana:


A field cleared for hayseed planting:

Of course, no spring for us is complete without tons of calves to feed. Here's only two, lol:

Summer haymaking is my sister Adrienne's favorite time of the year. If you've never smelled hay drying, you're really missing out!

Summer and fall repair/improvement projects EVERY year, lol! My sister Lisa is on the left, and I'm on the right standing next to my dad.

Our little rat terrier, Scamper (hey, we were all little when we named him). He's getting to be an old boy--13 this fall. He loves to ride on the tractors and our gator. Sometimes he sleeps out in the machine shed so he won't miss a ride in the morning.

My family might kill me for posting some of these, but I have to show us milking the cows ;-) That's Adrienne on the right. The second picture is of my youngest sister, Katrina, and the last picture is Lisa being her lovable, entertaining self ;-)

A relaxing Sunday afternoon last August canoeing on the St. Joseph river with some friends from church:

Every spring my grandpa's and grandma's elaborate gardens burst into fabulous colors that change as the year progresses. Here's one of the several fountains:

A summer sunset. I LOVE the sky in Indiana!

Unfortunately this is a pretty poor example of Indiana fall colors, but it's the best I had on my computer:

An Amish corn field partially harvested:

One of our fields in winter:

Me and my totally gorgeous sisters Adrienne, Katrina, and Lisa:

I'm absolutely LOVING my time here in the D.R., but I have to admit that it will be great to see home again later this year!