The final Kentucky post! Probably.
I thought I’d wrap up my Country Girl at Heart Bed and Breakfast odyssey with some photos of the farm itself.
These first couple of pictures are from their website, because they were better than the ones we took with all THREE of our cameras– probably because we were focusing more on the animals than the architecture! The setting is so beautiful. This used to be an Amish farm, and as you approach the property what you see in the front is part the original farmhouse, and the back part of the house is the addition.
** The front porch:
**Darlene had a small produce stand set up in the front yard with watermelons and tomatoes right out of her garden and a charming little sign that said:
**And speaking of eggs… gathering them with Charlotte was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip!
**Those fancy-schmancy chickens produce some very colorful eggs. LOOK how gorgeous:
**Herbs drying in the barn.
**Of course for the girls and I, it’s all about playing with the farm animals. And yes, I’m basically allergic to everything with fur or feathers, thanks for asking, and no, it doesn’t remotely slow me down from manhandling every living creature I can get to hold still. Which is another way of saying if you spend any time around me and pets of any kind, you will find yourself saying,”Gesundheit!” a lot and handing me wads of Kleenex while I blow my nose. Which is every bit as attractive as it sounds.
Russ, as usual, basically tried to just ignore that entire aspect of the farm visit. Bless his heart, after living with us for this long you gotta give him credit for at least making a token effort to fake an interested smile and say, “Yeah, that’s great” when we hold up some member of the animal kingdom for him to admire. He doesn’t hate animals– it’s more like they just don’t really register with him. But I don’t let that deter me. I just keep pointing out irresistibly cute ones because I just know that one day a rainbow is going to suddenly appear over his head and he’s going slap himself on the forehead and say, “OH MY GOSH, I totally get it now, animals are just the best things ever! Let’s go get three more small yappy dogs!”
(What do you call people who think like that…? Oh yeah. Delusional. And I am their queen.)
Anyway. Here are some of the farm animals we stalked.
**My personal favorites:
**Darlene’s youngest daughter won some 4-H prizes with these handsome fellows:
**Charlotte loves her some barn cats.
**Madi, on the other hand, was all about the dogs.
**Especially this one. Totally pugalicious.
**(Russ’ caption here should be, “I’ll give you $50 to stop sniffing my foot.”)
**OK, see this guy? He is like the Brad Pitt of roosters. Seriously. If you are a chicken, this is what you are striving to look like.
**He’s also kind of a jerk. He’s very rough with the hens, and he’s even been known to actually charge at Darlene! She told me all about it– said she kicked him and he came at her again and she kicked him again and he came at her again and she kicked him again and … back and forth, like TWENTY times! OK, nobody said he was smart, just handsome. Which is the only reason he’s managed to avoid the stewpot thus far, according to Darlene. Cocky little bugger.
**Madi was blissfully unaware of all of this, and like so many females before her, her head was turned by his studly appearance. She was sure they had something special.
**She pictured their future together. She trusted him completely.
**Riiiiiiight up until the moment he betrayed her:
Needless to say, Madi broke off their engagement.
She also totally wants a rematch.
** I’ll leave you with one of those cheerful, uplifting religious billboards the rural South is so famous for– I’m just trying to be a blessing, ya’ll!
(Madi hopes that dang rooster can read.)
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Unbelievable! The pictures and that I’m the first one to comment on them!
Were you able to go for a ride on those horses???
I got the impression that this is the perfect place to explore and relax. Given that you like those places
What a wonderful place! Darlene has done a great job for not have done any “farming” before.
I’m with Russ on the animal thing; I hate sniffy, licky, nuzzly animals — and pet hair! So sorry all you animal lovers. The horse is beautiful, though, and the rooster is a dandy.
OK – what’s with Madi and animals attacking her? First a shark, now a rooster! She’s got the scars to prove it.
That just looks great. I’m with you and not Russ about the animals. I am sure the eggs tasted as good as they looked. Very envious!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tori Taff, Beth Hoffman. Beth Hoffman said: LOVE IT! RT @Babybloomr: Rural southern religious billboards, gathering green eggs … random rooster attacks… http://tinyurl.com/2bcjv5m […]
Now I want to go even more! Think I need a holiday.
Awwwww, takes me back to my growing-up years when I would spend as much time on my grandparents’ farm as possible. And that was a whole lot!
My grandmother would be up before light, going to the smoke house and slicing a slab of ham for frying and red-eyed gravy, then mile-high biscuits in the wood stove oven….while my grandfather was hitching up the horses to go out in the field to plow or thin or whatever needed doing at that particular time of year. I helped gather the eggs and feed the chickens after shelling corn in the crib house….but I never could get the hang of milking a cow. However, I did churn b utter and then press it, dig potatoes, pick and shell beans, and so on. Farming is very hard work….but a wonderful experience for kids.
Thanks….I really have enjoyed this…..and love y’all.
Fresh eggs are delicious! The yokes are darker richer yellow, and the shells are thicker and harder to crack. I’ve heard it’s because the chickens are better fed.
I’m gonna make Madi some Kevlar pants to wear on vacation with you folks! My goodness! Birds can be MEAN! I was attacked by turkeys one time and it was traumatic. My best friend and I were walking two miles every day for fitness sake and we took a new route one evening. We saw a house on a hill in the distance, and when we got closer, we saw about 8-10 big old turkeys standing together at the top of the hill. When we got in front of their house, they charged down the hill right at us! We screamed and tried to run away, but they surrounded us and began pecking at our butts! We were wearing the newest designer jeans with the gold metal tag on the back pocket and the turkeys were trying to bite them!!! We swatted at them, kicked at them, all the time trying to get away and further down the road. It was a frenzy of feathers, arms, legs, and screaming…..oh, and gobbling. (It was the week of Thanksgiving and I think they were just testy.) We finally made it past the lot line of this house and they just turned around and walked back up the hill. We gathered up our dignity, straightened our clothes, and turned to continue our walk when we saw traffic had stopped both ways, and people were dying laughing, sitting safely in their vehicles! We then had to find a place to sit down and laugh ourselves into a coma. We laughed so hard, my husband had to come drive us home. So Madi, I KNOW how vicious birds can be!
The pictures are gorgeous…..so inviting! And that is a very handsome rooster!
Oh, and that chicken is handsome too.
LindaB – I am crying…. laughing… what a visual — oh my word!! You are hilarious!!
It’s not so much that I dislike animals…. it is that I don’t have a read on their personalities so I don’t trust them… LindaB for that very reason I would have never approached when I saw them turkeys gathered together. I usually don’t learn by lesson or experience — I usually learn by fear, first!
Well, Rockin’, they were WAY up on top of the hill, and we thought we were safe. We were wrong. They can run fast! Especially downhill. And apparently, they are territorial! As soon as we reached the lot line, they turned and went back up the hill. I think if I ever feel the need for a watchdog, I’ll get a “watch turkey” instead. They scared the crap out of me!!!
We thought we were so on top of fashion—–designer jeans just came out and we had gone shopping together and bought Diane Von Furstenburg jeans. We were stylin’! But the turkeys were more attracted to the shiny gold metal tag on the back pocket than Ms. Furstenburg’s name engraved on them! During the attack, my friend was squealing in this high pitched voice I’d never heard from her before, and that made me laugh even harder! I couldn’t fight those birds off to save my life!!!
Growing up on a farm, I had a healthy respect for chicken beaks.My hasband grew up on a farm less than 10 miles away from me. We were comparing memories one day and found out something we had in common. (Aww-ww-ww!)My Gramma and his Mom both gave the same directions:”Don’t bother the chickens while they’re laying. Just stick your hand under and get the eggs.” Well, if you do that, they peck your hands. (And, in their defense, if I was sitting around minding my own business and someone stuck their hand under my butt,…I’d peck too!)So we would take the bucket for the eggs AND a stick. With the stick, we’d hit the side of the wooden thing (picture each chicken in their own cubicle) until they all got out, then we’d happily gather eggs.(Two smart kids, only a few miles apart–or two kids that didn’t take directions well!)
“husband” not “hasband”–sounds like a “has-been”, but we’re still together!
In fact, such an ‘animal attack’ is nothing new for me. Do you know those cute ‘dwarf goats'(don’t know the correct term) at the petting zoo??? They might be small but they seem to have twice the energy (and hunger!) of ‘regular’ ones! After that I knew what ‘herd instinct’ means…:-/
I JUST DID THIS WHOLE SAY-IT, AND IT DIDNT POST – NOT GOING THRU IT AGAIN! Long story short – this made me really miss home, till i started remembering how much hard work was really involved – got over it pretty quick! thanks, tori!
that was cheaper than therapy! 