Pre Demo

Before:

 First, the asbestos siding had to be removed and properly disposed of:

Over the weekend we removed all the rest of our belongings from that section of the house, and anxiously waited for Monday!

Our plans

The stone portion of our house was constructed in 1851 and was very well built.  The walls are thick, the foundation was dug deep, and it has stood the test of time.  The addition, however, which was constructed sometime before 1938 (See Here), is not as well constructed, on just a crawlspace, and was experiencing some major sagging in the kitchen due to a lack of a sturdy foundation.  Since we purchased the house in 2007, we knew that the addition needed help.  Over the years we have discussed options with my father, a seasoned and skilled builder - thoughts included removing the kitchen floor and digging down to pour a slab foundation, but in the end it proved a better plan to remove the entire addition portion and rebuild to get the structure up to modern standards.  We have been saving our money and our ideas - always looking at pictures in magazines, on blogs, of houses for sale online, as well as of houses my father is working on in the area for inspiration to plan the construction and help envision how we wanted our home to be.  It has been a fun/sometimes stressful/ but always productive process, and finally in March 2011 we met with the architect.  He was very helpful and even had new ideas for us that we hadn't already thought of.  We would definitely recommend Marc Marion at Architecture Plus in Bridgewater, NJ.  He had great experience and ideas on how to smoothly incorporate the new addition into the old house without overpowering it.

The addition will include a nice large eat-in kitchen, laundry room, mud room, powder room, great room looking out to the barn/field downstairs; a full basement (!!); and 2 bedrooms with a full bath and a large linen closet upstairs.  We can't wait!

Here's the layout of the first floor design for the new portion:

Hee Hawwww

Introducing, Miller (Lite) & Snickers (a.k.a. Snickerdoodle) - our two Miniature Mediterranean donkeys...

and Jethro (a.k.a. Goat) & Mae, our two Nigerian dwarf goats.We got them from a friend who's moving and searching for good homes for her animals before that time comes.



Miniature donkeys are herd animals, and they should always be kept with another Miniature Donkey or other animal as a life-long friend. It is clear to see this bond between Miller and Snickers... they are literally always side by side (as are the manure piles). It has been a lot of fun to watch them and learn their personalities. Snickers gets grouchy with the goats around feeding time and shows them his rear to threaten with a kick if they get too close. Miller greets me every morning with a loud bray as soon as the upstairs lights turn on in the house, and also greets Chris when he pulls in the driveway every evening. They love attention and petting and brushing...many evenings I spend out in the barn with their big heads on my lap, just getting attention and scratching!

The goats are tricky, as one would expect.  Jethro is much friendlier than Mae, who prefers to keep to herself.  They both love to climb on things and we are always thinking of fun items to add to the pasture for their enjoyment.

We love our barnyard friends!

The birds

We got 6 chicks in March, who first had to be indoors with a heat lamp, and grew quickly to become awkward adolescents.  These shots are from from their first day trip outside -

Henrietta (pictured above), Carolyn, Ping Pong, Erin, Lady Gaga, and Copper Top were the original crew.  Unfortunately, screeching noises coming from the sunporch told us that we had some cockerals...  Lady Gaga, Erin, and Copper Top subsequently had been re-homed.  Henrietta (a.k.a. Henry) the Rooster stays to keep a watchful eye over the girls.  We have also gotten 2 more (adult)  hens, to help with the egg production since our loss of birds.  We love getting fresh eggs daily - our 5 hens now produce between 3 - 4 eggs per day, and Henrietta is my natural alarm clock :)

We bought a coop from a guy through craigslist - just $50 + red paint to match the barn-

Lily keeping guard -

Lots to Add!

Since my last post over a year ago, we have been busy!

We just dove into the renovation - the "new" part of the house has been removed and we are working on the addition.

We adopted another dog, Walter!

We adopted 2 miniature Mediterranean donkeys, 2 Nigerian dwarf goats, and some chickens (and roosters!).

Lots coming...

Zucchini Alfredo with (or without) Chicken

We were skeptical but this was reallllly good!  Adapted from allrecipes.com.

The recipe as provided was vegetarian and can easily be kept that way, but I had leftover chicken from the rotisserie earlier in the week that I added in.  My adaptations to the original added below-

Half of a 12 ounce package uncooked egg noodles
Vegetable oil for sauteeing
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, sliced w/mandolin to matchsticks

1 summer squash, sliced w/mandolin to matchsticks

8-10 oz chopped chicken breast (optional)
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Cook egg noodles according to package instructions.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic, and cook 2 minutes. Mix in zucchini/squash, and cook 8-10 minutes, until some of the moisture has evaporated.
Pour the milk into the skillet, and stir in cream cheese until melted. 

Make sure hungry dog does not steal skillet

Mix in basil. Season with salt and pepper, serve over the cooked pasta.

More harvesting!

This garden is going nuts - it's awesome!  We are both bringing in lots of zucch/squash/cucumbers to share w/our coworkers tomorrow.  Some pics from tonight:

Chris is checking the cucumbers; melons are closer in the foreground, squash/zucch's to the left and beyond the picture.  Tomatoes (small and green still) are right beyond the cukes.  Way too packed but all seem to be producing just fine so far.

YAY first little watermelon!!

Tuesday night harvest;  4 zucchini, 3 summer squash, 2 spaghetti squash, lots of dragons tongue beans, lettuce, basil, 3 slicing cukes and 4 pickling cukes!