This has been one active week...let me tell ya!...which is what summer is all about! Right? Absolutely! I have a ton of stuff to share with you...but I'll stick with our horsey-highlights for this post....and catch up with more in my next posts...if I can ever get to them. But I'll try...I promise!

Wednesday we went over to the Dow's to ride Heather's 2 horses, Babe and Reno (which happen to be rescued Mustangs from Nevada), over to our land so that they can start grazing the front part down. We burned the grass this Spring and the clover and Timothy grass that has come up is really AMAZING. It's up to my waist in most areas...and over our little Asheley's head!

With all the rain, the haying is way behind...but we're hoping to get ours cut perhaps  tomorrow or the next day...before the next batch of rain is supposed to roll in again. We've been camping out over on our land several days this week, too, and the kiddos are lovin' it!

This is a pond?? It's Moosehead Pond to be exact....and definitely more of a lake than a 'pond'...but that's another one of those Mainer idiosyncrasies! The day before had been up to 94 degrees, and we were hoping for more of the same on Friday. However, overcast and windy is what we got instead...at least for a little while...

One of my favorite things:  To walk into the kitchen on a fine sunny morning...like this morning for instance...

So here we are in Kennebunkport...on the beach!! Yippee!!
It's still pretty chilly out...

but it's a 'Spring is in the air' chilly...

And 'Summer is just around the corner' chilly!

The raw rough cold of frozen winter has vanished for now
and it's time to kick up our heels
and dance in the ocean breezes!!

Spring has really sprung in Maine...especially in Southern Maine... more specifically in Kennebunkport, Maine... where we were on a spectacular sunny day this weekend. You may remember when I captured Kennebunk in the winter on a trip down to this quaint coastal town, and if not, go take a peek because now it looks so amazingly different! These homes appear like something out of a fairytale in winter, but now I'll give you a glimpse of this idyllic place as it reawakens for Spring!

We decided to just meander down the sidewalk in order to experience flowering blossoms and bulbs more up-close and personally...as they say. We chanced upon this picket fenced enclosed front yard bedecked in yellow daffodils and pink blossoms...

When we turned the corner, we discovered at the back of this house a cute little  treehouse perched in the back yard! I love how they trimmed the door in birch limbs!

Then tucked behind the old Kennebunk train depot was this intriguing place...named 'Old House Parts Co.' boasting all sorts of salvaged and architectural treasures....which I could've easily gotten lost in for hours!

Across the street was this beautifully renovated gambrel-roofed farmhouse. The front door above is a very traditional New England style...and also one of my very favorites. With sprigs of bright yellow forsythia blossoms, it's bursting with "Hello Springtime!"

From here we trekked on to the beach....but I'll save that part for tomorrow! : D

If you're already wondering where you plan to take the family this summer for vacation, why not skip Disney World and opt instead for a 'Farm House' get-away! Better yet, make it a Working Farm get-away...replete with cozy lodging, lots of fresh air and open spaces...and fresh off the farm fare for all your meals... including a picnic or two!

Blackberry Farm in TN sets the bar, as does Mary Jane's Farm in Idaho, but there are many more nationwide...and even abroad. Check out Homestead for more lovely locales...including Maine, of course!

And for an even more novel idea, go Out On a Limb on Green Pioneer!

The weather has been holding beautifully...and still cool enough that the bugs haven't come out in force! We've been over on our land every day this week...except the day we went down to Portland. So I took some photos of our 40 acre property in Plymouth that we hope to call 'home' in the not too distant future.

This is early Spring in Maine...hints of low green grass and tiny buds just beginning to emerge. The snow is melted along with the ice and it's wonderful to see the blue hues of Plymouth Pond in the distance.

Here I backed up the hill a little more so you can make out the pond better. The little town of Plymouth lies on the other side of a causeway or low bridge that basically cuts the pond through the middle...and provides a great place for fishermen...and women...and fisher-kiddos...to hang out!

Excuse the limitations of my cheapo camera, but if you look carefully,  that faint lavender rise in the distance is 5000 ft. Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park. Being the tallest mountain in Maine, it still has snow over its top...making it more easy to spot! Mt. Katahdin is a more rounded hump shaped mountain as opposed to a straight up pointed peak...it took me awhile to get used to that...I kept looking for some tall sharp peak in the distance. Nope. Not here.

Our property is rather narrow up here where it's been cleared but then it spreads out there at the back with the majority of it being these woods that pretty much encompass this whole side of the pond. My husband has located the outer boundaries of the property but there's much of it still unexplored...and way too dense to get through except in the winter on snow shoes or XC skis.

Looking back up the hill is our log home still awaiting its roof...among a host of other things too overwhelming for me to fathom at the moment! ; )

Remember the Lovin' the Lean-to we finished in March? Well, here it is now...no longer surrounded by pretty white snow. We've been clearing the small saplings and a path to get down here...

The children LOVE it in these woods...it's non-stop entertainment! The kind of entertainment we like!

This is mid-way in clearing the path into the woods. Eventually I'd like to thin this out enough to create a woodland garden down here. You can see the back field behind the trees. Our cleared fields are now officially 'organic' so it's great to have so much potential there. We're so enthused over all the possibilities for this place...for this land...OUR land!

On our way down to Portland this week, we managed to get left from the house in time for a side detour...which is a miracle in and of itself!

I discovered recently that there's a Shaker Village...called 'Shaker Village'...in the town of New Gloucester near Auburn. We already stop off in Auburn on our way south, so we scooted over to see what we might find...

I had heard that they had one of the historical round barns that I was especially interested in. Sadly, they didn't have that...but they did have this gorgeous big barn with about 50 various breeds of sheep...his favorite being the Romneys that are popular up here. They provide a good wool and are rather hearty with minimal feet problems.

By the way, I just learned this from Carla Emery's Country Living tome I checked out of the library...did you know that sheep actually have long tails? And these tails can get rather fat and large as the sheep grows? So now I see what "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep...leaving their tails behind them" is all about. I always thought this was just more nursery rhyme silliness. Silly me!

This 'Shaker Village' doesn't officially open until Memorial Day, but when he heard that we were from St. Albans...and that our neighbors raise Scottish Highlander cattle...and that their bull, Atta Boy, is REALLY big...he suddenly said, "BIG! I'll show you BIG!" and took us down to introduce us to his BIG Scottish Higlander bull, too! I'm finding that St. Albans is developing a reputation as Scottish Highlander breeders. Small world.

Also turns out that this little enclave of Shakers are the only remaining Shakers in the world! And wouldn't guess they'd be right here in Maine..???!! Perfect!

They have some lovely historical residences and buildings dating back to the 1700's and the village is absolutely lovely! I tried to take more photos, but the batteries died on me! boo! They're also opening for Maine Free Farm Day from noon to 4 p.m. if you'd like to visit them and tour the sites for free. It's a beautiful drive and an enjoyable find!

Do you notice anything unusual about this picture? Hmmm...something's missing...like the snow suit....and the big bulky jacket maybe?

We've officially passed into Sweater Weather! No, it's not everyday...especially for me!...but it IS more often. And oh my goodness! The FREEDOM...the freedom from bulkiness!

And these sweet first blossoms of Spring have pushed up out of their dark earthen wrap to celebrate as well!

Sweet smiles of sunshine...and sweaters...and white petals...and Spring!

It's rain...not snow!! The snow is melting...the rain is raw and cold! Is there a silver lining in this anywhere? Yes! There is!! We drove down to Camden yesterday...and drove back home at night in sheets of pouring rain. But as we meandered along the coast to Rockport and then Rockland yesterday afternoon, we chanced to pass a quintessentially quaint little store called none other than

Fresh Off The Farm Store

Despite the rain and drizzle, we promptly pulled a U-ey to check out this winsome little place with birch-branch wreaths hung across its porch posts and bushel baskets of large yellow daffodils peeking at us from under the awning porch. And not only bushel baskets of daffodils, but pots upon pots of promising blooms of tulips and hyacinths ready to burst open at any moment!

My flower starved eyes were feasting on all of this...and I hadn't even made it past the front porch! Once inside, we were greeted with local vegetables nestled in baskets overhung with pots of fresh herbs clustered across the top of the center table, handmade candles, deliciously fragrant homemade soaps...some in the shapes of eggs...every organic concoction known to this region and beyond, mismatched glass jars of dried herbs with handwritten labels and wooden scoops. My senses were reeling, of course. How does one imbibe such verdant wonder all at once..??

We eventually pulled away and then found ourselves on a great little street in Rockland...in a used bookstore serving perfect piping hot coffee and an array of organic loose leaf teas. Andrew picked up a book on woodstoves and I landed a gardening tome to beat ALL gardening tomes...and written by a family right in here Maine!

We then drove down by the ferry just in time to see the cars loading up... and a few passengers hurrying down the ramp...bags in hand, hoods pulled tightly down against the rain...ready to make their 10 mile trek to North Haven Island.

They were loaded in no time...then the small ferry pulled away quickly... disappearing into the mist and fog.

We could still see its small light rolling and rocking its way to an island life I long to discover. Oh how we wanted to board that ferry and be whisked off to some rocky distant island shore...despite the eerie mist and rain!

However, we had to suffice just listening to Captain Jim regale Anne and Gilbert with another tale from the sea as we listened to Anne's House of Dreams on the way back home. It's all part of our life now...in the cold, raw rainy romance of Maine in early Spring!

"Anne gave herself up to the eerie charm of the night....and the late afternoon had been very foggy; but a full moon had in part lessened the fog and transformed the harbour and the gulf and the surrounding shores into a strange, fantastic, unreal world of pale silver mist,...Anne pleased herself with a hundred fancies as she wandered through the mist. It was delightful--romantic--mysterious to be roaming here alone on this enchanted shore."

From Anne's House of Dreams (Ch.27 On the Sand-bar)