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Top 10 Photos From The Farm For 2017 – And An Aerial Flyover Tour!

Taking a look back at our top 10 photos from our life at the farm for 2017.

First and foremost, Happy New Year to all! On this rare and special occasion that our Sunday Farm Update falls on New Year’s Day, we thought we would share out top 10 favorite photos from the past year.

top 10 photos

The beauty of the farm in late fall. A mum hangs in full bloom with Simple House in the background. 2016 will always have a special place in our hearts as the year of the house!

Some we chose because they simply show the beauty of the outdoors. Other photos made the list because of their meaning to our life here at the farm.

At the end, we included a short video of the farm filmed overhead this past week. That one is courtesy of our high school senior Nolan, who is quickly learning (and teaching us) how to fly a drone. 🙂

We hope you enjoy, and here is to another fantastic year to all! 

Top 10 Photos of 2017

#1 The For Sale Sign Goes In The Yard

This picture started a year of change for us! It was late February when our old house went up for sale. It sold just a few weeks later, and the move to build at the farm was on!

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#2 The Book Is Complete

One of the biggest highlights this year was the publishing our first book, Growing Simple in April. In addition to writing, we really enjoyed the chance to travel around and meet so many wonderful people during the book tour. Here we are in Minneapolis, Minnesota in early June at a book signing.

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#3 The Dirt Is Moved – And It’s Time To Build A House!

The farm sites below as the dirt at the top of the hill is leveled off for the house. Breaking ground was the fulfillment of a 6 year dream of building the farm. It was filled with excitement, anticipation, and yes, a lot of anxiety!

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#4 Weaver Barns Arrives To Build!

I’m not sure we could have been any more excited than the day the trucks from Weaver Barns rolled up to start the house. They arrived on a Thursday at high noon, and handed us the keys to a completed outside shell of the house the following Wednesday afternoon. I’m still not sure how they do it, but they are incredible! 

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#5   The Porch Goes On And The House Takes Shape

It seems hard to believe, but this is what we arrived to on day two of the build – the house shell nearly completed and the porch frame going up! We spent that evening walking through the whole house imagining what would go where! 

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#6 The Garden – The Space The Feeds Our Family

A Top 10 Photos List from us just wouldn’t be complete without a picture of the garden. Here is it is in late August, filled with everything from popcorn to tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans and more. The garden still provides us with a huge portion of the food we eat every single day of the year.

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# 7 A Rose In Full Bloom By The Honeybee Hives

Photos like this rose in full bloom are a great example of what we love most about being at the farm. There always seems to be a new sight to see and photograph every day. This was taken in mid-August, right beside the bee hives that were bustling with activity.

top 10 photos

#8 The Chinese 5 Color Pepper

It’s no secret that the 5 Color Chinese Pepper is one of our absolute favorite plants to grow at the farm. And the photo below shows exactly why! Not only are the peppers beautiful in the garden and landscape, they are incredible to taste. We use them fresh in everything from salsa to salads. They also can be dried perfectly for hot pepper flakes and powder. By late July, the the plants are loaded with hundreds of brightly colored 1″ peppers in 5 gorgeous colors!  It seems as though everytime we show a picture of these, we get bombarded with where to buy the seeds – so here you go :  🙂   Chinese 5 Color Seeds

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#9 The House and Garage Complete!

It took a few more months for us to complete the inside, but by the 1st of October, we were moved in! Downsizing to a 1054 square foot home has been an incredibly cathartic experience for both of us. Less maintenance, less upkeep – and more time to enjoy the things we love most!

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#10 The First Fall Garden Soup Over The Fire Pit

This is my favorite photo from the entire year! The garden was winding down, fall temps were in the air, and we made a huge pot of garden chili over an open fire in the fire pit. With the house in the background, it made the entire dream of living at the farm a reality.
 
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And Finally, the flyover video of the farm in late December.

Although it’s the middle of December, and the grass is and the farm lay dormant – this little video captures the farm as it now stands through the camera eye of a drone. I can’t wait to re-take this next year throughout the growing season to capture the changing seasons.

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