The cow pasture is straight out my back door, past my own grass and garden.
It's the first thing I look at when I get up in the mornings. It's towards the East, so I get a good look at the sunrise every day.
It's chilly and breezy outside this morning, 56 degrees. I needed a flannel shirt. I have several old flannel shirts. This one belonged to my daughter Kristina, when she was in High School, she's 31 now. It's thin and soft, and perfect for the slight coolness in the air this morning.
As soon as the horses hear the sounds from inside in the mornings, they let me know they are ready for breakfast. For the most part the boys are very patient, and I don't have to rush out the back door to the barn first thing.
The back of the barn faces East.
The front of the barn faces West.
Years ago, when I was first deciding where to place the barn, I walked around with a spray paint can and marked several different areas, to help in choosing the best location. At the time there was little shade out here, so in the end I decided to face the barn West and East. I knew the horses would get evening shade from the barn itself out back, and morning shade from the porch overhang. Sheltered from the sweltering Summer sun in the Summer, and sheltered too from the South rains, and cold North winds in the Winter.
Along the front of the barn I planted 4 Purple Ashe trees,
which are now big enough to shade the entire front porch all afternoon from the West sun, so now the barn porch is entirely shaded all Summer long. The Purple Ashe trees shed their leaves in the Winter, which makes for a nice sunny spot on the porch and helps keep the stalls warmer on the colder days. I have small patches of seasonal grass just off the ends of each porch side, that I keep watered and green during the Summer months.
Did I just hear someone say my horses are spoiled?
I bought my horse barn from
I pretty sure they go by another business name now.
Buying the horse barn was a surreal experience for me. I was scared and excited all at the same time.
I'm not gonna lie- it was expensive, and it was the first time, being on my own, that I made such a big decision. It was just me and my girls at home at the time, Caveman and I were divorced.
I'm so thankful my girls were nothing more than supportive and encouraging during every step. Not too mention we were all excited to finally get the horses home, after years and years of boarding.
I picked out the color of the walls and the roof, style of doors- front and back and the type of railing I wanted.
I remember driving home and just thinking to myself, wow- I just bought a building.
Ray's Concrete was hired to pour concrete for the porch and stem walls for the barn. I then waited patiently for the next 6 weeks for the barn to be delivered. It looked pretty weird to see this large concrete slab in the middle of my field. I had many friends wonder and ask me, if I had just put a concrete "patio" in the middle of my field.
The barn arrived at the dealer, and they called to set up the installation, I'll never forget the day...
I was sitting on my porch swing, watching a dream come true. My dear friend, Whitney (also my employer at the time), shared the experience with me, like so many other experiences as well.
Whitney, if your reading this, thank you.
Into the field came a large flat bed truck with all the pieces to the barn, and several workers.
It was assembled like a giant puzzle.
By mid-afternoon I had a complete horse barn in my field.
Over the next few weeks the girls and I worked really hard at putting up fence panels out back of the barn, and stall mats inside the stall floors. Goodness- that was HARD work. Those stall mats are so heavy, and some had to be cut to fit!!!
(I wish now that I knew about blogging back then. I'd have to scour around for some pictures.)
Blogging is a good thing.
The Girasole Lady
