I had to work St. Patrick’s Day. So once again I improvised with making Soda Bread and Shepherd’s Pie beforehand. The soda bread is interesting. I think the buttermilk makes it less dry and crumbly than other soda breads I have had. And the caraway seeds really gave it a nice flavor, although Tom didn’t like it. I thought it was great though. The zoom class about the history of it and making it is on Thursday so you can join for free.
I thought I took a photo of the Shepherd’s Pie but guess I forgot. It only looked like baked mashed potatoes in a casserole dish as you couldn’t see the filling. I used hamburger instead of lamb (because of Tom). But it was quite good. I took portions of the bread and pie to work to try to be festive. I have also done other Irish cooking on this day in past years: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, & 2013. Prior to that, I am certain I did other similar cooking but didn’t blog about food then, just the farm.
In other, completely unrelated news, I was emailed some shutterfly memories yesterday, and it included this one photo dated March 2011.
It is a photo of Thomas’s upstairs bedroom during our house renovation in 2002. So then I started digging around for photos of that date and found quite a few home reconstruction photos I had forgotten I had. These photos are from 2002-2003 so not sure why the date is wrong but happy to have found them. (A few of them I have posted before, but most are new.)
Exterior photos:
Interior photos:
Yard photos:
It is fascinating seeing these old photos. We have come a long way!
Wow doesn’t even begin to express what you have done in a very short time!!! I’m impressed. We moved into a 200+ year old house on our farm (inherited) and made a lot of changes but not near what you guys have tackled!!
Thanks Rita! That was 20 years ago when we were more ambitious. Plus we had a contractor that did a lot of the work.
I’m not sure many would have taken on such an intimidating project; you guys had VISION!
Nobody else bought the place. Tom had the vision. I think all of our parents thought we were crazy. The inspector thought we were crazy too. I told myself that if we had to replace the electrical system I would pass. Guess what? We had to replace the electrical. The only thing we didn’t do was the plumbing which I now regret. A saner person would have tore it all down and started over but I did see charm in it. Glad we did.
Hello Donna it looks almost like a total rebuild to me. When we were fixing up a side property on a fantastic section of the building inspector asked me did we ever considered knocking the house down and starting again. We did leave one wall in place and untouched. Mind you we had two brothers who did all the work. And of course we were almost 40 years younger. I’m sure you’re loving living in your home now the work is all finished as we did for very few years before my darling died
Well, we kept the bones, that is the foundation ( which is another story) floors and the walls but not much else. The floors and walls are old growth wood though so worth saving. I am glad to hear your enjoyed home too.
Hi Donna. Can you hear the bad language from here on the way over there? I wrote a long response but it has been lost in the ether.
That looks like an almost total rebuild to me. We did something similar but we didn’t do the work we had two brothers who did everything. At the end of the project when the building inspector came to check things he did ask me if I had ever considered knocking down the building and starting again. We did leave one wall in place and untouched. But the resulting property was fantastic and I’m sure yours is too. The House had been designed by an engineer originally and it certainly looked like it. We ended up with like a turn of the century English cottage. I loved that house. In parklike grounds. Unfortunately we lived there for only 12 years because my darling died and I couldn’t face living there without him. So enjoy your house and show us some more photos of the finished product please. From a wild and windy Wellington evening best wishes to you
Your comment wasn’t lost just needed my approval for some reason. Some comments go through and others need approval. Not sure why. Best wishes to you in wild and windy Wellington.
I really enjoyed all the pictures of all the work you did. You didn’t live in the house before it was finished, did you? When my dad built the house for our family, we moved in before it was done. Then he decided to change it, and added a room, which became the new kitchen and dining area, and took my bedroom. I got a new bedroom on the southwest corner of the house. It turned out to be very nice. At that time, he also decided he wanted a basement. My oldest sister and I had to help. It was quite a deal. Then he wanted to add cement bricks to the outside. I was the mortar mixer, and brick soaker, and hauler. What an experience!
We had some of the furniture there that wouldn’t fit in the storage unit. You can see it in some of the photos and we had to work around it. Back then I used to take call for the hospital from home and those nights I had to stay there. This included the loneliest Christmas I ever had. Otherwise I stayed at Yom’s place in Bellingham during this time but the animals were on the farm. It sounds like you had quite the experience!
wow. That is one serious project. so how long was it under construction before y’all actually moved in?
Slightly less than a year. It was a process.
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