Last week The Girl and I had the privilege of staying at my friend JJ’s House for a few nights. 
For those of you who don’t know, JJ is this amazing, talented {slightly crazy, but in a good way} incredibly hospitable person who just happens to live in one of my favorite states – Virginia. She lives with her handy man, handsome husband and four kids in an old farmhouse that was built in the late 1800’s and let me tell you Bob, they know a thing or two about living in the country. 
For starters, they’ve got a huge garden. It’s nothing like mine and I think that’s why I love it so much. It’s just one giant rectangle of garden goodness. There are no garden boxes to maintaining and they hardly ever have to water their crops because of the heavy mulch {hay} they apply every spring. I’m not weatherman but I’m pretty sure the humidity with almost tropical like thunderstorms that always seem to be in the forecast have something to do with it too.
Corn. Oh how I wish I could grow it here in Western Washington. 
The hay bales are even cooler over in Virginia too. All we have around where I live are rectangular bales of hale they sell at the feed store for 5 bucks. In Virginia you can get a monster sized round one for $15-20. I know it’s weird to covet a bale of hay but c’mon, doesn’t it look cool?
And then there is the clubhouse, the trampoline, the swing set and practically everything else a kid who didn’t grow up glued to the tv could ever want for a fun and happy childhood. 
Chickens and lambs!!!
A county dog on the porch.
Kittens.
It kind of makes me wish I could do the whole “raising my kids all over again” thing. Because if I could go back, I would have bought a house in the country rather than one in the suburbs.
I would have never got cable, or an iPad or a membership to Costco.
Life. It’s so sweet when you take the time to look around and see what’s really important.
~Mavis
Helen in Meridian says
PIE…did you have pie? Is this the fun house you flew to for the annual Pie Party a couple of years ago? Is this the lady with the great cookbook?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes we had apple pie and YES this is the lady whose house I flew to for the pie party. 😉 My other friend Jane who lives near Jennifer is the one with the cookbook. 🙂 Good memory Helen!
Jennifer says
Hey! I HAVE A COSTCO MEMBERSHIP AND IT IS AWESOME!!!
(You are such a sweetie!) (And ever since you came, we’ve been feasting on potatoes. I wonder why…. gigglegiggle)
Mavis Butterfield says
HEY! Costco is da’ bomb…. but it’s sooooo easy to get sucked into buying stuff you don’t need. Pie and cheesecake is a necessity though. You need to tell the potato story on your blog. Seriously, it might get the political emails to stop. 😉
Cecily says
You can grow corn in Western Washington! I do in one raised bed every year (I can get 65 stalks in a 4×10 bed) and it is the best corn ever! The dairy across the street rolls their hay like that and sells it.
Dale Ann says
Lol…that’s how we raised our kids, right down to the clothes on the line…with added horses and pony, cow, goats, pigs, turkeys, and rabbits. We would enter our crafts and vegetables in the county fair, and the kids were always so excited when they saw a blue ribbon on theirs. Our son grew pumpkins, and our daughter had her own large vegetable garden and loved growing delicious organic sweet corn, peas, and pickling cucumbers for market.
Most of the bales are rolled here now. It’s really hard to find them in square bales which is what I prefer for the dairy goats.
Tina says
I want to live there!
Madam Chow says
Lovely post, Mavis.
Leanna says
Mulching with hay is a good idea – unless, of course, there are weeds that went into seed baled in with the grass. And beware – snakes enjoy living under the hay, and I never did prefer meeting a snake in my garden.
Jenn Triplett says
Wow, I want a friend like Jennifer! It looks like so much fun.
Tracie H says
Love this! I want to go live there and I live in Virginia! Just beautiful.
Kathy says
I’m so glad that I’ve finally had the privilege to meet Jennifer too! And you’re right, her home is a wonderful place to visit. But you forgot to show the pups! And my back started hurting just looking at her garden…whew!