hallelujah, rain!

I'll admit, I was really starting to feel like it was never, ever going to rain again. Like, ever. Due to the lack of rain, its been a huge battle trying to keep the gardens at work and around the store hydrated. Now I'm one to love a nice sunny day, but it has been endlessly sunny. Hot, humid, relentlessly sunny. But thank goodness, it finally rained last week! It was a nasty storm actually, came out of nowhere with eighty mile per hour winds.Very exciting. I love a good storm. I remember when we were kids, if there was ever a severe thunderstorm or even a whisper that it might be tornado weather, my mom would haul all of us down into the cellar.  She'd be in a total panic and my dad would be laughing, standing on the porch with his video camera ready to document. We had another storm super early this morning, I woke to thunder before six a.m. Jason and I jumped on the porch to scope things out and it seemed tree's were down left and right in our neighborhood. My poor neighbor across the street had a tree fall onto her car. yikes.

I suppose Mother Nature likes to constantly remind us of her presence.

The animals all seemed spooked when I checked on them this morning, but after a little rainbow chard snack, they seemed happy and calm again.

This is Christophine, our sweet donkey. She has the softest nose ever and she likes to hee-haw at you non-stop if you are nearby weeding. I think she knows that all the yummy weeds are going to be her lunch later, but I'll admit she is the perfect compost bin.

I'm hoping this weekend I get the chance to work on my own garden for a bit.  I started some new hanging baskets for our porch and I desperately still want to sew a cute cushion for our porch swing. We moved into our house recently, so I am still getting settled and in nesting mode. I have a vision for a funky patterned fabric. I will go shopping with this impossible thing I have envisioned in my mind and I will search and search with no luck. Sometimes you just need to create it yourself. Here is a fun tutorial on making your own fabric patterns using pastel dye sticks. Or you can stencil the fabric, like here. I am leaning towards the latter. If I'm ambitious enough soon to finish the project, I'll post some before and afters.

In the meantime, here are some fabulous porch swings I would kill for.

There's nothing I love more than sitting on the porch with some sun tea in the Summertime. Especially if I had a porch swing this dreamy.

xoxo time for bed

Shop Open for Business

Greetings to all you other night owls. I had a lovely day off.  I spent it finally getting caught up on some house cleaning, nursing a sick husband (he picked up my flu bug I had earlier in the week, poor guy), but best of all, painting! Finished some custom portraits for some friends who recently got married. There's nothing I love more than getting engrossed in a new project, listening to sound opinions, and snacking on some dark chocolate caramels. I was in a triangle mood today. Lately I find myself being drawn to specific geometric patterns. Triangles won today.

And I finally got my Etsy site up and running! Visit here http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheNaiveTree?ref=search_shop_redirect Lots of great, affordable original paintings on there. Whoo hoo!

I have made other custom couples portraits in the past. I had the pleasure of making portraits of Therese English and Dan Perdue for their wedding a couple years back. Therese and I used to work together at an art store years ago. She is adorable and I swear she's made of sugar. Therese is an art teacher now and a super talented photographer/fiber artist. Her hubby is a member of the band, Sleeping At Last. Check them out here http://sleepingatlast.com/ To see pictures of their gorgeous wedding and the portraits I did for them, visit the feature in CS Brides magazine here http://digital.modernluxury.com/publication/?i=54638&p=178

I really do enjoy doing portraits of people. I like studying their faces and figuring out what really makes them characteristically unique. With my new shop up, I am hoping to put more energy into doing more custom work for folks. Couples or pet portraits...I'm loving the idea of doing a favorite person portrait. Who's your favorite person? My favorite person is Jason, whom I am praying will be feeling better soon. I've been stuffing vitamins down his throat all day, so hopefully he's on the road to recovery.

I suppose it's my bedtime as well. xoxo Katie

Lake Whaaat

This past weekend, just when I thought my head was going to pop from the extreme heat, I headed north to Lake Watseka to visit my dad for his birthday. Talk about forty degree temperature difference! I love visiting my dad. He is surrounded by tons of beautiful lakes and forests, and makes a habit of hiking every morning with his dog Lucy. She is super hyper so he needs to make sure she gets in a run and a swim every day. Man, don't we all. I wish I lived next to a lake.

I love old signs (and leinenkugel!) It's brewed locally near my dad in Chippewa Falls. I got my dad a neat compass as a gift. I love little gadgets like that and everyone should really have one. But most of all I love that they are meant to give people direction and prevent them from ever getting lost. Good metaphor for life, but I'm a total cheese ball like that.

xoxo
Katie

Just the beginning...

I am happy to announce my very first blog! It seems these days that everyone and their mother have a blog now, so why another one? I suppose I have always wanted one, a place to document my thoughts and adventures. Something for myself. I really admire other people's blogs, especially those who really let you into their world.

So welcome. This is just the beginning. My name is Katie Drum.  I am twenty-nine and I live in the rural cornfields of Illinois with my awesome husband, Jason. I live in the same town I have lived in since I was twelve. I used to dream of moving off to some exotic city, but now I find myself craving the quietness of the country.

I am an artist and illustrator, you can check out some of my art at my website www.thenaivetree.com 

I hope to use this blog to share with you some of my new projects, art, photography, people I think are super talented, recipes, special finds, whatever strikes my fancy.

I spend most my days managing the farm store at Heritage Prairie Farm. The farm raises honey bees and organically grown produce. I still pinch myself and laugh because I'm still not sure how I ended up there, but its an agrarian dream. I like being closer to nature and I don't feel like I am selling my soul to anyone.

Whats your favorite way to get in touch with nature? Sometimes for me, its as simple as watching a really great thunderstorm.  Which we are in great need of by the way. Everyone do your best rain dance.

Best Regards,
Katie