Our main joie de vivre is our animals and we have quite a few here at Tanglewood Farm!  I thought I would take a moment to give them the recognition they deserve ;-)

First and foremost, let me introduce you to my horses! 

Rocky is my 10 year old Thoroughbred. Retired off the racetrack and adopted by Canter MidAtlantic, Rocky found a new life and career as an event horse here at Tanglewood Farm. He was actually living on the farm when we bought the place, in training with the horse trainer who was living on the farm at the time. My mom watched him every morning out her kitchen window and fell in love. While Rocky turned out to be a bit too wild for my mom, he has turned out to be my best friend and partner and I ride and compete Rocky at lower level eventing competitions in the area.

Clifford is my mom's 15 year old Quarter Horse Paint. Another horse who was living at our farm as a boarder, my mom loved his sweet face and gentle demeanor. He was added to our herd in 2016 and is Rocky's best buddy, although he acknowledges that Rocky is boss.  Clifford enjoys long walks on the Moss Foundation, lots and lots of food, and chewing on fence boards.

We are absolutely obsessed with our golden gals! All buff orpingtons, as of this post, we have 7 hens. Rose, Shirley, Sophia are the adults, and Fly, Bucket, Bridle and Kiki are our youngsters. All laying eggs...some more so than others! Occasionally I have to scour the barn searching for their newest egg hiding spots! The Golden Gals love attention and have never met a stranger, or a berry they didn't love!

Bootsie Callico "Bootsie" is a Lionhead/New Zealand mix. She joined our family on Christmas morning 2018 and is a sweet lovable little fluff ball! She lives outside most of the time, with her chicken friends nearby. 

Tanglewood loves dogs! Especially ones who don't chase our chickens ;-) Above are just a few of the resident dogs  - Brody the Schnauzer, Maddy the Bichon-Shih-tzu and Louis the Maltese Bichon.

The above, and many cats, other horses and dogs, (and people) are the Tanglewood Farm crew! 

I finally did it!!!! I ignored all those voices in my head telling me to do something practical, telling me to go back to an accounting job, telling me to stop being selfish, telling me that it's too expensive or too frivolous or too scary...and I ENROLLED IN CULINARY SCHOOL! I am so excited and happy to announce that despite numerous logistical roadblocks (babysitters, the stomach flu, part-time B&B help, kid's school and swim classes, horses) I survived my first week in the Baking & Pastry Arts Program at Sandhills  Community College! 

I am most likely the oldest student in my classes by about 15 years, but you know what?! I don't care! I love it! It's so amazing to be sitting in a classroom and to actually be interested in the lecture! Don't get me wrong...I've always been a studious person, taking my classes very seriously...but let's face it, accounting and finance courses when twenty years old did not exactly hold me by the seat of my pants in fascination and intrigue! But this is different. I really am interested in how the first breads came about, and the different between baking soda and baking powder (Baking soda needs an added acid such as vinegar to become reactant, baking powder includes an acid and can react without additional help.) Who knew!?!

I am enrolled in the Baking and Pastry Arts program certificate program. This means I won't finish with an associates in baking which I am fine with (my goal isn't to start collecting more degrees!) but I will be able to take 1-2 courses per semester and finish at my leisurely pace. My first semester is Baking 1 and I am so excited to share my experiences and my newly learned skills on this blog and with my wonderful B&B guests.  
This week we had a 5-hour long lecture but next week we will be diving right in to yeast breads...a favorite of mine! I'll be sharing regular updates about my culinary school experiences along the way! 
Stay tuned!

I NEED THESE IN MY LIFE! HOW CUTE ARE THESE?? 
my weekly must-have list for all things cute and farm-y;-)

I'm always on the lookout for cute aprons and other farm-ish household goods. Here are a few things I don't think I'm going to be able to live without ;)



Ulster Weavers Rooster Apron - this is TOOOOO cute and as many of you know,  I LOVE anything with chickens! 
Chicken Scratch Potholders - a little bit of chicken is a good thing! 
For Fox Sake Mug - this is my all time favorite coffee mug! It makes me smile every time I use it!
Rooster Chalkboard - this would look perfect hanging in my kitchen! You could use it for menu planning, a grocery list, notes to your family! I'm definitely adding THIS to my shopping list! 

Hello and welcome to The Keeper of the Inn! I'm the innkeeper of Tanglewood Farm Bed and Breakfast in Southern Pines, North Carolina. My mother and I own a beautiful 10 acre horse farm in the middle of horse-centric Southern Pines, complete with 2 horse stables and a 3-apartment building that has been converted into a bed and breakfast. 

We originally hail from Wisconsin (Go Pack Go!) where my mom owned a large riding center for many years. But the cold finally broke us, and we decided to head south to sunnier skies! Southern Pines is a mecca for 3-day eventing, which is the equestrian discipline that we have been competing in ever since I was a child. With so many great upper-level riders and trainers in this area, and the Carolina Horse Park just 20 minutes away, the opportunities are endless!

My educational background was in accounting and finance. I graduated from Boston University and moved to Milwaukee, WI to pursue my accounting career. Within my first year in the "real world", I discovered the corporate world was not my cup of tea, although I stuck with it for about 10 more years, eventually obtaining my CPA license and going on to be a senior investment accounting specialist at an insurance company and later a manager of accounting in real estate development.

I got married in 2011, and we headed to Florida with dreams of never seeing snow or ice again;) During our move south, we stopped in Southern Pines to visit my mother who was renting a hunt box on a horse farm while checking out the area for a potential move. My husband and I were drawn to Southern Pines...me for the horses, him for the quaint downtown with the wonderful restaurants and atmosphere. A year later we were back, this time house and farm shopping with my mom. Goodbye Florida, Hello Southern Pines! 

Tanglewood Farm had attracted my interest from the moment I saw the for-sale listing. I had been looking at listings with an eye for income-generating potential and Tanglewood had that written all over it!  It has been on the market for quite a while and would take a certain type of buyer. It had a lot going on! 2 barns, one main residence, and at the time 6 apartments! And while all of this was already set up for income production, the thought of being a landlord to 6 separate apartments did not sound that appealing to me, nor to my mother who would be sharing her home with all of these long term tenants! 

The suggestion of a bed and breakfast had been brought up over our discussions of different property possibilities and that idea seemed to keep coming back to us. Finally, and after much debate, we decided that Tanglewood was the ONE and the papers were signed! Meanwhile, I had given notice at my job in Florida and in the winter/spring of 2012 we headed north, up to the land of the Pines! 

We set to work immediately renovating the 3-apartment building, which would eventually become the Tanglewood Farm B&B guest suites. I'll be going into more detail about the renovations in my upcoming post, "The Making of Tanglewood Farm B&B", but needless to say, there were days on end when I wouldn't see a single person outside of my mom and husband, while I scraped away at layers of wallpaper, old paint, oddly placed lattice board, and musty carpeting. 

Finally, the day came to open up shop! We went into this business somewhat blindly and really had no idea what was in store.  We just closed our eyes, opened our doors, and prayed for the best! And 6 years later, we are still going strong constantly working on improvements and enjoying our wonderful guests, many of whom we have come to call friends throughout their repeated visits to our farm.  

Finding my way through this new business venture and new life haven't been without their challenges, but anytime day to day life gets me stressed, I picture myself back in a business suit, sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer screen on the 13th floor of a downtown high rise, and I am able to take a sigh of relief and soak in this beautiful place that my mother and I have created...chickens peering into my office french door windows; my horse, Rocky,  frolicking in my backyard with his buddy, Clifford; my children playing in our yard next to their feathered friends, and I am grateful for all that Southern Pines and Tanglewood Farm have given to us. 

Thanks for reading! Check out the items below on my weekly "I Need These In My Life" list




I NEED THESE IN MY LIFE! HOW CUTE ARE THESE?? 
my weekly must-have list for all things cute and farm-y;-)

I'm always on the lookout for cute aprons and other farm-ish household goods. Here are a few things I don't think I'm going to be able to live without ;)

Dala Horse Apron - I have a bit of an apron obsession! You can never have too many, and who wants a plain Jane boring white one when you can have something as cute as this??
Dala Horse Oven Mitts - and OF COURSE, you need the oven mitts to match! I go through oven mitts like crazy, so it's always good to have a few cute ones on standby...especially ones that coordinate with my apron!
Unicorn Cookie Cutters - ok, so I'm jumping on the unicorn bandwagon...but these are just too cute to resist!!! And for the record, I've always believed in unicorns ;)