Merry Christmas

I hope everyone enjoyed a very Merry Christmas surrounded by loved ones making memories.

This year was very different for me, but, surprisingly (please take no offence to that mom and dad) it was lovely. This was the first year in 21 that I was not with my children. There were moments of tears, though much less than I thought there would be. There was great company, love you mom and dad, and great food! With no children around, my fun was watching Dixie open and swiftly destroy her presents with such glee I had to laugh. I received some beautiful gifts and some very thoughtful gifts, and felt very lucky to have such a wonderful family both near and far thinking of me.


Christmas day we spent hiking and running outside with the dog and chickens. We had a beautiful bonfire. By the looks of the pile of wood we need to have another one!!
We gathered rosehips to make a jelly from a new Nova Scotia traditional cookbook I got - thank you Kathy and Phil! We had a delicious supper with a store bought ham and scalloped potatoes and squash, both from our garden. I know that is common place for some people to be eating all winter from their cold cellar, but I am still revelling in the joy of eating my own produce in December.

Many phone calls to different family members and our day was complete. There will definitely be years that I will go back to Ontario for the holidays, but it is nice to know if I choose to stay, I had three invitations to spend the day with different people and their families. I absolutely love to kindness, friendliness, and open doors of Nova Scotians!

Now we gear up for our New Year's celebration.....

Winter Solstice

I want to thank everyone who was a part of our Winter Solstice Evening yesterday.

A lot of great friends came out on very short notice to enjoy some chilli, pate (thank you Diane) chocolates, cookies and wine.

This was step one in new traditions column and while it certainly checked that box, I was very grateful to everyone for allowing my parents to see what wonderful friends I have been fortunate to surround myself with here. To let them see with their own eyes that I will be ok, because even though they are not always here, and even though Zoe has returned to Ontario for school, I am not alone.

I had such a great time and was very impressed by the artistic ability that surrounded us last night. And yes, that includes your campfire singing Deanna!

Thank you again to everyone who helped make this kick off to my holiday season a success.

On a sadder note, Zoe left this afternoon for her next adventure. I am sad. I love her. I will miss her. I wish her all the success on this next phase of her life. I hope she accomplishes everything she sets out to do.

Just a Quick One Tonight

Similar to Southern Ontario - we have also had snow this week. The schools were closed on Wednesday and Thursday was scary with black ice. By yesterday it was all melted! We have had rain and rain and rain. Our poor basement is soooo wet!! However, I did get one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever taken when the snow stopped falling and the black clouds cleared at sunset.

Zoe and I are spending most of our spare time right now preparing for my parents arrival on Tuesday and for Zoe's departure on Sunday. I am trying to keep a smile on my face and be supportive and encouraging, but the closer we get to her leaving, the harder that is. I believe I have mentioned in an earlier post, she is returning to Ontario for six months where she has the opportunity to graduate high school, while earning college credits! There is no way I would hold her back from an education, but I am really going to miss my girl💕

It's Starting To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

The first weekend in December has traditionally been our time to decorate. This year was no different. We got the tree up and the decorations out. There are still some urns to create and an old window frame I want to decorate with live branches and berries, but for the most part, we are festive! (Charlie has found his new winter bed! Nothing better than a fur tree skirt!)

This week has felt all around like the start of the holiday season. First with decorating, then my first Christmas party, then the Annapolis Royal Farmers & Traders Christmas Market (which we attended last year and loved again - yum fudge and yay local seeds!), and rounded out with a short session of family Christmas photos.

Dixie absolutely loves the cold and this snow-crazy dog even broke ice to swim in our pond this weekend?!?!

I have been on the phone a number of times with mom and dad. They are going to come spend Christmas with me since I won't be going back to Ontario this year. We are talking about new traditions and deciding how we want this year to look. I am excited, but do find I'm having a hard time allowing myself to think outside the normal traditions that have existed my whole life.

Chicken update: our roosters have reached maturity and are being rather aggressive with our ladies. I have found myself on more than one occasion feeling like a chaperone at a high school dance! I feel there may be some hard decisions in my future...to rooster or not to rooster that is the question.

The Barn

The barn has been and will continue to be a long spanning massive overhaul kind of job. It is amazingly big, fantastic original bones, lots of character. However, it has had two additions that are both rotting. It has a roof that lost some metal sheets during the hurricane from the front and a roof on the back that was pieced together with cut scraps of metal. The interior has had one loft cut out and a section of the floor lifted. So lots to do before we can build stalls and bring in more animals.

As I have discussed before, we have had an exterior wall framed in now. In the spring I will be board and battening it. We left the rotted addition up as a sort of wind block protection. It may not last the winter and if it blows over, well it saves me the trouble of dropping it! The loft has been rebuilt , two new windows installed and two more windows repaired. And finally this past week the big news....

The roof is finished!!

The gentleman who came to do the job had quite the challenge. He had to rebuild eaves, remove shingles, reduce drooping, place strapping, lay 18' long metal sheets, and I am probably missing a lot of other details he had to take care of in order to leave us with a roof that would protect our structure and animals for years to come! I love going outside and hearing the birds and the trees and the waves, and not the flapping clanging loosening metal roofing!

The next step will be the one section that has no floor. I will begin the framing and once I get some more hemlock cut, I will lay that. The plan for this winter, is to allow the chickens to roam inside the barn. It still allows them some freedom on those cold, windy, rainy, snowy days while offering them some protection. And since the wall isn't finished yet, if the sun does come out, they have easy access to foraging.

Whirlwind

The Two Girls and a Dream Farm is going to undergo a change in the new year. It will become, temporarily, The One Girl and Her Dream Farm. Zoe has decided to return to Ontario to complete her high school diploma. It is a decision, that while I am very sad, I understand. I will support any decision she makes that will bring her closer to graduating high school.

Step one in this process was delivering her car to her dad and brothers house before too much snow accumulated on the roads. I was able to get three days off of work and Wednesday morning we left home. Twenty-three hours later, we pulled into my parents driveway. While still not an easy drive, it was much better having two drivers that could take turns. Zoe has had her licence for less than a month, but I was very impressed by how she handled herself during that long drive. By fluke timing, she was behind the wheel during the worst of the rain, through Quebec, Montreal, and the tail end of Toronto! Talk about trial by fire!

After a short nap, I enjoyed a lovely afternoon with my parents. Simply relaxing and talking and enjoying the face to face time. That evening we unofficially celebrated Christmas with Aunt Judy, Aunt Pat, Uncle Tom, my parents and Brandon (thanks for bringing the Chinese food Brandon! I had been craving it!!). This will be only the second Christmas in 48 years that I will not be home with family. I will not be alone during the holidays though. Mom, Dad, and Zoe will all be here for two weeks surrounding Christmas, then they will all go back to Ontario together leaving me here...alone...by myself...one girl. (cue pity-seriously hear the laughter in my words!). I have always enjoyed time alone. There is so much work to do year round on the property to keep me busy, and, by choice, I am working at the YMCA more and more lately. I also have developed terrific friendships and will, by no stretch of the imagination, be lonely!

Friday I had planned to surprise my friend and previous co-worker Sandi and take her out for lunch. I have never liked surprises, and this was a prime example of why. Sandi was not at work!! She was across the border doing her annual pre-Black Friday shopping trip! I did, however, surprise Laura and Dr. Hennig and enjoyed a lovely if short visit with both of them.

Wrapping up the whirlwind, Brandon drove me to the airport. We had lunch together (he benefitted from Sandi's absence), and we were able to spend some much enjoyed one on one time.
And just like that, 67 hours after I left, I was back home.

Chicken note: when I arrived home, I did not unload the truck, I did not go pee, I did not go inside, I went straight to the chicken coop. When I went in, their food trough was full (they had not been eating) and four of our girls were sitting on the floor. In the past this has meant the chicken was sick and she would die within a few days. I was very sad but walked around the coop petting everyone, cooing to them, being a ridiculous chicken mom, and just like that, one by one, they all got up walked over to the trough and started eating and clucking. When they finished, they all flew up to the roosts and settled in for the night. As crazy as it seems, I think my girls missed me as much as I missed them💗

Lori...This is not Goodbye

Lori was our After School and Youth Director at the YMCA and one of the loveliest, sweetest, kindest, hardest working, gentlest souls that I have ever had the good fortune to meet.

Lori has made the very brave decision to leave a job that she worked tirelessly at developing into something to be proud of. She made the decision to leave the career path that she trained for. She made the decision to leave her (awesome) co-workers to follow her heart. Having followed that path myself - I could not be more proud of her or happy for her. Sometimes the path to happiness involves very difficult decisions and it takes a special someone to take that leap of faith.

As I was forced to sit smiling saying goodbye to Lori, I was reminded how 18 months ago the tables were reversed and I was forcing friends and family to say goodbye to me.

Lori is me in reverse. I left a growing town, I left my family, I left the optometrists office. Lori is moving to a larger town, Lori will be spending more time with her partner, and Lori will be working at an optometrists office!

As I sit here being very selfish and crying (again!) I know Lori was put in my path for a reason. She makes everyone she meets better just for knowing her. And, as I have discovered...leaving does not mean goodbye. I love and appreciate all of my friends and family who have maintained contact with me since I made my big move so Lori...this is not goodbye.

When I left Ontario, my dear friend Sandi gave me card that I keep on my desk to remind myself that someone believes in me. I am going to pass on her advise to you Lori:
"...pull up your big girl panties, pull your hair back, straighten up your crown, and go get 'em."💖

I Can't Believe It's November

Like our friends and family in Ontario - we got snow this week. I am definitely not ready for winter to  settle in yet, so I hope this was just Mother Nature's idea of a joke. But if not, I am at least loving having the fire burning again in the living room.

I did finally get the last of the tomatoes in out of the garden realizing that even though many were not ripe, they would not ripen any more outside. My windowsill is full of the last harvest in hopes that some may still turn green. I got the garden rototilled and the garlic planted. For my first Nova Scotian garden, I was overall pleased with the final results. Although most of my beans and squash were eaten by animals, my peas didn't grow and my tomatoes didn't ripen, I did get fantastic red onions, potatoes, hot peppers, beets, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, blackberries, basil, thyme, oregano, and lemon balm. My garlic grew despite being planted in June, the asparagus looks promising for the coming years, the blueberry bushes, rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries also survived the weather and animals and hopefully with continue to grow and fruit for years to come.

The person putting the roof on the barn has started and it is already looking so much better. The barn as a whole will not be finished until next year as it still needs some new flooring and stalls built, but I am thrilled with the progress and am so excited by how great it is looking.

Last October (a year ago) I purchased the first window in the long task of replacing all the windows in the house. This October I purchased the second and this weekend they were installed. Our friend Dave came over Friday and Saturday and taught me how to remove the old and install the new. They look fantastic and now I just need to pull out my carpentry skills and finish the interior trim.

Zoe was asked by a friend to housesit for her so it has been very quiet around here with just Dixie, Charlie the cat, the chickens and I. Zoe has told me she is going to return to Ontario for the next semester of school as the difference between the Ontario requirements for high school and the Nova Scotian requirements were so different she thought it would be better for her to complete her OSSD. This time of her absence while housesitting has given me a taste of what life is like with just One Girl and a Dream and her 31 animals. While the house is quiet, and I have to do all the cooking (yuck) and I will miss Zoe and our adventures tremendously, I do have great neighbours, great coworkers, great friends, property I love, and I am happy to report that it will be okay!

Progress

This past week we saw a lot of progress in many areas.

After many calls to different people and companies, I have finally heard back from someone who will remove the limb that fell on our power lines during the hurricane! So eight weeks after the fact, we should be a little more comfortable in the fact that the power line won't snap, and that the potential for imminent fire will be removed. Tuesday he should be here and that is one more thing off my plate.

We also had a gentleman at the house looking at the barn roof. The back of the barn was in very bad shape when we moved in and we lost some metal roofing panels on the front side of the roof during the hurricane. I had hoped to have it repaired/replaced before winter, and I was gratefully told that this was possible! He will be starting later this week and fingers crossed he doesn't run into too many issues and it can be completed this month.

For those of you who are my facebook friends, you will know that Zoe took her drivers test this past week and passed! That puts her ahead of her momma who failed her first time out! I am so proud of her and wish her safe driving.

I did the last of my harvesting yesterday. The potatoes came up. I had tried so many times to grow potatoes in Ontario with absolutely no success. The most action I ever got out of the potatoes was being swarmed with the bees who had made their home in the straw I planted in! I was shocked, amazed, thrilled and soooo happy when I dug up bucket after bucket of potatoes. I filled the sink and started on the bathtub with Ratte French Fingerling, Red Chieftan, and Classic Russet. I had a lovely meal with some of the teeny tiny ones and they are so delicious. I am beyond happy at this successful crop!

We had a fantastic day Saturday enjoying an auction. I was thinking of how much I would have loved for you to be there with me Aunt Judy! We bought lots of fun stuff, from planters and tools, to a wok and pizza stone. Our best purchase however was a small kitchen table with four chairs. The table has flip up sides so we can even eat sitting down with company in the winter (when we close off our very cold dining room). Up until now we had been using a very tiny two seater outdoor bistro set. As we were leaving the auction house the auctioneer approached us and told us what a great deal we got on a Duncan Phyfe table. I am not at all knowledgable on furniture so I said thanks and went home to research. This is a lovely specimen with the tell tale brass claw feet from the 1840's.

Finally (gotta have a chicken update), the ummm girls? are doing great except that one of them crowed yesterday!?! We had a feeling that one of the young ones we got in August may have been a male. The scary part is it is not the one we thought was a rooster that was crowing yesterday. Which means, we may have more than one rooster in our coop. I wasn't ready for a rooster yet, but since he's here we will go with flow, do some more research and see what happens!

The Sky

The sky is  beautiful. I had rarely stopped to enjoy the sky in my previous rush and bustle in Ontario. Not to mention it was not always the easiest to see between buildings and through the light pollution.

I have taken the saying "stop and smell the roses" and adapted it to the sky. It is not just the sunrises and sunsets, although those are glorious, it is also the interesting cloud formations and layers, the fog settling in valleys, the brightness of the moon, the stars...oh my goodness, spend an evening out at the bonfire and I can see more stars than I have ever known. It is all just so beautiful. I am not a photographer like some facebook friends (you know who you are: Heidi Fast and Kelly Bigger-Vail) who take some magnificent images. I am just a point and shoot and have not done justice to the beauty-but trust me, it is beautiful!

Progress....

A year after starting the demolition on Zoes bedroom, we are finally making progress. We have removed two closets, dropped a chimney, removed a wall and then it sat there for months until our friend and all around good guy Dave agreed to do the drywall! We have now purchased the window and paint and are ready to move onto the next steps. We are hoping she will have a room by Christmas! A great bonus to this is it will free up an actual guest bedroom (instead of Zoe moving to my room, or me moving to the couch!)

I have been continuing to burn all the debris that has built up, cleaning out the flower beds, cutting firewood (and seeing woodpeckers), and of course I am still working my way through the vegetable and herb gardens trying to process as much as I can. Canning, drying, blanching and freezing now. I had wanted to make spaghetti sauce, salsa and ketchup, but my tomatoes are still very green. I have tried a few strategies to ripen them, from hanging whole plants, roots and all, upside down in the basement, to wrapping tomatoes in newspaper. Hopefully something will work! It is such an unusual year. My tomatoes are still green, my potato tops are still in full leaf, yet I rototilled around these so I could get my fall garlic planted. I think it is just that we had such a late planting season due to cold and rain. I do not think it is something Nova Scotian that I will have to adapt to, but I guess the next few years will tell.


I noticed when looking through my phone over the past few weeks that I have really slowed down on taking pictures. Note to myself: start taking pictures again. These posts are much more interesting with visuals in them!

Happy Thanksgiving

It is our second Thanksgiving living in Nova Scotia. Last year we celebrated very differently than we ever had before with a fashion show theme. We did nails, hair and, makeup then went to two local sites and did a photo shoot all glammed up.

This year we were invited to a friend/neighbour/coworkers house to join her and her family for dinner. The dinner itself was delicious, the company was wonderful, and it was another moment that confirmed my decision to move to this area, was the right one. Never in my previous years had anyone ever invited me to join their holiday meal. Perhaps it's because I had family I could always count on, but perhaps it's because no one in Ontario ever asked.

I have so many things that I am thankful for. My family of course. Those that I get to see everyday (Zoe) and those whose smile I hear through the phone lines every week (Brandon, Mom, Dad, and Aunt Judy). Our animals who make me smile constantly (except maybe crazy Dixie, but she's getting better). I am so thankful that I get to wake up everyday and look at the water. I am so thankful for the food I was able to grow to put on our table and being one step closer to that dream that brought us out here. I am so thankful for the peace that I feel when I breathe this clear Maritime air. I am so thankful that I had options and could choose this path I currently walk.

We wish all our friends and family a fantastic Thanksgiving!