Long Weekend

Our weather here has not been stellar. We have had rain, rain, more rain, and rare days where we see sunshine. Daytime highs have been between 18-23, and night time temperatures went as low 7 last week. Needless to say, my garden is very far behind, and my lawn mowing job took 4 days of two hours here, and two hours there, to complete!

This weekend, I have had some time off and am racing to accomplish some things. As I mentioned, I did finish the lawn mowing job I have, I have also been in the garden trying to get the weeds back under control. Between work and the rain, it had totally gotten away from me. I had three hours this morning before the rain storm hit and I did get a lot weeded. I feel I can see the end coming. It is supposed to be nice tomorrow so fingers crossed I can get the rest of the weeds out and replant what did not grow (or what I have pulled out with the weeds by mistake - whoops!)

We also sold our last two dozen eggs today. We had quite a supply and I was very concerned about what we were going to do with them. Turns out I didn't need to worry. One Facebook Marketplace ad and we have sold eleven dozen and now are back to building up our supply! The first three hens we purchased were sold to us as "barnyard mixes". It looks like part of that mix was Easter Egger as they have started to lay green eggs! I have absolutely loved every moment with these chickens. They are so fun, and interesting, and silly and even cuddly! And as an added bonus, they are supplying food for us!

To those people who read this blog every posting, I will apologize. I have decided to go back to once a week posting on Sunday's only. I am finding now that I am working, I am not accomplishing a lot to "write home about" and would prefer not to bore you with "filler".

I hope everyone enjoys Canada Day tomorrow and has a safe, fun day!

Deer

After living here almost 10 months and seeing deer poop, deer prints, deer paths, but no deer...we finally saw our first deer on our property!!! At the end of last week, Zoe saw one at the far end of the lawn running onto the path heading out toward the orchard. Then Monday I saw my first one at the front of the property near...you guessed it... MY VEGETABLE GARDEN ugh! It didn't stick around though so it was probably just marking the place so he could return when all the vegetables are growing and lush and juicy and then rob us of our food.

As frustrating as that would be, it was still super exciting to finally see a deer! And not in front of my car while driving 80km/h (which has also happened!)

A final note...I am so happy with our egg sales. We have now sold 7 dozen and have had great feedback on the quality and taste! It is far from a big money maker, but I love that our first venture in farming has started successfully!

Gardening (again)

I finally got a chance to get back out to the vegetable garden this weekend. It unfortunately had been sorely neglected. I re-tilled an unplanted section, planted the tomatoes and started weeding the rest. I would say I got 3/4 of it done. Next chance I get I will finish weeding and finish wrapping it in chicken wire. Why do I need chicken wire you ask?? Let's take a look at the photographic evidence!! Our darling chickens love the garden too! Luckily they just want dirt baths and worms. So far they have not even so much as nibbled on a leaf, but I'm not taking any chances that they will continue that way.


This weekend we also sold our first dozen eggs!!

And finally, I am still discovering new and beautiful things planted here. Our gorgeous snowball viburnum is in bloom as is our magnolia. Again, I thought the magnolia would flower in spring then leaf out. This variety leafed out in the spring and has flowered now. Our first beautiful iris bloomed this morning, I can't wait to see if there is a variety of colours to bloom over the next week or so.

A Weeks Worth

Happy Thursday everyone!

I am so sorry that I was absent this past week. Things have been rather chaotic around here with unfortunately not much to show for it!

I am working my new job in earnest getting more hours than I anticipated-which is a good thing right now! Zoe has had her orientation for Upper Clements Park and has her first day of work tomorrow. Today was also her last day of school. She only had to write two exams, one yesterday and one today.


We had a lovely but quiet father's day meal at a local restaurant. Zoe and I were both missing our father's but we were fortunate enough to be eating with excellent company. It is always these holidays that make me sad and really miss my family!

We have nineteen chickens who lovingly donate 7-9 eggs every day. We have given some away, eaten some, and have just started to sell our farm fresh eggs. They really are incredible. Very tasty and so huge the egg cartons will not close! Our new sign is courtesy of our fantastic neighbours Linda and Ed.

I am very excited for August. It has been arranged for my son Brandon to come for a week, and my most favourite Sandra Risi has also booked a flight to visit!

YMCA

I am loving my job!! Right now I am working 25-30 hours a week. Some days, some afternoons, some weekends. Although the hours are different every day and scattered throughout the week, I am really enjoying a job that is not Monday to Friday five days a week.

I am enjoying meeting new people and loving the small town life. If I thought Beamsville was small, this is smaller. I met an absolutely lovely lady last week who asked how I came about working at the YMCA since I had a lawn mowing job at the Barton Baptist Cemetery. Now how could she know I had that job? And as we continued talking I  realized she also knew which house I lived in and which neighbours I had met! I have come to recognize that these conversations are meant in love and curiosity and not stalky, snoopy, and gossipy as the cynical Ontarion would think.

For a morning shift I get up at 4:30am, and while that is not an hour fit for human awareness, I have seen some magnificent sunrises! Since it is important to find some joy everyday, I love the fact that I can find my first joy right away with the sunrise. It certainly starts the day with a smile!

I am going to leave you tonight with a picture of Zoe and Phoebe who loves to be held and petted. We love her and her friends Racheal and Monica very much! One of the newer chickens has been renamed the Road Runner. She is very fast, does not like to go into the coop at night and is always the last to get tucked in!

Garage Floor

This week has been focused on building a raised floor in the garage. Half of the garage was finished,  but the other half was a dirt floor. We had some wonderful men come put a huge timber through the middle of the floor, level it and, using some of that fresh sawmill wood, lay cross pieces, strapping, moisture barrier and finishing with a layer of plywood. We have one more row of plywood to lay and we will be able to use this room!

The chickens...we have named the three hen friends, Phoebe, Monica and Racheal. However, we have added 15 Rhode Island Reds to our flock, so with 15 more birds, every name suggested can have an owner!! We have a Henrietta, Chicklit, Chiquita, Princess-lay-a, Yolko Ono, Amelia Egghart, Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3, Rusty, Girly, Sparkle Eyes, and yes Judy, we can have a Lunch, Dinner and Fried! Our new girls also gifted us with our first 7 eggs this morning! Couldn't be happier.

Chickens!

Here we go...our first farm animals have arrived. We are happy to welcome three barnyard mix hens (sorry Judy).  There was some confusion when I ordered chickens from the co-op so unfortunalty we did not receive any through that route. We have decided to work with local farms, kijiji and marketplace to add chickens as we find them.

These three ladies are quite beautiful and Zoe and I have enjoyed hanging out in the henhouse letting them get used to us.

They are not named yet, but we have had some suggestions made. We would love to hear more suggestions and will post on Sunday the final decisions. The first suggestion came from my mother - Rusty, Girly and Sparkle Eyes (I'm leaning toward NO...but). We keep calling them our friends, so Racheal, Monica and Phoebe are possibilities. They are red heads so Lucy, Anne, and Jessica (even though she was a rabbit!) Curly, Larry and Moe even got a vote!

I have arranged to pick up the next flock on Saturday. We should be coming home with 14 Australorp chickens and will brag about their beauty too I am sure!

The Barn

Wood, wood and more wood!! I am starting to feel like home depot has moved into our back yard! And I love it! There is something about the smell of wood that just makes me happy. (Crazy, I know!)

We have three outbuildings. The barn, the shop, and the garage. All three have been neglected for many years, and all three will be improved this year (with the help of all this wood). The barn is first. It has an entirely rotten end. We will be tearing that down and shortening the barn back to its original size. Adding a second hay loft and a livestock door. This weekend we started the demolition. And when I say "we" I mean not me as I am terrified of heights!! The metal roof has been removed from the one end, the roof has been cut and we started to remove the shingle siding. As the shingles were being removed, there was some panic up on the roof as it became evident how rotten that end was...with one hand you could push on the corner and sway the whole wall! Very scary!

Our plan is to use this rotten end section as a weather
break and frame the new wall inside the barn before we pull down this section.


I will keep the blog updated with pictures and stories as we continue this rebuild.