Merry Christmas

 It is hard for me to write this weeks blog without feeling some guilt. Christmas this year was so difficult for so many and my thoughts go out to them. But I was very fortunate that my Christmas was filled with love and joy and family. 

The joy started on the 23rd with the birth of 8 bunnies. They are the most amazing, velvety soft, beautiful, little bundles of awesomeness to arrive since the hatching of our chicks last spring. 

Christmas had the potential to be difficult as my son Brandon is still in Ontario and living alone right now. But, as it did for many families, Zoom was there for us and brought Brandon into our living room where he, my parents, Zoe, her boyfriend Navy and I all opened presents together and had a lovely morning. 

After an afternoon of cooking and cleaning, Navy’s family arrived for a evening of gifts, games, and a candlelit dinner.

Zoe pointed out that although this is our third Christmas living in Nova Scotia, it was her first one spending it in our home. I think, despite the world conspiring against us, it was a wonderful one! 

From our family to yours....may you appreciate the little joys and feel the big love that surrounds you. Happy holidays! 

More Life on The Farm

Bill says we look like cult leaders with the chickens. 

I

When we step out the door and they think there is food involved they mob us trying to be first to get a bite. Sometimes if we are not fast enough getting out of the house they come up to the door and wait. This handsome rooster is Carlos with his girlfriend Chickira, trying to hurry us along.

Weather has changed and we have had a very cold day and a very windy one and some snow. 

There was a bad Digby fishing boat accident during the windy day.

Part time  work on the new bathroom has begun again and I believe an assistant will be part of the picture soon. Today the contractor worked on the plumbing and on levelling the floor which is terribly uneven.

Let me describe a day on the farm. This was Saturday.  Leave the house at 8 o’clock. Drive to Upper Clements, well off the main track into a hilly combination of farms and forests. Pick up a truckload of firewood from a farmer whom we visited last year. Go to the winter market in Annapolis Royal and buy tarts, quiche, bread, beer, greens, cookies... Drop Shannon off at work. Come home and unload the truck with help from Zoe’s boyfriend. Have the quiche for lunch. Make a seafood chowder for dinner. Get back in the truck, drive to Annapolis Royal to pick up a rented wood splitter and then pick up Shannon from work.  Position the splitter and then enjoy the seafood chowder, a glass of wine and a market tart for dessert. There is a full day and we loved it. Tomorrow we will actually do the splitting.
Still from Shannon’s Mom
Is she ever going home? you might ask.
Sandy

Farm Work

 Sometimes I feel that there is so much to do that it is hard to get a job done from beginning to end. Many things get started but few get to the completion point because the call of a problem or the call of the outdoors is always there to get one off track. Everything takes much longer than you would anticipate in an old house. Like the sump pump. The big rain was Friday night so Bill anticipated sweeping water towards the pump  on Saturday (poor slope in basement) but on Saturday the pump burned out . On Sunday there was a trip to Canadian Tire to get a new pump, then a second trip to get a new hose. The pump was too tall so a third trip occurred on Monday to get another pump but this one was too wide to work smoothly. Finally on Tuesday, pump #3 was chosen and it all came together. Shannon thinks that our Ontario ways of thinking and list making aren’t part of the Nova Scotia way of life. 

On another note we did get decorated for Christmas and it looks lovely. 

However, Phoenix may have the tree shredded before Christmas even arrives. Shannon has made good progress on creating her Christmas chocolates. It is all I can do to keep from raiding the boxes. Shannon and Zoe are busy designing some artistic creations too.

Finally we took a day off from feeding animals, entertaining the dog, clearing land, installing lights in the barn, and trying to fix a lawn tractor, to go to Annapolis Royal. There was a lovely winter market where we got veggies, baked goods, local beer and cheese. The picture shows the view from Annapolis Royal across the river to Granville Ferry.

Sandy

We are here!

Getting here was a bit of a challenge. We had to fill out safe entry forms for both NS and NB. Then we isolated for two weeks at a lovely cottage right on the bay. 

Finally we are here and loving the chance to be with our daughter and granddaughter.
Shannon and Zoe love their farm, their property and animals but farm life is not always easy.
First some descriptions. The property is beautiful. About five acres are mowed, interspersed with islands of trees, wild roses and bushes. Taming some of these islands has been a goal. Around the house there are some beautiful plantings, flowering and looking stunning in the spring. 

There is also a pond behind the house that requires some taming. The rest of the land is forest, old orchard and scrubland. There are several trails winding through it. Shannon would like to do some forest management sometime in the future.
The outbuildings. Shannon hired someone to do major work on the barn and it houses her chickens and rabbits. 

 She loves these animals dearly and gets up an hour early to feed and care for them before work. That is very early when she is on 6am shift at the Y. She has a workshop attached to the house which is very hard to keep organized as it is filled with tools and many of the purchases for the new bathroom. Attached to the workshop is the garage full of wood for the fireplace and garden tools. Finally there is a building called the market place which will come down sometime in the future.
Lastly the house. The house is old and not in wonderful shape. She has renovated a mud room and a den and almost all of one bedroom (which still needs a closet to be finished, a door to be changed, and some finishing trim.)  The upstairs bathroom has been gutted but the renovator has been pulled away for another job.   
We got a small  picture of what she deals with as we experienced a driving rainstorm which caused a leak where a chimney was not well sealed, and a flood in the basement because mice had nibbled big holes in the sump pump hose. Such are the joys of owning an old house. Yet they love it. They and their pets Dixie, Charlie and Phoenix fill it with joy. Did I mention Phoenix is the new “barn” kitten? 

She is so adorable and small they can’t leave her outside. She is terrified of chickens. We will see if she ever becomes the mouser they hoped for.

Mom and Dad