Thanksgiving at the Farm

Hello dear friends, I am taking a brief renovation update

break to share some photos of our Thanksgiving dinner. Many people have pointed out that it seems...odd? irresponsible?? just strange?? why bother?? you are crazy!! to host a dinner while our home is in such a state of turmoil. I agree! Have you noticed that over the years that fewer and fewer people are interested in hosting gatherings?  Perhaps it is just too much work! I would love to know your thoughts.  We however really enjoying having friends and family come to visit and would like to think that they really enjoy their time here.

 

The interior of our old stone house has a subfloor and framing.  We moved our veranda furniture inside along with an outdoor rug.  It felt very cottage-y.  Everyone enjoyed the vibe and it was the last great use of our Adirondack furniture before we get ready to start storing it for the winter.  We shared this photo with the contractor who was very amused!

We retrieved our old electric fireplace from the basement.  When we had our addition built 11 years ago we purchased this and set it up in the new dining room.  While construction was being completed this little fireplace provided some heat for the workers when they stopped for coffee break or lunch.  

I didn't realize that this is actually an extension for a construction staircase.  It was in the old living room so we took advantage of it to hold wine glasses and appetizers.  It made a great impromptu serving table.

We kept pre-dinner snacks to a minimum.  Some crackers and a small assortment of cheeses was just enough to get everyone to the main event!

We had to eat in the kitchen as our dining room is currently our bed/sitting room while the house is being renovated. When we were preparing for the renovations to start we packed and stored everything from the stone house.  At the time I didn't think we would invite anyone over so I also packed up most of the items we used when we have guests.  It was a bit tricky finding enough plates and servingware but I managed.

We have been raising our own turkeys for several years. Some of them got a little big this year!  This turkey was just over 22 pounds.    We roasted it on a bed of onions, carrots and celery and baked it for about 6 hours. 

Our friend Christopher prepared a delicious cranberry fig sauce to accompany the turkey.

My sister in law is not fond of turkey so we usually cook a ham as well.  I add a bone in ham to the slow cooker with a generous helping of brown sugar and let it cook on low for about 8 to 10 hours.  I am not a fan of ham but when prepared this way it has a rich and sweet flavour and is very tender.  

I love to bake bread.  I had meant to bake dinner rolls but am so used to baking bread that I had already prepared the ingredients before realizing my mistake.  Bread it was!  I baked two kinds...a regular white bread and a whole wheat bread with cranberries and walnuts.

We love having stuffing with our turkey. For decades my mother used to follow a recipe she had cut out of the newspaper to make a true stuffing which was placed inside the turkey before baking.   I can't find the recipe but I do remember the ingredients which include bread cubes, pork sausage meat, dry sherry, onions, seasonings and cream.  It comes out a little differently every time but is always delicious.  I used to stuff the turkey but for the last few years I prepare the dressing in advance and bake it separately.  

On the Thursday before dinner I made a quick trip to St Jacob Farmers Market for fresh produce.  I purchased Yukon Gold potatoes  from a vendor which we mashed with an herb and garlic cream cheese.  I also bought multi coloured carrots, honeycrisp apples, zucchini, sweet potatoes and butternut squash.  

I love to try new recipes.  This year I tried a  Maple Dijon roasted carrot and apple recipe.  Everyone said they liked it but I wasnt a fan.  We also had roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese but it seems we didn't get a picture.   The sprouts were delicious!

We also missed documenting our dessert which was also prepared by our friend Christopher.  He prepared a lovely bread pudding infused with rum and drizzled with a vanilla sauce.  It was divine.

And that my friends was our Thanksgiving.  I will have more to share lots of renovation updates soon!

 

The Rebuild Starts!

 Hello dear friends, after some delays during the demolition of our old stone house I am so excited to share some of the the progress that is being made!

 

While the renovations are ongoing we were temporarily blocked from the second floor addition including our bedroom and bathroom.  We have converted our dining room into a bed/sitting room and Vera is in her element.  She spends most of the day lounging on the bed with her collection of stuffies, looking out the window, barking at squirrels, chipmunks and anyone on the road in between taking  lengthy naps.

The old timbers that were part of the main floor structure have all been removed and are piled up outside.  These timbers were all part of the original construction so are approximately 170 years old.  We don't want to get rid of them as they are original to the old house so they have some sentimental value.  How many people can claim to have 170 year old timbers?  We are thinking of using them to build a folly at Lake Ophelia.

The new engineered rim joists were fastened to the stone wall using special anchor screws.  The gap between the rim joists and stone wall was filled in with mortar to further strengthen the construction.  The use of these engineered rim joists and floor joists was not part of our original plan.  The demolition however did reveal some issues with the old timbers and joists and these new joists will be much faster for the carpenters to work with.  

Once the rim joists were in place the floor joists were attached using joist hangers.  Then the process of laying the subfloor started.  At this point the house looks much larger than it really is!  The main floor and second floor are approximately 1200 square feet.  

A temporary railing for safety was constructed around the opening to the basement.  

Of course a glass of wine to celebrate the progress was in order!

And for fun we invited BearBear 1 and BearBear 2 to join us.  We left the evidence for the carpenters to find the following morning.

Now, back to the serious business of the renovations.  Once the subfloor was installed the interior framing could begin.  First vapour barrier was installed over the stonework and then the studs were installed.   Rock wool insulation batts will be placed between each of the studs.   This will greatly increase our comfort in the winter by keeping the house much warmer.  Our furnace will be happy as well at not having to work so hard.

A temporary staircase was added last week which allows the carpenters to start working on the second floor and also gives us access the second floor of the addition.  I am so happy to be able to access our bedroom again.  This renovation has been very disruptive to our normal routine and I am so pleased to be able to sleep in my own bed again!

The old cedar joists that supported the second floor have all been removed and are being replaced with the same engineered joists that are being used for the main floor.

This week the carpenters have laid the subfloor for the second floor and are working on building the studs for the walls.  It is exciting to imagine what these areas will look like once completed.  The little alcove by the cathedral window is going to become a reading nook.

This area was previously two bedrooms.  We have decided to sacrifice the smallest bedroom and combine the two rooms into one large bedroom.

This area was previously a bedroom and second floor bathroom and wont change significantly.

That is the update for now!  Thank you for following along on our big renovation adventure.  I will have more to share in a couple of weeks.

Demolition Time Part 2

Hello dear friends, after a little break I am back with an update on our renovations!

The main floor of our house was built on rough hewn timbers.  Many of the timbers still have bark after all of these years!  When we first bought our house we thought this was fascinating.  Although the timbers were still quite solid after much discussion with the contractor it was decided that we should remove the old timbers and replace them with engineered floor joists.  Although we felt a little nostalgic about these old timbers (not really!) replacing them would make it much easier to level the main floor and provide a very solid base for the new flooring.

Let's start with the basement of our old house.  There is a low basement under our living room (the south side of our stone house) but just a literal crawl space under the library and old kitchen on the north side.  When we moved in we thought that the basement  on the south side had a dirt floor but were surprised to find that it was actually a poured concrete floor that was covered in decades' worth of decayed wooden pallets.  Because the house is rubblestone construction the basement was often wet and and we believe that previous owners would lay down wooden pallets to walk on.  

The clearance between the old timbers and the dirt foundation on the north side of the house was only about 12 inches.  We often wondered how someone was able to run ductwork into such a small area and would joke that some poor apprentice was tasked with the job.  One of the factors we considered in having the stone house gutted was the discovery that the heating ductwork under this part of the house was corroded.  When I was working from home during covid I complained endlessly about how cold the library was and now we know why.  The contractor said we were heating a lot of dirt for the mice.  :(

The basement on the south side of the house had about 6 feet of clearance.  When we bought the house it had an ancient oil fired furnace that often failed.  We had a new furnace installed with the heating company working with the ductwork that was already in place.   When our furnace stopped working two years ago the repairmen could barely stand in this place.   (Although we refer to this as the basement we can only use it as a mechanical room for the furnace, hot water tank, water pressure tank and freezers.  It is too damp to use for storage.)  As the floorboards were being removed for the renovation we could see what a maze of ductwork had been installed when heating was first installed in the house, probably from the 1950s.  The heating contractor now has a wide open space to work with so the new ductwork will be laid out in a more efficient manner.  

As the walls were being gutted we had a chance to learn more about the construction of the house.  Many posts still had bark on them.  

The joists and timbers all have old hand made iron nails.

The joists that supported the second floor were old growth cedar.   Many of the joists had been spliced together.  Some had sections shaved off of them which is a mystery.  The photo above shows the joists that supported the smallest bedroom upstairs which had the most wobbly floor.  Why someone cut aways slices from the top of the joists is a mystery!

The demolition of the interior of the house took about 15 days with a crew of 3 people.  They used chainsaws to cut the timbers into manageable chunks for removal.

The house looks so different with the floors and walls removed.

This north section of the house needed to have dirt removed to allow for about 18 inches of clearance under the new floor.   The workers used shovels and buckets to move the dirt onto a conveyor so it could be loaded onto a utility trailer outside.  This area will have insulation installed under the flooring along with new ductwork for the furnace and a new air conditioning unit.  This will make a significant difference in heating in the winter.

This is a view of the south side of the house completely gutted.  The windows are going to be replaced and we are going to have a new stone fireplace constructed to replace the red brick that I have always disliked.

A view towards the north side of the house.

The water lines and propane lines are still in place as is the furnace.  The workers are happily calling out suggestions to us for possible uses of this space.  Make it a sound studio!!  This should be a party venue!  This would be a great workshop!! Let's put in a dance floor!

The wine rack survived the demolition!  The bottles of wine were moved to a safer location.

There are two chest freezers remaining in the old basement and a source of power remains to keep them running.

And now the contractor has a clean slate ready to start building!

Thank you for following along on this journey.  I will post more updates soon!!

 

Time For A Birthday Party!

Hello dear friends, last weekend we hosted a party to celebrate my 65th birthday!  Some people suggested that we were crazy for having guests when we are part way through a major renovation and that is true.  But we decided to go ahead anyway!

Thank goodness my 2 sisters in law were on hand for most of the day to help us with our preparations.  They were very busy helping arrange outdoor furniture, getting the tent set up and helping to wrap the veranda to protect everyone from the promised wind and drizzle.  They were very efficient and managed to squeeze in a quick rest break on the dock.

We had set the date and invited friends and family a couple of months ago to give everyone lots of notice.  Then about 3 weeks ago we started watching the long term weather forecasts and spoke to our contractor about where we could expect to be with the renovations.  Our plan was to start our party at the lakehouse and then move to the main house for dinner.  Even though there is no power in the stone house the subfloor in the living room would be down and we thought we would set up tables, chairs and Edison lights in our gutted living room.  With all of the stone walls exposed we thought it would be a fun place to enjoy our food and conversation.  

Well, for various reasons our Plan B was no longer an option so we went with a Plan C and hoped for the best!

The weather forecast for Saturday called for winds gusting to 40 kph and off and on drizzle.  We purchased a tent and converted a sheep shearing platform into a make shift stage for the musicians that were playing for us.  Since we couldn't move our party inside we wrapped our veranda is big plastic sheeting to keep everyone dry,

As it turns out, the weather cooperated by staying dry which was a huge relief as we started out booking an emergency vet visit for Abby and then our tent blew over in the wind.  Our party started in the lake house around 5 with lots of beverages and appetizers.  Chaos ensued when our party was crashed by the big dog that lives next door.  We are not sure how he found the party but he did and wasted no time muscling into the lake house in an attempt to score food.  It is too bad we didnt think to take pictures of those few minutes of mayhem.

We set out glassware and plates so guests could help themselves.  I had polished my collection of vintage silver earlier in the week.  Time still got away from me so I didn't manage to get pictures of everything set up.

As always we had lots of food.  Since the weather at this time of year is mild we barbecued.  The menu included grilled shrimp, 2 kinds of chicken, 2 kinds of pork, peanut noodles and a Thai salad.  I always make too much food but am always afraid of not having enough.

The stunning cake was provided by my sister in law.  Everyone knows I love to garden so the cake was made to look like flowers in a bucket with a little hand fork surrounded by a hose.  Not only a work of art but the cake was delicious.

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We hired a local group of musicians and they were fantastic.  This is our first time having live music and it was so popular with our guests who sang and tapped along.

We all had a great time.

The clean up always takes me forever.  We love to host friends and family and it makes us so happy to see people relaxed and enjoying themselves.

Now it is back to life in a construction zone.