Feeding the Birds

Hello dear friends, our bird feeders have been very busy this week! The temperatures are much below normal for this time of year and we have about 15 cm of snow at the farm so the birds are enjoying a selection of seed at the various feeders.  At this rate we need to refill all feeders every 3-4 days.  

The little red barn bird feeder is outside our kitchen window and provides a great deal of enjoyment for me while I wash the dishes or prepare meals.  Another feeder is outside our living room window with other feeders installed on posts or trees around the property.

Cardinals are always a welcome sight.

We have had 3 mourning doves cleaning up the seeds that other birds toss to the ground.

This is a very rare bird-dog.

Sparrows.

The blue jays are aggressive feeders and toss much of the seed to the ground.

 A colourful woodpecker.

 I was surprised to see a rabbit under the feeder.

I love chickadees.

And junkos.

Thank you for visiting!

Antique Decanters

Hello dear friends, it is still bitterly cold here with wind chill values approaching -30 celcius so we are staying hunkered down in the house.  The kitchen renovations are coming along slowly with the specially milled trim for all of the windows almost complete.  The next stage will be to start framing the lower cupboards starting with the wall that will have the stove and the coffee and tea area!  I am very anxious to get this mammoth project off of our plates.  I am spending this week puttering in the house and gathering up items to donate to the local hospital thrift shop.  

Today I am sharing some antique crystal decanters that belonged to my great grandmother.  These decanters traveled from Holland to Canada with my mother during her various return trips over the years.  My parents have spent the last few years downsizing and the decanters are now in our home.

We have three of these old decanters.

The tops are beautiful.

I dont use the decanters but enjoy looking at them.  For the holidays they have been arranged on the tea table in the dining room.

Thank you for visiting and wishing everyone a warm and safe week!

Tea Pots!

Hello dear friends and happy Boxing Day!  For those that are wondering Boxing Day is the day after Christmas and according to lore it is traditionally a day in which the fortunate "box up" gifts and foods to distribute to those that are less fortunate.  At the farm it is always a day to recover from rush leading up to Christmas day and to enjoy turkey sandwiches on fresh bread!  It is a bitterly cold and windy day today so I am going to share some photos of tea pots to help keep us warm!

I dont actually collect silver tea pots although I do have several.  This one has been well loved over the years and the love is starting to show!  

Over the last few years I have enjoyed making detours in my travels to visit thrift shops for old tea cups.  When I first started buying them they were very reasonably priced but it seems that tea cups are quite collectible and the prices have increased while the selection has gone down.  Every now and again though I do find one that I quite like.

This old tea pot was a great find at a little gift shop in Orangeville.

Another thrifty find.

Tea anyone?

Hoping everyone had a lovely Christmas!  

Adding Christmas Touches

Hello dear friends, I am still preparing the house for Christmas. Although we are not planning any events for the farm this year I am enjoying sorting through collections of "stuff" to see what I have and what I would still like to get.  In the process I am hoping to locate some items that I used to have...but cant seem to find.  In our pre-renovation "stash and dash" we seem to have stashed some things so well we cant seem to find them back!

This is part of the living room mantle piece.  I have been experimenting with taking photos without a flash and need to practice some more!

I have had this heart ornament for many years.  I cant remember where I bought it...either Savannah GA or Niagara On The Lake.  It is one of my favourites.

i love old silver tea pots.

Many years ago my mother and I spent time together making Christmas ornaments.  We made several satin cornucopias for the tree.

Another tree added to the collection outside.  This is in the alcove which joins our addition to the old stone house.  

Need I say more?

Thank you for visiting!

December Snow

Hello dear friends, our weather forecast is calling for about 10 cm of snow by tomorrow morning which is great news for those of you looking forward to a white Christmas!   The long term forecast shows temperatures well below freezing so any snow we get should stick around for a while.  

I am practicing my night photography using a tripod.  Judging by the number of photos I have deleted compared to the number of photos kept it appears that more practice is in order!😥

This little stone section of our home was part of the renovations we had done about 3 years ago.  We call it the portico entry and it is the nearest entrance to our old driveway.  Inside the portico entry we have a coat closet (the first one in our old stone house!), a little area to sit to put on boots or shoes, and a bathroom with a walk in shower.  

I have quite a case of Christmas spirit this year and have been putting up trees inside and outside.  This tree is in our gazebo.  

It is quite simply decorated with lights, a garland and miniature decorations.  Later I will take some additional photos of the decorations which I think look wonderful covered in snow.

This is a view down the lane towards the barn.

The koi pond is now covered for the winter.  The fish are dormant and will over-winter in the pond.  At the deepest section the pond is about 5 feet deep.  A bubbler will run all winter allowing the fish to have oxygen.  The gazebo Christmas tree is just visible in the distance.

Part of the front of our house.

The snow is coming down more quickly than I thought!  The summer furniture is now the winter furniture.

This is a partly new and partly salvaged fence which will run between the portico entry and the fence that runs just behind the gazebo.  Next year we will add a gate.  The other side of the fence is a secluded little area that we are calling the Secret Garden.

I hope that you enjoyed this refreshing little stroll in the snow.  Thank you for visiting!

Christmas Mantel

Hello dear friends, it has been quite a while since I have posted an update on our activities. Time gets away from us!  We are not going to be hosting any dinners this year at the farm so that we can focus on our ongoing never ending renovations!  😩  Even though our home is off limits this year we have started to enjoy the season's festivities beginning this past weekend with a tour of a home in our neighbourhood that had at least one Christmas tree in each room!  Every tree had a theme and the number of ornaments was astonishing.  I cant imagine taking down and packing up all of the decorations every year...it must be quite the organizational feat!

Our new dining room is becoming one of the most admired rooms in our home.  This stone wall was previously an outside wall on the back of our old farmhouse and care was taken in the design of the addition to allow us to enjoy the stonework as one of the interior walls.  We have not yet finished this room but as we get closer to Christmas I hope to be able to share more photos of this area.  This past summer we made a day trip to some antique markets and shops and came home with a few finds including this electric fireplace.  It makes the dining room very cozy!  For now I am sharing some photos I took this evening and will have more to share soon!

~Wishing everyone a great week and thank you for visiting!~

Mid Autumn at the Farm

Hello dear friends, where does the time go?  We are approaching the end of October and while we have not yet had Hallowe'en many stores already have Christmas decorations out!  Not so fast I say!  

We have had some very unsettled weather at the farm.  Although we have had some lovely fall colours we havent had the glorious display we have had in other years.  We have had several days of high winds which have stripped most of the leaves off of the trees.  

This year we have noted that we have been absolutely over run with chipmunks.  They are everywhere...running along the split cedar fence, in the hedge, in the stone wall and even running along our retaining wall behind the house.  Even if we cant see them we can hear them rustling in the leaves.  They are quite bold and have even been scurrying across our driveway right in front of the dogs.

We have had some nice misty mornings.  This is the view of the hen house and run from one of our decks.

We have been gradually downsizing our flock.  Because we have fewer sheep they havent been spending as much time grazing pasture across the road.  On a particularly nice weekend we sent them over for a change of pace....and here they are coming back home.

Colourful leaves in a gust of wind.

The lawns have had the final cut for the season.  It is always a rush at this time of year to try to get just one more wheel barrow of weeds or to get the last of the bulbs planted.  On a warm fall day it is just too easy to spend the day outside puttering.  I do find that by the end of the fall I am looking forward to a break from the garden to rest and recharge my batteries for the following year.

This pretty little rose never did live up to the pink colour promised on the tag and I dont think it has ever been more than about 12 inches tall.  Still it is very pretty.

I am quite a fan of wave petunias.  These are starting to get a little tired but they are great annuals for planters and baskets.  I love this shade of deep red although deep purple has always been my favourite.

This weekend promises to be very wet so we are turning our attentions back to our interior renovations.  We have a busy winter planned involving a new kitchen...more on that later!