A Weekend At The Farm

Hello dear friends, here is a quick post courtesy of Google!  It seems like Google is a master at curating photos into albums and when it put this one together I thought I would share it with you.  These photos were from just before Christmas.

This is a super snowy pin oak tree in our front garden.  We planted it a long time ago...perhaps 20 years ago?...but at that time we had 2 pet pygmy goats.  Bob and Bert were escape artists and when they managed a prison break-which was often-no plant, tree or shrub was safe.  So this oak tree should have been much taller than the 30 feet it is right now because Bob and Bert ate it.

This is our Autumn Ash at the koi pond.  Everything looks so different without leaves.  It has burgundy leaves but as with all ashes in Ontario it is just a matter of time before it succumbs to the Emerald Ash Borer.  We haven't decided what we should do to replace it.

Here we have Horatio and Henry.  We are so incredibly lucky that Horatio (the poor little guy that is underneath Henry) has accepted his new brother so well.  In the past we had  2 male cats and they literally couldn't stand each other.  We ended up referring them to our upstairs and downstairs cats as they would not even stay on the same floor together.

Regular visitors will recognize the chicken coop which is dressed for the holidays.  Christmas lights, a wreath and large snow flakes complete the decorations.  This fall we poured a concrete floor for the coop to help guard against predators.  2019 was a terrible year for our flock.  Between a skunk, a weasel and a fox our hens were all killed off.  We now have a new flock of hens that are much safer.

This is our breakfast deck tree.  In much nicer temperatures we like to sit here in the morning having coffee and breakfast in the Adirondack chairs.  From this location we have a view over the part of our garden we call The Grove towards the sheep pastures.

These two trees flank our front door.  I have been adding little red, white and gold balls as ornaments.  For next year I think it should have some little garlands.

This little tree was a last minute purchase a couple of years ago.  It has a matching wreath that also has little lights in it.  We keep this little tree on our Portico deck.

This is such a great picture of Henry.  He was a smash hit at the vet clinic this week.  He is definitely personality plus!  Very friendly, cuddly and constantly chirps like a bird.  Henry is the 8th cat (Henry the Eighth!!)  to call our farm home.  All of the cats were strays and of course we made sure to have all of them spayed or neutered.

Passing through this gate will take you to an area that we call The Secret Garden.  It is really only a garden in our imagination right now, we have an idea of what we want to do with this secluded area but have not yet finished it.

This entire section of our house was built about 5 years ago.  The main floor of this addition has an entry way, bathroom with shower, large dining room, kitchen and breakfast area.  The second floor has a master bedroom and bath with a balcony and a second guest room.  The contractor that did the work has experience working with old stone homes and we were very happy with the work although it took much longer than expected.  As we are doing most of the interior work ourselves we are also taking so much longer than expected.  Note to self-when planning a project we need to anticipate the timeline for completion and then add 10 years.  😞

We have a Christmas tree in our bedroom which has been terrorized by the cats. A branch went missing, I have noticed hangers that dont have ornaments, a piece of a deer ornament was on the carpet and a broken decoration was in our bed.  The good news is that the cats have not toppled any of the trees over.

A lived in living room that needed a little tidying!

The same garden gate but this time from The Secret Garden looking towards the greenhouse.

I hope you enjoyed this quick collection of photos!  Thank you for visiting and wishing everyone a great weekend.

A Winter Christmas At The Farm

Hello dear friends, the Christmas season is over for another year.  It feels like I put so much thought and effort into the holidays and then poof! it is over.  Sadly we missed our family Christmas dinner as a flu had been doing the rounds.  In the end we had a quiet Christmas at the farm with my mother and we spent time making some Christmas ornaments.   

This is the pergola that we built last year.  It was not on our to-do list but once we came up with the idea it was full steam ahead.  This area is just off of our dining room and we were able to get quite a bit of use of it last year.  The little lights lend a very nice touch.  Anyone with an Instagram and Pinterest addiction knows what it is like to be suddenly inspired by something and then needing to have it!  The internet is far too distracting.

Another one of my favourite views of our garden gate and fence.  Parts of this fence have been re-purposed and were part of another fence in this general area that had to be dismantled when our addition was built.

This outdoor tree replaces one that looked the same but broke during a wind storm.  It looks great against the stone wall of our old farmhouse.

It was a bit of a job trying to recover the ornaments that had rolled across the deck and landed in the gardens.  I am sure to find more in the spring.

This picture was taken one morning recently while we were enjoying a cup of coffee.  

The chicken coop has a light dusting of snow.  The Christmas lights that we had put up a couple of years ago did not work properly this year so we have added new ones.  This view is taken from our breakfast deck.

Here is our broken tree stuffed into an iron urn.  It looks lovely painted with frost.

We have had quite the weather week with some record breaking warm temperatures, an ice storm and snow squalls.

Willow took advantage of a nice day to lounge outside on a piece of furniture that didn't quite make it inside for the winter.  She is quite a senior dog but loves life on the farm.  She will turn 14 this year and has been living with us for about 5 years.  She is a very gentle soul.

Another view of the chicken coop nestled in snow.  Even in slightly freezing temperatures the hens will venture out through the trap door to get some fresh air and sunshine.  Once the temperatures really drop we lock them inside the chicken coop.  In very cold temperatures we will use a heat lamp to keep the temperature inside above freezing.

The garden privy is always one of my favourite little structures.

Our frosty cedar hedge.

Ice storms are the scariest part of our winter and it seems that as our winters get milder we get more and more of these "ice events".  Fortunately this one was short lived and we quickly moved into record breaking high temperatures so the ice was gone within a day.  It can look so pretty though!

I am sorting through some photos of our guest room and woodland themed tree and will have photos to share soon!

~Thank you for visiting!~

Christmas Week At The Farm

Hello dear friends!  Merry Christmas to everyone that is celebrating the spirit of the season!

Today is Boxing Day which traditionally is the day when those that are blessed with plenty "box up" extra food and clothing to distribute to those that are less fortunate.  The reality is that nowadays Boxing Day is the day in which many brave the insanity at malls and big box stores to take advantage of bargains.  Dear friends I can assure you that there is nothing that I need or want so much that I would venture anywhere near a mall!  Today we are expecting guests for dinner so I am puttering around the house and as we have stopped for a cup of coffee I thought I would share some random photos from the last week.

I am going to need to spend some time working on night photography.  This is a view of the side of our old stone farmhouse taken one evening on my way back from locking up the chickens with my trusty assist Abby The German Shepherd.

While I was there I popped into the barn to check on our new lambs.

I am told that there are 11 lambs in the barn at the moment with 8 lambs born in the last couple of weeks.  We usually start lambing around Christmas with most of the lambs born during January and February.

A view of our house from the driveway.  The original stone house is on the right and our addition is on the left.  This view has our dining room on the main floor and a guest room above it.

This is a view towards the house from the farm gate.  We have a Christmas tree in the gazebo and lights running along the wooden fence.

Years ago big twig deer were very popular.  I always wanted one but for whatever reason never bought one.  I haven't seen them for sale anywhere but these wire deer are readily available.  This one was attractively priced just before Christmas so I snapped it up.  It has a fake fur muff!

The front of our house.  I took these pictures with my phone.  I really must take some time practicing night photography using my camera!

Another view from the area we call The Grove which is behind our house.

Another view from the driveway.  We call the area on the right the Portico entry and I hope that we can build a railing for the deck next year.  The illuminated area on the left is the deck that opens from our kitchen, and the area just visible above it is the balcony off the master bedroom.

This is my little project for this week!  This tall narrow tree is in our Portico entrance and I am going to decorate it in a woodland theme.  No reason to stop decorating!  Yesterday my mother and I were making some felt owls to decorate this tree and I will do more over the next few days.  I will share the update soon!

Thank you for visiting!

A Little Pre-Christmas dinner

Hello dear friends, this is a very busy time of year for us at the farm!  We are not alone, I know!  Last weekend we had the first of what seems like weekly dinners at the farm for family and friends.  My favourite part of the Chrisrmas season is getting together with friends to get caught up and enjoy some food and drink in our festively decorated farmhouse.

A few weeks ago I was shopping in town for a gift and came across this lovely snow globe.  It followed me home.

The outdoor Christmas tree situation has been complicated by a lack of extension cords.  The outdoor trees are up and decorated but only two of them are lit!  Today in a windstorm both trees on the front veranda blew over but fortunately did not break.  In a previous windstorm a few weeks ago one of the big trees on a different deck blew over and literally broke at the base.  No worries though as I have some instagram inspiration that will allow that tree to be reincarnated for next year!

This pretty little tree sits on our portico deck which is a little more sheltered.  The little deer next to it takes frequent tumbles in the wind.

I love this Home For The Holidays sign!

A view of this year's dining room mantlepiece decorated for Christmas.

The crystal decanters are standing by!  Some of these decanters came from my great grandmother.  I dont actually use any of them but like how they look.

Friends gave us this collection of ornaments with a gentle reference to the number of Christmas trees we put up every year.

The gazebo has its' usual tree.

This weekend we will be hosting our family Christmas dinner to accommodate the travel plans of my brother and his partner.  I will make some time on Sunday to put up the last two trees in our guest bedrooms and then I think I will be finished with the decorating for this year.  Now it will be time to relax and enjoy the warmth and coziness of the  holiday season!

~thank you for visiting!~

A Kitten and Christmas

Hello dear friends, it has been a while!  December has already started and even though I feel that I have been trying to prepare for Christmas for the last month I dont have much to show for it.  Our Christmas this year is going to be rather low key as the house is still in a state of upheaval and we are getting tired of apologizing for how long it is taking to finish our projects.  So this year guests are restricted to kindred spirits-no judgy types allowed!

In the meantime we have as usual had distractions.  Please meet Henry!  An adorable kitten that was discovered in garden mulch by an Instagram neighbour.  After failing to find his owners and determining that he was not a good fit with three large dogs our IG friend put out a call for someone to take him off her hands.  Need I say more?

The little monster is absolutely adorable and received a clean bill of health at the vet this morning.  We have also confirmed that he has not been microchipped so he officially is now the youngest member of our family.

Moving on to the Christmas tree situation and the outlook is not quite so rosy.  Our living room tree is missing all of its' ornaments from the bottom 2 feet.  Both Henry and Horatio have taken a special liking to the Christmas tree and use it as a race track.  The burlap base has long since been flattened as have many of the branches.  Although the tree has swayed with cat activity it remains standing.  The tree is 7 feet tall and we hope is strong enough to withstand kitten gymnastics.  It does mean that any glass ornaments have been relocated to the Christmas tree in the dining room.

Isn't he cute?

I love this blue glass swan!

Here is a quick view of the pergola in the evening.  I hope you wont notice that we didnt manage to get the furniture put away.

And finally this was part of my trip to my office today.  The brief snow squall makes me feel quite Christmas-y although I do love the snow so much more when I dont need to drive in it!

My husband has confirmed that he has added to our collection of extension cords so I hope to have our outdoor lights working by Saturday evening.  In the meantime there is still much decorating to do.

Thank you for visiting!