Enjoying the kitchen deck

Hello dear friends, here I am again after a long absence.  All is well at the farm and we often remark that we feel terribly busy but dont seem to get much done!  Today I thought I would share some photos of the area we call our kitchen deck.

When we started a major addition to our old stone farmhouse 5 years ago we knew that we wanted to have lots of outdoor living space.  We really enjoy sitting outside and when the weather cooperates we like to entertain friends and family outside as well.  So a priority was to have a veranda wrap around 2 sides of the house with lots of space for seating.  The area I am sharing today extends past the covered area just outside of the kitchen.  

The colour theme for this area is blue.  This seating area comfortably seats 4 and after buying one solar powered umbrella I ordered a second one to flank the little love seat.   The umbrellas are in heavy stands that are concealed inside the special little umbrella tables.  Unfortunately this area can sometimes catch wind so the umbrellas and the tables have taken many tumbles.  

A little night time ambience!

The comfort of our fur-children is paramount!  Willow is enjoying some reflection time.  She spends a lot of time thinking.  

This is an old Ikea table that has been repainted many times.  It has 2 small spectacularly uncomfortable chairs that go with it so it doesnt get much use.  The table however is very convenient for serving.

Lucy's turn to assess the comfortability of the sofa.  She approves. 

Here is a view from one of the lawns.  The stone wall is part of our koi pond.  You can see the 2 blue umbrellas on the left and there is a small gazebo visible in the background. 

A different view from a different section of deck.

We are now one month into summer and have been experiencing some very hot and dry conditions.  Of course now that we want to cut hay we are getting what I like to refer to as "nuisance rain"-not enough rain to make up for the drought conditions we experienced through late spring, but enough rain to make trying to cut hay a challenge.

I hope you enjoyed this quick visit!  I finally downloaded the photos from my camera so will curate other photos for new posts so we can enjoy our seating areas together.

Wishing everyone a great week!

 

Spring Gardens

Hello dear friends, it has been ages since I have posted anything about our farm!  Time flies and the gardens are changing daily.  Masses of tulips and daffodils are providing us with some glorious colour-if only they lasted longer!  Last year we ordered several hundred daffodils and tulips from our favourite supplier, and although it was a struggle to get them all planted it is worth the effort!

My love of statues in no secret!  I am so sad that the shop we have purchased so many statues from has closed.  We will need to look for another shop so I can add to the collection.  Many of these statues mark the final resting places of our dear pets.  We have had 14 dogs and 8 cats in our time here at the farm and are so happy to still have them here even though many of them have passed away.

I mentioned that we ordered hundreds of bulbs last fall.  I simply couldn't seem to get them planted fast enough even though all arrived early in the fall.  In the end we planted clumps of them along one of our cedar hedges.

Some glorious red tulips in our tulip tree garden.  In the background you can see Lake Ophelia.  We are so pleased that we took on the rehabilitation of our old farm pond last year.  It was not on our list of priorities but we are thrilled with the results.  Now we must be patient while it slowly fills with water.  

My old garden shed needs some attention this year.  A new paint job, some repairs to the old glass windows and a good clearing out are in order.  I am sure I will find many items I have been searching for stashed inside.

We remain under stay at home orders in our part of the world but I am hopeful that we have seen the worst of covid and look forward to be able to have friends and family join us this summer at our farm.  I hope everyone is staying safe and well and thank you for visiting my blog.

 

Winter Scenes

Hello dear friends, where has the time gone?  It is now the beginning of March and while this is a very chilly week at the farm next week promises to tease us with warmer temperatures!  I am catching up with a few quick photos from the last few weeks.

We have had some very interesting early morning and late afternoon skies here at the farm!  I submitted one of my colourful sky photos to Fine Gardening magazine and it was posted on their Instagram page!

The winter overall has not had the incredible cold temperature extremes that we have seen in other winters.  Still, we have had some very cold nights and sadly even in the barn very cold temperatures can be fatal to newborn lambs.  This little ewe lamb was already becoming hypothermic so we brought her inside to warm her with a hot water bottle and blankets.  It took a few hours but eventually she warmed up enough that she could drink milk from a bottle and then go back to her mommy.  

I am not a big fan of winter, possibly because my job is in the city and my commute each day is awful, especially if we are having bad weather.  Of course this year with COVID I am spending most days working from my home which means we have been able to make time most days to pop outside at lunchtime for a walk.  A few years ago we bought snowshoes so now we have been trying to get out to snowshoe every day.  My husband has been making some trails along the back of our property through our woods.  I must say that snowshoeing is hard work!   But I am enjoying it immensely and feel a little sad to think that winter will soon be over!

We have had lots of snow.

Little woodland creatures have been eating pinecones in the forest.

And deer are following our steps on our snowshoe trail!  

Well dear friends, I am sorry for my long absence.  Once I get out of the habit of writing stories on my farm blog it is harder and harder to get back into it!  Thank you to those of you that still take time to read about our farm happenings.  Wishing everyone a safe week!
 

January Snippets

Hello dear friends, I was going to do a New Year's post and now it is suddenly half way through January!  What a different world we are in now compared to one short year ago.  We are still safe and happy at the farm so today I am going to share some photos of our everyday life.

All eggs are the same inside but it is the outside that is interesting!  Last spring we finally got around to ordering hens that would lay blue eggs.  For those of you that follow our farm stories you may recall that between a fox and skunk and weasel many of our chickens were killed.  We thought that our Azure Blue hens had all been killed but it turns out a couple of them did survive and now in addition to brown eggs we are enjoying blue eggs as well!

For Christmas I tried to find time to make more felt ornaments.  I purchased lots of supplies but didnt manage to get many made.  I did make a couple of mushrooms for the woodland tree which are adorned with little glass beads.  So fun and very relaxing!

The woodland tree is turning out to be one of my favourite trees.  

A  couple of years ago we bought snowshoes.  We didnt use them last year but this year we have done a few tramps around our fields.  It is great exercise!

I captured this shot one morning.  Sometimes these colours only last minutes but this time I was ready to take a picture.

You may remember that last fall we took on the project of rehabilitating Lake Ophelia.  It is about half full of water now and my husband has used part of it as a skating rink.

Mouse prints!

Snowshoe prints! 

I made some time for baking.  These are English Muffins.  There are so many recipes online to choose from.

Who doesn't love home made bread?  I have been adding some cranberries and walnuts to our whole wheat bread as I thought it would taste great with leftover turkey.  Delicious!

 The woodland tree is tucked into our portico entry.  Hopefully this area will be all finished next year.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!  Thank you for visiting

Winter Wonderland

Hello dear friends and Happy New Year!  After sharing photos of the farm in the evening light I have a few more to share of the farm during the day.

All of the statues are enjoying snowy hats.

Even our solar powered duck is ready for winter.

We have been discussing what to do with the koi pond this winter.  We usually cover it with a large tarp on wooden supports but this year we might leave it open.  The koi pond has a small heater to prevent the surface water from freezing over completely and the bubblers help to eliminate carbon dioxide from decaying leaves and fish waste.  The pond is deep enough that it will not freeze completely allowing the fish to hibernate and survive the winter.

 We are expecting up to 15 cm of additional snow over the weekend to welcome in the New Year.  We will be tucked into our old farmhouse with the dogs and cats and will end 2020 by watching a James Bond movie.  Wishing everyone health and happiness in 2021 and thank you for visiting!