Close encounters of the turkey kind

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Matt has a thing for wild turkeys. So you can guess that this made his day.

Wild turkey looking in the window

For me, walking into the laundry room and seeing a turkey peering through the window was a bit disconcerting.

Wild turkey looking in the window

Teri showed up about two weeks ago. At first, we saw turkey tracks all around the house. Then we saw the turkey.

While turkeys are usually shy and private, Teri is social and curious.

She clucked around outside the kitchen window while I was making my breakfast the one morning. And then she walked around the house to pace in front of the dining room when I sat down to eat.

According to the footprints in the snow, she has even climbed right up to the kitchen window sill.

As I’m not inviting a wild bird in for breakfast, we’ve sprinkled some grain in the side flowerbed where she seems to spend most of her time.

Wild turkey tracks in the snow

Teri’s presence took a bit of getting used to.

Matt, Baxter and I each spooked her several times in the first few days after her arrival. Having a turkey erupt right in front of you and violently woosh-woosh-woosh her wings as she attempts to lift off and fly to the nearest tree is possibly even more disconcerting than having the same turkey attempt to help with the laundry.

She appears to spend her days doing laps around the house. We’ve gotten a bit accustomed to each other, and she doesn’t spook quite as much anymore. We’re also conscious to check where she is and try not to infringe on her personal space.

Wild turkey walking around the house

Baxter doesn’t have quite the same sensitivity and wants to get as close to the turkey as possible. There have been long staring sessions into the woods beside the house (where she sometimes retreats when we come outside) and lots of conversations about “no, you can’t follow the turkey tracks.”

I gotta say, there are moments when I ask, “Is this really my life?” Even though it’s sometimes disconcerting, I love living here.

“What do you mean ‘disconcerting’?”

Wild turkey hen

Blog-iversary 4

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Thanks everyone for celebrating our fourth farm-iversary with us earlier this week. I really appreciate all of you who follow along with our adventures. Today I’m going to go into a bit more detail about all of you, my followers and readers.

Along with this week being our farm-iversary, it also marks the anniversary of when I started my blog. My usual tradition for my blog-iversary is to take a look back at some of my stats.

In total over the last four years, the blog has had more than 191,600 views and 259 of you have signed up as official followers. I’ve published 632 posts–151 of them in the last year–and uploaded 2,394 pictures, graphics and videos.

Over the past year, this little blog of mine has had 73,924 views and 36,909 visitors. The average number of views each day were 203.

Here’s how things have developed over the past four years (WordPress didn’t track visitors back when I first started blogging).

Views in the fourth year of blogging

Visitors came from 153 different countries, mostly the U.S., Canada and the U.K. There were some surprises in the top 10 countries this year: Slovenia, Turkey and Uruguay. I still find it cool how the blog has connected me with people all over the world.

United States — 46,408
Canada — 13,068
United Kingdom — 2,883
Australia — 1,753
Germany — 1,457
Slovenia — 702
Turkey — 689
Uruguay — 451
Switzerland — 395
Netherlands — 391

Top blog views by country

The One Room Challenge strikes again when it comes to bringing visitors to the blog. All of my ORC posts from 2015 made it into the top 10 posts of the past year.

One Room Challenge Week 6 – Master bedroom reveal — 1,000
Making DIY dropcloth curtains – 8 lessons learned — 474
One Room Challenge Week 4 – Update sliding closet doors with beadboard wallpaper — 427
One Room Challenge Week 5 – Professional help — 243
One Room Challenge Week 3 – Master bedroom headboard — 195
“Wait-no-more” organizing challenge — 163
One Room Challenge Week 2 – Master bedroom progress report — 151
One Room Challenge – Master bedroom makeover — 141
The Porch Jacking: Chad’s Crooked House — 139
Scorched Earth — 115

Something new that I tried this year were inviting different bloggers to do a few more guest posts, including the My Favourite Tool series and regular posts from Sarah in Illinois. One of the things I really enjoy about blogging is connecting with other bloggers, and these guest posts are one way to do that.

The other thing I love about blogging is connecting with all of you–my readers. Thanks for being part of our journey so far. There’s more to come.

Farm-iversary 4

Posted on March 2, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As I write this the dog is asleep beside the fire. The cat is in the barn. The house is cozy. I look through the window and in the glow from the barn lights I can see the snow covering the ground. Beyond that there are trees, trails, fields, ponds, creeks. Together, it’s everything I’ve ever wanted when I thought of home.

Sunrise over the farm

Today is the fourth anniversary of the day the farm became ours.

Four years ago–actually long before that–we knew this is what we wanted. But the idea of a farm was abstract. We had no idea what it was to have a farm. Nor did we have any idea how much it was right for us.

So many people seem to share that dream of moving to the country. And it’s a beautiful dream.

The reality is also beautiful. In many ways it’s our dream come true. But in many ways it’s also more than we ever dreamed of.

While the reality is beautiful, it’s also hard–and we’re not farmers. This life, this type of property, this atmosphere isn’t for everyone. I think often that I’m so glad we’ve been able to hack it. We can handle the work. We can handle the drive to get anywhere. We can handle the winter… and the mosquitoes (summer) and the mud (spring) and the clean-up (fall). We can handle the complications and the scope and the challenges.

I don’t know how to describe quite what this farm means to me or what it’s like being here.

Matt and me on home inspection day 4 years ago

I’m grateful that Matt and I have been able to make this happen. That it’s turned out to be right for us. That we’ve made our dreams come true.

This is not the post I planned to write for our farm-iversary. And I want to add disclaimers about more work to do and renovations and landscaping. But tonight those don’t seem to matter. Four years ago, I started to live one of my dreams. It’s been a pretty amazing opportunity. Something I don’t take for granted and that is incredibly meaningful for me. And I guess I wanted to say that here.

Spring cleaning

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Sarah in Illinois is here to start off the week. Sarah’s looking ahead to spring–and beyond–and has a great tool to share with us.

I am the type of person that likes to be organized, have a plan, make lists, etc. It makes me feel more focused on the job at hand, and I am more comfortable when I feel I have direction. One thing I did to feel more organized this year was to sign up for a daily email from Spring Cleaning 365. Each day I get an email with one small job to focus on for the day.

Obviously I don’t need anyone to tell me that I need to clean my toilet, or put a load of laundry in, but these emails remind me of some tasks that get overlooked.

When was the last time you took out the bottom drawers of your refrigerator and cleaned underneath? Or the last time you disinfected your TV remote? If you’re anything like me, it has probably been a while!

So I like the emails because they remind me of the areas that I usually overlook. The goal from the website is to do one small task a day and then you won’t spend much time on it, but I find it is usually works out that I do one or two a week and use the weekends to catch up.

Tupperware

This weekend one of the projects I tackled was to sort my plastic storage containers. Between using them for leftovers and taking my lunch to work every day, we have a lot of containers. But over time many have lost their mates. So I took all pieces out of my cabinets and drawers and made matches.

Why did we have so many lids and so few bottoms!?

I couldn’t believe how many tops and bottoms had lost their mates. We had all of these extras left over. I am going to take the extras to my mom to see if she can make any matches with hers and then all the rest are going to be recycled. And now my cabinets and drawers close much easier.

I did do a little work on our home improvement projects this week. Steve installed baseboard and door trim in our hallway last week and I finally took an evening and primed them. Next, I need to prime and paint the walls and put a coat of paint on the trim.

Before

After

The hallway will lead to the addition on the house. So the drywall you see at the end of the hall is where we will extend the hallway to two new bedrooms.

I have drawn out the floorplan and started my list of materials, so I can prepare an estimate for us and for the bank. As I think I have mentioned before, we are doing all of the work ourselves, so we will be our own estimators, designers, builders and coordinators. I am nervous and excited all at once.

What have you been working on in your home? Have you started any spring cleaning? Have you ever tackled a large home improvement project on your own? Does anyone have any advice for us on being our own project manager?

Spring Cleaning 365 sounds really neat, Sarah. Thanks for sharing it. Funnily enough, Matt and I did a tupperware cleanout ourselves last weekend. Although I cannot remember when I last cleaned under the fridge drawers, and I don’t think I’ve ever disinfected the remote.

No till vegetable gardening

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The no till philosophy has gained traction in farming. The more I learn about vegetable gardening, I’m realizing no till also applies on a smaller scale.

If you’re not familiar with no till, it basically means undisturbed soil is healthier soil.

Our experience with our vegetable garden last year really brought this home for me. We built the garden in an area that hadn’t been touched–at all–the whole time we’ve owned the farm. I don’t know how long it had been abandoned before then.

Longe ring

Inside the fence, grass and weeds grew as high as they wanted. Every fall they died. Over the winter and spring, the dead grass was matted down by snow and rain. New growth sprouted in the spring and grew high over the summer. Rooted in the fertile soil, the new sprouts fed on the previous year’s plants which were slowly decomposing around them.

When we cleared the ring and planted vegetables in place of the weeds and grass, the vegetables went crazy. They sucked up all of the nutrients from the soil and were super productive.

Vegetable garden harvest

As the season went on and we harvested more and more from the garden, I realized that if I wanted to continue this productivity in future years, I was going to have to focus on the soil.

I’ve heard other gardeners say that gardening isn’t about growing plants. It’s about growing soil.

So that’s why I started a compost bin for all of our kitchen scraps and I spent three weeks spreading a thick layer of manure over the whole garden at the end of the growing season.

Manure in the garden

That’s also why I’m contemplating going no till.

I’m sure this isn’t entirely accurate, but I have this circle of life idea playing in my head. Whatever nutrients the plants take from the soil as they grow are returned to the soil as the plant decomposes (aside from the fruit and vegetables that we eat, of course). So leaving everything untouched and in place means we have complete soil, not deficient in any element.

Last year, I was quite excited to get our hand-me-down rototiller. But the more I learn about gardening, the more I wonder if we should be using it.

Matt and I tilling the garden

I’ve read a bit about the deep mulch method. It’s supposed to be good for weed control, retaining moisture and also for returning nutrients to the soil. (See The Prairie Homestead and Reformation Acres for some info).

We already have a deep layer of straw on the garden thanks to the manure spreading, so maybe we can build on that. My plan is to work towards something like the raised row method from Old Word Garden Farms.

Anyone have experience with no till or mulch gardening? Aside from the health of our soil, my biggest concern is weeds. Any tips for dealing with weeds?

Lunch with a side of architectural salvage

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

We had a couple of birthdays on my staff at the start of the year, so one of my team booked a lunch to celebrate. My staff always pick the restaurant, and this time they let me know I was in for something special.

They were right.

The thing was–and this is what my team knew–it wasn’t actually the restaurant that I liked best (although the food was very, very good). It was what it was attached to–a giant salvage yard.

Salvage yard

The yard was full of beams and bricks and who knows what else. We didn’t explore outside and instead prowled through one of the barns.

It was four floors, but we only took time for two (it was a work day after all).

There was a floor full of doors. All kinds. All sizes.

Salvage doors

There were barn doors too, and I was sure to snap pictures for Matt.

Salvaged barn door

Although I more wanted him to see the price tags as opposed to the doors themselves. We have an assortment of barn doors at the farm, and I think this is a reason to take care of them.

Barndoor price tag

I loved seeing all of the options for reclaimed flooring. Lots and lots of really cool floors. This is just a small sample of the selection.

Reclaimed flooring

This one was particularly cool. Flooring from the floor of an old gym–complete with the original paint lines. Aren’t the colours neat?

Reclaimed wood floor from an old gymnasium

Beyond the wood, there were tubs, sinks, hardware and all kinds of other things I barely had time to glance at.

Architectural salvage

My team knows me well. I could have spent a whole day there, and I’m excited to go back to really explore.

If you ever find yourself in Waterloo, Ontario, make sure to check out Timeless Material Co. (and be sure to visit the cafe too).

Do you have a salvage yard near you? Have you ever bought architectural salvage? Would you use gym flooring in your house?

El Niño

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Are you having a crazy winter where you are? We’ve been through El Niños before, but this year is something else.

Temperatures have mostly hovered right around zero or above. It took nearly half the winter before we had snow of any significance.

Sun rising over snow covered farm

But it only lasted a little while before the temperatures shot up again and everything melted. (Note how even the grass has maintained its green).

Farm after snowmelt

Every so often, temperatures drop back into the polar vortex territory that we experienced for the previous two winters. But then they invariably rise again.

Thermometer showing -20

The wildlife is not reacting well to the fluctuations.

We had an extra cat take refuge in the barn. And snakes are coming out of their dens only to freeze in the snow.

Dead snake in the snow

On behalf of the local wildlife, Ralph came out of the barn to investigate where winter went.

“No, I don’t believe I see any snow on this ground here.”

Ralph looking for snow

Not trusting his sister’s bad eye, Bax came to help her look.

“Nope, I do not see any snow either… And I think I’m sitting in mud.” (He was.)

Ralph and Baxter looking for snow

A month from today we will officially be into spring. Do you think we’re going to have a winter between now and then?

What’s winter been like where you are? Are you seeing any unusual wildlife behaviours? Anyone want to join Ralph’s and Baxter’s search party?

Distressed about distressing

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I was face-to-face (face-to-seat?) with the chair. I had spent days painting it, working my brush around every spindle again and again. The old brown stain had been replaced with a warm white finish.

White painted wooden chair

But I was about to change all that. Or I would if I could bring myself to step towards the chair.

I had a piece of sandpaper in my hand, and my plan was to rub it over my freshly painted chair making it look older and a little bit worn.

“Do I really want to do this?”

“If it doesn’t work or I mess it up, I’ll have to paint the chair again.”

“But remember the vision.”

My vision for the guest room is to embrace a bit more rustic style. A slightly shabby chair would fit in better than a perfectly painted one.

I lifted the sandpaper and got to work.

Distressed painted wood chair

The end result looks okay, I think. Definitely more interesting than the plain white chair. I’ve never been a shabby chic person, so I’m still adjusting to this look. Now that the guest room is coming together, though, I feel like the chair fits in.

Distressed painted wood chair

The plan for the weekend is to focus on the curtains, which are pretty much the last to-do for the guest room aside from some more accessorizing. I should be sharing the finished space with you soon.

Have you ever distressed furniture? Did it make you nervous? Are you a fan of the shabby chic style? What causes you anxiety when you’re making over furniture?

A Mexican vacation

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Lest you’re confused by the title of today’s post, no, Matt and I have not left the farm for southern climes. Sarah in Illinois did, and she’s come back to ~~make us all jealous~~ share her honeymoon adventures with us.

US Passport

I know of no better way to break up the cold days of winter than to head south. And that is just what Steve and I did. We combined a vacation, our honeymoon, my birthday and Valentine’s Day into a six-day stay in Cancun Mexico.

We stayed at the all-inclusive Moon Palace Golf Resort and Spa. I cannot say enough about our stay. The staff was amazing, we visited with other guests from London, Canada, Norway, and a few from the States, the food was great with more choices than we could try while we were there. And of course, the drinks never stopped.

The only thing that I would change was that we had two days of cool weather and overcast skies, but of course, there is nothing that can be done about that. And as they say, a bad day at the beach is better than a good day at work, right?

The view from our room

Our room was ocean front and included a jacuzzi. Believe me when I say, I am not used to that kind of luxury. We spent each day almost the same way. We woke up and went to buffet breakfast where we tried some new things but preferred the made to order omelets. We found some empty lounge chairs on the beach and our biggest worry was how long until the waitress came back with our drinks and what should we have for lunch.

Birthday breakfast: made to order omelet and a Bloody Mary!

The area had several sites that we could visit. And we discussed going to see Cozumel or Playa del Carmen. But Steve and I have had a lot of stress the past two months, and we both decided that all we wanted to do was soak up the sun (when it came out) and listen to the waves crash. It truly was relaxing.

On Saturday, my birthday, the sun was again hiding and so we went to the “Hotel Zone” where there were plenty of shops. We bought souvenirs for family, and Steve bought me a new purse. We stopped for cervesa (beer in Spanish, the word that Steve learned first at Hooter’s) and then headed back to our hotel.

Cervesa

We told the hotel that we were on our honeymoon, and they gave us a complimentary dinner on the beach. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were so extremely surprised. Dinner was salad, onion soup (that was amazing) and then filet mignon. We had wine and champagne. Yes, the hotel outdid themselves.

Honeymoon dinner on the beach

On our last full day the sun was in and out of the clouds all day. We spent some more time on our chairs but decided to go do something.

The hotel had small two-person catamarans that we took out on the ocean. Neither of us had ever attempted to sail anything before so there was a bit of learning curve, and we didn’t always agree on how to do it, but after a while we did really get the hang of it.

The next thing we tried was stand up paddle boards. Oh my goodness that was hilarious. I think we had both had too many cervesas to attempt anything with balance. But we were in shallow water with life jackets on so the only thing we hurt was our ribs from laughing.

Later in the afternoon we rented a sea-doo and followed the guide out in the ocean. We went a long, long way out into the ocean, where we could barely see our hotel back at the beach and the guide had us get off on a shallow sandbar. It was so cool to be so far out in the ocean just standing in shallow water.

Our final dinner at the resort was at a Brazilian restaurant. We both really stepped out of our comfort zone to try it. The waiter came around to our table repeatedly and offered Canadian bacon, turkey, flank steak, chicken, Brazilian steak and I am not sure what else.

I will admit, it wasn’t our favorite meal, but we were happy that we tried something new. And we ended the dinner with Key Lime pie for me, cheesecake for Steve and Mayan coffee, which came with a little show of fire, and alcohol. It was so much fun. I am sorry that I didn’t take more pictures, but I am glad I enjoyed it first-hand rather than worrying whether I caught the right shot.

Steve and I both swear we are not going to take four years until we go on our next vacation. It was long overdue, and completely relaxing. I only hate that we came home to blowing snow.

What a quick way to end the glow of a beach vacation!
Birds on the beach

Where do you like to take your vacation? Any beach lovers out there? Anyone been to Cancun? Have any suggestions for our next trip?

Sounds wonderful, Sarah! Your Valentine’s Day was a definite contrast to our -20ºC temperatures. It’s been a few years since I’ve visited a beach in the middle of winter, and you’re bringing back some good memories. For your second honeymoon, I suggest Costa Rica (our choice for our honeymoon). Heat, sun, beach, ocean and some jungle adventure tours. It was a lot of fun.

Odds and sods

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Photo collage

Ahhh. A three-day weekend. What a nice treat in the middle of winter. Matt’s working on his goal of not leaving the property all weekend. And I’m taking it easy with a quick list of the odds and sods that have been happening recently.

I got to watch my 22-month old nephew “play soccer.” Lesson learned: there’s no way to get a clear picture of a toddler playing soccer.
Temperatures have been hovering around the -20ºC mark. And that’s just the temperature. The windchill makes it extra frigid.
I braved Ikea on Saturday. Thanks to the temperature, a lot of people opted to hibernate instead of shop, so it wasn’t the usual madhouse. I came out–in less than a hour!–with all of the hardware for the guest room curtains, two new pillows for our bed (finally upgraded to king size pillows to match the king size mattress), and my usual–a handful of picture frames.
Due to the temperature, Bax is having many quick outings rather than any long hikes. We’re supplementing with indoor fetch and tag. Our girl Ralph doesn’t seem to notice the cold. Matt picked burrs out of her tail, so we know she’s venturing outside the barn. A cat we’ve not seen before was hanging out in the barn a few mornings ago, so someone’s obviously feeling the cold.
The non-feline family members are focusing on indoor sports including painting a few items for the guest room, baking a fudgy cake for Valentine’s Day, napping fireside, watching some TV and movies (this one, this one and this one were interesting. I was really keen on this one, but I ended up falling asleep on the couch.)
My brother and I are sharing custody of my Dad’s router. After a bit of fiddling, I remembered how to use it and made some good progress on an art project for the basement. Adam, you can have the router back now.