New thrones for the queen

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s been almost two years since we got our new dining room table. I’ve been on the look out for chairs ever since.

I saw six at the Christie Antique show last spring, but by the time I made up my mind to buy them, they were sold. Argh. So frustrating. I mentioned to Matt the other week that I haven’t been able to get those chairs out of my mind. A couple of days after that conversation, I swung into a local antique store, and right by the front door was a group chairs, very similar to the ones I’d lost out on more than a year ago.

They were a style that I’ve always liked, even if they did not meet most of the original criteria I had for dining chairs:

Contrasts with, yet complements, the traditional dark wood table. — These ones pretty much match the table.
Reasonably price, especially as I wanted eight. — They were priced at $50 per chair, and there were eight of them.
Not upholstered. — Umm… not so much. Upholstered on the seat, upholstered on the back, both the inside and the outside.
Slightly country feel. — Not at all. This Chrystiane profile ties into the traditional side of my decorating aesthetic.

Despite not matching up with what was originally in my mind, I liked them, Matt was okay with them, and the price was right (especially after I talked the dealer down a bit more).

They came home with us.

While they were airing out on the driveway, our quality control manager, Ralph, performed her inspection.

“The seats seem adequately cushy, although you may want to reupholster someday.”

“The legs have a nice profile. The joints seem to be secure. Some of the casters are missing or broken. The finish could use a little work.”

“Some of the trim is coming loose in spots.”

“Overall, I think they’ll do. They have a nice style, and they cast good shade.”

For someone who lives in a barn, our girl has some definite opinions on furniture.

After vacuuming the upholstery and wiping down the wood, the chairs made their way into the dining room. (Ralph returned to the barn).

And here’s how they look around the table.

Don’t the legs play nicely together?

The chairs (and goodness knows the table) will all need to be refinished someday. I think I might try some Restor-A-Finish on the chairs first to tide us over. My Mom’s used it a few times and I’ve been super impressed.

The upholstery is another issue. Matt is not a fan of the blue. The fabric is mostly in decent shape, but it’s scratchy and faded. Reupholstering looks like it would be fairly basic, aside from the diamond tufts, but eight chairs, seats and backs (both inside and out) would be a lot of work–and I don’t think Ralph would help. It would be fun to try out different fabrics though. I’m pretty sure I remember Sarah Richardson using three different fabrics on chairs like this.

Overall, I’m pleased with the purchase, and very happy to finally have chairs that work with our table.

What type of chairs do you have at your table? Do you go antique shopping? Who else has a story of the antique that got away? What fabrics would you choose if these chairs were yours? Have you ever used Restor-A-Finish? Who handles quality control inspections at your house?

#plant15

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Over the winter, I connected with a few writers who specialize in the agricultural sector. Most of them have a background in farming. From them, I learned that when people ask me what kind of farm we have, the correct answer (so that I don’t sound like a complete city slicker) is “cash crop.”

This year’s cash crop is soybeans.

However, I should be clear that this is not our cash, nor our crop. We’re still too citified to farm our own fields. I’d have no idea where to even start. And we definitely don’t have the equipment.

Everything that’s gone into the fields and all of the plants that are currently in the fields belong to our farmer.

The soybeans are now knee high to a puppy dog.

There are still a few tiny blossoms here and there. We should be seeing bean pods soon.

I’m too much of a city slicker to know whether things are looking good. From afar, they’re looking very green.

Farmers with much more knowledge than me are sharing their crops at #plant15. I encourage you to check it out to see the ups (and downs) of the growing season so far.

Gotcha Day 2

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Tomorrow is the second anniversary of when Baxter came to live with us. Since he joined our family, I’ve become a complete dog person–as demonstrated by the number of dog blogs in my reader.

One of the blogs I enjoy in particular is Oh Melvin and Yo Jake (what Tracey and Jake went through with Melvin–and are still going through–is amazing and heartbreaking, and I can’t even think of it when I think about Baxter). But anyways, Tracey has a tradition of writing a letter to her dogs on the anniversary of their gotcha days. I love that idea, so I’ve copied it for Baxter.

Dear Baxter,

It’s been two years since you came to live with us, and the novelty still hasn’t worn off. Sure I don’t love it when the alarm goes off at 5:45am (and I know you don’t either), but I do love our morning walks together. We see so many corners of the farm when everything is still quiet. We sometimes see the deer eating their breakfast in the back field. I get to see you finding all the new sniffs and enjoying the morning. Starting the day with you is pretty special.

You’ve done so well this year as you’ve learned about off-leash hiking. I am very proud of you, to see you walk without the long line dragging behind you. I admit, I still get a little nervous, but I know you’re working hard at remembering to stay with me.

Getting to know our hiking group has given you a chance to spread your unique brand of love and wiggles around. It makes me happy to see how much everyone loves you. And I’m happy too to see how much you love hiking. Watching you dart to the car and hearing you urge me to go faster as we’re driving to meet the group are part of the fun.

You’ve learned so much about staying close when we’re working outside, being calm when you say hi to Ralph, hitting Grandma and Grandpa up for treats. We’re going to keep working on coming when you’re called and that little people are okay–they’re weird because they’re as tall as you and they’re very grabby, but you’re a very gentle boy and you can teach them how to be polite to doggies.

Matt and I both love coming home to you every night. You give us such good wiggles and tell us all about your day. Watching your tail go around in circles never gets old.

Happy second gotcha day, bud. We’re so happy that you’re part of our family.

Love,
Julia

Odds and sods

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I took advantage of the mid-week Canada Day holiday to turn this week into a bit of a vacation. I’ve been trying to embrace the “summer time and the living is easy” mantra, so I don’t have a DIY or farm update to share today.

Here’s some of what we’ve been up to instead:

We spent Canada Day with Matt’s brother and sister-in-law, as is our tradition. I cannot say that Baxter the Canadog embraced his adopted country. He tolerated his patriotic kerchief, the parade, the crowds and the fireworks. He wanted to meet all the dogs and smell all the smells, and was a bit disgruntled that he didn’t get to spend every second socializing. He got lots of compliments on his kerchief though.
I planted some more peppers–4 more red and 12 jalapeno plants. Matt and I both keep adding lots of plants to the garden. Good thing we have a big property.
I’ve visited a few antique stores–not my usual haunt–during this vacation. I think I might have found a set of dining room chairs. They’re on hold until Matt can check them out later this morning. Fingers crossed he likes them.
Chiot’s Run is a new blog for me. I don’t have a lot of gardening blogs in my reader, and I’m really enjoying this one. After spending a fair amount of time yesterday thinning my beets and rutabagas, I’ve decided that next year I’m going to follow Susy’s lead and make myself a square foot gardening template for root vegetables.

What have you been up to this week? What’s your definition of easy summer living?

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. And to my American readers, happy Independence Day.

Happy Canada Day

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Maple leaves, green and red, presiding over the farm. Happy Canada Day.

Six-month performance review

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I like setting goals. It helps me stay focused and actually accomplish some things. When it comes to projects around the house, my annual home goals are what I use to stay on track. I’ve learned over time that it’s helpful to check in during the year to see what progress we’ve made.

We’re halfway through the year, so it’s a good time to see how we’re doing on Home Goals 2015.

In keeping with my goal to be a little more flexible this year, I haven’t been super ambitious when it comes to projects and schedules. I have to say that as a result this year has been a bit more enjoyable, project-wise.

I also feel like we’ve been decently productive though. Here’s how we’ve done so far this year.

Master bedroom

With a little extra motivation thanks to the One Room Challenge, the master bedroom is done. I love it.

Basement art

I haven’t tackled this light-weight project yet, beyond buying a few frames and formulating some plans. This seems like a good indoor project once the weather changes.

Furniture

I haven’t made a lot of progress in this area either. I did buy a ladder/step-stool/chair that reminded me of my grandmother–and a lot of you of yours. Furniture shopping and building is another good fall project.

Vegetable garden

The vegetable garden has been front and centre for the past few months, and I’m thrilled with all of the progress we’ve made. It’s been on my wishlist since we moved to the farm, and it’s totally happening. The garden has been a tonne of work, but things are growing and we couldn’t be happier.

Beyond the vegetable garden, I feel like we’re a bit ahead when it comes to outside tasks for the first time since moving to the farm. Part of it is because I’m choosing to not worry about the rock piles and old flowerbeds that I want to get rid of. A bigger part of it is that we’re three years in, so the gardens that we’ve worked on since moving to the farm are actually starting to look like gardens.

So two out of four. We’re midway through the year, and we’re midway through my Home Goals 2015. Appropriate.

How are you doing on projects this year? Do you set annual goals? What do you want to accomplish in the second half of 2015?

Guess what

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I used to do guess what posts every so often. Always on Fridays. And I always revealed the answer on Monday.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts. In fact, it’s been more than a year. I’m doing one today, but it’s a bit different.

You see, I don’t know what this is.

We uncovered it in the garden.

It’s metal (obviously heavily rusted). It has a hole in the rounded end.

Anyone know what this might have been used for?

Garden update

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Unlike Mary, Mary, I am not feeling at all contrary. I am feeling quite excited. Our garden is growing!

Matt and our rototiller Fairfield were hard at work again this past weekend, and they got the whole garden tilled (or at least the half that we’re using this year) for the second time. I weeded where Fairfield couldn’t reach and went over everything with the cultivator to pick out the last of the roots.

We still need some more chainlink for the fence, we still need a gate, and we still need to pull out the weeds along the rest of the edge (and of course there’s the whole other half of the ring to clear), but it’s already looking like a garden.

And we’re going to have a harvest.

The tomatoes are big enough that Matt had to put the cages around them. Blossoms are forming and even a couple of very small tomatoes.

Squashes are our main crop. First is the zucchini.

Then there’s the butternut, acorn and pie pumpkins.

In the middle of the garden is the beginning of the first of two rows of raspberries. I got them from my parent’s garden last weekend, and they all seem to have rooted.

What’s not doing so well are the bush beans. I don’t know what’s happening, but they don’t seem to be very happy.

Also not so happy are the peppers. I think maybe they’re not getting enough sun because they’re up close to the fence, and they were a bit shadowed by weeds.

However, one in particular has been grievously abused by two weekends in a row. First Fairfield uprooted him, and then I got a little too close with the cultivator and pulled him out again. Hopefully he recovers.

The crop that seems to be thriving the most are the rutabagas. I think every single teeny tiny seed sprouted. I still have no idea what one does with rutabagas. I’m going to need to figure it out, though. Look at how many there are!

Since taking these photos, we’ve also planted potatoes and lettuce. So much goodness!

There are no silver bells or cockle shells, but I’m not sure I’d want them. I’m more into edibles this year. Vegetable garden 2015 is happening!

Any advice on the beans or the peppers? How about some ideas for the rutabagas? Anything else we should consider planting this year?

Dealing with my hang ups

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Hang up #1: Plumbing makes me nervous.

Hang up #2: The hose by the driveshed lies on the ground and is super awkward to use. It drives me crazy.

Hang up #3: Less emotional. More physical. As in galvanized. As in the solution for hang ups #1 and #2.

Allow me to back up for a moment.

When we had our whole water system fixed during our first summer on the farm, my Dad had our contractor trench across the driveway and add an exterior hose at the corner of the driveshed. Since then the hose has been laying on the ground–a very inconvenient configuration.

Every time we mowed the grass, we had to move it. Turning the hose on and off and coiling it up were a pain.

Hose coiled on the ground

It was on my to-do list last May to fix this situation, but I didn’t get it done. I was distracted by other projects, and honestly I was a little nervous about tackling even this simple plumbing job on my own.

Now that we have the vegetable garden, we’re using this hose all the time. My frustration finally motivated me to pull up my big girl pants and deal with my hang ups (all three of them).

The first step was shortening the waterline. I turned off the water, pulled out the hack saw and sliced the pipe. I yanked the tap out of the original waterline and jammed it back onto the shortened pipe (hint: some boiling water softened the black pipe enough to slide the tap into place). I tightened the clamps to hold it in place.

A 2×4 mounted on the side of the driveshed holds the tap far enough off the wall so that I can turn it easily, and some metal brackets hold the waterline to the 2×4.

Then comes hang up #3. The galvanized hose hanger holds our three hoses. Yes, three. We need every single inch of hose to reach the vegetable garden.

I’ll admit that lugging three hoses out to the garden is still not super convenient. However, having the tap attached to the wall and the hose hanging on the wall are an improvement.

Some day, I’d like to split the waterline and add another tap out at the garden. Despite confronting my hang ups, that’s more plumbing (and trenching) than I want to tackle on my own at this point.

However, this simple update boosted my confidence about tackling a simple plumbing job on my own.

What hang ups do you have at your house? How do you handle plumbing? How do you handle irrigation?

How I became a DIYer

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Both of my parents get the credit for teaching me how to do a tonne of things and giving me the confidence to tackle things on my own. From a young age, they involved my siblings and me in whatever projects they were working on around the house.

When it comes to the renovation and home improvement side of my DIY personality, my biggest influence is my Dad.

My Dad grew up working alongside his father, learning the construction business first hand. They built houses, dug out basements, renovated homes.

My Dad, me and my grandfather

Eventually, my father decided to make construction his career, and he went to college and earned a construction technology diploma.

My Dad with his parents

He worked for a number of companies over the years and ultimately served as site superintendent on a number of subdivision developments, including Canada’s first metric subdivision.

Our first home was in one of the neighbourhoods he built. And the second was a custom build that my parents still live in today.

My Dad with my younger sister and me on the forklift at our new house

In the late 1980s, my Dad was laid off. Construction jobs were scarce at that time, but with four young kids at home, he didn’t have any option. He had to work. So he started his own company. He would load up our Oldsmobile, hook the trailer on the back, and off he’d go.

At first, it was just small jobs—pour a walkway, patch a wall, put up a fence. Eventually, they became bigger—renovate a kitchen, redo a bathroom, install a deck, put on an addition, build a whole house. As he had with my grandfather, my sisters and brother and I often worked with him. I think I was probably 10 the first time I went to work with him.

My Dad, my brother, my youngest sister and me

A few years later, working construction was my full time summer job. We often got some weird looks when we first showed up at the job sites—a contractor with a young girl assistant, sometimes two—but they always changed to looks of admiration when they saw how hard we worked and how good of a job we did.

My Dad prides himself on doing a job right, and he taught us all the same. I remember how for weeks every night he studied the building code and how happy he was when he wrote the exam and became licensed. The building code still holds a place of prominence at his desk, and his license numbers were typed proudly at the top of every estimate that he wrote.

Since we became homeowners, my Dad has been invaluable to Matt and me, advising us, working with us, teaching us. We wouldn’t be able to do everything we’ve done at the farm without him.