Author Archives: Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Sweet cherry tomatoes

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She’s my cherry pie tomato, Put a smile on your face, Ten miles wide…
Tastes so good, Make a grown man cry, Sweet cherry pie tomato
(Badly paraphrased from Warrant)

After my lack of success last year attempting to grow tomatoes, I refused to plant anything edible this year.

But Matt wanted to try tomatoes again.

He got some plants from his Dad, and he carefully tended them all summer. He cleared an area on the turnaround, put the tomato cages in place, suckered them and watered them. When they outgrew the cages, he improvised with other trellises gathered from around the property.

It took nearly all summer, but his attention paid off. We finally have ripe, edible tomatoes! So much better than last year.

Even better, most of our plants turned out to be my FIL’s cherry tomatoes. These are wonderfully sweet. My absolute favourite tomatoes.

These tomatoes sprout every year in my FIL’s garden. However, just to be safe, I’m going to try to save some seeds this fall to grow our own plants next year using this tutorial from The Art of Doing Stuff.

Yes, my reluctance to grow edible plants has apparently been overcome by sweet ruby spheres.

Cherry tomatoes

Improvised tomato trellises

Improvised tomato trellises

Cherry tomatoes

How has your garden grown? What’s your favourite kind of tomato? Have you ever tried saving seeds? On a topic more likely to make you lose your appetite, can you believe that Warrant music video? There’s absolutely nothing like 80s hairbands.

Happy birthday, Baxter

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Baxter turned four on Friday. For our lazy guy, the very best gift is a good nap. And that’s exactly what Matt and I tried to give him. However, things didn’t work out exactly as planned. I’ll let Baxter tell the story of what happened.

Hey y’all. Birthday Boy Baxter, here.

I knew something special was up when I was invited onto the couch. You see, I don’t get to sit on the couch hardly at all. And to be honest with y’all, it’s kinda hard to get comfortable when I know I’m not really supposed to be there. It just feels wrong.

Plus, Matt and Julia are usually there with me, and they always want to give scratches and kisses and snuggles. I mean, I like them alright, but a dude’s gotta have his own space sometimes.

Well, Matt not only invited me onto the couch, but he and Julia let me have it all to myself. Y’all, it was luxurious.

Baxter on the couch

So much better than my chair. I didn’t have to fold my feet up to my chin or hang my head off the edge.

Contortionist doggie

I stretched myself right out on that there couch and had a little doze.

Now I knew for sure something special was up when I was invited onto the bed. I get invited onto the bed more regularly, but it’s usually just to help Matt pick out his socks (I can’t see into the dresser drawer when I’m standing on the floor). But this time, when I was invited onto the bed, Matt helped me lay down, and he even tucked a pillow under my head. I didn’t just doze. I had a full on sleep! Talk about a birthday present!

Sleeping on the bed

I was an hour or so into my dreams when it happened. All of a sudden the pillows jumped me!

You see them in that picture up there how they’re all just sitting there on the bed? They look all proper and stuffy, don’t they? Well, don’t let them fool you. Pillows have a twisted sense of humour. They thought it was a great birthday trick to jump on an unsuspecting dude while he was sleeping.

I bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed and bow-wow-wowed. By the time Julia came to the bedroom, the pillows and I had all collapsed from exhaustion.

Baxter and the pillows after the battle

As soon as Julia saw us sprawled all over the bed, she knew exactly what had happened (she knows how weird pillows are). She gave me lots of pats and told me how brave I was for battling the pillows. She told the pillows they had to leave me alone because it was my birthday. We managed to go back to sleep, but I slept with my eyes open, just to be safe.

Aside from Julia: He actually does sleep with his eyes open. It’s creepy.

The rest of my birthday was more naps, lots of scratches, some good walks, a phone call from my Uncle Greg, a visit from Julia’s Dad (who shared his peanut butter sandwich), some chicken, sweet potatoes and cheese. And no more pillows. All good stuff.

Happy birthday, dude.

Highlights from the Canadian Blogger Home Tour

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Well that last post was a bit of a downer. I didn’t want to make it seem like I was bashing the Canadian Blogger Home Tour.

I truly do think it was a great series. I know the work that goes into photographing, editing and writing posts like those, and it’s considerable. I admire all of the people who participated in the home tour and the beautiful spaces they created.

There were some really inspirational homes on the tour and today I wanted to highlight a few of my favourites.

Rambling Renovators – Jen’s home tour was the first I read, and it linked me to many of the others. I’ve been a long-time reader of Jen’s blog, so I’d seen most of the rooms on her home tour already, but this was a great showcase of her house all in one post. The trim work and built-ins–all done by her husband–are beautiful. I love the traditional feel of her house and the attention she and Handyman pay to every detail.

Trim work at Rambling Renovators

The Creek Line House – This is a new blog for me that I discovered through the home tour. A tour of a 114 year old farmhouse? I was hooked from the very first photo. And then I scrolled a bit and saw a barn. And there were fields too. This is my kind of place.

The Creek Line House

Adventures of the Uncommon Common Law – Obviously, Becki’s and Chris’ aesthetic is not something you’ve seen from me before. However, if I ever go modern, this is how I’d do it. Sleek and clean. Dark and dramatic. But still super warm and personal. Their lighting is really cool and creative.

The Uncommon Common Law

The DIY Mommy – Some of the Home Tour posts included a collage of images from the various bloggers who participated. One of the little pictures was of a bright kitchen with cheerful blue curtains. This picture is what drew me into the other blogs. I just had to find the house with those great curtains. Well, I did. And the house behind it is great too. The fact that Christina and her husband built it themselves is even more amazing.

DIY Mommy

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the whole roster of blogs in the Canadian Blogger Home Tour, I encourage you to. I’m sure you’ll find lots of inspiration too. Thanks to all of the bloggers for opening their homes to us.

Monday
AKA Design
The DIY Mommy
Northern Style Exposure
Echoes of Laughter

Tuesday
A Pop of Pretty
Rambling Renovators
Craftberry Bush
Elliven Studio

Wednesday
First Time Fancy
So Much Better With Age
The Creek Line House
The Sweetest Digs

Thursday
Clean and Scentsible
The Happy Housie
Just Beachy
Dans le Townhouse

Friday
The Uncommon Law
This Little Estate

Comparison, blogging and progress

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The Canadian Bloggers Home Tour was a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see Canadian bloggers come together and share their personal styles and beautiful spaces. I’ve been inspired by their designs, photography and styling (tune in Friday for a post showing some of my favourites). I’ve even found some new blogs to add to my feedly.

However, often when I see posts like these home tours, I’m a bit conflicted.

I know all of the houses have been cleaned and staged before any of the photos were taken, but I still can’t help feeling slightly inferior when I see house tours like these.

Holy bad paint job, Batman. There are maybe three rooms in my house that are even close to being photogenic enough to be part of a home tour. And they’d all need a good tidy before I took their picture.

Dining room

Much has been written about the unreality of the blogosphere. I think we all know that the images we see on Pinterest and many blogs are not always accurate representations of how people actually live. Lauren at A Lo and Behold Life did a behind the scenes post last week showing some of the real life at her house, which was nice to see.

The bloggers who participated in the home tour are to a certain extent the cream of the crop of Canadian shelter blogs. One of the organizers, Shannon of AKA Design, said “we selected Canadian bloggers who have gorgeous homes (big or small), great photography and mad decorating skills.” Fair enough. Home tours don’t have quite the same inspirational impact when you see the clutter clustered in the corners or the toss cushions tossed on the floor rather than arranged artfully on the couch.

I have to remind myself every so often that reading certain blogs is basically the same as reading a decorating magazine. It’s about appreciating design and finding inspiration for my own spaces. It’s not about other people’s homes or blogs being “better” than mine.

Nightstand

I like the saying that comparison is the thief of joy. In a lot of ways I don’t care what other people do or what they think of me.

Even though I obviously share a lot of my house and my life in public on the internet, I blog for myself (and those like-minded souls that loyally hang in there through slow-moving makeovers and interminable renos).

My house is for myself (and Matt).

I’ll be honest, though, I can’t help wondering what’s wrong with me that my house doesn’t look like these beautiful spaces I saw in the posts last week. We’ve been living here for two and a half years. Why is our house not “done” yet?

I have every confidence that our house will get to a stage where our rooms are beautiful and tidy and perfect reflections of our personal style. Someday, we will be home tour ready. I’m just feeling a little impatient to get there.

(And in case you missed it at the top, I don’t want this post to be interpreted as a rant against the Canadian Bloggers Home Tour. There’s too much negativity and criticism out there. I think the tour was a great way to showcase creative designs and some talented Canadian bloggers. I was inspired by many of the designs I saw. This post is simply my personal reflection and an expression of where I’m at today in my own renovation/decoration saga. I have another post coming up later this week with some of my favourite designs from the home tour. Stay tuned.)

Un-Labour Day

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First post of the month means it’s time for another project. But I have something different for you this time around. You see, September’s my birthday month, so I’ve decided to give myself a break.

Of course, there’s still lots to do around here, and since I actually like to spend my time doing things, I will keep myself busy.

Finishing my bookshelves is at the top of the wishlist. My birthday was always my rough deadline to have the shelves completely set up and all of my books unpacked. Having my books back will be like reconnecting with old friends. I think that’s a pretty good gift to give to myself.

Bow on box of books

We made some really good progress this weekend. Matt and I painted the living room. The outer frames of the bookshelves are all primed, and I should be able to get two coats of paint on them today. The shelves themselves will come this week.

Painting the bookshelves

So despite this being an unlabour month, I was pretty productive this Labour Day weekend.

What were you up to this weekend? What are your plans for September?

Summer project report

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Take a journey with me back to February, would you?

Don’t worry. You don’t have to actually go back to the time of snow and cold and dark.

Just remember back in February when we painted the foyer, kitchen and hallway.

Hallway painted Benjamin Moore Abalone

Now let’s go back a little bit further to January when I posted my 2014 Home Goals, and I said I wasn’t going to paint the living room this year.

Well, I lied… kind of.

The kitchen, hall, foyer and living room all run together, so I planned to paint them all the same colour. Knowing that I wanted to set up my bookshelves this year, back in February Matt and I painted one wall of the living room–the wall I planned to put the bookshelves on. I figured once my shelves were set up and full of books, I wouldn’t want to take everything down again to paint behind them.

So the living room has looked a little bit like this for the past six months. Stylish, I know.

Half-painted living room

Well, the thing is, when I started the bookshelf makeover this month, I realized that if I put the shelves where I originally planned, we wouldn’t have room to walk around the couch and into the dining room. I decided to put them on the opposite wall. A wall which was unpainted. Whoopsie-doodle.

So my August project report goes something like this.

  • Put the bookshelves that had gotten damaged in the move back together.
  • Took the big fat bookshelf apart, cut it in half and rebuilt two new sets of shelves.
  • Added iron-on edging to the new shelves where I needed to.
  • Stripped the paint off the TV stand.
  • Raised the TV stand by half an inch and added trim around the bottom.
  • Painted the TV stand.
  • Realized I was going to have to paint the living room.

Here’s some evidence that I did actually do some work on the bookshelves.

Steps in my bookshelf makeover

Despite my progress, the bookshelves are kind of on hold right now. They’re all set up in the guest room ready to be painted. However, I’ve shifted my attention to the living room.

The prep process is exactly the same as what we had to go through for the hallway:

  • Pull out nails where pictures were hung.
  • Take off cover plates.
  • Sand the incredibly rough walls.
  • Patch holes and divots.
  • Wipe down the trim.
  • Paint the trim.
  • Prime the walls.
  • Paint (two coats).

The living room is both simple and complicated to paint. Complicated because it’s a vaulted ceiling that requires a big ladder to reach the top of the wall. Simple because on the two walls I’m painting, there is an archway on one and a patio door on the other. The actual wall space is minimal.

And yes, you read that correctly. I am painting only two walls. Of the four walls in the living room one is already painted (as you saw) and the other contains the fireplace. I am not painting around the fireplace until we’re done whatever we do with the fireplace.

So my August project is another bit of a fail. I did manage to get the TV stand completely finished though. I’ve put it in place, even though we’ll likely have to move it when we paint. I had to finish something this month.

TV stand before and after

What did you accomplish this month? Have you ever gotten mid-way through a project and only to find your to-do list has grown?

Baa-baa black sheep

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Last week I happened to be over at my parents,’ and my Mom said she had received a notice to go to the post office to pick up a package for me. We were both pretty curious. It’s been awhile since I received mail at my parents’ address.

As soon as we saw the return address on the package, we knew what it was. My Mom’s friend had made me a quilt.

Quilt based on Kay Harmon design for Springtime Frolic

In her wonderful cover note, she called this a nephew quilt. I am a very proud aunt to four fun boys. Two of them are brand new, born just this year.

Here’s some of what she wrote:
“Aunts dream up projects to make with their nephews and have great patience when sharing their tools, skills and time… This quilt is for you to snuggle under with those nephews and love them to bits.”

The design is based on a tabletop quilt by Kay Harmon called Springtime Frolic. My Mom’s friend saw it in the Primitive Quilts magazine this spring and then adjusted the pattern to make it a bit larger.

The workmanship, the piecing and the quilting are absolutely beautiful. The parts I like best are the squiggle quilting (I don’t know the proper term for it) around the outside edge and, of course, the one black sheep.

Detail on a quilt based on Kay Harmon design for Springtime Frolic

I’m choosing to associate myself with this guy since I like to be a little bit different and stand out every so often. Besides, I cannot cast one of my nephews as the black sheep.

I feel so honoured that someone took the time to make something by hand specifically for me. Plus, it just seems right that we have a handmade patchwork quilt at the farm… especially one with livestock on it. This is a very special gift. Thank you, Mary.

Anyone else have a homemade quilt at their house? Or are there any quilters out there? I’m a sewer, but I’ve never tackled a quilt, and I admire those who do.

Fields of beans

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It’s been nearly three months since our fields were planted with soybeans. Well past time for an update, Baxter informed me.

Hello y’all. Baxter here. I went on a detailed inspection of our fields this weekend, and I’m here to share my report on the state of our soybeans. I can’t believe Julia’s let it go this long without showin’ y’all what’s been going on. I’ve decided to take care of this myself. A farm dog’s responsibilities never end.

First off, our soybeans are tall. As tall as me. Some spots are shorter, but most are growin’ pretty well.

Baxter in our field of soybeans

Second off, our soybeans are not real sniffy. They smell mostly like green.

Baxter sniffing the soybeans

Third off, our soybeans are fuzzy. Not furry like a dog. Just fuzzy.

Soybeans

Yup. We’ve got actual beans, y’all.

I haven’t tasted them yet. I’m waitin’ ’til they get a bit riper for that test. I’ll keep y’all informed.

Baxter’s crop report is turning into an annual occasion. Click here to read his last one from a year ago.

Behind the scenes on vacation

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This past week has been my second holiday of the summer. It’s been a wonderful time with Matt, Baxter, Ralph and the farm. I’ve spent some time with family and had a few projects, of course.

Here’s a few highlights what’s been happening this week.

Vacation photos

  • Cheering on my sister as she runs her first race since having a baby this spring. She did 5K in 22:30–a great time that was fast enough to come second in her age group!
  • Checking out a new dog park with Baxter. He had a chance to play with not one but two of his most favourite dogs ever–Great Danes.
  • Taking a mini getaway to Orillia to visit Matt’s brother and sister-in-law.
  • Uncovering a family of baby mice in my closet (no picture, you’re welcome). Not how I wanted to start my Sunday morning. It wasn’t a fun experience for Matt either, who was in charge of removal.
  • Revisiting some classic (for me) ’90s TV and signing two new books out of the library.
  • Playing in the annual office softball game… until we got rained out… and rained on. My favourite wings for dinner made up for being a bit soggy.
  • Helping my father-in-law cover his pool for the season. The water was 64 degrees (about 17 celsius). Brrr.
  • Working on my bookshelf makeover with my Dad, clearing a big pile of firewood and weeds from around the old firepit and finally getting my cold cellar work room organized.

I tried not to be too ambitious with my to-do list for this vacation. So I’m also trying to be okay with not spending as much time on “projects” as I could have this week. I figure I could take a good six months off work and keep myself busy every day.

I think I’d make a really good retired person.

What were the highlights of your week?