Civics lesson

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

June is election month here in Ontario, so we decided it was a good time to hoist the provincial flag for the first time.

We picked up this flag at Value Village a few months ago. As you’ve seen before, we have a bit of a thing for flags, so it was neat to do some research into Ontario’s flag, which I actually didn’t know very much about.

Ontario’s flag is very British.

“It was traditional for jurisdictions around the world with a British system of government and way of life to adapt either a blue or red ensign as a flag, by adding the local coat of arms or some other symbol.” (Wikipedia)

The Red Ensign is a red flag with a small Union Jack in the upper left corner. For Ontario’s version, the local symbol is the provincial shield of arms.

“The shield of arms… consists of three golden maple leaves, representing Canada, on a green background.” At the top of the shield is the Cross of St. George. Many of the British loyalists who left the US during the American revolution came to Ontario. They were loyal to King George III, hence St. George’s Cross. (Wikipedia)

Leaving aside the history lesson to look to the future, I want to encourage my Ontario readers to please vote. Election day is tomorrow, June 12. Voting is truly important.

Magic beans

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

My husband is now known as Matt of the beanstalk. Or at least Matt of the magic beans. We have a little ways to go until we have actual stalks.

Our fields have been planted with soybeans this year. After tilling the soil, our farmer spread these little turquoise seeds.

After a night of rain, they shifted from round beads to a shape more resembling beans.

Then the beans split.

And now, a week after planting, a few sprouts have begun coming up through the soil.

Fee-fie-foe-fum. Fields of beans, here we come.

Has anyone out there grown soybeans? Or seen them in your area? Are you planting any new plants in your garden this year?

Guess what

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Have a guess what these are?

Share it in the comments, and I’ll share the answer on Monday.

Robins update

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our baby robins didn’t make it.

They sadly didn’t grow much beyond the naked pink creatures I showed you in my first post.

I honestly didn’t know whether to write this post or not. I’d love to be able to show you pictures of cute fuzzy chicks, or awkward fledglings, or even the nest abandoned since the babies learned to fly. However, that’s not how the story goes this time around. This blog is about cataloging our life in the country–the good and the bad. In this case, there’s not a happy ending.

For the first few days after they hatched, Mama and Daddy stayed close, feeding them and sitting on them, keeping them warm. But then something changed. Mama didn’t come back to the nest one night. Maybe she got spooked or got attacked. Temperatures were still too cold for the babies, and they died.

When I first saw the babies, I thought they were the most helpless things I’ve ever seen.

Even though it was too late when I realized Mama wasn’t around, I started thinking about things like heat lamps and eye droppers. But the reality is that as much as I’m compassionate about animals, I’m also a “let nature take its course” kind of woman.

Growing up with chickens and ducks and geese–many of whom we raised from eggs and then ate, and many of whom had their own ailments and injuries over their lives–gave me a somewhat unique perspective on animals. Farm living has refined my attitude even more.

Nature is amazingly wondrous and exceedingly harsh. This is a fact of life… and death… that I’m reminded of every so often.

June project plan

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

June’s project might seem a bit unexpected. Weather has finally turned nice. Summer is almost here. Now is the time to be working outside.

However, this month, I’m going to turn my attention back inside to an area you haven’t seen too much of in a little while… the basement. The basement renovation was the big (all-consuming) project for Year One. That was not last summer, but the summer before. As with any renovation, there are still some finishing touches yet to be completed, even two years later.

This month’s project is the basement doors. There are 10 doors in the basement. Two of them are standard colonial style. The other eight (five of which you see below) are basic slab doors. Boooooooring.

All of the doors need to be painted. Smudges, scratches and yellowed paint make them look pretty shabby, especially next to our nice white trim.

Even more than paint, the slab doors need an injection of personality. I think their personality should be a little bit country, so I’m taking inspiration from barn doors.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

A simple raised Z or X detail would be easy to apply, wouldn’t interfere with the hinges or knobs and would fulfill my interior design philosophy that every room needs at least one rustic element.

So the plan for this month is as follows:

Figure out design for the doors – By June 6
Buy material (and hopefully the store staff will cut it into strips for me) – By June 13
Cut strips (if I have to) – By June 14
Remove doors – June 14/15
Remove hardware – June 14/15
Trim the bottom of the door to the electrical panel closet (since it rubs on the carpet) – June 21/22
Install strips on the doors – June 21/22
Buy new ORB hinges – By June 27
Paint the door jambs – By June 27
Spray paint old knobs ORB – By June 29

You’ll notice that actually painting the doors and rehanging them are absent from this list. This is because my secret plan is to get the doors ready to paint, but then pass them on to Matt. He painted all of the doors in our last house, and I think it would be good to continue the tradition. Don’t you?

This probably is more of a one week project, rather than a one month. However, stretching it out will give me a chance to do some work outside still. It would be hard for me to spend the whole month of June indoors.

Have you ever dressed up basic doors? Are you on board with the barn door trend? What’s on your to-do list for June?

May progress report

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Let’s see how many excuses I can come up with to explain my attitude towards working outside during most of May.

Weather was cold and rainy.
My Dad jetted off to England.
The tractor still had the snowblower attached to it up until the middle of the month.

Despite sounding like a big whiner, I actually did accomplish a few things this month. In fact, I surprised myself by how much I was able to cross off my ambitious list of landscaping to-dos for May.

Here’s how I did.

Turnaround

~~Weed the flower garden half~~
~~Spread wood chips on flower garden~~ – I nearly didn’t get to this one, but knowing I had to report back to all of you made me get my butt in gear.
Make a top for the bird bath – I still haven’t figured out what I’m going to do for this one. The idea that I had for the top is a little bit… well… little.

Put the bird bath in place
~~Place the bench~~
~~Continue to fill in the garden with more plants~~

The turnaround is looking awesome IMHO. It’s turning out even better than I expected. Obviously the plants still need to fill out a bit (okay, a lot) more, but I think it’s going to be beautiful.

Front garden

Edge the garden
~~Transplant a few bushes, trees and other plants out of this bed and into some of the other gardens~~
~~Fill in the pit from the woodstove chimney~~
Fix the downspouts
Weed as I go

Trees

~~Pick up fallen branches~~
~~Cut branches to firewood lengths~~
Split firewood
Burn brush – We have three massive piles of brush, but the wood is still a little damp and isn’t that interested in catching fire.

Matt got an in-depth hands-on session with his new chainsaw when his Dad came over to help us with the clean up. This to-do was definitely a team effort. Lesson learned: The chainsaw is heavier than you think, a fact that becomes obvious after working with it all day. Second lesson learned: Your wife doesn’t care that you just learned how to use a chainsaw. She’ll still send you up an extension ladder to trim branches off the pines outside the kitchen window, all so that she can have a better view of the pond. Third lesson learned: Baxter was a big help, as usual.

Baxter supervising ice storm clean up

Grass

Add top soil beside the front stoop and seed
Overseed in front of raised bed under the dining room window
Rake solar trench smooth and seed

Wop-wop. Big fat nothin’ on the grass front. We did mow before it got knee-high, which is an improvement over the past two springs, so I guess that’s something.

Hoses

~~Turn on water to exterior taps~~
~~Install hoses at side~~ and back of house
Install a proper hose bib at the driveshed, so that the hose isn’t laying on the ground. – My Dad’s going to help me with this one, but he couldn’t do very much from England.
1. Shorten waterline
2. Attach to waterline to wall
3. Install a splitter so that I can someday add another hose bib at the opposite corner of the driveshed
4. Reinstall tap on shortened waterline
5. Install hose hanger
6. Hook up hose

My plan to focus on one area per week (or weekend) went a little off track due to weather, support crew and motivation, but I still feel like I put a good dent in this year’s landscaping plan.

Work is ongoing and will continue for a few months (years) yet.

What progress have you made outside so far? Have you learned to use any new equipment this spring? Are your four-legged friends as helpful as Baxter? How do you handle your hoses?

The epee umbrella

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Rumour has it that one night in my grandparents’ apple orchard, there were some thieves stealing gas from the tank my Grandpa kept for the tractors. My uncle–who was a salesman and not the first person I would choose as a defender (no disrespect intended to Uncle Bob)–went out to run them off. This umbrella is what he took as his weapon.

En garde!

The gas incident was well before I was born. Eventually, this umbrella made its way to my grandparents’ cottage. Every so often, it would be pulled out on rainy days so that people could make their way back and forth between cottages. When my grandmother sold the cottage, the umbrella became mine.

The April issue of Country Living magazine featured vintage umbrellas, including one that looked a lot like mine. The shape is called pagoda, and according to CL, “Asian-inspired shapes generally indicate an older piece.” Given its illustrious family history, my umbrella is obviously somewhat old. The umbrella in the magazine was made in Montreal. That Canadian lineage makes me wonder if mine might be related.

I saw another umbrella very similar to mine at an antique show on the weekend. It was even rose ombre but reversed with the pink on the bottom and white on the top. The tag said it was from Montreal too. It was priced at $80. Country Living valued their umbrella at twice that–$160. I’m not sure that mine is worth that much, but maybe it’s about the price of a tank of gas–even at today’s prices.

Do you have any family hand-me-downs with interesting pasts? Have you ever spotted any of your heirlooms in a magazine?

Featured

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Over the past month or so, I’ve been really excited to have some of my posts picked up by other bloggers and other sites.

Pattern Review published my tutorial on how to match horizontal seams across an invisible zipper in their Tip Tuesday feature. The post got some really kind comments, and a few people even said they tried my technique.

Homedit included my DIY umbrella stand as one of 10 Budget-Friendly Entryway Makeovers For A Great First Impression.

My DIY wood island countertop made Shelterness’ list of 12 DIY Wooden Kitchen Countertops To Make.

You all saw the Mad Men dress that I posted a few weeks ago. Julia Bobbin included that dress as well as my yellow bridesmaid dress in her round up of outfits inspired by Joan Holloway’s wardrobe.

And finally, The Optimistic Househusband, AKA Nick, nominated me for One Lovely Blog Award. I’m not going to do a full post like I did last time, but I did want to share a link to Nick’s blog and thank him for the nomination.

Thanks to everyone who featured my posts. It’s neat to see the interconnectedness of the blogosphere. Thanks as well to all of you for following this little blog.

It’s tough being a puppy

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Baxter has a bit of Friday fun for you today as you head into the weekend.

“My head… it’s so heavy. I can’t hold it up any longer… Sigh… I guess I’ll have to use this here rock as a pillow.”

If a branch falls in the forest, does it make a sound?

“Yes. Yes, it did. I heard that. My worry eyebrows and ears are on full alert.”

“Excuse me. My pillow is not properly positioned for optimal sunbathing.”

“I just want to lay here and sniff, and she keeps trying to take a picture… Oh alright. Here you go.”

Life sure is tough for a puppy dog.

I hope your weekend is easier than Baxter’s hard, hard life. For my American readers, happy Memorial Day.

Blue eggs and baby birds

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You want a sure sign that spring is here?

How about this?

A robin built a nest right outside of the kitchen window on top of the clothesline post.

She’s an artistic robin and decorated her nest with long streamers of hosta and hay.

The only way I could get a picture of her was to shoot through the kitchen window, hence the grid of the screen.

Over the weekend, I thought that something might have changed. So on Sunday, when I didn’t see her on the nest, I snuck out for a peak. The eggs were gone. In their place, we had these.

Amazing.

It was a little chilly over the weekend, so Mama stayed close, keeping everybody warm. Mr. Robin brought her snacks every so often. On Monday, Mama and Daddy were both on duty bringing a near constant buffet of bugs and worms to the babies.

Obviously, we’re keeping a very close eye on our new little family.

Do you have any spring babies at your house? Is there any more perfect colour than robin’s egg blue? How long does it take for baby robins to grow feathers?