A few people had requested photos of the farm covered in snow. So far, there’s not been much to show you, as very little snow has fallen. However, on Monday some snow arrived, so yesterday morning as the sun was coming up I grabbed some photos for you.
What’s the weather like where you are?
In the final stages of negotiating to buy our first house, we were $1,000 under what the sellers wanted. In hindsight, it was just $1,000, but it was hard for us to up our offer. In the end, we wrote the microwave and little chest freezer that were in the house into the contract and paid the extra $1,000.
Since then we’ve joked that we have a $700 microwave and a $300 freezer (don’t ask me why the freezer got undervalued… although the microwave makes really excellent popcorn).
Despite low-balling it, we do like the freezer too. It’s small, but it allows Matt to feed his habit of always being stocked in case the apocalypse arrives.
Because Matt keeps us so well-stocked though, I often find myself emptying the entire freezer looking for the one tray of chicken breasts I’m sure is somewhere underneath the boxes of frozen fish and 17 packages of bacon. (There’s no question about Matt’s priorities–and yes, I actually counted 17 packages).
In his desire to improve his bacon stockpile, Matt has been campaigning to upgrade the freezer for some time. I’ve been holding out. However, when 100+ pounds of venison came into our lives at the beginning of November, I relented.
We could get a bigger freezer. But I was adamant it had to be upright. I was not going to spend more time mining through an even bigger chest freezer.
Just before Christmas, our freezer arrived. Matt retrieved our venison from his father’s freezers–yup, plural. (The propensity to stockpile frozen food is genetic). And we loaded up the new freezer.
The venison got a shelf, the whole bottom drawer and a few of the door shelves as well. Deer burgers anyone?
Despite being one-third filled with venison, there’s still lots more room. This freezer is huge. Cubic footage was our biggest criteria in choosing the new freezer. To help keep us organized, I purchased some bins from the dollar store. We have one for chicken, wieners (sausages and hotdogs), vegetables, breads, seafood, and, of course, one just for bacon.
We’re calling this our Christmas gift to each other. (Isn’t being a grown-up so cool? Forget about video games or gadgets. We get appliances for Christmas.) It’s not as big as the couch from our first year and definitely not close to the fireplace from last year, but the new freezer is absolutely an upgrade from our old one.
What did you get for Christmas this year? Do you have a freezer? Is yours upright or chest? Any freezer organization tips to share? Do you have venison in your freezer? Any venison recipes to share? We’re going to be eating it for awhile.
Reaching back into the photo archives to #IceStorm2013–two years ago this week–to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday.
Thanks for hanging out with me in this little corner of the internet over the past year. I appreciate you following along with our farm adventures.
Merry Christmas.
The date on the calendar says Dec. 21–also known as the first day of winter.
And the photo below says that Matt and I have crossed off the last item on my fall to-do list–replacing the filters in our water system.
Our first year at the farm, we had our water contractor do the annual service for us. We’ve since learned that this is a job we can easily tackle ourselves.
As we were changing the filters, we talked about adding a task to the get-it-done-before-winter to-do list: putting the snowblower on the tractor.
Temperatures are still super mild here, so we could avoid freezing our fingers as we connect the blower. But temperatures are still super mild. Will we even need the snowblower? (Ha-ha. I think that’s a bit optimistic for winter in southern Ontario).
Final determination? We’re going to risk it and stay blower-less for now.
Matt has plans to clear some of the deadfall in the back forest before the end of the year, so being able to put the trailer on the back of the tractor would be very helpful.
It may be winter, the fall to-do list may be done, but work at the farm continues.
How did you do getting ready for winter? Do you have a job that you learned isn’t as difficult as you thought at first? What’s still on your to-do list between now and the end of the year?
We’re two weeks away from New Year’s Day. Every year that we’ve been at the farm, I’ve been able to go skating on the pond on New Year’s.
Unless we get a serious cold snap for Christmas, I don’t think skating’s going to be on the activity list.
The surface of the pond is more about reflections these days than it is about ice.
The water is trickling in the creek.
The deer paths around the shore are very, very squishy–not even close to frozen–mud.
The reeds are still green.
A thirsty puppy even has a place to get a drink.
2016 is coming no matter what. Skating? I’m not so sure.
What’s the weather like where you are? How are you planning to celebrate New Year’s? Do you have any traditions you’re looking forward to?
Somehow, I’ve ended up married to a person who cannot–cannot–pass by a Value Village without stopping in. Now I enjoy thrifting as well. However, more often than not, I end up walking around the VV parking lot with Baxter, as I prefer not to leave him in the car.
So a few weeks ago, Bax and I did our shopping in the parking lot.
I’ve been on the hunt for a china cabinet to use for storage in my office. There just happened to be a pair of bookcases sitting outside the VV that I thought might work. A quick conversation with the clerk confirmed that they weren’t sold, and he was more than happy to be spared carrying them into the store.
When we got them home, it turned out they were a bit too big for my office. However, I thought they might work for the dining room.
I’ve been on the hunt for a new china cabinet for the dining room for a little while. In fact, it was one of the items on my Home Goals 2015 list.
I had visions of using a big 1990s style entertainment unit for the dining room. I was blown away when I first saw Thalita’s entertainment unit makeover in her kitchen, and it sparked all kinds of ideas.
An entertainment unit–one that used to hold those huge boxy TVs–would give me a tonne of storage. And even though these are more bookcases than TV cabinets, they totally do.
The cupboards below hold our wedding china, wine glasses and other serving pieces and keep them sheltered from dust–even with a lovely cutout in the back of the cabinet.
The shallow drawers are perfect for candles and cutlery.
The shelves above hold the prized Bleu de Roi china that I inherited from my grandmother and some bar supplies along with Matt’s collection of steins and shot glasses.
I haven’t done much styling for these shelves. I’ve more just unloaded various cupboards.
And this set up is definitely not final.
My original vision was for three bookcases. I still have plans to build a middle section to tie the shelves all together. Plus remove the arch at the top of the cases, update the trim and the hardware, add glass doors to the upper section (I don’t believe in dusting, so open shelves and I do not get along) and then paint everything.
Plus someday I’d like to paint the walls in the dining room, relocate the antlers, etc. etc. etc.
For now though, I figure I’m at least 2/3 of the way there.
One sunny Saturday morning a few weeks ago, Matt and I woke up to a frosty wonderland.
You’ve been hearing about me spreading manure on the garden pretty much all fall. However, this post has been an even longer time coming. In fact, it’s been sitting in my drafts folder since June 2012. Way back then, Matt and I mucked out our first stall.
I was responsible for raking up the old straw.
And Matt was responsible for getting the straw out of the stall and into the field behind the barn.
We just used rakes, rather than bothering to find the pitchforks, and then we piled the old straw behind the barn. This stall became Wiley’s garage.
The previous owners of our property had boarded horses. When they left, they didn’t bother to clean out the stalls.
And this fall, three years later, we still had 14 stalls full of straw and manure.
We also had a brand new vegetable garden that had been super productive. If I wanted to keep it productive, I needed to replenish the soil.
That meant it was finally time to tackle the barn.
It took me about 9 hours spread over three weekends. There were more than a dozen trailer loads of manure, and I don’t even know how many wheelbarrow loads. There were two assistants, Ms. Scratches and Mr. Sunbather, neither of whom gave very much assistance.
There was no way to get the tractor or the trailer into the barn, so I wheeled all of the straw through the barn, up a plank and into the trailer. When the trailer was full, I towed it out to the garden.
I got very proficient at backing up the trailer through this project. It just fit through the gate on the garden.
I usually laugh when people ask me what my workout routine is. I own a farm. That means I work. No need for a gym membership. Here’s my version of a workout video. Repeat that about a 100 more times.
So it only took me three years (or really three weekends once I got started), but finally the stalls are clean.
Now to find a new workout…
Have you ever had to muck out stalls? Any tips to make it easier? (Not that I’m planning on doing it again). What’s a project that you’ve had hanging around for awhile?
Ladies and gentlemen, I have to inform you that this is the first post of December. We have just three weeks until winter.
And that means I have just three weeks left to finish up my fall to-do list.
I’m actually not doing too bad.
The vegetable garden – Done for the season
As you saw last week, I’m declaring the vegetable garden done for the year. Never mind that I didn’t finish everything I wanted to. I have high hopes for productivity come spring.
The bird feeder – Done for awhile.
Our birdies are loving the feeder. So is Ralph. She camps out under Matt’s car and watches the feeder intently. So far, I don’t think she’s caught any birds. A trio of neighbourhood crows showed up on Sunday morning. If Ralph wants to deal with them, that would be fine with me.
Firewood – Done thanks to Matt and his Dad.
Here is my view as I type this post. I love our evenings in front of the fire.
Get Wiley ready for winter – Done thanks to my cousin.
Our little tractor will need his snowblower soon, but the rest of him is ready for winter.
The house – Almost done.
Matt cleaned out the gutters again a week ago, and I took off the screens last Saturday–Baxter thought we should go on a third walk instead.
The outdoor water is off, and all that remains is the annual service and filter replacement on our indoor water system. That’s scheduled for next weekend.
So only one thing left to do before winter. That’s probably a good thing because I have a long list of things to do before Christmas. At least life is never boring.
How are you doing on getting ready for winter? What progress have you made in getting ready for Christmas?
Whew. I am glad it’s Friday–even if it is Friday the 13th. I feel like I’ve been playing catch-up all week.
It won’t be a quiet weekend for us, but it will be a good one.
We’re hosting our annual Christmas party for the extended family on Matt’s Mom’s side. It’s a little earlier than usual, but no one seems to mind. I’m glad that we’re all able to get together. It means a lot to us that Matt and I are able to keep this tradition going.
Here’s what else is happening in our lives these days:
And that’s all I’ve got, folks. I think it’s time to call it a week.
How did your week go? What are your plans for the weekend?
Home on 129 Acres 