The maple leaf is flying again over the farm. Happy Canada Day.
Category Archives: Country life
The cost of country living
You’ll have to excuse me today. I have a bit of a rant.
I said last week that I am most looking forward to getting to the payback stage of our solar panels. Friday night, we came home to an envelope from the hydro company. Inside was not a payment, but a bill.
The panels use a little bit of power to operate. Once our account is fully set up, this amount will be deducted from the total we generate. The payment side, though, isn’t set up yet. The billing side is. Funny how that works, eh?
Delays in getting our payments are not my complaint.
Country living is not simple, and it’s not cheap. One of my biggest surprises in moving to the farm was how much electricity costs.
Well, it’s not so much electricity. The rates are the rates. What changes depending on where you live is the delivery rate. In the country, where the population is less dense and there are fewer houses, delivery (the cost to get electricity from the generating station, through the lines and up to my house) is more than half my regular bill. Ouch.
I’m willing to suck it up and pay for the privilege of living where I do. However, this latest bill for our solar is completely out of whack. Look at the numbers.
We used 1 kWh of electricity. One. Delivery was $5.40. Five freaking dollars and 40 freaking cents. Oh, and let’s throw 70 cents of tax on there just for fun. The total bill of $6.10 does not include a charge for using any actual electricity. It’s all just delivery and tax. Ridiculous.
Ask Matt and he’ll tell you that I’m a little bit bitter about the delivery charge. I’ve hated it for pretty much every hydro bill during the last two and a half years. I cannot wait until the hydro company finally starts paying us for the electricity we’re generating.
Snapshot
Rainy daisy.
Civics lesson
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
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
Have a guess what these are?
Share it in the comments, and I’ll share the answer on Monday.
The epee umbrella
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?
Crazy for a full moon
I think we’ve established that we don’t have a fenced yard, and we’re still working on helping Baxter remember he has to come when called. So any time Baxter goes outside, he’s wearing a leash, and a human is holding the end.
As the human responsible for the first and last outings of the day, I love a full moon.
Being able to see my shadow at 6am and 10pm is a luxury.
On most of our walks this winter, I was stumbling over ruts, tripping over tufts of grass, straining my eyes for telltale strips of white–and my nose for the putrid scent–that signifies skunk.
Now that the days are getting longer, our walks are starting to be lit by the rising sun. However, I still have a special fondness for moon walks.
While the full moon is reputed to cause craziness, full moon walks are so much more relaxing. What drives me crazy is if my full moon is hidden behind cloud cover.
Aside: Apparently there was an eclipse yesterday. I missed it. Eclipses are neat enough that I would have given up my full moon without complaint.
What’s your favourite phase of the moon? Is anyone else wandering around outside in the wee hours of the morning and night? Did you catch the eclipse?
Our new pond
I’ve written before how important it was to me to have a pond on our property.
Well, this spring we have a new pond, although it’s not quite what I imagined.
Behold the pond in the driveshed.
Can’t you just picture it? A peaceful afternoon at the shore, watching the trees reflect in the water’s surface, surrounded by recycling bins, tools and the smell of oil. Ahhh.
There’s always been a low spot inside the door of the driveshed. Occasionally after a big rain, we have a puddle. However, this year’s thaw resulted in more than a puddle. The really hazardous part of our new pond was that for a long time it was still partially frozen. The bottom layer of ice was extremely smooth and extremely slippery. Taking out the recycling took on a new layer of adventure.
Even now that the ice has melted, the adventure remains. Ralph was helping Matt with the garbage this week, and she had to make quite the leap to get in and out of the driveshed.
Addition for the spring to-do list: as soon as the gravel pile thaws, pick up a big scoop (or two) of stones for the driveshed.
How are things thawing at your house? Any water where it’s not supposed to be?
Snapshot
Ice-covered branches on a misty country morning. (Shot back before Christmas, but too pretty not to share).
Home on 129 Acres 