I live in a gated community

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

It’s a very exclusive enclave we have here in the country.

Population: 2 (plus 1 cat and 1 kitten)

With our new gate in place at the bottom of the driveway, farm living has become quite chi-chi.

Open sesame

Actually, setting aside my new pretensions, we installed the gate for security. We’re far enough from civilization that neighbours or police really wouldn’t be much help to us in the event of a break in. If we’re home we can keep an eye on things, but when we’re not the gate may just be enough of a deterrent to people who are thinking about trespassing.

I’ll admit that I was initially pretty resistant to having a gate. I don’t like the way they look, and I didn’t want the inconvenience of opening and closing it when I was coming and going.

However, I actually like the way our gate ended up looking. It’s still a bit of a pain to stop, open the gate, drive through, park and close the gate when you’re leaving or arriving, but it’s a small price to pay for feeling secure about our house.

It’s a simple set up: just a chain and a padlock

If you want in, you have to have the key

My Dad and Matt made some metal hooks to support the gate when it’s closed and when it’s propped open.

The hook supports the gate to ease the weight on the hinges and also secures the gate in place.

We do like having visitors at the farm–at least from people we know. So if you’re planning on dropping by, let us know, and we’ll open the gate for you!

Welcome to the farm

Anyone out there live in an actual gated community? How do you deal with security at your house?

See my earlier post for the story of setting the posts for the gate.

Signs of September

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

On Friday I got all sentimental… and metaphorical and poetical… about the sun setting on another summer. I realize officially we have a few weeks left, but here we are the start of September (already!) and things are starting to feel a bit different.

They’re starting to look a bit different too

To mark the start of September, one of our maple trees has already started turning red.

I don’t mean to alarm you, but the change is not limited to just a handful of leaves

So far, the change does seem to be limited to the one tree.

But the whole tree is involved in the metamorphosis

I think it’s coming, people. Yes, it’s the f-word (not that one!), soon to be followed by the big W.

Are you ready?

Rain clouds at sunset

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

As the sun sank fully below the horizon, the clouds lifted.

A wave of bright peach orange floated across the bottom of the sky glowing brightly behind the dark spires of the trees. The light flowed up, ebbing to a light grey blue splashed with the dark flotsam of the rain clouds. Following the light up into the sky, my view shifted to the darkening east where the deep blue tide of night rose.

Wildflower week – Goldenrod

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Matt and I have decided to take it easy this week, so the blog is going to be a little quieter than usual. To tide you over until we resume our regular program of renovations, I present a week of wildflower pictures from around the farm. Thank you for allowing me to loaf a little.

Goldenrod (apologies to all allergy sufferers)

A stand of goldenrod

Wildflower week – Thistles

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Fuzzy bumblebee on a thistle

Thistles in the field behind the barn

Wildflower week – Cornflower

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Lovely light blue cornflower

Every morning, the cornflowers stretch eastward capturing the rays of the rising sun

Wildflower week – Birdsfoot Trefoil

Posted on August 21, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

A new flower for me, Birdsfoot Trefoil

The uniquely shaped blossoms

Wildflower week – Queen Anne’s Lace

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The quintessential farm flower for me, Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne’s Lace at sunset

This is not taking it easy

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Remember on Friday when I said that I was hoping Matt and I would do nothing this weekend? Yeah, well, that plan didn’t work out at all.

Instead of sleeping in and sitting outside in lawn chairs for two days straight, we went and rented an auger.

We’ve had a number of people turn in the driveway and come all the way up to the house. Once they get to the top and realize our cars are parked there (i.e. we’re home), they make their way around the turnaround and go back down the driveway. Usually by this point I’ve come out of the front door to glare at them as they drive away.

We have a long driveway, so if people are lost and need to just turn around, we wouldn’t even know they were there. For people to end up at the house, they’re trespassing.

We decided we need a gate at the bottom of the driveway.

A gate needs posts, and posts need holes, so we needed an auger.

Matt and my Dad drill a post hole with the auger

Matt and my Dad ran the auger while I came behind and cleaned out the holes.

Why does the person with the shortest arms have to clean out the hole?

We do own shovels, but a hands-on approach worked better for me sometimes given what we found in the holes.

Lots and lots of stones

The auger did not like the stones.

It particularly disliked this stone.

This boulder became the bane of my existence for about an hour. We all took our turns working around it with the shovel, the prybar, even a pick. It was massive, and it wasn’t moving.

The post that was to go in this hole was supposed to be our hinge, so we needed it to be really solid. But with the rock in the way, we couldn’t get the hole deep enough. So, we decided to swing the gate the other way and drilled a new nice and deep hole on the other side of the driveway.

Then, it was a matter of mixing up our concrete and setting our posts in place.

I take a turn mixing while Matt adds the water

By the end of the day, we had four new posts in place: two at either end of the gate, one to hook the gate to when it’s open and a new post for the mailbox.

We braced the posts to hold them plumb while the concrete sets

Oh, and we also had more sore muscles and a few new calluses.

Have we reached the end of the to-do list yet? Has anyone spotted the end? Can you please tell me is it far away?

And please tell me someone out there got to sleep in and sit in a lawn chair this weekend.

Retraction

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Continuing with this week’s theme of manpower, Matt would like for me to formally retract the statement I made last week that trenching the satellite line was “no sweat.”

As the person who spent six hours burying the wire, Matt would like it made known that this job was no small task.

The distance from the satellite dish to the house was about 150 feet. Given that length, it didn’t matter that the trench was only six inches deep; this was a tough job.

The satellite wire is to the left of the trench

In addition to the length of the trench, the other challenge was the trench’s position through and alongside a stand of trees. Matt had to contend with a lot of roots while he was digging.

A particularly large root that Matt encountered on his excavation

Once he had the trench done, it was a simple matter (hope I don’t get in trouble for downplaying this part of the job) of laying the wire in the bottom.

The wire in the trench

As I mentioned last week, the wire runs under our patio for a short distance. While we’d already worked together to trench this section, once the wire was in place Matt had to backfill, level and reset the patio slabs.

Patio slabs back in place

He also had to cut an extra few inches of plastic conduit and slit it to go around the wire. This protects the wire where it comes out of the ground so that it doesn’t get pinched or cut.

He used just a basic plastic pipe for the conduit and slit it to go around the wire

When Matt was digging, he kept sod on one side of the trench and top soil on the other, so that everything could be neatly put back in place. This made for a very tidy lawn at the end of the day.

You can’t even tell Matt was there

And what does manpower look like after six hours of sweaty work? Matt documented that for me as well:

Note the staging with the feet on the table, the shovel in the shot and the satellite in the distance. Note as well the angle of the setting sun showing how long Matt was working at this job.

There you go, Matt. I hope that this post makes up for any downplaying of your efforts and skills. Thank you for all of your work on this job and all of the others you take on to make our home all that we want it to be.