Our mini orchard

I love having the diversity of living on a farm! It is so wonderful to have the space to work away and not be limited because of lack of room!
A couple of weeks ago, Dave splurged and bought several fruit trees. So we have our own little orchard. He has always talked about having an orchard and we have planted trees on our other places but have always moved before they really got mature.
He bought 2 peach trees, 2 cherry trees, and a 4 variety pear tree. I had bought him a plum tree last year for his birthday so I think we are set! We already have plenty of mature apple trees scattered about the farm.
The peach tree is already blooming, and yes the zoning is supposed to be ok for our area! Will let you know if we get fruit!

The cherry tree is blossoming too!

With these new trees and the raspberry patch, rhubarb patch and the strawberries I planted last year, I think we are well on our way to being self providing for our fruit needs anyway! It is kind of cool knowing where your food has come from and what exactly has been done to it. These days with growth hormones and pesticides and goodness knows what else they do to food, it is nice knowing we are getting as natural as possible!

The trees are set just beyond our garden bordering the rail fence into the pasture field. Can't wait to see if/when they bear fruit!

Cruiser @ 8 mos

Here are some updated pics of my up and coming boy Cruiser!
To date I quite pleased with him and think he is an all round nice looking boy. Initially we had some problems with his "maleness" decending but that seems to have corrected itself! Whew!!

He has awsome length of leg, nice level topline. His bite is great as is his personality! Very friendly and outgoing...

I am a tad concerned with his coat. It is not yet coming in the nice silk that we like to see. It appears to be staying quite black...which is not to standard.

Cole was quite dark as well so he could just be following in his daddy's footsteps.

Time will tell I guess and we will see what is in store for this boy's future!

The Red Rec Room

So, we have a red rec room...
I wasn't sure that I would like it but low and behold I do! I let the kids choose the colour and this is the one they all agreed on...that in itself is amazing!!!
The colour was called "Moulin Rouge" from the Debbie Travis collection at Canadian Tire.
The kids are loving the rec room for watching TV or playing Wii...

We don't have alot of furniture down there and the walls are still bare. Was just going to look around for some bargain furniture off of craigslist or kijiji that didn't matter if it got spilled on. Will get something on the walls eventually!!

I am quite pleased with how the room turned out! We repainted the trim in white to really offset the red and think it looks fresh and updated!
Still working on a colour for the other rooms so stayed tuned for that!

James' new ride!!!

Well today my boy is a licensed driver! Wow....this morning he went for his G2..2nd step in the graduated licensing program. This allows him to drive without a licensed driver beside him!
I'm a little scared...ok alot scared!
Everyone keeps telling me "now the fun begins" but I think it began a long time ago!
Here is his new wheels...well new for him...
A 1995 GMC Jimmy....
He has some parts to buy and some work to do on it yet before it can go for a safety and drive on the road.

For now he will drive my van...(eeeeeeeks) until his truck in road worthy. Should be fun...not!

At any rate, congrats to James on being a licensed driver!!!

Autumn at our local dog show...

This past weekend we competed in our local club's dog show! I attempted to show Autumn myself! I havn't actually showed "myself" for almost 2 years! As its worked out, I didn't have anything to show and then when Autumn became old enough, my commitments at work took priority so I've had my handler show her.
She is sitting at 5 points and I thought maybe I could have put a point or 2 on her.......
This was not the case. I am disapointed but I think "we" did well...
Here is my pretty girl before the show...oh how I love this little girl!!!!


This is Casi's ribbon, she had taken her in the sanction match the evening before. Sanction match is like a "mock show"...run like a real show but just for practice. Casi ended up going Group 1 and then going in Best in Show!!! Too bad that wasn't in the real show!!!


Here is our first go around...I thought Autumn moved the best for me this day.


The judge going over Autumn...

Here is the group going for Winners Female...Autumn took reserve (2nd) this day.

Saturday, Casi showed Autumn and I have to say both my girls looked great! I had several comments from fellow show people how professional Casi looked and what a great job she did! Very proud of my girls!!!

Saturday there was no ribbon for us and Sunday, out a class of 5 females Autumn took reserve again...so i guess 2nd isn't so bad, unfortunately, no points for 2nd....

We fell in love with this wee Chihuahua! Normally, not a chihuahua person but this little spit fire of a boy wowed us from ringside. He was all of 2.5 lbs but wow...did he have a BIG personality! He ended up taking group winnings and got best puppy in group too. He looked like a live squeeky toy!

All in all was a good show, no points but I did take the plunge and showed for myself and after such a long absense...was good for me! Casi proved that she could handle the points ring and her and Brittany competed in Junior Handling. Out of a class of 6, Brittany took 2nd and Casi took 3rd, so again really well done and really proud of all my girls!

Planning our next show, whether it be me showing or having my handler depends on what weekend and if I'm working! Stay tuned!

8%

I recieved this in an email today. It said that only 8% will forward it on to anyone while 92% will not. I decided to do a post about it......

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job. His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him. He remembered family who had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had, that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment, and frustration.
Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed: 'Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot. I don't know how.. It is not fair Lord, I didn't deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn't have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don't know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray you teach me to do the one thing I cannot do: Teach me to forgive .'
As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt. He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground.
He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them. He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man's tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.
'Have you ever told a lie?' He asked? The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' '
Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?' The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' And the man sobbed more and more.
'Have you ever taken something from work that wasn't yours?' Jesus asked? And the man answered, 'Yes , Lord.'
'Have you ever sworn, using my Father's name in vain?' The man, crying now, answered - 'Yes, Lord.'
As Jesus asked many more times, 'Have you ever'? The man's crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - 'Yes, Lord'.
Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.
Jesus said, 'I didn't deserve this either, but I forgive you.'
It may be hard to see how you're going to get through something, but when you look back in life, you realize how true this statement is.
Read the following first line slowly and let it sink in.
If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.
When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you!
If you are one of the 8% who will stand up for Him, forward this with the Title 8%
92% of people won't forward this

May God Bless You and your loved ones

Window pics...

I promised earlier that I would take updated pics of the house with the new windows in.
So for extreme effect I thought I would show you from the very beginning....
This is the house, the day that we looked at it with real estate.

This is the house when we had added the shutters and the front deck. We had also take off half of the deck that was a long the driveway and put in a stone walk way with flower beds.

This is the most current picture...don't mind the snow, that was a cruel trick of mother nature...

This is with the new windows.

We are getting there slowly! I am really pleased with these windows. They are cosmetically so much nicer to look at, and they are so much more airtight! Cleaning is a breeze now! Love em!

The Basement Chronicles..

Welcome to our basement! This is a part of the house that I have never blogged about thus far. The reason being is that it was a granny flat for Dave's mom. So this was her space and not ours. She has recently moved giving us more space as the kids are certainly getting older and bigger and needing it! I will be doing a post today about how it looks today and then blogging about the changes that we have done as they happen.
Basically the space consists of a living room/rec room, bedroom, a 3 pc bathroom and a small kitchen. Our plans are to keep the bedroom for a spare room for company or when the kids have friends over.
Here is a view of the bedroom from the kitchen.

This is another view from the kitchen looking into the bathroom, bedroom and the rec room.

A view of the kitchen from the rec room. We plan on using the cupboard space for extra storage.

This is the rec room. The kids have grand plans for this room! I allowed them to choose the colour of the room. I figured this was their space so let them choose.....well they chose RED!

It was amazing that they all agreed on this one colour but it was red. It will be a dramatic change to the room and I hope it turns out. I am kinda scared as I would never go that bold but if they hate it, they will have to look at for a few years. If anyone is near a CT store, go to paint and look at the Debbie Travis collection for "Moulin Rouge". Remember...they chose it! Not me!

Here is another view of the livingroom as you enter from the kitchen.

Will keep you updated. The snow day yesterday was perfect for putting the kids to work. We got all the trim painted and because they chose red, we had to prime the walls first, so that got done. Today the 1st coat of red goes up. Wish me luck as I am still scared...eeeks...red....

I can hear my dad always wanting my mom to paint walls red when she asked his opinion, who knows maybe it skipped a generation..

Wish me luck......

Mother Nature certainly has a twisted sense of humour...

Yesterday morning we woke up to this......a 2 ft blanket of snow. Eeeks! After every last bit of snow was gone, the grass was getting greener and I had raked off all my flower beds. After seeing bits of spring flowers coming up and Dave had even worked up the garden...we get this...
The kids even got a snow day yesterday.... A SNOW day in April!!
They loved it, especially considering they will be off on Friday again for the Easter weekend.

We had actually already sat outside and used our patio furniture this year!

At any rate...the temps are supposed to warm up later this week so hopefully we will rid ourselves of this white stuff...enough already! I remember being told that late spring snow is very high is some kind of nutrient so lets hope this is good for something!

New Venture!

A few weeks ago we went and visited a farm not too far from us to look at a ram for our herd of sheep. Almost right away it became clear how serious they were into their sheep, with the bio security precautions they were taking and the different registrations they were talking. They were an older couple and it was so cute how they answered for each other and they both knew names and numbers of their sheep and what they had delivered even years previous!

Now our herd of sheep is just a commercial flock, they are not registered and our lambs are sold for market.

However it really impressed upon me how awsome it would be to be that involved with something together. I have my horses and the sheep are his babies. So Dave and I got to talking about something that we could go into as a venture together and learn and study together.

So it came back to a few years ago, we had checked into Myotonic Goats. They are also referred to as fainting goats. Basically if they get scared or excited the myotonia in their bodies causes them to stiffen and they fall over. This does not hurt them, this is a natural part of who they are.

Also I should mention that it is cruel to purposely make them faint by scaring them...it would be cruel make any animal scared. At the time, there was none to be had in Ontario, and we weren't that serious then to have them shipped from the prairies. We had just bought the farm and there was so many other things to do at that time. Now, however we are committed!

Me, always having a flare for the different or unusual got right into researching the breed, the standard, the different registries and talking to a few different breeders. What really peeked our interest too is that there are only a handful of breeders in Canada. According to one breeder I spoke to, she said there are less that 300 registered in Canada which makes them a rare breed. There are alot in the states but with the border closing a few years back, made bringing breeding stock across the border impossible.

So it is really exciting for us to think of being part of something that will help restore the breed in Canada....plus they are soo cool!

Long story short, we are now on 2 waiting lists for "kids". 2 does and 1 buck each. One list is a breeder in Eastern Ontario and the other is a breeder in Manitoba. The kids are due anywhere from April to June. They will not be weaned for 4 months so it will be into fall before we will get our kids, if we get kids as they already have a lengthy waiting list. That will be ok so we can configure things here to house them and be able to pasture them apart.

We are excited and looking forward to seeing the different colour patterns that they have and what will come our way!

Call us crazy...probably...

Spring arrives!

Well it seems spring is here! We have been outside and puttering at this and that, so havn't had much time for blogging! Alas, it is pouring down rain today so perfect weather for inside stuff (ie...computer time!!)
Spring is going to bring some new additions to our farm, I hope at least. I am anticipating 3 foals this spring but the one mare I am not sure if she caught. The other is really heavy in foal and by the looks of her she may go early to mid May. The third girl...seems to change every day I see her, one day I think she is not, then I see her again and I think she may be later on. She is really chubby to begin with so it makes it hard to know for sure!
I have done a back to back breeding with Sadie and she too is due early May so I am eagerly awaiting babies! They will be my only puppies until likely late fall.
Dave has been really working hard installing all 16 of our windows and getting them finished on the inside and the outside. I am soooo pleased with how they look, and how they function! No more putting sticks in the windows to hold them up!
I will do a post with pics soon!
I can see the peeking of my spring flowers coming up. It is always such a refreshing site after a long cold snowy winter! As much as the rain makes things muddy and soft, it also washes the dirt and grim of the winter away! I always love the promise of what spring brings!
So happy spring folks!

Autumn shows at Nickel District Kennel Club

Last weekend I packed up my baby and entrusted her with Peter (my handler) for a 5 show weekend in Sudbury. I again was on pins and needles all weekend waiting for word on how she was doing!
The entry was low, there was only Autumn and one other male. So winning Best of Breed for either dog would only mean 1 point per show.
So in total Autumn won Best of Breed 3 times, bringing home 3 points, she is now up to 5 points, half way there to her championship.
Peter who handles alot of dogs really liked her and commented several times what a nice all round girl she is. That makes me feel good! I tend to agree but perhaps I may be a tad biased!!!
So my next plan for her is our local show the end of April. I plan to show her myself and see what lil ol me can do! Wish us luck!