Happy Easter!

It's been a busy spring here on the farm.
I will start with Easter today and the feast and first full seating at our new harvest table.
Here is my Fam Jam at Easter dinner…turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, veggies and of course dessert!

I had some special visitors since last post to see the farm and see Izzy go.  My friend Reta brought an old friend, Lynda that has moved to BC by for a visit.   Thank you both for stopping in and seeing the progress of Iz.  (xo) 

I very much love the addition, but she found the burrs on the farm.   As hard as I try to burn all of these nasty plants every year…there are still burdocks growing and she found some very dry seedpods out near the pond.   Nothing like trying to get burrs out of a wet Golden!!   Thank the Lord she is a very soft natured dog because even with Show Sheen it didn't make this job simple! 

My friend Lynn and I went to the Gourmet cooking class at the Twisted Lemon.  (Wonderful restaurant which I have written of in previous posts).   I ate more raw meat or nearly raw meat than I have ever eaten in my life!   It was a good class and will for sure be taking another…it was a good experience to push me outside of my comfort zone.   Even tho this was all food I would never order or cook myself it all tasted good and I am glad that I tried everything.

The menu included:

Ceviche

Beef Tartare

Stuffed Lamb

Chocolate Souffle  

…with an amuse bouche starter and pallet refreshing between courses.

A friend I work with gave me this bouquet of "farmer's roses" or commonly known as pussy willows.  They fit perfectly on my buffet for Easter dinner.  :-)

The girls got new Roll Over Bones…they became obsessive compulsive!

Mom and Dad came for the Easter weekend and kept busy the entire time!   Thanks Mom and Dad for all the help getting our wood split and stacked for the coming winter.   Hoping it's not another like we just had.    Looks to be about 15 cord of wood stacked now so we are well on our way if not set for another winter.   We had a some very large pieces that needed splitting…see below!

I made a fire and all the brush has disappeared.

The pond has become a place I think I will need to love more and more in the coming months….as we now have two water loving Golden's that are virtually impossible to keep out of the water!   Molly is often found sitting on the dock or looking intensely over the edge down into the water.  New beds are on order for the back deck.  I believe there will be a lot of hours spent on that deck for these 2 this summer for drying off!

The trees that were growing too close to the barn foundation and silo are now gone.   We will plant some new trees in better places that will not affect the buildings.

BEFORE

AFTER

Izzy Videos & I Believe Spring is Here Now

The warmer, sunny weather has allowed for my first ride outside on Izzy.   The outdoor ring was fabulous…even after the winter with over a foot of snow covering it for months.
It was a beautiful night and after a long cold winter riding inside it, we both felt like someone had left the gate open and we escaped!   She was lovely; forward and connected.   Still can see some finesse in all the more advanced work is needed yet but nice to see that the winter's work is coming together.

Here is her trot work.

Here is her canter.   We missed the series changes…maybe next time.

Since the last post the mission to make the house look like adults now live here rather than 2 college students with mixed and matched furniture….I painted the wardrobe in the mudroom that serves as our main closet for coats, scarfs, shoes, etc.   Painting is not my favourite thing…all the taping on this project always leads me to a tremendous amount of frustration.   Whatever the marketing people say about that Frog Tape….it's a lie!   NO matter what brand or how hard I try and seal the edges; I always get bleed through!   After scraping, the edges looked better but it's still not perfect and now I have touch up work to do.   Oh well…it matches the rest of the house…not quite perfect but functional!     :-)
                 Before                                    After


Like my barn boots that bit the dust last year…my gloves from this winter had to go to the heap.  I do like the SSG 10 Below's but they really were not warm enough this winter!

Today was poop and dead hay pick up at the girls shelter.   This winter didn't provide much chance for mid winter pick up as there was no January thaw.   Lots to be removed still but one trailer load is done and there is still ice under the hay I took out!
I had 3 very curious "helpers" when the trailer arrived in their yard.   Too bad they don't know how to use a pitch fork!!

Mom and daughter couldn't get enough of the new toy.   The dump box now has teeth marks on it!

One load done!   Another 2 to go by the looks of it.

I was lucky enough to spend my entire day outside today with my horses and dogs.   Trimmed feet and gave all the girls a well need grooming and clip job.   Amazing what a little elbow grease can do on 3 muddy ponies!   I had a lovely hack with my friend Terri and her horse Elvis around the bean field…3 dogs in chase with a field of two following!  This was the first day of the year that the dogs got to be out all day.   (Plus, they were too muddy to come in and out).  

Marley couldn't stay awake any longer as I was filling the trailer so found a spot on the driveway in the sun to have a nap!

DH spent his day outside today too.   He fixed our automatic garage door opener that gave it up about 2-3 weeks ago and he worked up both of my riding arenas and dragged the harrows over the driveway.   We have some nasty pot holes at the bottom of our lane!