Where Did May Go?

Dear Oh Dear….Where did May go?
I can't believe sometimes how quickly time passes.   I have taken plenty of photos over the last few weeks with better than great intentions to convert those into blog posts…but life just plain and simple got in the way!
So here we are at the end of the month and I will try and recap with pictures!
Let's started from the long weekend…

Mom and I got all the plants and seeds for the garden.   She spent a lot of her morning planting while I weed whipped.
Here she is…and I am happy to report that now 2 weeks after this was taken almost all of the seeds have sprouted and we will be eating fresh garden lettuce in about another 10 days!   Hurray!

Here is the garden from the other angle.

Mom and I also made it our mission to clean up some brush and old shrubs around the house and along the fence line.  This is the area where are propane tank resides.   It was over grown with forsythia to the point that it never even flowered.  

Before

During

After

Mom and I also chopped the overgrown raspberry bramble that was more that just slightly out of hand!

Before

During

(~~Note that my mom and I got a really good belly laugh going when the 2 of us were trying to light a brush fire with spent racing fuel and a kleenx.   It's a wonder we both still have our eyebrows!)

After

My Dad and DH spent their weekend working at removing the old round pen from the driveway / parking area.   All this dirt is being used to build the platforms that we need for the shelters in each of the pastures.  

Last weekend DH and I removed the old clothes line that was nearly falling over.   It was discovered the posts where only in the ground 18-24" so it was no wonder a full load of wet towels and high winds from living on the hill were ripping these post right out of the ground!   All 4 posts are gone and new posts will be set in soon so that outdoor fresh drying of clothes can begin!!

We got some new windows in the house.   These are the 2 largest window in the entire house.   After the winter that we just had and the extreme, extended cold spell; we knew we had to try and improve the insulation value to reduce the rather big expense to heating the house.    The new windows look great and were installed by a local craftsman.

Back Entrance to Mudroom - After

Front of House - Before

Front of House - After

It's amazing what a difference having a cross breeze in the front room makes now that we have windows that open on that prevailing west side of the house.   Now we need a new front door and a patio!!   :-)

On Victoria Day, I took this picture of the local Robin that has taken up house in the tree beside the pergola.

Here is the nest on May 19th.

Here is the nest on May 29th

My friend Theresa and I have been trying to help each other get our running mojo's back.   After being sick for an extended amount of time without really knowing it…I am finally diagnosed and feeling better now that I am on an iron supplement.  Funny how symptoms in isolation really don't seem to mean much but when you add them all up and lump them together it makes a whole lot more sense!

Lastly, I was fortunate enough to spend the last several days of May with a wonderful group of woman in a clinic with Josh Nichol.    More to come on the clinic in a later post.   For now, my synopsis in a line is that I am very blessed with a lovely little horse and to share time and space with Josh so I could embody his philosophy of training, living and being present in our everyday existence. 

Spring Grass, Water Dogs and Gardening

It's been a blogging hiatus the last several weeks.
Live has been busy and I just haven't honestly made blogging my priority.   Sorry friends and followers…I do care and I have thought often about posts and have taken pictures to share but I just have ran out of steam at the end of my day to sit and type a few lines.
So tonight..here I sit, with Smirnoff Ice in hand, pictures down loaded to my computer and a big plate of chocolate cake and ice-cream for dinner, typing a few lines to the world to let you know life on the farm has been hectic but in that rewarding way that makes you feel alive about something bigger than yourself.

May brought my birthday…Thank you to all those who had me in their thoughts and sent emails, cards and notes via Facebook.   I am truly humbled to have crossed so many people thoughts for the day.   Thank you…much love!

Here is my 8 layer chocolate mousse cake.   Yummy!

DH and I also had a very fun dinner party to celebrate the death of winter and birth of spring!   Cheers to good friends.

With the better weather we also had our first fire last week in the fire pit off the pergola.  I got home late from work and DH had drinks and the fire ready for me.  xo

The horses have also enjoyed the warmer weather and it honestly seems rather odd to look out over the fields and see them outside 'naked'!!   (no blankets)    It seems they have had blankets on for so long I forgot how beautiful their shiny coats look in the sunshine!    Em and Wanda enjoy a grooming now that they are able!

The fields have started to turn a lush green in the past week and the front pasture we have used as the initiation field for the start of spring grazing.   This year is no exception and the horses have went out on grass for a few hours starting this week.   They have full bellies after only a couple of hours and there was hay left in the morning at chores…I don't think hay has it's same appeal (even rich 2nd cut) now that the fresh grass has sprouted!

I could seriously look out my front window at this view for hours!

Wanda has a new human in her life!    We have welcomed Melissa to the farm…she has brought a wonderful new energy to Wed night girls riding night!

I spent some time last weekend cleaning up the south fence line behind the pond.   It's full of scrub trees and weeds and lots of burrs.   It really doesn't look like much but it took a full afternoon to get it to this state.

Before

After

DH and I have a better garden for the veggies this year.   Here's to hoping that I don't abandon ship like last summer.   You can read about last summer's weed apocalypse here!
The garden and the squash patch are pretty well ready for planting…just waiting for it to be a tad bit warmer yet!

With the warmer weather I have also been blessed with wonderful hacking in our woods.   The dogs love to crash through the brush and run along with Izzy.
The wonders of the bush never seem to fade for me.  I was so delighted to find these Dog Tooth Violets and the other little purple and pink violets (not sure what they are called) on my hack this week.   Someday I will have spring bulbs planted along the trails to enjoy.

As for the mutts…aka the wonderful, loving and smart goldens!
These 2 are water lovers!    Which is not a good thing since we have a pond!  They will be spending ALOT of time locked on the back porch drying before they are allowed back in the house.
Today's hi-jinx found these 2 in the pond at least 3 times today!

Molly also treed a raccoon this week at 5am!   Nothing like a crazy dog that WILL NOT come to her name, barking her fool head off at the bottom of a tree.   I give her credit, she has a great nose but at times it gets her into a lot of trouble!  

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!