Open House

The Open House!

It's hard to believe that a year has past since we moved to this beautiful old farm house on the hill on the Grand River.

Yesterday we hosted a beef BBQ and corn roast, celebrating our journey with our family and friends.   Today, I reflected back on our year here and have been overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude for all I have been blessed with.   Good health, a dry bed, full cupboards, loving family and friends, a supporting husband and enough disposable income to feed a life long passion in horses.   Really...I have so much it's almost sinful when you really think about it.

I have so many thank you's I want to extend...please know that you all have played a role in this journey.   Whether you are in our daily lives, you are family, a neighbour, a new friend, an old friend or co-worker.   All of the interactions we have with each of you have shaped us into who we are today...thank you for helping us find our way.

FIRST and FOREMOST...A HUGE thank you to my mom for helping me prepare and serve all of the food yesterday.    Helping me clean  Cleaning the house from top to bottom so that it was fit for guests to come through.   Even tho by 5pm it was totally trashed!   Thanks Mom...love ya!
Next I need to thank two very special friends...Tracy and Lynn.   I can't say enough thanks for all that you did yesterday.   You both just stepped right in and made it all work...nobody asked; you both just offered up your hands and organizational skills.   I am actually getting a little choked up typing about the two of you.  :-)  To think I have such great people in my daily life makes me feel so humble and thankful.  Thank you ladies, you went well beyond the call of friendship...love you both.

  Here are the 3 people that made the food happen...

And to finish off the food prep portion of our thanks...Don...You are the east coast chef extraordinare!  ...And Dave for stepping in and giving you a hand for the afternoon.   We have had so many rave reviews about the beef...it was delicious!  

Of course, a big thanks to all the guests that showed their support.   Thank you all for coming and offering your encouragement, words of wisdom and the odd "You two are nuts!".    This year has been one hell of a ride no matter what way you look at it...so yes, at times we certainly have been nuts!

And the day would not have been complete without the kids meeting the horses.   Just look at how they are looking at each other...There is magic that happens when little girls meet horses!

We have had many, many comments and requests to make this an annual event.   Only time will tell...it was so fabulous this time; I would hate to break that spell!   :-)

One Year Blogging

It's hard to believe that one year has passed already since the birth of this HP Haven blog.   As I browse back tonight to the initial posts and the changes throughout the past 12 months I am happy that I made the decision to document our journey this way.    I know the posts have been fewer in the past several months but time has been at a premium...the journey is still ticking forward and the changes to the farm are still progressing as they should.  
I can't say I have regretted a day on the farm yet.  I still recall that first melt down however!  I can laugh about it now... I had been stringing my first strands of fencing before we even moved in.   After several hours of trying to untangle braided wire rope and after I had got about a 1/4 mile of fencing installed I got to a knot that was just far too tight and complicated for me to unravel.   This all happening after a week of 12-15 hour days re-sanding the floors on the second level of the house.   I recall just sitting in the field exhausted and frustrated, bawling my eyes out because I could not for the life of me get the fencing untangled.   Even that terrible first melt down I do not regret.  It built some character, it gave me a low point so I could thoroughly enjoy finishing that field with true blood, sweat and tears!

I want to thank all my family, friends and blog readers for joining me through this phase of my life and expressing your happiness, laughter and encouragement.  Without all of you, this would not have had as much joy.   For that I am grateful.  xo

Today's post will be a picture blog to update what's new.   As always lots has been moving along in the forward motion.

After many months grading the barn bridge and deciding on the exact "perfect" location...I have planted the Tri-Coloured Beech that Reta and Bill gave me for my 40th birthday.  Reta and I have a connection with nature and trees.   This was the perfect gift and for many, many years I will always think of Reta when I pass this tree daily to the barn.   It was important to me that I placed this tree in a spot where I would see it everyday...I wanted to have a thought of Reta everyday for all the love and mentoring she has shared with me since the day we met.   Thanks Reta...it's beautiful when the setting sun hits it!

My cousin Alan (the farm hunter and sharp shooter!) and his wife, Laura had a beautiful baby girl, Kendall.    She is absolutely the most perfect baby I have ever held.  :-)

Here is the new family.

And the baby girl.

And of course, me with the bundle of love in my arms!

My cousin Robert was married this past weekend to a beautiful bride, Sarah.   They had their wedding ceremony, dinner and dance all outside at Woodside Greens Gold Club.   It was such a beautiful day...what a wonderful day to get married and a lovely happy event.

Here are the new husband and wife.

And DH and I too.

I know I had these big dreams of a veggie garden this summer.  As many of you know, I love to grow my own food and especially make my own spaghetti sauce.   Well, I guess I had not fully though that through when I planted the lettuce, squash and ornamental gourds in the garden plot!   My friend Terrie summed it up rather smartly to me one evening as she visited looking over the fence at the 5 foot weeds surrounding the lettuce.   Geez, when you said you were putting in a veggie garden I just bit my tongue and thought well she does have a lot of energy so what the hell plant a garden; it's not like you don't have enough shit to do around here!   Sure wish she would have used her outside voice on that one and talked some sense into me! 

Here is the garden after weeding...look at those huge piles of weeds and how small all the plants are.  They were basically, getting the sun blocked out!   Maybe next year Terrie!!

My little helper spreading the triple mix!

We had special visitors on the farm last weekend!  Chris' folks made their first visit!   After a few failed attempts due weather and then a power outage we were able to get Pop over to see the farm.   Thank you both for coming and enjoying the country air with us for the afternoon.

Big news from the horse side of the farm...My fencing is going up for the pasture shoots!  Hurray!

First fence line at the back of the riding ring to close in pasture #6.

The new gate openings near the barn...

More to come on fencing projects in future posts!

My folks have been out this past week as well preparing us for winter!   Between my mom and dad and very little help from DH and I (because we were at work), they split and stacked about 20 cord of wood!   Thank you so much!!   The yard looks so much better and I will be a happy, toasty warm soul this winter too!

I spent some time cleaning the lower bank barn.   This has not been touched since we moved in.  It was time to start clearing out the mounds of dead, mouldy hay and all the junk from the old owners.

BEFORE

AFTER

This is how I got rid of the old hay and wood...

Lastly, I have been trying to commit more time to working with Wanda.   She's such a lovely lady and really loves to be handled and pampered.

Thank you again for all your love and kindness throughout this past year.   Please keep reading and sending me your comments...I have enjoyed your feedback.

Cheers!   

The Heat Wave, Thunder Storm, Dunbar Reunion and Time Flies

The farm took on a slowness 2 week ago with the major heat wave that rolled through.   Six straight days of temps in the high 30's with humidex values reaching into the 40's.   It was just uncomfortably hot for man and beast all week.

I am very much a fair weather rider…too hot or too cold and you will find me hiding in the comforts of the house to keep my temperature moderated.   So needless to say the horses got a week off with just a bit of play thrown in to keep us both happy.   The late afternoon hosing off seemed to be the girls happiest time of day.  The sun was hot and the air so heavy that they hardly moved from the shelter.  Using it to take cover from both the flies and the sun.   After the 3rd consecutive day I felt badly for them and gave them a bit of hay to keep them busy at the loafing shed.

I tried to make the best of the weather and had some fun at the lake with Molly.   She is learning to swim pretty good with her life jacket on!  Rather frantic at the start but she settled into the water rather well.  Will have to get her back there again before the end of the summer.

On Friday night we had quite the storm here.   We lost one of the big hickory trees that the back of the pasture line and it appears one of the fence posts at the top of the hill in pasture 5 was hit by lightening.   The brand new fencing that hasn't even had a horse in it yet is burned and fried for about 6 feet!

Several bigger limbs and small branches were scattered all over the yard and and in the front pasture.   We also had a thorn tree on the north fence line, which was also heavy with grape vines fall across the fence.   A bunch of clean up on Saturday morning and Sunday and we still have the big hickory to cut up.   Always a shame to lose a big tree like that.   Even tho hickory nuts are a pain, they are slow growing trees that can get very old and generally have a lovely shade canopy.

The hickory at the north east corner of Pasture #5

The fence post that was destroyed!

The thorn tree that fell across the fence in Pasture #2

As promised here are the pictures of the garden after mulching.   I still have the south side of the house to finish.

Before

During...I had to hand pick all those rocks from the garden!  Ugh!

After

On Saturday we hosted the Dunbar Family Reunion.  It was a lovely afternoon of socializing with the Dunbar clan!

Unfortunately, Chris' folks were not able to make it because the storm on Friday night killed the power to the elevator in their building and they are on the 3rd floor.   It was actually very sad, as this would have been Chris' Dad's first visit to the farm and we were both really looking forward to showing him around so he could see all the things we talk about when we see him.   We will plan again for 2014…lets hope that the weather and elevator cooperate!

A few missing here but a good shot of the clan!

Now getting a bit closer to current events since I have been completely delinquent on posting updates!   This week was FABULOUS!   Weather was the perfect summer temps and dipping into the mid teens at night.   I know that's more like the end of Aug weather but I was happily doing chores in long pants and a light jacket at 5:30AM!   Even the horses enjoyed the cool break.   They could be found every morning standing on the hill in the pasture and out grazing in mid morning and early evening.   Such a wonderful sight to my eyes to see those beautiful creatures adorning the hills at HP Haven.   I am truly blessed to have these creatures in my life and for a second I don't let that be taken for granted.

Lastly, I was also lucky to celebrate the 40th birthday of one of my dear friends, Lisa, whom I have known the longest in my life.   These friendships are so cherished...To have life long friends like this group of women means more to me than I can express in words.   Love you, girls!