Community and our new OLD table

In the years of WAITING-TO-MOVE I day-dreamed about what it would be like to live in a small community.  I grew up in a town that used to be small - when I was a child I knew almost everyone and certainly almost every adult knew that I was so-and-so's kid.  I remember walking into the post office and asking for the mail and getting Grandma and Grandpas while I was there - no questions ever asked.


Life just isn't like that any more - the simple friendships and slower pace of life seem to be long forgotten and perhaps more wonderful in my memories as I tend to remember the good things and forget the bad - or at least I was too young to know what was going on.


It takes a long time to "break into" a new community.  When I meet some new-to-me neighbours they inevitably ask where I live - my answer always used to be - in Bill & Barb's old house.  They would look at me quizzically so I would say - in Fred & Ruby's old farmhouse.  OH THERE!  Bill & Barb lived here for 23 years but I guess that wasn't long enough to make it theirs. 


One of the joys of moving to this community has been meeting "Down-town Donna" and her husband - they live where two roads cross so I teasing refer to her as Down-town Donna.  Donna is the niece of the original owners and is also the area historian. (and she taught my daughter and I to can all kinds of pickles last year)  We've spend many hours over tea talking about who-is-related-to-whom and what life was like back-in-the-day.  The other day she showed us some photos she's getting ready for a community project.  In one there was 14 feet of snow in front of our house.  She remembers being cautioned to not reach above their heads or they would touch the hydro wires.  The pictures showed every able-bodied man in the area digging out the road.  It was a near impossible job but they did it anyway. 




She also showed us a black and white photo of Aunt Ruby and a group of ladies standing by the back door of our home on a beautiful spring day... and there was a back porch right where I wanted to build one.


During our very first tea chat we got talking about my desire for a bigger table in the dining room.  They mentioned that they had an old wooden table out in the shed - it had been out there for about 20 years.  They had tried to give it to their daughters but no one in the family wanted it.  The table had  originally come from our farmhouse.  Would we like to have it back?  Sight unseen I said a very enthusiastic YES!

We dragged it out of the shed and put in in the van and I brought it home.  I loved the table just the way it was with it's worn look but it was far too small for our needs in the dining room so it went upstairs to be put to use as a card table for a year while I thought about what to do with it.  I had an idea but I needed to be sure!


This week I made up my mind.  The table was either going to languish mostly unused in the corner or it would have a glorious new purpose as a huge coffee table where we could all enjoy it.

I have my brave moments but big cutting power tools are a little outside my comfort zone - not that I let that stop me!  I set up the table saw and went to it.  I had to force myself not to think about it too much because I was cutting the legs off of a 100 year old antique table and it does go against my grain of restoring things.  When it was over and everything was reassembled we were all very pleased.  


We now have a huge coffee table - big enough for the food platters when everyone comes home to visit and a reminder that life has been happening here at the farm for 150 years or more.  I wonder at the many meals taken around that table and the conversations that would have ranged from politics and farming to how cold the outhouse was in the winter.  I suspect it may have been a place were hurts were shared and grace was said over the meals.  It feels right to be part of our everyday lives.


Welcome home table!

On the Lamb - three sheep and a donkey

Today was one of those days that I was glad to see come to an end.  Actually most of the day was great.  I got in the baking mood - banana bread, gluten free flax bread and Swedish cocoa cookies - so my son was on his own for chores in the barn this morning.  He doesn't mind working alone when we've done a big cleaning the day before and since the weather was actually feeling unusually spring-ish it was a beautiful day to be outside.  All went well until…

Evening chore time.  It was already dark when he went out to put everyone into their pens and feed them for the evening - really dark.  The kind of dark in the country makes city folk feel right uncomfortable.  I'm a country girl now so I can't admit to being afraid of the dark can I?  We have a yard light - most farms have one.  It's as big as a streetlight in town. I hated that big stupid light so much that when we first moved in and we discussed taking it down mostly because it shines in my bedroom window at night and keeps me awake and it makes a strange hissing sound.  How very annoying.

Moments after he left to do the chores DS came running back to the house with a panicked look on his face - MOM THEY'RE GONE.  THE GATE IS WIDE OPEN.   Oh my - by THEY he meant the ram, two ewes and the donkey!  I was really hoping they would be in the back field close to the house - I don't know why - they never go there.  HEAD FOR THE OPEN ROAD is their motto.  First we ran around with a big flashlight - ONE big flashlight that we had to share.  (Another one already on the list for the next stop at Canadian Tire tomorrow!)  Then I stopped to gather my thoughts - they obviously weren't anywhere right close by- the animals or my thoughts either for that matter.

 

Think first. 

Then act.

Pray first of all so you can think and then act!

In between running around I was praying hard.  OH GOD HELP US FIND THE ANIMALS - it's pitch dark and I don't know where to look AND THEY COULD BE ANYWHERE  ...getting eaten by coyotes, hit by a car, being beat-up by the neighbours stallions AGAIN or just not ever coming back... but you know where they are - please show us.  Great example of pray and panic in the same prayer!

Next stop back inside to see if any neighbours had called - I wasn't sure if it was good or bad - but no phone calls.

Then we grabbed the car keys and a bucket of grain.  We headed off down the road - first one way and then the other.  Nothing.

Back to the farm.  I didn't know what to do.  I looked down at my feet in frustration and fear and  SAW SHEEPIE FOOTPRINTS!! OH - footprints in the snow!  We found more tracks leading to the east across the front yard so we got back into the van with the big flashlight.  We drove slowly down the road and to our immense relief there they were...standing huddled together looking very lost in the front yard at our neighbours several houses down the road (who weren't home).   I honestly think they were relieved to see us! We quietly stopped and Luke hopped out with the grain.

What I saw then amazed me. It was just like the children's picture books...they followed him all the way home and right into the barn.  I could hardly believe my eyes after all the trouble we've had with Mr. Sheepie - they all just followed him home.

Never was I so glad for a quiet and DARK country road.  No cars to spook them which could have been disaster and so dark that none of the neighbours even knew what happened!  Those are about equal in scale in my mind.  The first time Mr. Sheepie visited the neighbours was bad enough (see my post on "Boys - Oh Boy") I just didn't want to have to face them again and ask if they had by chance seen three sheep and a donkey wandering by.  So, our secret is safe (as long as you don't tell anyone!)  

Back at the barnyard in the light of the big yard light we tried to figure out what happened.  Luke is not 100% positive he locked the gate after bringing the compost into the paddock early today but I've also seen Maybe (the donkey) play with the chain and she could possibly have managed to open it herself.  Tomorrow we'll be adding an extra chain, a bungee cord, duct tape, all the bailing twine in the barn and whatever else I can think of so we don't repeat this scenario. 

All is well.  Everyone is back where they belong.  The fence and the driveway gate at the front of the property have just become top priority again and along with that extra flashlight we'll be buying more light bulbs for the big yard light - I love that thing!

Church Penny Sale

I had heard about the Penny Sale to raise money for the local church but I didn't know what it was...until a few months ago.

Last year My-Friend-Donna-who-lives-in-town called to give me the dates for the Penny Sale and I was really disappointed that I couldn't make it.  For me moving to the country meant getting involved in the local community and this was a great opportunity and I had to miss it.  Well - I guess I went on and on about how sorry I was to have missed it because Donna decided that they would change the night - just-for-me.  I felt so special! 

I didn't realise at the time that she had ulterior motives…(smile). 

Planning work began in October.  She and her DH tried really hard to explain the whole thing to me.  I must have looked as confused as I felt because she suddenly had a bright idea.  Come with me and a few friends to the Seniors Penny Sale the next town over and you'll get to see it all in action. 

After a full afternoon with someone giving me the tour I finally understood - my visual learning style came out!  It was a great community bonding event and a lot of fun. 

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about here's the basics.

1. A wild and varied assortment of gently used and new items are donated to the cause by community members who set things aside or make beautifully handcrafted items all year long just so they can donate them.
2. All the items are set out on tables - much like a giant bazaar room  - and each item has a cup attached to it.
3. First you pay a $2.00 admission fee that gets you coffee, tea and goodies.
4. Then you buy penny sale tickets - One big ticket stub with 25 little stubs - all with the same number on them. (It used to be 100 tickets for $1.00 - now it's 75 - inflation I guess - thus the term "Penny Sale")
5. You cruise the selection and drop your tickets into the cups of the items you are interested in.
6. After a set time everyone settles in to hear the numbers being drawn and the winners have the items delivered right to their seats.

My biggest hint is to start ripping apart your ticket stubs at home - it took much longer than I thought it would and by the end I had the whole family furiously ripping stubs as the time to leave to serve the coffee drew near! 

It was a fantastic night.  Aunt Ruby's canning, Donna's quilted pillows and stockings and the bake table were among the highlights.  If all goes well you end up with the things you wanted - like the 100th anniversary commemorative plates and mugs from the local church or some quilted stockings! 

I spent the first part of the night serving coffee and tea and trying hard to remember everyone's names.  At least the faces are getting more and more familiar! 

DH and I sat with two of our kids and Mr. Farmer - the previous owner of Shalom Engedi Farms.  I was feeling sorry for him because none of his numbers were being pulled but then I found out he had placed ALL his tickets in the baking area.  When the numbers were called for the bake table he had a big grin on his face - I think he bought lots of tickets!  He really likes baking.  He even accidentally won a jar of jam which he promptly traded someone for more baking - guess I know what to make him for Christmas! 

It takes time to build relationships but it's worth it.  I love my small community...and I'm already looking forward to next year - besides I need to win a match to my quilted pillow! 

Mistakes I've made...

Before our big move to the country I did a lot of reading.  I read every book I could get my hands on that had anything to do with homesteading, hobby farming, livestock animals, self sufficiency etc. because I wanted to learn as much as I could to avoid the painful learning curve I knew was coming when we finally got here.  I have shelves of books, stacks of books and piles of books falling off my desk. Well - it helped - a little bit…but none of it completely prepared me for our very own reality. 

I had read many times that book learnin' and actual real life 'perience were two different things.  Now I know it to be truth by my own hard-won experience.   

I did so many things wrong.  Some things went wrong despite my best intentions and sometimes I just didn't think things all the way through.  Thankfully no animals were harmed in the making of this farmer. 

Chickens got left outside the coop at night.

The sheep and the donkey got loose more times than I can count.

I fed the ducks chicken-feed because I was told it was almost the same - one duck got crook neck but later recovered.

We closed up the chicken coop nice and tight so the girls would be warm and nearly killed them with kindness from the ammonia.

We lugged water from the basement for 33 hours in the rainy springtime because we didn't buy a generator as soon as we should have. 

My blooper list goes on and on. 

I've also had to get over the fact that I can't control everything - well that was a surprise!  Animals died from unknown causes. Raccoons broke into the feed room and ate us out of house and barn.  The eavestrough 30 feet above our heads sprung a major leak right above the main entrance to the barn creating our very own outdoor shower.  I asked a neighbour to find me a few heritage breed chicks and he came home with thirty - that was my mistake because I shoulda clarified "a couple". 

But I have had more successes than I deserve for only being at this for a year and a half.  My garden didn't do too badly but I have my first List-of-things-I-will-do-differently-next-year.  I learned how to install electric fence to keep in the escapees.  I learned how not to wrestle sheep and donkeys - they follow the shepherd just like the Bible says.  I learned to count the chickens before I shut up the coop for the night.  I've learned the different sounds of contented animals and the ones that make me drop everything and run to see what the problem is. I've learned how to deal with pressure tanks, sump pumps, water softeners, wells and lots and lots of chicken poop. 

There is no book on earth that can teach you everything I've learned in the past year and a half and I am no where near done learning.  You just have to dive into your own experience - whatever it brings - and learn to live with the fact that you're human and you will make mistakes. 

Don't wait till the last minute - till things really count.  Make your mistakes now when it's not the end of the world.  Figure out how the kerosene heater works now.  Get backyard chickens.  Start gardening and canning now.  Store food. 

...and hurry up and make some mistakes before I cover them all by myself!

Boys - OH Boy!

We've had a rather exciting addition to our farm in the past week - Mr. Sheepie.  We did try to give him another name but we called him Mr. Sheepie while we were thinking about it and the name has just-plain-stuck.  Mr. Sheepie is a Shetland Ram - a beautiful light and dark brown mix of kinky hair with curly horns. Remember the horn part - that will be important.

He arrived via an ad on kijiji and was delivered by his owner who was a wonderful wealth of information of which I took full advantage.  In our conversation I also found out he was a long lost relative of the previous owners of this farm - insert - very small world - here.

Mr. Sheepie has a purpose on the farm like all the other animals we raise.  He's here to make babies.  Hopefully really cute babies that will one day provide us with pasture raised lamb.  He quickly made himself right at home and met the girls and Maybe the donkey without incident.  All was well in my little corner of the world until two days later.

The phone rang.  It was my neighbour.  She had never called me before.  A sense of dread came over me...oh are you missing a sheep?  I sure hoped not but after a description I recognized the escapee - Mr. Sheepie.  At this point - no worries - he was safely tucked away in a pen in their horse barn and I could come and get him whenever I was ready.  I don't know what we were thinking but we grabbed a halter and leads with the thought that we would just hook him up and walk him back home.  Oh how naive!

The neighbours took pity on us for underestimating how difficult it was going to be and offered to put him in the back of their jeep and transport him home.  All went well.  We were feeling like real farmers.  We had a problem and we had a solution...until Mr. Sheepie jumped out of the back of the jeep in between 4 adults and took off - towards the stallions.  Sigh...this is where things really go downhill.

We circled around seeing that he was headed for the field of 8 of the hugest horses I have ever seen.  Somehow to him they looked less scary that 4 adults with a bucket of feed so in he went.  The horses sensed the presence of the devil himself and set out to eradicate him.  They grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and swung him around like a dog toy.  They kicked (and thankfully missed) him. Meanwhile I stood back praying he would live while simultaneously calculating the cost of a new Mr. Sheepie.  My neighbours in a show of what it means to be the most-awesome-neighbours-in-the-whole-world went into the field to try to ward off 8 angry stallions.  After what seemed like an hour but was probably ONLY 5 very-long minutes they managed to grab Mr. Sheepie from the jaws-of-death and drag him - still unwilling - under the electric fence to safety.  Mr. Sheepie lived to see the inside of his own stall in his own barn that night. 

Now back to the horn part.  Yeah - you would think he would have been grateful but OH NO.  He has escaped his pen more times than I can count by pounding the walls with those lovely horns.  We have reinforced and repaired every-single-wall.  We would think THAT-SHOULD-DO-IT and he would bust out another wall, jump the interior walls of the barn and head for the open road.  So we've now chased him all over the property, down the road and back into the pen over and over like a repeating nightmare.  Yesterday he was standing at the back door when we came out to do chores.  That was the last straw! 

Tomorrow Mr. Sheepie will meet his match - Mr. Electric Fence.

A trip down memory lane - canning

When I was a little girl I lived beside Granny Pearl - after whom I was named: PEARL is my middle name - and Granny Irene.  These two elderly ladies doted on our young family by babysitting for my mom, buying my sister and I lots of pink baby clothes and being close-by family.  My parents started their married life in the basement apartment of their home and later built a house right-next-door.

I have wonderful memories of the granny's - the first was as a toddler playing with my toys under the quilt frame and looking around to see lots of old-ladies-knees.  They were hard at work stitching the quilt and visiting.  I remember Granny Irene's biscuits - warm-out-of-the-oven, baked to perfection with little brown spots on the top.  Biscuits are still one of my favorite comfort foods and nothing has ever tasted as good as hers - certainly not Timmies.  But one of my best memories of all was THE-CHILI-SAUCE.  I was too young to remember it being canned but I haven't forgotten the taste.  My mom told me she had helped make it once and all she could remember was it had lots of fruit in it and it was cooked for a long time.  It has tomatoes, onions, pears, peaches and a few other things. I just remember seeing the glass topped canning jars of yummy red sauce in the basement pantry.  HEAVENLY.  We ate that chili sauce for years after Granny Pearl passed away.  We even found one lonely jar in the back of the cold cellar about 10 years ago and I took it home to look longingly at it's contents but considering that by then it was over 30 years old I didn't dare to eat it.

Those memories have tossed around in my mind for a long time and it was all mixed in with my desire to move-to-the-country and live a different kind of lifestyle.  I started canning a few years ago when we still lived in town - first with water-bath-only items and then moving on to pressure canning some of the lower acid foods.  Last summer having just arrived at the farm and being far too busy with other things I didn't can too much except a batch of salsa with my daughter Leah.

This year things have changed!

I met Donna - whom I lovingly refer to as my-friend-Donna-who-lives-downtown which is a great joke because "town" has no more than 20 houses. We became friends over this past year when we got-to-talking on the phone about the yearly penny-sale for the local church (circa very-old).  We have many things in common and hit it off immediately.  A love for history is one thing we share.  She is the unofficial historian for the town and since her family have lived in the area for generations she is related to many of the neighbours and has a story to tell about many of the others .  Her Aunt Ruby and Uncle Fred live just down the road from us and were owners of Shalom Engedi Farm in years past.

She is an quilting artist who pays great attention to detail - ok - that's something we don't have in common but I am hoping some day she'll teach Lydia and I a few things about quilting so we can at least finish the quilt we started when Lyd was 12.

But the most exciting news of ALL - she CANS!  I finally found someone who cans.  Most of my other friends were totally unimpressed with this exciting news and seem like they couldn't care less...WELL I was excited!  

Lydia is home for a few weeks from school and she was willing to learn with me so we just spent 4 days at Donna's house together.  I would love to say that all the garden produce came from my garden but alas it has produced a great crop of weeds with a few vegetables on the side - I did grow most of the dill. But something even more wonderful happened - Donna sent out the word that she was going to teach us to can and several people offered to give us the cucumbers.  Some came from John and Joan's garden and some from Aunt Ruby's.  The tomatoes came from Donna's garden.  Knowing that she was willing to spend so much time teaching us and her husband was so patient to deal with the huge mess we made; that John and Joan and Aunt Ruby so graciously gave us the produce... all I can say is that living in a small community is wonderful!  Thank you all!!

Altogether we canned:

38 jars of dill pickles
27 jars of bread and butter pickles
2 crocks of icicle pickles that need to be canned at the end of the week
30 jars of relish
19 jars of chili sauce
Plus Lyd and I managed to do 17 jars of apple butter and 11 jars of peaches at home.

The chili sauce isn't the same as Granny's but I suspect I may never be able to duplicate the exact recipe because it won't have Granny's love- it's kinda like the Nasi Goreng thing - but that's a story for another day.

I think the Granny's would be proud! 

Home Inspection Day

STEP-BY-STEP we're moving forward!

The home Inspection went GREAT!. Nothing unexpected or expensive to fix and yet very helpful - as I thought - worth every penny if only for peace of mind.

We spent another lovely afternoon HAVING-TEA with the sellers and chatting about all kinds of things. They've told us some stories about our neighbours - apparently there is one who reminds everyone of Jed Clampett and another who has built his home illegally and totally off-grid down a closed concession right-of-way next to us. There are neighbours with large families and some older couples who have proven to be the kind of neighbours you want on your side when things go wrong - after a winter storm when a tree fell across the driveway for instance when they arrived within minutes with their chainsaws.

Roger Hein photographer

They told us about the penny sales at the small local church built around the same time as the house about 150 years ago. The church only holds services every few months since it was merged with another church. Holding the services allows it to keep it's tax exempt status and the penny sale proceeds help to keep the building in repair. The community gets together for Christmas parties in the church as well. There seems to be a really great community spirit.

We've had so much prayer support from our many friends and family members who have patiently waited alongside us all these years. It's a wonderful feeling to know they are all out there cheering us on during this process. Everyday is more exciting than the next as we see what GOD-HAS-DONE in advance for us. My mom asked if I had come down from the ceiling the other day - well - maybe :)!

Just as we were leaving the farm last week the owner shared something so sweet with me. They have been long time subscribers to the wonderful Canadian country Harrowsmith magazine and the renewal notice came in the mail. She realized they would not be needing it anymore since they are moving into town but she decided to re-subscribe anyway WITH OUR NAME ON THE SUBSCRIPTION!!!!! She then teased me and told me we had better be here when the magazine arrived!!

The journey continues...

My Eldery Neighbour Lady

I wonder WHEN it will feel real. I can't wait to wake up on a bright spring morning curled up under the blankets and open my eyes to find myself in my new home. Of course in my dream there aren't boxes and BOXES of stuff to be unpacked - maybe just a cup of tea beside my bed :)

How many more days Lord??? I have asked that question almost every day for eleven years. How many days?

The reality of my day today is washing windows and vacuuming up dog hair from every crevice of the carpet and communicating with lawyers and real estate agents. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to go through this process besides just getting it over with ONE-DAY-AT-A-TIME.

I chatted with an older neighbor lady this afternoon and broke the news that we will soon be leaving the community we have lived in for the last 20 years. She said she would be sad to see us go. She has been very lonely in the past few years since her husband died. In the back of my mind I was worried about leaving her without someone close at hand to call if she needed help. GOD IS SO GOOD he knew exactly what she needed. She was listening to a multicultural program on the radio in the language of her native country a few weeks ago and they made mention of the name of her first boyfriend from over 60 years ago. She was able to track him down to a nearby city and they have been in contact ever since. I teased her today and sang - Maria has a boyfriend - she laughed and laughed!!! I don't think she is lonely anymore! Great timing!!! Isn't that AMAZING!

Now to decide what to do with 25 cans of leftover paint and all the food in my downstairs pantry. I just don't want anyone to think I am preparing for the end of the world. Maybe I'll stick with my standard answer: Do you know how much teenagers EAT?

My long-awaited adventure of God-proportions continues...