Letters From “The Old Manse” #11(jan 25\15)

Well… its been a while again…but here I am….in the last blog I gave you an update of our first year here on the island and quite the first year it has been:)

It is Sunday and I am gonna give this a go again.  We had some stormy weather last night into this morning but not as bad as i think i could have been.  The wind was very powerful last night and i thought that we were gonna loose the power but lucky for us it stayed on.  I have to say the weather this winter has been nothing like it was last year.  I think we officially shoveled snow once with a few minor clean-ups here and there.  In my mind that has been awesome!

We were very busy at work especially thru the Christmas blitz and now it is starting to slow down a little.  Its been hard for me working there, i would say since about mid November i started with a cough and sore throat and feeling generally under the weather.  I have not been able to shake this nastiness yet, its been weeks. In fact its getting worse my lungs and chest hurt and i imagine the cold damp wet environment is what is making it really bad on top of the nasty moldiness in the control room.  We have been cooking mussels a bit some mornings so that make things worse as its hot and stuffy like a sauna and then it gets cold and damp….great conditions for sickness and co-workers have been sick too with the flu recently.  I am praying every day that the other job will open up so that my lungs will clear up and i will have lots of energy again:)  

In regards to the other job I did the testing and the interview and they asked for additional info for my security check so I trust it won’t be long:)  but in the mean time i am looking for other work so that i can get out of the unhealthy environment.

On a positive note the girls did start laying awesome eggs on winter solace (Dec 21) have been laying some absolutely beautiful eggs.  We have been enjoying those eggs and we look forward to the spring and getting some heritage hens and a rooster:)  Of course the plan is to raise our own dual purpose chickens for egg laying and eating:)  I will try meat birds just to see what they are like and maybe a turkey or two:).

I can tell you all how much I love the new farm life we have.  Its of course a totally different way of life and not for everyone but it is definitely for me (us).  I look forward to other animals that i will be able to get and grow with:)

We are starting to get ready to finalize our seed list for our gardens this year.  Our focus is to use even more of our property to grow food and to also start up veggie box sales.  I am really excited about starting some plants for the garden.  I hope to have a large variety of herbs in the gardens this year too.  I ordered the seed and plant catalog from Richters nursery in Uxbridge and I can’t wait to see it when it comes.  They have a cool bunch of mushroom kits too and i am thinking that growing mushrooms would be kind of neat.  I mostly miss my chocolate mint plants that i got from them and had in my garden back in Whitby.  So needless to say I have a few ideas of what i want already:)

We are gonna set up the grow lights and shelf unit upstairs in the spare bedroom so that we can get our seedlings growing……its gonna be a little spring like up there:) yeahhhhhhhh!

So i imagine Rusty will be doing some posts about that in the near future:)  

We have not caught the weasel yet but hope to catch it soon so that we can let the girls roam around outside again unattended:)  I think that the weasel is living in the barn as you can see the foot prints going in and out and Murdoch goes absolutely stupid sniffing down the scent trail.  Die weasel die

On a food note I have a couple of no knead bread recipes that i am going to try this week and i will let you all know how that goes.  Made Rusty an apple pie last night with sweet tango apples….yum….crunchy juicy and sweet.  Of course Rusty was happy to be on the receiving end of a yummy pie:)  So the next baking treat will be a browned butter cake with coffee icing…..it should be good.  If it turns out okay I may share that recipe with you or you might have to visit to get some.

The reno’s are coming albeit much slower then we want but hopefully that will change shortly and there will be some more posts about work around the house.  We do get little things done that are in preparation for bigger things so like i said slow pace but  getting there.

The fact that we are not rushing to do the reno’s is good because it gives us a chance to really think about what we are doing so that we are not just doing renovations and putting in any old thing just because.  We get a chance to really think through the process and decide what changes to make and what finishes would be fit our old island home.  A couple things for sure is the heartland oval wood cook stove and the wood furnace…deciding the best placement for them and where the flue will go and the duct work for the furnace.  Its exciting thinking about and planning the changes and finishes….

So i better go for know but just to let you all know we are loving the island life here and can’t wait for new and repeat visitors this summer:)

Love you guys:)

Vanessa