This has been a big year for me. It was one of those ground breaking and moving kind of years. In the back of my mind I kept thinking “say it ain’t so”. But in true fashion it happened, I don’t feel like it is but the calendar does not lie. I turned the big 50 a momentus way. A little grayer, and yes I’m not ashamed of my grey highlights:)♡♡

Its hard to believe, and with all the busyness of lifes going ons between the hurricane, farming and a bitersweet trip home to Ontario and a cold, it all just sort of happened quite fast. I didnt really get a chance to think about life until I had chance to sit. So I guess a lot of the musing of life started on the trip to Ontario, post bday several days.

This big momentus birthday was spent with the love of my life. No one else just him. The well wishes came in from all over the world and from those who are dear and close, family and friends. Yes, I split wood on my big day, it was fun:) with my honey.

When you know you are going to see family under the circumstances for which we did it is mixed with happiness and sadeness. But it was truly beautiful to see everyone. I was looking forward to connect with family and catch up on lost time. There was stuff that happened that I didn’t expect that made my heart sad but then there was stuff that happened that I embraced and enjoyed. It really caused me to think about how everything changes. Life changes everyone, it changes relationships good and bad it changes how we react to each other, it changes how we view each other, it changes what was once close and important to one that is just on the surface. The time gave me a chance to embrace feelings that I can’t change. It was also a time of new discoveries and new relationships, realizations of what might be missed but is going to be sweet.

I did a lot of musing on our trip home, we had such beautiful weather. In my private thoughts thiking about conversations, and events, I had a lot to think about. Watching the beautiful colours of the season driving through northern New Brunswick thinking about where I am in life, what I want to purposely do differently, what relationships I pour into and which ones I will lay to rest. Which things I have not done yet and I will do because I just will:)

I have decided that I will be purposeful in many ways because at this pont you have too. This excites me and I can’t wait to start, one day at a time. God gives us today, tomorrow is a gift. What will we do with today.

I am greatful for what I have and the discoveries made and what is to hope for. I am excited for the new things I’m gonna do.

I am excited about new ventures and just life itself, not gonna let stuff hold me back. You just can’t let failed relationships hold you back, you move forward in hopes that tomorrow will be different because you make it different♡♡

So we had some good food, great conversations and just not a long enough visit to get everyone in. We had a beautiful visit with awesome friends and I was just so touched by how God comes in and restores hurt people, it was so beautiful to see peace and God’s presence in that life . It was so awseome to catch up but also feel like no time has passed as you pick up as if you have not been away. GOD IS GOOD Oh yes, a special shout out to Ry, I am so proud of you. You have grown up into such an awesome Young Man of God. So glad we had our time together, I really enjoyed our conversations.

So if I get another day, week, month, year or years I will make the most of it and make it the best ever years no matter what comes our way.

We listened to a bunch of praise and worship music on holidays and there is a couple songs that really speak to me one that today really speaks is the reckless love the one with Corey Asbury with the story behind the song. I am so glad for Gods reckless love for us, His creation, His children. If one goes missing He searches for that one, whether we deserve it or not to bring that lost soul back home.

Over the years I am greatful that God has humbly used me. I know that at times the message was not well received by those he spoke to through me, but I do not apologize because God is a God of love and when we need to hear from Him we don’t always want to know we have done wrong. But when we humbly bow and seek forgiveness for our sins He forgives and we are not seperated from His Love. But we are seperated from His Love when we refuse Him and sin against Him, and everytime we come to Him He forgives, His Love is endless, He is a Father that doesn’t give up.

I want God to use me more, and I know that it is not going to be a popular moments but someone has to make a stand for God and His truth which sets us free.

Additions are fun they make what you have even better. So when we took off the crooked icky addition that was on the back of the house just before we lifted it back in our first year a lot of thought went into what we would do back there. As we gutted the top floors of our house in prep for the new foundation the following spring we new that we wanted something nice to sort of go in its place we played around with a lot of ideas and came up with extending the foundation in the back of the house where the present kitchen was and make a sort of mudroom / laundry / canning area because we planned on growing lots and wanted a nice spot to do all the messy work without making the big mess in the kitchen.

Continue reading “Old Houses – Additions”

For those who don’t know me, I really do like to experiment with stuff, try new things and really there isnt really much that scares me like that. It might go back to curiousty as a child trying to figure out what makes the hallway night light turn on and off…oops fuse blown or mud pies, or even trying to bake bread on the heat register on the floor in the kitchen… Yes I did say curiousity.

Some of the food my food curiousities have been lots of fun, some intersting and some just down right wrong but I have tried a few things that I like.

Fermenting is one area that I have been really enjoying. It includes a wide variety of areas and they have been intersting. I am self taught in a lot of areas and this one is no exception.

We started with saurkraut and cheese making back in Ontario I’d say about two years before we moved to the island. Russ discoved a guy by the name of Joel from Well Preserved. We we growing quite a few fruits and veggies in our backyard and we had this over abundant crop of peaches and we were looking for recipes. Well Preserved was a hubby and wife that live in Toronto (downtown) who made the most of their little lot growing cooking and preserving fresh food. He had some really cool recipes for fermenting and we started with saurkraut… it was so good, we then tried homemade cheese which was lots of fun. It was this curiousity that really launched us into our being more self sufficient lifestyle we were headed into.

Its funny what inspires you and just where that takes you. It was truly through all that research and discovery that we really jumped all in and started our new life here on the island. Its been quite a learning journey that has been so much fun.

So since being here we have tried quite a few different things in the fermenting area. I grew my own scobies to brew Kombucha, I have learned how to make fermented “pop” with whey and just recently learned about kefir and have “brew” some pretty amazing kefir the last couple of weeks. Thanks to a good friend she had some extra kefir grains to offer to people that wanted to try it so I got some and I love it.

My kefir grains are growing so I will be experiementing with converting some over from milk to water. I will let you know how that goes in a few weeks.

So it is so easy to make kefir I don’t know why I didn’t try it sooner. I will describe how i make it here. You start off with the grains aproximately 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of grains, you add 2 cups of milk I use homoginized or whole milk. I put it a large mason jar close the lid label it and leave it on the counter in the kitchen usually overmight for about 12 hours. When it has femented I strain it out in a bowl to seperate the brewed kefir and kefir grains. I bottle the finished kefir for use. I then start the process again that easy.

I usually puree up fresh fruit like bananas, blueberries, strawberries or rasphberries and mix it in with the finished kefir. Its so delicious, I don’t add any sugar but you could if you want too my suggestion would be honey, maple syrup or organic cane sugar.

The probiotic content in kefir is even better then yogurt….

So that’s my new fermenting curiousity….. I do have more stuff I want to try but for now this was the easiest.

When I get a chance to convert some grains over to water kefir, I will get a chance to do some fruit pop like drinks with it that are naturally carbinated by the grains. I’ll let you know how it goes….

I can’t believe that we are already halfway through August.

It was our plan to do more beaching surfing this year but time has not allowed it, but we have done a few beach walks and a few bonfires so I guess thats okay.

About a week or so ago we went to one of our favorite beaches Thunder Cove. Its not a tourist busy beach although there a few here but more a local beach. Either way its beautiful and it was a really nice evening, the light was just right as the sun was setting on our way back to the the beach entrance.

I abosolutely love walking on the beach or beach surfing at this time. The beach is generally not busy with people just those there for the sun set. the sound of the waves coming in and the saltwater smell are just so awesome. I wish some days that you can bottle the sound, smells and sights all at once to send to friends and family.

Lots of contemplation of life as you walk and are surrounded by such beauty and such appreciation for the power of mother nature as well. If you are someone that comes and visits this is a beach that we would take you too.

I’ve attached some pictures of our walk as well as one we took with Ally just before she left to go back to school….enjoy

There is no mistaking it, we are all longing for it after such a long winter.  Spring has finally arrived but it’s still a bit chilly but a whole lot of muddy….. I can’t really go out and do any of my farm chores without a pair of boots, the snow has melted and the ground is softening up which means it’s just a wonderful soppy, stinky muddy mess. I do love spring very much as it is like an amazing journey of rebirth for all the animals, plants, and people.  It’s that desire on warmish days to put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and bask is the warm of the sun…..but nope that’s not gonna happen just yet. It’s awesome to hear the song birds, and the woodpecker pecking at the roof, the blue jays the red winged black birds the grackles and of course the finches.  Now it’s gonna be interesting in regards to the birds as we got three new kitty cats and one of them is gonna learn the hard way…….don’t chase the chickens.  So I imagine the little birdies are gonna have to be on the look out even more carefully. But yes, that all familiar mud….. it’s everywhere, farm dog Murdoch is of course just as happy it’s spring so much so he brings in all the awful mud in the house!  All the smells, he just goes woofy for all that.  I’m not sure how many baths he’s gonna have but he sure does love running thru the puddles hot on the trail of some critter. And then there is Cletus, Smokey and Daisy……they are absolutely loving the nicer weather.  Now they were small kittens when they came to us so I didn’t let them outside in the winter as they really didn’t know their new home very well, but they sure are scouting out every corner.  They have even been up to Orville’s cow barn to say hi. It won’t be long and the dog days of summer will be amongst us but I do love this transition season……there is such a difference in the view of the valley.  Yes, it’s barren looking but there is a different look on the landscape and the horizon……swelled buds and hints of green grass……mother nature bursting at the seams after a long winters nap. The days are getting longer and the sun feels warmer and I get such an excitement in my heart.  I believe we are just so blessed to live in such a beautiful country with such diversity in seasons but so glad the winter storms are come to an end.  I count the days to running shoes and flip flops…..won’t be long now….

Old Houses are inspiring, reminiscent, sad, happy, family, living and dying.  

We live in an old farmhouse that is said to have been built in and around 1878.  The church in our small town had this house built as the manse.  The church manse was the hub socially in the community.  So not only as a manse but also as a regular house, it has a lot of history in the community with families and friends and more.  So its kind of exciting to be renovating our house and basically bringing it back to life.
So the journey of our full reno in itself is a story, things we uncover, conversations with neighbors whose family lived here and of course wild ghost stories too.

We are getting to different parts of the reno as time, weather, and funds permit us too and this summer we started on a project outside the new porch. We had to take of the small front porch that was on the front of the house because we had to lift our house to excavate the new basement.

So we built a temporary landing at the front door and one on the side when we added the new addition onto the back.
















This year our big thing apart from the interior work was the beginning of the new porch landing and then next year will be the roof portion and screened in area.  This new porch is really going to help us with some of the exterior work that we need to do so its a long time welcome project.  We will be able to replace to windows in what is going to be a beautiful vaulted ceiling master bedroom as well as start on some of the reshingling of the exterior walls.  So its really a welcomed project but it is also such a nice place to have an early morning coffee or a late afternoon cool drink place in the shade of a bunch of rather large fir trees.  

We still have a long reno road before us but its cool when you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.  I forgot to mention that this new porch is going to wrap around most of the house from the west side to the north side and the font door on the north side that didn’t have one when we bought the house.  Can’t wait to see how it turns out:)

I’m sure that someone has probably penned this saying ” Farmhouse Movement” but even so I think it’s a good title here.  It’s a movement that I think a lot of people are looking for, longing for and maybe even doing a little without realizing it.

Its something that doesn’t require living in a farmhouse but acquiring that warm safe place of yesteryear.  That place of comfort, safety and contentment.  The place of homemade, home grown, that warm loving feeling of grandmas fresh baked cookies and cake.

There are so many of us looking for that more simpler way of life one that is back to our roots.  It’s funny really how we do a 360 and want to retreat back to a simpler time.

5+ years ago we made a move that would totally be called “farmhouse movement”.  We wanted a more simplified life, one of growing our own food, cooking from scratch, raising animals for food, being out in the country, just getting ourselves away from the craziness of complicated modern living.  It will never be about how much money you can make how many toys you can buy or all the stuff that clogs our lives.  It’s about being loved, loving in return, having just enough to live by without going into debt, working a good days work, growing our own food for the summer and winter, chopping wood to warm our house all winter, making sure the pantry is full and taking care of others in need along the way.  Living a much healthier lifestyle.  We found so much of that and at the end of day, I might be tired from chopping wood or working in the garden or even working in the kitchen to store food but there is a satisfaction I feel deep within and the fresh air certainly helps me sleep so well at night. 

Join the Farmhouse Movement today.