A diary of the projects, hurdles, rewards and family life at we recorded at Wise Acres, our former homestead in Horsefly, BC. (Careers and teenagers have forced us back into the city, at least for a little while.)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Scraggly sheep and a new hay loft

It was another full week-end! On Saturday we headed into town to check out the 1st Annual Williams Lake Seedy Saturday. The turn-out seemed pretty good, with some interesting information about when to start seeds in our region, a new community/school garden project, a beekeeping demonstration (equipment etc. no live bees) and some activities for kids (planting pumpkin seeds, painting with potato stamps).

Sunday was a busy day working in the barn/sheep shed. We wanted to get a gate on the remaining outside doorway...

Erich put in a hay loft in the top of the barn for storing straw, shavings, feed, children etc...complete with ladder...

The three hooligans enjoying their new playspace...

Erich also built this handy feed trough while we were away...
Notice the scraggly sheep? It started with Snow White...we noticed an increasing number of clumps of white wool on the doorways, posts etc in the barn. When I took a closer look, it seems that there was a break in the wool and it is coming out in clumps with a nice soft layer of new wool about an inch to an inch and a half long, coming in underneath. I had heard of this breaking of wool, it is apparently usually due to a trauma, illness etc. Now I'm thinking it may have been the stress of transportation, extreme cold, getting our hay rations sorted out etc. I'm not sure but the bad news is that while I am saving the clumps that I'm able to remove....it probably won't be useful for spinning. Rats!

So far Brownie has only lost a few clumps...isn't she a nice looking sheep? So regal...or so she appears...she does love a good scratch under the chin and will let you know it if you're not paying enough attention to her.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Back from the Big City

We're back! We had a lovely visit with Nanna...although somewhat short. We filled each day with trips to the Aquarium, Stanley Park, Ikea the beach at Deep Cove and a really cool wave pool. We also had a great dinner with Auntie Karen and family, recently returned from their trip to Australia.

We had a rather uneventful and quick trip down to Vancouver and a more eventful return trip home. Our first stop after saying our goodbyes to Nanna, was the Otter Co-op to pick up 600 kilos or so, of organic chick starter and some laying mash. It turns out that I really should have called first because they only had two 20 kilo bags of chick starter. Rats!! Will have to make other arrangements.

We headed up Highway 1, and things were quiet in the back seat as the girls were watching Beethoven and little M. passed out. We came around the corner at Spence's Bridge and G, spotted these grazing along the side of the road...

Check out the curly horns of the big guy in the middle...

It's amazing how much they looked like our Icelandic sheep...kind of crossed with a white-tailed deer.

Seeing those guys was definitely the highlight of the roadtrip....the $130 speeding ticket I got on the Horsefly Road? Definitely the 'lowlight'! Could have been worse...guess he could have given me a ticket for the speed I was actually doing :)

Looking forward to a good night's rest...you just can't beat your own bed.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Water Footprints?

Here's an interesting chart that caught my eye today.

It points out some well-known and lesser-well-known choices one could make to lessen one's water use.

GOOD Transparency - Walk This Way [GOOD Magazine via Serious Eats via Lifehacker]

I'm going to assume they mean industrial beef, rather than grass-fed beef. I'm not saying grass-feeding uses no water, but I suspect it uses less.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

From there to here

Recently a friend of mine posted some pictures of their family trip to the CN Tower in Toronto..

Since we moved to BC, almost three years ago, I have been back only once. As the plane was landing I was struck by how flat and crowded it all looked, just like these photos taken from the tower. This shot is looking North, the suburb where I was born is likely way up there somewhere on the horizon...


This shot is looking west from the tower...


This is the condo where we lived when G. turned one...my how time flies! (It's the same pic as above I just couldn't figure out how to circle the building in the photo)

Toronto is an amazing city and Front Street was a great location. We lived within walking distance of Queen Street West, the Skydome, Harbourfront and the public transit system is top-notch. On my street car ride to work I would often pass by a couple of stout, elderly women dressed in black heading to the morning mass at the Portuguese church, up Bathurst St. past nightclubs, funky second-hand clothing shops through Chinatown, past the University of Toronto and Queen's Park and end up at College/Bay, watching all of the 'suits' hustling down Bay St. to their respective towers. It's hard to believe now, that we use to argue about where we would eat dinner..."Sushi? no we had that on Tuesday...Greek? Nah, we had that for lunch...Indian? ...well okay."

And now we're here...the green roofed house in the middle is ours...you can kind of see by the tree lines where our property extends to...


...feels great! While I loved the urban lifestyle, I can't say I miss it. Next week we are heading to Vancouver to visit my mom...we are overdue for a visit...I'm looking forward to seeing her but I know a few days of city life and I will be getting itchy feet for my country bliss.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Drip...Drip...Drip

Well, March definitely came in like a lamb around here. We woke up this morning to the distinctive sound of a big melt...

and now this gutter is a steady stream...

I think we've all got a bit of spring fever...the girls spent most of this morning outside...the warm weather meant great packing snow...they had fun creating this lovely snow family...

Even Violet got into the fun...

Spring must be just around the corner...I can almost taste it!