Happy New Years Resolutions…

Posted in family, Farm, Life, parenting, Welcome by livinthecountrylife

Photo by Rakicevic Nenad on Pexels.com

I have taken a year off blogging. Intentionally or not I have stepped away to live this life rather than write about it, and although it was a wonderful year I miss this outlet of writing, and sharing so here I am, back at it! I have spent my time writing to my children in the form of their journals. I have written journal to myself thru calendar and notebook. We had a busy year, full of lots of fun and adventure. But I miss this. I miss the forum to write thoughts about random ponderings, I miss the outlet for parental thinking and collaboration, I miss sharing my recipes, crafting, and travel adventures, and I miss sharing with you what we have been up to here on our little farm.

New years always come with new years resolutions. Even if we don’t come up with specifics, or write it down January 1^st is the ultimate Monday. So here I am back at writing. I guess I am writing it down so maybe it’s a “new years resolution”, maybe its just a plan to get back to my blog and spend a little time, what little I have, doing something that I truly enjoy!

For those of you who are new here I thought I would start out the year sharing a little about me, and a little about why I write!

I am a mom to five-year-old twin girls and a three (soon to be four) year old boy yes they are close in age – 16 months apart. For those whose jaws are down right about now, yes this was planned, yes I am busy, and for those in the same parenting boat, yes we love it – not every minute, of course that would be a lot to ask, but most of it!

I love wine! See above Nuff said! I have amazing family and friends who are my support system above all else.

I am a wife to an amazing man, who encourages and supports me; I couldn’t live this crazy life without him! Even on the days I complain I know I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here raising our family in our own little wild world on this farm!

I have journaled since I was in grade 3 when my grandmother gave me my first blank note page book with a beautiful flower print for my birthday. At that time I wrote things about my friendships, sleepovers and daily things that came up and were important to me. Nobody read it so I could write anything! As time went on so did my writing, I kept a Journal or Diary for the rest of my life, I still do now, although now its less journaling and more private thoughts and emotions that I cant share or am not ready to share here! Since my children were born I began journaling for them, a compilation of first times trying or doing new things, funny things they have done and said. Mostly letters and notes to them as they grow, these books I will leave to them when they are all grown up, kind of a keepsake of their lives thru my eyes.

I believe in reading, reading to our children, reading to ourselves, and reading about anything and everything that interests us. I feel strongly that when you read you grow, I love watching my children “read” now it melts my heart when my son flips thru a book reciting lines he remembers from the time I have spent reading to him, it is one of the most amazing things to watch.

I am actively involved in our small community, because I believe in the power of a community, a community that comes together and accomplishes amazing things. I believe giving of my time teaches children to think of the big picture, the world and other people around them. We can go nowhere alone, everything we do in life we do thru and with other people.

-A

3May2018

Spring is here on the Farm!

Posted in Farm, Gardening, Life by livinthecountrylife

We have had some busy days this spring on the farm already. There has been a lot of work already started and more MUCH MORE to come! The flooding in the yard has gone down substantially and we are looking forward to getting some of the areas fixed that got a little washed out. The whole community has had some major flooding this spring in fact.

I am really excited to have ordered some trees, seeds, plants, and chickens all set to arrive this month. Planting up our gardens this year is going to be a lot of work with the planned food and plants we have going in, but at the end of the season when we get to harvest all the food to feed our family for they year it will be all worth it.

I have big plans for the birds this summer too. I have ordered 100 broilers we will grow up and butcher in the early fall. I don’t think the 65 that we managed to raise (first time growing them and we lost quite a few) last year will quite last us until butcher time this year so I am excited to try out some new methods and hopefully we don’t lose as many going forward this year! I also have plans to get 20 new laying hens in July, ones that are already established layers, I would like to increase our laying potential here too, our birds we have right now have been around for a few years, one still from the first birds we got when we moved in so the laying potential is low and often we have a low supply in the house.

We have baby pigs running around in the barn right now with momma and they are too cute. The sow is a really great mom and she is raising 11 of them, even one that I didn’t think would make it thru the first couple days! The other two sows are due to farrow in the summer time, accident we had with them and the boar getting out, bad timing but all is good because they will be nice and warm and shouldn’t have cold risk to get in the way of babies surviving.

We have one baby cow now and one more to come soon. Mom and baby are doing well right now and I am getting a little too excited for someone who didn’t want cows in the first place for the other to have hers!

Processed with MOLDIV

I’d like to go into the winter with a hearty supply of eggs, chicken pork, and if Steve gets out this year hunting (don’t tell him I said so) some red meat in the freezer too… not to mention the plans with harvesting and storing or preserving the vegetables, and berries from around here too! It will be busy but we will just keep plugging along and knowing that we are raising farm fresh healthy food for our family!

I have ambitions to do more, not today but one day… maybe bees? Sheep? If anyone has tips let me know! Anything I can do produce our own food I am game for trying!

We have some big tree plans coming too, I have ordered from the shelterbelt program some trees to help out with some wind and dust block as well as some pretty flowers, tasty berries, and eye catching giants. I have been wanting to find just the right trees and shrubs that would work here and do us well since we moved in and now that we are many years into our journey I know we have to get something in the ground so we can still be alive to see some of the results! I have ordered Elm trees so those have a 200-year life span! We have done some major pruning down in the front yard bush area, we have cut back all the lilacs and it is looking clean and nice out there! There is still quite a bit of clean up to do out there but its on its way to looking good, and I can finally see the other trees, shrubs, and bushes in there and what they need from me to keep growing and look beautiful!

So I am excited for the projects we have coming up, I am excited for the growing season and all the homegrown food we have coming this harvest season! I am looking forward to the summer, bbqs, campouts, and lots of time with friends and family! I hope your summer is great too!

-A

27Mar2018

Spring Fever?

Posted in Farm, Life by livinthecountrylife

Its March, I think that’s really all I need to say for anyone who lives in Canada… March weather is unpredictable, its mean, its windy, snowy, rainy, and cold, then sunny, melting, muddy and messy. And then it starts all over again. It’s in like a lion and out like a lion there is no lamb, unless you raise them and they have started to arrive!

So I fill my house with flowers, and plants that bring spring feelings right to my eyes and nose. And we choose to get excited about things like the holiday up coming where we get to spend time with our friends and family. And we wait for the Mean Month March to be behind us and Spring to really arrive! So for now Happy “Spring” wherever you are and whatever the weather may be!

-A

26Feb2018

Is Spring Here?

Posted in family, Farm, Life by livinthecountrylife

I keep asking myself “when it is coming”, I keep looking for signs of its arrival, I know somewhere buried under many feet of snow there is grass waiting to grow, and flowers waiting to bloom!

But for now I can only wait. And maybe start some seeds inside!?

Yesterday we had a great day finally warm enough to spend some significant time outside, you know the time that is longer than it takes to get ready to go out! In fact the kids have spent the last few days outside and we all love it! Steve headed out in the morning to build an epic sliding hill and we took out the toboggans and proceeded to climb and slide and crash and laugh and enjoy the bright sunshiny day!

The kids even convinced me to trek thru the back yard to the play structure, which I have not been keen on doing since the last big dump of snow, mostly because when the snow is waist deep on me which means it’s a lot of work to get them where they want to go! … But we did it made it out there and tramped a path around so they could use the equipment, and once again climb and slide!

Hot chocolate and cookies were to follow an afternoon outside and sleepy tired children who fell asleep almost immediately after their heads hit the pillow… that is what I love most about the outside world and fresh air! So we hope the weather keeps up staying warm now so we can enjoy being outside more.

With nice days it is so much easier to get out and work on projects, for us in February that means snow removal, snow removal, feeding animals and oh right snow removal! But after yesterday Steve accomplished most of the barnyard snow removal, we can even swing a few gates again!

I have to say that by far this is the most snow we have had on our little farm since we moved out here and I am worried about the spring! A few years ago THIS happened and I am certainly concerned that after the run off last year washed out the culvert in the barnyard that there might be an even worse fate this year! We will be keeping an eye on everything as the melt starts to ensure our animals have safety away from the flooding areas!

What are you doing while you wait for spring?

-A

10Nov2017

Winter has Arrived!

Posted in family, Farm, Life by livinthecountrylife

Snow is here.

I guess pumpkin spice season is done and its time for another change in the season.

Fall has been beautiful and I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want to see the snowfall and the wind blow. But my children have brought a new light to the snowy season. They have reminded me as I look out the window and pout that soon there will be enough to build a snow man, and sliding down the slide in the snow is so much fun! They have reminded me that snow is “fun” and so I look forward to a warmer less blustery day where we can head out and enjoy the white fluffy stuff!

For now though I’ll stay toasty curled up with my lap top writing and drinking coffee! While I listen to the kids play nicely (for a minute or two).

13Sep2017

Vlog

Posted in family, Farm, Life, Vlog by livinthecountrylife

For anyone who is an avid reader of my blog you know that life sometimes gets away from me, and the updates and notes I would like to post more regularly just take some time to write! Life, Children, work, farm, renovations, family, events and adventures always take precedent over my sitting to write, as I believe they should. Steve has been off work for a few days now and that has allowed me some catch up time with my writing, but he is off to work again in the next few days! And my own fall commitments will pick up as well with volunteering, work, and children! And the children are all starting their fall activities tomorrow. Fall is our very busy time of year and although I don’t have children in school yet I imagine that it will hold true for the next 20 or so years at least! I don’t mind though, I love the fall and the hustle and bustle makes the cooling weather and impending snow more tolerable! That all being said I have decided to ad an additional component to my posts, and start my You tube channel. Country Livin’ on You Tube. I love to sit and write and plan to continue, but the day to days of our farm life and life as a momma of three little ones might be easier updated thru video broadcasts, and since I am not yet ready for live video broadcasting thru the many elements of social media I have decided to try it out! Ill post some of the videos here on my blog page but for all the videos and to keep up to date as they are posted hit subscribe on my channel.

Thanks for Tuning in!

Cheers!

10Sep2017

Pumpkin Spice Season is Among us – Time for an Update.

Posted in family, Farm, Life by livinthecountrylife

It has been a busy and adventurous summer here on our little farm! We have been doing so many things and I can’t even believe fall is almost here! It has been an amazing summer filled with barbecues, campfires, riding, skiing, camping, rodeos, lake trips, weddings, and so much fun with family and friends.

Diamond Dinner

Early in the spring we ladies got together and headed down to the Diamond Dinner to support the Teepee Creek Stampede Queen Committee. We all got dressed up and were thoroughly entertained and fed extremely well as always from Lefty’s Cafe.

Moberly Lake

We spent time out at the lake with friends and family, taking in the sights, boat rides, skiing, limited campfires to propane (BC wildfires have been out of control this year and the bans were province wide.) thoughts are always with those affected by these devastating fires. You can Keep up to Date on Fires Here.

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Most years skiing isn’t something I get much time for, nor does the weather always cooperate but this year I got a few really great days for skiing while we were at my parents lake lot. The kids love hoping up in the front of the boat and watching us all ski.

RIP Sadie

We lost my big beautiful Sadie horse this summer, it was unfortunate, and we are still not 100% sure what happened. I had just been talking to her the evening before while out doing chores, and when I headed out in the morning to check on everything, she was laid down and already dead. It was sad, her and I did so well together as I am not the most seasoned rider she really knew what she was doing and took good care of me when we were out.

HD RIDE 4 A CURE

We were to ride in the HD Ride 4 a Cure this year, but when that wasn’t possible friends invited me along in their wagon, so I was still able to participate and contribute to an great cause. For more information on this disease check out Huntington’s Society of Canada Or for more local information check out Peace Country Huntington’s Society

I am lucky to live in a great community where we all come together to support one another and Id like to say a huge thank you to my sponsors this year as well! Thank you for supporting and sponsoring my Ride 4 a Cure!

Farm Animals

We have had a few new additions to our little farm, more baby pigs even this fall we farrowed 40 more. They are pretty darn cute! And Steve has wanted to farm cows since we moved out here all those years ago. So I finally broke down and got him a cow for his birthday, with some help of course, and she is away for another little while with the bull. So she will return hopefully bread soon! I have always been so hesitant to go ahead with this idea because I am pretty scared of the size of them. I know lots of people would say pigs are more scary they will eat you! …

Mine are pretty mellow, they come for ear scratches and belly rubs when I am in the barn with them. They are really only in their barn pens for having babies and all other times of the year they “free range” I use that term in quotes for a few reasons, one our pigs have a very large grazing area we call their pen. it is actually a 3 large pen system where we can have them on fresh greens thru the duration of the summer and much room to wallow in the mud, hand made shelters and forest/ tree provided shelters. Even with all the space they have and the constant grain feeding they still want to explore and have more room… like room in my veggie garden! So we often find they have broken out and are hanging out in my back yard! Eeek! we continue to fix fence and move them in until they can find another spot to break out! Ah the joys of farming pigs!

The goal is that I will get out there one of these days to do some videos and barn yard tours so you can see all the animals as a part of my new VLOG I love writing but sometimes with all the busyness that is children, activities and family its nice to do a video, plus touring around through video is nice to have a visual companion!

4 Days in the Wild and Other Rodeo Adventures

We made it to a few Rodeo’s this year, of course the main being the Teepee Creek Stampede As Steve and I are both involved with the Board and Committees. It is an amazing weekend and of course if you have never experienced it I highly recommend it! The children all love to take in the Rodeos, the Highschool rodeo in the spring was fun for them as the cowboys and cowgirls are much younger and being in the new Ag Event Center it was warm and comfortable for watching. We also headed out to the Dawson Creek Fall Fair and Rodeo where we saw lots of animals, rode rides at the midway, and saw the rodeo performance on Sunday. The kids had so much fun and I just love to see them enjoying all these events!

Wedding Time!

We Celebrated some weddings this year with some beautiful brides and handsome grooms. Most notably the marriage of Steve’s brother to his beautiful wife who I am so lucky to call my Sister in law and my children lovingly call aunty! It was an amazing day after all the practice runs all three children were there to help Aunty find Uncle, they had very important jobs and took it very seriously… either that or they were excited about the candies daddy had in his pocket! It was a jam packed day and so great!

Pig Roast

It was a fun day having a pig roast with the neighbours, we had some amazing roasters to help out and the flavour was so great!

Camping Trip with Daddy!

The Girls headed out on a camping trip with dad late this summer, they pitched a tent and slept out under the stars, on the far side of our land they hikes with a back pack to where Steve had taken all the big stuff earlier, they enjoyed s’mores, told stories and camped out as it started to rain! in the morning they hiked back to the house for breakfast. Henry and mom stayed warm and dry in our own beds in the house, but Steve is looking forward to next year when Henry can join them, and so am I when I can sleep in!

It really has been a jam packed summer and so much fun, We are looking forward to the fall, the kids are all signed up for activities to keep us busy while the weather cools and they are really excited for that. This momma is looking forward to some structure for the fall too. Soon the garden will all be cleaned out and food put away. The pigs, cow, horses and chickens will be all settled in for the snowy months. Hope your summers were great and that you will be embracing all that the pumpkin spice season has to offer!

Cheers!

19Oct2016

Good day, time for an update!

Posted in family, Farm, Food, Life by livinthecountrylife

Well the cold weather has officially hit, the weather man keeps telling me it might warm up one more time but looking into the frost covered day I’m having a hard time
believing it!

The summer was such a busy one with so many adventures! Our garden was a huge success this year! We planted early enough to have a great crop of corn that we are still enjoying, potatoes that will last for months and so much fresh foods that I was able to can, pickle, and freeze what we need for the winter months! We are so lucky to have the space and the time to enjoy a large garden! I hope of course that next year we can keep working toward a weed free garden! We worked hard this year to keep the weeds down and they still managed to get away from us in the end but every year it’s better and better!

We certainly were busy in the barn yard too this year with the addition of our baby pigs! With two sows farrowing this summer we now have 18 babies settled in their winter pen with lots of room to run, and food to eat! And our Three sows have a boar with them now in their pen so we should be expecting another round of babies in the spring! This is the first year we haven’t done anything extravagant with our birds, in that we simply purchased a few new chickens at a spring sale and kept our flock small and manageable! I haven’t been over run by eggs this year which has been a nice change! Although with the cool weather the slow down has been a little too much and we’ve had to seek help with our egg supply from our neighbour until the ladies started laying again! We will plan to hatch out again this spring to replace some of the birds that are slowing down or not laying anymore, I think the kids are going to love the process and seeing the new babies!!

We did some camping this season too, the lake was beautiful, and camping at Moberly is always a treat! The girls got some much needed grandma and grandpa camping in without mom and dad, and Henry had some of his first camping adventures this year!

Steve and I managed to get some time in with each other too this summer… which of course can sometimes be a challenge with three young children! But with the help of our friends and family and some great babysitters we are so lucky to have we had a few fun adventures together!

We even got an old time drive in movie date in which was very fun! The movie was Grease so at one point we were watching the drive in movie scene at the drive in movie!

Steve and I have a really great group of Friends too who we spend time with often! We have had a great many barbecues, nights out,and games nights!

We searched and searched this summer looking for a play structure that would last our family many years of play! I read a blog (I wish I could remember which so I could give it due credit) that hit the nail on the head, explaining how:

We as parents do not buy extravagant play structures and toys for our children really! They are for us, the parents!

Rightfully so after our back yard was set up for the kids to freely play, gardening and yard work became that much easier! The best part of the process was when Steve showed up at the sellers house (we purchased used from a bidding site on Facebook) they thought he would be there for days unsetting it, instead he loaded it on to a trailer with a picker truck and the kids were on it by the next day!

4 Days in the Wild and 100 Years in the Wild

There are so many wonderful reasons I love living where we do and one of them most of all is our community! Everyone comes together for one another always and I don’t think I could want for a better place to raise our family!

And for 4 days (with the hard work and dedication of the entire team of volunteers) everyone comes together to participate in the Teepee Creek Stampede! This year marked the 100th anniversary of the rodeo and even the girls joined in on the calf scramble this year! My whole family was here mom, dad, and grandma traveled and camped out, it was great for everyone to experience the togetherness of this community first hand! Steve of course did a lot of volunteering again this year and it was great to have help from our friends and family to make it possible for the kids to participate and enjoy their time too! We are looking forward to next year as both Steve and I have taken on a greater roll with the organization this year!!