2012 in Review

January

- Zim's birthday
- We bought our first brand-new piece of furniture: a sectional couch with a hid-a-bed for company.  Likely not a big deal to anyone else, but as we've both moved so much in the previous 4  years, it gives us both a feeling of permanency and domesticity.

February

- Mandi's birthday
- Big snowstorm; we got the truck stuck in a 4-foot high snowbank at the end of the driveway.  Oh my, what are we going to do when we don't have a landlord to clear the driveway in situations like this...
- Project: We dehydrate some apples with our new dehydrator.  Mmmmmmmm, delicious!

March

- Project: Mandi creates a reversible wallet.

April

- We start seedlings for the garden.  These end up being planted in pots and buckets.

May

- We decided to go see a mortgage broker, "just out of curiosity", which set of a an unexpected chain of events.
- Projects: Fleecy bunnies for Mandi's goddaughter and her siblings and a ring in a box for their Mom; a pallet becomes a tool organizer.

June

- Our first wedding anniversary
- Jordan's birthday
- Projects: a new easy-pour lid for the baking soda jar; a wallet for a friend; a collar for Mander; rosebud earrings and ring, and holder, for the Rescue's silent auction.

July

- We bought Lone Pine Farm!!!!
- Mandi's been volunteering for one year.
- We headed off on a three-week vacation, stretching well in to August, to visit family in Alberta and Ontario.  This vacation was planned waaaaaay back in February, and there was no way we were going to postpone it.
- Projects: clothesline in the barn.

August

- Molly and Anomander's birthdays
- Jordan's brother Aaron comes home with us; we break the trailer for the quad so we buy a new, hardier one.  Aaron spots a beautiful double rainbow over the barn - I run out to take photos.
- We start a blog to keep our friends and family up-to-date.
- Projects: we start excavating the crawlspace with Aaron's help.

September

- Mandi makes a quick trip back to Alberta to see Linkin Park in concert :)
- We find the stream, complete with beaver dam and fallen log.
- Doodle comes out for their first playdate!
- Projects: Jordan starts painting the stalls side of the pole shed; Mandi builds a shelf for food storage; the garden is harvested; the roof of the vestibule for the root cellar is replaced; Mandi's parents come up and many things get done: the grass is cut and raked, the drawer fronts are routered, the dryer vent is hooked up, the hot water tank is installed, and new roof vents are installed as well; Mandi later installs another vent.

October

- We've now known each other for 13 years.
- It's cold enough that we turn on the fireplace.
- Projects: Jordan paints some fences; Mandi bakes some pies and crochets some dishcloths; we install a makeshift soffit to add more ventilation to the roof and a better outside light; Mandi installs some sink-front storage and builds a shoe shelf.

November

- Let the baking begin!
- We attend the Barnyard Business session, and meet Tessa.  This session will change our lives.
- Projects: Jordan starts organizing the shop by emptying out and reorganizing the toolbox; we prop up the back corner of the roof; Mandi's friend comes out and helps with the electrical.

December

- We meet with Tessa and Matt to chat about farming

- The roof starts to leak during warmer weather.
- Projects: Mandi bakes cookies; we set up the bookcases; we make some plans for the chicken coop.

Cookies!

Hi everyone :)

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been enjoying some extended time off from work by being uncharacteristically lazy.

Here's what we have accomplished since I last posted:

- We measured a possible yard site for the chickens, as the current coop is unsalvageable (and unsanitary!)  Based on our calculations, we can have 36 chickens in 4 runs, or 32 chickens in 6, if we do a permanent, year-round coop with rotating runs.  Next step: plan the coop.

- We measured the 'dip' in the yard for a potential garden: 30m by 55m, which works out to about 0.4 acres.  I thought it was bigger than that!  No biggie though.  New we'll just watch in the spring and see if that area drains well enough to feasibly put in a garden.

- I rotated the bins for the worms (yes, we have worms, for vermicomposting, they work quite well although on a very small scale).  Luckily, they're nearly indestructible - feed them, ignore them for 3 weeks, come back and feed them again.  My kind of pet :)

- I did more baking - three batches of cookies!  At my work, we do a cookie swap for Christmas (instead of trying to purchase little trinkets for each other), so I did 2 dozen for my coworkers in my department, with loooooooooots left over to give to others, and for us to eat!  In my opinion, these are the best oatmeal cookies ever - I usually make them with cranberries for the fruit and white chocolate chips for myself and for others, and with just semi-sweet chocolate chips for Jordan.  The recipe is below.

- We also have Doodle for an extended playdate right now!  He and Zim are having a blast running around outside, wrestling over the toys, and chasing each other through the house.

Zim and Doodle, wrestling in the snow

Other than that, it's been a quiet Christmas.  As it was just us two here, and we're not terribly big in to Christmas, we've just been hanging out and being lazy.  Jordan has had the sled out a few times, and we let the cats go outside Christmas day - something that they've been asking for for a while.  Mander was happy to sit in the snow for about 10 minutes, but Moly was thoroughly unimpressed and wanted to go back inside after just a minute.

Clockwise from top left: Jordan on the sled - that black blur right behind him is Zim; The kids curled up on the bed after we rearranged the bedroom so we could turn on the electric heat; Measuring the garden site; Mander quite happy in the snow; Molly wants in!  She's growling by this point; Zim is perfectly fine outside, of course.

Anyway as promised, the recipe:

Awesome Oatmeal Cookies!

Ingredients:

1 1⁄2 c flour 

1 tsp baking soda 

1⁄2 tsp salt 

1⁄2 tsp cinnamon 

2 1⁄2 c old fashioned oats 

1 c unsalted butter, lightly softened 

1 c light brown sugar, packed 

1⁄2 c granulated sugar 

2 lg eggs 

1 Tbsp honey 

2 tsp pure vanilla extract 

1 1⁄3 c dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries, apples, etc.) (optional)

1 c chocolate chips (white or semi-sweet) (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or use non-stick cookie sheets). 

3. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats. Set aside. 

4. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. 

5. Beat eggs in to the sugar mixture one at a time. 

6. Add honey and vanilla to the sugar mixture and beat until blended. 

7. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in two batches, beating each time until well combined. 

8. Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips. 

9. Drop heaping Tbsp of dough on to baking sheets about 2 inches apart. 

10. Bake until the centers of the cookies are soft, about 9 to 11 minutes. 

11. Let cool for five minutes on the cookie sheets, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

This week at the Rescue

This week, I had a nice, busy afternoon at the Rescue.

I started off with mixing the evening rations for Darcy and Fin.

Then I got to hang out with Hamilton for a bit, and feed him treats.  He continues to make progress: he let me touch his cheek without losing his mind!

Hamilton scoping out a treat

After chilling with Hamilton, I headed out to trim Jack's bridle path (which involves trimming a small section of his mane to allow the halter or bridle to fit properly).  When I finished Jack, I led Delta out for a tail wash and braid, and mane detangle, and a new bridle path for her as well.

Delta, who is one of the bigger horses at the Rescue.

Then I got to bring Shaw out for a quick groom and some treats :)

Looking handsome!

Snowfall Warning!

Yesterday, we had a surprise snowfall warning for 10-15 cm.  I say 'surprise' as I didn't know about it until I woke up yesterday morning and saw 3 inches of fresh snow on the car.  As we had already had a previous 3 inches on the road, I skipped breakfast and headed out to make a few quick passes with the plow.  This was not nearly enough to adequately clear the road, and I nearly got stuck leaving for work.  Jordan also almost got the truck stuck coming home, and he was in 4x4!  To top it off, I had accidentally brought the quad key with me to work, so Jordan couldn't plow.  As the snow continued to accumulate, I called a local gent who owns an excavating company and arranged to have him come out with his loader in the afternoon.  While yes, we could have cleared the drive with the quad, and yes, me pocketing the keys cost us at least $75 in loader costs, I'm kind of glad that we got the loader out, as the road is still just as wide as it was, and now I know not to make that mistake again!  I still had a bit of clearing to do when I got home, as the loader didn't go all the way to the shop (and I don't mind that he didn't - we now have 3 logs lost in the snow over there, and I would have felt terrible if he had hit one and damaged the loader in some way... we'll have to mark them this weekend), but it only took about two hours, including replacing one bolt and four nuts that hold the snowblade on the quad.  All in all, better than the likely 4 hours it would have taken to do the road and the shop.  On the bright side, now we get the pleasure of watching Zim leap through the snow and sink up to his shoulders - he's never had the chance to play in snow this deep, as we very rarely used the 'backyard' in our previous house since it was so small and riddled with trees and random divots, and it was easier for Zim to play in the driveway (where there was enough room to throw the ball without it going over a fence or getting lost in the bush).

So, what else have we been up to?

Two weeks ago we finally unearthed the bookcases and books from the longhouse, and brought them in.  Last weekend, I got the last of them filed properly, so we now have access to our books again! We have three shelves: the large 5-shelf bookcase is fiction; the medium three-shelfer is movies, games, and some non-fiction (biography, trivia, artsy stuff, etc.); and the final 2-shelf bookcase is the rest of the non-fiction (cookbooks, household and health, home improvements, homesteading, gardening, farm tales, and animals).

Of course, there's nothing going on at the moment for farming, but we're hoping to sit down over Christmas and figure out what we'll do next year, including where we'll put in a bigger garden.  Gee, that sounds familiar; didn't I say that a few weeks ago?  We've been busy running around in town, cleaning, trying to get the house a bit more organized, and generally enjoying our few weekends off together.

On the agenda for this weekend: make dog food, a Christmas party with coworkers, cleaning the workout room in the longhouse, and baking lots and lots of cookies :)