Getting Ready For Fall - Storing Wood

The end result of the kids clearing off the front porch in order to make room for...

...lots of wood for winter.  We only have one source of heat in the house, a wood stove in the living room.  Amazingly, it does heat the entire house, top to bottom and back to front. 

There was an old oil furnace in the basement when we moved here 2.5 years ago,  along with 2 old oil tanks.  All 3 were done and had to come out and have not yet been replaced.  We have a 2-year-old used oil furnace and tank bought and waiting to go in but we need to finish digging out the basement dirt floor first.  A lot of drudgery work as each heavy bucket load has to be carried up the old, crooked steps, dumped into the tractor and carted away.

http://huonview.blogspot.ca/2010/09/apple-crates-in-place.html
We tried storing the wood in large apple crates like the ones above and putting the crates in the garage throughout the winter but this did not work out so well.  Too bad, too because the crates were easy enough to move around with the forks on the tractor.  On the days when the sun was shining outside, the ice on the wood inside the crates in the garage never thawed.  If it rained, snowed or was freezing rain outside, the liquid, one way or another found its way into the garage under the garage door in spite of us putting old towels, blankets, etc. under the door.  This liquid would invariably turn to ice, seldom thaw before winter was over and create a slippery floor that we had to walk on several times a day to get wood.

I expected the front porch to be a worse choice but last winter when we tried it as a last resort, it turned out to be much better.  If the weather warmed up, the wood warmed up also and the snow and ice melted.  We only had to go a step or 2 outside the front door and we seldom had any ice where we had to walk.  So we're doing it again this year.  The only possible downside is that most people would not like the look or mess of wood on their front porch but I don't really mind it at all.  It looks like the country to me!

Time For Autumn

Thanks to my computer, I'm a little behind on these fall photos but it's nice to see fall again in all its glory.  This is the fence that my son rebuilt this summer as it had fallen apart in our hands when we touched it.  It had been there a long time so I guess it was pretty authentic.  Another one still to be rebuilt but there's always next summer!

The 2 Autumn Joy plants are looking pretty good, all things considered.  The one on the left just got planted this summer and has not only survived but has doubled in size.  The one on the right has been there for who knows how long but got a bit trampled this summer when the the fence was being rebuilt. It's not as full as the other one but it survived and will do well again!

More Summer Memories

Summer Memories - Algonquin Park

Summer Memories

Where has the summer gone?  We can say that every summer - and do! - and yet we were right there all along  - and we're still surprised every year when it flies by.  It's nice to lose the heat and humidity but I'm always sad to see the long days of sunshine leave us, as well as all the leaves. 

3 Cute Kitties in the Window

3 cuties waiting at the window! 

 
The cat in the middle we call "The Green-Eyed Monster", shortened recently to Monster.  He and his 2 yellow-eyed brothers were given to us as 6-8 week olds, about 2 years ago.  These kittens looked after each other so amazingly well, licking and cleaning, just as their mother had done.  That is, until they all matured about a year later.  Then 2 of them 'disappeared', dead or run off by the dominant Monster, we don't know which but it was a real shame.  There's room on this farm for all of them and more but apparently adult males don't think so. 

Of the 3 kittens, Monster was the best at jumping onto countertops, the kitchen table, getting into food so quickly before you could stop him but over time he has stopped most of that.  He will sit patiently on the floor like a dog and wait for his piece of food.  He's not a house cat kicked to the barn.  He's a barn cat rescued to the house.  The 3 kitties were so tiny when they came and it was early enough in the spring that there was still snow on the ground and since they no longer had their mother and with both racoons and skunks taking up residence in the barn,  I couldn't leave them in the barn at night.  I would step outside at night and call them and they would come running to sleep in the porch in a warm, blanket-filled box, then return to the barn in the morning to get their fill of mice.  Now, Monster comes to the house in the daytime and sits patiently by the door later to be let out.  He returns to the barn at night to chase his favourite dinner and to keep all his girlfriends company!

The other 2 kitties in the photo are barn cats that were given to us last year.  They came later in the spring, there were 4 of them and my daughter started going to see them everyday and feed them so I had no qualms about leaving them in the barn permanently.  The day of this photo, daughter could not make it to the barn at all but had left extra food the night before.  I guess they missed her cuddling and petting so they came to the house to find her.

 I think I've found me a spot to rest awhile.

 First, let me sniff it...

 ...look for enemies...

 ...take a quick bath before bed...

 ...and that's all.  You can leave me alone now.

 Ahh!!!  Peace and quiet at last! 
And that's the life of our house kitty, Lilly (new name, last name!), found here sleeping in her owner's laundry hamper!

Losing the Country Way of Life?

We recive a small local monthly farm magazine called The Rural Voice.  When we got married in '88, this magazine just showed up at our first farmhouse without rhyme or reason, with our name and address on it so I guess it wasn't random but it sure seemed like it.  When we moved 9 years later, it did not show up at our second farmhouse where we lived for 11 years.  I only missed it occasionally, being too busy raising 6 kids and having little time to read it or anything else.  When we moved here to our 3rd farmhouse, it suddenly showed up again which is great as I now have a little more time to read it.

The following article caught my attention and I thought that I would share it with all of you.  The author, Keith Roulston, is the editor and publisher of the magazine.



"August 2012.

WHY THIS DISAPPEARANCE MATTERS.

Harrowsmith magazine disappeared last year - and nobody noticed.

Now those of you who even know what Harrowsmith was might be wondering why you should care.  After all, Harrowsmith wasn't about REAL farmers:  it wrote about things like organics and composting, for heaven's sake.  But the passing of Harrowsmith is important for rural residents not so much in itself, but for what it represents.

It was 40 years ago that James Lawrence, an American who had come north to an Eastern Ontario homestead, started a small magazine for "back to the landers" like himself with articles on choosing breeds of chickens or how to buy a good used tractor.  He named it after the nearby village of Harrowsmith.

The magazine proved popular among Lawrence's target audience but that's not why its disappearance is important today.  The magazine became a media phenomenon because it tapped into the dream of so many city dwellers in the '70's and 80's to return to a simpler, rural life.  Its circulation swelled to over 200,000 as people in city high rises and suburban houses envisioned themselves owning a cow and making their own butter and cheese or growing, preserving and cooking the fruits of an half-acre garden.

Large magazine publishers, convinced Lawrence was onto something, bought him out.  He went off to start a U.S. version of the magazine called Country Life and it was eventually bought by the same Canadian publisher and almalgamated as Harrowsmith/Country Life.  A few changes of hands and many changes in public attitude, and the magazine ceased publication last year with nary an obituary written by the media that once marvelled at its success.

It's the change in attitude that saw Harrowsmith wither and die unnoticed that should concern everyone who cares about rural life.  Where once the country life was something to be envied, now it's something to be ignored.

Fashions change, including the ideal way of life.  The back-to-the-land movement was always naively romantic but not only did many of those who sought refuge in the country return to the city, but the very dream of a country life died.  There was an almost militant counter movement that celebrated urban living - not the pseudo country life of the suburban home with a back yard, but the intensely urban life of downtown. 

When James Lawrence began Harrowsmith in the early 1970's, there were a handful of office buildings more than 40 stories tall in Toronto.  Now those skyscrapers are nearly hidden by a forest of downtown condominium towers soaring 50 stories.  The media celebrates downtonw urban life incessantly.

Much as real farmers shook their heads and chuckled over the naive back-to-the-landers, they were a significant group who respected farmers and farming.  Those who celebrate intensive urban life aren't really thinking about farming and food beyond that talked-about new restaurant around the corner.

This extends beyond the loss of understanding and sympathy for farmers.  The idealizing of downtown city living and the corresponding unfashionableness of rural life makes it hard for us to attract doctors and other professionals necessary for us to maintain our rural areas. 

This attitude probably affects public policy- from wind turbines to a sense that school closures are an inevitable part of the withering of rural life.  And ironically, people who live in 50-storey condos are often very concerned about nature and see farming as one of the threats to nature.

Maybe someday the pendulum of fashion will swing and rural life will be celebrated again.  Until then, we're on our own."


I can't help but agree with Keith that our way of life is disappearing along with Harrowsmith and who knows how many other country magazines and small town newspapers but I don't believe that our love for the land will disappear along with them.  Reading the many, many homesteading blogs that you all have written gives me hope that this way of life, while diminished, will never quite disappear.