Summer days

 

Summer is in full swing with temperatures expected in the mid 90's again this weekend. The sun has been shining and everything is growing! We have been enjoying lots of time outside especially in the garden. 

We have been picking carrots, cucumbers, blueberries, red cabbages, snow peas, beans, sweet peppers, broccoli and raspberries. We have a beautiful selection of flowers to enjoy as well. Margaret likes to eat everything right out of the garden so only a few things have made it to the dinner table.

 

Swinging is still a very popular backyard activity, but Margaret and Harrison are also fascinated with searching for bugs. They look under their log stepping stones to find worms and slugs, they look for butterflies amongst the flowers and get a little to up close and personal with bumblebees.

We have welcomed a few new animals to the backyard as well. We now have three Campbell Khacki ducklings. They are a chocolately brown color, very talkative and love to splash in water. When they are bigger, they will hopefully lay eggs daily. (left, this week, right, two weeks ago)

 

 

We also adopted four baby chickens to join our existing 7 hens. The four new chicks are all mixed breeds - we hope that two of them will lay blue eggs. Harrison loves to feed the chickens and is always trying to hug them. Like Margaret at this age, one of the first things he asks each morning is to go see the chickens.

 

Safe at Home

What a difference a few months can make! When I last wrote in January, we did not realize that just a few months later we would be spending A LOT more time at home as we did our part to stop the spread of COVID-19. We returned from a vacation in Florida the beginning of March to our offices and the children's school closed. What started as temporary has turned in three and half months of time safe at home. Although it has had it challenges, we have enjoyed the extra time together to spend outside playing and gardening. We excited to share some of our updates - mostly outdoor related with you all.

March

The start of our time at home was still cold with a few days of snow. We enjoyed checking the sap buckets on our tapped maple trees. My Father In Law tried his first season of sugaring and we enjoyed the "sweet" results. Margaret and Harrison enjoyed playing outside bundled up in their winter coats. We joined households across the country and around the world who decorated their windows with heart to show our thanks for those working on the front line to keep us safe.

  

April

After one month, we were still working to balance two full time jobs from home plus keeping up with two active children. Lots of playtime outside and the work preparing the garden for planting. The end of April brought beautiful daffodils and other flowers to brighten our days.

While staying at home, our large backyard has been a great outlet for energy and exploration. We have spent lots of time on the swing set, running laps around the garden, climbing rocks and going on "hikes" to different spots in the yard. Margaret has event perfected kicking her on legs on the swing to keep herself moving.

 

May

We were ready for warmer weather and May did not disappoint. We even had a few days of weather in the 80s! The seeds David started in the greenhouse were ready to go in the ground, bushes and trees erupted in beautiful blooms and we spent more time enjoying the sunshine. We also welcomed two new hives to our apiary under the watchful eye of our newest bee keeper. Our chickens continue to do well which was a great help when local groceries stores were running out of eggs.

Although we normally plant a large vegetable garden, this year's pandemic has made our planting seem even more important. Like Victory Gardens of the past, it's comforting to know we will have fresh vegetables in a few months without worrying about a trip to the grocery store.

 

  

 

We added two new hives to the backyard increasing the total number of Greenhouse Hives to 10. Both our existing hives overwintered very strong and we were able to split two to create two new hives.

Helping to water is always lots of fun ... especially if you can get people as well as plants a little damp!

  

Checking on the progress of the red cabbage and preparing the dirt for planting corn.

 

The garden in mid May

A car in the basement?

We are fortunate to have a good relationship with our neighbors whose family were the previous owners and residents of our house for many decades. We are always thrilled to hear stories of its history and see photos from the past.

This photo from around 1969 is particularly dramatic. They were digging out an entrance to the basement so they could park their car in the basement. You can also see the house had a front porch! Quite the difference now.

 

Temperatures tomorrow are going to be a high of 19 degrees so I am reminiscing to this past spring when the tulips were blooming out front.

And last winter with a fire to keep us warm.

 

The first room upstairs

Our main house is 2,570 square feet, but we currently live on just the first floor. The seven rooms is plenty of space for us at the moment, but we have started work on the second floor. When we moved in, we redid the wiring and heat for the first floor, but before we can move in upstairs we need to completely demo walls, add new insulation and windows, add heat and new wiring and add bathrooms.

We started on the room above the kitchen first as the wiring had already been competed there. It is a craft room and because of a lot of hard work from my dad came out fantastic. Check out the before, during and after.

There was a dropped ceiling in the room which once removed revealed a second lifted ceiling with beams. It opens up the space so much. You can see the grey door in the back left corner throughout the photos.

 

 

 

We have started to demo the room next door which will become Harrison’s bedroom.

How time flies ...

I can’t believe it has been almost two years since I posted last. It has been a busy twenty months. We marked the fourth year in our house, survived another winter and enjoyed another summer, finished our first upstairs room and welcomed Harrison into our family (and celebrated his first Birthday!).

I’m excited to share photos which offer a glimpse into the past two years. Looking through photos from the two years, it was great to see how much our children have grown, the many adventures we have shared and to see our house in the background of so many. With each year, each memory made and each update completed, it become so much more our home and an integral part of our lives. I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone who has tackled a complete house renovation, particularly with an older house, we have definitely had our moments of frustration and wishes that the process would move faster, but we are able to live happily in the parts we have renovated and take our time with the rest.

The fourth member of our family, Harrison, arrived May 29, 2018. He made himself at home quickly and Margaret was a great new big sister.

 

My maternity leave spanned the summer so we were able to enjoy lots of sunny days outside. David grew our garden and built a greenhouse with old windows and doors he had been collecting.

 

 

The Greenhouse

 

    

 

I love the possibilities for throwing parties at home and we celebrated in lots of different ways in the past two years.

Halloween “Pumpkin Fair” outside the barn

 

 1920’s 40th Birthday dinner in the barn

“Going on a bear hunt” 3rd Birthday party in the backyard

 

Lobster Bake in the barn

 

Butterfly 4th Birthday in the backyard

 

Peter Rabbit 1st Birthday by the garden and greenhouse

 

This past summer Margaret and Harrison helped David in the garden. We harvested lots of beautiful flowers, broccoli, tomatoes, blueberries and lots of raspberries! 

 

 

 

Our chickens continue to do well (the bees too!).