heat before the chill

Been programming all weekend... the work is endless. Store has quietened down with the tourists gone and we're considering our options for the off-season. Maybe close down a little more during the week and fill it with less engaging, more profitable work until spring come.

We're gonna get lots and lots of seeds. Organic, open-pollinated. Lovely seed displays from lovely places.

Till then...

My back won't move much this week, unless to pick up a puppy. She and Whisk have learned how to coexist, possibly even enjoy each other's company. Learning that adding a small animal to a mix of small animals increases the rambunctiousness of a household exponentially. Our mornings are frenzied happiness.

Got a dehumidifier for the basement. 70% and lowering.

I've started letting the chickens out of the coop in the late afternoons, while Whiskey sleeps. The sun is back there then and they enjoy the grass and bugs.

Did I mention I drove the tractor? It was scary. Also, got rid of 3 roosters and picked up 2 new hens... so we've a rooster and 4 hens. "Awesome chicken" is laying an egg a day. She's a Red Shaver.

Iceland in just over a week. Sweet sweet honeymoon, finally. I need a vacation like I've not needed a vacation before. Just feel like I'm always working and desperately need to unplug. Need to move my body, walk around, bend, see things. Maybe even dance. Swim. Experience the chilly, geothermal lifestyle.

Then home to hibernate... and plan. Projects will include debt management, bathroom reno, kitchen island, and hopefully more.

sweet bottoms

i'm at sweet bottoms cafe on market st in fenelon... so chill and nice. working here (coffee, banana bread, free wifi, good tunes!) while the fireplace dudes (jeff martin chimney maintenance) install the new insert and liner at home. he brought his beautiful dog to run around.

might do this more often. sometimes it's nice to get away from home where there are always things to do... can be distracting, even just mentally. tho taking tomorrow off to finish painting before company comes. wheeee!

real work

this photo is from a post by gene logsdon on OrganicToBe.org. i don't really read the other writers on it, but gene's articles are always so lovely and helpful. i want to read his book, "the contrary farmer" but canadian amazon doesn't have it so i'm on the look out.

am reconnecting with the spirit of hard work. it's been awhile. i'm a software developer just moved out of the city - the pads of my feet are soft, my back weak and hunched, my nerves a little shaky. but i've been here nearly a week, each day filled with scrubbing, painting, lifting, fixing, and already i can feel my back is straighter, my feet tougher, and my sleeps deeper.

save for last night as there was a massive massive thunderstorm. lightning like i've never seen before and the wickedest cracks of thunder. i was shocked awake in the middle of the night, no love to squeeze for comfort, alone and a little frightened. i felt like a little girl for a minute before remembering my age and situation: a woman in her house in the country, listening to the rain. i had to recall this a few times after each bang of thunder but eventually i slept, smiling, feeling as if i'd made it through some sort of initiation.

ran some errands 'in town' today, list in pocket, car. a couple bottles of wine for the upcoming paint-a-thon and then to homehardware for supplies ("guess what i'm doing?," i say to the cashier. "painting?") and then to the groc for that other kind of fuel, food. the grocery store in fenelon is a mad house. it is a sobeys which means it's expensive and kinda slick and as fenelon is a hotspot cottager's destination, there are rich, slick cottagers everywhere (gee, been here a week and already waxing local!). surprisingly, happily, i run into my real estate agent's husband in the rice-milk aisle. they had dropped by a few days earlier to say hi (neighbours!) and drop of a hibachi house warming gift. we chat and it's nice and i like that i live in fenelon falls. on the way out, i ask the cashier about the insanity and she warns if the packers are out, turn around and come back another time. will do.

am thinking "plover" for the kitchen. or maybe "mercury glass"... beiges.

small towns

just a quicky to say i already love fenelon falls. i just called the CIBC there to confirm that taking out a bank draft (down-payment for le farm) would be okay even tho i'm not a specific client with their branch and they don't yet know me. she said as long as i bring ID and maybe a contact name from my regular branch, it shouldn't be a problem. that aside she said, "so you're movin to fenelon eh? that's nice!" with a super warm vibe, calling me "dear" after every sentence. i told her where the farm was and stuff. love it.

settling in

been meaning to write more but've been distracted by the tangible. tho life is slower here, it always feels like there is something to do and the time goes by quickly. in the city it was like shifting gears, always on the go or recovering from being on the go, but here it is an easy and constant pace... a tempo i think i'm most happy at. also enjoying spending time with d and roommates. living with my love is a healthy switch as i'm confronted with smoothing over my rough spots (idiosyncrasies blindly developed while living alone). i laugh, learn, and love daily... it's so nice i can hardly recall why i was so attached to living solo.

highlights of today include buying terracotta and cool little pots from the dollar store and baking some vegan chocolate chip cookies. gearing down. exhibits a and b:



notice am becoming person who snaps pics solely for blog purposes. getting the swing of this.

started michael pollan's "in defense of food" and although i'm only just into chapter two, it's already got me pausing mid-grocery-store-isle, product in hand, thinking. more on this later.

although i mostly do the vegan thing, have been perking ears to the fishermen (usually /fisherwomen too but have yet to see one) of the area. they're everywhere, settled along the shores of georgian bay. on a walk past the harbour last evening, i quizzed a resident fisherperson on the whats and hows (to which i received a "yr not from around here, are ya?"). rainbow trout, bait on a hook. this morning i asked jp's friend for more detail and apparently fish eggs in a sack, sunk with styrofoam is a popular bait. huh! interesting.

i guess dad put rods in our hands as soon as we were able to hold things so fishing warms me like any proud, happy, recurring, life-evolving childhood staple would. plus i'll admit an attraction to the primitive, connecting with nature, catching food from the wild thing. took a small bite of d's salmon the other night. hm, not sure yet. i sort of remember how to clean a fish. and that trip with uncle h and my bro deep in algonquin, along the robatai river... spinners, frying pan, butter.