Canada Day at the farm

So much excitement! What a great week. We went from completely heart broken to having the best of weeks.

On a whim I decided to host the 1st annual Canada Day at the farm party. Invited all my favourite people and then proceeded to start planning. This was a potluck kind of thing, so food was not the priority. Games! I wanted the yard to be used to play.

We set up a badminton area, we got a horseshoe set, the Executive Deluxe Easy to Carry set and found an area where the previous owners already had the pit. Baseballs, footballs and bocce balls without forgetting crocket.

Three days before the party, there’s an afternoon thunder storm. Nobody notices right away, but one of the kitties went missing. We all assume that the thunder spooked him and he’ll make his way back. You know what they say. Never assume.

His missing took the wind out of the planning. We were all just looking around the property in case we could find him.

I should mention that the day he went missing was the day we built a pig pen in the pasture. Yup. Pigs. Mid-week, I decided (on a whim) to finish the tilling of the pasture so that I could, one, return the machine to my friends, and two, be done with it. Well, I realized that the ground has been stamped down by horses for many years. It’s hard packed. Once loosened, it’s rich and lovely, but it’s too hard physically for me to turn.

I tell Katie to go get a few pigs. So Saturday morning, we drive out to the west end of town and get three new additions. A spotted male and 2 females. This is Katie’s long awaited Christmas present. But this time, unlike the turkeys and chickens, we were ready.

We went to the nearest store that suited our needs (an hour away), and purchased electric fencing. Spent way more than I wanted but knew the stuff we got would be awesome.

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Well, we quickly installed the fencing, hooked up a battery and put together a pig pen. Yay, we were ready. Then thunder storm and missing kitty.

So we get the pigs, put them in the enclosure and they proceed to just run through the fencing as if it was nothing. Next hour is spent pig wrestling. Pretty funny actually. Katie really threw herself into it 🙂

While we were trying to gather them back up, we were also scrambling to screw on a temporary door to keep them in the pen. Once that was done, all was good. On the morning of the party, I recruited some guests and we quickly built a smaller enclosure using old pallets. Amazing how people love to help on a farm. It took no time, a little chicken wiring and voila!

And then we had fun. Lots of good food, great company, games and tours. The weather was perfect, the chickens wandered around, the cats and dogs played with any stray ball left lying around, it was idyllic. By night time we were all rather satisfied with ourselves.

Whims paid off this week! A party, some pigs, and Katie, on a whim printed up some lost kitty sheets and placed them in the mailboxes around here. 4 days after disappearing, Jessie the kitty is home! He’d been living across the street in a barn with horses. We were thrilled to have the little fellow back and his siblings were ecstatic. He obviously came into a bit of trouble, all his claws are damaged, but other than that! It was the perfect close to a long week-end holiday.

Gardens are supplying us with lots of daily salads, the barn checks are now routine, the animals are all thriving. We are getting our meat chickens in a bit so that they will be ready to bring for processing at the same time as the turkeys.

Even though we are still working at OPUS Academy, the weather is so nice and the mornings full that it feels like the best holiday ever. Muscles are getting less tired, stamina is way up, energy is boundless and spirits are high.

Only one little cloud, my hearing is still a big concern as it continues to deteriorate. I’m spending the summer on steroids and waiting for other tests to happen. But other than that, my health is great. I feel better than I have in years. This move was definitively what my mind and spirit needed. For the first time in forever, I am truly grateful. Not the kind of grateful you run through in your head just to feel better about your life. I’m actually incredibly grateful to have managed to steer my life in this direction.

Katie and I work on different projects every morning. Then off to OPUS. Lizzie is not able to spend lots of time with us at the moment. Hopefully her schedule will get her back with us. It’s so much better when we are all three of us together 🙂

Now to see what adventures await us this weekend!