There was a great “Getaway” deal at Blue Mountain Village: $100/night for a studio room. So we were there for 2 nights. It was our first time ever going to Collingwood/Blue Mountain. Upon arrival, we were stunned by the European style village and the skiing slides. What a beautiful place. The children always like living in a hotel/motel and although we had the smallest room in the village, it was good enough for us. We had a great dinner at a restaurant in the village. The kids rode the bikes in the village and we had our first try at BeaverTail. Next day we went to Collingwood museum, walked the main street (Hurontario) and visited the harbor. The kids then had a good time riding the bikes on the Georgian Trail. We hope we can return next year for the Gondola ride and outdoor swimming pool.
We had our first frost last week and today some areas north of GTA have light flurries. It is that time of the year again – winter. The only plants that’s left in the garden are mostly in the Brassica family – cabbage, kale, spinach. This year, I have enlisted help from Tiffany and Odelia in closing the garden: remove leftover plants and weeds, add some compost and cover the square with straw.
Kale could survive under harsh winter weather. Let’s see how well they do this winter.
Covering the square with straw.
We did get some raspberries this year, hopefully more next year. But based on the spreading growth of the plants, I would have to install stakes.
I tried to plant some oats as cover. Apparently I sow too late. Look how tiny the oats are.
We were at the farmer’s market the other day and a lady was selling soap made from goat milk, with herbs, essential oils added. That triggers the kids and us to think about keeping a few goats. There are a couple of advantages:
goat is smaller and easier to keep than cow
we can make goat cheese and soap with the milk
clean the pasture
purchase price is cheaper than cow
may be goat meat?
I remember buying goat milk from store and honestly I don’t like it. However, some people claim that fresh goat milk does not have that “goat” taste and is richer and easier to digest than milk. Well I am going to borrow some books from the library and see how this works out. Anybody raised goat before? Let us know.
After 2 month’s work, the sun porch is finally finished. My in-laws, children and of course, Kay, have all taken part in putting this up. Now we have to figure out a way to block the sunlight when it is sunny because it is very very bright. The manufature does sell the sunshade accessories but we would like to see if we can make our own. Any suggestions?
There is a very good Christian retreat center 30 mins north of us called Fair Havens. During summer time they provide very reasonable accomodation, programs, worship and meal service to the public. The campground has a beach, canoeing, swimming pool, biking trail and a gold course. We went there on a Saturday, which is free admission. The children enjoyed all the activites, especially when everyone was able to catch a small fish.
Yes, Viviana is 5 years old! We thank God she is a happy, healthy, normal child. Kay baked her a special cake. As you can tell, she enjoys the cake very much. God bless you Viviana.
We have decided to add more living space to our small house. Originally we had a qoute of 250 sq.ft. addition for $50000. Although that contractor charged excessively more than others, I figured the average would be $30000. Still, that is a high price to pay. So, after much comparison, we decided to add a sun porch on the deck. Sunporch is a company that manufactures various sizes of enclosed sunrooms that can be mounted on deck or concrete slab. It is cheaper than a 4-seasoned sunroom because it is lighter and simplier to build. It is not meant for winter but we will insulate it as best as we could.
We bought the 6′ x 15′ model.
However, as soon as we started to check the level, we figure our deck is sliding outwards. In other words, it has been sinking all these years. The deck was built may be 10/20 years ago. There are no concrete foundation, the joists are supported by a huge beam, which in turns is supported by some wooden blocks.
We hired a contractor to fix this for us for $400. He jacked up the deck, dug holes and put screenings in the middle and both ends. Then he placed a 2’x2′ patio slab and concrete pier block on top. He then put a 4×4 in the concrete pier block and attached exisiting joists to the 4×4. He also installed a GFCI outlet on the brick wall.
Because the wood boards are so old, they are wrap pretty bad. It took us 3 hours to lay down the base channel onto the board and make sure they are level. Everyday we build one thing or 2. The children help out as well. Slowly we are seeing progress 🙂
Here is where we are going to put up the sunporch.
The support columns.
This is the concrete pier block that should fix the sinking problem.
Odelia is helping us to put in the screws. We are so happy to have extra hands.
We have decided to switch to organic feed. It is more than double the price but comparing with the adverse and unknown effect of GMO feed that we bought before, it is a small price to pay. Now our eggs are truly organic and free range, the best one can get.
