Friday, October 31, 2008


This is a photo of the Halloween "Witch Fingers" cookies that we made for the trick or treaters this year. (they are very close to shortbread cookies...mmmm) We don't get too many kids to the house, so we usually make up goodie bags, and along with some store bought treats, we put the cookies in there too. I made just a couple of "toes" too. The fingernails (and toe nails) are almonds. One of Zee's boys suggested I add green food colouring next year so they really look 'witchy'. I am definitely going to do that!
Happy Halloween!

We were hit by a huge snowfall on Tuesday night and woke up to this...

Some of it has melted, and it's supposed to be sunny and warm today, so I will fortunately be able to finish our outdoor jobs before winter REALLY arrives. Our pond is really full and with a snowblower this year, we hope to keep a rink cleared on it.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

"Houston, we have a problem!"



Lee's world.....yup this was it...a rainy Saturday afternoon..I had gone into town to drop some stuff off at my sister's house since her daughter was sick...On the way home, stopped off at the Stirling Library to pick up some movies and then to get the newspaper...made coffee and cinnamin buns...

It really was a lazy day! It felt good to hang out together with nothing better to do. Watched Apollo 13..one of my all time favorite movies. I want the kids to see "classics" like that...to see where famous movie quotes come from.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hey there...Kathee here again...this time a much shorter blog. I just wanted to share a fun project that I am doing with my three sisters. It's called an Altered Book. There are many versions of it, but we are actually each doing a book of our own and then rotating the books amongst each other. So at the end of a year (we started last March) we will each get our own books back and each of our sisters will have contributed their ideas/thoughts/pictures etc. So cool! I am so looking forward to getting my book back! There are lots of sites out there about Altered Books, but to narrow it down, here is a link of one woman's site...she has done 18 books! She shows you pictures of the pages and tells you how she did it and what she learned from them. I haven't done anything that elaborate, but have a bunch of ideas now and have started a notebook of things I want to try in my next altered book. The hardest part is actually drawing, glueing or cutting into the book...I LOVE books and it seems so wrong to do that to a book, but then, a lot of these old books would just sit on a shelf or in a box or end up at the dump. Here they start a new life! Check it out...you'll never look at old books the same again!
http://karenswhimsy.com/altered-books/
My favourite ones are: 'A Cup of Sky' and 'Dreams and Delights'

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hey there! Kathee here...it's been soooo long since I've 'blogged'. Mostly because I've been busy or on the go somewhere (and also a little afraid I forgot my password and wouldn't be ABLE to get on)...but voila! With the cold weather fast approaching we are scrambling to finish up the outdoor get-ready-for-winter jobs (stacking firewood in the wood shed, clearing out the gardens, putting outdoor stuff away...). As well, we have decided that this year we are going to to cut some of our own trees out of our woods, for next year's firewood. Sounds simple enough, but this is a multi-step job....a tune up on the chain saw was the first step (that poor ol' guy owes us nothing...we bought it used 17 years ago and cleared all the trees on our property to build our house, and have used it often over the years...) So with the trees cut down in the spring, we (me, hubby, and man-ly son) headed into the woods this past Saturday, to buck up the trees into stove length pieces and stack them. Loading them onto the trailer that hooks to our little tractor would have been our first choice, but it would go against the odds that both the chainsaw AND the tractor would be working at the same time...so the hauling out of the woods and the splitting of it will be another days' adventure. And along with all of that, we still had to eat, so after a run back to the house for some sandwiches, tortillia chips, fruit and more water, we stopped for a lovely picnic break. We have one tree left to buck up and then we want to get somemore cut down and keep working at it over the next couple of months. It's a good feeling planning the trees that need to come down which will allow smaller, younger trees to do better, and at the same time, be able to heat our home with those trees.

Another very pressing job is the garlic. We try to plant it by the middle of October, but we're consistently late, usually by a week or two. Saturday (when we were working in the bush) or Sunday (when we took man-ly son to a fencing tournament) would have been lovely days to plant, (you might know more about that Lee...!) but honestly, almost every year, the day we plan on planting the garlic tends to be a nasty one. Today was garlic planting day, and although it was cool and not sunny, it wasn't raining (or snowing, as we have had in past years' planting) and I bundled up with hoodie and gloves and it went well. We decided to plant a couple less beds this year since last year's harvest was not-so-good...a lot of rotted bulbs from all the rain and a lot of smaller bulbs. So after tilling the beds up and adding LOTS of compost, we've prepared the beds for hopefully a good year. And I'm happy with the amount we planted this year; not too overwhelming, but still enough to sell some and have lots for us.

This is some of the Rocombole variety, ready for planting. I also planted some F3, a variety we got from the Fish Lake garlic man (look that guy up, he's REALLY into garlic!), some Music, and my favourite, Czeckoslovakian Broadleaf. So the total this year, was 1200 and a bit, (down from 1600 last year, but I'm hoping for better quality this year)


This is a shot of a couple of the beds, already planted and ready to be covered over and tamped down.









There's Buddy, supervising...
Well, that's my adventure for the day...seems like a good time for a tea break.

Monday, October 20, 2008

In the Round




Here's my obsession, or dream... dream is more accurate. Ten acres + surrounded by trees. A Mandala Home with a guest yurt just a jaunt away. I'm going to teach myself cobb building starting with art sculptures and then a shed possibly something grander!

Since I'm dreaming I'm going for The Madrone oops PINCH, ok the Juniper or Magnolia is perfect with a basement. Now don’t forget solar power, passive solar, grey water, wind turbine etc.. etc.. etc..

There was an article in our local newpaper recently about a local couple and their four young children who have decided to put up Yurts and live on their 20 hectar lot in South Frontenac.

"Deep in the woods on a back country road north of Kingston, a local family is proving less is more.

Former owners of a custom-built hobby farm in Battersea, Jeremy and Vanessa Neven packed up their four young daughters earlier this summer and left their ideal Canadian lifestyle for something so unconventional it is quickly becoming a tourist attraction.

The Nevens have built a yurt - a fabric-covered, wood-framed dwelling that originated in Mongolia.

The yurt is a nomadic structure designed to be dismantled, transported by people or animals and rebuilt on another site. The structure is slowly becoming popular in North America due to its environmentally and fiscally responsible characteristics.
The yurt's design is simple and has changed very little in the last few hundred years.

The changes that have occurred are with the physical materials used, such as the exterior sheathing, which is now a polyester fabric.
Speaking from their 20 hectares in South Frontenac Township, where the two yurts are under construction, Vanessa Neven, a 34-year-old mother of four, says the family was looking for something different."

Sunday, October 12, 2008

It's my Birthday:)

...42! wow!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Our Local Library

Hey..Lee here:)
We decided to rediscover our local library...its free and 15 minutes away..they can request books from other libraries so you really aren't limited to the books they have there. We hadn't been in years! It has changed sooo much..its bright and cheerful and honestly, I challenge Belleville, and Trenton's library to have a better children's section. (with a very involved children's librarian) Home Depot apparently went in last year and built all new shelving..so beautiful. The librarians were so fabulous!! They totally showed us around, gave us a refresher course in locating books. We went downstairs to meet the children's librarian who is new and she was talking to a reporter. Annie and I were the only ones there so he took a picture of Annie and the librarian for the local paper. He had heard me mention homeschooling (because no other kids were there on a school day) and said he had homeschooled as well..we had a great conversation! Kate had a great time too..they seem to have a decent youth section and they have highspeed internet...Kate was so happy to go on facebook. They have nice seating at their big windows. They have lots of programs going on like mittens being donated, childrens art auction and a little gallery too where they have book clubs and a knitting group that meets in the fall a couple of times. I plan on supporting this library..buying a book bag ,and on occasion, donating a book or movie. We look forward to going every week!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The K.I.T.C.H.E.N



Here are a few picks of the kitchen as it unfolds. The west facing wall is the target this weekend, at least I hope its possible. Most of it is moveable YIPPEE, if we relocate its portable, cept the new owners will need to get themselves some cupboards ;)




Monday, October 6, 2008

Seriously, I just want to crawl back into bed.

I'm tired, cranky and its monday. Lee

Friday, October 3, 2008

My dog



Lee's in the house...

I think I made some leeway with my dog Chelsea. Years and years ago she would pull as we walked her and it took a few months to break her of that...we would walk her but pull her collar back a bit everytime she pulled, and eventually she stopped pulling and would just walk. If a person or another dog comes out of no where, she still pulls but if we anticipate it, we can get her to stay and not pull. Even though she is good on the leash, she still walks in front..weaving in and out infront of my feet which is really a pain if I jog. After watching the TV show "The Dog Whisperer" I wanted Chelsea to walk beside me...more control and out of my way and I would be taking her for a walk versus her being in front, leading the way. So today I decided to try the same method we used for her pulling, but with her walking at the side....she stayed beside me! I did have to correct her numerous times when she would get ahead of me but she really did it well! I will walk her the next few days until she gets it more and then teach the kids to walk her in this new way. You can really teach a old dog new tricks!!