WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MAY !

Monday- May 31st- High forecast of 30C.  What good luck we have had with the weather this month.

The cottage is fully functional. Already "booked" for the first three weeks of July. Good availability before and after !
The swimming pool. The new skimmer works perfectly. Water a bit cool and cloudy, but TOL and it should be at 80F and crystal clear in a couple of weeks.
The R.V. now has electricity and awaits the decorating skills of those keen to provide suitable accomodation for the newly weds.

First flower baskets- geraniums hanging. New guinea impatiens to follow, along with the veg garden. Gabriel and I will do a trip to Atwater Market for plants and flats.

Fixed gas line for BBQ and Maple Syrup stove installed, along with a 100lb. propane tank. One last hook-up connection ( special hose) and it will be done.

Work barn mostly rewired with circuits to spare !

Air compressors up and running (Thanks to neighbour Roy). Next rainy day project will be to install fixed piping and outlets.

MOWING and TRIMMING in full operation !  Whew...

and the icing on the cake, for me at least, has been to have the fresh air duct work in the farm house re-arranged creating lots of good space and removing the head banging obstacles.

And, for a little fun, an extension to the greenhouse to store the roto-tiller and protect it from the elements.

Everything smack on target in anticipation of Bren and Marnie's wedding on July 3rd.

Looking forward to seeing you all SOON.

P.S. Snake came back !

PLUMBING THE DEPTHS.

We are having a snow storm here, so I have a few moments to blog !

 I hope that this issue will bring smiles and chuckles to the legions of avid followers ( I think that is about 5 !).
As a theoretician on the values and benefits of Fine Arts in Education I did pretty well. As a practictioner I was a dismal failure. One disaster after another. For my grand debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1955, playing the triangle, didn't I drop the dinger just as I was about to play my one note and by the time I scrambled to pick it up and ding it, the effect was salutory. All the musicians just stopped and stared at me. My theatrical debut was just as distinguished. About to launch into my maiden speech, all three words, I gasped, froze and final squeeked out "What the hell ! " Bedlam on stage. Actors convulsed with laughter. They rang down the curtain.  And so it goes.

But I have persevered, and a picture in last week's paper further inspired me yet again. As far as I can tell the picture was a blank sheet, with a very faint pattern, similar to a watermark. At auction for several million dollars. If the artist in question could recycle paper I could surely find something I could recycle and offer to the National Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art, or as a last resort sell on e-bay !

Here it is !  If any of the bits strike you as being useful let me know,and I'll do some pruning !

(Note:- made of high quality ABS piping, guaranteed to last for hundreds if not thousands of years.)

Spring Cleaning- Getting ready for Summer-

Lest you think I have been resting on my laurels after the unprecedented ( for me) success of my Maple Syrup endeavours, I hasten to remind you that this is OnlyADoneList so there is inevitably a delay in producing my account.

Spring opening this year was amazingly early and the transition from the bleak and cold winter season to a warm and refreshing spring was extremely rapid. The grass is already lush green and just about ready for the first mow. Really- in April! We’ve had daffodils for over two weeks, the apple trees are about to burst into blossom, the lilac buds are swelling and its almost time to put away the trousers and bring out the shorts. By the end of next week I’ll turn on the outside water systems for the cottage, the barn, pool and greenhouse. Three baskets of geraniums that wintered in the library and bloomed on and off are now outside. The vegetable garden is tilled, the post-winter burn off completed and almost totally re-greened. At this rate I’ll get the pool opened and up and running by mid-may.

From the evidence, or should I say, lack of it, it would appear that the supersonic sound emitters in the farm house attic and cottage attic have been reasonably successful in discouraging the squirrels from taking up residence. They have moved into the work barn, and are doing their best to demolish the bird feeders ! I may experiment with outside versions of the sonic machine, since my efforts with cayenne pepper in dishwashing liquid have been totally useless.

After several years of dreaming, we have had an electric panel installed on the back side of the hydro pole at the trellis bed in the middle of the main lawn. Should be enough to power the needs of the wedding activities for Bren and Marnie slated for the first weekend in July. Maybe one day I’ll bury a line to bring power to the bus !

After years of dawdling and delaying we now have a proper well-head at the Main Barn. The roof is made of siding/ wooden planking, cut off the Main barn when windows were installed.

Thanks to neighbour, Roy Raymond, who provided a large plastic drum we now have a rotating compost bin, awaiting the summer cottage residents and the garden weeds ! Nice to use up long stored scrap materials. Dear brother, Michel, who has seen any earlier version of this picture, remarked that the Greenhouse, potting shed, could use some TLC.

 
 
 

New shed, painted, and winter ramp door in temporary storage.

Hope that you are all enjoying a beautiful spring, and looking forward to seeing you soon at the farm.

Production upgrades- Boiling cancelled today due to snow, cold & laziness !

The BBQ boiling method was somewhat slow and laborious, and the evaporated sap started to bung up the burner jets !

Too much work required to cut, split and fetch wood, so, a little internet research and I came up with the BAYOO Classic, three burner, outdoor stove, which arrived on Friday.

The white and green containers are full of sap. About 75 litres !

Pan on left is for pre-boil. Check out colour of boiling sap on right.

Represents most of the 2010 output. There is still one more "boil", but the sap has stopped running and as you can see in the next picture I have cleaned and sterilised four buckets, lids and spiles, ready for storage 'til 2011. Eight taps this year was a good start. I plan on doing about 30 next year !

PHIL'S MAPLE SYRUP AT HARTFIELD

For real: Just check out the picture !  The four pots on the rack are home brewed. For comparison, on the right, a pot that Dawson Pidgeon gave us.

I'm soooo excited. It tastes really good. And there's more to come. Yipee !

From the sublime, to the ridiculous:

Here we have the snow blower, a rack of planks for staining, and the mower tractor with trailer and Mama's seat. Yes, we went for a ride on March 16th. No winter coats !

And on such a beautiful day, a sure sign of the times !

Look really closely and you should see ( or imagine) some rhubarb shoots. This is also a chutney year.

Hoping that your spring is as invigorating as is ours !

Limited success, at last !

This post is dedicated to son-in-law, Christopher Duchesnes, who was instrumnetal in obtaining the sap buckets! Much appreciated ! Bring your chain saw on your next visit, Christopher. We are going to need a mountain of logs to fuel the fire for next years production !

The second syrup making attempt has  been moderately successful !  I wanted to send you all a sample, but I couldn't find enough thimbles and the postage and insurance would have been prohibitive !  Hopefully in the next week or so I will be able to produce enough for you all to have a taste !

Vicky was concerned that the "unmitigated disaster" related to the walk-in tub installation. I am happy to report that it, the tub, is fully functional and awaiting its first occupant. The full scale trial run was successful, the hydrotherapy jets are most efficient, and there was no flooding when the door opened at the end. For all our ecologically minded readers please note that the "grey water" can now be diverted for other uses !


Multi-tasking. In the background sap boiling on the BBQ- not a satisfactory method, but the best, in the present circumstances, and staining some planks for use in completing the bathroom project !

This is an "old picture", pre-final installation. The paneling on the left is finished and the controls have been added. I just didn't get around to taking a finished picture.

Hope you are all having a great spring, and special wishes to the Grandchildren for a fun-filled and enjoyable spring break.

Sharing the experience !

5 p.m.- Getting ready to boil !

Not long after I removed the grills, to get the pan closer to the heat !

A nice clean storage container for the sap!

That "blob" of solid gold is maple rock ! You can see the indentations from the pick-axe ! I thought that it looked more poetic, taken on the floral table mat !

AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER !!

SUGARING OFF TIME. MY FIRST ATTEMPT !

The first two sap buckets, installed on Sunday, March 7th. Leo helped me place the other six later !

Installation is relatively simple, and the sap started running immediately !  Well, not actually running... dripping. By Monday afternoon there was about 5" in each of these buckets, but on checking the other six, in the maple tree run south of the garden, I discovered they were full ! Thanks to Gabriel for asking for a status report.

All told there were about 40 litres of the sap.

Since I had made no real plans for the syrup operation I fell back on the BBQ. None of the "settler romance", the roaring fire, syrup on the snow, clouds of steam.

The boiling was reasonably successful and after two hours I had a pan ready to " finish" on the stove.

Oh, it bubbled and boiled, and I didn't mess up the stove, and I had the thermometer ( meat) in the pan to watch for the magic point !

The small amount of syrup that remained was poured into a mason jar. It looked pretty good, a golden hue, and tasted palatable.

An hour later I had about three inches of rock hard maple sugar !  Nothing short of a pick axe will liberate it ! A sure tooth breaker !

Today I must get a Candy thermometer and maybe I'll try again. There's still hope and I'm not giving up yet !

I guess I'll make wood collection a priority for the coming spring and summer months, and modify the incinerator pit to become my fireplace.

Thanks to V, C,B,O,L. for the present of five sap buckets. They look really great hanging from the trees, adding a certain cachet and allure to the property,  along the driveway up to the farm house.

While waiting for the sap to boil, I got a lot of stuff tidied up in the barn, and Dobbin started right away !

I haven't been totally idle since my last post. Done quite a number in the basement, with paneling on the stairwalls, almost finished my doors and wall project on the main stairwell, (needs staining) replaced a rather grotty door on the upstairs bathroom with a rather nice semi-refinished old pine door, and am in the final stages of the total renovation of the downstairs bathroom and passage. The attic insulation job seems to have been quite effective !