Our Lifestyle Blog as We Create a Homestead in Northern Ontario
Thursday was a momentous day! We peeled off the shrink-wrap plastic from the domes, and opened them up to allow in some fresh air and undistorted sunshine for the first time in months. I managed to re-attach the rings for pulling the struts down without falling off the ladder. Kenny was very excited to try … Read more
With the extended downtime of the tractor, gathering firewood became a bit more challenging. As such, the warmer weather has also lulled me into a sense of not needing so much to burn. Of course, the arrival of more, and then more snow began to gnaw on my sense of heating security, and watching the … Read more
My in-laws tell me that last year the snow was generally gone in March, and by April they were raking the lawn. I know when my brother and I arrived at the end of April, we could only find a little snow tucked away under some trees here and there. We freely walked about on … Read more
Having access to a large supply of slabs is a bit of a plus when you are heating with wood. It feels good to be able to use up this by-product of milling lumber. One issue though is that they need to be cut up, and they are generally smaller than entire trees. This means … Read more
As a side effect of spending the winter milling beams for my sauna and workshop, I ended up with a huge slab pile. As well, I had just roughly piled up a rather impressive pile of 1″ thick boards off to the side. They weren’t properly stacked though, just basically laid one atop the next … Read more
First off, I will apologize that there are no really good pictures of this repair “in progress”. Many key portions took place while our official blog/homestead photographer was doing other chores. In future, I’ll try to remember to snap some pictures myself, even if it means interrupting my “flow”. As you will recall, the Yanmar … Read more
Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to get an appointment at the local clinic for my very painful ankle. It appears now that I’m suffering from some tendonitis. I hope that it will get dealt with. I’m going to try a little physiotherapy, and also get a follow-up ultrasound to ensure that nothing more serious … Read more