Okay, so it has been half of forever since I last wrote!!! I apologise. We have a few different blogs underway, but with video content. That takes a bit longer to get going. So, let me catch you up on what's going on.
First, we have land!!! Okay, so I did write a bit about that before. Well, we have been planning our build all winter and drew up as much of the plans as we could ourselves. Now they have been officially done and we have a contracter to help us get the foundation and frame up. He will start the footings on the foundation and then Dominik can take over. He will need more help with the framing so that's a bit more cost, but then we will do what we can when we can. The septic seems to be a huge cost, just because they can charge that, so we're mulling over possibilities. Well drilling is another thing, but as we really NEED water, we will just accept it.
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| VIew from the building site to the road |
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| Sunset on our road |
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| Sunset through our bush |
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| More open area at the front of the acreage |
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| Woodpile left on our acreage |
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| Playing in the snow in February |
Now, no matter how far we get with the house this year (we would LOVE to be in by Christmas but that will all depend) we are still able to start planning our fruit and nut trees. There are a couple of old apple trees there but we don't know if they will produce anything. We also don't know if they are regular or crab apple trees. We took some time in the winter to consider what we want to plant this year and where to order it from. In the end we ordered a Sweet Sixteen Apple tree, a Lautz Apple tree, 5 Blackberry stalks, a Northern Pecan, an English Walnut, some blueberry bushes and a Sweet Cherry. Now, I know that in our area there is a fungus which attacks the cherry trees and that many sweet cherries don't survive because of the climate. This one is supposed to be much more hearty for our climate zone. As to the fungus, we will work on some organic prevention for that.
A few weeks ago we started some seeds inside, and as soon as the danger of frost is over we will be able to plant the others directly into the ground. I am not much of a gardener, thus far, but I'm working on it!!! My Mum has a lot of ideas for flowers around the house and on the property. She has already been scattering seed for grazing hay on top of the snow in one field. Apparently that's supposed to work too! I made sure that we have included plenty of herbs and flowers that we can use medicinally in our list of 'must-have's' for this year. That includes Nasturtiums (Kapuzinerkresse) to make 'Farmer's Penicilllin' (Bauernpenizillin)! :-)
Last weekend we went out and did some trimming on one big apple tree and this past week Dominik and Jonathan chain-sawed and cleared all of the scrub brush and little trees which sit where we want to place our home. They have also taken down a few in the bush and are already stocking up firewood. Jonathan got his chainsaw for Christmas and he is happy to be using it now!
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| And yes, he is wearing safety trousers for chainsawing! |
Homeschool is going on well. Elena is already finished her math for the year and is almost finished her German too. We will be giving her a special project to work on then, probably in biology. Dominik and the kids tapped some trees up at the cottage and they will go back this week to boil sap into maple syrup. This is definitely a favourite activity! The time in the bush will also give Elena and Jeremiah a chance to work on tree identification and maybe look for some animal trails as well. We have deer, moose, fox, coyote and likely even bear and elk near to the cottage. Now, the likelihood of seeing these isn't high, but just knowing that they are around is exciting!
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| Yes, they're walking on the lake! :-) |
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| The short-cut (winter only) to the car. |
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| Winter or summer, breakfast is the same. |
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| The boys dug out the sap evaporator! |
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| The cabin in winter. Thankful for the woodstove. |
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| Elena drilling a hole for the tap. |
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| Jeremiah's turn. |
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| Rebecca hard at work. |
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| Rebecca hard at play. :-) |
Speaking of animals, I completed my Firearms Safety and Hunter's Education courses this weekend. I really enjoyed doing them and hearing a lot of stories of hunting and being out in the bush. Half of hunting is being out in nature, appreciating the wild and learning about the habits and habitats of animals. If people want to be really aware of their surroundings then it would be a great thing to try. For us it will mean, not only an education in these things, but also the chance to feed our family free-range, 'happy' meat. I have loads to learn, about techniques and equiptment etc.. and we are all looking forward to that journey.
I have been working at Heritage Community Christian School in New Dublin since January and I am loving it. The people are great, the kids are lovable (even the difficult ones) and I love being involved in a ministry. I also have some hours at the thrift store which supports the school- Thrifty's. I mainly help with organising the books. I love that too. So, if I have to work, this is a good job for me. At the beginning it was a huge adjustment being away from the kids. For them and for me. But now we have, for the most part, gotten used to it.
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| We attended a charity dinner for the Christian school. |
Dominik's brother will be getting married in Austria this summer so we are all flying over! We are SO excited to be able to see family and friends again. We will be over for a while as Dominik will be working at the Schloss again for Teenweek and the Ten English Days, so our house-building project will be on hold. When we return in August we will be back to it!
