Return to Sender

It is hard to believe that two months have passed but today it was time to return Adstock to his home on Karberry Farm.  A gentler ram there never was and we thoroughly enjoyed his stay with us. 

As sad as we were to see him go, Charlie was by far the saddest.  When she realized that we were taking him out of her paddock she let loose the most woe-filled, sorrowful donkey bray that you ever did hear.  Do not even get me started on her mournful, downcast eyes.  It was enough to break your heart.

Before today I did not realize how fond Charlie had grown of Adstock during his time here.  If I had to guess, I suspect the turning point from "ugh another sheep" to "bff" occurred when Adstock rammed the metal bowl out of my hands thus proving himself worthy of being Charlie's companion protector of the flock.  Hopefully Charlie will not stay too sad for too long.  I would suggest that the prospect of spring lambs might cheer her up but she hates all cute baby animals - so, never mind.

Thanks for the visit Adstock.  You will be missed.

Squash is Not Sweet Potato

On a frosty day like today, a farm girl just needs a hot cuppa.  

Lucky for me, my boys are awesome enough to enjoy a good tea party every once and a while.

On the menu today is:

Smelt and baby spinach finger sandwiches spiced with cumin and dill.

Cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches on homemade artisan bread sprinkled with fresh mint.

Squash scones (both because of their flat shape and because they were made with an acorn squash).  

Note to self: do not substitute squash for sweet potato unless you desire pancake-like scones. :(

Cream scones with red currants harvested from Gael Glen Farm’s gardens to be topped with homemade raspberry jam also from our gardens.

I tried crowding the scones on the baking sheet to get a straighter rise.  It only sort of worked; I somehow still ended up with a "leaning tower of Pisa" scone in the middle!

Our tea of choice: Harney and Sons decaffeinated hot cinnamon spice.  Because caffeinating boys before bedtime is just a bad idea.

For dessert we have eggless mini chocolate cupcakes with a dollop of chunky peanut butter frosting.

 No eggs because Alistair gets hives and only a dollop of icing because too much sugar before bedtime - see above note on caffeine.

A tea party for supper is always a reliable way to beat the end of January “will winter ever end?” blues.

A Gatineau Day-cation

With Ian's paternity leave quickly coming to an end, we treated ourselves to a day away from the farm - a "day-cation" of sorts.  Across the bridge in Gatineau, we visited a few breweries and sampled their wares.  Brewery-hopping is something we know from (negative) experience(s) does not work well with three kids in tow.  One, however, is totally feasible, especially when you are packing Cheerios and cheese strings.

I Smelt You

It is a good Tuesday when you can recruit Grandma to watch Alistair so you can go ice fishing for smelt.  In our cosy red shack we caught fish, after fish, after fish.  What fun!

We used ultralight rods with tiny pieces of worm as bait.  The fish were eating them up!

By 3 pm we had 52 fish!

Now to figure out how to can these suckers so we can use them as a substitute in tuna fish sandwiches.  We will use the fish heads to make stock.

Fun fact: Smelt smell like cucumbers.  Who knew?!

If they taste like cucumbers, that will make for extra delicious sandwiches.  Amazing.

Two for the Price of One

We are usually pretty successful at timing our outside farm chores for when Alistair is asleep.  This morning Ian and I clipped the goats' and sheep's hooves and trimmed Ava's claws during his nap.  We then traded Alistair watching back and forth so I could muck the barns and Ian could sew patches on his and the boys' Scout blankets.  By the time we were done all that, it was supper time and Ian and the big boys were flying out the door to ice skating lessons, leaving a pretty tired Alistair and I with evening farm chores still to do and a rapidly setting sun. I strongly dislike leaving the farm animals out at dusk as I am petrified of one of them becoming the neighbourhood coyote's next meal.   So with Alistair in no mood to be left sitting in a stroller or sled and not enough time to nurse him to sleep before dark, I snuggled him up in his snowsuit and strapped him on to my back.  We did evening chores together - two for the price of one, I guess.

Admittedly it was slightly more difficult picking up goats, manoeuvring Ava from field to crate, and collecting the eggs from the nest boxes with a hefty beast of a baby on my back but I managed.  Alistair had the best time; the animals had him giggling and gurgling happily.  Once we had everyone put up in their nice clean barns, we headed inside and got Alistair bedded down too.  He went right to sleep with zero fuss.

Even though time was not on our side this evening and my back might not be thanking me tomorrow, everything worked out in the end.  I am happy to report that all dependants here on Gael Glen Farm are clean, safe and best of all - asleep.

Hello Aloe

I have come to the conclusion that we do a variety of activities to "wear the boys out" but really, I think all that happens is that they (both the activities and the boys) wear me out.  It is Sunday night and I am exhausted.

We started the day by doing a huge amount of snow removal to regain access to our porch, walkways, driveway, gates and barns.  Thank goodness for Ian and the snowblower because if I had had to shovel this much incredibly heavy snow tired might have turned into dead.

Shockingly, this backbreaking labour did not tire the boys out one bit, so I occupied them for the remainder of the morning making aloe vera soap.  They are super intrigued by my soap making but are much too young to help when I use lye, so we used melt and pour soap base and fresh aloe from my rather lopsided house plant.  I was hoping that chopping off a few branches on the heavy side might even it out a bit but I am not sure it made any difference at all.

We spent the afternoon at the indoor swimming pool, once again hoping to exercise Liam, Seamus and Alistair into an early bedtime.  As luck would have it, we ran into Ms. Kerry who is always up for some Alistair snuggles.  This gave Ian and I free hands to chase after our other two (still) super energetic hooligans.

At the end of the day, I am not sure we were successful at wearing our boys out, though it was certainly not due to lack of effort on our part.  If nothing else, Ian and I are guaranteed to sleep well tonight!

Votes for Oats

When you start and end your day with oatmeal, anything is possible!

We are working on transitioning to new breakfast foods with Alistair.  We were out of bananas and baby cereal (his go to) so today we tried whole oats. 

So far, so good though he is uninterested in using a spoon or being fed, so oatmeal is a very messy endeavour.

With full tummies, the big boys spent their afternoon rock climbing and birthday partying. 

They both had a ton of fun and, after a few tries, Liam went really high.

We finished off the day with a second birthday party to celebrate Robbie Burns Day.  Our festive supper included haggis (of course), neeps and tatties.  Alistair did not like the meat-oatmeal combo as much as his breakfast.  He chucked most of his haggis on the floor for Charlotte and Emily to slurp up.  They were more than happy to partake in the celebratory "food shower".

Oatmeal for all!

Fun While it Lasted

There is nothing like stimulating the mind with a morning at the museum to get one kid to forget about his sore ear, another his sore wrist and the last, his stuffy nose.  The gigantic trains, awe-inspiring liquid nitrogen demonstrations, and engaging tactile play areas worked wonders until lunch time.  Then it was a rapid descent into epic tantrums followed by three hour naps once we arrived home.  It was fun while it lasted.

Doomed from the Start

Some days, one's plans are just not meant to be. 

The warm winter weather was the only thing going for us today.  Our ill fated ice fishing expedition was doomed from the start.  We were late leaving the house which led to an argument in the car and a subsequent change in the lake we headed to for a closer one.  Upon arriving at the lake we realized that we were missing a bunch of important things including: the tackle box, tip ups, seat cushion, honey in the tea, and my fishing licence.

We did not get one bite, let alone a fish, and Alistair was fussy most of the time.  He also ate my lunch deciding that he was so over the baby food and snacks that I brought for him.

Oh well,  every day can't be a winner - even if the weather was gorgeous.

Egg-citing Laying

Warm winter days like today are more than welcome by both us and our poultry.  They laid nine eggs this afternoon; not bad for 15 hens in the middle of winter. Well done, ladies!

Now if only I could figure out how to feed these to Alistair without inciting an allergic reaction.  Anyone else dealing with a childhood allergy to eggs? Advice is welcome.

The Mysterious Silver Stranger

It all started with Charlie pooping in her grain bowl.  I brought it inside for a good scrub and was able to get it looking shinier than ever.  Proudly I went back to the barnyard to present it to Charlie and that was when things went awry. 

Instead of catching Charlie's eye, my shiny silver bowl attracted Adstock's attention immediately.  He took one quick look, cocked his horns and rammed full steam ahead.  Luckily, I was paying attention and quickly positioned the bowl between Adstock's gigantic horns and my knees.  I did get knocked but not badly. 

I hightailed it out of Adstock's path thinking "what the hell has got into him"?  Up to this point, Adstock has been the gentlest animal I have ever cared for.  He comes to me everyday for chin scratches which he rewards with enthusiastic tail wags.  Only after reaching the safety of the other side of the paddock gate did I finally clue in that Adstock was not attacking me, he was protecting his flock from the mysterious silver stranger reflected in the super shiny metal bowl.   Handsome, gentle and protective - Adstock is practically the Jamie Fraser of sheep!

Adstock and his nemesis.

Lazy Day Slop

Sometimes it is okay to have a lazy day where all you do is clean the fridge and pantry and make "slop" out of all the almost bad vegetables.

Well, "all" except for laundry, house cleaning, child care, animal care, and shovelling, of course.

When Chocolate Floats your Boat

You know that you have the best big brothers in the world when they are willing to pause their construction of the "best snow fort ever" to decorate the kitchen for your birthday supper.

Upon Ian's return from Lake Placid this afternoon, we celebrated Alistair turning one year old with a special dinner of pureed vegetables, pizza and birthday cake.

"I'm listening.  Are you singing to me?"

Making sure to get it in the hatch.

"What is this stuff?"

"I'm not sure but I think I like it."

"Yup.  Definitely like it. 
Chocolate cake and icing - where have you been all my life?"

All that is left to do is to mark Alistair's height on the door alongside his siblings'.  He will not stand straight nor still for us though, so we will have to wait for his doctor's appointment on Tuesday so they can measure him for us!