Well, it has been a time of it.
The last blog entry was anticipating visitors, and I'm sitting now just an hour after seeing Neal, Madeleine, Jessica and Robin off and contemplating an empty house for the first time in umpteen weeks.
It has been a blast and we have really enjoyed everyone's company, but my last blog couldn't anticipate the fact that in the forthcoming period Jane would spend a week in Intensive Care - just to add an extra level of excitement to an already hectic time.
As most of you probably know, we waved goodbye to Ian and Hilary as they set off to tour the province and left us to get ready for the Queens County Fair at which we were both due to be helping. We had stabled the horses along at the Exhibition Grounds and on that Monday evening, Jane saddled Mocha up to give her a bit of a spin around the riding ring - 5 seconds later she was seriously injured as the horse threw her and accidentally stood on her abdomen for good measure. She was taken 'lights and sirens' to Bridgewater where they scanned her and sent her through to Halifax for emergency surgery fearing that her pancreas, spleen and bowel were damaged.
Yoy, that was a scary night, but by the next morning it was clear that there wasn't any major organ damage at least, and that she wasn't about to peg it! We went through to visit - she had the full range of tubes in and was doped up with morphine, but, as we hoped, out of the woods. That was Tuesday.
My mother brought her flight forward a week and landed on Thursday night. Having her around was fantastic. I'm sure that I would have coped without, but having her here was such a help. The garden was in the midst of harvest and she got stuck right in! Joe flew in a week later and we got Jane home shortly after, albeit with a new 7 inch scar to add to the collection. We were apprehensive as to how my folks would find Nova Scotia and them having to find a new flight with Icelandair plus change plans in light of Jane's accident boded badly for their impression of our new life here. I needn't have worried...
Folks here in Caledonia were just superb. From the first responders on the evening of the accident, to all the people who brought food and cards and gifts, to everyone (some of whom I hadn't met before) who stopped me to ask after Jane and offer help - I thank you all from my heart. You made us feel like we were part of a very caring, inclusive community and after such a short period of time living here it was way more than I, or my folks, expected. You did Nova Scotia, and Canada, proud. All of our visitors have gone away amazed at how friendly and welcoming the people are here, and I'm bloody proud to say I live in Caledonia.
Woo, so Jane missed the Fair entirely, and I was really too busy to lend a hand, but we have managed to limp though harvest, Farmers' Markets and all the rest of it with the help of friends, family and community.
So, I'm sitting waiting for Jane to phone to say she has dropped Neal and Madeleine safely at the airport - she offered to do the driving tonight. I think it's fair to say that they've had a good vacation. Neal did a grand job of getting our winter firewood stacked ready, and we got a new chicken house built. It was great having them around, and they might even come back!
So, as the dust settles on an incredibly busy time, I look back at some of the scariest moments of my life as I honestly felt I might lose Jane, but my over-riding feeling about this period is joy. We have a big circle of friends from all over the place, near and far, family who were there when we needed them, neighbours who were above and beyond neighbourly, and we live on a beautiful farm in a special part of the world. Cool :-)
Stand-out moments: Georgie and Helen's Thanksgiving Dinner in the woods, Cam's 3rd place in the 4H Pro Show for his wooden truck, Breagh's school report at the parent-teacher meetings, getting Jane out of hospital and bringing her home to the farm.
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Farmers' Market
Yesterday was the first Queens County Farmers' Market in Caledonia.
Actually, there used to a regular farmers' market in in Caledonia about 20 years ago, before Farmers' Markets were generally fashionable. There were a few growers in the area at that time, and the market was a popular social event. Caledonia used to be an important growing area, in fact. If you look at historical records, this area was the main source of fruit and vegetables for the South Shore and further afield. Boats shipped produce out from Liverpool, which had been grown and carted from Caledonia and North/South Brookfield.
When we were scouting for a farm to buy several people 'in the know' told us that the micro-climate in Caledonia meant that we were out of the snow belt and probably had the best growing climate in Nova Scotia, after the Annapolis Valley. That, coupled with the fertile (if a little rocky) soil of a glacial drumlin on which the farm is situated and the south/south-east aspect, gave us high hopes.
We don't have a huge amount of produce yet, so we supplemented our offerings with some of Cindy and David's Pleasant Hill Farm Organics. They sell at the large Hubbards Market on a Saturday morning and it will be a while until Caledonia can rival the city for well-healed customers paying top dollar for organic produce!
The first market went really well. There were around a dozen vendors selling baked goods, garden produce, jewellery, stick furniture, raspberries - many vendors were sold out by 10am having underestimated the number of folk that would turn out to buy. All I spoke to were really pleased and said they would be back next time. The market is to run every other Saturday until end-October, so see y'all on August 2nd!
Actually, there used to a regular farmers' market in in Caledonia about 20 years ago, before Farmers' Markets were generally fashionable. There were a few growers in the area at that time, and the market was a popular social event. Caledonia used to be an important growing area, in fact. If you look at historical records, this area was the main source of fruit and vegetables for the South Shore and further afield. Boats shipped produce out from Liverpool, which had been grown and carted from Caledonia and North/South Brookfield.
When we were scouting for a farm to buy several people 'in the know' told us that the micro-climate in Caledonia meant that we were out of the snow belt and probably had the best growing climate in Nova Scotia, after the Annapolis Valley. That, coupled with the fertile (if a little rocky) soil of a glacial drumlin on which the farm is situated and the south/south-east aspect, gave us high hopes.
We don't have a huge amount of produce yet, so we supplemented our offerings with some of Cindy and David's Pleasant Hill Farm Organics. They sell at the large Hubbards Market on a Saturday morning and it will be a while until Caledonia can rival the city for well-healed customers paying top dollar for organic produce!
The first market went really well. There were around a dozen vendors selling baked goods, garden produce, jewellery, stick furniture, raspberries - many vendors were sold out by 10am having underestimated the number of folk that would turn out to buy. All I spoke to were really pleased and said they would be back next time. The market is to run every other Saturday until end-October, so see y'all on August 2nd!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
egg fun and new vehicles
We held the inaugural 1st Annual Kilbrannan Farm Egg Hurling Competition last Sunday, amid cold temperatures but blue skies.
The idea is that you have half an hour to come up with, design, source and build, a device for hurling a decorated hard-boiled egg the furthest distance down the hill. You can use any material found on the farm. You can't just chuck it, there has to be some sort of mechanical device involved.
We made teams of two, girls vs. boys, and the boys won by a long chalk :-)
Today, we did a rash thing, and swapped our very swanky 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup, and a 2003 Ford Focus wagon. Wagon? Surely that's an estate car? Well, it gets very confusing - a pickup is a truck, an estate is a wagon, a truck (lorry) is a tractor, a tractor is thankfully still a tractor, a caravan is a bloody trailer, but a trailer is a trailer too, and folk still think you are talking about a caravan! Woh, 2 countries separated by the same language. It's a wonder we didn't swap our SUV and end up with a hoop and stick - sorry, obscure joke reference in there.
What else? The ground tubes are in for the polytunnel, more on this in another post. I went mad and ordered satellite broadband, haven't got an installation date yet. I got my firearm's certificate, so could go buy a gun. Jane is on the board of the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, I'm on the board of the Queen's County Fair Association. I've joined the local Board of Trade, and there are discussions about me building a new website for Caledonia and area, more on this anon. The kids got great school reports, they are both doing really well. I think that's about it.
The idea is that you have half an hour to come up with, design, source and build, a device for hurling a decorated hard-boiled egg the furthest distance down the hill. You can use any material found on the farm. You can't just chuck it, there has to be some sort of mechanical device involved.
We made teams of two, girls vs. boys, and the boys won by a long chalk :-)
Today, we did a rash thing, and swapped our very swanky 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup, and a 2003 Ford Focus wagon. Wagon? Surely that's an estate car? Well, it gets very confusing - a pickup is a truck, an estate is a wagon, a truck (lorry) is a tractor, a tractor is thankfully still a tractor, a caravan is a bloody trailer, but a trailer is a trailer too, and folk still think you are talking about a caravan! Woh, 2 countries separated by the same language. It's a wonder we didn't swap our SUV and end up with a hoop and stick - sorry, obscure joke reference in there.
What else? The ground tubes are in for the polytunnel, more on this in another post. I went mad and ordered satellite broadband, haven't got an installation date yet. I got my firearm's certificate, so could go buy a gun. Jane is on the board of the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, I'm on the board of the Queen's County Fair Association. I've joined the local Board of Trade, and there are discussions about me building a new website for Caledonia and area, more on this anon. The kids got great school reports, they are both doing really well. I think that's about it.
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