Wednesday, November 10, 2010

6 months

Today marks six months since I moved way up here to NE Saskatchewan. Can hardly believe how much has happened this year and at times it has felt like somewhat of a whirlwind. Graham, Emily, and I first looked at the barn the middle of March and a week later made an offer. The whole process ended up being a bit of an ordeal but everything finally fell into place and we took possession the end of June.

I came up in May and took a 6 week crash course in raising chickens. : ) I had cattle experience so this chicken stuff was new. The operation was actually fairly simple to run but didn't quite feel that way when I wasn't familiar with all the ins and outs of it.

And then we had another element to deal with...rain. Our area along with many others across the prairie provinces had record setting levels of rain this spring. Growing up in the arid southern Alberta climate where, when it rained you pulled out your chair and sat in awe, I thought it wouldn't be possible to ever get tired of rain. Wrong! When the 8" average turned into 22" it gave a whole new outlook on rain. I was beginning to wonder if we shouldn't have bought an ark instead of a barn! Despite water issues in the barn and a thriving mosquito population, it still turned into a nice summer. I only had to water my garden a couple times and the yard stayed beautiful.

I spent a lot of the summer with yard care (mowing, weeding, flowers) and cleaning up around the yard and barn (whippersnipping, taking several loads to the dump, etc.) The well collapsed due to the rain so that had to be filled in and it seemsed as soon as you accomplished one thing, three others popped up. Now the yard is pretty much in order and all the yard work done for the year which a very satisfying feeling.

However, despite the challenges, it has been an awesome experience to run a place on my own. I love the area here and am quite happy to call it home. : )

4 comments:

Naomi T. said...

Welcome home, my friend. Saskatchewan has a way of catching people and indoctrinating them so they're quite content to stay. ;)

I'm so happy for you. :hugs:

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy it has worked out so well for you! Here's to many more good "6-mths"! :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a challenge that was well worth it :)
So did you dig another well or?

I'd forgotten that Graham had gotten married! Did you ever show any pics? Maybe I forgot about those too =P

I hope you have many more enjoyable times there!

Lindsey said...

Sam, it was an old well which we weren't using. However, the line for the water in the barn went through the pumphouse where the well was so it could have turned into a major issue.

I did post a link a little while back on a comment that either you or Jac posted but I'll post it again. :) A friend of Emily's did the photography. http://eucharistia.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/graham-emily/