Fireplace

When the former owners moved out, they took the woodstove with them. This house does not have gas heat, or a furnace for that matter. We have electric baseboards heaters (pricey), and the fireplace.

We had a new fireplace installed a few weeks ago:

This fireplace is very cool, the top of it is an actual cook surface (not that I would try to pull off a gourmet meal or anything....), and it has a fan on it to push the hot air out. The cook top would be cool for hot chocolate or apple cider.

New garden - Part Two

Here is the new garden, with a few more plantings, and a few plants that still need to be put in the ground:

New Garden - Part One

Most of our front yard is sand. This limits us to cactus that will survive in zone 4. There are not many cactus' that will survive in those conditions.

So, we (By we, I of course mean hubby) excavated about a foot down where our new garden is going. We lined the hole with cardboard, to attempt to trap some moisture, and then re-filled with triple mix.

This was the end result:

I know, it is still pretty bare. Since this picture was taken, we have planted two black currant bushes that I started from cuttings, and I have several more plants placed in the garden in their pots still, waiting to go into the ground.

First Day of School

Yes, it was last week, I am behind.

So, this year is grade five!

And here she is, all ready for another year of fun!

New Trees

It has been a long time, I know!!

We have been very busy these past few weeks, but have not had internet access!

So, let's start with a gardening project:

We have a LOT of space on the other side of the creek, as you can see:

You could play soccer over there!

We have decided that we would like to put in several fruit trees. There is already one large, old apple tree, it is too big to tame or spray, so the apples on it will be inedible.

However, apples need a second tree near them to pollinate, so the old tree will serve that purpose quite well!

below, you can see our new tree:

We only have the one for now, before we sink too much into the fruit trees, we want to see if they will actually take.

We will add more as time goes by.