Adventures Archives - Page 10 of 16

3 In Adventures/ Life

Celebrating Heidi

I love when we get to celebrate a friend’s birthday but when you get to try a new sport, too? It’s way more fun! Happy Birthday, Heidi!

Heidi is one of my dear momma friends in our local circle, I love how encouraging she always is, her quick wit and how hard she works for her kids and her business. So, when it came time to celebrate her birthday, you know I was there! Her sister, Rae, planned the party and we got to go curling. I feel like I need to tell you I have never curled…I’ve watched it live and on TV but never have I tried it. Guys, it was so much fun!! Actually, I’m surprised I could walk the day after but it was worth every ache.

It was a family party so there were the grown-ups and the kids all playing. And I think the majority had never played before so it was pretty low key and I wish I could say not competitive but that would be a lie. What we lacked in skill and form we made up for in enthusiasm and laughs. If our stone made it to the end, we were happy. If it sailed all the way through, we groaned and then cheered about how straight it went.

The kids enjoyed it just as much as the adults did – my girls were hesitant to go because they had never tried curling before but their friends were going to be there so they were game. And they loved it, too! It was fun to see them trying out the different things, like sweeping or throwing the stones. { I know I am butchering the terms here, I googled it and I still don’t know what the action is called when you send a stone down the ice… }

Rae choose an All-Canadian theme and asked us to show our pride for our great country….but all my red is summer wear so I dressed warm instead. There were hockey jerseys, a timbit cake and buttertarts.

It’s always fun to celebrate a milestone in a friend’s life. It’s also fun to try out a new sport. I ALSO enjoy spending time with my friends and their families. Throw all those factors into the mix and it makes for a great way to spend a Saturday evening!

Hope you had as much fun as we did, Heidi!! And when can we do it again?

To be continued,

Lori

January 16, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

In Adventures/ Blogging/ Clear Day Farm/ Country Life

Looking Back at 2017

We are reaching the end of another year! 2017 is drawing to a close and we’re staring down 2018! It’s been such an amazing year for us here at Farm Fresh Style and Clear Day Farm! Join me as we look back!

Let’s start by looking back at the most popular blog posts of 2017!

6. Less Than, More Than Comparison is a tough thing, and so prominent these days

5. End of an Era When your parents sell your childhood home/farm

4. One Room Challenge – Week 6 I redid the studio over 6 weeks and it turned out pretty fabulous

3. Crazy About Barn Quilts The coolest thing in the country

2. Tears at A&W When you’re crying in a fast food joint over the love of strangers

And the top post of 2017 proves you guys love Sheree Fitch and her wildly wonderful dreams as much as I do!

1. Mabel Murple’s Book Shoppe & Dreamery A tour of the best tourist location on the East Coast

The other big thing that I’ve been doing more of is working with brands on the blog. It’s been fun to reach out to companies and brands that are a good fit for Farm Fresh. I would never have been brave enough to do any of that without the support of the ECM Media crew. They have been encouraging and supportive and I can’t even believe the positivity of all the members. I’ve had the pleasure of working with brands like Canadian Tire and their Premier Paint line {which you can read about HERE }, Kings Landing in New Brunswick { you can read those HERE and HERE } and my new partnership with Phillips & Chestnut, which I’m really excited about! { Those posts are HERE and HERE } I have some fun things happening in 2018 in the partnership department, too, which you’ll have to be a little patient for!

I love the community over on Instagram and my following there has slowly been growing. I enjoy the interaction that happens there and the awesome people that you end up connecting with. I’ve been very fortunate to have a met some of these Instagram friends in real life and they are just as wonderful in real life. Here’s a look at my Best Nine posts on Instagram:

I love how it pretty much sums up what our country life looks like. We live in a stunning part of Canada and I love showing it off to my Ins{ta-friends! {You can follow me on Instagram HERE }

Life here at our farm involved getting a pony { which you can read about HERE } and a new cat over the course of 2017. They are both great additions to life here and we’re super thankful for Casey K because shortly after we got her, we ended up having to put sweet Cuddles down. Our little crazy cat lady was pretty upset. He may have only sort of been our cat but we sure loved him. { You can read what I mean HERE }

We also had the outside of the house painted! I was so excited to finally have that job done!! We had a great crew do the repairs and the painting, I’m so happy with their workmanship! It has certainly freshened up the place!! You can read about that transformation HERE – pretty great, eh?

I look forward to continuing to share our country life here with all of you throughout 2018! I love hearing from you, whether it’s through comments on Facebook, comments on the blog or over on Instagram, so please drop me a line – it means so much!

Here’s to a great 2017 and an even better 2018!

To be continued,

Lori

December 31, 2017 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

8 In Adventures/ Country Life

Crazy about Barn Quilts

I’ve heard of Barn Quilts, I’ve seen some in the past, but now I have a whole new understanding and appreciation of them. This is a story of how an At Home! magazine DIY sparked a weekend road trip!

If you follow me on Instagram, then a while back you may have noticed that I was painting a barn quilt. But there’s more to it then just deciding one day to paint a barn quilt. Let me start at the beginning…

Rachael MacLean, who is a co-writer for the magazine, sent the editor and I a FB message, with a picture of a barn quilt and suggested that might be a good DIY for the fall issue. Now, if you know me, I love a good DIY, especially one that is as country as a barn quilt. I was all over the idea, as was Crystal, our editor. She asked me to do a little research about the history of barn quilts and away I went. I scrolled through Pinterest, trying to find a barn quilt pattern that really spoke to me. I did some digging around into the history of Barn Quilts, too, which is really quite interesting. I won’t get into that here, but I’ll be sure to share the link on the DIY column when it comes out for those who don’t get a copy { You should subscribe HERE, though! }

Now, as I mentioned, I had heard of barn quilts before and in fact part of the reason I had heard about them was because I had somehow came across a FB page of the Stewiacke Valley Barn Quilt Trail. I had looked through the page and followed them so every now and again, something would pop up in my news feed. Working on the barn quilt for the magazine put this local trail back on my radar.

I wanted to go on this trail and I asked Mom and Dad if they would be game to go as well. And of course they were. It was my girls who moaned and groaned at the thought of having to go on a long car ride and yet they hopped out at most every stop and a little bribery of treats helped their cheer.

When you download the Google Map document from their FB page, it gives you the civic address of each location, as well as a little photo of each quilt block, which is very helpful if you are the navigator and not paying attention! Not that we had to turn around at all and loop back to find ones said navigator missed….once or twice of maybe even three times?!?!

I’m not going to show you all the quilt blocks, I’ll just highlight a few of our favourite, you need to go find them all for yourself! It was a gorgeous day, so when we pulled over or into a driveway, a few times there were people out and about in their yard and we would also chat with them and ask about the quilt block and talk about the weather or what have you. And for me, that was part of the highlight.

This was our last quilt on the tour. What made it extra special was a) it’s tulips, a true nod to the fact Mom and Dad are Dutch b) the gentleman was in the yard and we chatted with him, only to find out both he and his wife are of Dutch background, too. This was the perfect way to wrap up our tour of the barn quilts!

We had a great afternoon out on tour. If you are in Nova Scotia, I highly recommend you check this out! I’d also love to hear if you know where there are more barn quilts or send me some pictures! Like I said, I’m a little barn quilt crazy right now…

To be continued,

Lori

September 19, 2017 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

1 In Adventures

My Happy Place Project

Every once in a while, a really neat project shows up in my Instagram feed. And when it does, I want to jump on board! Enter Chris Bennett of Christine Bennett Design and her Lucky Me Lifestyle.

You know how you find someone on a social media platform and you like their style, their spunk and you think you could be friends in real life? A while back I came across an Instagram feed that I really liked and so for a bit I would just like or occasionally make a comment. And she ‘followed’ me back, and slowly we interacted more. Then, one day Chris posted a little painting she did and left somewhere for a stranger to find.

That post was probably what tipped the scales. I commented and a little conversation ensued and then some emails went back and forth. I knew that at some point in time, we would be getting a painting of our own to drop off somewhere for some one to find! { We’ve since met a few times in real life and she’s even more vibrant and enjoyable in person than online 😉 }

Let me expand a bit more about exactly how this works. It has a name, My Happy Place Project, and the basic idea is that a piece of art is dropped off at a happy place and left for a stranger to find and take with them to be enjoyed! Chris’s pieces for this project are happy clouds and happy waves. She has left them on the ferry to PEI, her son’s favourite park as a child, a well known pie place in the states and some has been shipped off to the other side of the world for her friend to plant. She even worked with Argyle Fine Art and created a book with paintings and drawings from 150 people who submitted their ‘Happy Place’ and then stashed it somewhere for someone to find….which they did!

Here’s the thing….she may never know who found it, where it is now or anything about it after she walks away. But!! Some people have used the hashtag so she did hear back from a few of the strangers!! The stories are heartwarming, like one person who had just moved to the area and was feeling pretty lonely but having found the painting, their day was brightened up! And that’s why I wanted to be a part of it!

So, during the Homegrown Vintage Market, where Chris was a vendor { the vendor who I got my lovely Chicken Mug from!! } she pulled a beautiful chunk of wood out of a bag or box and handed my our Happy Place Project painting. I was nearly in tears! It was gorgeous. But I knew it wasn’t mine to keep.

The girls knew we were getting something to drop but they didn’t know what. So they were pretty excited to see what Chris made for us. And then when I asked where they thought we should stash it, they knew exactly where they wanted to go. The Balmoral Grist Mill. And I knew it was the place. See, the grist mill is somewhere we used to go as a family when I was young for Sunday picnics or just a drive. We would skip rocks along the river with dad and explore the mill if it was open. It holds special memories and I love bringing my family there now. It happens to be on the way home from Tatamagouche so if we go for a drive for coffee, we might swing in for a quick little visit.

Once I had recovered enough after the market, we piled in the car and headed to the grist mill. The girls were so excited. I could barely get them to stand still enough to take this picture.

I wanted to make sure it was sheltered a little, it was later in the day and the forecast wasn’t great. So, we tucked it under the overhang of the building. And then we walked away. The girls wanted to go the next day to see if someone found it but I wanted to wait a little longer, I didn’t want to run into anyone with it, either!

A few days later, we checked and it was gone. I hope whoever found it loves it and appreciates it. I hope it brightened their day. I’m glad other people enjoy our Happy Place, too. And thank you, Chris, for letting my family be a part of the adventure the ‘My Happy Place Project’ is! If you have Instagram, you can see the other projects HERE…how fun, eh?

And if you ever find yourself by the Balmoral Grist Mill, I highly recommend you stop and enjoy our Happy Place and make some memories of your own with your family!

To be continued,

Lori

September 13, 2017 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

In Adventures

A Close-Up of Kings Landing

I took too many pictures to share in just one post – you know me!! This is picture heavy but close-up, the small details of Kings Landing.

I tend to shoot tight and close when I photograph things. So, it was no different when we toured Kings Landing in New Brunswick this summer, which you can read about HERE. I saved some of the smaller details, the close-ups to post together in one post. I love the textures and the details in historic places, they aren’t shiny and new, but aged and weathered.

Here we go!! This first one is a lantern on a buggy. Not only increasing safety, but beautiful, too!

These mossy slate shingles are amazing to me! Stacked so neatly and still so disorderly with the moss!

Apparently I have a thing for the patina of door knobs. Here’s a few I saw around the site…

This was something one of the staff set out for us to guess what it was….any guesses what it might be? I’ll give you a hint that they would be in sets of four….

I loved the bright colours of the seed packets, the vintage drawings are awesome, too. Also, the price can’t be beat!

This is a toaster, if you can imagine. I can see that I’d burn a piece or two…

This huge wooden wheel is part of the saw mill. This kinda blows my mind, I have to say….

There’s lots to see at the General Store but this little twine dispenser caught my eye. How many yards of twine were pulled through there, while shoppers got the latest news about the community!?!?

This final shot was one I took in the Kings Head Inn where we had the best lunch. The tables were dressed with cloth napkins, the waitresses were in full costume and the lemonade was sooo tasty but not quite as good as the coffee. We had a late lunch so by the time we finished up, the lunch crowd was gone and we had our dining room to ourselves. It was perfect to recharge for an afternoon of exploring.

I hope you enjoyed seeing Kings Landing through the lense of my camera. We enjoyed our time there, exploring as a family.

And to answer the question about what that thing was? It’s a horse shoe of sorts for walking horses on mud flats!

To be continued,

Lori

This post was sponsored by Kings Landing by my take on it is just that 😉

September 5, 2017 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

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