My sister, Dawn, has a hobby farm called Daybreak Farm. She lambs later than Dad so her babies have just arrived! Prepare for cuteness overload!
She doesn’t just have sheep….she has Ben the pony and Clarence the donkey.
I love going there to get pictures of the babies, they look so adorable outside!! I think I need to try to talk Dad into lambing outside so I can get better pictures of all those babies!! 😉
To be continued,
Lori
The world around me is changing. It’s turning green and there are splashes of brightness starting to burst forth. Thankfully, Spring has arrived. Yesterday the sun shone so beautifully and it lifted my spirits.
I was in Stewiacke and needed to go to New Glasgow so I took the scenic route, cross-country and got to where I needed to be without too much trouble and I only had to turn around once. I had tried to check Google Maps but it even took a while to find me, but it did show me that there was a lake coming up. When the burst of blue appeared on my left, I had to stop and enjoy it. You see, I’m not fond of the highway, yes it gets me where I need to go but life can’t be lived on the highway. And when the sun warmed my face, I had to go for a drive and the highway just wouldn’t do. I’m kicking myself for not stopping at this one farm where the sheep dotted the lush green hill. It was so picture perfect, but it’s captured in the album of my mind now.
The thing I love about driving is that I can think. No music, no talking, no nothing, just me and my thoughts. Yesterday was an exciting day as I talked with various people about various opportunities. I have to admit that I am continually in awe of the opportunities that are presented to me. Last fall when I left the job I had been in for so long, I was afraid that I would struggle and not have anything to do, and that I’d end up having to take a job at a fast food joint. { Not that I have a problem with that, if it puts food on the table and keeps a roof over our heads, then fine but it wouldn’t be my top pick… } But I have had so many interesting and fun things to do and I am so very thankful for that. It blows me away. I’m turning down jobs. Crazy, no? I’ll admit its good for the self-confidence! And I love the choices I’m making. I’m having so much fun, crazy as it is by times. Makes me thankful for my awesome family and babysitters, couldn’t do it without you all!!
It is my hope for you that your view is awesome and inspiring and that life hands you great opportunities to enjoy!!
To be continued,
Lori
I’m sure people think I’m crazy when I tell them my husband and I used our date time to go to the Spring Machinery Auction in Truro. But, really, its the perfect date, something we both enjoy and it sometimes you come home with some awesome goodies.
Today, we headed over, sans children { Thank you, Rika!! } and wandered around looking at this, that and the other thing. I posted some pictures on Instagram and Facebook and the responses have been so fun to read through. Guess what? You are all invited next year!! 🙂
I love going and listening to the variety of conversations that surround you. It was a sea of plaid, camo and denim. I kept losing Michael and he was hard to spot again. I may have stood out a little in my red coat….. The old farmers probably make it an annual pilgrimage and meet up with old buddies and spend the day and maybe not a dime. But they are what make it so fun. Yes, there are younger people milling around, some with small children in tow and maybe a wife thrown, too. Maybe they’ve grown up going and so they make the pilgrimage, too.
I have to admit, I never wanted to go that very first time – why would I want to go to an auction where they sell machinery? I hear Dad and Michael talk about this piece of that and that piece of this, why should I care?? And then one time, Michael came home and told me he almost bought me a wooden screen door. Screen door? What? At the machinery auction? I went the next time. And I bought some cool stuff….old wooden tool boxes, milk cans, an old wooden sled. You see, it isn’t just machinery. It’s whatever you find in your yard, your barn or machine shed. Bring it, sell it, someone will want it. Today’s mix of randomness included fake plants, lobster traps, broken fence posts, a tent trailer, lumber, bent gates, stove pipe, light fixtures, canoes and wood stoves. And then there is the expected – round bale feeders, hay rakes, grain bins, cattle trailers, seeders, milk cans, tires, wagons, intact fence posts, but no big, green tractor as Hannah requested we bring her.
I wish this day had panned out differently. I came home empty-handed. My brother-in-law scored at least one lot I wish I had. I wish I had the fore-sight to have bid on a few lots that would have been fun to work over and re-sale. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be today. I always hesitate or ponder too long { or show up too late } and then I think about what I would’ve done with this, that and the other thing. And proceed to kick myself.
But I had fun, saw lots and now realize what I need to do differently next time. But before we left Truro, we did a little shopping in the downtown for Mother’s Day for me. So it wasn’t a waste of time by any means! 😉
To be continued,
Lori
Spring finally feels like it has arrived around here!! The temperatures have finally risen to coats-optional, grass has finally appeared from beneath snow and is even starting to turn green!! And…..things are starting to poke out of the ground!!
It’s all new for me, as this is our first Spring here at Clear Day Farms. I’m finding all sorts of treats – like a whole fence line of tulips which I hope will gift us with loads of blooms soon! Crocuses { really just three } are growing out of my lawn, and the east bank is very soon going to burst forth in shades of purple.
Our yard hold promises. Promises of colour, promises of work and promises of beauty. I love the promises that Spring holds for us. Renewal. Re-growth. A chance to start again.
But the neat thing with this promise is the promise of fruitfulness and of harvest. But not without effort. I’m so excited and overwhelmed with the size of our garden. I can’t wait to get digging in there and seeing the efforts be rewarded with a tasty carrot or fresh lettuce or whatever else I decide to plant. The girls have plans and I think I have a friend who would like a corner of this field of dirt, too. I know I want tomatoes and sunflowers, not much of a plan, but I have to start somewhere!!
I’m really excited to see this:
Why, you ask? This is the quintessential ‘old homestead’ flower. This is a lily, what kind or what’s the proper name? I have no idea. This is what you find around all old abandoned houses and old farm houses in this area. To me it speaks of timelessness and longevity. It speaks of years gone by and the hardiness of the people. To me, I’ve made it. I own a home that has history, a past. These flowers have bloomed and bloomed and then bloomed again, regardless of what was happening in the world around it, they carried out their sole purpose. To bloom and to promise colour, and to show us that Spring really does exist!
To be continued,
Lori
Yesterday I got real. I spent the day at a business workshop that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to grow their business, connect with like-minded people and get plans written down. It was put together by the dynamic team of Sam Madore from Bliss Productions and Jenn Rodgers of Jenn Rodgers Communications & Customer Experience and it was so neat to see them work in tandem!
Our workshop was held at the Clay Cafe in Truro, which was a switch that happened the day before but couldn’t have been more perfect! It’s such a bright, colourful, creative space and I wondered if we’d get to paint since we were there….and we did!! We all worked together to complete a 12 tile design the said the delightful quote from someone or other….maybe Mr. Rogers???….’Grow ideas in the garden of your mind’ and that become one the the themes that ran through the day.
I’m not going to pour over all the details of what all we did, eat and talked about but it was exactly what I needed. It was what I needed to give that boost of confidence in myself and in what I am doing here with Farm Fresh. I connected with people and was presented with opportunities to build my business, which is very exciting!
The women who gathered around those tables were so varied in career paths. But for as varied as we were, we were so much the same. We all had the same fears, the same hopes and the same challenges. Someone would share something and everyone else would be nodding in agreement.
We wrote things down on actual paper. I know that sounds odd, but to actually see thoughts that have been rattling around in your head and in your heart written with ink on paper….makes things pretty real. But it is so good to do that, and I don’t do it enough. Everything is in my head and it isn’t enough. Setting goals or acknowledging fears in an environment like Sam and Jenn created for us yesterday was very good and healthy, too. All too often we keep everything in and hold our fears and dreams so close to ourselves but giving them space to breathe and to give them a little room can be very empowering. When you get real, fears shrink and dreams grow.
I’m looking forward to following the progress of these new-found friends and what they ‘grow’ from our day together. A huge thank you goes out to Sam and Jenn for organizing this and for following through on an idea they had. Thank you for making us feel special and really listening to us. I’m looking forward to moving ahead with my goals!!
To be continued,
Lori