December - 2019

About 2 weeks from Christmas Day at this point. Tree is up and looking pretty, rest of decorations as well. Don't bake like I use to so not as much time goes into that - but there are still a few treats in the freezer for the week of. Our snow has come and gone, then come and gone and then come and gone! Most everyone here at the farm is hoping for enough for a horse/mule drawn sleigh ride over the holidays, we shall see!

Two new foals are expected in the New Year so maybe have some news for the January Blog on that. One more foal to follow later in the year as well.

                                   Wishing everyone a very
                                         Merry Christmas 
                                         and a wonderful 
                                              New Year!

Our girl Gracie pictured here as a foal - now all grown up and expecting her own.

                                                                Until next time,

                                                               Jeanne and Kim

       
              To view Kim's current real estate listings link here: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen

NOVEMBER - 2019

  Well the days now are quite
shorter, colder and snowy
the first few weeks of November. With the lovely snow
covering it seemed brighter out
when it got dark so early......but
with snow this early it will most
likely seem like a VERY long 
winter!

 Johnny, Pep and Penny are seen above enjoying that first snow of the season. To the left is also that first morning and a few days later saw that amount doubled. Oh well, break out the snow shoes and enjoy!

The end of  October saw us at Carson's Fall Draft Horse Sale and Futurity Competition for 2019. We had entered out 2 year old filly "Ruby" and to our excitement - she won. Here's how the competition works.

It started about 10 years ago to light a fire under the draft horse business which had come to a slow fizzle with sales. The demand was low, and folks stopped breeding, so to inject a demand again the Futurity was born. So that first year any one that wished could enter that years born stud colts or fillies into the program. Then the seller would get a percentage of his/her sale price and the remainder would go in "the pot" to be divided up in 2 years time when the young horses that were sold would return as 2 year olds to compete in a line class, in harness in a cart class and an obstacle course. It has been a very popular program. The seller themselves also have the  ability  to purchase back their own foals if they wish, to train and enter the futurity...and that's what we did 2 years ago. That year 28 foal were sold and eligible to come back - 12 did.

Fast forward to 2019. Out Ferrier  Jeremy Tingey has had great success in the past purchasing and then competing in the Futurity. We asked him about a year before if he would be interested in training and showing Ruby in the 2019 event. He said he would take her home and see if she was interested in learning the things she needed to know.....and she was. A very affectionate filly is  Ruby but when you get her in harness and ready for the show ring she is all business as you can see in the following pictures. Well, we WON this years event....us as owners and breeders of this fine young horse and Jeremy Tingey as trainer and his family who all worked to get Ruby ready for the Futurity and Jeremy for his excellence in the show ring - a HUGE thank you to them all. Below are few pictures from the day.










Top picture is Jeremy in the cart class, one below that is Ruby and Jeremy in the line class and the smaller picture is Ruby on the move while having gone through the obstacle course. Below is Kim and I and Jeremy and family with Ruby.  We also received the breeders trophy.












We also would like to thank our daughter for all the work she does with our foals early in life in imprinting positive, trusting and loving impressions in their everyday lives.

Our daughter seen below saying their goodbyes as Ruby has gone to her new home in Georgia, USA.  ( I say at least someone from this farm gets to go south for the winter ). All the best to you Ruby in your new home and we will watch for you to maybe come north again to compete at the London Ontario, North American Belgian Championship in 2020!

                               We leave you with another winter scene from early November.

                                                                  Until next time,

                                                                  Jeanne & Kim

      To see Kim's current real estate listings link here: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen

OCTOBER - 2019

Time once again is chasing me as I write this Blog. Hard to believe October is drawing to a close and Halloween is right around the corner. May all the ghost and goblins have a safe and yummy trick or treating evening on the 31st.



Here at the farm the cows have been moved off the lower pastures up onto the hill as the cold, wet and frosty mornings have arrived. They still roam the hills but have the option of cuddling into the straw filled barns at night. We have taken down the rotating fencing system from the large field where both horses and cows spend their summer and stored it until next spring. Windows will be popped back in the barn in another week, leaves will be raked, manure spread on the fields and general farm tidy up in the weeks ahead readying for winter.

We attended the final Plowing Match of the year in Northumberland  County on Thanksgiving weekend with mules Patsy and Tammy. They had a great outing (plowing in the rain for half the day) and finished in 1st place.

Seems like it has been a spectacular Fall - with spectacular colour! We know there are many in the farming community that are waiting to see what the final crop harvest will yield before they know just what the total damage has been of what can only be classified as a most chaotic planting and growing season. We hope that they will all be able to make ends meet until next spring.



While walking my canine friend the other day, on one of those spectacular days, I snapped a few pictures of  Autumn. The first two are of Reign and Gracie out in their paddock enjoying the day.

  The Farm itself in Fall Colours!

Below is a picture of 8 month old Frankie on the right and 6 month old Gunner - best of friends, peaking out the back of the barn. The picture was taken by our youngest grandson.

It will probably be mid November when I write again so we leave with the reminder to:

REMEMBER ON REMEMBRANCE DAY

NOVEMBER 11TH

Until next time, 

Jeanne and Kim

SEPTEMBER 2019

                 INTERNATIONAL PLOWING MATCH
                                      TIME OF YEAR! 

Grandson with Dolly and Loretta working on his six up

We are back from Verner Ontario, just west of the City of  North Bay. Verner hosted the 2019 International Plowing Match for 2019. Above is a photo of our grandson with his Belgian Mule team of  Dolly and Loretta, plowing with a sulky Cockshutt riding plow. They had a 3rd place finish on the Tuesday, closer to the bottom on Wednesday and Thursday and seen above with his first 6 up and a great land at days end that earned him a 1st place on the Friday. 

Kim had a much slower rise to his 4th place finish on Friday while he worked to get familiar with a "new to him plow." Thank you to our two mule teams of DOLLY & LORETTA and PATSY & TAMMY for all their efforts. A huge THANK YOU to the folks of Warren who hosted the horse & mule teams in their arena for the duration of the match. Your warm reception and hospitality was most appreciated.

   Below, (maybe fuzzy) is a video of Kim, Patsy & Tammy doing their thing at the 2019 IPM

                                  

Two notes to add, one was the terrific trip through Algonquin Park going and coming to IPM. We had never been there and all we can say is WOW -  GORGEOUS. We aren't campers but maybe some day will go back up again to look around. The scenic drive was lovely as depicted in the photo below.

Also, probably won't enter October blog until Thanksgiving has past so we will leave you with well wishes for a lovely gathering over the holiday weekend in October. Enjoy the outside and all that Autumn has to offer.

                        HAPPY THANKSGIVING WISHES!

While I was doing chores around the farm a couple of weeks ago and the mornings had turned chilly, this pretty dragon fly hitched a ride on my mitten...he seemed reluctant to move on and traveled quite a ways with me before he ventured off.

                                                                Until next time,

                                                                Jeanne & Kim

To view our current real estate listings click here: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen

AUGUST - 2019

        ANY GUESSES on the above BIRD?

      This not so little birdie ( approximately 12" high ) was found with a sibling on the July 1st Holiday. They came scooting out from under the cover of an uncut hay field - quite a ways from the marsh were they should have been located. With Turkey Vultures and Ravens circling over head we put a call into the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee. With welding gloves on (we referred to these guys as Pterodactyls - nothing too sweet about them - they come at you with wings spread, screeching and hissing like a rattlesnake) we got the 2 babies into a box and drove them to Sandy Pines. WOW what a place Sandy Pines is. With staff and volunteers they look after and rehabilitate an amazing amount of wildlife which get released back into the wild after their convalescence. We had originally thought this pair might have been baby Herons or in that family as their legs were so long - turns out they are American Bitterns. After a little more than 3 weeks with Sandy Pines they were ready to be released. We brought them back and let them free over by the marsh were we can only hope they have set up home! Thank you Sandy Pines - check out their website/facebook page. Great place to support with a donation. See release video below.

Always need to talk about the weather  (Canadian & farmer thing ya know). After a very hot and dry July we have settled into a rather nice mix of sun /rain for August - (so far). The mornings have been quite cool and by mid afternoon you hear the Cicadas (Locusts) in the trees humming!

O'Hara Mills have had both their Heritage Day and their Draft Horse Day back in Madoc. If you haven't been back there check out their website: www.ohara-mills.org  for future events.

Seen here a couple of horse powered antique pieces of equipment that were 

demonstrated back at O'Hara Mill.

To the left is a Tread Mill that one or two horses would make go around to 

thrash grain, turning the belt as to run the thresher.

Seen here to the right is a field rock remover. Dolly and

 Lortetta have demo'd this a few times and it always amazes

me how well this works and to think how ingenous in was for

the times. (and so much hard work).

Kim with Dolly on the far right and Loretta closer to the front 

of picture. 

The mill running (amazing)

O'Hara's Mill in operation 

                            

So I reported on Kim's Century 21 Blog (  link:  www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen  ) about our corn we grew in our raised beds and we wondered if it would ever grow and mature in this small spot. Well other than one wind storm that went through and I had to go stand it all back up and brace each plant with dirt - we got them through to the end. And what a sweet end it is - nothing says August like a Sweet Corn, Butter and a little Salt!

                                                                Until next time,

                                            Jeanne & Kim

JUNE & JULY 2019

WE SHOULD ALL STOP AND SMELL THE DAISIES!

If you have already been to the Real Estate Blog then I won't go over all the farming challenges

again - suffice to say it's the most challenging crop year we have ever seen in all our years of farming.

The 2019 calves have all arrived and are seen here running to catch up to their Mamas who are heading for water. They were late getting out to pasture as the ground was so wet but they are very lush now with all that moisture.

Most folks hopefully will now get some hay off if the nice days stay dry. This idyllic picture came on the heels of some pretty incredible rain & cold temperatures. I cannot remember ever running the furnace for as many days as we did in the Month of June this year.

Until next time,

Jeanne & Kim

Link here for Kim's Real Estate page: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen

MAY - 2019

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


       When you look

           at a field        
       
       of Dandelions,

            you can

          either see

    a hundred weeds,

     
       or a Thousand

            Wishes!

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

As we are about to leave May and enter June

we recall Mother's Day and look forward to

Fathers Day. Hoping it was a good day for

Moms and that it will be for Dads! Here to the

right is a picture of new moms Olympia and

Reign out for a gallop in the pasture with their

babies, 2 week old Gunner & 3 month old

Frankie.



                                                         

 As the April Showers  have continued right into and up to

the end of May we wonder what's in store for June. I know

I sing the plight of the farmer in these blogs but that's

'cause we are farmers. We are on a much smaller scale than

years gone by but as well as our own crop losses we feel

the loses of our friends and neighbours near and far that

farm on our scale or much larger, they have not yet got

much planted.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks things

right themselves. There has however been heavy losses of

winter wheat and hay fields that got wiped out - both from

the winter ice.



So as I write these words they are calling for more rain

tomorrow and again by Sunday!

So don't put your umbrellas or rubber boots away just yet!


Hopefully by the time I do June's blog ( mid to end of month)

things will be bettter.



Until next time,

Jeanne & Kim


For Real Estate listings, click here: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen





                                                                                                   

APRIL - 2019

                         APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS 

                                                    AS THE SAYING GOES

The daffodils above graced my window sill back in late February helping me to get through to Spring! It won't be long now until they and tulips are popping out of the ground to meet the warming sun. It  has seemed like an unusually long winter to us here at the farm with all the ice and COLD temperatures. Kim has been lamenting the low temps for the last month sure that every other year it was warm by now. While I just checked an entry from our friends that moved to Nova Scotia a couple of years ago and they had posted a picture from April 21st 2011 back here in Ontario and guess what...lots of snow on the ground....so we tell Kim to be patient!

Easter has come and gone and we hope everyone had a nice long weekend and celebrations. Good Friday saw 2 wee bull calves born and we await 7 more in the weeks to come. Our mare Olympia is still waiting to deliver her foal.

Johnny & June

Some time in May we also have 2 new arrivals coming to the farm. Johnny & June - a pair of Norwegian Fjord horses. They are smaller in height than a Belgian draft horse, more the height of a riding horse but they are heavy and thick like a draft animal. They also have a beautiful black and white stripped tail and mane. Kim is hoping to plow with them and we look forward to them joining us here on the farm.

Our new directors chairs have arrived. They are a nice light aluminum that is easy to take in and out of the horse trailer at the plowing matches. We got them from Triple P Promotions out of Sunderland and they were wonderful to deal with if your looking for something like this. 

They are a great chair for us older folks to sit on as when people come by to chat you are at their height so you are not straining your neck looking up or feeling you should stand on tired legs. We always take extra along to share for others to sit and rest their legs as well.







My Dad was down at Easter and gave my friend and I some Band saw lessons. Once a weekly carver we have sort of got away from it and would like to begin again so we needed to know how to run the band saw so we could cut out rough shapes to then carve.


Seen here I am just practicing on an old piece of wood to get the feel of the saw. Once I feel comfortable we can move on to cutting all sorts of shapes to carve things like the ones pictured here.





These Angels are so much fun to do and you can paint them in colours that match folks decor.

We started way back about 15 years ago with the Quinte Wood Carvers and did a lot of Santa carvings under the tutelage of a very gifted carver Faron Young.

A lot of the folks in the club do real life carvings of birds etc.. but I tend to like the folk art pieces as they are more forgiving when you only pick up your tools periodically. LOL

The Easter bunny has been carved, painted and them aged with an Antiquing Gel. He was finally ready to be center stage of the Easter table after many years of sitting in a cupboard unfinished!

I will leave you with a short video below of my canine walking buddy enjoying a warm spring day! 







Until next time,

Jeanne & Kim

P.S. For all things Real Estate click link: www.century21.ca/kim.hadwen

                       

MARCH - 2019

It felt like MARCH came in like a Lion here at the FARM so we are hoping it goes out like a LAMB....and that Spring is surely on its way!                                                                                                                                                                    

  Hoping that everyone that celebrates St. Patrick's Day had enjoyable festivities!                                                                                                                                                            

Well as I write we are mid-way through the month of March. With all it's winds, dampness and cool temperatures - not to mention the ICE. I do try to embrace it, knowing it is a right of passage into the warmer months ahead. A walk in the fields has become somewhat dangerous and one that spikes, snowshoes with spikes or ski/walking poles with spikes will not even help. As a few days hit the plus 9 mark last weekend it helped somewhat and has now just left little "islands" of ice to navigate around. 

Hours old "Frankie"

Reign and Baby 

We finally have our newest addition here at the farm. Our lovely mare Reign gave birth a couple of weeks ago to "Frankie" - a filly foal - full of spunk! Mom and daughter are doing well. 

We had to wait a few days 

before Mom and babe 

could venture outside in the paddock closest to the barn as there was too much ice around. 

Things have since melted and they are seen here enjoying some outdoor activity.

 Looking forward to the Spring Days ahead when they can go for a gallop in the bigger fields! 

    Will try to capture it on video for the blog!

Stallion Calvin 

New easy view penning

Along with the  excitement of the new foal we have finally finished adding the new penning in the old dairy barn. Everyone enjoys their new winter home with outdoor access on lovely winter days. Still a bit more to do...but isn't there always!



As we await April, Easter and spring weather, we hope that the ice and snow melt does not cause too much grief for folks. With all the snow up north we hope that the low lying areas in our neck of the woods are not subject to flooding...fingers crossed.

Also a shout out to the Maple Syrup Producers - wishing you cool nights and warm days for a great sap run.

Until next time,

Jeanne & Kim