Autumn from the Porch

The colours have been particularly brilliant this year!

More Kitchen Shelving!

Mick didn't stop with the pantry shelves or the spice and tea racks, both projects which I had assumed would happen a few more years down the road, if ever.

 

 

Our newest set of shelves includes a wine rack, which holds 24 bottles.  We went on a bit of a shopping spree to fill up the wine rack.

 

 

 

It is now such a lovely place to work (especially when the countertop is cleaned off)!

The Great Pig Escape

We were enjoying a lovely wet day in the cabin when we noticed some pig noises awfully close to the house.  We looked outside the window and, sure enough...

 

 

...there was Amos!

 

Fortunately, the pigs are well-trained to concentrated feed, so Amos dutifully followed Mick (well, technically he followed the feed scoop which Mick happened to be carrying) back to the pen from which he had escaped.

 

Mick speculated that the wet weather softened the soil, which inspired the pigs' rooting instincts.

  

Virginia had not escaped, but she enjoyed some of the concentrate bait as Amos rejoined her.

 

Meanwhile, a bit further down the hill...

 

 

...Susie was out for an explore!

 

She also is trained to concentrate, and I didn't even need any food to lure her back homeward.

 

Closer to the cabin, we picked up a couple of her stray piglets.

 

Yarrow particularly liked rounding up the piglets.

 

Martha helped round up the last straggler piglet.  She was heading him off in the correct direction when he decided to hide in the grass.

 

A bit more coaxing, and the whole family was back together.

What an adventure! :)

Yarrow and Her Family

 

 

Waiting patiently to come inside.

 

 

Yarrow cleans up the floor while Gerard tries to escape.

 

 

Always investigating!

 

 

Maynar and Yarrow enjoy the fire.

 

Napping with Papa.

Workbench

Mick continued to organize the barn by building a workbench.

 

 

He attached some planks to the wall and strategically added hooks and nails to hang various tools.

 

I thought that was a great way to store the clamps!

 

One of Mick's favorite ideas from his online research of workshop organization was screwing jar lids to the bottom of a shelf and using the jars to store small items.  We thoroughly researched the jars available at Aldis and decided our favourite size and shape jar held sauerkraut, which (conveniently enough) is delicious!

 

It has been revolutionary for him to have such a clean, organized place to work!

Door

Enjoying the fresh air and the breeze that comes from leaving the door open, but tired of all the flies in the house that result from leaving the door open, we opted for a screen door.

It is revolutionary indeed!  We thought it completely transformed the feel of the front of our home. 
We decided, while we were at it, to finally paint our front door as well.



Maynar watched while we prepped and painted the door.

 

 

 Ta-da!

 

More Kitchen Transformation

Mick's first week at home this summer gave us pantry shelves, and Week 2 continued the progress of kitchen organization.

 

Mick's first project of the second week was a spice rack.  Years ago (maybe right about when we got married?), we discovered Spice Islands spices and loved the look of the jars and the labels.  We decided that we would stock up on Spice Islands jars and use them for our spice rack, refilling them with less expensive spices that come in uglier containers.

 

 

The time finally came for our collection of jars to find their home!

 

 

We love how easy it is to find what we are looking for!  Mick also added some nails for utensils.  Baking is much more enjoyable and convenient than before!

 

 

The second project was a tea rack.  A few years ago, a friend of Mick's turned us on to the fine teas of Harney & Sons.  We kind of became tea snobs and switched to loose-leaf tea that comes in classy tins (surprisingly, not much more expensive than Lipton, if you stick to the less expensive of the snobby teas).  You may notice a trend here -- we decided to purchase small tins of a variety of teas, and restock those tins with the less expensive, uglier-packaged bulk teas.

 

 

The kitchen somehow feels much homier with these little touches.  It is amazing to me how quickly Mick has been able to whip out these projects, and rewarding to see how dramatically even such a quick project can transform the home!  A far cry from building a house. :)