Last January was rocky, and regularly unpleasant.  The start of 2012, by comparison has been as light and easy as the fluffy sheep who are my temporary charges.

Our family has taken up with the Bourgeois, who own Philosopher’s Wool in beautiful Inverhuron.  We are farm sitting while they take some time to themselves to travel.  We are staying in the Guest House, an incredibly beautiful structure, which has in floor heat (practically heaven) and character pouring out of every beam and nook.  The children have learned how to weave on looms, I am learning to knit again and am working on mastering the art of sock darning.   Life, despite having two houses to mind, is radically simple.

When they have been home, our hosts have been an inspiration, a source of guidance and a huge support.  Ann and Eugene are in Costa Rica at present and my kids (and I) are wondering WHEN, OH WHEN are they going to come back.

We are here until about March, and are taking advantage of this little adventure to purge at the Duncan Farm, and do some light renos.  Seeing as we moved The Essentials into the Guest House, that what remains at the Duncan Farm is largely expendable.  I am hoping to move home to a simplified home, which will be easier for me to tend to.

We learned a big lesson in 2011, in business that bigger is not always better.  I have taken that to heart.  I need to tend the family, friendships, the flock, the farm and the finances in a more focused and specific way.  I need to continue to chase after personal happiness, and not worry about those who are on a different bend.

Seed catalogues have arrived and I am beginning to plan 2012′s garden.  Bob is burning through his grade 1 curriculum and Mags is reading already.  I am lounging on luxurious woolens, keeping an eye on the children and the chicken coop and am being reminded regularly what a hunk of a husband I have.

Right here, right now.

Chewing over resolutions.  Mine usually involve fresh determination to keep our books in good order, nagging less, making new cheese.  These resolutions are light, and self effacing.  Life, land, love. Whatever hippy sentiment and sap I am rolling about in rises up and produces a tidy little list that I share here, as a reminder to myself to stay on track.  I do love a good list.

This last year has been one drain after another.   Shitty situations fueled by shitty people, steeped in greed, dry rubbed with dishonesty and peppered with politics.

Never again will I let people get close to my family, hug my children, receive our precious time, while singing and dancing tunes of hatred, while plotting betrayals, and other self aggrandizing acts of fuckery at our expense.  No longer will I dismiss gut instincts, be polite, or make excuses for what I know is shit.  Those days are done.  If you don’t deserve it, you won’t get it.  And if you DO deserve it, don’t bother watching your back like I should have been watching mine.

Never again will I patiently abide poor decisions based on greed.  Figure you’re going to bigger your money on my sacrifice?  Not without blood shed.  Our fight against Samsung has been wearing me down.  It consumes an incredible amount of my time and has been one depressing turn of events after another.  The applicable colloquialism here is “getting kicked while you’re down”.  And I am really sick of taking it.

Every shock, every disappointment, every time I’ve heard a municipal councilor say the phrase “our hands our tied”, the countless times I’ve listened to these slimy puppets avoid answering a single question, the fury has stayed inside me.

In 2012 I am going to use the rage that is poking at me underneath my skin.  That sucks the smile from my face, that taps me of the energy it takes to play along with social graces.

There is no time to lick wounds.  Life is now.  2012 will be the year I pull the knife out of my belly and use it.

Fuck you.  Fuck you.  Fuck YOU.

Thanks for reading.

Bob is rocking the home school monkey.  We covered everything set out in his Kindergarten curriculum, so I bought a Grade 1 work book and he’s been doubly keen to do his work.  Meeps has had a recent burst of interest in reading, perhaps inspired by her big brother.  If you were to ask them today what they wanted to be when they grew up, Bob would tell you he would like to own his own construction business and Meeps has would say she would like to be an ‘ice cream girl that sells ice cream she makes in the weather when it’s not cold out.’

I have to keep up with them.  It’s pretty good stuff.

My update on the farm is that we aren’t going anywhere.  Not yet.  Not until we’re driven off our land or buried in it.  This is based solely on emotion.  When the apocalypse comes, our decision will be justified.  Until then… not so much.  If you care to read one of about one hundred reasons why we should move, please read this study on infrasound problems for people living in close proximity to industrial wind turbines.  Even the researchers got sick.

Acousticians confirm Wind Turbine Syndrome.

And besides, if I move, where will I be able to wear all of my highly fashionable farm clothes?

Thanks for the photos, Amina.  We’ll see you again soon.

There is a line run, at last, to our property for high speed, but it’s not due to be connected until 2012.  Until then, we surf the internet like it’s 1994.  So, no video for you.  But I do have pictures, because my husband and I have finally caved and joined the modern world.  By getting iPhones.

I am now going to inundate you with joyful pictures of my gorgeous children and gorgeous farm taken on my iPhone.  (Phones.  Taking PICTURES.  Good ones!)

Are you ready?

For sale: One 49.9 acre Dream Farm.  Purchased as a small, cute home on a piece of grass.  Is now a fully functioning small farm.

31 acre field, 5 acres pasture around house, 14 acres of bush.  Bush spans other neighbouring properties, is of significant size.  Your own private hunting ground for deer and rabbit.  Portion of the Penetangore River passes through the bush.  Is not certified organic, but meets specifications.

Three fenced paddocks; pounded posts with tall fencing.  Perimeter around shed is double high, predator proof.  Gates large enough to get tractor and balers through.  Stand of trees in fenced back pasture for shade and browsing.  Back pasture strung on top with line of electric.

Newly erected “cover-all type” out building, tall enough for two fully usable floors, 32×40′.  Built and inspected to code.

One or two potting sheds also available, solid construction with shingled roofs and one has double entry.

Water and electrical lines run from house to shed and out building.

Enjoy total privacy.  From your front door, you can see no neighbours.  Milky way clearly visible on any good night.  Heavy traffic consists of more than 3 cars in a morning, and Amish buggies on their way to bi-monthly church meetings.  Though you cannot see your neighbours, or hear them, you could not ask for more genuine people.  They are all a blessing in their own way.  With all of the Amish neighbours and your own garden at your finger tips, you too could feel the joy of being free of grocery store dependence.

House sits far back from the road, at the end of a slow curving willow lined driveway, which has been recently filled.  House is young, at 21 years old.  Partial wood board and batten exterior.  Beautiful wood beams taken from the bush lot are a centre piece of the downstairs, which is open concept.  Warm wood encompasses the living room, which fills with morning sunlight, looking golden.

There is no basement, but a cold room.  Laundry room is in an addition off the side of the house, which has heat.   Spacious single car garage with loft space with house entry.  WET inspected woodstove heats the entire house; with the wood lot, your heating bills will be reduced to $0 for life.

Two piece bathroom on the lower level; large ensuite upstairs with two sinks, deep bean shaped tub and plenty of storage space.

Master bedroom has large window, from which you can see the stars while laying in bed.  It overlooks the acreage, a view that will take your breath away every morning.  Giant walk in closet is attached to the master, with a window with the same view.  Closet continues past folding doors to provide additional storage space, with a window overlooking the front of the house, and a door to the balcony.

Two other bedrooms are upstairs, neither small.  Both have doors which open onto the front balcony.  Balcony is lined with built in planters and overlooks the front pasture and garden.  Both have built in closets.

House has new BilDen interlocking shingle metal roof, lifetime warranty, transferable to new owner.  New windows and two new doors via Georgian Bay installed this spring.

House has it’s own well, deep enough to never go dry on you, and provide for significantly more animals than we carry.  Excellent water quality.  Recently pumped septic tank, which was inspected when we purchased the property.

Bountiful apple tree; two fruiting plum trees and a mulberry also present.  Established currants; lovely peonies, lilies in the front flower bed.

Plenty of potential for addition off the back of the home if desired.

The house is within an industrial wind turbine project boundary, but to our knowledge, there are no turbines planned within one kilometer of the house itself.

If you have ever dreamed of self sufficiency, wanted to engage the natural world while providing for your family… this is it.

Light falls into this house unlike few others I have ever been in.  It is quaint, but not cramped in anyway.  It is a wonderful home to live in.

Front of the house, not including attached garage.

View from the house to the goat shed at sunset.

View of back pasture.

Front pasture and willow lined driveway.

Arial view of the property from when we moved in.

Eunice the Sheep, and all of her Nigerian Dwarf Goat friends also included for the right buyer.

I can’t answer any questions at the moment.  We are selling if the Universe puts some stars a whole galaxy in line for us.

If you are SERIOUSLY interested in buying our farm, please email me at:

ashleyduncan@mac.com

We will be selling through a broker, but have not finalized details.

We are heading to the Montreal Tattoo Convention this weekend.  Scott still has some appointment time available on Friday, if anyone is interested, please email sugarshacktattoo@hotmail.com

Got farm sitters all lined up.  (So don’t anyone get any ideas about our house being empty, it’s not).  Canned pear sauce this weekend and half a bushel of tomatoes are simmering away so that they don’t rot on the vine in my absence.

Scott has a tattoo appointment with Grime, and I have one with Seth C.**  We get to act like adults and be around other adults for five days, and could there be a better city to do that in?  I could not possibly be more excited and in need of a break.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t miss these little faces far too much already…..

**Canceled!  Not coming to the show after all.  Rats!

I still have to can applesauce and tomatoes, which presents a totally different work flow than chores.  I can’t say I am looking forward to this part of process, the inside the kitchen part.  I prefer hauling feed bags to stirring bubbling pots.  I wish I loved canning.  I do love the satisfaction of eating the finished product, and so I will toil and trouble.

Bob has been living on his bicycle.  We even took it to Clifton Springs on our vacation this past weekend.  He rode to the park, Meeps took her balance bike… leaving Scott & I in the dust wondering where our babies had gone.

We are so blessed to live on such a big, beautiful lake.  We don’t take advantage of it nearly enough.

We finally got our water line put in to the goat shed and the new out building.  Next we need to connect fittings.  I hope this part of the process doesn’t take another year to complete, but I am thankful for the step in the right direction.  Not hauling water jugs in snowstorms is very appealing.

The children had no shortage of entertainment here this summer.  We spent countless hours perched on top of their play structure, watching crews work.  First we had new windows put in, which meant saws and big glass.  Then we had our outbuilding put up, which meant giant augers, cement trucks and a big bucket lift.  Then we had a massive tractor and tree spade arrive and stay for the day, clearing out the trees from inside the outbuilding.  Last was the water line, which brought the piece de resistance: The Mighty Excavator.  It made a 3′ deep trench which snaked all over the back lawn, much to the delight of the children.

The pleasure of heavy machinery!

(There are two children standing on the tracks on the left side, with tongues out and fingers in their eyes, dancing in ecstasy over the excavator).

Every year teaches us something new.  I have joked in the past that we know we are improving because we kill less stuff.  If unintentional death toll was actually the bar of success, we failed big time this year.

We only managed to get 65/100 chickens to butcher thanks to raccoons and heart attacks.  We were endlessly trapping coons, which while helpful, is ultimately not how one would prefer to spend ones morning, nor is finding the maimed poultry corpses in their wake.  It was a bad year to be a chicken on the Duncan Farm.  At least I didn’t STEP on any chickens this year.  We lost more in the beginning this year too (2% is average for us) to the point where Meeps pointed out a sickly looking baby chick and asked if she should “get a log”.  (To cull them).  Next year I will be extra cautious with travel during the brooder weeks and I will be even more vigilant with feed storage and quicker to break out the not live for very long traps.

I had to put down little Cindy Ray, whose birth I attended like a first time parent.  We recently had a vet out again to assess her mother Suki.  Suki has always been a suck, she is the lowest on the totem pole and loves to rest her head on my shoulder while I hug her.  Turns out Suks has pleurisy and is a chronic pneumonia carrier.  We have to put her down before we can even think of bringing another animal here, which we would be doing soon for winter breeding.  Next year I will stop hugging my goats.

I have put the love I have for my farm directly into my animals and forged relationships with them that I should not have.  I expected Suki would be a long standing fixture in our herd, based on nothing but my own desire to have her in my life.  It was a mistake on my part.  We can raise them in a manner we find ethically acceptable and still bask in the joy of their being without crossing over a line of attachment.

Hard lesson learned.

If you are in the Kincardine area and would like their meat price list, feel free to email me and I will send it to you.
twwly at mac.com

If you would like to see some more of the pictures, click the link and if you are feeling so inspired, you could purchase a copy of their book.  Click the link!

Delicious dinners at the Harbour Street Brasserie, where we get to play dress up like adults and enjoy perfection on a plate.

Tiring out the children with sunshine.  Happiness induced exhaustion.

Paddling in our Bananas Gorilla Mobile.  (The canoe is bright yellow).  I LOVE Lake Huron.

In other news, my parents are putting their awesome house back on the market.   If I had to live in town, I would live there in a minute.  It’s right on the lake, you could keep some chickens if you wanted, the lot is absolutely private and really big.

We’ve had lots of visitors lately, which has been wonderful.  This spring was really shit terrible in the morale department, having been made quite the fool of repeatedly  by people I thought were friends.   It has been hard to digest how desperate I was for comraderie.  Was I really that lonely?  Naive?  I realized I expect people not to like ME, but to BE like me; if I have a problem I am quick to flush it out.  But assuming makes an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’ now, doesn’t it.

I have reconnected with old friends and made new friends this summer and it has been a very pleasant and rejuvenating experience.   We have continued to foster some wonderful relationships that I could not be happier about.  Bob and Maggie have been adopted by yet another set of grandparents, the love is multiplying.  Such a beautiful thing.

After nearly 5 years of babies and breastfeeding, I am settling back into my body, gaining independence from the children and rekindling the homestead fires too.   I am a very lucky woman.

[Sweaters courtesy of Philosopher's Wool]