Farm life test drive

Every so often, I farm sit for friends in the area. It’s a great way to play farmer without owning my own farm. In the long run, I think I would like to have my own place, but I enjoy the opportunity to test drive the concept before making the big decision.

Last week, my friend Nikki headed to Florida for a family vacation and I took care to the farm she manages. They have 9 horses — 4 retired horses that live out full time, 2 mares in foal who are out most of the time and 3 horses in work. Although I didn’t have to ride all 3 horses every day, I stayed pretty busy with lots of riding and lots of chores.

My mom always thought I was a city girl who wouldn’t be happy on a farm, but I really do love being in the country. I enjoy the physical work on a farm as well as working with the horses. I love how bright the stars are at night and am entranced by the sounds of nature. Seeing any wild critter thrills me, even the deer I see on a daily basis. I even like watching the turkey vultures warm their wings while they sit on the paddock fences.

Working on other people’s farms gives me the reality check I need to understand what I want to have on my farm. Getting to know how other people manage their farms leaves me better equipped to know what will work for me. My own farm is probably years away, and I know it will be a lot of work, but I look forward to the day. In the meantime, when I can’t sleep at night, I think about what I want my farm to look like — how the stable is designed, how the farm is laid out, how many horses I want to have. When the time comes, I’ll be ready, having given every detail plenty of thought. 

You never know what you’ll find in the woods

Each morning, Nikita and I walk to the mailbox. We do this a couple of times a day, more for the exercise — it’s a long driveway with a good hill — than to check the mail. Most days, we roused the deer in the woods and Nikita takes chase. Usually, they head further into the woods and it’s hard to know how many they really are. Today, the deer ran across the driveway towards the neighboring farmer’s field (the opposite direction of their usual route). I was able to count 30 deer crossing the driveway about 50 feet in front of me — many more than I expected.

I love seeing the deer right outside my door. It makes me feel close to nature. I usually see groups of 5 or 10 grazing in the (still unused) paddocks or beside the driveway. Sadly, there are too many deer here and that is a problem. Many are hit on the windy country roads where drivers never see them until it’s too late, often at dusk when visibility is limited.

Hunting is fairly common here. From time to time, I hear gunshots, but I don’t think much about it. I certainly wasn’t thinking about it when I headed into the woods today. It was a beautiful day and I thought I would take the opportunity to explore the fox hunting trails beyond the paddock.

Nikita and I headed over the jump in the paddock fence line and hit the trails. We followed the crisscrossed network of trails over hill and dale. Most headed down to a creek that was too wide for me to cross without getting a soaker so we doubled back a number of times and worked our way down one side of the creek. I’m not sure how much distance we actually covered but we were out for more than an hour when I thought we should start working our way back. About the same time that thought crossed my mind, I heard a gun shot. It wasn’t particularly close but it did seem to come from the directed we wanted to head in. It stopped me cold. I hadn’t thought about people hunting. It was mid-day, mid-week and I had no idea what the rules were.

Walking home on the road wasn’t much of an option as I wasn’t sure where the road was relative to where we were. I decided to head back the way we had come until we reached the neighboring farmer’s field. We could get back into our paddock from that side and avoid a good section of woods. I talked to the dog and hummed, trying to make it obvious we were not deer. I breathed a sigh of relief when we hit the farmer’s field and we made our way through a small stand of trees to the gate. Something to my left caught my eye; when I turned to look I saw that it was a man, in camouflage, with a gun. The gun wasn’t pointed in our direction, but my heart skipped a beat. He looked our way and said nothing; I waved, said “well, hello!” and kept walking.

When I got back to my place, I took a deep breath and sat down on the patio (AKA the run-in shed of the barn). Our 2+ hour walk was a good workout and I had worked up a bit of sweat, but I was also slightly terrified by what could have been. Having lived in an area where hunting is not common (and illegal in many places where I hike), it never occurred to me that I could be shot!

I guess it’s time to learn a little more about local hunting regulations. And perhaps invest in some bright orange apparel. In the meantime, I’ll stick with a few daily walks to the mailbox.

White Christmas

The weather in Virginia has been amazing. Except for a few inches of snow just before Halloween (long before Ottawa had any!), it has been in the 50s and 60s most days (that would be in the mid-teens in Celsius), with a few nights getting just below freezing. Since it is December, I’m really not complaining.

I decided to head back to Ottawa for Christmas. The cats stayed behind (in the capable care of Pat) and Nikita came with me. Although there was no snow when we arrived in Ottawa, it did snow on Christmas Eve — it would be a white Christmas after all.

After many delicious meals, lots of presents and a few tipples, it was time to work off some of the calories I had consumed. It has been a Boxing Day tradition to go skiing, but this year we decided to go snowshoeing. The temperature was about -10 C, which is certainly manageable, particularly when you’re working up a sweat. After a few hours of tramping around the woods and fields near Bowesville, we headed to Mrs. Le’s for some delicious Vietnamese food.

The rest of the week was spent visiting with friends, taking the dog for long walks in the snow (which she loves) and organizing stuff I wanted to bring down to Virginia. I pulled some items out of the storage facility and sorted through the stuff at Kim’s house. I spent my last day in town packing my car to the gills in freezing weather (-30 C with the windchill). I was ready to go south, this time with a good selection of riding gear, including my saddles and enough tack to get me started.

I love turkey!

Just back from 5 days in Florida, where I went to spend Thanksgiving with my brother’s family. My niece hosted and served up an amazing meal — lots of turkey and fixings! We ate lots but tried working off some of the food by exploring the area: wandering around the quaint downtown, searching for shells on the beach and checking out an historic fort.

Then, there were many football games to watch. Alex is working at Notre Dame so that game was must watch. We even managed to fit in a hockey game (for me) — too bad the Sens lost. There was round 2 for the turkey — yummy sandwiches with cranberry sauce and stuffing — my favorite!

The weather was nice — it was warm (not hot) but rather windy. I had a great visit and it was wonderful to see my family. It is nice to be home again and get back into a routine. And, most definitely time to get exercising and work off some of that holiday eating!

My new life

The animals and I are settling into a bit of a routine. I’ve been dog sitting for my landlord so Nikita and I typically take Casey out for some exercise in the morning and evening. Casey is a 100-lb curly coated lab; he is about twice as heavy as Nikita and about that much more energetic (I think he is about half her age). They get along fine and he’s a pretty nice dog, so it’s not a bad way to earn a few dollars.

I’ve been riding a bit, mostly helping Nikki out when she is short of time and needs to hack more than one horse. Riding out is what I really love — I could hack all day, every day. It will certainly help me get in shape, as I’m not sure that I could really sit a trot for very long. My riding gear is always in my car, just in case I come across a random horse to ride. I’d hate to have an opportunity come up and not be prepared!

I keep a post office box at a small general store not far from where I live. It’s close to 100 years old and has a great selection of wine, products from local artisans and all the basic essentials, plus a small post office at the back. I love checking out what they have, but mostly I just check my mail. One day, as I was leaving, a woman rode down the street, ponying a second horse. The sight almost made me cry; this is why I am here — there is a horse on every corner and many people’s lives revolve around horses. I love it!

My new home

I spent a weekend looking at places to live — from “tenant” houses on farms to barn apartments to historic houses in small towns. I must have driven a few hundred miles and looked at more than a dozen places. After all those miles, the place I found is just 5 minutes down the road from Nikki’s — on the same road — and less than 10 minutes from Middleburg (epicenter of Virginia horse country).

My new digs are an apartment over a (currently unoccupied) barn on a small private farm. The place is quite new and very clean (particularly relative to some of the places I saw). It has one bedroom and an open concept kitchen/dining room/living room. There is a fireplace (!) and tons of windows. The best part: my new landlord was fine with all my critters — a big concern of mine now that I am a renter. 

The great news is that he has no interest in putting horses in the barn, so it is mine when/if I want it. I’m really hoping Winnie — the grey horse I rode in the spring — is available as a “free lease”. There are miles of hunt trails behind the farm so it is possible to ride for hours.

I will probably wait a little while before moving a horse into the barn, but it is very exciting to have a horse at home as a possibility.

Moving on

As fall settles in and winter approaches, it is time to move on from the cottage. Although I love being here, the lack of heat and insulation mean it is not possible to stay much longer. It has been a warmish fall so far, but the days and nights are getting cooler and it is getting harder to pry myself out of my warm bed each morning.

So, after a summer of travel, relaxation and reflection, I have made my decision as to where I will move. Drum roll please, and the winner is… VIRGINIA! There are many reasons for my choice, but a key factor was horses. It is time to get back into the sport that satisfies my soul. I’ve missed riding so much and the random ride here and there has definitely not been enough.

My hope is that I will find work related to horses, perhaps resurrecting my horse photography business and/or expanding into equestrian-related marketing and communications. I feel really good about the decision and can’t wait to get started on my new adventure.

I’m packing up all my worldly possessions (or at least all that will fit in my car) and heading south tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates!