Port Holland
725 Charlotteville West Quarter Line N0E 1P0 Norfolk County, ON, Canada

Our daughter, Finna, is very proud to show you our first tulip blooms of the season! The first flower opened late yesterday afternoon and then we woke up to an entire row of them blooming in the sunshine this morning! Please stay tuned as we post more blooms - we will be offering several different tulip bulb varieties for sale this year - and we’ll keep posting photos so you’ll have an easier time shopping and picturing them growing in your gardens, forest perimeters, yards, and walkways! Tulips cheer up any outdoor space, and for us tulip farmers, this is the most exciting time of the year!!

A hardworking tulip farmer and his little tulip sprouts checking the Port Holland tulip fields on this beautiful first day of spring.

On a beautiful day like today, you can daydream about what the future brings. #thefutureiscolourful

Have you ever been to Volendam? When we visited, our cute little Dutch lady brightened up once it was time to get her picture taken in traditional Dutch clothing! We will offer this fun service right here at Port Holland in the future too!

Marvel at these majestic Dutch windmills still in operation today!

It was a rainy day on the farm today, so I tried to make Krentenbollen on a whim, and they’re not bakery-perfect but they’re not bad, either! Krentenbollen are sweet Dutch raisin buns (think of a Hawaiian roll with cinnamon and raisins inside) and they’re usually eaten piping hot with a healthy pat of butter! Mine came out with the right taste, but too dense inside and a little dry on top. I think I need better yeast (as in, not expired ) and/or a better place for the doug...h to rise...and also maybe an egg wash on top! I’ll post the recipe as soon as I get it just right! I’m normally not a great baker and I’ve yet to make any type of bread or bun that’s anything but barely edible (I think it’s like gardening - you either have a green thumb or you don’t - I definitely did not get either of those genes) - however, these were easy to make and I think with this basic recipe, there might just be hope for me yet! See more

I always admire these old Dutch clogs, which rest on the porch of a century old farmhouse where Finna takes swimming lessons. I couldn’t help snapping a photo of the clogs this morning when I saw them posing with this red, sun-kissed geranium! The farmer’s family is Belgian, but his wife says there’s a link and a story to these Dutch clogs and that he’ll tell us if we ask him. He’s a hard working man who spends most of his time with his horses and in his fields, so we rarely see him, but I’m anxious to learn the story whenever he might have time to tell it!

While we wait on county planning permissions, permits, and business loans to all come through, we are doing our best to make progress with what we have now. This livestock feeder was on the farm when we moved in - our horses are too big (tall) to use it safely and so it would just continue to sit here without a purpose and rust. It’s also been taking up valuable space. So I put it up on FB marketplace not really knowing if anyone would want to buy it, but sure enough, a lovel...y farming family nearby did! Yuri loaded it up for them yesterday evening. We also just sold all the furniture we had on the ground level of our small farmhouse so that Yuri has space to move all the TMY instruments inside and create a music studio. Clearing out anything we aren’t using and eliminating the need for storage around the farm helps creates a clean slate for us to build and dream upon. And the extra money generated from the sale of the feeder and the furniture will go towards the purchase of a playground that Finna, Sutton, and all our little guests will be able to enjoy year round, when they come to stay on the farm with their families!

Have any of our Dutch friends ever been to VDL in Bears, Friesland? VDL is one of the world’s top breeding, training, and showing equestrian facilities in the world. Many of the horses you have seen on tv competing in the Olympics over the last several decades come from VDL! The facilities are absolutely gorgeous, the horses are friendly, and the family-owners and staff are some of the nicest and most welcoming people you’ll ever meet. I first traveled to VDL in 2000 when ...I was 12 years old. I found a horse bred by them who I fell in love with, we brought her to Michigan, and she became my best friend. Safari and I trained and showed all over North America together for nearly 10 years - she even came to college with me and now she lives on my parents horse farm in Michigan. One day, we will have her at Port Holland once we get our horse fencing up. I can’t wait - I miss her every day. The third photo is when she came right off the trailer in Michigan from her 14-day quarantine in Canada, after her flight from The Netherlands. I was so happy - it was well past dark before I left her for the night because I just couldn’t believe she had arrived and we would be friends and partners for the rest of our lives!! When we visited The Netherlands last year, Yuri took me to VDL and it was like reliving a wonderful part of my childhood. It was so special to share it with Finna even though she probably doesn’t remember it now. The beautiful spacious riding arena looked just as majestic as I remembered and I never forgot the flags hanging in the rafters or the luxurious sauna they put the horses under in winter after a workout. One of the owners took the time to give us a tour, she let us meet some of the horses - even some Olympic stallions - and then treated us to cake and cola while I told her all about my life and friendship with the horse her family bred and raised. One day, I hope maybe we can purchase another horse from them...maybe even a few if Finna and Sutton ever turn into serious horse riders, which I sure hope they will. If you are ever in Friesland, I highly recommend stopping at VDL - especially if you love sport horses like I do!

We enjoyed the company of family-friends on the farm this weekend, and we were able to do it safely and socially distanced, even when it came to hands-on time with the animals! Everyone is enjoying a nice walk around the farm with the goats in this picture! We are looking forward to this pandemic being over with, but we know there may be times when social distancing could be required again in the future. At Port Holland, we plan to arrange all accommodations and farm animal ...activities to be in accordance with social distancing when necessary, so that families can enjoy a holiday feeling safe and secure. We also know some guests/families seek farm life holidays in hopes of enjoying complete solitude with only the animals for company, and we will offer that option year-round, regardless of social distancing circumstances. But, if you’re a social butterfly - we hope you’ll bring ALL your family and friends, and allow us to put you all up in style for an epic family reunion on the farm that no one will soon forget! See more