That Blue Barn
115 Mitchells crossroad K0K 2T0 Picton, ON, Canada

A Sunday at That Blue Barn- the hobby farm tasks. A storm was threatening throughout the day and we did get some rain (not enough). Some garden harvest of potatoes, chick peas, and black beans (30 of black bean plants provided us less than 1 cup of dried beans). Some bales were moved. Birds are happy with new clean straw. A rickety old chair seems great for roosting. Egg collection and cleaning. Homemade bread. Oh, and we ran the well dry.

I had thought she might die of thirst before I had the chance to see her face. But, early this morning, while the moon was still around, she revealed her identity.

SO MANY EXPLETIVES- might have been heard, as I checked out my veggies this evening. I left my garden for almost three days and my tomatoes have been almost obliterated. Guess what, when you squish these (albeit gorgeous) monsters, their insides look like the insides of tomatoes.

I am currently taking an online course to contribute to my professional knowledge, specifically in early learning. I have had the opportunity to revisit some special items I have made over the years for young ones in their playing/learning. Here are two play mats or play quilts. They are both filled with wool batting and have been hand and machine stitched. The first one is painted with an ethereal watercolour look. Its an odd shape but approximately 5 long. It was inspired by Lazure painting. The second quilt 3 x 5 is to resemble the landscape. In the details you can see textures in water and on the rocky shore. This helps to bring the outside in, and lends itself to great imaginative play. Children add other found items and toys and use this soft surface to explore.

Petrichor 29cm x 33cm Mixed media June 2020... This is the first in my Nature Definitions series. I finished it earlier this summer, but Ive been waiting for a significantly rainy day to post it.

Two injured birds on one day. The culprits: picture window, and hunting kitten. This is a time to look closely and see the details. A time to measure the wing span, feel the textures from the talons, then feathers, and to the beak. Of course we want the birds to thrive but today we nursed the injured, and buried the dead. Can you identify these birds?

New Farm Friends When I find something I like my response is, I want one in every colour! So, Ive been seeking new breeds and varieties of birds for the farm. The tiny baby chicks are Black Sex-link and Azure Blue layers. The awkward looking birds are Red Sex-link layer hens. Those black birds with light feathers around their face are turkey poults, Artisanal Gold variety.

Some pre-rain breeze is making everyone a bit giddy. (Please let it be rain).

How to make these Garden Markers: -find rocks -clean rocks -draw words and images (use pencil and Sharpie)... -paint your words and images -when dry, add protective coat (I use the matte gel and rub it on with my fingers) Materials: rocks (smooth is preferable), pencils, Sharpie marker, paint brushes of various sizes, acrylic paint, acrylic medium (I used heavy gel matte finish). Although paint will eventually fail these painted stones have held up very well in full exposure to the elements.

We found this beauty yesterday. It did fly away after we had a chance to observe it for a little while. From Wikipedia: The Luna moth is a Nearctic moth in the family Saturniidae, subfamily Saturniinae, a group commonly known as giant silk moths. It has lime-green colored wings and a white body. The larvae are also green. Scientific name: Actias luna... Family: Saturniidae Class: Insecta Phylum: Arthropoda Kingdom: Animalia Order: Lepidoptera See more

Todays visitor: Snapping Turtle. How can you tell its age?

Warning: dinner origin story Since moving to our property this is our first meal that it has provided us (almost entirely). I roasted one of our ducks for the first time tonight. I glazed this Pekin with a sauce I made from mulberries and gooseberries, which grow here. This was served alongside our fresh beets and greens, and finally roasted potato strips. Although for most of humanity, the detailed knowledge of where food comes from was unavoidably obvious, this is some new learning for us, but especially for our kids.

The tortoise and the hare, or... the turtle and the rabbit. Within mere moments these photos were taken. Tonight we watched the animals from our comfy chairs by the fire, and really wished to get both a rabbit and turtle in the same frame. (I could not get closer to the rabbit).... Approximately 1/3 of our property is environmentally protected. This is primarily due to the egg-laying habits of the Blandings Turtle. I take this ownership as a privilege and a responsibility.

I document the changes that occur around the farm in a variety of ways. I take pictures, I paint, draw, write in a journal, and I post information here. I find value in all of these ways. On the same day I see our first Blandings turtle of the season, the first red wild strawberries reveal themselves. The increasingly shallow creek is home to a bajillion frogs. Our turkey poults are regularly hitchhiking on the backs of our pot-bellied friends.

Meet Byron Sully (10 points if you get the name reference), our three-week-old Jersey calf. He is getting acquainted with us, his barn mates, and with being free to roam the paddock and eat grass. The girls are happy to have a new animal to cuddle (and boss around). We are keeping him for pasture-raised beef, which will take about 18 months.

If there were other sensory options on this platform you could experience what Prince Edward County smells like this week. Fairytales start here.

These two males have been taking care of these babies. The turkey poults snuggled right in to their same species dad. Travis (black Swede Duck) has decided he belongs with this group of 6 day old Pekin ducks.

Summer Camp? Not yet. I have had many inquiries regarding Summer Day Camp here at That Blue Barn. I am so thankful to know that there are people out there who wish to provide their children with the experiences we facilitate here. Unfortunately, we are still in a wait and see position. I too am a planner and would just like to make some decisions already, but I continue to listen to our National/Provincial leaders and observe regulations. I will post when there has been a change and IF I feel safe moving forward with Summer Day Camp programs. Thanks again to all who have interest in what we do here.

Photos from today. Pekin Ducks aged 1-day and aged 8 months old. The big guys have an appointment at the abattoir next week.

A rainy morning gave us an opportunity to work on some indoor school-type math concepts. Although I love experiential learning and free-play I have traditional teaching roots. Today we worked on Improper Fractions and Mixed Numbers. First we reviewed details about fractions and how to turn an Improper Fraction into a Mixed Number using pictures and numbers. We used dice-in-dice and rolled and added until we reached 10. This was collaborative but as we solidify our understanding it could get competitive. My daughters are aged 9 and 11. I have also included a few books here which support understanding fractions.

Some new and old animal friends. Baby goslings, a re-homed Black Swede Duck named Travis, and of course...Olaf. Travis seems to enjoy cuddles, following us around, and supervising fence-mending.

Wheres Olaf? We let our big tom turkey free to wonder around the farm over the last few days. He has completely integrated himself into our outdoor life. He follows us around, gets in the way, tries to help out, drinks from the dogs bowl, eavesdrops on all of our conversations, and generally just stands around looking handsome. I have filled my phone with Turkey pics. Heres a taste.

8 turkey eggs, 4 little chicks, 3 black cats, and a pig laying in the sunshine.

We just couldnt help ourselves.

Turkey, chicks, and kittens Our large male Turkey, we lovingly named Olaf, was not doing well. He was having a hard time standing and walking. After some research I discovered that this is not uncommon for a turkey thats bred to be big and broad. One bit of advice I came across was to isolate the turkey, add cayenne pepper to his food and apple cider vinegar to his water. After 3 days he is up and walking around again, although a little clumsy on his feet. This week we brought home three new barn kitties (still unnamed), and thirty, day-old, White Rock chicks.

Todays Theme (if days need a theme) is Hope. The sun was shining, our female turkey laid a fifth egg in her clutch, seedlings are growing in every vessel I can find, and droopy daffodils mean tulips are next (and lilacs).

Designing spaces is another one of my loves. Im not a less is more kind of person. As we wandered the tile store with the task of choosing bathroom tile for the girls new space I was looking at safe options. Todd reminded me that this was our kids bathroom and we should have some fun with our choices. I took that as permission to really push the boundaries. Im not worried about resale. I only want to choose design options that make me happy. Enjoy!

On todays Discovery Walk we spent some time looking for and catching young frogs (and letting them go), we found another part of that skull from last week, and Pepper needed a big drink after her run through the woods.

I just found these twenty eggs in a spot in the barn I didnt even know the chickens visit.

Nature Question: Found this on our walk today. What type of bird hatched from this shell?

Nature Question: We found this on our walk today. What is it from and how do you know?

Eleven seconds up close and personal with this guy.