Norfolk County, Ontario

"When I go out into the countryside and see the sun and the green and everything flowering, I say to myself Yes indeed, all that belongs to me!" Henri Rousseau

 

Good morning followers!

Well, yesterday we joined my parents for a trip up to 'The Land'.We got my Dad's prized John Deere out if it's winter storage and brought it with us. Mowing the lawn has never been so much fun! This spring we are hoping to mow 2 to 3 acres to really open things up! The first year we were there, the land was just a tilled under soybean farm. 5 acres of woods and 5 acres of field, that was very dry and neglected. My Dad got in touch with Norfolk County, Ontario and had 500 trees, of local species, put in and had a farmer put down 5 acres of pasture mix. Year two: not much change... Most of the trees survived, but the land still looked like a hardened old river bed and a new enemy invaded, horseweeds. Nasty things! So, we pulled up and burned as many horseweeds as we could, and put down a couple hundred pounds of grass seed and clover. Converting a tilled field into a meadow seemed like an easy enough idea to us!! Well, last year all of our efforts exploded and we had 5 acres of white clover and grasses that were 5 feet tall! Now, the task this year is to try to control our meadow and enjoy it!

 

'The Land' is our family's experiment. Can a bunch of city slickers actually tame the land and profit from it? Can we make our small farm a success? It's hard work and heading into our fourth season makes us realize that we haven't learnt much at all... yet! Don't worry followers, I'll keep you updated all season long and let you know how our experiment is going! Here are some pictures from yesterday, enjoy!