Where did we go? Well…. Nowhere – but of course, time gets in the way. Our last post was in June 2021, a lot has happened. Some good and some bad depending on how you look at it. Today is just a catch-up from the 18 months!
We left off with the High Tunnel post. It’s been a major improvement for our hotter weather-loving plants, particularly the tomatoes. The first summer was amazing and we scaled it back for the summer of 2022 with some different experiments. We’ve learned a great deal and have some good plans for Summer 2023.
2021 was Stanley’s last real riding year. He did ok overall and managed to place as the reserve champion in the Thoroughbred Incentive Program. Bridge felt that his spirit just isn’t really into Working Equitation and with Amante getting close to starting it made sense to retire him. He’s still living happily in our pasture.
We had an old beautiful oak tree behind the shop that split one night randomly and managed to take out part of the roof of our equipment cover. We had it trimmed up – but it again split later in the year – barely missing the high tunnel and we had to get it completely removed.
We completed a few small projects around the property, kept up with beekeeping, and canning, travel to Mexico, and had a couple of horse riding trips.
We adopted a new kitty in November 2021 – aptly named Demonetta (for reasons that will become clear later on).
Our Great Dane Cu’de Brid died suddenly at the end of the year.
2022 started off with a bang as usual, bleak PNW winters eventually gave way to late spring. Gardening and planting suffered a bit due to the late spring rain and cold – but we did manage to get a few things growing.
Amante continued to grow into a powerful extremely large horse, just at 16 hands- he started with a trainer in Corvallis in July and Bridgett finally got her first ride on him in August 2022. He went to a trainer in Illinois for more work in November 2022 and comes home Next month.
2022 saw the continued development of the Cottage Garden, the construction of a tack room in the barn, some more travel, and small projects around the farm.
We had one tragedy when a bear ripped through the beehives – killing two of the five hives. We are not planning to purchase new packages this year. We will try to split our wild hive and maybe attract another swarm if possible. The cost associated with bees is high and we are reaching our limit.
In November 2022 we added Aaric, a long hair German Shepherd to our family. We had been without a dog since Brie died – but with events around us – we needed an LGD on the property. He is very intelligent and super active. Integrating with the cats has been a bit of a challenge.
More to come soon!