A psychic squirrel

L was at the Shack on Wednesday, building an outdoor shower. A red squirrel was chattering incessantly, and suddenly stopped. L turned to look at the squirrel, only to see him running away from the barn. Seconds later, part of the barn collapsed. So now, if we want to go into the barn, I guess we should bring a squirrel.

A sober second look and a barn full of coffins?

We spent some time at the Shack yesterday. L is having a momentary crisis of confidence in his own judgement, but I'm ok. The cellar is scarier than we first thought, but I think the thing to do is take a deep breath and do nothing for a while.

We discovered a stash of 2 dozen or so coffin-sized wooden boxes in the barn, each containing a large model of some industrial machinery. They were once on display at the Montreal Museum of Modern Art, and are destined to turn to compost with the rest of the barn, unless we recycle the plywood. The soon-to-be-former owner of the property is the artist.

Thinking about the garden

This is where the garden will go. I hope to prepare enough soil this fall to plant some garlic and maybe even some asparagus. Mostly, this fall will be about figuring out what kind of soil, drainage, light, wind breaks, and wildlife there is. I also have to figure out how I'll water the garden. I want to plant berries, fruit trees, and nut trees, so I need to figure out where they'll go as well. This is very exciting!

Only 2 weeks until we actually own Santa Paz!

Santa Paz

Yesterday we brought some paperwork over to the current owners of the new farm. They told us that the farm has a name; "Santa Paz", which means holy peace in Spanish. Apparently, this is from a previous owner who escaped there to work on an essay for a Spanish course in 1967, and described it as such to the class during his presentation. The name stuck, and the property has gone by that name, through successive owners, to this day.

In which we undertake to buy the farm

51 acres. Rustic log cabin (more than 150 years)Used as a country cottage. Old cedar barn. Very peaceful; wildlife. Located in the Glengarry Highland Games country between Montreal (120km) and Ottawa (75km). Furnished, lawnmower included plus some tools. Surface well, no electricity no running water.Easy access to all services in Maxville and Alexandria and to highway 417.

Who wouldn't jump at a chance like that? Well, most people, I guess. It was love at first sight for me, though. We just need to get all the legalities out of the way, and we'll be proud owners of a 19th century farm.

A shack in the middle of nowhere