 .September 21, 2018
Not many of you are old enough to remember the tv show Green Acres. It was about a wealthy city dwelling couple who, upon the husbands request, move to the country. The wife, Lisa, played by the glamorous Eva Gabor (Zsa Zsa's sister), went along with the simple life to please her husband, Oliver (Lisa pronounced, Ol-lee-vr). When we bought our off-grid property I knew my "Inner-Lisa" from Green Acres would occasionally emerge. Spring mosquito season is one of those times. Every Fall I anticipate Spring planting and working around the homestead. And every year I dread the mosquitoes and avoid outdoor work. Our 2.5 acres is wooded, rocky, and full of water sources that mosquitoes love. Standing water is their favourite place to lay larvae. Our medium sized frog pond is over populated with mosquito larvae. The frogs, birds, and bats are awesome and do their best to eat the mosquitoes, but we still have too many mosquitos. This week I started my annual Spring mosquito deterent research. I had always wanted to try putting more fish in the pond. Our creek is full of fish. The creek was the source of water for the pond, however, a previous owner of the property dammed off the pond so no new fish enter the pond. (We are grateful to him for creating the pond.) My research lead me to a fish called, gambusia (mosquito fish) that love eating mosquito larvae. I can't find information on these fish in Ontario. They appear to be tropical pond dwellers. I will never introduce a potential invasive animal on our property. (see below *). Gambusia fish look a lot like the minnows in our creek. This weekend I will move a couple dozen creek minnows to the pond and see what happens in the Spring. I don't anticipate that this will solve all our Spring mosquito problems, but I think it's a good start. I have plans to thin out the overgrown branches around the pond, create an Earth Loom, and sitting area for meditation around the pond. It would be awesome if we could enjoy the pond area in Spring 2019. I'll keep you posted. Sandra XOXO * Mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis) - Aquatic Invasive Species. Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. The virtues of the mosquito fish, Gambusia affinis, have been extolled by many mosquito control organizations. However, the species can be a major pest when introduced outside their natural range.
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 September 19, 2018
In recent years, I started watching several Homestead YouTubers. I narrow downed my favourites to: Dirtpatcheaven, Off Grid With Doug & Stacy, and Fouch Family Off Grid. Through Dirtpatcheaven, I learned about WWOOFers. WWOOF is an acronym and started out in the early days as Working Weekends On Organic Farms. This changed in time as it was realised that people wanted to volunteer and host anytime. Now various WWOOF organizations use a variety of meanings: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Willing Workers On Organic Farms. A couple of years ago, when we started talking about formally becoming a micro-farm, we assumed that we would be doing all the work ourselves. However, both Gary and I have health issues that severely slowed down our progress. I started to talk about WWOOFers more often. We have so much knowledge to share.
We are in the process of creating a tiny cabin Airbnb from what was formerly my art studio. With Emily about to be placed on the heart transplant list, I decided to move my art studio back to the city leaving the art studio cabin vacant. It's too adorable to leave empty, so we decided to share the experience on Airbnb. In October, I will be spending several days moving the art studio and designing a tiny cabin Airbnb. IKEA here I come! The tiny cabin will also serve as the WWOOFer(s) home while they are here. The application process is detailed. WWOOF Canada and I have been emailing each other all week. It's exciting and a little scaring to move forward with this. I am completely confident that WWOOFers will learn and we will have a mutually beneficial relationship. The scary part is actually seeing our vision come to be. This could be a "be careful what you wish for" scene. This will be hard work. But it's part of our dream. I'll keep you posted about the WWOOF Canada application results! XOXO  Hello, My name is Sandra Clarke. I am a part-time homesteader. We (my husband Gary and I) bought our homestead (just south of Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada) in 2010 when our two children were 10 and 16 years old. Our intent was to relax and enjoy the property on weekends while working in the city (Toronto, Ontario). However, we quickly grew to see the homestead had potential to be more than 2.5 acres and two off-the-grid cabins in the woods. Our plans expanded to create an organic homestead, eco-retreat for artists, writers, and nature lovers.
Gary and I are in our 50’s. We have a part-time city life and part-time homestead life. Gary still works full-time and I am a textile artist, both in the city and on the homestead. Our 24-year old daughter, Emily, was born with complex heart defects that cannot be repaired. She’s had three heart operations and is currently in the process of being listed for a heart transplant. Emily is a brilliant writer (I’ll post some of her short stories on this blog). Emily attends college in Mississauga (near Toronto, Ontario). Our 18-year old son, Evan, is also in school. He has a creative soul like Emily. Evan is a photographer and videographer. He specializes in nature films. Our children are our priority. This is the primary reason why we are part-time homesteaders rather than full-time. Once Emily receives a new heart and is stable, we will be able to move permanently to the homestead. Our homestead is about a three hour drive to Emily’s hospital, so it’s best that we keep our little townhouse in the city to be closer to the hospital. So that’s us! I wanted to keep my first blog short and sweet. I hope you come back for more. Thanks for your time! Sandra xoxo |
dyslexic author occasionally misses an edit.
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