Thank you to Circa Antiques owner Doug Long

Well everyone wonderful news.
We have the dress hoops.
 They are fantastic and light as a feather. I will examine them better in the full day light . Before I tell you the other items we found I have to encourage you to visit the antique shop in Watford Ontario.The shop is called Circa Antiques. Owned by Doug Long. Who is obviously in this business because he loves history.He is knowledgeable about everything he has in his shop . Has unusual items such as a food pusher used by babies to learn how to push food onto their spoons. Wonderful piece. Plus Doug has a steady stream of Bob Dylan playing , making you wanting to never leave lest you miss a song. So please visit his shop. We purchased some spiels, a bed warmer complete with screw cork, a hat brush for Kens top hat, many tools. Such fun looking around. Oh and the loveliest game table usable on both sides . I can hardly wait to have guests over to play parlour games, I also cannot wait to show my sewing friends these hoops. A piece of history one rarely sees.
And to add next week we will be picking up our cutters. I will be sure to post pictures of them. Now all we need are the horses to pull them. see you soon.
Margaret and Ken

Fall day

Greetings 
Wow cool fall day today. getting the greenhouse winter ready. And the chicken coop. Dug some beautiful potatoes from the garden . Thank goodness for the warmth of the kitchen stove and plenty of hot water for a much needed warm bath. I am tired tonight and will hit the hay early ...well as soon as the birds go to bed.

Hoops

Hello everyone on this wet Saturday evening 
We were invited to a B'day party for  twins who turned 1. Lovely gathering and they looked so beautiful in their new outfits. 
On the way home we happened on an antique store. Lots and lots of things we would have bought had money not been an object. But the one thing I am going have to go back for was an original hoop . It was for a young girl but it was in absolute perfect condition.  I have never seen an original other than in pictures . I am hoping the shop owner will make a deal with me . I will keep you posted for sure
Until next time 
M

July 20-21 2013 weekend fair

Please keep in mind our weekend fair next summer


Living Victorian in a Modern world
           Weekend Fair
           July 20-21 2013

More detail to follow . We hope to teach participants why we are doing what we are doing, how we are doing it and how it is affecting our lives . And what we plan for the future.
So if you are interested please mark the date on your day timers.
Tell as many people as you can
If you want to do a demonstration please contact us..
Until next time
Margaret and Ken

From our facebook page a post

We are having a relaxing day and discussing the "Living Victorian" fair we are planning for next July. Suggestions welcome .
We are also planning our Cider making weekend for next fall. Have some interested participants already. If you want to make your own apple cider please let us know. We have our beautiful presses and you are more than welcome to come and use them. We will have other projects to work on that weekend too. Perhaps sausage making???

Storage for almost anything

Greetings again: I've started on the storage area we need on the side of the shop. 5' X 22' in total and 8' tall. We accumulated some sliding doors last summer, 6 in all, and I'll be using 4 of them on the storage shed. Pretty swank huh!?? Not really, they'll be doing service as windows, not doors. This will eliminate the need for electric lighting, portable lamps or flash lights will be sufficient additional lighting at night should we have the need to hunt something down after dark.

I'll have some pictures later and post them as a group. Look for them on our Facebook page "Victorian Year 1865". The storage shed will be the second last major project for this year. My last project will be the cold room for the garden vegetables and preserves. (strangely almost completed before the shed ... hmmm!!)
Lots of shelves for squash, potatoes, carrots and whatnot. Yummy veggies to enjoy all winter!

Till next time,
Margaret and Ken

Hunting for hay

Greeting all: A few weeks ago I spent about an hour on Kijiji hunting for hay at reasonable prices. I am out of touch with hay costs apparently because I was very surprised at the cost per small square bale, anywhere from $3.50 to $8.50 a bale plus delivery. Wow! i say again ... Wow! Definitely need to be on the ball next summer for sure. We are looking for about 100 small square bales and I don't want to pay $1000 for them! I guess I'll need to get a scythe handle, put my blade on it, sharpen it up and start cutting by hand.

We'll need straw for bedding as well, again, about 100 small square bales. I see straw runs about $3.50 to $5.50 a bale. Not as much as hay, but still an expense.

Lesson learned, pay attention to prices for forage and try to get a much a possible for the labour it takes to harvest it. The same goes for straw. Can you say "hot and sweaty?" I can, it's been a long time since I did any serious hay or straw, it should prove interesting to say the least.

Till next time
Margaret & Ken