Christmas 2023
Hoping you had a very Merry Christmas and you were able to bring in the New Year with a bang! The De Cristofaro homestead Christmas was rather quiet and restful. Colin took the week off of work and simply relaxed. (lol, yeah right, who are you kidding, nobody would believe that!) However, Bailey’s was part of the daily coffee routine so I guess that was taking time off.
We had a fairly green or should I say brown Christmas here in Streamstown, Alberta as the only snow we had was that light dusting which remained from a week before Christmas. It froze to the driveway and it was definitely a challenge keeping the dogs away from licking the snow and removing our white Christmas. Our fiery sunrises have been amazing the past few weeks during this non-snowy white Christmas season.
Payton went to Mexico with her mom this year for Christmas. They left on the 24th and returned some 5-6 days later. So Christmas morning was definitely a bit different without the P-Dawg here to open gifts. She opened them on the 23rd before they went away. We did the traditional stockings for the 3 of us remaining but you know when you get to the age where you simply have everything? Christmas was very low key on the gift side of things and perhaps next year, a non-gift year it might be. When you have more than you could have hoped for already, sometimes Christmas gifts are a challenge. (HOWEVER, LISA GOT COLIN SOMETHING VERY COOL THOUGH THIS YEAR!)
We sent out a ton of Christmas Cards this year as we know how nice it is to receive Christmas Cards in the mail and if you got one from us, we hope you enjoyed the Canada Moose Delivery Experience. If you didn’t get a card from us, you may simply not be on our mailing list which means our Moose Delivery system has no idea where you are. You will need to rectify that on your own. LOL! Also, if you did not get one, well, the Canada Moose may have lost it, sorry, they are not very reliable no matter how many treats you give them.
Something cool, our awesome electrician Quinn from Valleyfield Electrical stopped by with a gift for us. A custom-made cribbage board with some very nice markers. Definitely very cool and completely unexpected; now just have to get Lisa to start playing Crib!
Our Dogs
Besides getting bigger, they are coming into their own. Leia pretty much runs the show and is a natural pest being the youngest. She simply must control toy distribution and they all seem to be distributed to her apparently. Solo has become more of a guard dog as he has gotten older and now barks at the slightest thing that is not right. Cows, birds, leaves, wind….hmmm, sounds like Luke! Luke is definitely past that puppy phase and is the king guard dog. He barks at the neighbours all the time, but you can’t blame him for that. He also still barks at anything and everything. Just as I am writing this, he is going ballistic over something out there. It is a good thing though, he is doing his job which is to protect the property. They are livestock dogs by nature so they have a different sense about them and pick up on the slightest things if they are just not right.
The three of them get along quite well and we can say this honestly that you have a stronger sense of safety and confidence when they are around.
Pigs
All the pigs are getting big, and it is coming soon for some mating to happen. Working out logistics on that will be Ashley but wondering about trap doors to move the pigs around. The pigs are definitely healthy and have done good thus far through their first winter but the real cold is coming with some snow so we will see.
The girls are still disgusting, and the boys are super clean. Hey, who knew?
Homestead Weather
Well, it has been a mild winter thus far, but we took a peak at the 2 week forecast. Snow is expected each and every day with colder temperatures starting this coming week. A little late for the white Christmas but looks like we will be having a more intense and shorter winter. We need the snow so it can saturate the ground and replenish the water table. The farmers and ranchers need it for their initial crop growing. There is just one extra reason we need it though. Our Swiffer budget is through the roof as we have simply been dusting off our new quad plow blade we purchased specifically for the purpose of plowing the driveway.
Looks like we may be using it a lot over the next 2 months!
It will be awesome for Solo and Leia, the two younger pooches to get their first experience with real snow fall. They haven’t had that yet. Last year, Luke had 2 feet to play in on November 1 2022. It will give us also the opportunity to work the pigs with the snow as well. Everything a learning curve for sure.
Quite A Year It Was – In Review!
Well, who knew that the past few years would find Lisa and I here on a homestead in Streamstown, Alberta. After living in “the city” for so many years, we have found our place, our peace and definitely our enjoyment in rural Alberta. As many who are reading this know we had a rough few years during and after Covid with my parents passing and us dealing with a natural disaster to make us essentially homeless for 6 months. Not including all the other aspects of that 3 years, with some support, some good decisions, and a desire for big change; we find ourselves here. It is a blessing we made it this far and appreciate those who have supported us through our journey.
With each passing day, we remember my parents and what they did each and every day of their own lives. They gave of themselves, were supportive and loving. We have always tried to model ourselves in their light.
This past year a lot has happened here on the property and in our home. Ashley returned home and Payton moved to the city of Lloydminster with her Mom. Colin took ill in March and recovered (slowly), we brought in some pigs to make the farm official, expanded our dog family, cleared some pasture, got into pallet reuse-repurpose-recycle along with old paddock fencing. We had an awesome garden which will expand in 2024; Lisa and Ashley did some amazing homestead pickling, canning and freezing. We even picked up some essential equipment for the property like a lawn tractor, quad with plow, utility trailer and a ton of tools and supplies for the farm! Some security lighting and cameras were even installed. (Still haven’t seen a moose come by and trigger the camera though, lol)
Naturally there is a lot more to do but we have a vision; One Step at a Time!
In 2024 we have a few big things to take care of and one of those being our pigs. We hope to expand our pig family with some breeding. Some piglets for grow for harvesting, some for sale. We need a couple of paddock spaces cleared and secured for the pigs so we can move them from one area to another for grazing.
We have a variety of trees and shrubs coming to us from TreeTime.ca so they will need to be planted in the spring. Some for windbreak, most for privacy. We also ordered a few apple trees that can actually grow here and raspberry bushes for the property; personal consumption and also for the pigs as they are both favourites of Hamlet and Wilbur.
We are looking forward to making this property so much more than just some raw 10 acres of broken down pasture paddocks in the middle of nowhere. The property transformation has been amazing thus far. We always look forward to welcoming our friends and family for visits where you can enjoy the stress free wonder we call home.
No matter what your beliefs are, we hope 2024 will be a year you experience good health, prosperity, and peace.
