Wild Culture Farm: March 2012

Little details that I adore

doorknobs

circular stairs

doors at the top and bottom of stairwells

And from the kitchen down the hall to my very favorite room...

Looking down the hall...

past the front door

Into the very original 1800 keeping room.

The heart of the home, the hearth, to the left is a cupboard under the stairs, to the right is a bake oven and a storage place for wood, the little door above is the original salt box - it opens into the cold cellar - it would have been the driest spot in the house.

Peeking into the hearth, original crane and some tools, the cauldron has gone "missing", there will be a dutch oven simmering stew here by September. Mark my words, a meal in the hearth will be our housewarming.

The cold cellar leads into the kitchen...

I'm not sure what to say the pictures speak for themselves. The stove and fridge and sink were stolen. This room needs lots of love.

The cold cellar of my dreams!!!

The stone walls we'll be doing traditional whitewash on.

Door outside and window.

filled to the brim with junk, but not for long!

and outside for a moment...

Nature Girl adores the yard, a big backyard, with lovely trees and a path through the woods,

and a swing that goes out over a ravine!

The boys adore the backyard fort and added some evergreens to it while we were there.

The house is so sensitive to it's location. built into a hill the door on the right leads into the most beautiful cold cellar imaginable. Its so dry you can't store antiques in it... next post

and more from inside...

If the ship remains it will be sailing from the livingroom to the boy's bedroom with a brighter happier paint job. If it leaves with the Puppetmistress we'll just have to make our own!

I'm all about built ins.

Nature Girl's room will be sparse but cozy...after the gigantic puppets leave. (Naming dear M the Puppetmistress is very very accurate). They are ENORMOUS too!

When not filled to the brim with puppets the room will be bright and airy, it has a built in cupboard too.

This is the backdoor from the livingroom to the beautiful yard...next post :-)

Inside the Cornwall Rd House

So a dear friend of ours owns this wonderful 200 + yr old house in Blockhouse. He worked very hard with his partner and father and friends to rescue the house from being torn down by the fire department when he first bought it in the early 70's. It had been a squat for fishermen from NFLD for years and had holes in the roof, all the windows were destroyed, and one wall was caving in. It had no running water and the well was actually across the road from the house. They worked so hard to bring this house back. Then life took a turn and they had to move but never sold the house, too much had been poured into it blood sweat tears and soul. So Dearheart looked for a caretaker. Several were wonderful and then a string of bad luck over the past decade meant the house not only was not being looked after, the people who had taken on the role of caretaker stole things, fixtures and antiques in the house, instead of looking after issues that sprang up they let them go, and all the while Dearheart tried to see the best in people and wasn't quite sure how to step in and deal with the abuses to the property. Finally, the people he'd allowed to live there as caretakers, rent free moved out without telling him, and turned the house over to someone else. The Puppetmistress, through no fault of her own and unawares was essentially squatting in Dearheart's house. He realized something had to be done right away, to save the house, and to take control over the situation. So we are taking over the house, getting the professionals needed to fix the roof and sill and rebuild the missing kitchen. I will be restoring all the hard work Dearheart put in inside with clearing out hoarded junk, scrubbing and painting and lovingly repairing and restoring wood marred with staples, walls smashed back to lathe. We will live in the house during the week and the kids will attend the Waldorf School around the corner, and return to the farm on weekends. Papa Pan will direct the structural work from the farm and make daytrips down to do the work he can manage on his own, and hold down the fort at the farm. We'll spend weekends all together at the farm. So here are some mighty BEFORE shots.

this will be the boy's room, we need to find some beds on kijiji.

this room needs the wallpaper stripped and to be painted, but overall it's still in good shape. Nothing like a little girl to cheer up a room, the Puppetmistress' daughter lives here.

The very scary bathroom. We're getting a water filtration system and I will be testing the mettle of my citric acid/glycerin/baking soda scrub in here.