Introductions

Hi there, and welcome to my first official blog post! I thought I would start off with a bit more detailed introduction (as I’m sure you've read my Who am I section already ;)) to myself and my life "Down in the Vale"! 

My name is Lindy and I am 27 years old. I live on the East Coast of Canada in a small rural community in New Brunswick with my husband of 4 years, Scott. I am originally from Nova Scotia but moved to New Brunswick in 2010 to live with Scott (then boyfriend) and to attend university at the University of New Brunswick. At the time, I had just graduated from agricultural college with a Diploma in Enterprise Management and decided I needed to study something that I could make a career out of. After 4 years of HARD work I graduated with a Degree in Health Science in Radiography. I have now been working as a Medical Radiation Technologist for 2 years and am about to start my Masters in Organization Management in September!

Graduation 2014

Now, on to the farm! I should probably begin by explaining that Scott grew up on a dairy farm and it is his passion! It is truly in his blood - both his Dad and Sister share this same passion. I on the other hand, did not grow up on a farm. I had horses for most of my life but they did little to prepare me for the work and commitment that farming takes.  Anyways, we bought this farm not knowing exactly what we were going to do with it. At one point it was a working dairy farm, but had not been properly maintained for quite a few years by the time that we acquired it. It came with 150 acres of land (about half farm land and the other half woodland), one large barn that holds around 40 head of cattle, a smaller open-front barn with attached machine shed and a 1400 square foot farm house. It was a perfect compromise for Scott and I, as he wanted a farm and I wanted an old farm house to fix up. Upon taking ownership of the property we realized just how much work was ahead of us. I think that the multiple times we had viewed the house and farm we were so taken with all of the land and the character of the house that we didn't really LOOK at it. The barn and property were a little run down, but nothing that some hard work couldn't fix. The house though, that was another story. The whole downstairs was pretty much a gut job and the upstairs required a lot of cleaning and paint. We got the keys on August 1st and moved in about a month later (and a week before our wedding!) 

We bought a farm!

The first winter here we had a small flock of around 40 sheep. We sold our flock in the spring of 2013 and bought 10 cows (breed of cattle) - Scott's true love! Since then, we have been slowly growing our  beef herd and we now have around 20 pure bred Salers cows (breed of cattle) and 12 calves. Every fall we sell our calves at a local sale and we also sell some freezer beef. Our other endeavors on the farm include raising meat chickens and selling eggs and hay. In the past, we have grown a few acres of squash to harvest and sell in the fall but this year we decided not to. Scott recently started a new job and we simply do not have the time (plus, planting and picking squash SUCKS!!!). 

A few of the cows and calves this spring

The layers, living the life

My horses - Neil & Riley

Scott mowing hay this summer

Our squash field from 2015

Our recently renovated barn, lookin' oh-so nice!

So that's the gist of what goes on around here. We are always looking for ways to expand and improve our little farm so you never know what will be next!

 Now, if you read my Who Am I section, you will have realized that this blog is not going to be focusing on any specific topic but rather just life in general. Being that Scott and I are a young couple and both work full time jobs while managing the farm there are a lot of mistakes made and lessons learned along the way. I want this blog to be about everything - the ups and the downs of life - because we are human and most of us aren't perfect. I love to read blogs - all kinds of them - but I often find myself thinking how I can't really relate to a lot of the bloggers. Don't get me wrong, I learn a lot from them and I still love to read them, but I can never be as organized as they are or my recipes never turn out like theirs (PLEASE, tell me I’m not alone in this!). So I decided I wanted to start sharing my life and how perfectly imperfect it is, in the hopes that maybe some of YOU can relate and maybe find it a little interesting!

Until next time, happy reading!