January 2018 - Farm Fresh Style

In Adventures/ Life

A Seaside Getaway

Michael and I escaped this past weekend to Oceanstone Seaside Resort. And we never wanted to leave. Have you been there? Did you have the same problem?

I first went to Oceanstone for a blogging workshop back in June { which you can read about HERE } and had fallen in love with the seaside cottages, the sweet interiors and nestled-among-the-trees location. I knew I wanted to go to spend the night with the handsome Mr. Byrne. Between work schedules, raising kids and life in general, it had been quite some time since he and I had a night away. In fact, on our drive to Oceanstone, we determined that our romantic getaway to Beef Expo back in 2012 was our last solo, kid-free trip {which you can read about HERE}

Michael picked me up Friday afternoon and we headed south. The sun was setting, the roads were clear, it was all good. I knew my girls were in good hands with Heidi and her girls and Dad was in charge of the menagerie of animals we left behind. We could relax and enjoy ourselves. Just us. Phew.

We had planned to grab supper along the way and happened across Vernon’s T-Bird Diner in Hammonds Plains. There was a line-up for the restaurant so we grabbed take-out and continued on our way. We drove the winding road towards Peggy’s Cove and Oceanstone, keeping an eye out for our stop since by this time it was dark. But the well-lit sign welcomed us and we pulled into the wooded oasis and went to check in.

Guys – we all love an up-grade, right? Well, due to a slight water issue, we got upgraded to the Captain’s House. I had been through the Captain’s House on our tour in June, I knew how lovely that cottage was and I had been showing Michael the various cottages, too, so he knew what a great upgrade that was, too! Wahooooo!! We let ourselves into the cottage, to find chilled wine, Lure Caramels and a nice note waiting for us. Michael unloaded our bags and got right to work of lighting a fire in the woodstove.

I have to say, I love wood heat. I laid on that couch and did very little. Wood heat makes me drowsy and lazy, which is exactly how I wanted to spend my time away. I’m not one to sit still and do nothing. But give me a wood stove and I’ll turn into a lazy lump. I miss the wood heat from our past houses, but I probably accomplish more now without it 😉 But relaxing was the name of the game this weekend!!

I snapped some pictures from around the cottage to share with you. This cottage has lots of room and could sleep up to 8. And all the rooms had a lovely view of the water, too! When it was getting light in the morning, I raised the blinds and crawled back in that king-sized bed and enjoyed the ocean-view.

After some coffee, we took a walk down to the beach and around the resort. It was a beautiful morning even though it was fresh out, but thankfully there was no wind. I took a ton of pictures on the beach, but I’ll save those for another post!

I love this picture of Michael, you can take the boy out of the fishing boat, but it is never far from his mind or heart. He also spent lots of time watching a fishing boat checking his traps just out in the cove.

It was so nice to have the chance to explore Oceanstone together and have a relaxing time away from kids, home and life in general. We left reluctantly, but it helps to know that we’ll be back some day again, but probably with the girls in tow! Or maybe a bloggers retreat is in order?? Hmmmm – so many options and I’m looking for any excuse!

To be continued,

Lori

Disclaimer: I was provided with a complimentary night’s stay at Oceanstone, but my take on it is just that 😉

Want to book your own stay? Click HERE for their website!

January 30, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

1 In Make Something

I Heart Barn Board

With Valentine’s Day around the corner and my love of barn board, this project makes me happy. Plus, it’s always fun to switch up the decor a little from season to season.

When I started chatting with Rose of Phillips and Chestnut about the project for this month, she suggested I do something for Valentine’s Day. So we brainstormed a little and I picked up some barn board and got to work making a heart out of the old, textured wood.

I love the history and age of barn board. Our family barn had wood on it and it was so weathered and grayed from being exposed to the elements for over a century. And even though that barn is still standing, it’s neat to think that the boards I was using for this project had been around for so long, had seen the world change so much and get to continue on in a much different form.

Barn board is such a great way to add texture and character to a space, whether you are just doing a shelf or two, or covering an entire wall with it. I’ve suggested that to a few clients and I’m so happy they’ve gone through with it. It’s so nice that we can source an authentic product like the real deal from Phillips and Chestnut.

But anyway, we aren’t here to talk about accent walls! I want to show you what I made with the barn board in the studio! I knew I wanted the boards to run in different directions and I knew I wanted to showcase some of the fabulous textures, knots, nail holes and the such, that comes on the aged barn board. I sketched out a large heart on paper, this one is close to 2′ wide. Then I laid out the wood on my pattern and rough cut the length of board I needed for each piece of the puzzle. I backed my heart with a small sheet of MDF that I had kicking around the studio. I glued and nailed the boards to it. Once the glue was dry, I traced my heart pattern on the boards and cut it out.

Then came the fun part….painting it! I decided I wanted to dry brush paint on it so that the textures would really show through. I had some tester posts of Fusion paint that were the right colours, Casement and Fort York! I watered the paint down a little and dipped my brush in and got just a tiny bit on the bristles and then I started brushing that along the grain of the wood, blending the colours together so that there was variation in the pink tone I was creating. I keep layering and mixing the colours as I worked the paint onto the boards. I recalled the advice from an artist friend who told me to take it further than you think you need to. So when I thought I was done, I added more red, then more white, working the colours into the pretty shade of pink. Then, I stepped back and knew it was done and time to let it dry.

Since Valentine’s Day is nearby, I thought I would do up a little corner in the living room to celebrate. The barn board heart took center stage on the cabinet. Then I added a cute little house I picked up on sale after Christmas, crocheted hearts my friend made for me, a spool of velvet ribbon and a cluster of candles. Perfect.

So, tell me – have you used barn board before? Do you love it as much as I do? What’s your favourite way to use barn board?

To be continued,

Lori

Disclaimer: I was given the barn board by Phillips and Chestnut but my take on it is just that 😉

January 29, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

5 In Clear Day Farm/ Country Life

Winter Wonderland

We got a huge pile of snow overnight last night. But it wasn’t a violent, windy storm, it was more of a soft, gentle crowning of snow.

It snowed all day yesterday. And I guess it snowed all night, too. We woke up to a gorgeous, snow-capped wonderland. So, after doing some shovelling while waiting to get plowed out, I grabbed my camera so I could share it with you { and remember how fresh it was when it’s too hot during the summer… }

Thank heavens for this guy and his trusty old Massey Ferguson! It’s a cold, snowy job but someone has to do it…..and it isn’t going to be me!!

Today was a snow day for the kids so I delivered them to Mom for the day on my way to work. They have the best view from their new home – wouldn’t you agree?

I hope you all enjoyed the gorgeous views around the East Coast today – or wherever you might call home! Stay safe on the snowy roads!!

To be continued,

Lori

January 18, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

3 In Adventures/ Life

Celebrating Heidi

I love when we get to celebrate a friend’s birthday but when you get to try a new sport, too? It’s way more fun! Happy Birthday, Heidi!

Heidi is one of my dear momma friends in our local circle, I love how encouraging she always is, her quick wit and how hard she works for her kids and her business. So, when it came time to celebrate her birthday, you know I was there! Her sister, Rae, planned the party and we got to go curling. I feel like I need to tell you I have never curled…I’ve watched it live and on TV but never have I tried it. Guys, it was so much fun!! Actually, I’m surprised I could walk the day after but it was worth every ache.

It was a family party so there were the grown-ups and the kids all playing. And I think the majority had never played before so it was pretty low key and I wish I could say not competitive but that would be a lie. What we lacked in skill and form we made up for in enthusiasm and laughs. If our stone made it to the end, we were happy. If it sailed all the way through, we groaned and then cheered about how straight it went.

The kids enjoyed it just as much as the adults did – my girls were hesitant to go because they had never tried curling before but their friends were going to be there so they were game. And they loved it, too! It was fun to see them trying out the different things, like sweeping or throwing the stones. { I know I am butchering the terms here, I googled it and I still don’t know what the action is called when you send a stone down the ice… }

Rae choose an All-Canadian theme and asked us to show our pride for our great country….but all my red is summer wear so I dressed warm instead. There were hockey jerseys, a timbit cake and buttertarts.

It’s always fun to celebrate a milestone in a friend’s life. It’s also fun to try out a new sport. I ALSO enjoy spending time with my friends and their families. Throw all those factors into the mix and it makes for a great way to spend a Saturday evening!

Hope you had as much fun as we did, Heidi!! And when can we do it again?

To be continued,

Lori

January 16, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

2 In Clear Day Farm/ Life

Well, Hello Fresh

I’m no cook and I don’t meal plan. So when a box lands on my doorstep that makes me feel like I have a handle on both those things, I’m a happy Momma.

Maybe you’ve heard of Hello Fresh, maybe you haven’t. Hello Fresh is food delivery service that delivers three meals to your doorstep, complete with all the ingredients you need to make the entire, tasty meals that have been chef-curated! They have options for number of mouths you need to feed, if you are plant-based or cooking in a hurry.

I love that we’re trying new recipes and don’t have to go out to buy a whole bottle of this or a bunch of that to cook it up. The meals are so flavourful and tasty!! I’m not one to branch out much with my cooking so this is the perfect way to push me outside my comfort zone and prepare different meals for my family.

One of the biggest questions I had was about the packaging. I mean, they are shipping meat! But, with an insulated box and lots of ice packs, I wasn’t concerned about that at all. The three meals arrived in three brown paper bags, with all of one meals ingredients in one labelled bag, excluding the meat. The meat was packed at the bottom of the box with a cardboard layer separating the meat from the bags of ingredients. I’m sure the reasoning is two-fold – first, to eliminate the chance of cross contamination and secondly to keep the meat really cold, but the other ingredients from sitting on ice packs { no one loves frozen greens }. Within each brown bag, each little package of sauce, seasoning or condiment was labelled so you knew what it was so you could add it at the right time in the cooking process.

One of my friends asked if it was weird getting meat by mail 😉 Let me tell you, it’s not weird, it’s wonderful!! And the ice packs stay so cold in the insulated box – 24 hours after I unpacked the box, those ice packs were still 1/2 frozen even though they were in the warmest room of our house! And with the crazy cold snap we were in, I worried about the veggies freezing during shipping but they were just right, too!

They also include beautiful, simple recipe cards that takes the guess-work out of any of the steps of preparing your Hello Fresh meals. Our box had pork, chicken and hamburg and because we were in the midst of a severe storm warning, I cooked up the chicken first since it required the oven. I knew that if we lost power, we could use the hot plate to cook up the other meals thanks to our generator. On the cards they also list the ingredients, so if you loved it, you could make it again with store-bought ingredients, which I know I will do the glaze on the chicken again, so tasty!!

We also got to try beef tacos which you can’t go wrong with tacos, right?!? I love that with tacos everyone can add their own toppings so they’re all happy at the table. I added sour cream and cheese to the toppings they had given us because I know my family 😉 Our other meal was a tasty pork stir fry with loads of carrots and peas on rice and it was delicious! We all had come in from the cold and it was the perfect way to warm us up!

Lena was pretty excited about the Hello Fresh meals, too. She is very interested in cooking and loves to watch cooking shows on TV, too. So, with the steps laid out so simply, I knew she could take care of most of the prep, all she’ll need is a little guidance. Do you know how great it is to walk into your home at the end of the day and your not-so-little little has cooked you a delicious supper? Take it from me, it’s the best!

If you have been wanting to try Hello Fresh, here’s your chance to get it 40% off!! Use the code FARMFRESH40 at the check out to save yourself some cash, some time shopping and some time meal planning while providing your family with fresh, delicious meals!

Now…where’s my chef’s hat…..

To be continued,

Lori

Disclaimer: I was provided with the Hello Fresh meals at no charge but my take on it is just that 😉

January 8, 2018 By lori@farmfreshstyle.ca

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