by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 29, 2023 | About Us, Blog
The last day of harvest is bittersweet. Like the native vine with striking orange berries, it is crusty and brilliant all at the same time. Susanne heading to the combine on the last day of harvest. We finished combining corn last Friday afternoon. In the morning,...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 21, 2023 | About Us, About Us, Blog
It took 9 seconds to raise a cupola. I had worried for weeks, months, maybe years. It had taken nine years to arrive at that moment in 2012: the day when the cupola would be placed back on the top of our octagon barn. The Original Cupola The original cupola blew off...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 10, 2023 | About Us
Moon Flowers Someday soon, all the men who walked on the moon will be dead. On a summer night, the orange-coloured sphere rises above the southeastern horizon, Its midnight trajectory guided by the pinpoints of Saturn and Jupiter. In its full phase, the moon...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | About Us, Barn Quilts
Hanging On Until The Last Moment November 1st showed us that winter is lurking behind every weather forecast. We awoke to a skiff of snow on the fields, breaking the spell that the warm afternoons of fall had cast over Southwestern Ontario. The winds and rain...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | Cycling Back Roads, Local Things to Do
I live and work in a border world: that slice of land at the extremities of two municipalities that is too far from the convenient centre of either county to concern the core administration and residents. If you have ever lived near a border, you know that sometimes...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | Local Things to Do
What a fool believes in a village doesn’t change over the decades. Last night, the 1970’s drenched sounds of the Doobie Brothers rocked an old church in Highgate and I was there to see it. The Listen to the Music tribute band brought the rock group’s few number...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | About Us
Keep your eye on the leader is a lesson I learned when I flew formation. On summer weekends in the 1990’s, I flew single-engine, ex-military aircraft at small airshows and flight demonstrations. In groups of four, we would perform a choreographed routine of...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | Local Things to Do
I’ve got news for you, when we lose our community newspapers, it matters. In mid-September, Metroland Media declared bankruptcy, stopping publication of 71 community newspapers, laying-off 605 people. Publications stopped their print editions across the province...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | About Us
When the world hears a tree fall, does it matter? A 300 year old Sycamore Maple tree was maliciously felled in northern England. Its death was heard round the world. The tree snuggled up against Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland National Park had become the...
by Susanne Spence Wilkins | Nov 6, 2023 | About Us
It’s About Time It’s About Space. Last Monday set the tone for the week. It was destined to be a mixture of flub ups, unexpected niceties and frustrations. And some nice road trips. That day we headed to Sarnia for a scheduled meeting with our accountant...
