Loading...
The Rural Voice, 2002-08, Page 6I • M mFeaItt!!lfi! Carol Riemer Defining a house and home Carol Riemer is a freelance writer who lives with her husband and two children near Grand Valley, Ontario. Scattered, along the far side of a deep ditch, there lie the moss -covered remnants of an old stone wall. It's nothing that would attract much attention, not even on the dullest of days, still it bears notice, if only because once gathered by calloused and weathered hands, these rocks have fallen on hard times. In sad disarray, their trail can barely be seen beneath the broken rails of an old cedar fence, itself in dire need of repair. Years ago, after moving to the country, I was impressed by many things I now take for granted. I remember watching clouds race across the never-ending sky, announcing a change in the weather I hadn't yet learned how to read. And sometimes, at the end of a hot summer day, I'd stop and take in the fiery shades of a fading sunset, as it slowly dissolved into the coal -black night, filled with a million distant stars. In those days, just as now, the landscape reached out, far beyond the road. It made its way across rolling pasture, through the dark pine forest, up to where the sun shone off the giant hydro towers that loomed in the distance. At last, I remember thinking, we had room to roam, plant a garden, and on a good day, perhaps, we could put up our feet and dream a little. Then came the first frigid winter, and along with that, the cold realization of just how much space was actually out there. As the wind whipped the snow across the wide, empty fields, it deposited it directly /.711t rrt Nir;^(07ri Tel.: 514-768-4923 fax: 514-768-9570 E -Mail: anderson.steve©sympatico.ca Web Site: www.japa.fi Cat for free video of machine operation Inexpensive High Performance Firewood Harvesters Brood Range of Equipment suitable for Modest to Professional Split Log Production One Man Operation • Tractor 3 Point Attachment • Different motor option (One machine for cutting & splitting) Japa 50, 600, 700 8 2000 Series 2, 4 & 5 Way Log Splitting of up tol4 inch Dia Logs Self Contained Hydraulic System Hydraulic Chainsaw A Japa 100 Logging Bench 700mm Saw Blade Dia. Unique Conical Screw Splitter 2 THE RURAL VOICE down our driveway. Eventually, spring arrived to free us from our unintended, snowy exile. We quickly forgot our winter woes, but were left, instead, with a strong desire to define this place we called home. It was obvious from a distance that, at one time or another, most folks had found ways of defining their property. Tall spruce lined the driveway of one neighbour, while a weathered cedar rail fence, mirrored in the still water of a small pond, gently framed the front lawn of another. A thick stand of evergreens sheltered the windward side of a frame cottage, and just down the road, there sat a picturesque Victorian farmhouse, outlined by a classic, white -painted picket fence. Yet, I sensed that it wasn't just protection from the elements, or even privacy from the road that prompted these country dwellers to plant trees, put in fences, build arbours and gates. It had something to do with feeling at home; putting down roots, so to speak. So, that first summer, after paying our dues, and surviving the worst winter we could remember, my husband and I hitched up the trailer and headed into town to pick up fence posts at the Co-op. During the sweltering weeks that followed, our split rail fence progressed slowly. My husband and our son methodically dug the post holes by hand. Our daughter and I transported rocks, for the stone wall we were building, in an old wheel- barrow that sagged and strained beneath its heavy load. We planted trees to break the wind, and trees for a little shade, where there was none: With the help of the kids, we moved a mountain of soil, created gardens and transplanted sod. That summer, we put our name on a new mailbox, down by the road. Despite all the common diff- iculties and rewards that come with country living, it seems that a little individuality can always be found. From farmhouse to cottage, to country retreat, it must be true what they say. There's no place exactly like home.0