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| Ousado (Altamiro x Bella) |
We’ve been having a lovely summer here at Ravenseyrie! This is our 19th year living on Manitoulin Island, up on The East Bluff, in Gordon/Allen township, just outside of Gore Bay, Ontario. We love living here and have no regrets about immigrating from the states and becoming Canadian citizens. This felt like home even in the first year and continues to provide for us a challenging, but wonderful way of living.
Up here on the East Bluff, spring and summer are typical dry - some years very, very dry. Most summers, our well dries up and we resort to using lake water for household and garden needs, which Kevin hauls up from the Ravenseyrie shore on Lake Huron’s North Channel. Thank goodness for our lake access, our Kubota tractor, our trusty little pumps and our holding tanks.
This summer we’ve had wonderful rains (it is raining now!) and it is amazing to have water on tap in mid-August - a first for us!
The wet weather sure did the hayfields on Manitoulin Island a lot of good - lusher growth than we’ve ever seen, it made it difficult for farmers to cut and cure hay because the rains were too frequent. Fortunately for us both the farmers we purchase hay from (Bill Fogal for our home range and Larry Cress for our mares living on the range in Tehkummah) cut their fields during adequate “hay windows”. Larry has delivered a winter’s worth of hay to the mares’ range for us and Kevin will pick up the boys’ hay in numerous trips with his tractor, since the hayfield is just down the road a bit from us.
Art sales in my gallery have been wonderful and helps us pay for the hay, which is a considerable sum. We are always SO thankful when a winter’s worth of food for the horses has been procured and paid for. Winters are very harsh here and knowing the horses have aromatic “dried summer” to fill their hungry bellies is a huge relief.
Please enjoy some of the images of our summertime.
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| Kevin |
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| Silvestre (Altamiro x Ciente), aka The Tank, with Interessado and Legado |
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| Altamiro (Ultrajado x Pompeia), aka Big Daddy, with Capaz |
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| Scotland Road Hayfield |
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| Scotland Road, Almost Home |
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| The Big Wide Open at Ravenseyrie |
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| Canada Thistle |
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| Whitetail Doe |
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| Echinacea |
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| Fidalgo (Altamiro x Belina) |
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| Interessado (right) and Ousado |
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| Ousado |
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| Ousado (Fidalgo in background) |
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| Volunteer Sunflowers and Oats |
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| Ousado, loves getting photographed |
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| Capaz (Interessado x Pinoteia) |
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| Legado (Altamiro x Sovina’s Zorita) |
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| The Group of Four (Interessado, Silvestre, Legado and Ousado |
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| Fidalgo (Altamiro x Belina) |
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| Fidalgo |
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| Ousado |
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| Legado and Ousado having a discussion |
