Sea Change

Instigated our farm succession plan by building & moving to a new home in a nearby coastal town.
Sounds great in theory - but very hard in practice! I grew up on our farm, married the boy next door, & our son & family will continue on. Not that we've retired, just making way for the next generation before it's too late, physically & mentally, & relationships are strained. As it is, we get on very well & hope it is a positive move for our family as well.
Mind you, they have plans to renovate the old farm house & garden, so that will be interesting.
So, I have been agonising over the sorting of 'stuff', packing/unpacking & trying to adjust to living in a town! Must admit, we are very fortunate, with a lovely view, a nice little beach for the grandies 200 metres away & only 12 minutes drive to the farm for work.
Brought my favorite pot plants, & am establishing a native, coastal garden.
& yes - visitors are welcome
mj

Finally there MJ, I bet it was hard to leave the farm. I think the hardest part is the packing up and all those memories come flooding back at least your family is still at the farm and it is staying in the family.
Enjoy your new home and it will be great for the gradies to be able to go to the beach.
Milly.

Oh - glad I saw this! I asked in your other thread where you went! I am very jealous - I would LOVE to live near the beach! I'm so happy for you!

It sounds to me like you made a very good choice. I believe you're going to love it! What kind of things will you plant in the garden?

Thank you for your kind thoughts.
Thought of you Sandi, when I went for a walk on the beach & collected sea glass.
As for the garden, coming from a HUGE established farm garden has been rather sad, but a chance to start anew. I was going to have all indigenous coastal plants, but found them hard to source in the nurseries, so decided as long as they are native to Australia & will survive the coastal conditions (wind/salt) then we'll give them a go. Small shrubs, ground covers, grasses are in so far, then larger/taller when we finish landscaping & pathways. Oh, & a bird bath, herbs & a fire pit!
mj

There is nothing better than the sound of the ocean, the smell of the ocean, the sight of the ocean. I could stare at it every day of my entire life.

I've never seen sea glass other than the jewelry made from it. What does it look like in the raw?

Sea glass looks exactly like what you've probably seen, just worn smooth chunks of glass. I used to find it all the time on the beach when I was a kid before we knew it could be valuable.
Erica

All we ever see are shells and sharks teeth. We did find a star fish this time which is rare.

I never found shark teeth, that would be cool. I was just at the Bay of Fundy where you basically walk around on the ocean floor but there weren't any shells. Mud and rocks that look like granite and seaweed.

Where I grew up there were jellyfish and horseshoe crabs and sand crabs (not sure what those are really called - sand fleas?) and lots of different shells. And some weird yucky sea wormy things that were kind of like centipedes.
Erica

I must admit, I find I miss the smell of the sea living in Calgary. Take a deep breath for me! I come from the the south coast of England (Dorset)and went to college in Brighton; we used to find fossils, shells and seaweed. I didn't see my first shellfish until I visited Vancouver Island. Enjoy your new life - you may find lots of platelets there!!!!!
Christine

Hey Erica, I wanted to send you a PM, but couldn't find how to do it! :blink: I know we can send e-mails, but what about PMs?

I'm just wondering where at the Bay of Fundy you were.

Cindy, we took the ferry from Digby to St. John, then we drove back to Halifax stopping at the 'flowerpots' (Cape Hopewell?). Is any of that near where you live?
Erica

Oh my God, you were in my city! I live in Saint
John! Steven proposed to me at "The Rocks". I can see the ferry coming in and going out from the end of my street. When were you through here? How long were you here? I hope you had a good time.

Sorry, don't mean to high jack this thread! MJ, I hope you'll be very happy living on the coast.

All good, Cindy Thank you.
Sandi - there used to be an old rubbish dump nearby & now I am finding broken chards of glass, tumbled by the sea, various colours. I toss the brown beer glass in the bin, but keep the greens & blues for craft projects on the 'one day' list. The list is getting longer & my family think I have some very strange ideas for objects around the place. I have a suppressed craft yearning just waiting . . . Meanwhile, farm, family & community come first.
mj

Very cool MJ! Again, I'm jealous!

I've heard that the blue glass is rare and valuable -
Erica

Today was a purging of sorts. We still had boxes of 'stuff' to sort at the farm, hoarded, stashed & forgotten. 35 years of fabric off cuts, holey socks, torn work jeans, kids clothes mending etc. got tossed. The guys have about 10 years worth of rags for the workshop & the op shop will gain some 70s/80s gear for their dress up section! How does that happen??
Next is the really hard stuff - does anyone want a spinning wheel, an encyclopedia or grapevine glassware?