8. September 2009 by admin.

Runaway cows… get ‘em boys!

Since the cattle drive was such as blast this year we have already started planning for 2010.  We hope that more people will join us on our adventures as they are a blast and a time you’ll never forget!

 Yvonne & Dale gave me some dates for 2010 before we left their ranch - they were pretty sure these were the dates that they were going to host their 2010 events, but will confirm after their busy September (their daughter is getting married on the ranch)!

May 2: Branding of newborn calves

May 28/29/30:  Spring Cattle Drive

June 4 - 13: 10 Day Trek (Kluskoil Trek)

June 23 - July 5: Anahim Trek Ride (Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail)

July 4 - 13: Return from Anahim Trek Ride (Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail)

August 6-15: 10 Day Trek (Kluskoil Trek)

August 27/28/29: Fall Cattle Drive

In order to reserve your spot you need to send them a cheque for 50% of the total cost.  We will be mailing in the deposits we have already received on September 14th so that Yvonne & Dale will have them soon to reserve our spots - things fill up quickly at their ranch.

 Phil & I are doing the 10 day trek to Anahim on June 23rd.  Which means currently there are only 8 spots left &  3 people have already told me their coming - I’m just waiting for their deposits!

There are already 3 people booked to ride horses on the May Cattle Drive from Saltspring as well, which means there are only 7 horses left to be booked.

If you want to see some pictures of our trip check out www.memorymeadowsfarm.com on the events page - click cattle drive.  We will be adding more photos as well.

Let go of your city or small town lives for a short time and experience the joys of western living, freedom & only green for as far as you can see!

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7. September 2009 by admin.

On August 27th, 2009 Phil & I loaded our girls and caught the ferry from Saltspring to the mainland.  After a long haul of 18 hours, with several stops along the way, we arrived at Blackwater Spruce Ranch.  The ranch was an hours drive out of Quesnel and when we arrived we couldn’t see anything around us.  We unloaded the horses and joined the rest of our group in the bunk house.

The Bunk house was a single room with several beds, enough to sleep 12, but there was only 9 of us in it.  The next morning when we woke up we were in for a surprise.  We walked out onto the porch and were surrounded by wilderness!  There was a creek running through the farm and it was surrounded by a variety of fields and wooded areas, and the sunrise was AMAZING!

We headed up to the house and enjoyed blueberry pancakes and coffee prepared by Yvonne.  They shared their Ranch photos and Phil and I even got a mini hunting lesson about taking horses along…

After lunch we headed out for a short trail ride to the waterfall while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.  Luckily Sprocket and Flicka are easy going and didn’t mind being thrown into the middle of another herd out on the trails.  When we got back lunch was ready!

After lunch we had our first taste of the real cowboy paradise.  We mounted up and rode out to try our hands at moving some cattle.  Little did we know that the colts we’d been hearing so much about would come charging at us when we were half way across the field.  Dale told Phil to go ahead and take the herd to the corral at the entrance.  Phil took off at a gallop across the field with the colts running closely behind … We then spent the next hour or so moving a small herd through a variety of fields and out to the corral.  Everyone did really well & again as soon as we got back to the ranch dinner was hot and ready for us.

Oh yes… forgot to mention there is no power in the bunk house - we only have lanterns and flash lights… which made the experience so much more unique.  There was only solar and wind power for the house and WashStation… which did have flush toilets and hot water for showers!

Day 2 was a much bigger adventure.  We started the day out with a great mcMuffin breakfast before we headed out to find the real group of cattle.  We made it into the first big field and there they were out under the trees.  It was amazing to see everyones fears disappear.  The previous day some people didn’t feel comfortable but on Day 2 when the cattle arrived everyone was too busy watching the cows and making sure they didn’t leave the bunch that those with fear had no time to even think about it.  The wagon came along just in case someone wanted a break & of course they were carrying out lunch.  Phil & I really got to see what our girls were made of - we were asking them to chase cows (which they’ve never seen before) and go up & down extremely steep hills.  They picked up on the entire thing pretty quickly and were soon watching the cows and letting us know when one would stray - we just had to trust them to get us through the bush as we went after the cows.

Day 3 was much like day 2 - but when we got into the first field there wern’t supposed to be any cows… well there was… and these ones didn’t feel like coming along as easily as the first group.  We all scattered throughout the field on our horses chasing two different groups in two different directions until we managed to get them tunnelling through the first gate into the next field and along the logging road.  These ones also liked to deviate from their appointed path much more - everyone seemed a little braver as well and many who didn’t head far off the path on Day 2 were up big hills and through the bush chasing after the runaways!

The Ranch itself was also amazing!  The Sunsets were incredible to watch and the coyotes sure did like to yip away in the evening and throughout the night.  There was always something to look at while you walked throughout the ranch. The variety of antlers displayed throughout the fence work, the house & barn was interesting.  There was also a variety of older farm equipment and saddles displayed in the barn yard.  The stories about past trips and adventures were also very entertaining… there isn’t a single person that had one negative thing to say about the entire experience.

 www.blackwater-spruce.ca

There is a group of Saltspringers heading to the May Cattle Drive - May 28/29/30 2010  If you are interested in joining in make sure you get ahold of Yvonne and Dale early to book… it was the trip of a lifetime that non of us will ever forget!

Next year Phil and I are planning to also do the 10 Day Anahaim Trek starting on June 24th 2010 - we are going to try our hands at riding the Alexander Mackenzie trail the old fashion way…

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16. July 2009 by admin.

After spending two days here on the farm and realizing how much work needs to be done to get the house back in order we have decided to take a little vacation & then tackle the clean-up when we return.

Yesterday we went off island to return the last three tuxes (which wern’t due back until Tuesday - which was yesterday) & then got an ear full from the owner.  She said that they were supposed to be back on Monday and the others also had not been returned.  We went to get the other tuxes and Leah was nice enough to take them back - however the owner of WESTERN TUX in Victoria then charged her an additional $70.

I have to say this just pissed me right off - as the ONLY reason we went to Western Tux was because we could pick the tuxes up on the Thursday before the wedding and bring them back on the Tuesday - I have contacted the store and they have refused to return any calls.  Any suggestions on the next step?  As this is the WORST customer service I have ever come across!  For a total of 11 rentals - to then be charged extra for their mistake of agreeing we could take them back on the Tuesday…

So after that we decided we needed to get away - we checked out all the travel places trying to find an all-inclusive but no luck until August… so we headed back to Saltspring Island.

Today we started to look at camping trips somewhere in BC - when Chenty sent us an email with information about an all-inclusive in Puerta Vallarta leaving on the 19th for a week.  We have to head over to Vancouver a day earlier and stay a day later but it will be a really nice vacation!

Don’t worry about the animals, as for the farm we have family & friends staying at the house making sure everyone is well taken care of! It has worked out great that my brother is staying out until the 28th!

We will see you all when we get back - with lots of pictures to post for those far away friends & family…

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15. July 2009 by admin.

As many of you know we have been planning a big wedding at our place for the past couple of weeks.  With a lot of help from family & friends we managed to pull it all together and have an amazing day here at our farm.

We held our ceremony in the backyard overlooking the horse pasture, which is finally regaining some grass since the horses have been moved, with some peak a boo ocean views.  Everyone looked nice and spiffy in their fancy dresses and tuxes… Phil managed to take a peak behind as I rode in on Flicka side saddle.  We also had the dogs running loose during this time - which did pose a slight problem when Ozzie decided to attack my veil after I dismounted from Flicka.

The ceremony was great - we followed it up by heading out to Southey Point to have some photos taken while our guests enjoyed appy’s and cocktails on the farm.  The kids enjoyed feeding the foals through the fence.

When we returned we all headed into the GIANT tent for an amazing dinner of pork & fish.  Everyone seemed to have a great time dancing well into the evening!

We will be adding photos as we get time to our personal website at www.jennandphil-wilson.com for those that are interested in seeing more… and anyone who attended and has photos we would love to have them on a CD of DVD so that we could get some prints.

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18. June 2009 by admin.

Flicka’s age always surprises people and I often forget because she is so good.  She actually just had her 3rd birthday!  A couple days after her 2nd birthday I took her out on her very first Wish Trail Ride with several other riders… and 1/2 way through the ride we actually ended up ponying another horse & rider back.  If I had been an outsider looking in I would have thought Flicka had done that a million times before - I should have known right that second that I have a perfect horse.

She may not be much on paper’s but she definately makes up for it in person.  She is a PMU horse out of Alberta.  Her dam is a Percheron/Standardbred who is 16hh and never been broke to ride.  Her Sire is a stunning APHA 16hh colourful boy, again never been broke to ride.  Flicka doesn’t have great names in her past that people would love to breed to because of amazing wins throughout history, but it just doesn’t matter!

Throughout the summer after her 2nd birthday we did a lot of trail riding and even Phil rode her a couple times.  I had my younger sister ride her as well.  Flicka always took care of her rider!  Now just after her  3rd birthday Flicka has come miles!  She is doing great with her English training and makes me proud everytime we go to the barn.  This year she has already done 4 Wish Trail Rides with 1 more to go.  At these trail rides she has proved over and over again why she is so perfect.    In Victoria & Metchosin she let me ride with my puppy up in the saddle.  Ozzie could not sit still and was moving all over the place it must have felt like someone was dancing on poor FLickas back - you never would have known by her behaviour though.  Then at the Saltspring Island Ride we ponied Patience, Sprocket’s, foal as Sprocket was being ridden by someone else.  Patience was walking into Flicka’s butt, sides and nibbling on her tail & saddle - again you wouldn’t have known by FLicka’s behaviour!

I keep forgetting how young Ozzie actually is, just because she is SO GOOD.  She comes out on trail rides, comes when I call her and sits right beside the horse.  I can’t even get my 5 year old lab or 3 year old malamute to do that! 

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12. June 2009 by admin.

As of yesterday we realized we had exactly 1 month left until our big wedding day… and I mean BIG wedding (with guest & those working we have just about 200 people)!  Just recently we finally decided on a location for the event… OUR HOUSE!  So for the past couple of weeks we have been landscaping and making a beautiful lawn out front & in the back.

We moved the horses to a neighbors in hopes that some grass would come up to make a nice background.  That was working great until just a couple days ago.  Our little filly, Patience, started to scratch uncontrollably on absoluately anything she could find!  she was scratching so much that she was geting bald spots and along her butt she even had some open cuts.  We moved her and her mom back to the farm and make then a nice spot in the front of the yard (on the opposite side of the wedding area).  They seem happy enough being back home

Phil went off island to Nanaimo the other day and picked out a bunch of plants & Trevor was nice enough to bring them back to Saltspring for us this past week… 2 truck loads.  So we have spent the last couple of evenings planting the gardens & Phil even put in a really nice irrigation system that goes through the lawn as well as the gardens.

Surprisingly even with all these plans we have found some time to relax.  This afternoon Phil is out on the boat and I enjoyed a really nice trail ride with Flicka.  We have the WIsh Trail Ride this weekend so I wanted to make sure that the trail was clear and ready to go.  Sprocket & Patience were not happy about us going off without them, as lately it has been Sprocket who gets to be ridden out on the trails with her adorable little filly running along.  When we go to other places Patience is ponied with a lead line - but around here she gets to run free. 

With 4 weeks left I can happily report that the house is ready, gardens are done, grass is coming up & all other preperations are done!  Well we still need to go around and let all the neighbors know, although I’m sure most of them are already well aware of our plans.  News travels fast on a small island…

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1. June 2009 by admin.

When you see your pets day after day you don’t really realize how much they are growing… until you snap a couple photos and then compare to the ones taken weeks before.

The other day I was asked if I had any recent photos of Echo and I realized I didn’t so I took a walk over to the field next door where the herd is enjoying some pasture and quickly snapped a few.  When I got home later in the day and took the time to look through the photos the first thing I noticed was how big Echo had gotten, then how amazing he was turning out to be!  I can’t beleive he will actually be a year old in June!  He has almost shed out his winter coat and enjoys playing with Patience - but before I know it he is going to be a stunning black stud!

So I got thinking about Ozzie, and realized that I had NO photos of her… well we had a couple the day she arrived but that was it!  The proof she was growing was apparent the other day when we went to the Metchosin Wish Trail Ride.  When we were planning the Victoria route Ozzie came with me and rode in the western saddle, at that time she wa just over 8 weeks old.  When we went to the Metchosin Ride again I put her up in the saddle.  Our 1.5 hr ride ended up being almost 3.5 hours as we got a little lost and my arm felt like it was going to FALL OFF!  The little girl now only 4 weeks older had probably doubled in size and I didn’t notice until I had to carry her weight on my left arm as she slept through the trail ride.  I’m still trying to track down a picture of her riding in the saddle with me, as again I wasn’t taking photos but other people did!

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22. May 2009 by admin.

On May 17th we got up nice and early, after I worked until 3 am, to hook up the trailer and load in my girls.  My girlfriend wanted to come riding so I let her ride my sturdy girl Flicka.  I decided to take Sprocket for her first trail ride since having her filly, Patience.  I was curious to see how Patience took to the entire days events, as we were heading over to Duncan.

It was Twincreeks Wish Trail Ride, which I might add they raised $4300!  Anywho, Flicka loaded into the trailer like a champ like usual.  Next was Sprocket - who hadn’t been in a trailer for a long time… she hopped in without a fuss.  Patience was sniffing at the trailer and snorting, she just didn’t know what to think about it.  I picked up her front legs and gave her a little push from behind and she hopped right in.  I left her loose so that she could make herself comfortable and nurse along the way if she felt like it.

After a short drive to Vesuvius Bay ferry I checked on them… they wern’t bothered at all.  When we arrived at Twincreeks the girls stood quietly in the trailer while I figured what we needed to be doing.  They then moved onto a little corral to wait until we were ready to take them up.  Patience was an attention grabber for sure - I think almost everyone wa s asking if they could take photos of her.  Little did they know, shortly later they would get to see her ponied along on a trail ride.

The first group went out at 1pm and then we went out at 115pm.  As soon as I was mounted up on Sprocket with Patience attached to a long lead the cameras were coming out left right and center to take pictures.  Worst part is… I forgot my camera, so I have pictures of her first trail ride!

Patience showed me another reason why she is the perfect little filly… she ponied behind and along side without a fuss.  She crossed bridges and water (even running water) & at one point I had to get off Sprocket to help another rider.  I tied Patience lead to the saddle and gave Sprocket’s rein’s to my girlfriend riding FLicka and went to help out.  Sprocket and Patience stood there as if they’d been out on the trails in similar situations several times.  We did uphills and downhills & got along fine even with 9 other horses ( & some who wern’t happy trail horses).

When we got back the girls went into the paddock once more while I got the trailer ready to go home.  Patience was a little tired after her 1.5 hr trail ride and had to be encouraged to get up.  But when it came to trailer loading - it was easy… like a pro!  When she gets older she is going to be one perfect minded horse to start working with.

 Personally I think she just wanted to show off to everyone, as she is a people horse and loves attention.  I cannot enter the field without acknowledging her… and if I try to acknowledge another horse she is right there beside them trying to push her way to the front (which she normally does because she just walks under them).

I had debated about taking her to the Metchosin Wish ride coming up on May 24th - but this time I think I’ll just take Flicka alone… but she’ll be out on the Saltspring & Shawnigan Lake rides!

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6. May 2009 by admin.

After a very long winter I think summer has finally arrived, which means our place is being torn to bits again…  Today we have 3 machines and 5 guys working hard outside at the farm.  They are clearing out some more trees and making a nice lawn area in the front yard, they’ve already added a manure pit and are in the process of expanding my 1 parking spot (for the trailer) to a 3 car parking area.  They are then going to fix up the lawn in the backyard so that it is much bigger, and put in a nice sprinkler system through the front and back yard. The place looks like a bomb has gone off - but I’ve been assured it will be finsihed and re-seeded within 2 days… let’s keep our fingers crossed!The little puppy has settled in nicely, we have named her Ozzie in memory of our month long adventure in Australia.  Maggie & Malabu wern’t to impressed to begin with.  But now Maggie has discovered someone to chase her and her stick around whenever she wants.  She is a very smart dog and seems to pick things up very quickly.  However, she is like a child and still likes to rebell.  When she knows she’s not allowed something she slowly walks towards it with her head lowered below her shoulders and peeks up to see if you are watching.  Ozzie even experienced her first boating experience last week. She wasn’t a fan of the wind and curled up behind us.  This past Friday Ozzie also travelled with me over to Victoria to plan out the trail route for their Wish trail ride.  After about 15 minutes of trotting through the trails I could tell Ozzie was getting tired.  She enjoyed the next 2 hours of the trail riding up in the saddle with me.  I sure wish I’d had my camera that day!

Patience is still adventurous as ever and has no problem leaving her mom’s side.  I think mom enjoys the quiet breaks every so often.  Patience adores any human attention she can get - especially if someone is going to scratch her neck!

Stay tuned for pictures of the newly designed farm over the next couple of weeks….

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12. April 2009 by admin.

Just before I left to come out to Ontario, which is where I am right now, I had the opportunity to check out an adorable litter of puppies on Saltspring.  There were three beautiful young ladies still awaiting wonderful homes… and how could you not fall in love with such adorable critters.  I met ‘Prairie’ as the breeders call her first while I was out riding Ally through our neighborhood.  Her base colour was white with some nice big black patches… and her temperment was perfect - full of energy but not “TOO” full of engery.

I then stopped in and checked out the other too ladies, who’s colour was very different - they were black with some brown marking, but nothing like ‘Prairie’.  The one was all over the place where the other was very quiet.  That made my decision for me ‘Prairie’ was the one I wanted.  After several conversations with Phil it was agreed we would add ‘Prairie’ to the family - although that is not her name - we still haven’t chosen a name for her…

When I get back from Ontario she will be ready to leave her mommy and come to her new home!

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