Property for Sale - Nova Scotia

UPDATE!!! OUR HOUSE SOLD VERY QUICKLY AND IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!
THANKS TO ALL WHO WERE INTERESTED!

1567 Hwy. 362
RR#2
Victoria Vale, Nova Scotia

*Lots of photos below!*

Well, our wonderful little hobby farm in the beautiful Annapolis Valley area of Nova Scotia is finally going up for sale! All the chickens have been rehomed, new taps in the kitchen, new laundry tub, taps and cabinet in the laundry room, an old brick and plaster wall replaced between the formal living room and eat-in kitchen/dining area, a complete revamp of the upstairs bedrooms done, new trim in the kitchen, hall and spare bedroom, a lovely new laminate floor in the main hallway, vinyl floors over the existing ceramic tile at the side door and laundry/mud room, an excellent quality carpet/underlay on the stairs and entire upstairs, fresh paint throughout. The exterior doors, back patio and side porch have also been sanded and painted/stained.

Property is 23+ acres and comes with an extra long garage with electric - enough room for your vehicle, an ATV and a lawn tractor with lots of extra space and shelves for storage. We even have a large wired/heated workshop!!! There is an awesome woodlot with slightly grown in ATV/walking trails; 3 large chicken coops; 2 smaller coops (for a total of about 365 sq. ft of coop space!) Two of the large coops and 1 of the smaller coops access 3 large runs and a smaller run which are enclosed in a large chicken pen with walls construced with 2 feet of plywood on the bottom and 6 ft. of hardware cloth on top. The largest coop is closer to the house but there is still a good distance between the two.

Only minutes from Middleton, Kingston and Greenwood in the beautiful Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia this lovely older 2000 square foot home retains the charm and character of it's age while still being comfortable with lots of up-to-date amenities. There is a jetted tub, oak vanity and separate large shower in the updated bathroom; a formal living room at the front of the house; a wonderful family room with wood stove, patio doors leading to wonderful decks overlooking perennial gardens and more. There is a wonderful, large kitchen/dining area; a main floor laundry/mud room and more! The extensive decks off of the family room have two benches and a small herb garden. The main deck is partially shaded in the summer by a large tree that the decks were built around. Then there is the lovely front porch. Imagine sitting on a rocker watching the hummingbirds flit amongst the extensive perennial gardens and all you see across the street are acres of trees! The garden immediately in front of the porch has numerous Astilbe's, a stunning rhododendron, some rudbeckia and a beautiful clematis that climb up a lattice on one end of the porch. At the side of the porch you will find Irises, Solomon's Seal and more. On the front lawn in front of the porch is a gorgeous Hydrangea PeeGee.

There is a stunning, low maintenance, mature perennial garden that runs the length of the driveway from the house to the road, as well as across the front of the property. There are some unusual and rare plants in this area as well as Double Daisies, a Burning Bush, Black-eyed Susans, double Peonies, Geum, blue Hydrangeas, a Korean Ivory Silk tree, Lilies, Columbine, Lupines, Variegated Solomon's Seal, Coneflowers, a purple and a green Barberry and much, much more!

There is a natural little woodland garden on the north side of the house. We have filled it with holly, ferns, hostas and numerous other shade or part sun plants. There are lilacs and forsythias further up towards the back porch area. In the summer you can't even see the neighbour's house but's it's all low maintenance plantings! At the back of the house there is a raised perennial bed immediately behind the porch with a nice mixture of tall and medium growing perennials, most of which are very aromatic. There are even daylilies and oriental lilies! On the other side of the walkway we have a large beauty bush, a snowball bush and plenty of surprises await you! Between the garage and the large garden are Lily of the Valley, old fashioned Bachelor Button's and chives. There are apple and cherry trees on the property too!

There is a little lake only a handy five minute walk away and best of all it's only minutes to the Bay of Fundy, Port George, Cottage Cove and Margaretsville. While the home is rural, it's also only a very short drive from Middleton, Kingston & Greenwood. We have wonderful neighbours but the fences, garage and trees gives the home so much privacy while still being close to good neighbours. School bus stops almost right in front of the driveway. Snow removal on our road is EXCELLENT and the road (which is a pretty quiet one for the most part) was freshly paved in summer, 2015! I just can't say enough about this home. We love it so very much!

I hope we can find someone who can appreciate the closeness of nature and the welcoming feel of the home who will love it as much as we have. Imagine cutting down your own wood for your fireplace and looking out onto your own private area while still enjoying the comforts of small town living! You can walk over to Parker Hall and participate in a Jam Session or a card party, or head up the road to the auction hall. There's always the Evergreen Theatre only a short drive away if you want an entertaining night out with top quality acts in an intimate atmosphere at very reasonable prices.

The home is only 7 km. from Middleton, about 1.5 hrs. from Halifax, minutes from the Bay of Fundy. Hospital, RCMP, Fire, etc. all within minutes! Come see this home & property listed at ONLY $156,000. You won't be sorry!

If you know anyone who might find this THEIR perfect little piece of heaven then PLEASE share this information! If you, or anyone is interested, or would like further information please contact Colin Crowell. You can find him on Facebook or his website at:
https://www.facebook.com/colincrowellrealtor/?fref=ts


COLINCROWELL.COM

Here is a video tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fMZkWv1hM

Remember... even if you aren't looking for a home, someone you know might be or they may know someone who is. So, please share!

This is the front of the home taken late September or early October 2015.

This is part of the plantings along the north side of the driveway taken in June. We moved the hosta to the woodland garden on the north side of the house in Oct. 2015 as it was almost 6 feet wide!



Here is the gardens at the corner where the driveway meets the road. The yellow box houses fall flowers (Chrysanthemums) and grasses along with a bird bath.

More of the garden along the driveway and road.

This is the front porch.

This is looking towards the back of the house from the back yard.

 Photo of the largest chicken coop/shed taken from the pathway behind the back porch.

This was a 7' 3" x 7' 4" garden shed that we added a 10' x 10' room onto. It presently has many pens built into it with removable fronts and a door (wood & hardware cloth) separating the two rooms. There are 3 windows that open on the north side, a pop-door on the east side, 3 windows (1 large and 2 small) on the south and another large window on the west (that do not open).

The row of plants running up the hill are hostas.

Photo taken in October from upstairs front bedroom of the corner of garden closest to the road.

The back porch area showing the benches and herb garden. This was all stained with a solid stain (sage green to blend in with nature) in October 2015.

This is looking out the front window from the living room.

This is the beautiful large family room overlooking the property! The laundry/mud room is in the door to the left. There is hook up for satellite TV in this room.

This is the other half of the family room complete with a great woodstove! The door at the end leads to the kitchen/dining areas.

This is the hallway nearest the side entrance looking towards the front living room. There is a skylight to the right (where the side door is) and the window to the left is above the kitchen sink.

Here is looking at the side door and hall closet.

The washroom in this home is awesome! The window allows lots of light while providing total privacy. There are some lovely scented rose bushes outside the window that provide a romantic aroma to the room all summer and fall when the windows are open. For a relaxing end to a busy day, here is the jetted tub...

... and a nice large shower with lovely medicine chest, sink and cabinetry. 

Part of the kitchen area. There are under cabinet fluorescent lights, new taps, nice side by side fridge/freezer and stove included. The hallway on the left side of the photo goes into the hallway by the cellar door. It could easily be converted to a pantry on the kitchen side with storage on the hallway side. This is just a small part of the kitchen.

The front living room has a lovely view of the gardens (not shown in this photo) and has a lot of the original features of the home. The short railing area here appears to have been removed from the original staircase.

This built-in cabinet provides a nice display area. We opened up the area underneath and put hinges/handles on it to provide additional storage. We kept the original grate in the wall (which is no longer functional) to maintain some of the original qualities of this 120+ year old home!

The bedroom at the back of the house is very large! It's difficult to get a good photo of it, but here you can see the door to a nice big closet area and this alcove would be perfect for a sitting area. 

The walls and carpets upstairs are grey. The carpet and underlay is a very good quality product that we had installed in November 2015.

This is the woodland garden at the north side of the property. Photo taken Sept. 29/15. You can see how private the property is in the spring/summer/fall months! It's difficult to tell there are any neighbours! Yet we have a little "bridge" across a creek to maintain access to the neighbour north of us.

This is the view from the bedroom at the back of the house. You can see the wired garage on the left and way at the back the wired, heated shop. The roof on the area you see (the back portion of the home) was installed in 2010. We added a special product on the north side that inhibits moss.

Please contact our realtor Colin Crowell for further information or to book a showing. Are you ready to fall in love? 

Thanks!

Moving - Chickens Still Available!

Well, we have almost finished moving! We still have the garage and shop to clean out (although Neil says a lot of the smaller stuff has been moved from there now) but there's lots of time before we put the "farm" up for sale. There are still some things at the house to move but we'll have to rent a van or truck in the spring to finish everything up.  First we are going to have an "Estate Sale" in the spring at which time we hope to empty things out to the point where there will just be donation things left.

 

That being said, we do still have some chickens left and lots of chicken supplies. I will be posting a huge advertisement for the remaining chicken related items & birds after Christmas. Some of the chickens we have left were sold but the people never showed up to pick them up and aren't responding to our emails. Some of the chickens came down with a cold due to the terribly damp, rainy weather throughout the fall so I didn't sell them in order to make sure they are all healthy and happy before moving on to their new homes. Neil goes to the house at least once a day to water, feed and clean the birds and check on the house and we have several neighbours keeping an eye on the place too.

 

Offhand we have LOTS of roosters for sale! Most of them are show/breeding quality but there are some that are just pet/barnyard quality. At the very least these birds could be processed as they are almost all Heritage breeds so they are great dual purpose birds.

 

Just to start we have the following:

 

I have about a dozen Barred Rock roosters. Some are exceptionally nice and would be suitable for breeding stock. There may be a few show quality roosters left. The Barred Rocks are calm, curious birds and would make nice flock roosters and, as you may know, are great dual purpose birds (read 'stew'.)  I have a few hens, not many, and won't sell a hen without a rooster. Hens are $18 and roosters are 1 for $12, 2 for $22, 3 for $30, 4 for $36, 5 or more only $8 each.

 

These photos were taken quite awhile ago but they are must bigger and better now!

 

This fellow is a father to some of the younger ones that are available.

 

One of the possible father's to some of the available birds.
This photo was taken when he was quite young.

A bunch of the birds when they were younger hanging around the "man cave."

 

Just resting in the garden (aka known as the weed bed) this spring.

A young pair in early summer.
He looks a little "wild" in this photo but turned out very nice!

Waiting in the garden for some insects.
The young Mottled Houdan rooster you see here is also available.
He is VERY respectful... comes from Les Farms, NB lines.
Justine breeds Houdans for quality and temperament.
 He is $25 and would be perfect for a breeding program.

One of the hens when she was a young pullet.

Lots of pet quality Silkies (obviously not meat birds!) Most are roosters and some are very nice looking birds. Right now I am selling all Silkies (and a few cross-bred Bantams) for only $8 each and will give discounts for multiple birds.

 

Two very nice white Silkie roosters. These are spunky fellows and excellent with the ladies.
Fertility rates have been very good (well over 98%) this year.
I threw 60 eggs in the incubator that were over 2 weeks old just to fill up space in late spring.
I ended up hatching 58 of the 60!
Both of the other eggs were fertile, but didn't hatch - probably due to age.

 

I have 3 breeding pairs of Silver Spangled Hamburgs. These are STUNNING birds and not only do they look great running around on your lawn/in your yard they eat very, very little prepared food and LOTS of insects. They are especially great at keeping the ticks under control. My Hamburgs are rarely inside, are EGG-cellent at protecting the girls and they prefer to nest in the trees during the nice weather. My Hamburgs are exceptionally strong and healthy birds - seemingly disease resistant. They are one of my favourite chickens. The gals lay a very nice sized white egg and are good layers. They can go broody if you let them and the boys are very watchful of the young. I am selling these breeding pairs for only $40 a pair. For someone interested in having some nice ones to begin a breeding program I will sell all 3 pairs for $100.

 

Here are some photos of some of mine...

 

This is a pullet who has turned out to become an incredible and consistent layer.

This is my oldest Hamburg rooster and he thinks it's his duty to be keeper of the flock.
If he sees danger he will warn everyone and if some of the silly gals ignore him he
will leave his "safe place" and chase them under cover!
He's not afraid to take on anything that appears to be dangerous to "his gals".



As I said... these are simply stunning birds!

 

My primary breeding birds up in a tree last year.

 

This is a younger pair... very sweet. This fellow is absolutely my favourite Hamburg rooster.
His lady friend is a year younger than him, shy but sweet, and oh, what a layer!

I think this is my youngest hen when she was a pullet.

 

I also have a fair number of Red Shouldered Yokohamas to re-home. They, too, lay a nice white egg. It's a bit smaller but they lay almost every day like clock-work! I have seen no signs of broodiness in my birds but their fertility and hatch rates have been near 100% so they'd be good for someone to start with the breed. These are gorgeous birds... classified as ornamental. The cock's tail feathers can grow quite long if they have nice high roosts to prevent damage.

 

I find my Yokohamas to be strong, tough and hardy birds and they it is difficult to find nice looking birds that conform to the SOP (Standard of Perfection) because they are still quite rare. I am desperate to rehome the ones I have as I have no indoor space for them so I have reduced my price to only $15 each and there are more roosters than hens so no hen will be sold without a rooster (however roosters can be sold in any quantity.)

 

This was one of my foundation birds. He was too hard on the girls and not very nice to his people.
Sadly we sent him to freezer camp and hired his brother instead.
Regardless, he did father to some of my birds. Luckily none of them are nasty.





Here is the brother of the bird above.
He is respectful and tolerant so although he wasn't quite as good 'show-wise'
he was more suitable to ensure I bred birds than weren't mean.
His hen had been battered & torn by his brother but this guy is gentle and tolerant.
He can still be protective though, so he shouldn't be under-estimated.



Two pairs of 1 year old Yokohamas.



This is a gangly young lad taken in the spring. He looks part "Road Runner" in this photo!

 

I also have one Silver Laced Wyandotte rooster available. He is two years old and doesn't tolerate other roosters very well, even if given lots of room. He should go to a home with no other roosters. His fertility rate was excellent this year and he's good with the ladies. I would like $12 for him. Sorry, I don't have any recent photos of him.

 

This was his father, Sir Hugh, in his prime...

 

This is when he was just a young lad learning all about girls... :)
 

I have one Golden Laced Wyandotte rooster. He was slow to show me his breeding potential but once he started he was about 95% fertile with a 100% hatch rate. He came from hatching eggs I purchased from Alberta in 2013 and I would like $15 for him.

 

Shakespeare is a big fellow.
Photos were taken when he was about 10 months old.

He is a respectful fellow and sweet with the girls.

Shakespeare is a little afraid of dogs. He has good form and would
be a good rooster to bring new blood into a flock.

 

Anyhow, those are the birds I am most anxious to rehome as I just don't have appropriate indoor space for them this winter and they are such nice birds I don't have the heart to cull. If you or anyone else you know might want some of the birds PLEASE get in touch! Sorry, I will not ship them... they are available for farm pick-up only... although I may be able to deliver to a mutually convenient meeting place between Bridgetown and New Minas areas. I am hoping to rehome before we call in the fellow to process all of the birds that haven't been placed.

 

Very soon I will post some photos of the new house!

 

 

 



A Farewell to My "Chocolate Moose"



On Wednesday October 23, 2013 I said my teary goodbyes to yet another of my best friends - my "Chocolate Moose" Browni. His death was sudden and unexpected, apparently a heart attack, and it ripped me to my soul. I'm just thankful that it was relatively quick. It didn't make it any easier, but was a good thing for him.

Browni was a Chocolate Lab who entered into my life in November, 2005 when he was placed with me as a difficult to place foster dog. I have no idea how old he really was, but his paperwork said he was about a year old. He seemed older in some ways, but he was a playful pup most days. I adopted him in January 2006 and I know he's had a great life with me and the rest of the gang. He had a special spot for my daughter Tina, and enjoyed a short visit with her early this summer after not seeing her in almost 4 years after we left Ontario and moved to Nova Scotia.

Browni has been having a difficult time lately. He had eye surgery this year after injuring one of his eyes on one of his rare (now) "jaunts" into the woods. We think he may have gone looking for Thunder (our Bernese Mountain Dog who left us a year ago due to a mast cell tumour that spread to his vital organs and brain. Browni's ACL joint was acting up and he had a growth on his chest. In July he had a his booster shots and a check-up and was doing fine. I had made an appointment to have the growth on his chest looked at, but we had cancelled it when the girl's were spayed, opting to wait until they were all healed and well again.

We have been running back and forth to the vet with them between taking them in to be spayed, going to pick them up, taking them back again after Baie-Leigh's near death experience. Then they had infections, so we were back again. Each time, Browni sadly waited at home while the girls got to go for a drive with us. I've also been going for physiotherapy on my right shoulder twice a week, we went out to see the Irish Rovers on Sunday, etc. Anyhow, we were pretty sure he felt like he was missing out on something fun, so on Tuesday night we took them all for a drive. Browni LOVED going in the car and he was so excited when I asked him if he wanted to go for a ride!

On Monday, Browni was outside with Neil, I and the girls and Annie had an old red t-shirt of Neil's that she likes to play with. Browni snatched it out of her mouth and ran around the yard like a spunky pup! They played tug of war with it a bit and he was really happy! Wednesday we picked up some large marrow bones for the "kids" at the grocery store and he was in his glory. We haven't had them for a long time because they would upset Thunder's tummy so I know Browni just loved his special treat.

He wanted to go out when he was finished with getting all the marrow from his bone so I let him out. I told him firmly "Stay in that yard!" because he had actually left on Sunday morning before breakfast (which was very, very unusual nowadays) and was gone quite a long time. Anyhow, he was still pretty stiff and sore from his little trek on Sunday even by Wednesday, plus he'd had that lovely treat of a marrow bone before supper, and then he was laying in the sun on the back porch while Neil was doing chicken chores so I didn't think he'd go anywhere. Once again he proved me wrong and disappeared for about 45 minutes.

When Browni came home he was wet all over. I assume he went over to the lake for a swim. I didn't condone it, but I understood. After all, he is a Labrador Retriever! All the geese are stopping over as they head south and it IS very tempting! When he came home he just walked up to the back patio doors as if he'd been here the whole time. I shut him into the laundry room because he was so wet, and I admit, I ignored him for awhile because I was ticked off that he left the yard and didn't come when I called him.

 



He seemed uncomfortable in there, which was evident by some groaning and struggling to find a good place to lay down. I thought it was from his little jaunt. I let him join us again near supper time. He ate his supper, then he was hanging around in the kitchen as I finished making supper for Neil and I. We happen to hold "fire drills" in our home for the dogs. When the smoke alarm goes off they race to the back door. After we shut the alarm off and tell them it's okay they are allowed to leave the back door area and are rewarded for going to the door and staying there. Well, when I opened the oven, the heat set off the alarm. The girls jumped up and ran to the back door, but last night Browni just didn't seem to want to go. I made him get up and go anyhow, assuming he was stiff and sore from his two jaunts over the past few days. When we ended the drill we rewarded the "kids" with raw carrots, which they love, and they help make their breath sweet after eating the marrow bones.

Usually after supper Browni goes upstairs and sleeps on our bed. On Wednesday night he didn't. Instead, he stayed close to me. Neil and I ate supper in the family room while we watched a show we had taped. Part way through supper Browni cried out as he laid on the floor between me and the fireplace. The girls ran to him but I could tell it was serious, so I pushed them away from him and Neil took them to the laundry room. I don't know how, but I knew right away he was dying. I started to cry and I said, "Oh, Browni!" He wagged his tail twice and then he was gone. We pet him and talked to him and he did let out one more breath about 30 seconds later and that was it.

I felt so horrible that I had shut him into the laundry room, but in retrospect I know he probably spent his last days exactly how he'd want to. He had had some playtime recently, had 2 long runs, had a swim, went for a drive, had a marrow bone, ate supper, had a carrot, was close to us all, and died with us all there as he laid in the warmth of the fireplace. I know it was a good way to go and Neil said he obviously heard my voice as he died, which is why he wagged his tail. Once we got over the shock of the situation we allowed the girls in to sniff and say their goodbyes before removing him from the house. We will take him to the vet in the morning to be taken care of.

I love every one of my pets deeply, but Browni was special. He didn't trust or bond easily, but he was deeply bonded to us... unless he wanted to go for a run! He overcame so much since joining our family and it was such a special treat to know he lived a good life. If I hadn't kept him he would have been euthanized because until I worked with him he was food aggressive, suffered from severe separation anxiety. When I took him in he ran away several times a day if given an opportunity, fought with other dogs, stole food, tore apart people's garbage, counter surfed by actually climbing onto the counters, escaped cages by ripping them apart, fought being groomed, had to be medicated to trim his nails or leave him more than 1 minute and more. After awhile he was still a bit anxious when you trimmed his nails, but other than that, he was a great dog with few hang-ups. He could be boarded and groomed with no problems, left alone with no stress, etc.

 



Browni will be in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives. He brought many laughs and fun to our days, loved to moan and groan while getting a cuddle or scratch and became an incredibly obedient boy. (Well, except the odd running away incident, or the day he and Thunder got into the flour... or when he and Thunder ate all the bulbs for my garden!) He was a great dog and I am so glad I was the one who rescued him from the life he was living and became the one he trusted and loved so very much!

Browni was my moose... my Chocolate Moose... a ruffian, yet a gentleman. I will miss him so much!



Goodbye my sweet boy. We WILL meet again....