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Hello March 2023!

Colin Monner

Hello and Welcome to another Blog Post from A Stones Throw RV Campground!

Since we last spoke we’ve had freezing cold and warm chinooks, blowing snow and running water. Mother Nature likes to test us as best as she can sometimes, I like to think it just helps us to better appreciate the beautiful days. Rain or shine there is work to be done and we sure have been busy this new year. January flew by, February was a blur and here we are in March. Two sayings come to mind, “Nothing good comes easy” and “No rest for the weary”.

The end of January was the first Calgary RV Expo since we launched our business at the 2020 RV Expo months before Covid struck. The show was incredible meeting vendors and new campers alike. A lot of people have heard of A Stones Throw RV Campground which is neat, and others were very excited to discover us! Nearly 400 balloons got handed out too little ones at the RV Expo which meant nearly 400 cute little smiles, best part of the job for sure.

One month later we were in the same location for the Calgary Home+Garden Show and another four days of meeting new people and lots of balloons! There was an incredible array of vendors present and everyone seemed to have a really good time. We had people in our booth all day throughout the four days, lots of great questions from future guests. It was nice to hear how many people liked our vision, what we strive to create, where we come from and what has already been completed. Hard to believe this will be our fifth year of development, so much has been done and so much yet to do.

We had a great time at our first Calgary Home+Garden Show late February! Our 10×10 booth served as a good example when describing to people the size of our Community Garden plots, they are 15’x15′ in size!!!

Horseshoes

February brought us indoors and with the wood in hand we decided to make some Horseshoe Pits. Yes we could have framed some sand with a 4×4 and called it a day, but that would be too easy. With much research and consideration we made two sets of incredible Horseshoe Pits! Safety is always in the back of our minds, we wanted to ensure guests that there is slim chance a rouge horseshoe may bounce out of our pits. To ensure your hands are safely free old horseshoes from the farm got repurposed into drink holders, what else do ya do with horseshoes??

We used 4×6 pressure treated posts, lag bolted together, mounted onto welded channel iron to prevent warping, iron corner braces and more went into these premier horseshoe pits!
Every farm probably has a steel pale filled with old horseshoes. Looking over the old shoes brought back old stories which I always enjoy. Some very large horseshoes had custom cleats which we thought may serve as some nice decor on our pit boxes while others served better as drink holders 🙂

One other thing that comes to mind regarding horseshoes is luck. As the story goes, if you hang a horseshoe on the wall it will catch luck but only if it’s facing the right way up! When moving the earth for the campground we discovered a lot of old farming relics including horseshoes. One horseshoe that I found struck a cord. I felt it still had some work to do. Found near the construction of our Store/Office it quickly became apparent where this horseshoe would be put to use.

I’m proud to say we’ve designed this campground ourselves, surveyed, and did all of the earth work ourselves, one day at a time! While moving 50+ acres of farmland we dug up so many relics from cutlery to broken down equipment parts, generations of hard work in the field long buried. This horseshoe is one of those pieces of metal pulled out of the soil. In the background is the construction of the Store/Office in 2020, I knew at that moment when I took this photo that this horseshoe was going to be hung inside 🙂

When I ask my girls where we should hang this horseshoe the Store/Office my youngest suggested near the front door. That way if someone needs some luck they can have some, and if they have some extra they can leave some behind. With insight like that who am I to argue? The decision was made and inside the wall beside our front door one will find a very old horseshoe.

Nailed to the inside of the wall, beside the front door and behind the vapour barrier, luck has been installed. Through the window you can see where the first photo of this horseshoe was taken over 3 years ago!

 

A little luck for you and a little luck for me!

Construction of the Store/Office has kept us pretty busy the last while, floors were ground and sealed, drywall, mud, paint, trim and baseboards have all been done and we could not be more excited for what comes next, filling the shelves! The goal for our business is “Commerce for the Community”, we think we can offer a big impact on a lot of rural families. We hope to offer local and rural entrepreneurial goods and wares. More information to come!

Community Garden

I will admit that upon opening our first year last year that making a “Community Garden” was not the highest of priorities for me, we were focusing on opening a business and there was so much to do! We checked several items off our list and then the time came, either we make this garden or the season will have passed and we can worry about it next year. We ask our guests what they thought and they wanted a garden! So guess what? We started making a garden!

Dozens of loads of top soil were dumped onto a plot just over 100′ x 100’ square, a good size to start with! With the help of two neighbours we managed to break the soil, remove rocks and create a very well rototilled base for a Community Garden. With baler twine we laid out some pathways and plots became 15’ x 15’ in size. In total 7 plots were taken last year and more than double the interest in garden plots this year!

After surveying a plot 100′ by 100′ we started to haul topsoil onto location. It took a lot of consideration where our Community Garden would be, it had to be near water for irrigation, not too close to the future mini-farm, not too close to the future Community Centre, but able to expand if needed. Nearly 1 foot of topsoil got spread on top of the existing land to create our base.
HUGE Thank You to Gerald Deitz for trailblazing our Community Garden giving it the first rototill. In hindsight we should have levelled the soil first… poor Gerald bounced around on that tractor like popcorn. It all happened one day when we got talking about needing to work this plot and Gerald said he had a rototiller already hooked-up onto a tractor, would be over in a few minutes to help out! What a guy! FYI he’s a real handy mechanic if you’re looking for someone – G.D’s Repair 403-485-8443 🙂

 

After seeing Gerald bounce around giving our Community Garden it’s first rototill we broke out the little Tractor that we call Marge along with the LLT8 Landleveler. We then picked rocks and then some more rocks. June 19, 2022

The grand plan is to facilitate raised beds, a garden shed, maybe a greenhouse… I’d like to see hedges of berries and fruit trees for everyone to enjoy. Though it will be years down the road, it is exciting to have something to build upon. We were inspired by Milo locals Ian and Barb Godkin, who gave us dozens of pumpkins for our guests’ Thanksgiving Long Weekend here at A Stones Throw RV Campground last year. This year we plan on planting a large pumpkin patch in the unused area of the Community Garden, it will help to keep down the weeds and may even provide some pumpkins for our guests near the end of the season.

Another big Thank You to Neal Detiz who allowed us to get some use out of his rototiller! I remember this day clearly, arriving with Marge and a rototiller overlooking the future Community Garden. I have some grand plans for this area and I know it will take years to complete and probably decades to mature, but it is exciting knowing that we’ve planted a seed that will grow into something special for our guests 🙂

Swimmable Water

If you look at any natural water body in Southern Alberta you will find an abundance of nature, and pretty good chance if you go for a swim you will not see your toes as the water is fairly murky. Upon doing research on what we can do for our reservoir we got onto the radar of Koenders Water Solutions. They are best known for clarifying storm water ponds in urban centres, aeration systems and septic treatment. We have agreed to become a “Case Study” for Koenders Water Solutions, with over 10 acres of water we are certainly no storm water pond. As this water was my backyard as a kid growing up I can’t imagine how neat it will be to see crystal clear water.

I could not say how many times I find myself head down, busy doing whatever and look up and find myself in awe of a sunrise or sunset. Seeing those colours reflected on the water turns that scene into something almost mystical. Don’t believe me? I guess you will just have to come out here and see for yourself 🙂

 

Indeed memories are made here, whether you are a shy butterfly or a busy bee our water holds something for you. Surrounded by nature and your own thoughts time spent here is time well spent.

 

We love our sunrises and sunsets out here, but getting to witness them over the reflection of still water magnifies the event. It’s so calm and quiet, easy to get lost in thought.

 

To the right is our “Bay” with the last aeration stone. To the left is our future “Nature Haven” for the birders where we plan to add a variety of nesting boxes and blinds for guests.

The aeration is working well and the natural enzyme is in hand, we introduce the first phase of Nature’s Pond Conditioner this spring! It is a major investment and one that we feel is necessary. Much like the campground development, the scope of the project is huge. To help us fund this initiative we are now distributors of Nature’s Pond Conditioner, Aeration Systems, Fountains, and Septic Treatment. If you are interested in what we are doing or if this is something your pond could benefit from give us a call!

Birding

We are lucky having such a large body of water onsite (Ueland Reservoir), plus being only minutes away from Lake McGregor we tend to see our fair share of birds. The birds flying North in the Spring that discover us quite often stay and call us home. My theory is that our water is sheltered down in the coulee hills in comparison to Lake McGregor. With aeration, fish, minnows and other diverse ranges of life in the water feathered friends have food, shelter, and a beautiful place to make a nest.

Last year several “Birders” visited the campground and in less than an hour over 36 species of birds were discovered around the water, and this number does not include the variety of ducks or owls present! Swans arrive early but do not stay for long, shortly after the Canadian Geese and Pelicans come back.

We love our birds big and small, and these Pelicans are big! With a wing span of over 6 feet they are an impressive animal. Nestled down in our coulee protected from the majority of the elements our birds at A Stones Throw RV Campground are pretty relaxed. We don’t shoot guns and there are no dogs to scare them away, here they are allowed to just relax and recharge.

The website we use is currently under a major upgrade however WhatBird.com is fantastic, we’re really pleased with their search functions and insightful content. Please find below a list of what we enjoy watching at A Stones Throw RV Campground. I’ll admit we have not have a lot of time to spend watching birds, we’re very naive as to the variety of ducks and who knows what else? If you’re a birder, maybe you like to take photos of birds? A Stones Throw RV Campground might be a place for you!

 

A

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/213/overview/American_Avocet.aspx

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/212/overview/American_Robin.aspx

 

B

C
– We have stocked our reservoir with 1,500 beautiful Rainbow Trout from Smoky Trout Farm @smokytroutfarm and the idea was to entertain and feed guests, not the birds! I almost caught a photo with 8 Cormorants in one tree! Though I might not care for these birds eating our fish, I do think their presence lets other birds know this is a safe place 🙂
With a quick Google Search we discovered that a flock of Cormorants is called a “gulp”, and now can can say you learned something today! I nearly caught a photo with 8 in one tree, I was lucky to capture 7 🙂
– What a cool bird, super chill sitting around on a gate, not that afraid of people. Certainly a cool bird to add to the “Cool Bird” list!
D
F
G
H
– Back from a holiday each spring our Ferruginous Hawk arrives very white, at first I thought I was seeing a Snowy Owl! Last year this hawk would soar high above leaving it’s shadow tracing across the land, sometimes right over head. It’s a neat feeling looking down the dirt and I swear you can almost feel it’s shadow cross your path. We’re really pleased to see this huge bird come back to the farm.
This photo was taken in late 2021, throughout the development since 2018 this hawk has soared overhead, gophers beware! For a hawk it is a large species and looks almost all white from below. East of us are Swainson’s hawks have always called us home. Every once in a while we will get some Baldheaded Eagles stop by, and one time we were visited by a Turkey Vulture, a very big bird and ugly as sin, almost too ugly to be cute!
L
– We want to give a shout out to the prairie race of Horned Lark which accompanies us each day checking out the fresh soil. They seem fearless hanging out so close to the moving equipment. Their little horns give them so much character!
M
N
O
– We are so lucky having two owl species that call our farm home, another lives just off-site. Down at the water you will find three Great Grey Owls. You will find them swooping from tree to tree and occasionally out into the pasture. The Long-eared Owl seems to prefer the caragana rows that line the homestead and fields.
Out in our caragana trees you will find this cute little Long-eared Owl. I was within 8 feet of this little guy before flying off.
P
– What a magnificent bird, several call our farm home eating the minnows in the reservoir. With a wing span that can exceed 9 feet they can’t be missed out on the water here or out on Lake McGregor only 9 minutes away.
Q
R

S

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/84/overview/House_Sparrow.aspx

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/146/overview/Song_Sparrow.aspx

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/238/_/Bairds_Sparrow.aspx

– Trumpeter Swans visit our reservoir in the evenings and head out in the morning. They have such a unique sound as they fly over head. Seeing them on the water makes the Canadian Geese look like ducks, they are huge birds! The fact that they mate for life and make a heart shape with their necks together makes one thick twice about an ugly duckling. I don’t know what that means but it sounds deep. LOL
T

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/148/overview/Hermit_Thrush.aspx

 

U

V

W

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/154/overview/Yellow-rumped_(Audubons)_Warbler.aspx

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/1307/overview/Yellow-rumped_(Myrtle)_Warbler.aspx

The Lee Valley Early Spring Garden Guide came out featuring Birding, lots of very nice things to consider. Another great store in Calgary which we just love is The Wild Bird Store @thewildbirdstoreyyc with an incredible selection for any birding enthusiast. Be sure to visit their website at www.wildbirdstore.ca and sign up for their newsletter, it’s a great read every month!

 

Well that is all for now folks, stay warm, be kind, and we look forward to chatting with you again! Thanks for visiting A Stones Throw RV Campground Blog 🙂

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