The Yellow Cottage Homestead has been sold, and the sale has now closed. With it closes another chapter of our lives, as we prepare to begin the next one, touring the country full-time in a luxury motorhome. Follow the new Sinclair Trails blog to see pictures and information from our new adventure.

With the closing of the house, I am also closing down this blog. It will remain permanently for future reference, but I don’t plan any further posts after this one. (Of course, I may decide to follow up later, so you never know.)

I thought I’d conclude this blog with a guided tour around the homestead.

Let’s start from the logical place, the driveway into the property:

The front lawn and house:

Going around the back; the deck, gazebo, and gardens, with a glimpse of the swimming pool:

Looking to the right, the upper falls pond:

Continuing on down the path, looking back at the house, deck, gazebo, and bird feeders off to the right:

Nearby, the stream leading from the upper falls, and one of its two stone bridges:

After crossing the bridge, looking over the stream towards the cat house:

Further down the path, the small pond, and cat house:

A closer look at the cat house:

The nearby fountain garden:

Behind the fountain garden are flowerbeds:

The white gazebo:

A peek back at the gazebo through the arbor into the field:

Apple trees in the field:

Arbor and the pond deck:

On the pond deck, with a view of the pond:

A view from the pond deck of the ducks coming to see me:

From below the pond deck:

Over the other side of the pond, with the duck house, and the pond deck in the background:

Ducks in the pond:

A weeping willow by the path from the duck house:

Standing at the end of the duck house path, looking at the brown gazebo and chicken coop:

The new and old chicken coops across the back lawn:

Chickens in their run:

Beyond the chicken runs, the veggie garden:

The berry cage part of the veggie garden:

The greenhouse behind the berry cage:

The hoop house next to the veggie garden:

Beyond the greenhouse and hoop house, the beehives and bee shed:

Near the beehives:

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the homestead, and the many blog posts over the years. Thank you for reading, and all the nice comments.

Feel free to follow my personal posts on my Dejus blog, and the new Sinclair Trails blog of our RV adventures.

Welcome to the last ever Caturday on this blog. The outdoor feral cats adopted us in August 2017, and we’ve enjoyed watching them around the homestead ever since. But as with the ducks and chickens, it’s time for someone else to look after them, as we begin our new adventure in a motorhome.

So let’s take a last look at some of the cats. Here are two outside their house:

Spud sleeping in a cabin:

Cat outside the feeder:

And inside the feeder:

Porcini relaxing in a garden:

A cat eating, and another waiting outside:

Spud in a cabin again:

Finally, lets finish with an animated GIF of cats at their house:

We will miss watching the cats. But we’ll still have our pet cat Paladin, so cat pictures will continue on my personal blog.

Welcome to the last ever Flock Friday on this blog. It’s been quite a run, with the Flock Friday posts every week since June 2019, and chicken-related posts since early 2017. But now that we’ve sold our homestead, and will soon be moving into a motorhome to tour the country, it’s time to start winding down the Yellow Cottage Homestead blog, with this last Flock Friday, and a last Caturday tomorrow. I hope you’ve enjoyed these posts as much as I have.

But don’t worry, the new owner of the homestead is keen to take over looking after the ducks and chickens, plus the cats and bees. So they will be in good hands.

Let’s start with ducks eating in their house:

Betty on the brick patio next to the duck house:

Ducks in the pond:

Chickens inside the coop, going after mealworm treats:

A bunch of colorful eggs in a nesting box:

Several pictures of the chickens in their run, with tomato treats:

Ducks in the pond by the floating island:

One last picture of the ducks, pond, and duck house:

We will miss the pond and ducks. But I’m sure we’ll get to enjoy other ponds and other ducks in the future.

Please enjoy the penultimate Caturday.

Here’s Spud:

Looking at a bird:

The mushroom girls, Porcini and Portabella (aka Bella):

Relaxing:

Porcini and Spud:

Porcini sleeping inside the cat house:

Pommie watching me from behind the cat house:

A cat in a cabin; they haven’t been in there for a while, but it’s a little cooler at present:

Porcini watching me from under the bench by the small pond:

The mushroom girls again:

A cat in the feeder:

It’s the penultimate Flock Friday.

Peeking though a nesting box at ducks eating in their house:

Chickens awaiting treats:

Ducks on upturned pot islands:

More chickens with treats:

Ducks on the lawn:

And in and by the pond:

On Caturday this week, Porcini has been enjoying sleeping in the cat house, though didn’t enjoy a raccoon briefly visiting her. Plus the others hanging around a bit, and a new kitten at the feed store.

Here’s Porcini sleeping in the cat house:

Pommie in front of the cat house:

Bella:

Porcini in the cat house again:

Two cats:

Just hanging out:

Porcini in the cat house, briefly visited by a raccoon. Went away after a moment:

Might be hard to spot, but here’s Porcini by the edge of the small pond, with the cat house in the background:

Porcini again:

Our local feed store got a new as-yet-unnamed kitten; they have free-range cats living in the store to protect the goods from rodents:

Spud:

Bella relaxing on the deck:

This week on Flock Friday, I bet you can’t guess what we have… yes, that’s right, pictures of ducks and chickens! Surprise! Plus a fuzzy picture of a hummingbird, for a bit of variety.

Some ducks on the pond:

More ducks:

A couple with their heads underwater:

Lots of ducks:

Standing on one leg on an upturned pot island, and the floating island a little flooded:

A zoomed picture of a hummingbird resting on a twig:

On to a bunch of pictures of the chickens:

Also starting the last month of Caturdays. Since people have asked, fear not, the new owner of our homestead will be caring for all of our animals: the feral cats, ducks, chickens, and even the bees.

A relaxed Bella on the deck of the cat house:

Two cats at breakfast time:

Porcini watching me walk past:

Spud and Bella:

Bella on the deck again:

Bella and Spud again:

A GIF of a stretch and scratching the tree:

A still image from then:

Two alien cats at night:

Bella by the water dispenser:

Starting the last month of Flock Fridays!

Some pictures of ducks on the pond, and ducklings on islands:

By the edge of the pond:

Lots of ducks:

Some close-up pictures of chickens:

Counting down the Caturdays too….

Here’s Porcini waiting for food in the feeder:

Porcini and Bella:

Porcini closeup:

Waiting for breakfast in the comfort of the cat house:

Another Porcini closeup:

Our dog Rory sitting on the driveway, oblivious of a cat laying on the path:

Two cats at breakfast time: