Ballacres Farm Vacations

17/10/2024

THE GAP IN THE MARKET....

We have always believed there is a gap in the market for quirky, affordable, short-term accommodation in our part of Alberta! Located within easy reach of both Calgary and Lethbridge, with Foothills and Willow Creek mere minutes away and with several lakes within easy reach (just bring your own boat!, our naturally beautiful spot is perfectly located for a get-away-from-it-all close-to-home short break.

Our original plan to offer a fully serviced travel-trailer, located in our private guest paddock - with shared access to the grain-bin firepit and new gazebo - as a cheap and cheerful "no haul" vacation. However, this was determinedly kyboshed by local politics, no matter how hard we fought and argued the need! But we think we've come up with something even better!

For the moment, it's a gap in the fence that indicates this gap in the market will be plugged soon!

Follow for more info!

15/10/2024

COME-T AND VISIT AND LOOK TO THE SKIES!

We stepped outside and looked West and there she was again! The Tsuchinshan Atlas Comet streaking her way across the sky on a beautiful Fall evening!

14/10/2024

14/10/2024

FALL INTO A SHORT BREAK AND ENJOY OUR NEW "SITOOTERIE".

The mild Fall weather is a great time to spend dome time on our old farm. Spend the daytime relaxing and wander around the trails to enjoy the Fall scenery - there are eight separate outdoor seating areas where you can take a load off! Then, when the sun drops and the temperature cools, light up the grainbin firepit, or the enclosed stove in our new gazebo "Sitooterie" (sit-oot-erie) and put the world to rights - but don't forget to look up! You may get a visit from or a comet or two! Then cosy-up in our comfortable, cosy cabin for a deep, therapeutic sleep in the quiet of the countryside. Your mind and body will thank you for it!

14/10/2024

ONCE IN A LIFETIME!

We were spoled by and now we've been spoiled again by a chance glimpse of the Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet ! 😍 With great views all around the four points of the compas, it's not unusual to see shooting stars, but this comet is a rarer sight - a bright piece of debris left over from the formation of our solar system!

Maybe we'll fire up the grainbin firepit tomorrow and wait to see if we can spot it again!

11/10/2024

NO ALICE......BUT IT'S A WONDERLAND!

We have been truly spoiled by these last few days! We can't wait to see how stunning she is in a couple hours, once the cloud has cleared a little and the moon is up! Although she's pretty darn stunning right now! 😍

08/10/2024

Aurora is showing off right now!

23/09/2024

NO ALICE......BUT IT'S A WONDERLAND!

Our old farm serves as host to a smorgasbord of edible and medicinal plants and flowers, aside from the overspill from the adjoining arabale crop fields. Although we groom paths for guests to utilise, we leave many other areas as nature chooses, as these "wild" areas serve to support the local Alberta wildlife, from insects to deer and everything in between - and the occassional human forager that visits us from time to time!

The list of edible plants is long and plentiful, but the one species we are especially cautious about are the 🍄 mushrooms 🍄. We also have caterpillars - big, fluffy, black and yellow ones at the moment! - but they have yet to provide us with advice about the net result of consuming any of the several varieties of mushroom we have found and we don't want to end up like Alice - we believe our old farm is a Wonderland already! But they look pretty cool - like a little fairy garden in places! 🧚‍♀️

13/08/2024

FALL FOR FARMERS

The fields surrounding our old farm are golden, but we won't have this view for much longer as late summer / early fall are a busy time in the arable farming calendar. We would like to take this opportunity to remind our guests that there may be more traffic and heavy farm machinery in the fields around Ballacres Farm, on the roads and range roads - and all over the counties of Vulcan, Foothills, Willow Creek and Wheatland that you may travel through on your way to us. Please pay extra attention, take care and be patient and courteous - it's generally a heck of a lot easier to move your vehicle out of the way of farm machinery than it is for them to maneuver around you!

We are thankful for the efforts of all farmers near and far in working to provide us with sustenance and support the Alberta economy. We'd undoubtedly be worse off without them.

12/08/2024

LAZY DAYS OF SUNMER.....WE WISH!

We've been incredibly fortunate to have had a busy booking season for our Backacres cabin and it was nice to be able borrow it's private deck to enjoy a relaxing evening after a day of work and chores - exactly the same reason many of our guests stay!

It's important to relax and try to reconnect with our significant others, as our busy lives aren't always conducive to that generally. Sitting on the deck, watching the sun go down, all we could hear were birds, bees and crickets.

Book a short break in our well appointed, comfortable little cabin in it's private paddock and leave the hustle and bustle behind. You'll feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, but have the convenience of town less than 10-mins away - and you dont need to drive for hours to get here. Your mind and body will thank you for the break!

16/07/2024

HEY....IS FOR HORSES...!

My lovely old Grandmother used to correct me with this every, single time I said "hey"!, but, in this case I'm using the word appropriately! This hay - nicely toasting dry in the (fierce) Southern Alberta heat! - WILL be for horses! And a few cows too!

We are fortunate that the family that first settled and farmed this land began their farming life growing hay all those years ago. So our paddocks contain a rich assortment of grass, including whatgrass, alfalfa and sorghum, that were grown to provide nutrition to livestock over the winter months - and continue to do so now!

We're thankful of their efforts that provided us with such a strong base with which to work from - and I'm sure the animals now fed by it appreciate it too!

09/07/2024

ALL CHANGE ON THE FARM AGAIN!

Our old farm only grows hay now and we will be blessed with an excellent harvest this year thanks to Mother Nature! It's easy to complain about the weather - and we do too! - but the need for Spring moisture was grave this year after years of drought and we were all thankfull for the rain!

Our mixed grass crop was lush and over 5' high in places, which made it tricky to see guests on our walking paths sometimes! But it was all-change this morning and the grass is now only a couple inches tall. Everything else is cut and drying out in the summer breeze until we bale it to be used as winter feed on other small farms. For the moment it's rather satisfying to see it all laid out in neat and tidy rows!

Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to how many different varieties of grass were harvested? Bonus points if you can name some, or all, of those varieties!

25/06/2024

SUNNY DAYS ON THE FARM

There's ALWAYS something to do on the farm - even on one that farms lttle more than grass nowadays! And what grass we have this year!😮 After our initial prep, we've benefitted from some pretty perfect growing weather - as has the surrounding arable land! For us it will be a hay-day indeed, when the time comes!

We cut walking paths around the farm for guests to wander around on, but try to leave as much land as we can fallow and unused for the benefit of local wildlife. There's little doubt that our mule deer are still visiting and not put off by our new, taller boundary fence. This year they appear to be enjoying the shaded North side in particular, where the grass is lush and thick under the trees and they can rest their weary legs while having a snack at the same time! At least we think these flattened circles in the grass are caused by resting deer......or it could be UFO's?! 🤷‍♀️

29/05/2024

WISE AND LOGICAL GUARDIANS NEED YOUR HELP!

We regularly hear our Great Horned Owls calling to each other - and sometimes more vigorously than others! As far as we undestand (and we're no ornothologists!) these calls are generally to ward off threats or to check on the location of each other, although, for all we know it could just be the normal bickering of expectant parents!

For the last week or so, Mom and/or Dad-to-be - that we have affectionately named Seven and Spock - can consistenlty be found perched on the same spot in the same tree, watching for danger and chasing it off when needed, so we're pretty confident of the rough location of their nest this year!

So get ready for a gratuitous amount of fluffy owlet spam coming soon (hopefully!) To celebrate their arrival, they have asked us to run a competition to help name their adorbale owlet(s) - what do they know about our (alien) language after all?!?!
The lucky winner will win a free night's stay in our comfortable and cosy cabin - and the answers don't have to be wonderfully wise or lavishly logical to be considered!

Follow our page and watch this space!

Perfect retreat for a break away from it all. Close enough to a highway & town for convenience. Far enough & secluded enough that you'll feel like you're miles away. Enjoy the rural location, mountain views, space to roam & the privacy to relax & unwind

28/05/2024

HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE!

Maybe it's because we've had so much to do on the farm, but it felt like a slower start to Spring this year, but boy has that changed in the blink of an eye!

After the rains, our grass is lush and thick and we're undertaking a little w**d maintenance in several areas now. One of the areas that sees less of this is H***y Trail, as the farm boundary is closely bordered by the surrounding arable farmland here so, in the spirit of being good neighbours, we don't undertake any w**d spraying here. As still and calm as it can feel, it only tales a second for the wind to gust and we could later find we've inadvertantly killed off some crops and caused a catastophe - and that's the last thing we would want to happen.

We must confess, as much as a.pain the w**ds are, they do provide a little welcome brightness as you stroll down the trail enjoying the mountain views!

22/05/2024

ROCK(IES) ON THE FARM!

Mother Nature has felt a little secretive over the last wee while, and has chosen to hide the Rockies from view sometimes! So we decided to bring a couple of pieces of them to the farm so every guest can say they saw them, regardless of the weather!! Here's hoping she's not too irritated by this and hides the actual mountain behind cloud for the rest of the year!

They will also help us find the driveway during heavy snowfalls of course. 🫢