Exploring Kamloops: The Old Tranquille Farm

Posted in History, Kamloops, Kara and Kyle by

This past weekend Kyle and I took advantage of the beautiful weather to go take a guided tour of Tranquille Farm Fresh. Today, it’s a little farm that grows and sells local produce and meat with the hopes that it becomes a self-sustaining community. However, it wasn’t always sunshine and happiness.

Back in the early 1900’s it was a tuberculosis (TB) sanatorium, and that’s what it’s notoriously known as to most in the area. (Before that it was a ranch, which was bought-out by the provincial government to create the TB facility.) Between 1908 and 1912, several buildings were built, and until the late 1950’s it was used to help treat and essentially prevent the spread of TB. In the 1970’s, the site was also home to a mental facility for mentally challenged and disturbed children but was closed in the 1980’s.

Really, the site has a LOT of history, and is even rumoured to be haunted. I can see why – There were a lot of questionable treatments of patients during their stay. We were unable to actually enter any of the buildings due to asbestos and them not being structurally-sound, but it was definitely eery just looking inside from the grounds. The owners/operators of the site today hope to one day get the permits to be able to take people in some of the buildings and the tunnels that connect the buildings.

Unfortunately, a lot of the buildings have also been damaged and broken into by vandals and thieves before Tranquille Farm Fresh was established. The thieves were actually looking for copper wiring since copper is valuable, and the vandals are most likely drunken kids looking for a good scare. Regardless, I’m glad that someone has been able to step in and help preserve some of Kamloops’ history, despite its dark history.

Here’s some photos I took while we were on our tour:

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The old farmhands’ house. Those who worked at the facility were encouraged to live there as well.

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This building (along with the rest) are all boarded up due to asbestos.

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The main building. It was also used as the women’s living quarters after the Greaves Building was built in the 1920’s.

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The Greaves Building (a secondary building) for the TB patients.

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The front of the Greaves Building, which faces Kamloops Lake

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The doctor’s house – Where he lived while treating patients at the facility.

You may notice that there are a few “modern” touches on some of the buildings, such as swamp coolers and aluminum windows, and that’s because the site was purchased in the early 1990’s by an Italian man with the hopes to turn it into a resort, but those efforts failed.

If they ever open up the tunnels for public tours, Kyle definitely wants to go back. He had always wanted to tour the site and jumped at the opportunity to when I mentioned it. I don’t know if I’ll put my “big girl” panties on and do the tunnel tour if it becomes available, but we’ll see. (Ghosts and hauntings really freak me out!)

If you’re at all interested in the history of the area and don’t mind being a little creeped out, definitely book yourself a tour! And if you go in the summer, do the morning one, or else bring a lot of sunscreen and water! It is a wagon tour, but there isn’t a lot of shade and there are a few stops during it.

Have you ever been to a “haunted” house? Do they give you the goosebumps?

{Petting} Zoo Afternoon

Posted in Kamloops, Photos, Recap by

Earlier this week on Tuesday, a friend and I decided to cruise on down (or up, I guess) to the Westsyde Petting Zoo here in Kamloops. (Also known as the Little Farmers Petting Zoo!) Neither of us had ever been before, so in an effort to trump boredom with our husbands were away at work, we decided to give it a go!

The “zoo” is located at the Westsyde Centennial Park right by the entrance. Really, you can’t miss it! The animals are more or less unattended, so you can’t actually go in the pens and pet them, but there are a variety of $1 and $0.25 machines around their enclosures with pellets and seed that you can feed to them. (The zoo is run by volunteers, and the food machines are how it gains income.)

There’s a HUGE number of goats at the farm, and while we were there we were able to see a few cute little baby goats, as well as a couple of VERY pregnant momma goats! There are also a couple of emu’s (which reminded me of velociraptors) and tons of different exotic birds, including peacocks, “fancy” chickens, pheasants, turkeys, and geese. While it wasn’t out-of-this-world amazing, it was still fun to see all the cool birds. Will I go back? Most likely when Isla is older. I can always pack a picnic lunch and make a better day out of it for sure!

Now for some pictures: (If you’re using a reader, click through to my actual page for a better view)

If you’re looking to have a fun afternoon at a relatively low cost, definitely check out the Westsyde Petting Zoo!

Chair UpCycling

Posted in Crafty, House and Home, Pinterest by

I would never classify or call myself a thrifty person whatsoever. I like things new and knowing that there’s no possibility that someone has urinated on them. Basically, you’d never catch me at a yard sale or thrift store hauling a “funky” old/dated couch into the back of my truck. Nope, not me. I digress …

After randomly stumbling upon a few pins of funky coloured wooden chairs, and after witnessing in person the wonders of how a simple coat of brightly coloured spray paint can give something a major facelift, I decided that I was going to tackle a bit of an “upcycling” project myself. See, I have this old (uncomfortable) wooden chair that really has no purpose other than being a spare chair in the computer room. It’s probably about 30 years old and used to go along with a desk/hutch unit that I’ve since taken to the dump. Very rarely do I sit it in for extended periods of time (and when I do, I whine at its uncomfortableness until Kyle gives up the computer chair).

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The chair – before – after starting the sanding process.

ANYWAY – I mentioned giving the chair a makeover to Kyle and he was all on board for my project. He showed me how to used the hand sander, bought me some sand paper, helped me pick out the spray paint, and gave me a quick “how to” for spray painting. After that, I was on my own. Really, I think I did OK.

The spray paint I used I bought at Home Depot and is just a glossy purple. I really wanted some kind of teal/turquoise blue colour, but they didn’t really have anything like that, so I went with purple.

Rust-oleum Gloss Grape

Rust-Oleum in Gloss Grape

What’s nice about this brand/spray paint is that the nozzle was a multi-directional one, so I could tip the can anyway I pleased to paint the chair. A bonus for a novice spray-bomber like myself.

After a couple coats, I don’t think it turned out too badly! There’s a few spots where I got too close and the paint ran, but I’m thinking I’ll just sand those spots out and re-spray. Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with my project, despite the headache the paint gave me. (Yes, I was in a well-ventilated area.)

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You can kind of see the runs in the paint on the back of the chair …

Pretty, no? I’m not sure what the future holds for this chair now, but at least I know I can always repaint it in the future if I get sick of the colour! Maybe I’ll use it for a time out chair when Isla misbehaves ;)

Have you ever upcycled something? Would you do it again?