Week 21 - Dirty hands, happy heart...

The last week has been exhausting yet satisfying. We put a huge dent in #plant16 and if the weather cooperates next week the greenhouse will be empty. 

While there are some plants that we plant every few weeks, to
keep a fresh supply (lettuce, spinach, peas, beans), the first round of seeding is done and plant are popping up after this weeks' rain. Transplanting of broccoli, cauliflower, onions, squash, zucchini, artichoke, and cucumbers is done. 

We tackled the strawberry bed this week and moved over 400 plants.... pretty good as the bed started with 12 free plants we got from a neighbour a couple of years ago! Their original generosity was paid forward this week as we invited anyone who wanted to come and dig the remaining strawberries up to come and get them. Six or seven households will enjoy a taste of strawberries this year.... never under-estimate how much one simple kindness can multiply and touch many others! 

Mid-week we discovered that a skunk had killed almost a dozen of our young hens we hatched in early spring. The skunk dug under and into the chicken tractor that they were in. Put the temporary electric fence and set up the trap and caught him the following night.. but where there is one, there will be others.  

All the rest of the critters are doing well, our broiler chickens are almost ready to go out onto pasture and we are expecting another batch of broiler chicks and our turkeys to arrive this Friday! The geese are huge and act like godzilla among the smaller chicks. Oliver (the baby goat) continues to thrive and is now down to two bottles a day as he is eating more and more vegetation as he grows. Finally the piggies are doing very well. They are a riot to watch especially when they wrestle with each other. 

We end the week with dirty hands and happy hearts... we are truly blessed to live in a place so beautiful and nourishing. 

Week #20 - Love and Haiku

Seeds sown, wind blew hard
Love: a pair of apples trees
We need a good rain

A haiku to describe the week... 

We got much of the direct seeding done earlier in the week.

More leafy greens, peas, carrots, beets, and peas. The fields are dry... very dry. It's a bit like seeding into gravel! 

Our greenhouse is full to bursting and we planned to start moving plants outside and into the field but the wind blew like crazy today! With all the dust in the air, it looked like a giant dust storm.  Hoping that tonight will bring rain and tomorrow will have no wind. 

Today marks our twenty-third wedding anniversary. To celebrate, Farmer Phil and I went out and bought each other a pair of apple trees which we planted out back. Perhaps unconventional.... but that's us! 

Week #19 - Candied delights

We are always looking to add value to what we produce on the farm and continue to explore what we can make from the various animal and plant byproducts we raise. 

Over the past year I've been experimenting with using our goat's milk to create caramel candies. My family has 'suffered' greatly acting as guinea pigs for various recipes until we created one that seems to the be favorite! 

We continue to experiment with the most efficient and economical way to package them but it seems like parchment paper has been the most effective. We can get about 150 candies out of each batch and we've got it down to a science on how to quickly wrap and package them all. 

As we don't always have a fresh goat's milk available we have experimented with freezing our raw milk and using it throughout the winter.. I can't tell the difference in the caramels so it seems to be a great way to extend our production all year round! 

Interested in trying some of our caramels.... you can check out our products page for more information!

Week #18 - Farm by numbers

Endless potato planting..

Patty and her brood outside for the first time!

Oliver and Graceson cuddle each night

Caesar, the rooster

Over 900 potatoes planted, 65 tomatoes - all snug in their own kozy koat, 9 pigs moved to their new home, 100s of plants seeded and moved countless times around the greenhouse, three bottles a day for Oliver (the goat kid), 150 new broiler chicks picked up and settled into the brooder, 3 successful hatches of layer chicks, over 2500 feet of irrigation drip tape connected, tested and ready to go! 

It was another busy week but the sore muscles and exhaustion is worth it. We are feeling like we are on track and on schedule. Hope your week was as fruitful and satisfying! 

Week #17 - A busy week!

As we head into May, we are ramping up for our busiest time of year. This week was a busy one! 

We started the week with a bang when Patty, the pig gave birth to eight healthy piglets. As a first time mom, we weren't sure how she would do, but she did great! The piglets have almost doubled their weight in 6 days and are doing very well. Patty is a very attentive mother and we are planning on moving the crew outside to pasture shortly. 

This week we also rounded up some lovely new chicks from a lady near Dugald. While we are hatching our own, I wanted to explore a few new breeds and bring some new genetics into our flock. Looking forward to watching these little ones grow! 

Our third arrival this week, was Oliver! At a week and a half, he is a strapping young fellow. He and his twin sister are half Nubian/half Alpine. Their mother was struggling to feed both the twins so their owner decided to sell Oliver. We are bottle feeding him of course so back to regular feeding times we go! 

At the end of the week, we managed to get most of our field prep done. We plant in black, biodegradable plastic mulch which heats the soil, traps moisture (there is a drip tape hose running underneath) and keeps weeds away. This weekend we put the mulch down on both fields and smoothed, shovelled and hoed the rows to be sure that all are even and secure. We even got a few of our kozy koats filled up - we put our tomatoes in these waterfilled mini-shelters to give them an early head start. 

Just talking about the week leaves me satisfied and tired... definitely will sleep well! Sweet dreams!