Summer

It is late August and I see by the timeline I haven't updated my blog all summer.
Joe has settled in nicely and we ride several times a week. Alissa Cue of Rohan Wood Stables has been out three times to provide private lessons at the farm and to help Joe and me work through getting to know each other. The last few rides have been very good.
Dahlia, our calf, has also arrived. She is flighty and suspicious, but she's starting to come into her stall at night with a bribe of grain.
Joe seems to think Dahlia is part of his herd and he's always trying to make her graze where he wants to graze. He also chases her sometimes. I expect by the spring we'll have to have separate pastures for them.
Speaking of pastures, it has been a dry, dry summer. We've tried to rotate the pasture by sectioning it off with wire, but the rains have been intermittent and the grass is not coming back as quickly as anticipated. Rob and I are fencing the middle field today in order to provide more grazing area for Dahlia and Joe.
Kelly, Steven and I picked strawberries at Kenny's Strawberries in Kentville. I picked two flats of berries some of which I froze and some of which I made into jam. This weekend past I picked blackberries. Last night I turned those into jam. The woods are full of berries and chokecherries so I expect I'll make more jam or jelly next week.
I picked up local peaches this week and preserved those as well.

Canned peaches in a light, spiced syrup.

The garden has been providing some meals for us. It was a constant battle to keep the chickens out of it and they enjoyed meals of cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce. We ate beans, peas, Swiss chard and potatoes. If all goes well I will have a bumper crop of tomatoes to preserve. We may need cover it with plastic to protect it from frost while the fruit ripens.

There is nothing quite so rewarding as knowing you have the skills to provide for yourself. I know this fall will be busy with preserving food for enjoyment this winter with Mother Nature providing lots of wild edibles for our use.



A Check on the Life Wish List

I don't know when I first realized I wanted a horse. I'm sure if you asked my parents they would say it has been on every Christmas list and every birthday candle wish since the day I first knew what the word meant.
We had horses board at the farm when I was little. In fact one of my earliest memories is being high above Dad as he led me around the pasture on a palomino. When I grew older, my cousin Helen had a pretty little Standardbred. We all learned how to ride on her by racing around the fields riding double. I would go up and muck out the stall just to be near her. And I can tie a western saddle cinch with my eyes closed thanks to all the practice Helen enforced.
I became very good at borrowing horses from the neighbours. And for a brief year we boarded a horse at the farm when I was in my teens. I think Queenie was older than I was and a lot smarter, but I learned a lot from her and was sad when she returned to her owner.

Today, a life-long dream was filled when Joe moved onto the farm. Joe is a 12-year-old Canadian-Percheron with a tail which practically touches the ground. He's saddle and harness broke. I'm incredibly excited to have him here. Cole and I just sat for the last hour watching him eat.
Rob and I have laboured over creating the pasture for weeks. We've cut back brush, pounded posts, nailed insulators and strung wire. Today we connected it all together and turned on the power. We still need to make a few adjustments, but it is done and it will hold Joe in the field.
It's not every day a girl has a dream come true. But today is one of those days. I hope Anne and Fred know how much love and affection Joe will receive. Crystal deserves kudos for helping me find him and Rob, well Rob deserves a medal for helping make this dream come true and for every nail, every post and every foot of wire.

The Smallest Things

About a week ago I was walking around the front yard when I heard the unmistakable buzz of a hummingbird passing me. It took several minutes before I saw the tiny bird, his swift flight taking him from one end of the yard to the other in fractions of a second. I went into the house and dug out and cleaned my hummingbird feeder and mixed up a solution of water and sugar. We're now on the second batch of solution and my solitary hummingbird is joined by a mate, although it is truly difficult to tell if they are matched as he won't let her near the feeder half the time.
For being the smallest birds in the world, they are territorial bullies. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to capture a photo of them for past few days. When they see my reflection at the window they leave the feeder. The other evening, as I was barbecuing towards sunset, I observed them feeding quite heavily. I'm guessing they were fuelling up for the night. The male bird sat on a limb in one of the maples for several minutes before taking a final run at the feeder and disappearing for the night.
Today, Rob is working with a mentor of his own, a local carpenter. They will put up the animal shelter (it arrived Friday). Rob and Wally will act as his assistants. Rob will hopefully learn a few new skills in the process. Once the shelter is in place, we'll finish the fence line, build a holding paddock where the animals can settle for the first few days and make a final pass around the field to ensure there is no grass or brush remaining to short out the fencing. Hopefully within the next month both animals will be on site and all the chickens will be out on pasture.
I finished getting the garden planted. I need to hoe the weeds out of the area where the tomato seedlings will go; I'll probably wait and put them in after the full moon in June (June 4). That should be the last frost. I'm anxious to see seedlings sprouting the garden and to see it start taking shape.

Spring Has Sprung

Winter is the season for planning and spring is the season for action.
The days are long and filled with activity. I'm on vacation this week, but I'm putting in my time on the farm. 
On the weekend I went horse shopping with the help of long-time friend Crystal Fullerton. After a disappointing first stop Crystal suggested we stop by the farm of her neighbour. They had a Canadian/Percheron cross for sale. Joe is a stocky boy and after two visits, riding in the ring and taking him out in the cart I decided to purchase Joe. He'll be moving to the farm early in June.
In preparation for Joe and Dahlia (who is waiting for registration information and tattooing) we have been setting up posts, clearing underbrush and stringing a fence line around the front the field. Rob ordered a shelter package from Home Hardware last week and we expect it to arrive any day.
We have chickens. In addition to last year's layers we hatched out nine chicks earlier in the year and they are now on pasture, we have 20 in the back porch (plus one duck) and 11 meat kings. The incubator currently has a dozen duck eggs in it. Within a month they all should be out on pasture. In addition, one of the barred rocks decided she wanted to hatch her own brood. We moved her out to the barn in a protected pen. She had 13 eggs under her. Last week we put a second hen in the pen, the rooster has been a little too friendly with her and her back was scratched. She ended up causing two the the eggs to break. The good news is they are fertilized and life is growing in them.
We've planted six apple trees and three pear trees in one corner of the largest field. The picture is me taking the lawn mower and water to the trees. I mowed around them this afternoon and watered them.
I've also planted two clumps of rhubarb, 25 strawberry plants and over the last few days I got the garden in. Last year's pig pen is now home to a modest-sized vegetable patch. I have so far planted: potatoes, lettuce, beats, beans, Swiss chard, spinach, peas, onions, cauliflower, peppers, broccoli, cabbage and carrots. I had to rig up a net to keep the hens out of it after they dug up the first row of peas and half the onions. So far so good, they haven't figured out to walk behind their coop and into the garden.
Everything is lush and green right now. The apple blossoms are out, as are the lilacs. Already, the choke cherry trees are starting to fruit and last year's asparagus plants are poking through the ground (although the chickens keep eating the tips of them.)
Spring is busy and full, and I'm enjoying it to the max.

New Skills

When I started writing I was on a very different journey than the path I face today and I talked a lot about the journey process, a convention used by writers to move a storyline forward. I want to circle back to that idea again.
We each are heroes in our own journeys and we will meet people who influence us while we are on that journey - it may be by their passions, by their position, their actions or how we react to these factors. This week I took part in a cheese-making workshop. It is part of my current journey where I am trying to learn as many agri-based skills as I can. While I can't say for sure yet that I have heard the "call" of the cheese-maker I am intrigued and feel I gained enough knowledge to move forward with the basics -- making mozzarella, for example, is a certainty. I just need to order the rennet and bacteria for the process.
As I wrote in the early days, along each journey we meet mentors, people who share their knowledge and skill. I met more than one possible mentor this week, but I'd like to focus on Margaret Morris of Glengarry Cheesemaking and Dairy Supply Ltd. 
Margaret is passionate about cheese making and sharing her knowledge. Under her guidance we learned how to make mozzarella, Camembert and a reblochon. Three relatively simple cheeses for the home cheese maker with the right supplies. Margaret was patient as she answered myriad questions, and walked us through the steps. The pay-off was sampling the mozzarella at the end of our second day of the session. It's texture was incredibly different than the industrial cheese we purchase in the store. It was chewy and stretchy and there was a tangy bite to its flavor. I could have eaten a whole ball of it myself. Its flavor had me thinking about homemade pizza with tomatoes and basil from my garden.
I was also inspired by Ron Muise, a cheese maker and dairy sheep producer in Cape Breton. He may have been punchy from delivering lambs, but his passion for his business and product still came through. All of the participants had an opportunity to taste his cheese, and while still young, it proved to be wonderful. His talk wasn't all sunshine, raising sheep is a challenge in Nova Scotia and raising dairy sheep layers additional challenges.
Part of the workshop introduced us to the art of pairing wine with cheese and some basics to follow. It allowed us to sample a variety of cheeses (and wines), from different species and following different styles (feta, Cheddars, Goudas and blues).
I'm looking forward to following this new path, and learning more about the process. If it leads to acquiring livestock, well, it may be this is our call, we just haven't heard it yet.

March - Pre-Spring

We are experiencing typical spring weather. If I was a maple syrup producer I know I would be stressing-out right about now and worrying about ice breaking the trees or pulling down the sap lines. From my perspective, the world is glazed in silver. We have had rain, freezing rain and snow in the last 24 hours and temperatures hovering near the freezing point. I walked Cole and Oscar (my brother's dog) after work today. The world was strangely quiet with the sleet falling, except for the trees rattling in a light breeze -- their limbs and branches coated with ice.
In a few more weeks fishing season will be starting. The rivers and streams are already ice-free because it has been such a mild winter.
I recently purchased a grow light and plan to set it up this weekend so I can start some tomato plants in the house. I've made my seed list and we've finally decided were we'll start our garden. This year we'll plow up the area where the chickens ran last summer and we'll use part of last year's pig pen for tomatoes, peppers and green.
We collected eggs from our chickens and hatched them in an incubator. Of the 11 we set we had 10 hatch. One has since died and another has a deformed leg and may yet not survive. A couple are barred-rock and the others are barred-Rhode Island crosses. All are very cute, and it will be interesting to see what they look like when they fledge-out. We'll set another batch in a few weeks. Our goal this year is to double the number of birds we raise for our freezer. We're planning using the same model we did last year using pens in the pasture and moving them every day. If we can find them, we'd like to raise a few heritage turkeys too.
In two weeks I'm taking part in a cheese-making workshop. I had signed up for one last fall but it was cancelled. This is a two-day event taking place in Bible Hill. I'm quite excited and looking forward to the experience.

February - Winter Arrives



Rob plowing the yard.

We woke up this morning to a blanket of snow covering everything. We went from having almost bare ground to a winter wonderland overnight. So far, the winter has been mild and open, with a few exceptions. We have had more rain than snow and many days on the plus side of zero. Last night's storm was a welcome diversion. The eight inches or so will help insulate the chicken coop, and the main the house for that matter.

Rob used the tractor to clear the barn yard and driveway, while I shoveled paths to the door and the hen house. It took about an hour to clear the yard of snow. We then put on our skis and skied around the fields. It was hard work, but it was lovely to be out and it wasn't too cold. Cole loved it and he's flaked out on a blanket sleeping now.

We been getting an average of seven eggs a day from the hens and this weekend we purchased an incubator and we put dozen aside to see if we can hatch them. We're already looking toward the spring and trying to figure out how many chickens we need to raise for the freezer for this year. We only have half a dozen left from the ones we raised last year.

The seed catalogs have arrived and I am reviewing my options for the garden. Last year's venture was quite successfully and I am anxious to build and expand on it. We'll plow up an area on the east side of the big barn and the pen were the pigs were housed last year. I plan to grow my tomatoes, peppers, herbs and lettuces there.

In addition to the chickens, we're purchasing a horse this year as well. We're still deciding whether to go with pigs again or try our hand at raising a cow or two.

In another week or so we'll own an additional 20 acres of land. We're in the process of purchasing an adjacent piece. The transaction will add another field and some cut over woodland. We think we'll plant some Christmas trees on some of it.

We also met with a local carpenter to discuss what we need to do to build a small shed for the tractor. We'll cut some trees off the property and have them milled by a neighbour with a portable mill. We have a handful of spruce and several doze poplar ready to harvest. We hope using our own wood will help manage the cost as well. Plus there's is a sense of pride knowing it it came from our property and it is one step close to self-sufficiency.

This is the first time in year's where I haven't felt like winter is dragging on. The lack of storms and the excitement about the spring both make it fly by.