It’s Been Way Too Long

Hi everyone! I have missed you!

Life here is crazy.

First is work: 

While the YMCA was closed down for the third Covid wave, the building we are housed in announced they were closing their doors and the YMCA, along with the other tenants, were given notice to vacate. We (by which I mean Richard and Aimee) worked horribly long hours, ended up covered in bruises and exhausted, but managed to arrange the moving of an entire health, fitness and aquatics centre over the span of 5 days. Although it was hard work, long hours, and very sad, it was incredible to be a part of this team who never wavered in their love of the Y, and their understanding that although the building closed, this would not be the end of the Fundy YMCA. We now have the opportunity to redesign our programs, to reach out in new directions, to redefine ourselves. So underneath the stress and exhaustion, I feel a level of excitement.

The Farm:

The animals have also held a level of stress. The fox came back a second time and took two more chickens, so they have all been inside but given free range of the barn for three weeks now. While they are all still alive, this is not the life I wanted for my chickens. So we have decided to start to let them outside again but in smaller groups for shorter times under supervision until we can determine if the threat still exists. We are hoping that we were caught in  kit training season and that, a month later, it is over and they have all moved on to there new homes. Very hopeful and probably naive, but I am hoping nonetheless.

One of our first time momma rabbits had us learning midwifery skills when she needed help delivering a breach baby. While we were unable to save the baby, the mom is alive and doing well.

We have added to our duck flock and now have 10 of the most lovely call ducks ❤️ they have a pool room since I am not comfortable yet releasing them to the pond until I feel the fox is gone. But that will be such a fun day when they finally get to go in it! We have made our first endeavour into meat chickens. I think next year I will look into a different breed of meat chickens-sassos- which take a bit longer to get to butcher weight, but have a more natural bird life. 

The pigs are my peace and joy! I love seeing them frolick and play and run excitedly towards us, just as happy to hang out with us as we are to hang out with them. They have a lovely large area to call home as I am asking them to dig up a hay field.

The garden is growing well. There are a few things that need to be replanted after being nibbled away by birds or rodents. and none of the herbs I planted took?? So I am trying to get them started inside and, if all goes well, I will be able to transplant seedlings in a month. Other than the basil, much of what I want are perennial herbs so this season won’t be productive but should be established for next year. 

Finally our more domestic animals….Dixie is lovely and becoming a fantastic farm/herding/protecting dog who is doing a wonderful job of keeping the chickens close on their supervised outdoor times. Charlie the cat is finally losing weight, getting stronger, going outside more and keeping the basement and garage rodent population under control. Phoenix the cat injured his paw 10 days ago but after a few days of forced bed rest he is back outside and back to climbing the trees.  And as of tonight we also have a rescue barn cat. We have read that a barn cat presence will help to deter predators like foxes, and of course we are hoping they will also keep the rat population in the barn down. So we are very excited to meet him and have our fingers crossed that he protects and doesn’t eat our ducks and chickens!

So let me introduce our newest family member: Dexter.

Is It Over Yet??

This past week has been tough. I would say it has been the worst week of the past three years. 

As I mentioned last week, I had pasteurella multocida from a cat bite. In the grand scheme of things, I made out very well. I have heard many stories about hospitalizations, IV drips, nurse home visits, cellulitis. I had only 4 days of keeping my hand immobile and 2 days of limited movement. I am now, almost back to normal. I feel my arthritis is worse in that hand but otherwise I can move and have strength back.

We had an illness in our household which made COVID very real for 24 hours until we got the negative test results back. 

We had a fox attack our chickens…in broad daylight…while I was on the other side of the barn mowing the lawn😥

It killed three of our laying hens and three of our babies before I saw it and was able able to move everyone into the barn. 

And to top off the first three days of the week…our pigs have decided an electric fence is not scary enough to keep them in!

By Wednesday night I wanted to pull up the covers, go to sleep, and not wake up until Monday.

But then Friday…we had 8 of our 9 chicks hatch in the incubator and I have hope again.

To The Hospital We Go

After two and a half years of farm life I had to take my first trip to the hospital.

Anyone who has spent time with me knows how clumsy I am. I am always covered in cuts and scrapes and bruises. So what could possibly send me to the emergency room??

Was it a chainsaw accident? No…

A fall off a ladder? No…

Did I get hit with a falling branch? No…

Tractor accident? No…

Was I protecting my barn from a bear? Closer…..

Protecting my chickens from a coyote? Closer….

Alright I will tell you.

I was trying to examine my 8 year old cat Charlie’s eye which is recovering from an ulcer when he had enough and bit me!

Yep, that’s it. I was sent to the hospital with a very fast moving bacterial infection caused by my overweight, slow, old, mostly indoor cat. 

Now anyone want to guess how dumb I feel!? I totally wish it could be a cooler story with more heroics, but no. A domestic cat bite got the best of me.

I now have to sit (the worst punishment of all), allow others to do things for me (a close second in the worse punishments of all time) and let the antibiotics work. Apparently, by using my hand, the bacteria is pushed faster and further through my system.

Ugh…sounds like a Netflix and chips afternoon. 

Busy, Busy, Busy…

I have made decent progress on my to do list this week. 

I finally finished putting the garden fence back up, reinforced the walls and weeded the perennial fruits, asparagus and garlic.

We put up a small outdoor  run for the bunnies so they can now frolick in the grass! And they are loving it!! It is so fun to watch them chase each other around the tree.

I have spent too much time sorting poop lol!! What is this world coming too?? Apparently rabbit fertilizer is amazing. Does not need to be composted, has a perfect mix of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and can be sold for $15 a pound. So I cleaned over 20 pounds and now we wait and see if they really are golden nuggets!

If you recall we successfully hatched one duck. But only one. Zoe and I found a person selling more call ducks so we went and picked up more friends for LD (our nickname for our duck born on the province wide Lock Down, or for Lonely Duck, or for Little Duck). The new babies are still in quarantine, but we are very happy that LD will have friends soon.

Warning…this last paragraph/photo may be upsetting to some people.

Our young barn cat and old indoor cat worked together to make their first kill! Finally!!

Shutdown…Again

I want to start today’s blog with a hello to Aunt Lucy and Carol who reached out last week. It was great to reconnect and catch up with you both!

We have been very COVID lucky here in Nova Scotia. We had the three month lockdown last year and since that, have been able to return to work and life (with the addition of masks and social distancing)…until April 28th. 

Zoe was laid off of work at that time but I have been able to stay working (with reduced hours) until now. I will be laid off again now though until we get our COVID numbers back under control. 

Since I always look for the positive side of things…I am going to appreciate the time off to get many neglected tasks done as well as do basic spring chores. 

To begin with:

If you recall, the ends of my garden fence blew out in a wind storm. Our first task was to rebuild that. The chickens have been very helpful!

We have been able to spend more time with the animals. We put up a very quick (and inadequate) run so our bunnies can come outside. They loved it and it has inspired us to build a better area so they can come out more, unsupervised.

We introduced our two hatches of chicks to the big hens and it went way better than I anticipated! There is very little bullying or pecking. Today they started to bond over shared sunflower seeds.

I was getting very nervous about the potential of wasted eggs. Our hens lay over a dozen a day right now and they were starting to pile up with only a few customers. We have a great sign that our neighbour gave us that we put out at the road late last week and …voila…we have customers!

I wrote out my list tonight and it looks like I will have a busy week (although I also am reading a great book right now so there will be lots of time for that Gayle Redmond!)

 I am very excited to have this time to accomplish lots and hopefully that means…back to weekly posts!

The Pig Pen

Ellie and Winnie finally have their outdoor home!

I realize that if I am unsure about something, I procrastinate badly. That was the case with this outdoor pig pen and the electric fencing. I have never worked with electric fencing and was really insecure about it. So something that should have taken two weeks took two months. Finally last week, Zoe and Navy stepped in and forced me to figure it out! While I asked questions and got comfortable they started clearing the land.

After that things moved very quickly. We got the shelter built, the posts in, the wire run, the charger connected, the gate mounted and voila!

The last step was to test the fence. I bought a very inexpensive tester and we struggled to see it light up. We were very nervous that the fence was not working. Then our darling cat Phoenix decided it would be fun to jump through the wires. Who needs a tester when you have a cat yowling and jumping 5 feet in the air! Electric fence works!

The final step was to move the pigs in. We had such high hopes for this. We figured it would be no problem to lead them from the barn to the pen with food as the incentive. Ya...no. They are apparently a lot smarter than that!

It was time to prove how strong I am. After hearing them scream like we were murdering them (it shows how far away our neighbours are that they didn’t send the police!) I first hugged and then picked up Ellie and carried her to the pen. Then I went back for Winnie and carried him over (with some help because he is a solid young man!) Then we sat and watched them wonder why they were so afraid of coming to this fantastic paradise that their loving humans built for them❤️

Happy Easter

 Another holiday has come and gone in relative COVID quiet. By now we have found ways to adjust. My son gets his card and chocolate via mail, my parents call us, and my household enjoys a dinner. While it is not ideal, it is sadly becoming normal. 

That aside, I was laughed at by my adult household for insisting on having an easter egg hunt but we followed it with a lovely dinner. 

We celebrated on Friday because Zoe and Navy welcomed a friend from Ontario on Sunday so they had to head into isolation. They have rented an amazing cottage on a lake to pass the time.

 I truly enjoy having them here and the house feels very quiet with them gone, but I am sure I will find ways to pass the time until they return! Today I enjoyed turning on SiriusXM and listening (uninterrupted) to a Blue Jays game and I will enjoy the mushroom salad that I get to eat tonight (mushrooms are banned from our house while Zoe and Navy are here).

Our animals are keeping me on my toes this week. Our little girl Phoenix-our adorable, full of life, barn kitten - turned out to be a boy lol! Good mom I am that I couldn't figure that one out until I happened to watch him walk away from me one day and saw a healthy set of testicles....

The chick that I helped hatch has been having some difficulty. She had curly toe, so we bandaged her foot and a day later that seemed to be corrected. She also had splay leg, so we put our hobble contraption on her, however she seems to have developed a secondary issue. Her legs are still splayed apart, but her one leg has also started to turn so the foot is pointing to the side instead of to the front. I am still not sure how to handle this one and am researching how to help her.

One of our chicks from the first hatch cut her toe so badly we thought she cut off the tip. Luckily she had not. But she came inside as we are now out of hospital space in the barn and she spent the night in the cat carrier to allow time for it to scab.

Our amazing momma bunny Willow had a litter of babies on Monday night. She had a whopping 10 kits! One did not make it through the first day. Nothing traumatic, she was not injured, just died. One of the remaining kits was not getting fed. We decided to leave her in the barn with her mom and brothers and sisters but we bottle fed her three times a day for 3 days. Today, for the first time, she looked like she had been fed by Willow and when I gave her the bottle, she was able to latch on and suck! She is half the size of the other bunnies, but getting stronger!

Then, because Zoe decided all this was not enough for us to handle, she brought home 10 duck eggs which are now in the incubator. 

Once I finish the outdoor pig pen and build them a hut, I get to look up plans for a duck dock that will float in our pond and have nesting boxes for the ducks!

Some days I just shake my head at what I have gotten myself into! As tired as I am, I absolutely love every moment of every animal I have the pleasure of knowing!

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you were able to find some joy and enjoy some company whether it was in real life or virtual. 

Animals

 It was hatch weekend again. Not as successful this time around. We incubated 24 eggs and only got 9 chicks. Our first batch we got 50% hatch rate so this 38% was very disappointing. But nevertheless we have 9 cutie little babies and I learned more about being a chicken mom. 

First: we have a chick with splay legs. It took some YouTube videos but I found a super easy, successful trick. Take one hair elastic, thread it through a cut piece of drinking straw to create one loop at either end, slip one foot in each loop with the straw bit between her legs. Leave it on for 1-2 days until her tendons develop properly. Looks good so far!!

Second: the last chick to hatch was taking forever to hatch, so while I had read to never interfere with a

hatch...I interfered! The sac the chick was in had hardened and it could not break out. We wet it down, and slowly began to peel off the membrane. She seems very weak now but hopefully she will be recovered by morning. 

While I am loving on the babies, let’s not forget our now 1 month old first hatches! They have moved to the barn and were all lined up on their perch for the first time tonight.

And of course our growing piglets. They are getting much more used to us and tolerant with my loving  and scratching everyday. 

After all this good news the piece of stressful news...we lost the ends of our garden fence in a wind storm this weekend. I spent today disconnecting the ends and securing the sides so I don’t lose anymore before I can go back out on a warmer day and rebuild it.

50

Wow! I used to think 50 was so old. Today, as the clock strikes midnight and I’m still awake (take that teenage self) I realize 50 is just the next chapter.

My decade years have been very memorable and I am really looking forward to this one as well. 

I honestly cannot remember my 10th birthday so I will start the reminiscing at 20. 

I spent my 20th birthday in Toronto in an 8 hour interview hoping for a spot with Canada World Youth travelling to Africa. Whether true or not, I felt my family would not support my desire to go to Africa and “save the babies” so I told no one that I applied, and I told no one I got an interview. It wasn’t until that birthday interview proved successful and I received an acceptance letter that I told my family. That birthday set in motion a series of life events that would help shape the next ten years of my life.

30 saw me celebrating with friends, a husband and my first born. I had always wanted a life with children. For years as a child, I asked Santa for a real baby. While this sadly never happened, having my own children has been the greatest joy in my life. 

My 40th birthday was amazing. It was a turning point for me. I was starting to find my independence, my strength, and to figure out who I was. I was fortunate enough to spend this birthday with my children, my parents, my brother and his family in Myrtle Beach. I surprised everyone with a limo that took us to a lovely dinner. My brother followed this up by surprising me with fireworks on the beach! Absolutely the best most memorable birthday to date! 

But now as I look at 50 I see myself coming to life. I feel passion and joy and peace that have eluded me for years. I know I am in the right place doing the right thing for this decade of my life. I am definitely slower and sorer then my 20, 30 and 40 year old self (and that annoys me to no end). But I can deal with it so long as I have the promise of "The Farm" to inspire me. Perhaps I am being selfish, but my 20's were for helping others, my 30's were for my children, my 40's were for "the job", I am so looking forward to my 50's being for me!!

Happy Birthday to Me! 

Ellie and Winnie

Hi everyone! Thank you all for your patience with me. I know I have missed two weeks of writing. My life has been very busy but mostly with YMCA work and while I enjoy my job, I want the blog to focus on the farm and the family. That being said, I will chime up when I have something, fun, crazy, sad, exciting, innovative, farm, family or friend related to blog about. Hopefully, as we move into spring, that will be more often!

The one event that did happen over the past two weeks was my dad’s birthday. Happy birthday to a man who has taught me so much. He has had a huge hand in shaping the woman I am. He has taught me to be proud of my accomplishments and to learn from my mistakes. He has taught me plumbing and basic electrical. He has taught me what a good marriage and husband can look like, and how I should not settle for anything less. He has shown me love and encouragement. He has supported me in my darkest days and celebrated me in my shining moments. I am such a lucky daughter. Love you dad!!

Farm news: we are growing again. Two Girls Farm has welcomed our first two pigs. 

Meet Ellie and Winnie. 

They are 13 week old Berkshire / Magalitsa piglets!!

We are so excited to finally have pigs. We have wanted pigs since the day we moved in, but in typical Shannon fashion, it never happened because we were never "ready". There was no place to house them. So as always seems to happen, we get the animal and then panic to get housing built for them. It only took two days and Zoe, Navy and I had an area of the barn cleared out, workbench moved, wall built, shaving laid and pigs eating out of our hands. We do still have to set up an outdoor pen for them but that will happen as the ground thaws. Actually....I really jumped the gun because this year is my 50th birthday and all I asked for was a pig. But, of the two pigs we have, Ellie is a girl and we are hoping that she will be our momma. So for my birthday, I have my eye on a one year old Berkshire boyfriend for her. 

Other amazing, exciting farm news...we had our first incubator hatch today. So far we have three beautiful babies. A black, a brown and a white chick have managed to survive my lack of knowledge about incubators and hatch despite the screw ups! The incubator I got for Christmas did not come with any real instructions, so I was doing my best guesses based on you-tube videos. I do realize I made a number of mistakes, but I have learned from them and know the next eggs we set will be more successful. But even so...we have chickies!!

Winter Blahs

For the past few weeks I have been feeling a little low.

But finally this weekend, amidst a lovely snowstorm, I shook myself up, dusted myself off, invited a friend over for a very nice evening of homemade  pizza, brownies, wine and conversation.

Dixie begged me to go out and in the snow.

I got all my seeds ordered for my vegetable garden. I got all our herbs ordered for the herb tub (picture will follow at a later date) and started research where to buy Timothy Grass. We have selected a field where we are going to grow food for the bunnies this summer since hay has been hard to find. 

I have decided where I want my pigs to live and have been researching fencing for them.

Finally, Zoe and Navy convinced me to open up my Christmas incubator and we put our first dozen eggs in it this morning.

What have I learned when I struggle with the winter blahs? Plan for spring!!

Closet

 For four months we have been working on Zoe’s closet. I started the framing. 

With dads help we finished the framing added the drywall.

Then it was Zoe and Navy’s turn to putty and sand. Finally, Zoe primed and painted. And we moved a makeup table and organizer in.  

We still have to find a lighting solution, hang a door, and add the trim but since that will probably take another four months...

It Was A Sad Day

 I hear the common thread throughout the rabbit groups I belong to about not realizing a rabbit is pregnant until you see babies. I am now one of those people! And I don’t understand. My boys and girls are all in separate coops and only mingle when I am right there watching. But obviously I missed something because on Thursday there were 5 babies in a nest. 

So now things get hard. One was cold and dead. But I have read that a bunny is not really dead until it is warm and dead. So I brought it inside and worked for two hours to warm and revive it but with no success.

Then morning came and I went out to find one more dead in the middle of the coop and two babies in the nest. Wait...what? There should be three more babies. I scooped up the two and began rooting around to find the third. There was no other bunny anywhere to be found.

Now comes the graphic part...stop reading here if you need to...as I went to put the two babies back down I noticed one had a missing ear and both were scratched and bruised. 

I had read before that some moms, especially first time moms, will eat their babies (mystery of missing third baby solved). That meant out of five babies, only two had survived the first 12 hours, and I didn’t have any expectations that if I left them with mom she would suddenly start caring for them. So inside they came. Zoe and I set them up with a heating pad under a milk crate filled with blankets locked in the dog crate to keep them safe and sound from the dog and cats. 

We had formula and bottle fed them for three days. Unfortunately, Sunday evening they both died. 

I understand that life and death on a farm are always close to the surface, but it doesn’t make this loss any easier . 

And...They Are Gone

Apparently my powers of persuasion are rusty. No matter what I said, my parents still decided to go back home. We all really miss them and by we I mean me, Zoe, Navy, Dixie, Phoenix, the chickens and bunnies. Charlie probably misses them too but it’s hard to tell lol! 

I’m going to back up a few weeks and rave about our delicious New Years Eve dinner. Mom created three appetizer courses focussing on local seafood. The first course was fish cakes. She simplified her recipe from last year and made a winner!  

Second course was lobster crepes. I made the crepes and let’s say mom is a miracle worker to have plated such a pretty course because those crepes were not pretty! 

Finally, the piece de resistance, maple bourbon scallops! These were the most amazing scallops I have ever had.

We polished off the meal with berry and chocolate filled meringues. All of this enjoyed with some amazing wine and we had a lovely New Years Eve!!

I am still adjusting to mom and dad being gone. While they are here they do so much. From keeping the fire burning all day, the rack full of wood, the chickens fed, the dog walked, the dishes done, meals cooked, tress trimmed, tires changed, the list goes on and on. I am very grateful to have Zoe and Navy living with me this winter and both be so willing to help out with all the house and farm chores. I can not remember how I possibly did it all last year on my own. (Except the fire did not stay burning all day, dishes did pile up in the sink and the house was rarely vacuumed!)

Splitting Day and Who Can Build a Better Mousetrap

Splitting day started at 6:30am as Shannon and Bill prepped to split a very large pile of very large wood pieces. 

Shannon spent time during the year cutting and collecting. The wood piled against the marketplace did not look like much and Shannon thought they would be finished by lunchtime. Hah! It was a solid six hours of splitting, carting and piling to complete it but Shannon is not going to freeze this winter.  

Tomorrow at the same time they will be driving to Annapolis Royal to return the splitter. Then onto the next job.

Apparently people in this area have been really bothered by rodents this year. Shannon has tried a variety of traps with the biggest complaint being that not only does she not catch the mice but they steal the traps. Before we got to her house she was experimenting with a bucket filled with an antifreeze mixture, a stick, a pipe and peanut butter. She had some luck but the mice seemed to learn from the fate of their friends and success wore off. Bill shared his friend Bill Wiley’s improvements on this strategy, adding a string and a can to the mix. No luck. They then bought new traps and screwed them to the floor. Bill changed the bait to banana slices because everyone knows that banana and peanut butter goes together. No luck. Next they decided to go back to the old type trap but put it in a place where they knew the mice were the day before. The next five minutes were filled with the sound of snap..snap..snap. Catching mice? No! More like catching fingers as they tried to get the traps set. Tomorrow morning will test the success level, but I’m not holding my breath.

Sandy (this will be my last blog for this trip as we are returning to our plague infested home province).