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).

Merry Christmas

 It is hard for me to write this weeks blog without feeling some guilt. Christmas this year was so difficult for so many and my thoughts go out to them. But I was very fortunate that my Christmas was filled with love and joy and family. 

The joy started on the 23rd with the birth of 8 bunnies. They are the most amazing, velvety soft, beautiful, little bundles of awesomeness to arrive since the hatching of our chicks last spring. 

Christmas had the potential to be difficult as my son Brandon is still in Ontario and living alone right now. But, as it did for many families, Zoom was there for us and brought Brandon into our living room where he, my parents, Zoe, her boyfriend Navy and I all opened presents together and had a lovely morning. 

After an afternoon of cooking and cleaning, Navy’s family arrived for a evening of gifts, games, and a candlelit dinner.

Zoe pointed out that although this is our third Christmas living in Nova Scotia, it was her first one spending it in our home. I think, despite the world conspiring against us, it was a wonderful one! 

From our family to yours....may you appreciate the little joys and feel the big love that surrounds you. Happy holidays! 

More Life on The Farm

Bill says we look like cult leaders with the chickens. 

I

When we step out the door and they think there is food involved they mob us trying to be first to get a bite. Sometimes if we are not fast enough getting out of the house they come up to the door and wait. This handsome rooster is Carlos with his girlfriend Chickira, trying to hurry us along.

Weather has changed and we have had a very cold day and a very windy one and some snow. 

There was a bad Digby fishing boat accident during the windy day.

Part time  work on the new bathroom has begun again and I believe an assistant will be part of the picture soon. Today the contractor worked on the plumbing and on levelling the floor which is terribly uneven.

Let me describe a day on the farm. This was Saturday.  Leave the house at 8 o’clock. Drive to Upper Clements, well off the main track into a hilly combination of farms and forests. Pick up a truckload of firewood from a farmer whom we visited last year. Go to the winter market in Annapolis Royal and buy tarts, quiche, bread, beer, greens, cookies... Drop Shannon off at work. Come home and unload the truck with help from Zoe’s boyfriend. Have the quiche for lunch. Make a seafood chowder for dinner. Get back in the truck, drive to Annapolis Royal to pick up a rented wood splitter and then pick up Shannon from work.  Position the splitter and then enjoy the seafood chowder, a glass of wine and a market tart for dessert. There is a full day and we loved it. Tomorrow we will actually do the splitting.
Still from Shannon’s Mom
Is she ever going home? you might ask.
Sandy