Incubator Season Begins

 I love this time of year!! The incubator came out of storage, got a good cleaning and is set up in our spare bedroom.

After all our losses last year we moved into 2022 with 2 ducks. A male (Lucky) and a female (our first hatchling Little Duck). Little Duck started to lay eggs just over a month ago and I collected one last week and popped it in the incubator. On examination today, it looks like it is developing!!! I am so excited and hopeful. Tomorrow we will add a dozen or so chicken eggs. Duck eggs take 28 days to hatch and chicken only take 21. So this staggered start ensures the hatch date is the same and our single duck (I know-don’t count your eggs before they hatch…but I belong to the camp that says-believe it into existence) will have little friends to grow up with.

I finally stopped waiting for good weather and just went ahead and had a much enjoyed bon fire today. It was so lovely and needed. Dad and I had cleaned out the garage and barn and had accumulated a lot of boxes and scraps that needed to be burned not to mention the brush pile that had gotten very large and was encircling the fire pit again. It didn’t reach the heat or size of other bonfires, but it was a good start to the season.

And for good measure: some animal pictures💖

Inspiration and Acceptance

Firewood, firewood and firewood. This has been my week! I have cut down 3 trees and am so happy with the progress towards my goal #5: collect enough firewood for next winter. Zoe and I will be renting a splitter soon and that will give me a better idea of how close I really am.

As I have made abundantly clear, last year was tough for me. Throughout the months I gathered quotes from different sources that rang true or gave me strength or hope or simply, importantly, made me laugh. I will share some of these with you from time to time:

“This year I survived, next year I want to live”-Via (Dark Secrets)

Yes, yes, yes, yes

“Nothing is really lost until your mom can’t find it”-Unknown

My son had moved to a new place which I was unable to see or help with. He called me one day asking where his car insurance slip was. It was a week later that this was written on the white board at the YMCA and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Since, never having seen Brandon’s new place or room, I was still able to help him find his car insurance 😂

Finally...

It has been such a wonderful week! We got a good melt and lots of lovely above zero temperatures. I feel so happy to have gotten a lot of firewood cut in this short reprieve in between storms. As I sit today in front of the fire reading my book watching an expected 20-30 cm of snow fall, I feel so much less anxiety having had the week outside working. 

That feeling is two fold. There is always so much to do around the farm that having a month like January where I could barely get outside is enough to cause anxiety but more importantly is how being outside, breathing fresh air, working hard and getting dirty makes me feel “right”. Recharges my soul. Brings me such peace and calm that I wonder if I ever took a deep breath living in an urban environment.

In September of 2019 we had hurricane Dorian blow through and the
winds knocked an apple tree into a second apple. Last week I finally made great progress in cutting it down and sizing it for next years firewood. 

As far as the animals go:

The chickens and ducks also got some much missed time outside, the dogs are growing before our eyes (literally! According to their latest vet checks they are growing at almost a pound a day😳) and hormones are running rampant in the pig pen!

Just Us Again

Mom and dad are gone. 

I feel like what I have to write is a recap of mom's blog last week...but to wrap up their visit:

They were here for 4 weeks and 3 days, I got them for an extra 3 days due to an ice storm. They were here for 5 weekends and Nova Scotia treated them to 4 storms, 72 total hours of no power, snowed in, buried under a solid inch of ice and temperatures that dipped below “feels like” -27. Mom swears they will never be back in January. She plans to return in May and I am sure she will like the black flies much better than the snow 😉

Although we did not complete our usual list of farm chores which was disappointing as I try to take advantage of any visiting body on the farm, we really did accomplish a lot. 

Top of my “yay” list was replacing the kitchen tap and repairing the cupboard under it. The tap has dripped since the day I moved in and while it took 3.5 years, I could no longer stand the water torture! Dad and I took a day, some blood sacrifice and a bit of language not suitable for my mother's ears and we got it done!!! I cannot express how happy this makes me❤️

We also got an fantastic start on the barn floor. I could not build the base with hangers and joists by myself, so to have that done is not only amazing, but gets me closer to checking that job of my 2022 goals list!!! Yay dad and Shannon!!

Although no ground got broken, we made great progress on getting mom and dad set up in their “cottage”. There is a secluded area on my property where they are going to put a trailer. We got the septic, well, and electric all organized to go in within the next few months so when they come back they should have their own space to relax in. 

We have refinished three rooms since we moved in, but there is always something not quite completed so…the den is done! The bathroom is done! Zoe’s room is so much closer to done! Just a bit of touch up paint left to do. So then we were able to move on to room number 4….the living room. It was a hard decision since I had planned to finish the dining room, living room and hallway in a cohesive flow. But I am so sick and tired of having a plywood floor that I decided this is the year of not being embarrassed to have people over. We got windows ordered and a tile ceiling replaced with drywall. I promised mom that Zoe and I will make more progress before their return in the spring!

It is always great to have my parents here and it seems eerily quiet today. Zoe started work today and the puppies and I are doubling down to find a routine that works for us, and we will find our new normal again within a few days (I hope!).

Nova Scotia In January

We left home 3 and a half weeks ago for some time in Nova Scotia. We were hoping to oversee some developments on “our lot” - a piece of Shannon’s property where she has let us put a trailer. 

Since we arrived the weather has been inhospitable. There have been three serious winter storms, one of which left us without power for 48 hours. All of our outdoor plans went out the window as there was not even a melting break between snows. The final dig out was done by a neighbour the day after storm #3 because we had to get to the airport to pick up Zoe. 

Indoors we had some interesting situations. No power meant cooking on the wood burning stove for a couple of days. Shannon slept in the living room just to make sure the fire did not go out. Luckily she had a bottled water dispenser so drinking water was not a problem but we had to melt snow for watering the animals and flushing the toilets. 

We really felt like pioneers. 

We did feel a sense of accomplishment indoors. When we finally realized outdoor jobs would not get done we turned our attention onto the house. We put some finishing touches on the bathroom, did trim work and painting in Zoe’s bedroom, hired a man to rip down and replace the living room ceiling and ordered new living room windows. Some crack filling and painting may happen before we leave on Friday. So I guess the bad weather did motivate us in other areas.

However, in the future, I think January is off our list as a time for visiting.

Sandy

Scout and Tillie

Meet Scout and Tillie, the newest additions to the farm.

Scout is a Bernese Mountain Dog and I am hoping he will be my shadow working around the farm with me. He had a rough, sick start, but is fun, loving, gentle and everything I had hoped for in a beloved companion.

Tillie is a Maremma Livestock Guardian Dog. After losing so many chickens and ducks to foxes this year, I am training Tillie to protect our animals. So far the rabbits are terrified of her, the chickens tolerate her, the ducks are interested in her and she loves every single one of ….their poop🤢 She is curious, lovable and in her teething stage!

Now,  I present, "Puppies" slideshow ❤️ (this is my first slideshow so I hope it works...otherwise just imagine how adorable my new babies are😂).

Goal Setting

My first, and most important, goal for 2022 will be to have a better work / farm balance. I have made the first strides in that direction and have accepted a part time relief position at a small, local medical office which will help pay the bills and give me time to develop an income from the farm. Besides this job, I have two side gigs that also help provide extra cash for animal feed and bedding but leave me lots of time to be at home.

Creating a goals list this year is exciting for me. I was to overwhelmed last year to focus on completing tasks, so to even have the hope and desire to make a list is exciting!!

Let's begin. I want:

1. To finish the floor in the barn
2. To add goats to the farm and learn how to make cheese
3. To build a fence around the barn for the all the animals to have safe indoor/outdoor space    (monitored by Tillie the Livestock Guardian Dog)
4. To clean the pond of weeds and reeds and make it a clean space for the ducks.
5. To cut enough firewood for next winter and build a storage lean-to for it.
6. To prepare and plant a hay field
7. To transplant the wild blueberry’s to one garden
8. To build cold frames to extend the garden season
9. To research and put into action different ways for the farm to support itself (and ideally me too!)

That’s a pretty ambitious list so...decide what your strengths are, and I will put you to work when you visit😉