A Week On The Farm

   Monday rolled around again, before I was ready! I have the privilege to escort this sweet, little ballerina to her dance class every Monday night. I am so pleased that Peyton is enjoying dance, this third time around - she has a tendency to have a lot of passion in the beginning and then lose interest. With tap and ballet alternating this year, she seems to be excited to continue. It reminds me of shades of Megan! Skating (1/2 a year), swimming (2 lessons), piano (a lot of kicking, screaming and crying)...

   It was like, "Been there. Done that. Time to quit!"

    All this week, I seemed to be chasing my tail - everything took longer to complete than I had time for! Mike and I were in an all out race to finish retro-fitting the log barn, we had to be ready for my new chickens. (More about them in a minute). The first thing that we had to do was assemble the two side walls and the front to the second chicken pen in the barn.

  I nearly frickin' died! Seriously!!!

  I do not do manual labour. I have no upper body strength.

  Period.

   So, there we were. A weakling and a strong person, who just happens to have only one leg. With HEAVY walls and a cement pad in the middle of the barn, which we had to manoeuvre around. Did I mention that the walls were built to match the height of the ceiling joists? Without an inch to spare. The walls had to be angled in, stood up and then the bottom of the wall had to be knocked into place with a sledge hammer? F*** me!! I just could not lift my side. Mike called me a "turd" about a dozen times. I tried and I tried to be strong! I GAVE IT EVERYTHING I HAD!

   AND THEN SOME!

   It just could not be done. I had nothing left. Mike let me rest for about ten minutes. That did not help! It just could not be done. I was thinking about phoning Greg and asking if he could pop up for a few minutes. Then Mike had a brilliant idea and removed the door from the front wall. With just that little adjustment in weight, we were able to man handle the wall into place. An hour later, a fistful of five inch screws, some shovelling of gravel and a little levelling, the outside perimeter was up! I thought I was going to puke! I was soooooo done! Then we had to build the roosts, attach the ladder, screw a "hop up" bar for the chickens to be able to access the nest boxes, fill all the feeders and waterer. Then it was time to catch the chickens and introduce them to their new winter accommodations! They loved it!

   Then we were back to working on the barn. We needed to install the eight hole nest box - the "mother" of all nest boxes. It was pretty heavy too, but we could at least set it on pails while we worked on it. I lined all the boxes with nesting pads and lovingly placed the wooden "decoy" eggs, while Mike built the "hop up" bar. We hung the big aluminum feeder and filled it. We were ready!

   This is what the fuss was all about! On Saturday morning, I met my "chicken dealer", Jayme, in Fort MacLeod and picked up six Plymouth Barred Rock girls and six Partridge Chanteler ladies. Twelve more chickens for my flock! It felt like a drug deal. Two pick up trucks meet, money is exchanged for goods, one drives away quickly! LOL

   When I got home with my chicken fix, Mike had moved the top soil into position beside this year's garden. He also added a little to top off the older garden. Holy shit, Batman!! When I said I wanted a bigger garden, I had no idea that it was going to end up this big! By counting the spaces between upright poles in the wind fence, I calculate that it is over 40 feet wide and at least half that long. Now, THAT IS A GARDEN! Mike also moved gravel into all the pathways to the barns and chicken house, and built a winter door for the log barn, to keep out the howling wind. While he worked on the farm, I worked on the veggies that were still in the gardens down by the house.

  As of today, there is nothing left in the gardens! I pulled the onions and braided them into ropes and hung them in the greenhouse, along with the sunflower heads (winter boredom busters) for the hens. I cut all the parsley, washed it and hung it up on the drying racks. Lastly, I tackled the beets! They are pulled, topped and clean - thanks to Mike and his Hotsy pressure washer. The gardens are totally empty! The gardening season has come full circle - glittering jars are lining the pantry -summer goodness, saved for cold blustery days.

     The gang is hanging out in the sunshine today - as long as it is not windy, they do not seem to mind the cold. (Unlike me, who could not feel her fingers while braiding onions). At some point in the day, they head back to their coop for food and water, lay a few eggs and then head off, to explore in a different direction. The roosters are very vocal - I love to hear them throughout the day, as I am working outside. I also have to admit, I can hear them inside the house as well!

     That gang is LOUD!

  

    This is my favourite picture of the week - Emma giving Rosie some love and getting a cow selfie! I did not take the picture.

     I am having difficulty holding my arms up! LOL. This "turd" is stiff and tired!!

A Week On The Farm

   This has been a super, crazy week - even for me!! Someone should invent an electric shock collar or wrist band that I could wear, to keep myself from making bad decisions!!

   And I should be wearing it the entire time that my family is in Creston, looking at the beautiful displays of fresh veggies and fruit. If I made a move to pick up a case of pears - BUZZZZZ! Oh, look at the cheap tomatoes, I  could make salsa! - BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZZ!

     Not enough of a shock to set me on my ass, just a hard enough tingle that I might rethink my decision to buy a truck load of extra work for myself! The only bad thing about it might be the fact that my husband would be the one in control of it and that would not be a good thing!

     No more chickens! BUZZZZZ!! BUZZZZZ!

     No, you do not need more scrapbooking supplies! BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZZ!

     I want supper! BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZZ! BUZZZZZZ!

     I can see how this could be used for evil instead of good! So maybe I will have to figure out a way to control my impulse to overextend myself. This week was all about canning and preparing food for the freezer - 50 jars of salsa, 12 quarts of pickled beets, 20 pounds green peppers, 25 pounds of apples made into fruit leather.

     I am very tired. Very tired....

     Oh, and by the way, 12 new laying hens arrive next Saturday! BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!
   

 

Conspiracy!

     Every day since I bought my flock of chickens, I have cautiously looked in the nest boxes, hoping that this was going to be the day that they started paying me back... for all the trips to the feed store, for the LOADS of lumber that I have picked up and Mike has turned into wonderfully cute chicken "condos", for the endless supply of waterers and feed troughs... I am all about them earning their keep! Every single day (since July) I was disappointed. I think that there was some form of chicken conspiracy going on. I could imagine them cackling as I walked up to the chicken house "Here she comes! Here she comes! Now, watch her face when she looks in the angelic, little, straw filled nest box that she so lovingly prepared for us!! Watch, watch! She looks so hopeful!" (insert hysterical chicken laughter)" We got her! We got her again!" (more jubilant chicken laughter). And yet again, there was not a single egg.

Not one.

Ever.

     Worst of all, those pranksters stood in formation and watched me walk away. I swear they were smiling. 

     This week, I think the feathered conspirators finally got tired of the game. As usual, I peeked into the nest box with a fresh burst of hopefulness and anticipation. Imagine my surprise when there was a pale blue egg in the sparkling straw! A blue egg! Then I went to the next chicken condo and there was a pink egg! I have a feeling that somehow they knew that I was researching a recipe for "chicken pot pie" on the Thanksgiving trip to Creston! LOL

     I went "all Grandmother" and found myself a cute little basket, lined it with some old-timey gingham and figured that I had this all worked out. Little bastards. They only gave me two "teaser eggs" to up the anti! There has not been a single egg for the rest of the week!

     Rotten little bastards!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

A Week On The Farm

    What a beautiful week! Every morning that I wake up and the water hoses are not frozen is a good excellent day! Hauling icy water in buckets to each chicken house is not a fun way to start a day, so please let there be about 100 more days JUST LIKE TODAY! Chilly in the morning, peeling off the sweater by lunch, almost "hot" in the afternoon. Perfect!!

     Peyton and I took a little time to have an afternoon of fun (she did not realize that we were actually working) and I have never heard squeals like that before! It sounded like I was trying to catch a baby pig! It is still hard to believe that 25 years ago we planted these trees and this is the FIRST year that they produced enough leaves that we had to rake them. In retrospect, I guess that the hail brought the leaves down for the last few years and we raked them - but this year we were hail free! It made for enough leaves to have a good, old-fashioned afternoon of play.

     The gardens are just about bare - everything is in storage, or in glittering jars, the last of the potatoes are dug, just a few more rows (about six) of beets - I am about 500% over making pickled beets! One day this week, I went over to "the farm" and helped Dad dig their potatoes and carrots. I went, determined NOT to take any of their veggies, in protest of the ridiculous garden that my parents made Darla and I plant for them. We planted it, Dad weeded it, then they GAVE PAWNED it all off on anyone that came to the farm! I think I have personally canned every single beet that grew in that garden, I think everyone in Pincher Creek has been loaded up with carrots. It was the epitome of a plentiful harvest! As Dad and I were chatting and digging, wedges of geese flew, honking overhead and I could hear the leaves falling off the poplar trees. There could not have been a more idyllic autumn day. Guess what? I ended up with two, five gallon pails of carrots and a 5 gallon pail of beets, in the back of my truck! So much for my resolve!
   As if I do not have enough animals to look after this winter, I also am incubating a new covey of quail for the spring... Mike just shakes his head! It takes 18 quail eggs to make an omelette - ONE OMELETTE! Other than being super cute, they truly are pretty useless birds - he just can not understand, for the life of him, why I feel the need to make more of them. Personally, I just want to try - so that I can move on to bigger and better incubating adventures! (Insert evil laugh).
   This week, the grizzlies that have been romping around our farm have concerned me a little. I am (or was not ) afraid of walking up to the barns after dark, to close doors and shut off lights. I don't think I could outrun a grizzly, while sporting fuzzy slippers and a nightgown, but I sure in the hell would try! The three yearlings that have been living on our farm need to move on - no tasty duck or chicken entrees here! (Please eat the quail, if you are going to eat anything!) I think even a hungry griz would find my dozen quail useless. Extremely grateful for the heavy duty doors that Mike built for me on the DUCK BARN!
    The very best thing about this week is that when it is over - CRESTON HERE WE COME!