My Handsome Shearer

Firstly, I have noticed that lately, some spamming has been going on in my blog with links that lead to ads, so I will do my best to not include hyperlinks anymore to save you the curiosity of wondering whether it's legit or not.  For those less-technologically savvy, it just means, don't click on anything within the blog, it's not a virus, but an annoying advertisement.  It is just yet one more reason I'm considering switching over to a different host.

Secondly, farm life is, as you might expect, busy and great.  Now that we've gotten a touch of rain, things can begin growing again and we can stop talking about how dry it is for a few days at least.

In the quiet times between waiting for things to grow and getting ready for harvest, Mark tackled the job of shearing my sheep.  He really does love me. :)
Anyway, he did a wonderful job and I'm so glad to have it done.  Doesn't it look like the ewe is actually smiling a little bit in that picture?
It was nearly completely without incident until tonight when after a long days work, on the hottest day thus far, Mark decided to shear our ram, Duncan, as a last minute job before supper.  I received a call at 4:45 asking if I had ever stitched up a cut before.  I assumed it was the ram, and when I got to the farm, first aid kit in hand, I was right.  It took a loooong time, clumps of cobwebs, bundles of cotton swabs and bandages, and finally handfuls of flour, but we managed to get the bleeding stopped and Duncan was happily eating away when we said goodnight to everyone.  It was in a rather...precarious area, so he may not be hitting the pasture for his annual romp as soon as I had hoped, but God willing, he WILL play with the ewes at some point this summer.

We've all been hard at work (well, mostly Mark) in our winter wheat field cutting the heads off of some fall rye that crept into the seed box last autumn.  I think it's just about all gone, but was a real chore that will pay off big time, come harvest.  The field looks fantastic besides that is the wheat is looking like some of the best we've grown.
The spring wheat is all coming along nicely as well, as is the barley.  We seem to have what looks like could become a bit of a mustard problem in a few places, but we'll have to see what comes of that.  The soybeans are all up and growing and we're waiting on a new cultivator that should arrive any time now.

I've got so many topics I want to tackle in the blog these days, but time continues to creep away from me and it gets neglected, like the cobwebs in my house and the weeds in my garden. ha!  Anyway, sometime soon I will tell you the tale of glyphosate. 

Hope this finds you tired and dirty and looking forward to another day of summer tomorrow.

S.

Father's Day Movie

I was lucky enough to spend yesterday with MY Dad and Mom in Truro at the All Canada Sheep Classic 2012 where I bought a new ewe to add to the flock.  She's a beauty from Ont. which I thought looked shorter than the rest of the Ontario giants, but now I'm worried when I get her home that everything will just seem relative and she'll still stand out above the crowd.  Anyway, she'll be a welcome addition either way.  I was proud of the sheep that my parents had at the event and inspired by all of the animals there to continue breeding quality livestock and raising good food. 
It was a real D.I.Y. Father's Day around here and I've been talking about doing a video of the farm for a while now, so I finally got it put together and posted on YouTube as a surprise for Mark today.
Check it out and enjoy!  (There's a music, although it starts out quiet). 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwsWE6Djyx4&feature=plcp

Now get out and enjoy the beautiful day!

-Sal

Farm Update Early June 2012

Well, I have a to-do list ranging from Sunday School, to derby, to accounting, to home, to miscellaneous that stretches past my knees, but what better time to do a blog update!  Too bad 'procrastinating' is not one of the items on the list.

I just wanted to do a quick update on farm life.  We had significant improvements in our ongoing hatching experiement this time around.  Round two had 14 chicks hatch out!  They took over 48 hours from the first one to the last one which I thought was strange, but they are all doing well.  I was ready to turn the incubator off and dump 'er all out, but just didn't get around to it.  When I got home from derby last night there were three little fuzz balls in there!  They have varying markings and one little guy has brown stripes down his head and back.   We've been checking out a few videos on how to sex a chick, but I am not at all confident in my abilities, so we'll probably just end up going with the tried and true method of having them grow up and figure it out then. haha

The sheep seem to have found their groove on the pasture.  I was pretty devastated to discover one of my youngest lambs seemed to have suffocated or choked to death under my watch.  My mom actually noticed it first, having laboured breathing and panting, during one Sunday visit.  I kept an eye on it and both Mark and I checked it out carefully over the next couple days.  I thought I could feel something lodged in it's throat, but then when I felt a healthy one, for reference sake, it seemed the same.  I kept a close eye on it and it was still breathing funny, but had stopped panting, so I thought was maybe getting better (naive and lazy of me in retrospect).  One night was shutting everyone in, the ewes were particularly stubborn about going to the barn, which is when I found the poor thing laid out in the pathway.  Once again, felt so angry at myself and frustrated and dissapointed that I had not been more proactive on this.  I think these lamb losses are a real lesson for me in that I cannot expect to do all the things I'm doing and still be able to dedicate sufficient time to my farm projects, like the sheep. I need to prioritize, and observing my flock (and subsequently dealing with potential problems) needs to climb a little higher on that list.

On the plus side of the sheep, I shipped my first four lambs and they were so beautiful and conform that I was very happy with them.  I am going to pick up and deliver them today, so that is one more job to cross off the list.

The pigs are growing like crazy.

The crop is all in and Mark is busy finger-weeding the soybeans today. They are out of the ground and looking good.Our winter wheat field is growing really nicely, although there are a number of winter-kill spots that will haunt Mark throughout the growing season. 
We had a long cold week, so today's sunshine is more than welcome!

I have more laundry to do, kids to play with, cheese to make, butter to wash, supper to figure out, garden to weed, Sunday School closing to organize and on and on and on, so I'd best shut down this computer and get at it.

Hope this finds you enjoying all the smells of various blooming plants and trees this time of year!  Our linden is blooming right now and I think it might be the nicest smell of all!

-Sally

Getting Off The omniBus.

Morning chores

So apparently Blogger (the host of this site) must be having a tiff with Facebook as well as any browser that is not Google Chrome since it has been especially difficult to post pictures and longer posts lately and it has now become 'spam' according to Facebook and I cannot link a post to our fan page.  Anyway, for those reasons I am considering switching to a new site, but I will give lots of notice.  Until then, here are just some recent pics from morning chores, without narration, as that gets too complicated given Blogger's newfound refusal to get along.

 

This week

Well, since I last wrote, we've got the sheep moved onto a much nicer patch of ground and they are working away at shearing it off until I move them again this week to the next paddock.  The pigs are finally out and exploring, rooting and digging to beat the band and wagging those curly little tails as they literally frolick in the sun.  The first batch of chicks will be heading out into the big wide open world of the pasture this week, although now it's sounding like a stint of much needed rain later this week, so we might hold off until that passes (although, if we had done that last summer, we would never had chickens on pasture at all!).  Either way, they're ready to go and we just invested in a new security system that promises to keep predators at bay.  So we'll see if it really works.  It won't take long to tell with the foxes barking around here lately.  I predict a couple restless nights ahead.  If all goes well, we'll have fresh chicken available July 10th!  If you'd like to get in on that order, it's easiest to send us a message via email or facebook, including how many you'd like, what size and a phone number.  If there is enough interest, we'll do a drop off in Charlottetown and Summerside.  If not, you are always welcome to come to the farm.  The first batch always goes fast, so book now to get in on some organic, GMO-free(!), pasture raised chicken!
Our second batch of chicks arrive early this week, so the brooder will be filled with yellow fuzz and tiny chirping again. 
I have three derby practices this week (!!) in preparation for our first bout coming right up.  Mark is hoping to be planting soybeans for extended hours so there will be some creative time management going on around here for a couple days, but we'll all manage I'm sure.
We're also being featured on the local CBC radio morning show tomorrow morning, so that is always fun. 
One of my other jobs this week is to be drawing up a job description to advertise for a student this summer.  It will be really great to have the extra hands around and we're hopeful we'll find someone really excited about organics and willing to learn.

I have to cut this short so that I can get my bulk order into my Speerville buying group here on PEI before order deadline tonight.  I have been too long without the organic, stone-milled flour I so love for bread making and very soon there'll be a white storm a brewing in my kitchen again! 


Speaking of storms, I've got a post about glyphosate a brewing in my head. Doesn't THAT sound fascinating!?  I promise to make it good.

S.

Livestock/deadstock/sadstock

Ya know that annoying kid on the team who is always bragging and is a pretty good player, but that is eclipsed by their overbearing atttitude?  And you walk away wishing that they would be 'knocked down a peg or two'?
Our morning CBC radio show host came by yesterday to do a little farm tour and interview piece about our operation and it was one of those perfect days on the farm.  It looked like a postcard.  The sun was shining, the crops were growing without too many weeds yet, Mark was planting, Wendell was harrowing, the kids were running through the dandelions and the animals were all our lazing around in the lush pastures.  And as Matt (the CBC host) was asking questions and commenting during the tour, I had this niggling feeling about how 'too good to be true' it all is.  I made sure that we talked about the struggles of farming, like earlier this week when we realized the sheep's pasture was a bit of a failure, but overall, the farm came off looking pretty good and I think it probably sounded a bit smug, because I was probably feeling a bit smug and telling myself it was just contentment.

Anyway, over the last 24 hours, we've been knocked down a peg or two.  Last night we learned that we will not be getting the organic manure from the hog producer we sell our grain to, as we had previously assumed.  It was mostly just a miscommunication, but an unfortunate one which means we need to re-think that part of our fertility plan.  We're also looking at other new markets for the fall and expanding the way we've been thinking, which is always an interesting challenge.
So while, pondering all of that this morning while moving my sheep fence in the pasture, I came upon what is one of my worst scenarios.  One of my yearling ewes had gotten herself wrapped up in the poly wire that we separate the paddocks with and I found her dead, in amongst the tall grass.  The feeling that sits in ones belly for the day, following that kind of discovery is not a fun one.  It's one of dread, regret, sadness, but mostly guilt.  I have stopped imagining the kind of struggle she put up and how she might have suffered, had a good bawl and have moved on, but the guilt doesn't move on quite so easily. 
It was only a few weeks ago that Mark and I were doing one of our presentations and I was going on about the mutual relationship between a farmer and their livestock and how each is providing for the other and that it is a unique connection that can only come with caring for an animal that you helped birth, raised and will slaughter.  When something like this happens, it feels like one side of the relationship didn't hold up their end, and it is terrible to know it was you.
 Now if my Mom was here, she would likely suggest that I pull up my bootstraps, get off the computer, get outside, do something and accept that the lamb probably would have died doing something else anyway.  And I knew as soon as I saw the body that it was the spooky lamb I had who I had meant to ship because she was always jumpy and was going to be a pain to lamb because she never seemed to gain any trust of me and would run over a kid to get away from everybody.  Tomorrow that fact might make me feel better.
Today, she's still one of my flock and I feel like crap. 

So I've got the girls in the front part of the pasture now, which is short and varied species and they're pigging out.  They'll probably all have the shits tonight, but they'll be content with warm, full bellies, ready to do it all again tomorrow. 
We'll be hooking up the bush cutter today and getting the rest of the pasture cut down as low as we can in the hopes that the orchard grass gets set back and the legumes have a better chance at competing.  Not to mention, that with shorter grass, I'll actually be able to see what is going on in the pasture and not just a few heads poking up above it. 

We also realized that our first batch of chicks are ready to hit the pasture next week so we've been 'hardening them off' by turning off their heat lamps and opening windows in the brooder house.  So feeding, moving and watering those guys will be a whole new element of chores to add on in a few days.  It makes me enjoy the 'easy' chores we have now, that much more.

I'm off to pull up my bootstraps, get outside and do something with myself.  Here's hoping you're doing the same.  Getting outside I mean.

-Sally