So, for the long weekend, I turned about 1000 sq ft of sun baked, former goat run into a garden. With a broken toe. So it wasn't the most relaxing weekend but it needed to be done. For years, that right of way just sat there, growing weeds. So when the sheep expanded, we put them out that way as a "grazing" area. Eventually, the chickens got moved out there too, so they could have a big (easier to clean) house and more fenced (ideally coyote proof) space. After the sheep, when the boy goat flock started to expand, we separated out a big chunk to be their home. There were lots of goods about the location - no lice (thank to the direct sun though they had a shade house and some forest on the very edge), easy for water, kept the trees from regrowing in the right of way, etc. But some bads too (a cougar took one of them), the snow would get deep, hauling water, etc. As I've gone back to school, priorities have shifted and we no longer have any bucks. I do miss them and one day might want to breed goats again but I'll deal with that when/if the time comes. For right now, it's going to be a magnificent garden. For those of you who have followed me since the very early days, you know about my struggles with gardening. Living in the forest makes gardening a very difficult job. Even with raised beds you're still competing with tree roots and shade and all sorts of things. So, when the Woodsman proposed we turn this bit into a garden, I was all for it. So, it was me and the pick mattock. The Woodsman was around to help - don't think he abandoned me. he disassembled the boys' house and, if I needed something, he was there to lend a hand. But I wanted it to be my project it and so it was. Before work began in earnest, we'd been feeding the chickens on the stumps that needed to be dealt with so they were well on their way. During the weekend, I spent three days with the pick mattock hacking away at those stumps and pulling up the massive (and plentiful) rocks that called that run home. My arms felt like jelly and I seriously could not eat enough. I did hard labour from dawn until dusk (quite literally). Not only do I have serious pride in the start of this garden (as well as high hopes), I have a much greater appreciation for the work people are doing all over the world (historically and currently) that requires that kind of physical exertion. And I didn't have any of the pressures so many of them have - I have enough food, I have shelter, I have safety, and I have my people. It brought a lot of things I like to study (like the old ways of doing things) into a different light. Now, you might ask, as many already have, why on earth would you spend that much time picking when you can rent a tiller or use your tractor? It's simple. I wanted to. I didn't want to use fossil fuels to make the garden - seems counter intuitive to me. Especially when I can make the time. And as the Woodsman pointed out, it makes no sense to till, burning fossil fuels, and then go for a run or to the gym. When I do things in the "old ways", it's more than an exercise in I know not what. It's because on the face of it, I think we do a lot of things backwards. Instead of putting in the garden the fastest way possible (which usually has the greatest environmental cost) and then driving to the gym because my body needs exercise, why not combine those two needs? Anyway, it was a glorious weekend but I'll be back to the books this weekend (mostly), I have a paper due! That's from yesterday. There's even more this morning but it's too dark for it to be really visible so far. I do mostly try to just accept winter, really I do, but when I'm looking back through the farm journal and at this point last year my greenhouse was in full swing and the garden had plenty of hardy greens growing in it.... it's a bit of torture really. So what can you do when the weather has you foiled? Well, we've been having weather extremes up here on both ends of the spectrum. And truly, I find the cold weather ones a little easier to manage. After all, when the weather is cold, there's knitting and textile things to be done, or you can sit curled up on the couch in your favourite sweater, a mug of tea to hand and a good book (or reading for homework). In the summer you still can't go for a walk in the sweltering heat and when it cools off, the mosquitoes come out to torture you. There's no cozying up with a good book and a mug of tea in your favourite sweater. And I certainly don't like to play with wool during the summer. So I'll adopt a Nordic attitude. If it works for them, in a place where winter is much longer, much darker, and much more intense than ours, it's got to have some merit. I'll have gratitude for all of my comforts, the fact that my house is warm thanks to the hard work of my family last year. I have gratitude that we have enough to eat and enough for our animals, that for my very long commute each week I have an understanding supervisor who doesn't want me to drive in extreme conditions. I enjoy my tea and dream of spring. And as I look out of the window, I appreciate the beauty of the snow covered trees, the flakes falling as the light comes up, and I remember, in no time we'll be at the season of mud which is slightly better for growing things (ok, it's a lot better) but treacherous and comes with it's own challenges. So for now, I'll grab my tea and my homework, and sit by the fire and read. Where ever you are, I'm suspecting the weather is playing tricks on you.
Here, it's been melting and warm and sunny. We were tentatively talking about spring. And then 24 hours of snow - the biggest flakes you can imagine. A friend of mine in California was making plans to deal with the drought this summer. Will there be one? Who knows really but it stands to reason given California's history. And for the last week, she's been dealing with torrential rain and yesterday, put out a call for help to deal with flooding. And ironically, she will likely still have drought. So where ever you are, whatever you're facing, just do what you realistically can and accept the rest. It's really all you can do. Alright guys, I am so sorry about the big, long gap in posting. There are a few very good reasons for it and I'll 'fess up to them now.
First is that I'm having some struggles with the site. Once again I went to my page and it couldn't be found. And then I had log in problems. Again. I almost bailed in favour of one of the many other things on my list but persisted and here I am (thank goodness!). Now I know all of you know that time is limited so when you're having those sorts of problems, it makes you reconsider your host. So far I've been really happy but it's starting to feel like a bit like the old wordpress problems. I'm not going to switch yet but believe me, I'm noticing it and doing research. Second (which is really the biggest so I probably should have started there).: I quit my job. Yes, I left the place I'd worked for almost 15 years. I feel totally liberated and a bit nervous about what's on the horizon (more about that in a sec)! Third: I'm working on my doctorate. It's way more work than I would have thought but so much fun. I am and always will be a school nerd. Learning is my happy place! Fourth:Because a doctorate isn't enough, I've been taking some online classes. Mostly art-making ones. I have always said "I can't" to the world of visual arts but not this year! I'll be posting work as I make it :) And I just did a floor loom class too. I'll write about that soon. It was an interesting experience. You know the kind Experience. I'm still processing it a bit, if I'm honest. Fifth (and biggest): My co-conspirators and I are working on the first issue of Flannelberry magazine. Like the site, it will be a blend of wholehearted and simple living with creativity. And of course, the puppy is still in puppyhood which is a pretty time and energy consuming thing when you're in the depth of winter and can't take him on a big run or hike to get that puppy energy out! And there's your update peeps. I hope 2017 has kicked off well for you. XO So, I think we've talked about this before but it bears repeating, to my mind. You know how sometimes you read a blog, scroll through an Instagram feed, catch up with someone on facebook, and think "what the hell is wrong with me? I can't get half that done?" Or, "what the hell is wrong with me, I can't save/start a business/whatever" or "there's no way I can afford that/get all that done". I'm posting about this after a message I received. It was a heartfelt "please tell me your secret, I want to be farming and just can't make a go of it" kind of plea. Broke my heart a little bit because it was yet another reminder of how much social media skews our perspective of other's lives and from there, ourselves, if we let it. So let me tell you about my crazy life right now so if yours is crazy, or you can't figure out how to live off your 2 acres and ten mini goats, you won'y think something is wrong with you. First of all, we live in ten acres of forest. Love it. It's beautiful and private and restful and restorative and gives us lovely firewood to heat our home. It's also impossible to garden and live with sheep here because: trees. Why not cut them down? (I have actually been asked that). So, while we do have that to contend with dense forest (and yes, we did clear for the house and some garden) we have clay soil which is a treat. I know you don't usually read that but clay is the most mineral rich and, I have livestock with which to amend it so... I'm thrilled. I have a friend who was gardening on what seemed to be the most ideal place - open, flat, sunny, lots of water, soil looked gorgeous. But there was a high proportion of sand in it so when we had drought, she was watering multiple times per day. Yes, she had great produce but as she said "at what cost?" And they lived mostly off of what she grew so... they ended up selling and moving to somewhere more garden friendly. So, speaking of gardens... That is the unmitigated disaster that is my garden. I've convinced myself that leaving the tomatoes to fester might result in some shoots this spring (though it's rarely worked that way). And yes, there is row cover strewn about. We've had so much rain it was causing more harm than good to the plants so I threw it off and just left it there because:no time. Hopefully today I can get it cleaned up but maybe and maybe not. So, why no time? Well, I'm currently working three jobs - one of which has a 90 min commute each way. I won't be doing this over the long term and have given notice at one but yes, three. Am rebooting a small business, have the farm, this little guy: And of course, family and friends. On top of it, J is in a similar place with all of his commitments. And, I have a goat house and chicken coop in desperate need of cleaning, need to get more hay, and straw, and so on. Oh and garlic to plant and autumn seedlings to transplant. Now this is a big push for this month and isn't going to last but it's a true snapshot and hopefully, an accurate accounting so if your life is feeling a bit crazy or you're just questioning why you can't x, y, or z based on someone's Instagram feed - remember it's just the snapshot they're sharing with you. Many of us share about 1% of our life, right? So set realistic goals and work steadily towards them. That's all you can do. The Farmer's Almanac says my region is supposed to have a particularly cold and snowy winter. Now, I'm not sure what the track record of the FA is but I do know the people around here say if the berry bushes are full, it's going to be a tough winter. This year, the mountain ash and saskatoons were as laden as I'd ever seen them and folks reported record numbers of huckleberries in the high country. Funnily enough, the temps have been dipping way down, as low as 3*C/37*F overnight. That's a low we shouldn't really get for at least a month. At least the colours are fantastic. On the one hand, this cooling trend has got some challenges (tomatoes... so... close); on the other hand, it's been great. No one in my house is a heat lover, so there's that but more so, it's kicked us into squirrel gear big time. The woodshed is filling at an all time high rate, we've got canning going like crazy, though the dehydrator's been a bit quiet (I'll have to get on that asap). And, I've actually got winter crops started early enough that we might actually get to enjoy them as the weather turns! I've got a tonne of things coming - kales, broad beans, spinach, chard, cilantro, nasturtiums, and the all important carrots: I had great success growing carrots in buckets this year. I love the idea of being able to move them into the greenhouse to overwinter, mulch them, etc. But also, I don't have the usual worries about tree roots and our rocky ground. I've been improving it and building ever up and hope to have at least one big overwintering carrot bed but these are the insurance. There was a quick bit o'harvesting. The crookneck is an old beastie. Something between a summer and winter squash. If you catch it early, it's tender and cooks up just like zucchini. As it gets older, the rind gets pretty hard and then, well, I'm not sure. But I do like how it looks. And just because they can't help themselves, there's yet another hen on yet another nest. So, there may be another crop of babies coming. And there's more news but we'll save that for later. For right now, I need to get to my dye pots! First of all - thanks for notes you've sent and my apologies about my long silence (again). I don't know about life for you but around here, things have been kinda kooky. Some has been good but some not so much. This has been good: Yep, three babies born at the end of May. Two bucklings and a doe. They're all adorable and friendly, and everything I could want in babies. And this: That was the second crop of babies. There was a third but after a day we managed to reunite them with their mama.
This came because I said "never again" to brooding chicks in the house. I said "never again" and then was faced with the option of either letting babies die or brooding them in the house. So of course... And then I started school. I decided, in spite of everything else going on, to apply for a doctoral programme. I thought it was one out of my reach and somehow got in. Funnily enough, now that I'm in the programme, I'm wondering if it isn't out of my reach. I have never been in such a tough programme but it's compelling. And I'm not much good at quitting. So, there's the update. I hope things are moving along well in your world. I love to weave but I haven't ever quite figured out warping properly. So, I give you the rigid heddle loom. I both love it (simple, quick, relatively small) and hate it (mostly for tension issues) but overall, would recommend one for anyone just starting out. Interested in buying one? My friend Mel has a yarn shop with an online store selling these babies coming soon. For right now, if you're in Canada, you can email her to get one. In my usual fashion, I threw a warp on with no real plan and then realized the yarn I wanted to weave (but hadn't thought about) would be the wrong weight. So, I quickly spun a better weight up (you know you're an addict when...). Anyway, I'm super happy with it so far. Yep, there is some unevenness and wibblywobbly to it but whatever. It will look great when it's cut off and finished.
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AuthorI'm a 40-something writer and smallholder living in the wilds of BC with my family, our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf Goats, chickens, ducks, dogs, and cats. Archives
August 2017
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