Recent weekends

I'm not someone who often sits still.  My hands like to be doing something, even if it's just holding a book so my mind can do most of the work :)  As such, I usually have a project or two planned for the weekends - here's what I've been up to for the last two weekends while Jordan was at work.

Fixing

I have a friend/coworker who is an electrician (with two bachelor's degrees, and a master's degree, and she's worked a bunch of different jobs, I keep saying to her, "I would honestly not be surprised if you started telling me about that time you walked on the moon!") and she's pretty darn awesome.  I asked her very nicely if she would come out and take a look at the wiring in the house, as the house inspector had a few concerns.  She agreed, and one Saturday we spent 2 hours properly re-identifying the breakers.  When we moved in, the breaker list was a disaster:

You can see that stuff has been crossed off, written over, written upside down, changed.... and there were a few troubling blank spots.  It was also 'mirrored' - the left side of the list was the right side of the breaker box.  So very confusing!

It was two hours of *click* "Okay, which lights are still on?" as my friend turned off breakers and I flipped switches, plugged the radio into various sockets, and felt radiators for heat.  When we were done, the new breaker list looked like this:

Renumbered and properly labelled

We still have one mystery breaker, and Jordan and I will hunt around to determine where that one goes this weekend.  And we were able to identify one breaker which had three baseboard heaters on it, which was the inspector's concern.  We'll have to try and deal with that in the spring.

My friend also put merrets on some loose wires we had in the shop and the longhouse, ensuring that we won't electrocute ourselves - not on those wires, anyway!

Crafting
Nicola and her friend Deja invited a bunch of women over to the Rescue for an evening of wine, food, and wreath making.  After having some great food, much of it supplied by Deja, she led us through making wreaths with nothing but a clothes hanger, paper, tape, wire, and pine and spruce boughs.  Then we got to decorate them!  Deja and some of the other ladies had brought assorted Christmas decorations, and we got to work with the wire and glue guns to pretty them up :)

Giant wreath and modest wreath.  Same size hangers underneath them, I promise!

It was great fun, and I got to hang out with some awesome ladies :)

Baking
This past weekend, I decided to do some baking to try and use up an overabundance of eggs.  I spent 4 or 5 hours on Saturday afternoon whipping up goodies to keep my sugar tooth satisfied until Christmas break.  There was no yeast involved in any of these, and everything except for the pie shells and tarts is found in the Company's Coming Muffins and More cookbook.

From back to front: Left row: 1 regular loaf of cinnamon-topped bread, 2 small loaves of orange cranberry bread, 1 dozen easy cinnamon buns, and one dozen coffee cake muffins.  Right row: 2 pie crusts and enough dough for 4 more crusts, 8 mincemeat tarts (homemade shells but store bought filling), and 2 small loaves of lemon bread.

Most of this went in to the freezer so it can be easily defrosted and devoured :)  The two pie shells are in the oven right this moment to provide us with quiche: one to eat, and one to freeze.  Easy peasy!

This coming weekend, I hope to bring in the bookshelves and unpack our books (as there's been too much to do outside to worry about it until now) and hopefully identify that mystery breaker.  I also have a few weatherproofing projects in mind, one for the house and one for the pumphouse.  Here's hoping those get done!

At the moment, we're also puppy sitting - Doodle has joined us again for a few days.  The pups are happy to see each other, and they have already greatly enjoyed running around outside.

This week at the Rescue

Due to recent scheduling weirdness, I missed two weeks at the Rescue :(  I don't like it when I can't volunteer, as I find that being at the Rescue and working with the animals really calms my mind and greatly reduces my stress level.  Needless to say, I feel much better after visiting with everyone last night.

I started with cleaning the pig's stall.  It turns out that his name isn't Evan, it's Winston.  Oops!

Nice and warm in the straw

Winston is getting much more social - he barely hesitated to eat out of my hand this time!  He's still not keen on people attempting to pet him, but he's still improving in leaps and bounds due to the dedication of Nicola, her adorable daughter, and the other volunteers.

Next, I mixed up feed for 2 meals for Darcy and Fin, who are still on special diets to help them gain weight.  One meal stayed in the feed room to be put out the next morning, and I took the other meal out to them.  Darcy is looking much better (though it was dark out) - his winter coat is coming in and his hip bones are much less pronounced.

Here's Darcy when he first came to the rescue:

Image from the PGER website

And here's Darcy at the beginning of October, a few weeks after he arrived:

And he's even better now, but I can't get a picture because it's usually dark when I'm there.  He's been wearing a blanket since he got to the rescue, but he's now gained enough weight that the blanket is less important - he wasn't wearing one last night, and it was about -6 out.  (Plus the blanket would discourage the growth of his winter coat.)  I'll try to grab a photo of Darcy when I'm there during the daylight, hopefully next week.

After I fed the boys, I walked John Boy, who was gelded recently.  He came in from a property down the road where he has lived with a rotating cast of caregivers for the last few years.  He hasn't been moving around as much as he should be in the last few days, so I grabbed his halter and headed out to take him for a stroll down the driveway.  On the way, I passed a wagon with one and a half square bales of hay for the pigs.  On top of the bales, I saw this:

Rawr!

Just in case my night wasn't already awesome, that was the icing on the cake :)

I woke up John Boy, and took him for his walk.  He was well behaved, if a bit slow and cautious.  I don't blame him!

Then I got to pick who I groomed.  One horse that used to be a favourite was Dominic, and I was sad to see that he has returned to the rescue after a failed adoption.  He came when I called him, and while he had a bit of a fit while I brushed him down (the kids were playing nearby, which may have startled him), he was otherwise just as sweet as I remember him.  Poor guy, it's unfortunate that his adoption didn't work out (though I'd rather he be at the Rescue than in a situation where he was not receiving proper attention and care).  Hopefully he'll find another great family soon!

"Barnyard Business" - A farming mentorship session

Last week, Jordan and I were lucky to attend a session called Barnyard Business: The Real Dirt on the Farm organized by the Beyond the Market.  This session was organized to start a dialogue between new, young farmers and the pros with years of experience.  There were about two dozen people there; some were students interested in Northern farming, some were new farmers like us, and some were  successful farmers from our region.

Before the session, I was a little reserved and hesitant.  We are still not exactly sure where we are going with the farm.  I have absolutely no experience with anything agricultural - I've only sort-of planted two gardens, and while we got food out of them, it wasn't much and neither were what I would call 'successful' (although we are still eating our potatoes, some of which I planted in buckets this past spring).  Jordan grew up on a farm, but it was a larger farm (a quarter section, which is 160 acres), and it was a combination of cattle and wheat, neither of which we can turn a profit on with only 40 acres.  I also generally dislike 'networking' - I don't want to be tossed in a room full of strangers and forced to talk to them.

As the session got underway, Jillian from Beyond the Market got started by reading this article about a thirteen year old in Denver, CO who has started a 'mini farm'.  It gave me a good perspective of just what goes in to running even a small farming operation and some of the challenges that farmers encounter.  Of course, one farmer's experience is in no way representative of the majority, and as the session progressed, we got more insight from a panel of five farmers from three different farms.

All the farmers were there because they want to help young farmers get started and are interested in becoming part of a mentorship program that Beyond the Market is in the process of setting up.

David and Karen Kellett from Northern Farm Products Ltd. run a conventional farm that supplies 6 local grocery stores with beef, carrots, cabbage and rutabaga, and they also have a u-pick berry operation as well.

Walter runs a cow and calf farm in Vanderhoof.

The farmers that most caught our interest were Garry and Wendy Lowe from Twin Meadows Organics.  They are growing organic heirloom veggies in nearby McBride, and selling them to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and many citizens of Jasper.  They have apparently gotten many requests to extend their produce to the Prince George market as well, and thus they suspect that any small organic farm in our area will be very successful.  They are farming the way I would like to farm - organic heirloom veggies in beds prepared by horse-drawn implements.  Based on their discussion during the panel session and the conversation that we had afterward with Wendy, I feel that we can learn a lot from them, and I would like to head in that direction.

During the panel discussion, the farmers provided us with some insights into starting and running a successful farm.  The main points that I took away were:

• Be passionate about what you're doing.
• Understand your market, but be aware that it may change or evolve over time.
• Find out what makes your farm unique, and capitalize on it.

We were also given some tips on how to get started.  These included: leasing land and implements to avoid prohibitive start-up costs; setting up an incubation farm by partnering with an established organic farmer; and starting small, with one person working the farm and one person keeping a job in town.  As well, Beyond the Market has many resources and is willing (and hoping!) to help young farmers get their farms off the ground, including creating a business plan and becoming self-employed.

At the end of the session, I was thinking "Okay, we should be able to do this!"  I feel that the task is less daunting now, especially as Wendy and Garry are excited to mentor young farmers and help to get them started.  We have lots to think about over the winter!!

And, as a bonus, we also met a student who is interested in following our progress over the long term (hi Mike!) and another young couple who have their own 40 acres nearby (hi Tessa and Matt!).

So.... what have we been up to?

It's been a while since we posted a proper post, and I'm sorry for it.  Between busy weekends, winter weather and early nightfall, I haven't had a chance to sit down and keep you up to date.

So, just what have we been up to?

The biggest news is that I've built another shelf.  Previously, we had no footwear storage in the house; we had a black metal shelf outside the front door where we stowed our shoes, farm shoes and rubber boots.  But with winter settling in for a good long visit, this outdoor storage wasn't going to work.  So I made some measurements and headed out to the barn to plug in our trusty circular saw.  (There's a bit of a story to the circular saw... but that will have to wait for a future post.)

Measuring and planning

Ideally, the shelf would have been 35.5" long, but as I had some 3' boards hanging around, I decided I could just move the shelf over that .5" so I wouldn't have to trim the existing boards or worse, cut new ones.

Hooray for previously unfinished projects!

I then completed the measurements on the 2x4s and got them ready to cut.

Awaiting the saw

 After everything was cut, you guessed it - I screwed it all together!  When I was building the big shelf, I had screwed the shelf supports to the legs before I had screwed the shelf boards on.  This meant that I had to use a ratchet and a driver socket to screw the shelf boards to the supports.  I learned my lesson - this time, I attached the boards to the supports before attaching them to the legs.

Piled boards - the boards in the nice pile will be for the top shelf, while the uglier boards will become the lower shelves.  There's method to my madness, I promise :)

 And, ta-da!  Here's the finished product, complete with shoes and baskets full of small tools.

The large box on top holds all our outerwear accessories, such as scarves, toques and gloves.

 This past Wednesday, Jordan spent most of the day in the shop trying to make sense of the mess in there.  The place is a disaster, and it's a challenge to find anything in there.  So a good part of his day was spent cleaning out and organizing the toolbox.

Sockets, in their traditional place - the top of the toolbox.  Now they're even in size order!

Wrenches - we have 7 or 8 9/16 wrenches, so if you need one just give us a call :)

We also propped up the back roof.  While Mom and Dad were here, Dad noticed that the roof seemed to be sloping to one end.  So we're hoping that this will get us through the winter and hopefully we can investigate the cause of the poor slope next summer.  You can also see the support I had to install under the deck - that was barrels of fun to do on a day after we'd had a record-breaking snowfall that decided to melt.  I spent an hour under the deck in the mud, with water dripping between the deck boards into my ears and down my neck.  I'm glad I'll only have to do that once.

Supporting the roof.  Ignore the logs, they were the base for the bottle jack during install.

You can see that the roof is still sloping quite badly from the right side to the mid-point.  From the middle to the left is now level, at least.

There have also been a few puppy playdates.  I promised pictures in my last real post, but any pictures I tried to take come out showing two blurry black blobs - the pups move too fast.  Luckily, there's a solution to this - video!

When Doodle barks in this video, he's not barking at Zim; he's barking to tease the dog next door.  Apparently this is a regular occurrence - Doodle will be calmly chilling in the yard, then will suddenly bark, then the neighbour dog will bark, then Doodle will go back to what he was doing before.  What a goofy pup :)

Doodle had a set of booties that outgrew him (or Doodle's feet shrunk, one of the two!), and Doodle's awesome humans gifted them to Zim to try and curb the iceballs from forming in Zim's feet in the snow.  Zim wasn't too sure about them when he tried them on...

Once he got to wear his booties outside in the snow, he was fine with them.

So that about brings you up to date on our super-fantastic-fun activities lately.  For the rest of the night I'll be cleaning the house and making cookies.  They're the best cookies ever - I'll post the recipe soon :)

This week at the Rescue

I'd like to start by wishing you all a reverent Remembrance Day.  Let us all take a moment today to be thankful for the sacrifices of our many service men and women who have bravely put themselves in situations that we can't even begin to understand, all in the name of freedom for all.

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This was the first week of many this winter that I volunteered in the dark. As such, there are fewer pictures. Here's how this week's evening went:

I got to the rescue just as Nicola was coming back from a lesson. I fed the pigs (all 5 of them!), then fed Bingo 3 flakes of his special fine hay (due to his heaves, which is almost like asthma for horses, and his dental problems, he gets special hay), and I fed Holli a flake of the regular hay. I led Delta, who is one of the regular lesson horses, back to her pen, and then led Jack, who is new-ish but also one of Nicola's horses, to the pen as well. I fed Gracie, the second most skittish horse a treat, and when Amy (the Queen of Skittishness) came up to the barn entrance, she took a treat from me too. Amy wasn't handled at all until she came to the rescue this summer, and Nicola spends time with her every day to get her used to people. I also mixed up the next morning's food for Darcy, Dallas and Fin. I really spent more time talking to Nicola than I did working this week, but that's okay :) It was nice to catch up with her, as she's been busy the last few weeks while I've been there so we haven't had the chance to chat. We scheduled a ride for the week after next (every so often, she takes us volunteers for a ride to show how much she appreciates us).

Three of the four barn cats, keeping warm in the feed room. From left to right: Alvin, Blitz and Pickle.  Just as I took this picture, Bailey (one of the llamas) poked her head up to the window, but she moved as the camera was processing the image so I just barely missed her!

This week at the Rescue

(I apologize - this was actually my afternoon at the rescue last week.  Usually I can post these on Saturday, but this past weekend was too busy to hop online.)

This week, I got a little variety in my day.  I started by mixing the food for the three horses that are on special diets right now: Finigan, Darcy and Dallas.  Nicola has a special recipe for each of them, and they're getting fed three times a day in this cold weather as they try to put on some weight.  I mixed up two meals' worth, then took one meal out to them, which they happily devoured.

Finigan

Dallas

And my favourite, Darcy

Then I got to pick a horse to groom.  I attempted to catch another horse, Jewels, but she wanted nothing to do with me so as I trudged through the snow back to the barn (after chasing Jewels around her pen for ten minutes), I saw Bingo looking at me over his fence, and decided that Bingo was my next choice.  He's a very sweet and gentle 22-year-old, and if we were currently in the market for a horse, I would take him.

Bingo

Lookin' good!