Rolling with the punches

My last couple of posts have been somewhat political and a little bit 'ranty' so I thought I would revert back to a farm focused update. The problem with that is whenever I'm talking about the farm at the moment, I'm using my whiny voice. It's not like me to abandon my eternal optimism but I've been wavering of late. Do you ever feel like you can't catch a break? Well that's where I'm at right now. Everyday brings a new challenge at the moment. I won't give you all the details, it'd take too long, but ever since we moved here, things have been breaking down and giving up. Dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers, ovens, hot water tanks; if it's electrical, it's given up and died. If it's breakable, it's broken...windows, roof tiles, pipe work, poly, etc. And, as for our main source of water, it's not only broken down but now it's filter is knackered. Yes, the well requires another $4000 worth of investment. Don't get me wrong, these things are minor in comparison. I wrote earlier this year about friends of the farm who had lost family members. No amount of challenges compares to loosing a parent and every time a tire blows our or we have to pull a replacement window out of a skip, I think of our friends' pain and swallow a big dose of perspective. But still, a rest from the onslaught would be nice.

What I need to do is refocus on the positives so I'm going to use this space to update you on all the farm projects that have evolved since the beginning and let you in on some of the stuff planned for 2015.

Chickingham Palace. Oh what a triumph. Originally built for 3 chickens, extended with a view to house 20, it's now too small for our ever growing flock of 60 chickens. A new coop is underway and the palace will become the chick nursery. The new coop is of course built from reclaimed materials because we are still broke. However, we have over a year of lessons in chicken care to enable better planning and design. The new digs will allow a larger laying flock as well as some meat birds. 

The original Chickingham Palace being extended

The new coop under construction

The Duck Pond. The hole with an island that we dug out last Christmas with a borrowed excavator was bone dry all summer. The rains are back now and our pond is full much to the relief of our ducks and the wild ducks that are squatting there. They have a lovely duck house built from a raised truck cap which they totally ignore and flatly refuse to use. However, there are more ducks coming and hopefully some breeding will happen in the spring. Ian has plans to dig it deeper and create an oasis of mini ponds, waterfalls and rain water harvesting but we'll see.... 

Breaking ground on the duck pond last Christmas

The ducks enjoying the return of the water

The ignored duck house

The Poly Tunnel. Remember how smug we were about the poly tunnel we built for $100? Yeah, it's not big enough either. It's big but we grew so much in there last year that we need more space. So the foundations for the extension are done, the beds are built, materials for a rocket mass heater are being salvaged, including 500 refractory bricks from a heritage house during a huge storm last weekend.

Building the foundations for the poly tunnel

 

The finished product

The Tree House. Don't be misled by the title. This is not the tree house any of us imagined; except for Ian of course. It's not a child's play place but will be a fully equipped rental property. The boasting point of this project is that it's built completely from others peoples junk. As of now, the structure is up, glazing is in, stairs and handrail are built and it's covered in tyvek and we haven't spent a cent on it. We've managed to barter a deal for roofing which involves pork and eggs. We've just paid $200 for reclaimed cedar cladding for the outside walls. We have about 70% of the furnishing we need & just have to work on a composting toilet for it. Hopefully it'll be finished by April....maybe.

Tree House under construction

The pig pen is finished except for roof tiles. The half that the pigs don't use has had many different purposes from chick hatchery to rabbit hutch. Currently it's at full capacity with our four big pigs in the main half, the baby piglets in a quarter and four rabbits in the remaining quarter. The rabbits were outside until the whether turned so we set them up in there with tubes to run through. Fun fun fun for them. The excitement with the pig project is that we now have a potential Mommy and Daddy pig for the farm and will be able to breed our own line of heritage pigs. Just need to finish fencing the front field. Posts are up but not concreted in yet. The darn pigs keep using the posts for scratching themselves and knocking them over. Pests!

The latest piglets

Rabbit Town

The Fruit Cage has been built, collapsed, and built again. The structure is reclaimed wood and the netting was the safety netting originally used for the construction of the new roof on BC Place Stadium. Despite the trials and tribulations of that project, it has been a real asset. The cage acts as a physical control that aids us with organic farming methods. The produce was abundant in there this summer and it has provided a safe haven for the chickens.

The collapse of the fruit cafe, February 2014

 

Produce in the fruit cage this summer

The old barn had a face lift and has been used for everything from parties to veggie sorting to feed storage. Currently it's a mess & stuffed full of building materials but there is a concrete pad on the north side where we're planning another extension that will be used as storage and give us back our party barn. We thought we'd created adequate space when we lovingly added the workshop to the barn but as usual, it wasn't enough.

The barn all dressed up for Jessica's birthday party

The Gazebo & fire pit have been my favourite part if the farm. It's the social gathering place and the 'relax in the shade' place. Another sustainable building success with the reclaimed wood frame, pallet benches and gravel base that was on it's way to landfill before we intervened.

The herb spiral was created from a cottonwood tree that we cut down. A great growing area. There is also a new salad bed in a shady area of the farm so salad can thrive outdoors during the hot summers.

Pipe & Electrical Work. I know that sounds dull but there were no outbuildings here and therefore no power anywhere. There was one cable hanging between the house and the barn. We dug trenches all over the property and sunk cables around the property to get power to the above listed project. That was some task in the middle of last winter! No wonder the washing machine gave up.

Rescued Food project. We've secured several sources of food waste that are suitable for animal feed. This both excites and dismays me. I'm delighted that we have a food source for our animals but dismayed at the amount of food waste that exists. The work involved is quite significant too. We haul 2 tonnes of spent grain from a brewery a week in Ian's 13 year old, battered, Ford F150 truck. We are waiting for the truck to go on strike any day now...or it'll just snap in two.

Not bad for 16 months work, and don't forget we actually ran the farm too, and that grew at a rate than none of us had anticipated. We will go into next year with a loyal (I hope) client base of over 20 families.

Some days I feel like I've had enough. Some days I'm so wet or cold or tired or fed up that I think I must have lost my mind embarking on this lifestyle. Everyday, I look at my bank balance and wince a little. The well breaking down in the summer almost broke us financially. We would never have been able to replace it without the support and donations from all of you, but there was still a lot of personal money that went into and as we approach Christmas with a very small budget, I realize that we'll be feeling the backlash for a while longer.

I occasionally find myself questioning, if there's a point where you let go and walk away? If there is, we're not there in spite of the almost daily assault on our resolve. We're just too excited about 2015. I can't wait to see the tree house finished, that will allow us to open our farm to visitors. We are chomping at the bit to get started on the rocket mass heaters. How exciting to be able to build a sustainable heating system and people are contacting me wanting to know more and hoping be involved with the build. I'm already itching to get my hands in the soil and start planting again in January. Unlike this time last year, we actually have a plan that will provide us with some structure and staff on the farm. And, to add to all that excitement, I've been recognized as 'Laurica Farm' in public on more than one occasion! How cool is that?! So apparently, there's too much happening for me to throw in the towel yet. I've got my rock star, farmer status to flaunt around a little longer.

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