Animal Antics!

One of my main motivations for writing this blog is the hope that one day our children will look back on it, remember & understand.  So for this post I want to focus on the livestock, which brings some comic moments.  It’s not that we don’t have anything else going on; we’re expanding our delivery service and opening our farm gates to the public next week.  It’s all very exciting, but it’s having the animals here, doing their thing, that makes it feel like a real farming venture. 

Let’s start with our new arrivals.  Last Friday night, Ian and I toiled in the dark to finish a homemade ‘cap’ for the truck.  We were quite pleased with our $160 lid as they cost thousands to buy new.  Of course, being homemade, it made us look like hillbillies!  Anyway, early Saturday morning we set off to go and collect the first four of our pedigree piglets.  We worked really hard to source heritage hogs rather go down the commercial route.  If you’re interested in the differences, here’s a small article that outline some of the reasons for this decision: http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/6-reasons-to-buy-heritage-pork-from-small-farms

We got them home and off the truck without incident and settled them in.  They were very nervous but appeared to like their new pasture.  They tested the electric fencing causing quite the cacophony, but no harm done, they learn fast.  We named them John, Paul, George and Ringo.

That night, Ian went out at about 10.00pm to check on them.  He came running back into the house exclaiming that the pigs had gone!  Now I tend to be far less reactive than Ian when it comes to the animals but perhaps my “gone where?” question was a little daft, even by my standards.  So off we went with flashlights to traipse around an acre of chest high grass in the dark.  Nothing.  It was starting to look like our four heritage pigs that we had paid for that day had indeed gone. 

Ian and I met back at the pig house in despair.  It was at that moment we heard a faint snuffling noise.  Relief flooded over us.  We heard them, but where were they?  Further investigation revealed that they had tunneled underneath their piggy mansion and decided to make their bedroom underneath the structure intended for them. Pests! 

Underneath the house is where they choose to stay.  I call them 'the troglodytes'.  Seriously, why rent the basement suite when the mansion above is vacant?

The baby chicks have moved into the big girls’ hen house.  They’ve settled in now but were rather upset by this move at first.  Being free-range, the chickens go where they please during the day.  The babies were adamant that they were going to move back to their cozy nursery.  As the nursery is all closed up now, they persistently got lost.  Off we would go again, trawling the field in the dark looking for the chicks.  We usually found them snuggled into the sheep, apparently not quite ready to give up the comforts of a Mothers love.  This made for some late nights and I hate walking through that snake infested field at night, but at least the animals are giving me plenty of opportunity to become adept at it!

Let’s talk about the sheep.  Sheep must be one of the easiest livestock to look after.  All I do is change their water once a week.  Other than that I barely see them in all that long grass.  However, the oldest lamb is a ram and is getting a bit above his station.  He’s been testing us recently by threatening to butt us every time we go to check on them.

Last Friday, a delivery driver left the farm gate open unbeknown to me and I hadn’t properly shut their field gate.  Chaos ensued.  I wrote a brief Facebook status about this incident but it didn’t fully capture the comedy of the situation. Let me fill in the gaps.

I had come into the house to do some baking.  As I put 9 layers of cake batter into the oven I caught a glimpse of four fluffy sheep bottoms disappearing out of the farm gate.  Off I went, panicking.  There was no real need to fly into a blind panic; our farm is at the end of a single track road so very little risk of them causing a multi-car pile-up.  As I got down to the end of the drive, they were happily munching on the roadside foliage.  But, because the road is so narrow, I couldn’t get passed them to usher them back towards the farm and they were ignoring my food offerings and bribes to follow me back to the farm.  Every time I tried to get past them, I just frightened them further away from the farm and towards 256^th Street.  256^th Street is not a major carriageway, this is rural Langley, but the cars do come along there quite fast and there are a lot of trucks delivering feed to the many farms around here, so as they trotted out onto this road, I was quite worried.  Luckily for me a kind man stopped to help me.  He introduced himself as Farmer Rob.  I’m not sure if he was Christened Farmer Rob but that’s exactly what I called him.

I feel it’s relevant to tell you what Farmer Rob looked like at this point.  Contrary to what I told Ian, Farmer Rob can only be described as a bronzed Adonis.  He was beautiful in a masculine, country kind of way.  Approximately 30 years old.  In any other circumstance, I would have found this meeting very pleasing.  While I drawled over Farmer Rob, the sheep continued to refuse to comply and it was almost 30 minutes later that we got them back into their field.

As I turned around to shut the gate, Farmer Rob bid me farewell (sigh).  I raised my hand to wave and shouted “bye Farmer Ro….”.  I didn’t get to finish the word “Rob” because the ram butted me.  Right on my bum!  He put so much effort into butting me that he sent me flying onto my face…in the mud….and the sheep poop.  I lifted my head from my disgraced position to see Beautiful Farmer Rob, still with his hand in the air, mid-wave, staring at me with his mouth open in disbelief.  For some reason, I decided to remain aloof about my predicament and uttered “Thanks again Farmer Rob, bye”.  With that, he shook his head and left.  It was all very Bridget Jones and highly embarrassing.  I shall never forgive that sheep for my humiliation and will feel avenged every time I put part of him into my oven.

During this episode, my nine cakes had burned to a crisp!

As I said earlier, it’s the animals that make this feel like a farm.  It’s also the animals that keep us humble and remind us of our naivety.  Time for us to work on our animal smarts before we can really call ourselves Farmers.

Springing into action

You may have guessed by my lack of blogging activity recently that getting back on track after 'fruitcagegate' has consumed every waking moment. Not only was the rebuild a soul destroying, time consuming, mammoth task but it knocked our farming schedule out of sync. Alas, we are recovering from a hard winter of construction, cold weather and a roller coaster of emotions, and things are looking up.

Spring has well and truly sprung on the farm and what a change. Things are green again, grass has grown back over the muddy trenches we dug for power lines and the place is looking like a farm rather than a construction site. 

The fruit cage is now finished (again) and has a variety of fruit trees and bushes planted in it. The leaves are emerging and we have begun to train them along the wire cables we installed.  This is called espalier growing. The technique was developed in the 16th century, out of the practical need for growing fruit in marginal climates. The early French and English discovered that if they bent apple-tree branches horizontally, they could direct energy away from vigorous vertical growth and into producing spurs (those stubby lateral branches that eventually flower and produce fruit). In addition, by growing the tree flat against a wall or fence, they could create a favorable microclimate in which the wall radiated heat and provided shelter. In addition, there is ease of management. We do not need to climb ladders to harvest the fruit at the top as the branches can be trained at a reachable level.

We have also added a 3 part compost bin inside the fruit cage, built from reclaimed pallets, of course! This year we will put all out compostable material into the first bin. The chickens, who also roam in the sanctuary of the fruit cage, scratch through the compost, eating whatever interests them. This process provides food for the chickens, speeds the composting process up, reduces labour as they are turning it for us and adds additional manure. We are finding it to be a highly efficient method. The bins also firm up the structure of the fruit cage.

The poly tunnel is finished and has power. So far we've planted around 10,000 seeds, staggering each planting session. Leaving 2 weeks between each session lengthens our growing season and gives us time to transplant into bigger pots & harden the new plants before transferring them into the ground. Some of the seeds are beginning to germinate within 3 days in the warm, moist conditions. This weekend we are transplanting the first beans, peas & kale outside. They are going into the fruit cage as these are particular favourites of the local deer. We are embracing the idea of companion planting so we don't have to use chemical fertilizers. An example of this is planting marigolds around the peas. These plant benefit from each other's nitrate needs and use, and the marigolds repel some types of bugs as well as rabbits. Here's some further reading if you are interested: http://www.westcoastseeds.com/topicdetail/topic/companion-planting/

The pig and goat house that we built is now a temporary nursery for 4 hens and their 8 baby chicks that we hatched 2 weeks ago. This had been a highly rewarding experience, with a few exceptions. We didn't get as many chicks hatch as we had hoped but that's because I couldn't stop interfering! We let the hens sit on their nests in the main coop. The other hens hassled the moms and interrupted the development of some of the eggs. Next time I will move the broody hens and their eggs into the nursery from day one. Also, I had the extremely stressful experience of vaccinating the day old chicks. There were tears, sweat and I am now vaccinated too! Despite this, it has been lovely to watch the Momma hens caring for the babies and teaching them. Today the babies were trying to fly. By fly I mean running around in circles flapping their newly developed wings and jumping in the air. This usually ended with a face plant or a squashed sibling. Also, the hens were collecting meal worms and taking them to their babies.  So far the hens have been ok about me co-parenting and this experience has reaffirmed our decision to do this naturally. Watching the hens and chicks bond has made me thankful we didn't go down the route of incubators.

As we're talking about animals, I'll mention that we have sheep arriving next week and piglets in June. We've purchased 2 lambs and have their Momma sheep on loan. The lambs are for meat and we have bravely taken the decision to not only raise them but slaughter and butcher them ourselves!!!!! Our neighbours did it last year so we are following their example and drawing in their expertise. Of course, when I say "we", I mean "Ian". I feel that this is beyond my limitations.

We have finally found a breeder of heritage pigs and are learning more about that process. The pigs are also for meat and we have several people wanting to but into this process. A number of families are purchasing half a pig. They will get delicious pasture-raised pork, butchered to their specific requirements from pedigree pigs. I will talk more about that process as it happens. We will not be slaughtering and butchering the pigs though. As they are for sale they have to be processed at a facility.

The arrival of sunshine has reignited the social scene at the farm. The barn has hosted a couple of events and dinners already. And the lure of baby chicks has ensured a string of visitors.  

Recently, we met some new neighbours who accidentally wondered onto our property on their way to Glorious Organics next door. (You must understand that I use neighbour in the loosest sense as there are not many properties around us, but they are within walking distance if you come through fields and over fences). Anyway, it was a wet, dreary Saturday morning when Madeliene and Peter stumbled across us toiling on the fruit cage. Meeting Madeleine and Peter was the best thing that could have happened to us that day. Madeleine and Peter are of Swiss origin and moved to Canada a number of years ago. 20 years ago they set out with a plan to do exactly what we are doing and create their little peice of homesteading paradise. Walking them around Laurica Farm and hearing them reminisce and be astounded was a real tonic. I realized that we had become so entrenched in the work and mud and winter challenges that we had forgotten to enjoy it. We'd stopped looking around and having fun. Here were 2 people in awe of the farm and showing us that after 20 years, their homesteading dream was still real and enjoyable and rewarding. We're invited to Madeliene and Peter's for dinner tomorrow and can't wait to share stories, experiences and energy over this lifestyle. A combination of spring and interacting with all of our wonderful neighbours again has reignited us. AND, in case you hadn't noticed, we're starting to sound like farmers. Let the first growing season commence.