Normally Friday rambles is a mix of fact, personal views and some good snark at times.. I normally pick at least one or more related current events news and away we go..
But lets deal with the big one.. regardless of your own personal view on the disease itself (which i have heard ALL the view points and I am not touching it with a ten foot pole here on the blog)
The lockdowns, the phases and so on are effecting all of us, even if you live in a area with no cases, and the Canadian north has done a outstanding job at keeping it free of issues.. the eastern provinces in my country are in a locked in bubble with each other and they are also doing amazingly well..
Quebec and Ontario are the most effected and I live one county away from one of the main province hot spots of ottawa and about a hour from montreal (quebec)which is another crazy high hot spot.. my own area is very min in terms of cases and even less in regards to related deaths. However our health unit is in step with the big city in most ways as there is a lot of movement between the city and my county..
My own personal family out west are doing very well in having been in very quiet and or uneffected zones in terms of cases.. The numbers are climbing in their province at this time
So that would be my first question? Where are you currently in regards to lockdown, color codes and or phases.
So far our farm has been under both federal and province wide emerg acts and we have had in order..
-Modified Semi lock down- if you can work from home do so.. but really pretty much all stores and more are open..
-Lock Down.. Everything closes down tight other then food stores, feed stores, modified but still available medical and vet care.. This was a hard full on lock down and we left the farm once a month only though it.
Then we moved to Phases, that did a slow openning up..
-Moved to Phase 1, where you could get your eyes done, your teeth done.. but really phase 1 was just a bit of a modified version of a lighter lockdown, it was still very tight and heavy..
-Moved to Phase 2, patio eating openned up and so did many stores and so on as long as they had their own doorways and so on..
Moved to Phase 3- gyms, bars, event places, schools, even sport teams all came back online.. it was a short phase 3 before the local numbers went from under a hundred a day to within 6 weeks over a thousand a day.
Back into phase 2 lockdown.. but now they changed it again.. to color coding.. Now we are in orange, with red a full lockdown again.. yellow in warning and green good to go..
Regardless of how I personally feel about some of the choices made and when above, that is what we have to work with and we are coming into fall with higher numbers, they “say” we have untraceable 35% spread.. which means in lay terms we are going to be in versions of lockdown moving up and down all winter and into 2021.
Are you in one of those area’s that is low case or are you in a area of highly effected? Share if you are willing..
Here is the big things I want to dig into, are you preparing for the winter? Have you put away extras in the pantry? Do you have a plan in place for if or when your emerg act (if you have one in place) is going to tilt your world again.
We are finding some things are very hard to find, example I am currently in the hunt mode for the wool replacement part for fixing the lining of my dryer drum.. its a 15 dollar part with around 45 min to take the broken one off and replace with the new one.. but I never thought to put a extra away.. and so here we sit..
Now I have the outdoor cloths line and the indoor drying racks and can throw up a indoor drying line if I want.. but its just one small but real example of how limited supplies are effecting the global supply chain which is effecting what we are seeing on store shelves and even online.
I am way to frugal and stubborn to “go buy a new one” for something that can be repaired.. I will make due and we will see how long it takes the part I had to order online takes to get to us..
We are fully expecting in our area to be in red mode lockdown again by christmas and into the new year.. We are planning and preparing for it.. but in truth coming into fall, the pantry is full, the fruit/veggie freezer is full, the meat freezers are filling rapidly and the canning shelves are filling up.
The farm continues to produce our own milk(sheep) and milk products, fresh chicken eggs, Duck eggs are pretty done for the year.. we have lamb, mutton, chicken, duck, pork and we bought a whole long yearling from a grass fed farm down the road..
Many of the layers I have spent years building into the farm and gardens all paid off this year in giving us a leg up on planting, growing, harvesting and preserving the harvests..
Are you coming into fall feeling like you are prepared for the coming winter? If so why.. if not why?
Just another Day on the Farm 
Northern half of BC has done quite well….our province did a three phase reopening. We are in phase two until there is a vaccine, so no concerts, large gatherings of any sort etc. The lower mainland has the bulk of cases and the numbers are climbing. The provincial govt has now given powers to each health area to institute lockdowns etc based on their areas.
Aside from the fatigue of having to change the way we do absolutely everything when we leave the house – we ourselves have managed fine.
Biggest thing I notice up here – shortages of everything from yeast to sos scrubbing pads, for months there wasn’t a navy bean to be found. Many shelves are still quite bare. There is literally not a single canning jar of any size to be bought, zero lids (I stock up all year on lids when I see them). I scored a good deal on a seldom used All American 921 canner….I now have three and have had all three going at the same time (the All American canner Co is out of stock – they are months behind in filling orders). Spent some of our spare time this year getting all our own firewood – 12 cords ready. Bought all our hay months ago by driving south – up here there’s next to none to be had – west coast rain all summer has it rotting in many fields.
Like yourself, I have spent most of my life making sure I’m prepared for something like this – and we’ve done fine. Still, I spent the summer canning and freezing extra food, took a couple of trips to stock up on things that did not produce well in my garden. Two hogs, one beef, fifteen meat birds in my freezer. Our two Jerseys are due to calve in January- more cheese, more butter on the way.
Ready for the second wave – as I put it.
Happy to see you back blogging again!!
So glad you are ready for the coming second wave.. thanks for your detailed overview.. We got ahead of the jar issue by working with a group of friends and we brought in pallets of jars this spring, I figured if we had a crazy run on seeds to the point that they stopped selling to the public until the larger commerical and market gardeners seeds were meet that on the back end, that meant more jars would be needed.. it was a very good call and we were able to bring in sleeves of lids as well.
Ah yes – seeds – I ordered in January….same thing out here. By March they were out of stock on many things. I’m not short on jars – but a friend of mine was desperately looking – and she’s a regular canner. I happened to run into Walmart for something weeks ago – found four dozen small mouth pints – snatched them up for her. Also went through my stash and gifted her a bunch of those quarter and half pint jars I never use – she makes a lot of spice mixes etc to gift at Christmas.
Oh boy, here on Vancouver Island we are doing pretty well, Covid wise. I keep my thoughts to myself on the matter but continue to act cautiously and to treat others with respect. Still, what a crazy time to have moved away from our garden, orchard, large pantry, and abundant hunting grounds. Who knew! However, if you physically cannot use those resources, it pays to be closer to a support network – and better fishing.
The better fishing means our freezer is full and I have preserved everything I can and have kept our cupboards filled with the essentials. Even if they shut us down again, we will be fed.
As for shortages, I have noticed that the shelves take longer to refill. I have also noticed that some bigger stores have rearranged the shelves so that the aisles are a little wider meaning that they can eliminate one or more aisles without it being too obvious. I know that I have had a hard time getting plain basic fabrics, like white flannel, and my mom (in the BC interior) can’t find white thread and sewing machine needles. I remember having a conversation with one of the produce managers at our local Wally world at the beginning of the craziness and he told me that they were having a hard time getting stock for anything that was manufactured in China. Everyone seems to be running short of patience. Not sure when that will be back in stock.
Glad to hear that fishing has the freezers full and I am not surprised to hear that you are ready for a winter lockdown. Yes we have the same here, they took out the “sale area of our local store” and made the walk ways huge in the fruit and veggie area and then added in raised area’s in there to try and make it look like its the same but its so not.. the shelves and the store have so much less stock and sales are much harder to come by and regular prices are much higher..
You are not wrong.. the level of understanding and togetherness that we saw on the first lock down is not going to be here this winter.. Its going to be a whole different time..