Just another Day on the Farm

What can I say, its been a bit wild around here lately, making my eyes go wide, my stress level both go up and my head go down..

Like everyone else it seems sickness entered our household in the new year.. Hubby never caught it, of course it was me.. and it hit me hard in my ears, sinus and throat.. after the pain got to the point that I had to call and get medical help, it was a rapid turn  around once I got my antibodics and a sinus spray. I still do not personally believe this was Covid, (my doctor thinks it was) but I had three negative rapid tests

However that was not the real issue.. no no.. I got my first case of shingles..  and let me tell you.. Shingles is INSANELY painful..   We thought somehow I got a chemical burn with blisters but then more patches came until it filled in a ring..

It came on my left side, in a band across my upper left leg and the only way to even try and explain it would be..

1. It felt like having a second degree burn that would then react to air, movement (and try not moving your whole upper leg hah) and so on..
2.  Randomly with no warning or plan or way to know how many times, it was like my body was hit with a hot line set on low..  (maybe a few where high set hot line)  It was like my whole leg would be hit over and over again with a cattle prod.. which would then jolt my whole body..

The pain could and would make me loose my breath, make me scream out while trying to rest, and would at times come on so strong that it would lock my body up and make me drop..  I have NEVER had anything like it..

I was able to get the antivirals, I was able to treat myself in a number of ways that were supportive, I also sent my husband to the city and got the strongest gummy’s allowed to be sold as so many peaple told me that regular pain meds would not work as its “nerve” pain but that the good old fashion THC would and it did..

I have used the no high 3% with the higher pain meds salve before but in this case I didn’t care, I needed rest, I wanted it to knock me out and I have never been so grateful for even those 45 min of sleep after days of being awake..

It still took close to a full 2 weeks to have all the blisters break and dry up (at which time I could have given folks chicken pox) I was ever so grateful that hubby had chicken pox as a child and could help me.. Hubby held down a full time job, did the farm work and nursed me.. BLESS that man.

I did find and have stock up on a Eastern Medical salve that helps numb nerve pain.. and slowly, every so slowly I have healed up..  It is worth note that when I joined the local shingle support group to try and learn if what was happening was within the norm, that it had exploded.. it would appear thousands of canadian’s that got sick over the holidays then within about 10 to 14 days after clearing the sickness, got their first bout of shingles and many MANY of us were far younger then normal

I am beyond grateful that my doctor is going to allow me to get the shingle vaccine after one year of being shingle free even if I do have to pay out of pocket, the goverment will only cover after the age of 60..  I ideally NEVER want to go thought that again..

While I was at home dealing with this.. all around me was staging, less then 15 min from my farm was one of the biggest staging area’s and three others within 20 min in regards to the trucker protest.. it would be fair to say that my local area was pro truckers, it was a common site to see the support trucks drive by on their way in each day, a good number of homes locally opened their spare bedrooms to the adopt a trucker, where they welcomed them in for meals/lodging, the local community groups led meal making, 1000’s of meals were prepped and delivered

It was like having two things happening at the same time, here in the country side, there was support, new friendships and a working respect among those active..  and at the same time, my friends in the city, well lets just say this.. if the military played noise at those height levels 24 hours a day, it would be considered mental torture, while there were so many that were welcomed with open arms, there were thousands, tens of thousands that could not sleep, that had to leave their homes, that felt threatened..

Both parts and sides hold their own truths.. yes I know peaple that drove down and had no issues, yes I know peaple that had threats made to them, yes I know peaple lost work on both sides, Yes I know peaple that went and peaple that fled the city.. yes I know those that went in support and I also know those that were at the counter protest blocking the trucks..

Their stories are their own and I WILL NOT speak for them but I can say this.. if anyone thinks this was black and white.. well.. you can..  go ahead.. but for me.. there was as many truths as there was peaple and each one is its own..

and on and on and on it went.. If you want more info on it.. pick a news site and there will be more stories then you would think possable..

I am going to stop here for the moment..  there is more..  and I will write more.. but for now.. this will do.. this will do..

Well, the little Chocolate and White ewe lamb  Shiver me’timber is doing very well indeed, she spent a full 24 hour plus out with her momma in her jug pen, and is drinking steady now, using her heated spot, or sleeping tucked beside momma sheep and has even been spotted doing wee hop bops on the camera that lets me peek on them whenever I want from the house..  man is that handy

We were prepped for the big storm and it did come to our province and even by us, 45 min away they got large dumps of snow that shut down roads, trapped peaple in vehicles for upwards of 9 hours, stopped all the foolish peaple that were told to stay home in the morning and didn’t and then could not get back into their side roads or driveways and there for let their vehicles on bigger streets blocking even more traffic and the snow plows..

Our farm however did not get anywhere near what they said, we got 8 inches, no power loss and if anything the temps warmed up beautifully, going from a chilly -28 with wind chill of -35 to what felt like a warm -3..  now we did the winds.. hard heavy winds that for sure have made some good drifts at 60 to 80 km.  Thankfully the wind blew in from its most common direction and there for the shelter belts did their job as well as they can.

The wild birds were all fluffy and tucked him from the wind, the dove above was sitting on my pea/bean fencing with its friends, swaying in the wind, at first I was was confused until I realized that the whole line of willows was breaking the wind for the birds, so they had a good view but far less wind then they could have had..

Now they say that its not fully over till weds, but the today tuesday has come in grey overcast and no snow yet.. Bells kitten among others was very happy to have sleeps on the warm sheepskin rugs, and I was grateful for the big winter feather quilts made by our friends out at the colony in alberta.  So warm and the quality can not be beat anywhere.

The house was fuller then normal, most of the indoor/outdoor kittys were indoor yesterday and while they were dreaming of being outside, they didn’t want anything to do with it when the doors were open lol..  content to be warm and sit and watch the outside world from the windows out to the gardens

The day was quiet for sure, hubby put in his work hours, earning the steady paycheck, I puttered on household and side gigs. The first grinds are done on a few different types of rocks and we are on to the second finer grinding of three kinds.. updates on them in the future..

It did not matter that your momma was in the big barn

It did not matter that your momma picked the most draft free jug corner in the far end of the barn

It did not matter that Dear Hubby had hauled down extra chips of bedding for the “girls”

Nope.. it was still a bad day to be born little one..   Your momma did a great job cleaning you up, and you are dry for sure.. but its a deep, DEEP BITTER COLD and you still got chilled..

No matter how good your momma was, no matter that she is the sweetest momma, you still picked a BAD day to be born.. We moved you guys from the big barn to the croft, carried with care deep in the jacket to keep the wind off you.. into the jug you went with the extra in floor heating spot for you..

Still you are not strong like you should be and you chill far to easy.. a little extra lamb jacket added, extra care, your momma is loaded with milk, teats striped of wax plugs and you drank some but not as strong as you should..

So, what is a farmgal to do, milked your momma out, as expected given her breeding, her teat size and placement made milking a dream, took out 12 oz for the night feedings and she had more yet, and I will milk her again in the morning, got a good feeding into you wee lamb, into the house in the warming box you go..

Its going to be a long evening/night with little feedings regular  (I sent Dear Hubby off to bed for first/second rest)and soon I hope things will look better by the time I hope to get sleep on 3rd rest..

I hope that tomorrow will be a good day to be one day old because tomorrow night a big old storm is moving in, all the ewe’s have been moved up to the croft, as we are to get dump loads of snow coming in over the next three days.. so lets keep everyone close and plan for power outages..

I know I have said it before and I will say it again.. the pressure changes during storms seem to bring on the babies..

Just that log in the kindle cracker I feel like I am being split, splintered, that I am living a odd kind of double or even more life currently..  No do not worry I do not mean that I am having mental issues, well no more then anyone is during this time really.. I think we are all stressed and worried and our minds are chewing on things either in our hind minds or in the front actively.. 

No, what I mean is that one part of me is preparing for slow collapse, for local and global Climate change, for what I see is a real coming storm,  droughts, food issues, material issues, political issues and so on..  Its not going away and its not one thing, its hundreds or even thousands of little snow balls, all rolling down hill at different speeds and different point of gathering more snow as it goes..  or mud, or water, or lava or fire.. 

I am increasing storage, I am upgrading while I can, I am stocking up.. we are building in aging out into the farm in a big way, we are leaning down hard on some things, increasing other things that I believe will prove to be worthwise for us, for barter, for community locally. I am looking backwards in terms of proper root cellar and adding in hives, increasing security.. and so on.. and on.. an on…

BUT… 

I am also moving forward with day to day life.. Hubby is working away, we are looking and preparing retirement plans like we are going to get his pension (see above, will we?) I am working on my new little side gig (photography)

I have rented a space in a local store where I will be selling a assortment of things, yes I will be doing some ad’s for my photography but we got a lot of my Mother in laws leftover stock in regards to her rock/gem and fossil store and so I will be doing a bit of that, plus some natural products/teas and so on, with seasonal off the farm products popping up here and there as well. 

I am moving forward in regards to teaching homestead skills and food preservation, including canning, pressure canning, fermenting, drying, curing and more..  I am growing extra seed for a seed house for sale across canada, I am bringing in bulk plant orders to continue to work on building food sheds in the local community, I am updating my food handler programs, I am updating my first aid training, I am taking online courses in different subjects..  

All in all life is moving forward daily.. each day a bit more gets added, done, planned for, used.. old skills worked, new skills added, some that will only be useful in the now, others that would be O so useful in the possable future on both sides of that split.. 

Strangely with the bigger push down on Omicron, I am starting to understand why lipstick was such a big thing to my grandmothers.. why taking the time to curl their hair and have a sunday best or a company apron mattered..  I have had the urge to do my hair more, put on a bit of lipstick, put on one of my amber necklaces, but I have been wearing more moonstone as well.. use the good perfume.. I have even changed from the work cloths to a dress better for dinner..  and I have taken to making “sunday” meals..   

I think I get it now.. after being home both of us home for 22 months and counting, being on the farm and really not “going” back to normal for us.. I get why they needed to “break up” the time on the farm, the week, the season’s.. why gathering times were so special, why you dropped EVERYTHING to have tea when someone pulled in for visit and you pulled out the good dishes, boiled the water and just focused in on the moment..

I can remember my grandmother saying..  that can wait a hour, put the coffee pot on, bring out the fresh whatever if baking or saying, go pick fresh berries or go down to the cellar and bring up two jars of canned saskatoon fruit..  a few spoons of fruit with a drizzle of cream or not would be served.. 

I understand so much better now.. so whatever it is for you.. do it now..  use the good whatever, drink tea from the tea cup, put on the lipstick to feed the chickens, curl your hair just cuz.. 

How you doing on this.. you feeling that split?  Do you know what I mean by that? Seeing it in yourself, or your family or your work? 

Yesterday I made a wrong move taking my jacket off and caught the strap of my workhorse of a camera and up it fly into the air, somehow coming off me and coming down in my foyer at clearly the worst angle possable broken camera, broken tile..

First offical photo of my new camera dec 2018

At first I was just in a bit of shock and No, I checked a few things, but I could see clearly what I had broken and I felt a sinking spot in my gut..  not even black camera repair would be able to fix it, I had cracked not one but at least two parts that are not on the “fix” replace that list..

Man, I have loved my Micro setting!

I went to the table and started fiddling even though I already knew.. then I googled.. maybe by some magic, someone would tell them, they had taken it in and nope..

The detail it could get, look at those snow dusted fluffy kitty

Then I looked at my husband and had a bit of a cry.. not for the camera, its a box, a magic box really.. I mean I am very sad that I only got just over 3 years with it, taking on average about 10 thousand photos a year of which several thousand made the grade for keep.. while around 26,000 plus being deleted.. the joy of a digital.. you can take a 100 or more photos to get that “one”

I had to really think it though because while I always regret the loss of a good tool, this was a bit more, in the end I realized that it was a combo of a) the loss of a investment by a foolish move b) all the memories tied to the camera, the trips, the walks, the family time, the first photos of the boys, of bell and more

Then came this one.. (yes I surprised myself when I said it and then went duh) as I was talking to hubby, I said, its been one of my pandemic “outs” stressed listening to the radio or reading, in another lock down.. grab the camera, head out to take flower photos, take the boys for a romp, take the camera, get creative and set up a scene and take photos, bird watch to see if I can get something with our wild feathered friends..

I mean I knew that I was taking more photos but until that camera broke and I had to sit with it, I don’t think it had really sunk in just how much looking though the lens let me push all the cray-cray of the world out and focus in..

My new work mirrorless camera is awesome but it does not go outside much, and its limited on what it can do outside compared to my old faithful workhorse..

I have ordered in the upgraded version of the one I have lost..  I will have a week plus of mourning for my old guy till the new arrives and I guess If I need to use the mirrorless with great care till it arrives..

Its been 14 days since we picked up our last fresh food box, plus it’s now Jan which means alot of things that came in sept, oct fresh into storage has been used up.  The fridge is looking very “winter” lean..

The top shelf has our only “fresh coming in daily item” eggs but even they are slow this year, I should be getting 6 to 8 of them and I am getting 3 to 4 all chicken, the ducks are not laying yet.. but they will start up soon now that the days and daylight are getting longer.

Canned milk (or made up powdered milk depending on what I want it for) and behind that is a half used home canned white chicken breast, I only need half a pint jar for a standard 4 bowl of lunch soup.. on the flip side is some jam/jelly and homemade rubs

Second Shelf, 5 kinds of canned fruits, pears, plums, blueberries/saskatoon mix  and apple sauce and two juices, plus some left over meals bits and bobs..

Third shelf on the left is pickles, relishes and fermented honey garlic, homemade BBQ and Mustards on the right is last of the celery, some carrots and parsnips..

The greens are growing in a different area, the sprouts same.. still have lots of pumpkins, squash and some holding big zucchini’s, plus parnisps, onions, garlic and oranges fresh (but getting older)

Otherwise, everything is coming out of storage be it dried, fermented, canned or freezers or the inhouse greenhouse, we are not hurting in anyway but we are limited at the moment and it feels strange..  I am starting to understand just how FREAKIN spoiled I have been getting my fresh fruit and veggies boxes twice a month.. wow do they make things easier.

I will need to be very careful in terms watching carb counts on the meals.. and I can’t wait for fresh milk to be added into the mix, so we can add in a lot more dairy..  The one meal I just looked at it, sighed and made massive T-Bone steaks, used the drippings to make a sauce and poured it over and served up the plate as a meal lol..  it was good, and we were full but can’t do that to much lol