Bees, Honey and Wax

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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As most folks know I have a crazy amount of native bees of all shapes and sizes and that I am and have massively expanded my food forest and that has and includes more an more bee supporting native plants of all kinds.. 

One of the area’s that we are lacking on the farm is a 0 mile sugar, while I can and have tapped the sugar Maples, the one lot that I had permisson to tap has new owners and while they do not use their maples, they will not allow anyone else either, which is very sad indeed as they are big older trees that are outstanding.. then yet another area of bush that had sugar maples that I had forage/tapping rights on sold to someone else and they have clear cut the forest to turn it into yet more flooding crop land.. I used to within walking/wagon distance also had big huge old sugar maples along the creek and I sighed deeply this year in 2021 as most of them were cut down, sadly to be hauled away as fire wood.. 

Even if I planted on my own land (which is a issue as maple leaves and horses are not a great mix), it would take many years to grow the trees big enough to get to harvest stage, and I have limited land, but I have friends that have more land, run maple stands and sell maple syrup each year, I will support them. 

That leave me with sugar beets or honey bees.. I am going honey bees.. I have signed up for a two day training course, pre-reserved two nucs from a beekeeper up the road about 15ish min away, who has been raising and breeding bees for the past 30 years locally, while his first stock started out as Russian, he calls them super mutts at this point and they are bred to thrive right in my neck of the woods.. 

PERFECT! I am only need/want what one productive hive produces per year but there is a lot of reasons to go with two hives, ideally it means that I can harvest less per hive, still get what I need and have them feeding on their own honey and not feeding them..  If one is struggling, I can use the stronger to help the weaker, if one hive dies over winter, I still have the other and so on.. 

It does mean I will need to do some “swath” row planting in inner pasture areas for mass feeding plantings while other things finish being planted/grow but that is fine..  We will all learn as we go

I am excited to be adding in the hives, not because I need the pollinators, I have them in droves, but to get myself a 0 mile sugar source while using what we already have to support it..  

Lots of updates to follow as I share how it goes..  Do you have bees? How was your learning curve? How many hives to you keep? Are you further north? Do you overwinter successfully often?

 

Posted in 100 mile diet, Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments

Avacado Pasta Recipe

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

This is a older post that certainly desires a little extra share, got one or two ripe Avacado’s that need to be used up.. Think outside the box, makes a excellent light but very tasty pasta sauce..

Just another day on the farm's avatarJust another Day on the Farm

Pasta Sauce

  • Two Ripe Avacado’s
  • Half a Cup Greek Yogurt
  • 2 TSP Light Olive Oil
  • Salt, Pepper, Powdered Garlic, Parsley, Dill, a pinch of Italian Herb Mix

This can also be used as a veggie dip or as a sandwhich spread, example, spread this on a a flat bread roll up with a little diced peppers and some cooked chicken.. just yummy.  Can also have some horseradish added for kick and used in your sushi rolls.

Put in a container and blend with hand stick, makes a nice thick light green sauce. Cook a pot of pasta, whatever kind you like.. I did small shells for this one..

  • One large Onion-Peeled and Diced
  • One large Zucchina -Diced
  • 1/4 cup dried grape tomato’s (from our garden) cut in half..

Cooked Onions in a touch of olive oil till clear, add the rest, and cook for two min, then add the sauce above…

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Sausage Stuffing

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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Honey Garlic Lamb Sausage Full Coil

HarvestBeefanPorkblendsausage

Fall Harvest Beef/Pork Blend with onion, peppers, garlic/ginger

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Orange Cranberry Duck Sausage

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Added Bonus.. Gifted Delight.. Honey Garlic Moose Sausage.. So good!

Hanging, Smoking and Wrapping/Freezing.. I am looking forward enjoying these over the next few weeks/months.. and I love my new grinder that I used for both the grinds and for the stuffing, so much faster then my older (but still good) 5 pound manual stuffer..

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Beef Breakfast Sausage Patties

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

We really enjoy a good sausage in this house and they come in so many versions, sometimes I like to make big ones, sometimes little ones, sometimes they need to be smoked and cured.. other times fresh is best..

Most of the time when folks think about breakfast, they think pork an little links.. but not everyone has the sausage skins, the grinder or the stuffer.. sometimes you just need to go more simple..

Breakfast Beef Sausage Patties

2 pounds of lean beef, you need fat, if your meat is extra lean, you will need to add a bit of fat to the recipe or it will be dry..

Spices..  So crazy flexable but start with 1 or .5 tsp of onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, paprika and red pepper flakes..

or just go 3 tbsp Italian spice blend with 1/2 tsp of salt and pepper..

Pinch off a itty bit and cook it up and taste it.. adjust upward as needed to get to the perfect spice blend for your family!

Like your meat a little sweeter? Sprinkle over and add in 2 tbsp of brown sugar or 3 tablespoons of maple syrup to the blend..  personally I like maple with pork and brown sugar with the beef.. however your family might love the maple with the beef 🙂

Mix the spices well though the meat. it needs to be even so that you get some in all your meat but at the same time, try not to mix to much as the more you do so, the more dense the patties will become.

Try and work with very cold meat, now I used my handy little small patty maker, I have a bigger burger one as well, the joy of them is that they are all the same size, which makes single tray freezing them and stacking them a dream for future use and makes cooking them very easy as they are all the same in the pan.. plus they are lovely flat and much easier to cook because of it.

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Med heat in a pan with a good amount of olive oil or lard or left over bacon fat etc..  my point is simple, do not put these in a heated dry pan and think you can flip them whole lol.. you need to cook them with a bit of extra fat.. 4 to 5 min max per side and ready to go..

Can be pre-cooked and reheated, perfect size for little hands or sliders as well.

If you want to freeze them, layer on a tray, freeze on the tray rapidly, then let them thaw just enough to pop them off, layer between wax paper ideally and stack and freeze, ideally double bagged and just grab as needed..  ideally the night before so they can just be popped into the fridge to thaw and ready for use in the morning..  they can be cooked from frozen but it does change the texture..

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Do not “panic buy” Stop.. Think.. Take Stock..

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

By this time, we have all seen the posts, the pictures, the news shows and newspapers and heard it said over and over again on the radio.  Panic Buying, Rationing, Empty Shelves..

SLOW DOWN.. Breath.. Take another deep breath, yes I know maybe you are out of milk, maybe you are out your favorite fruit, maybe you are low on fresh bread..  Maybe even more concerning for some. you are saying.. no you can’t have that.. one portion at this time..

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This post is not meant at all for those that are out of their homes, stuck on the road but its for pretty much will work for everyone else..

Do not let the Media get you spun up

Do not let the Canadian Food Guide rule at the moment..

Do not worry if your family is eating half a cup of apple sauce daily for a week or two.. they are getting their fruit..

Instead of looking at what is missing.. take that deep breath and look at what you do have!

  • Take stock of your kitchen cupboards. and I do not mean open it and look at it.. I mean take things out from those dark corners, that can of lima beans, that jar of antipasto, that small tiny jar of jam that came in a gift basket..
  • Take Stock of your deeper pantry, be that a small walk in kitchen pantry or your where you keep your rice, flours, beans, pasta and so on.
  • Look into  your tea and coffee area often extras are tucked in that area, like hot chocolate, or herbal tea or perhaps a tea box set has extra has something extra in it.
  • Look over your spice/herbs
  • Look in your fridge, take a good hard look at the sauces, salad dressings and all the little bits and bobs you have
  • Look in your freezer, perhaps use the top, side or bottom freezer in combo with your fridge, perhaps you have a small apartment freezer.. take stock of what you have..

The odds are very good that you have far more then you think you do.. or if you are truly super lean, the odds are you do not need this post. you already live lean and are the queen of figuring out how to take a small amount of x combine it with broth for soups or pasta or rice to make full family meals out of it..

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If and when you do get to the store.. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO STOCK UP!

Stop.. just stop! Unless you are truly lean (as in extreme limited income/food bank/community support programs, you had time to put up a extra bag of rice or pasta, along with a few other stables after the lock down..  if you truly have made the past two years and you spent your money “supporting the local and ordered in” without a thought of bringing in at least a 14 day personal home lockdown stock up..

Well, honestly, I am going to shake my head at you while giving the stink eye..  and also welcome because you have clearly not been here long..

So if you are lucky enough to find items on the shelf, take only what your family needs and think outside the box but stay flexable.  if you can get a jar of apple sauce and have a working fridge, you can portion it out, do they only have the fruit cups, don’t get fuss right now.. you can find a way to use the cups somehow.. or maybe they only have soft apples.. that will only last a short time.. eat while you can, but be prepared to process iffy items instead of passing on them.

If you can get a bag of powdered milk or canned milk even if its just one, along with a smaller milk, if your house is a milk drinking.. keep the fresh milk for the littles, make the powdered for all cooking needed.. keep the canned for use as a rich way to replace milk..

Allow yourself to think outside the box. no butter.. consider Gee in a jar.. consider cream cheese, consider any kind of nut butter.. for certain things.. for cooking, baking etc.. move to oils or lards..

When you make your list.. come up with the backups and then come up with backups for the backups.. be willing to take the store brand, be willing to try new foods.. if you want fruit cocktail in a can and normal one is not there but the ones with papaya is.. take one jar and make it fun and adventure.. BUT if you know you will not eat it unless you are “starving” do not take it..

If you have a well stocked pantry.. stay home for a few weeks..

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Keep track of what you are using most and they should be the items you are looking for to refill your own gaps as basic things become somewhat stable..  Hubby and I have made a list of lets add this list per once a month shopping trip.. its not a long list, and we are looking for one of each, its not something we are out of, it is something we use regular and this will mean that we will replace what we are using and rotate though oldest to newest.

We need to eat, of course we do.. but do we need to eat as much as normal? the odds are strongly no we do not.. I know, I know, I am totally a stress eater.. I get it!

However this is a area that we can STRONGLY look at.. over and over on so many media and blogs, its all about how to make frugal meals and I am right there.. but the truth is most of us N.A. eat far more calories then we need daily..

Could we eat 10 percent less calories per day for a few weeks, could we eat 25% less calories per day, could we make a “kitchen sink” type bits and bobs soup and have it with tweek’s for lunches.. its a trick used forever, add broth and make the bowls seems fuller then they really are, tastes good, makes us feel full..

Instead of looking to the stores or the supply chain or the feds to make everything “normal” .. its not normal times right now for tens of thousands and another storm is coming right at the other half of B.C right now..

Look inward to what you have and make it count!

Posted in Life moves on daily | 7 Comments

Roasted Parsnip Carrot Soup Recipe

Posted on November 21, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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Roasted Parsnip Carrot Soup Recipe

Roast your Roots Veggies

  • 6 med parsnips, peeled and sliced into two inch portions
  • 6 med carrots, peeled and sliced into two inch portions
  • tbsp or so of good quality olive oil
  • cracked sea salt
  • Roast at 400 till tender to the fork, approx 20 to 25 min

Now you can make a lot more, I did, I made a big sheet pan of these, served half at the dinner table, tossed with a tbsp of butter and tbsp of maple syrup and a bit of cracked pepper..  Amazing, then I put the second half of the pan into the fridge and held the roasted sweetened parsnips an carrots to make the soup the next day.

Parsnip Carrot Soup.

  • 1 med to large onion, peeled and diced
  • 1 tbsp of good olive oil
  • Six cups of veggie or chicken broth
  • Roasted Parsnips and Carrots
  • 1 tsp of a good no salt seasoning like Mrs. Dash or my med fine herb blended
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • cream to taste

In a good heavier bottom soup pot, add your oil and the onions, (no garlic or ginger, you can use them but it will change the soups overall taste profile) cook till onions are clear, then add in the broth, if you want thinner soup, add more broth, move up to 8 cups.. add your precooked roasted root veggies, your spices and heat it up till simmer to blend the flavours..  Remove from heat, and use your stick blender to make it as smooth as you would like..

Portion it out into your bowls and just before serving, put a tiny swirl of cream on top with a few red pepper flakes, goes amazing with a good hearty bread for dipping and cleaning up the bowl afterwards

This makes 4 big hearty lunch or lighter soup bowls of soup..  but can so easily be scaled up in amounts, or down..  This soup lets those rich earthy flavour of the roasted parsnip and carrot stand out and they are perfect in their fall glory!

Got a bit left over.. do consider using it as a cheese sauce base, add a little more broth to thin it down just a touch if needed, grate a cup a cheese, warm the soup, add the cheese till it melts in and then use that as a topping for roasted Cauliflower or Baked potato or even just a bowl of Rice..

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The Shifting Moral Sands Under our Feet

Posted on November 20, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

My Back to the Land Parents taught me young about shifting sands, on one hand I was allowed to flourish as a wild child, barefoot and bushy tailed, land, water, hounds at feet, wind running over me as I rode from a young age small and BIG horses, quads and moterbikes.. Honor the land, honor the animals that provided the meat, eggs and milk.. nurture the soil that crops our gardens and fills our pantry and yet the main source of income for my family.. pipelining..  my father worked the lines. 

Part of the reason we moved so much was following the pipelines, and part of the reason we lived for many years on the edge of the towns, in the bush, in the cabin, in the holiday trailer, why over and over things were sold and we moved with so little only to start again an again as the “across the tracks/new kid”  

We got to see the best in peaple and we got to see the worst, the peaple who would reach out and give a hand, who were kind.. and those that were not, taking labels off the cans at the small stores, and then selling them at a higher costs, you could get dog or cat food as likely as you would get peaple food..  peaple who would try and find a way to wring out that “oil” money from the workers in as many ways as they could think of.. there was a target on your back both ways, you were that “bad” pipeline but also you were.. they get paid lots of money, lets get our share of it..  Sigh.. 

It helped me grow up to fast, get jaded to soon and it also made me wildly flexable.. I can find a way.. this is a good trait to have, it makes me think outside the box, it makes me watch and quickly figure out how to fit in the box, learn how a group interacts and meld little things to fit in better.. 

It also made me see things in many MANY shade of grey, my world is NOT black and white.. but I still see good and bad in so many ways.. as I grew and aged, I make choices on what I will do in regards to my own personal life and how what I do effects the outside world.. 

One of the things I am big on is you can only vote for your local goverement or federal X times so many years but you can vote with your dollar every single time you open your wallet..  Voting with your dollar is FAR more powerful..  I still vote always.. I am aware of just how amazing it is that I was born to this country and this time as a female. 

The past 20 months and I have a feeling the next coming years are really pushing my compass.. I mean I am pro-vaccine if you choose to get it while I am 100% against it being done by force and yes that includes financial distress.  

I made the choice years ago that I would not support business that went cashless, this is a line for me.. I do not agree with a cashless Society as it supports some peaple while adding in to marginalization of others..   Even when I want to use the place of business, I make it clear that I not buy because I can’t use cash even if I was going to use my card.. 

I have made the same type of choices over and over in the past 20 months.. making choices to support small and local but also making choices to not support businesses that are splitting and marginalizing..  while its not their fault “they are following the rules” I am supporting those that are doing their best to treat everyone with respect, if you clearly do not care about those that choose not to get the vaccine or can not.. then I will vote with my dollar and you are not getting it.. I will find a business that does both and they will get my money.. 

More and more of these moral related subjects are coming up, my favorite clothing store contracted work to a company using peaple that are supporting N,K,  Now I grow my own tomatos’ but I do normally buy tomato paste in the itty bitty cans.. have I bought and supported a company that is using what must be called modern slaves in the middle of a slow genocide.. 

The list like these goes on.. more and more we see just how fragile our “world supply chains are” and just how much they are laid on the back of the poor..  I have over the years supports so many fair trade, so many co-ops, so many small businesses and I am glad I have and I will.. 

But I find its getting so big, so intertwined that its becoming brutally hard to make some of the choices, so many companies that were at one time small and local and supported local farmers were bought out and kept the name and the small friendly face while being owned by the big boys.. 

I am used to watching other countries media spin hard on many things and do not get me wrong, I have seen our counties spin for many many years as well..  I mean if you asked my friends after pretty much any movie afterwards I will make a comment, well that was a in support of X or done to make us more open to x or y or z..  If you have not figured this out yet.. watch TV and movie’s to see what the think tanks see coming down the line.. often you can get a glimpse into what they see as the next issues

Also margaret atwood is crazy good at looking at small things and figure out lines of thought patterns on what could be.. 

However the past two years have put the Spin so high in our own country, I no longer need to look outside it to see so many of the issues that we saw in other countries,.. because they are right here, right now and in our face.. 

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I for one, do not have the answers.. I do not even know what my own answer will be.. what it would have been tomorrow or what it will be today is not what it could be tomorrow..  

So many peaple have become Ridgid, others are so loose on the moral end that they need to be given the eye, and marked in your head as “do not trust further then you can throw them”

At a time when we need to be as open to new information, open to new ideas, open to going backwards for answer, we are instead being driven to be guarded..  

Stay flexable.. it will serve you well in the long run.. do not let go of your core morals.. but for the rest.. be willing to shed it and grow a new version of you..

 

Posted in At the kitchen table, Life moves on daily | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lamb Roast with Root Veggies

Posted on November 19, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

Sometimes the you just need the classics.. Slow roasted meat with huge amounts of root veggies..  Simple and yet not.. we have all had those dry pot roast or the swimming in fat leg of lamb and those root veggies.. well, its hard to not enjoy roasted roots but there are a few that do not really work in a mix (example beets, I love roasted beets they are a huge favorite but they will effect the color of all the others roasted with them in the pan, just not a good pick)

The first thing is if you can get a nice leg of ontario lamb from a farmgate (ideally grass fed or lightly grain finished, this will be a much leaner meat then that fatty heavy grained lamb penned lamb.. they are night and day as far as I am concerned.. 

Do not be afraid to do this with a lovely young leg of goat if that is easier to get in your area..  (just make sure that the farmer you are working with has made sure to remove those young boy goats parts lol, they can get the boy taint very young, just like they can breed very young)

Thaw out the meat and put it to age with garlic, oil and your favorite spices for at 24 hours, 48 is better, we much learn to age our meats better in the fridges.. it makes a massive difference.. it was not that long ago that the butchers would hang longer but now do not count on it.. AT ALL..  from the smallest shop to the biggest, they are at max push and they are not hanging.. as a in person example.. for over 10 years, my lambs were butchered monday, I would ask them to be hung at least 72 at a min and they were ready saturday..  then came the push and I have really struggled to even get that 72 hours..  in 2021, after booking them in a year in advance just to get the spots, they went in mid-monday, were butchered tuesday and ready thursday.. they didn’t hang at all.. there is not time in there for proper hang time..  

This means that I need to pull and age that meat on my end if I want the best from it.. sometimes its just a matter of a few hours in a sauce or giving it little pounding but when it comes to bigger portions like a leg of lamb, aging and then slow roasting will get the job done.. 

Now on to the veggies.. Garlic and Onion.. o ya, its a must.. lol.. its a must!

However the key is to do a mix of sweeter roots with more starch roots.. in this mix was potato, carrot, winter turnip, summer turnip and butternut squash..  so Potato and summer turnip were the most carb and not sweet at all, the carrot and winter turnip were the next level of flavor and the next level up on sweeter flavour and the butternut squash was the sweetest of them all..  

That is my goal, about a 3rd more heavier, a 3rds in the middle range of flavour and only a 3rd in the softer or sweeter or strong flavour profile.. sure you want it colorful, but you also want to mix the textures and the flavours so as you eat your meal you can pick and choose.. 

Of course the broth used and the spices and herbs used also have a influence to the end results but that is far more personal.. in our case, we let the garlic, black pepper, yellow mustard seeds and fresh rosemary out of the garden with lots of salt speak for itself.. I also added in some of my homemade red wine in there.. 

What is your favorite blend of root veggies when roasting them in the oven with a beautiful roast of your choice?? Is there something you love? Something you hate?

Posted in Life moves on daily | Tagged , | 4 Comments

BC Floods, Roads and Shock

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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Right now most of the peaple effected directly and those all around the province are in “this is happening shock mode”  They are just starting to move, those trapped in cars, that have been lifted out by chopper, those that after three days have been able to get one highway lane open heading went, bringing peaple from hope area to get back home to the Vancouver, the 200 plus peaple after a two plus day wait on the trapped train has been able to get out.. 

The water rising slowed for a day (but the weather at the moment says they are heading into 7 days of rain so that is not going to hold”

Having said that at the moment, a massive sandbagging effort is holding a break point.. I will let ValB’s comment do the follow up on that part..  

“Update: pumps still holding (hundreds of people and military managed to sandbag enough the station isn’t under water at the moment). Fraser river has dropped some (no more rain please) but pumps still operating at capacity. BC government in state of emergency (second time this year I believe – fires was the first one this summer). Ag minister Lana Popham (I’ve met her, hardest working woman I know) spoke about the livestock situation (in between trying not to break down as she’s been on face time with farmers, who are in their barns with their dead cows) has reached out to other feed suppliers. Many many silos, and hay under water. The BC lab that tests ALL the milk intended for consumption, is under water – Alberta and Saskatchewan have offered the use of their labs. The farmers will be taken care of, many more livestock will have to be euthanized.”

While the main thing right now is the “NOW” and I totally get it.. the overall effect on the food and supply chains for the province is in effect but its not just B.C. Massive amounts of BC milk flows to Alberta and trust me its not flowing! 

Now lets move back to the roads for moment, with 9 effected major highways plus the trains, and we need to talk a bit about BC for those readers that are not away of it..  if you have never driven those mountain roads, it can be hard to grasp how narrow, how cut into the mountains and how steep the drops are.. 

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Thankfully the roads are much better these days then when they were creating them.. but honestly they are dangerous on a good day, amazing views yes.. but still crazy amounts of drops, mountains rising above you on one side, steep drops into valleys and most often long snaking rivers or at times depending huge lakes..  Beautiful and those that spend time in the mountains can and will feel the pull to come back. 

It will not a simple process to fix all those different roads, there have been slides, breaks, whole sections broken off and slide down into the rivers.. which brings as back to food and stores.. and for that, I am going to bring back comments again from ValB

“Most store shelves are now bare. This is way worse than the start of the pandemic. I flipped a pic someone local posted of our Save On Foods. The entire produce section is empty with the exception of half dozen of some weird cabbage things, and maybe six dozen lemons. 🤦‍♀️”

Honestly I can not write it better or explain it better then ValB did in this comment.. (thank you again for sharing your thoughts and comments.. 

“Yes the whole lower mainland is technically part of the pacific delta…crazy. Getting the livestock out, some smaller places did…but the reality is there is nowhere to get them out to, no passable roads, not enough trucks to move that much livestock…the system has collapsed. If they manage to get rail back up and running they are already terribly backlogged with grain. So this will affect farmers in other provinces who expect to sell their grain, much of it gets transported to the lower mainland to be shipped.
It was suggested to me ‘oh well we’ll just get grocery from Alberta. Alberta cannot feed BC. They need their supply for them and most people don’t realize Alberta gets they bulk of their goods from BC. Also had someone say ‘oh they can just ship to Prince Rupert and offload there’. No. Rupert cannot accommodate the traffic, and they are still in the process of building their deep water port for the big ships.

‘You can go down through the US and bring it back up’. Technically, yes. Is you can get across the border, if the goods aren’t time sensitive….but at a huge cost.

I feel almost sick at this. It boggles my mind how people simply do not understand – how precarious the supply chain is. Even up here they don’t get that their food comes to the grocery store every single day by truck. Every single day. They’re hoping to open highway 3 first (the crows nest) but no timeline. They’re also talking about designating it for essential travel only (trucks, medical etc). The federal govt has offered the military. We need it. (And they are getting help from the Canadian Military)

This will get worse before it gets better.”

I am going to second that..  

This will get worse before it gets better!!!

We will see what today brings, I have also been reaching out to contacts and friends involved in a few different parts of the supply chain and effects.. there is more ripple effects out there.. those will be shared over the coming days and weeks as I can get links and offical ways to backup what I am being told..  

Right now.. its still very much Shock Mode.. (but soon, soon that is going to change and its going to get ugly when it does!) 

This is without a doubt the largest Natural Disaster in my personal lifetime to effect my country.. most folks are still thinking this is a BC disaster, but its truly a Canadian one..  

 

 

 

Posted in Life moves on daily | 11 Comments

Flooding and Fear

Posted on November 17, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

BC flood Sun

https://vancouversun.com/gallery/in-photos-historic-flooding-wreaks-havoc-in-b-c?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2ccRTtWr54TxePYQPAuUknxB6xkOgWfg_tR0yjdEyUgpgHuMPuI8bfJq0#Echobox=1637099422

There are another 40 plus photos on the link to show you even a blink’s worth of the damage and danger..  but more is coming to thousands as pumps are breaking and a area that was in the 1920’s a lake has a real risk of having 3 meters of water come pouring in to fill that lake base back up..

For thousands of families and thousands of business, the SHTF and hard.. while some MIGHT have water damage insurance, most will not have over land flood insurance and that means that this “act of god” will not be covered..  most will not have their extras if covered at high enough rates to begin to cover “2021” covid prices and I wince at what the recovery “covid/flood/supply chain” 2022 costs will be..  even those buildings standing but under a meter of water with fully flooded basements will need rip outs to the studs and rebuilds.

Now we widen our view moving to the businesses themselves.. their stock will be considered damaged and won’t be saleable and restocking (well we will get to restocking and roads just a bit down this post) while they will be strong at the beginning, they will soon find their shelves empty and while right now in the past 2 days most peaple are still in shock and in “help” mode..

In the next days, weeks and months, as the damage truly set in, as the mental health struggles, as peaple realize that there is no job to go to.. no paycheck coming in, that it takes months to even begin to get insurance claims moving as that shock wears off and a disaster form of PTSD and the daily struggle and grind wears peaple down, that help mode is going to be less in focus..

Take whatever help is being offered, and if you are in a home with space and are uneffected, sit down with your family and have a very real talk about if you have friends or family or depending the ability to offer a space in your home to help the displaced..  even if its just a place to park the moterhome and plug in etc

The power is off as is the heat and the temps are dropping at night, and its not like folks can just go to the local hotels, they are in the same place and there is a lack of space.. community centers that normally be opened up for warming are reporting in.. no, flooded, no power, no heat..

If you have the time to do so and have not done so, get those back packs ready, get your bug out kits ready, if for some reason calling it that “does not sound right” just get those evac bags and ideally backbags for each member of the family ready..

Now we get to really bad news.. the roads.. so many roads are closed, multiple mud slides, roads and bridges and train tracks are down..  I personally expect that a huge focus will be on getting the trains back up and running as they are the powerhouse for moving goods..  Which is not to say there will not be work on the other roads, for those from away..

In case you are wondering why I think the trains will be the focus, because without the trains, the goods and resupply from the port (which was already insanely backlogged) will not just not be supplying BC but it will not be sending goods to alberta,, Sask and MB and yes.. supplies can be brought up from the states to a point and across the great lakes from ontario.. BUT all the supplies and ships at the Vancouver port is not going to just suddenly pop up on the other side of canada at the eastern ports for off loading..   So my friends and family in alberta, please do not panic buy but it might be a good idea to just make sure some of your favorite SHELF stable foods are topped up if you are low on them.

In a nut shell about half the province is cut off from the other half.. the whole most populated area of the province (including the port, the resupply system and millions) are cut off from the rest of canada by road) you can leave one way by sea, and you can fly out but even that is going to be limited at least for a little while..

The flooding is covering some of the best and most productive farm land, the dairy’s are flooded, the crop land flooded, huge sections of one of two of our fruit production lands are either flooded, or damaged.. all the hundred of thousands of chickens and turkeys in their massive buildings did not get out, they are dead.. that is going to effect not only now but a whole raising cycle of all kinds and types of food production.  That is the future.. which for most is not top of mind..

Update “Fraser Valley farmers supply 50 per cent of all B.C.’s eggs, chickens and dairy products. There are 45,000 dairy cows in the valley, and each chicken farm has around 25,000 birds.”

50 percent of all BC eggs, chickens and dairy, worse then I thought.

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Right now, its all about the here, this moment.. and empty shelves..  ( I copied this from facebook, I can not tell you if its real or not but I believe it is)

Its the tip of the iceburg..

My heart goes out to those effected..   I hope that when BC asks for help from the feds, they get it.. they are going to need it.. I hope that all of reach out and find a way to give a helping hand in whatever way we can.  Its going to be a very long 2022 and a very hard lean christmas for tens of thousands of families and then some..

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