Just another Day on the Farm

Hello Dear Friends

The storm appears to have been finished with us, we have lots of ice and snow, we have gotten at least half of our normal winters snow in a matter of about ten days, well over three feet, plus drifting, we have had down limbs and branches.

We did prepwork on the farm and we got lucky! It could have been much worse, it was not..

As I read the news reports, I say it again, please, please consider preparing for a event like this, I know that the government says prepare for 72 hours, and if a 72 hour kit for your family is the what you are willing to do, then do it! and that ‘s is awesome!

But if you really want to get a good solid start, have a rock solid plan for 2 weeks if needed, and then work your way upward depending on what happens in your own neck of the woods, here in my area, if you get a proper nasty ice storm, you are looking at two to six weeks of possible on your own..

But lets go back for a moment, lets cover the basic’s, and by true basic’s I mean what you will need in order to cloth, feed, water and shelter..  when the heat is off, layer up.. one to three pairs of socks, with good heavy slippers, to layers of pants, at least three layers on top, don’t forget to cover your head, gloves for sure and if you sit, you want to use blankets, if its wet, switch for dry..

Close off most of your house, live in one room only, ideally the room you pick will get any sun you can, adding solar heat but cover the windows as soon as the sun is no longer there to keep out all thermal cold, your room should ideally not be more then about 400 square feet, make a honey bucket and use it. A good lamp or two, (keep in mind that if you are in a very draft new eco house, that you can have issues with not having enough air flow (have a tester in the room with you!) and a little warmer with a candle, and good quality sleeping bags, even if you only have one, and if that is the case, put it under the whole family on the bed, sleep together with lots of blankets on top and if you can do it, create a outer old fashioned bed coverings to help keep in the heat that you and yours will generate.

IF the beds have a chill to them, warm a brick or a stone or even a marble cutting board over the candle and run it down the sheets, to take the chill and damp off before climbing into bed, sleep with a touque on! you will lose more heat from your head.. don’t let it happen..

Forget about washing for awhile, warm just enough water to wash hands, faces and feet if needed.. that’s it, no wet hair, no full body scrub downs, etc..

When you heat water for tea or drinking etc, use a flask, and then you can hand out warm drinks for hours afterwards.. Consider investing into something like the shuttle chef, I can heat water, and it will still be hot eight hours later.

Think about these things now or after the storm, so that when the next one comes, you are better prepared! I want each and everyone of you to come out the other side holding your own, please! It does not all have to done at once, just pick up one or two little things each payday and make a box, make a kit and when something happens, it could be life saving!

Hello folks

Well, like most of the rest of the eastern Ontario, we knew that a big old storm was pushing its way in, we had already had two days of storming, and snow but now it was going to get tricky, freezing rain, sleet, ice pellets and more snow, and a couple days worth of storm, not just one and done..

So after we cleared away the last of the night before’s snow, we headed into town in the morning to finish up some last min shopping, get to the second hand shop so I could pick up some size 4 and 6 childrens sweaters to turn into winter hound coats for my one old pup, so that it gets a little bit of weather protection.

We were not off the farm more then two hours, and we had done all our morning chores and put out extra hay just before we left..

So imagine my surprise and the heart race that came when we got home and say that the big main gate was broken open, the cow and calf in the yard, worse yet, having broken into a feed bag and stuffing her face (more on that in a bit), the hay bales, pushed around, and hay scattered, we drove the cow and calf into the field and called for the horses, the sheep flock came but no horse’s..

O My Goodness! O NO!!! no horses in the yard, no horses in the pastures, no horses in the barn, they were not on the farm.. called and called, scanned the fields left and right, nothing, knew that being horses they would go anywhere we had ridden them without a thought to it.. that is a pretty good area to cover..

But first things first, lets check to see if they went to their riding buddies on the farm across the road, sure enough.. there they were, standing with the herd on the outside of the fence and the herd hanging with them, on the inside of the fence, they were safe and sound and happy to see us, came when called and walked right up to be lead rope clicked on, and followed us home.

I will admit that I burst into tears when I realized they were gone and I didn’t have a clue where they were, and then I cried a bit when I found them.. I know, I know.. being a girl but so be it.

So get them home, sheep are fine but the cow, well the cow is already swelling, which makes sense as she just eat somewhere between 30 to 40 pounds or so of grains.. frickity, frack! now I am on bloat watch..

Walking, walking, burping, farting, cud chewing and lots of checks, I am very pleased to report that while she is still bigger bellied then I would like to see, she has made it just fine and I think given that she is up, walking, pooing and burping and eating her hay, that the odds are safe to say, that all is going to be well.

Still, there was flash backs to my childhood on when a large much loved critter got into the grain bin, o how I hate bloat..

Woke up this morning to a world of white ice/snow, everything that was cleared yesterday, is back and it brought friends, one more day of this storm they say, and then we will be though the worst of it.. hope they are right!

Still have power at this point, how you are my friends that live close enough to be effected by it!

The funny thing is that I finally figured out that this drink needs to be considered a meal or at the very least a snack, not to be included with a meal, I don’t understand how it makes me full but it does, I am working hard at keeping it 80 veggie/20 percent fruit, and the old hound loves the extra fiber in her meals.

I think the fresh ginger has helped the most..

This is a simple little recipe, I looked at the fennel and thought, huh.. I don’t much use it, no one that I know does, so its a learning curve..

I found a recipe that calls for carrots/galic and fennel.. Well I love carrots and I adore garlic, so figured it was the perfect started to bringing in some fennel into the diet..

This is way to simple to be called a true recipe but I thought I would share it anyway 🙂

1 fennel, eight to ten carrots, 2 galic cloves and some salt, with a bit of good quality coconut oil..

Clean up your fennel and wash and peel your carrots and cut both the fennel and carrots into equal sizes bit size pieces , peel and finely dice the garlic, put some oil in your pan, heat over med-high heat, get that oil nice and hot, throw it all in, and stirfry it..

Put a little spice or salt on it.. serve it hot!

Let this easy and simple dish introduce fennel to your family 🙂

Well, you can drink it, if you use a straw and just do it, but pleasurable it is not..

I got a new powerful juicer, and I will admit compared to the old second hand one that seemed to waste a lot, this one, I get like double the juice from the same amount put in and the end is much finer produced and the chickens love it, it also works well as added fiber to add back into my old hounds food, as long as you add back in the water to puff it back up, its so well ground that its excellent for her tummy.

the mess however is just something else, you spend more time, prepping and cleaning then dirnking.. still if it really does help, I will do it..

But I think I need a new recipe, I was told, one beet root and one carrot, they said if I cut the beet root juice with carrot juice, I would like it better, and so that is what I did but let me tell you, its not dreamy!

So I am thinking about trying this..

one beet, one carrot, one celery, and one small apple, with a small pieces of ginger root..

What do you guys think? Any juicers out there.. any of you include beet in your juicing? if so what is your favorite recipe?

Its such a odd odd color, you just don’t see that much that is quite so dark, rich dark blood red in any other way.

We are in the middle of a really nasty little cold snap, its that kind of weather when you put on the long johns, then the wool socks, thick pants, a shirt, a sweater, a inner jacket and a outer, two pairs of gloves, a balaclava, scarf and a hood to boot! Winter boots good to -40 are in order and thankful for the beard.

Your breath catches and if you don’t have it going though the scarf, it does not take many breath for your lungs to hurt, if anything is still showing, it stings and then quickly becomes numb, moving quickly helps but still warm up breaks are required, hot drinks are a given when you get in.

Increase in protein and fats for pretty much everyone, the rabbits need sunflower seeds on their regular feed as well as the hay, they need the extra calories and the extra fats.. the chickens needed extra protein, in weather like this, I up it by 1 to 2 percent and for the cats, I dribble a bit of extra oil on their dry feed and make dishes up with the dry with hot water and serve up two warm meals per day ideally.

The outer critters get warm water to drink hauled out for them, they will drink more warm water then they will if its cold, and while a little bit of extra grain is good for them, the big thing for this cold weather is Hay! lots an lots of hay! its what will increase that internal output of heat.

Below minus 30 on the farm at the moment, is it any wonder that the pasture and everyone else is hunkered down, deep pack bedding is the best as it creates a warm bed for them to lay down on.. I know, I know, its not pretty, folk would rather see a super clean stall, where its got a little layer of bedding, like those pretty pictures on the net or those places that have heated barns..

Mine is heated alright, heated by critter body heat, heated by composting deep bedding in the stalls.. the pigs loved their extra big chips of straw, they are dug into their bedding and snuggled up, and when they get up, their whole body steam’s in the cold air.

These temps will for sure drop my egg production even more then its been but that’s ok, I totally understand why the girls would prefer to put it all into staying warm..

I will not be out riding today, and the horses will thank me for it..

What’s the weather doing in your neck of the woods?