Garden Planning 2021

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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I am going to be planting a ton of flowers this coming year..  We need some pretty and I want to increase the ability to have flower full of vases.

It has been very interesting to work on our garden plans for 2021 given our new health issues in regards to eating certain items..  Being a Diabetic household certainly changes the garden plans.

Very limited potato’s (basicly fresh eating baby ones or fingers), no corn, limited pea’s, no real point in melons, other then maybe one or two plants as treats.

At the moment for annuals in the gardens we have seeds to plant out

  • Beets (6 kinds)
  • Turnips(summer/winter)
  • radishes (5 kinds)
  • Kolorabi (3 kinds)
  • peanuts 
  • Tomato’s( cherry and canning)
  • Cucumbers (3 kinds)
  • Peppers (3 kinds)
  • Zucchini (2 kinds)
  • Onions (4 kinds)
  • Broccolli (3 kinds)
  • Caulflower (1 kind)
  • Greens (11 kinds)
  • Kale (4 kinds)
  • Cabbage (6 types, including Asian styles that are very loose headed but same family)
  • Beans- Fresh( 4 kinds) Dry seeds (9 kinds)
  • Snow Peas (3 kinds)
  • Carrots (2 kinds)
  • Celery (2 kinds)
  • Celeric Root (1 kind)
  • Brussel sprouts (2 kinds)
  • Broad Beans (2 kinds)
  • Winter Squash ( 6 kinds)
  • Pumpkins ( 4 kinds)
  • Sweet potato (I am already starting my slips)

That is the basic’s, we will see if anything gets dropped or expanded.. Everything listed, I currently have the seeds, sets or stock to do these for 2021 and in a number of cases for 2022/23 as well.

 

 

Posted in Garden, gardening | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Is your Vet available?

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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This handsome guy needed to be altered and microchipped and I am beyond glad that I was able to get him in and done.

The past year has been very challenging in regards to getting in to see your vet or getting your vet to your farm. The first lockdown in march saw the list say that vets are open but it was a very mixed bag on that..

When the big march lockdown came, the farm vets all shifted and trying to get booked for my standard “herd health” yearly checkup became a dance to find a time they would come.

The small animal vet was even more tricky.. in the first hard push, everything but total emergancy was cancelled, all basic vaccines could wait, you could arrange curbside pickup of meds but no surgeries unless it was life and death.. they requested that the vets send their ppe, and even their meds back to the human health care system.

At the same time, everyone wanted a new puppy, a new kitten and so many peaple gave no thought at all on if they could get a vet or the fact that vets would be raising prices and locally did they raise prices.. in some cases, something that could cost 500 in 2019 suddenly could cost 1000 or more in 2020..

Part of this was that the borders were closed, so no one could take their dogs and cats across the USA border to the very reasonable priced vet care clinics (normally the cheapest way to do so pet care) and just to add to it, the border between ontario and Quebec also did a lock down on travel and so all those amazing Quebec more rural vets that take on a huge number of city clients to keep pet care costs and altering costs down suddenly closed their doors to new clients, to out of province clients.

Ontario has always been the worst province for having the highest costs for vet treatment and care anywhere I have ever lived in canada and of course they raised the prices on the vets in 2020..

So just in case my readers do not know, while certain things are set down by our federal goverment, each province has a vet board and they set “basic” price costs.. they say.. all vets in the province will charge at a min X for this antibodic.

The idea is to create a baseline and its both a good thing and a total shitshow.. it means that because the quebec province has such a massive difference between ontario that you can have 50% to 100% to in some cases upwards of 500% price point difference on some really basic things.

I feel bad for alot of our really amazing great ontario vets that work so hard for their clients..

However (and let me be clear they are still working hard) there are some that have set themselves up as a higher end vet that pricing themselves out of the basic pet market and they are not yet in the mind set that this could be shared issue.. yes the pet owners do need to understand that pets cost money but no.. no one should have to run all the extras in order to have a healthy pet altered.

However its very fair to see some increase in costs this past year and in 2021 and perhaps beyond as they can not get as many clients in. in my clinic, you arrive and you call from the parking lot and you wait in turn, then you come in with mask and cleaning hands and you have to follow their new floor directions into the vet area. they have a sign in area, they have a blocked off different with floor directions to the payment area.

Once your animal is seen, you must leave and go back to your vehicle, they will bring you back for the paperwork and directions etc.. the office is closing a hour early for the cleaning, and I know they are fully booked but still seeing less clients so I fully support and understand that we are seeing a very reasonable 15% incease on our bills.

I have needed to see my small animal vet clinic a few times in 2020 and each time I was so impressed at how well they did everything but also heard that phone ring off the hook non stop and I swear every single time I was there at least one call was from somone new and the answer was always the same.. we are not taking new clients at this time.

I have had so many friends reach out in total shock at the qoutes they have been given on their vet costs in regards to their new kitten or puppies.. Right now for the vets that are taking new clients they are looking at around 600 for cat and around 1000 for dog..

I got my female cat done fully, vet checked, altered, rabies and a medical treatment for bacic care for 280 and I just paid 405 all in for my 50 plus pound male including health check, alter, microchipped, cone of shame collar and a fecal check (which i perferred to just treating and i was right to do so as he did not need meds at this time)

So how are things going in regards to your farm vet care in 2020, have you heard anything yet in regards to 2021? how about your small pet vet?

Did you get a new pet and how have you found it in regards to getting standard vet care in your area?

Posted in farm, Farm dogs | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Lockdown Mondays

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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I have to admit that I strangely have enjoyed reading weekly posts from Silver and a few others in regards to their week in regards to how C-19 and their local area/country/world is being effected.

I think that paort of the reason I like it is because i get to see and read about how its effecting differently depending on where you are at and how you live effects it. So After having a good think on this, I have decided that I am going to do lockdown monday’s for 2021. I do not know if it will be every monday or just the first monday of the month.

I am going to stay away from the politial points of this and focus on how its effecting our life here on the farm.. I did say that I would be digging down into the daily life and after spending some time thinking about it.. this is a huge part of my daily life right now I have to find a way to bring it in without it being the overall focus.

I will say that I do not think that “vaccines” are going to magically going to be rolled out and that we will be near normal by fall of 2021, I expect that we are going to find out that 2021 is going to be different but just as hard as 2020 in its own way, but much of the anger/frustrations seen in different ways in 2020 are going to spread in a different way and with different focus’s in 2021.

No point in sugar coating it, i personally feel that the economic outlook overall is going to continue to be effected and I will be focused on the farm, and on many things we are doing to work around different things.

So Unlike the pretty bird above, we certainly have not been able to fly away (haha, I could not resist the in joke for the Canadian readers! )

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in regards to our first couple days of 2021, its been quiet, we have been on holidays, hubby had taken 10 days off over christmas and it was so nice, we shifted our days into max flex as much as we could possabily do so given 2x farm chores and limited daylight hours.

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In other words we did slow down, to sleep in, to spend time outside in winter gear, to feel the bite of winter in our cheeks, to take twice daily walks with the dogs.. Daily training with the horse’s. Puttering in the house, long slow stews, pans of hot cabbage rolls, mustard glazed hams.

We had one fast driveway visit when we were able to give a helping hand to friends of ours, they called early on saturday morning and went.. can you help? and we could and had what they needed both in materials and skill/knowledge and so they drove over to do the pick up. It was nice to see them even with the distance we kept between ourselves.

Driveway visiting has become the norm in a big way for the local farmers around here, we all stand back X feet and conduct our business in this way.. In the summer we would do yard visits that were longer but right now the driveway visits are the gold standard.

I also had a short road visit from a local and friend who was driving by in his side by side while I was out with Bojangles on the road.. its was short but nice to visit as well.. he was on the tway to work down the way where is clearly bush with his hi-ho.

I thought I would have a harder time and i did miss my friends that I normally would have gotten together with but I just shook my head and did a mind reset and then settled into it and enjoyed that time with my husband, my dogs, my horses..

I truly hope you were able to enjoy the past days and your new years.. Now we start the hard work of stepping up to face 2021..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 8 Comments

Declutter 365 – Homestead Way

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

The title of the post says it all and yet it does not.. the past two years have been crazy hard on the farm and I have never felt like things have been less on top of. There is a great need for a spring clean up, a sort though and a declutter.

Now if you were to listen to the fads, that would include possable ways of

A) sit with it and feel if it brings you joy

B) Pack it up and if you do not use it in a month get rid of it by gifting, selling or donating

c) Go thought everything and get rid of all the extra’s example, pick your favorite 4 pairs of pants and get rid of the other 10 in the closet.

Now the issue with all of those is clearly these peaple have never run a homestead or a farm.. Lets break down a few of these issues

A) says sit with it and feel if it brings you joy, haha.. I have lot of things on this farm that use weekly, monthly and seasonly and I promise you they do not bring me joy but they are needed and they work hard.

Strange things I do have that bring me joy.. 5 gallon buckets, amazingly thick leather work gloves, my leather cowboy hat with the mess screen on the top, I swear when you learn to love a good bucket on the farm lol..

What brings you joy that is a common everyday item.. o.. your favorite coffee mug? that’s a good one.. I think we all have our favorite mug right?

I could sit with my worming gun for the sheep and it is never going to bring me joy, but its needed that’s for sure. (the ewe above says yup.. its useful but not loved by either of us)

B) Pack it up and if you have not used it in a month, let it go.. haha.. again.. clearly this is advice for someone in a apartment or house.. not a homestead or a farm.. if you got rid of everything in those boxes after a month, you would be spending money hand over fist for the rest of the year replacing a huge amount of it as the seasonal things need to be done. There are many things that only come out at certain times of the year..

I mean my lambing kit only comes out during lambing time.. its in use for maybe 3 weeks of the year pretty much but can you imagine replacing it yearly.

C) Once again I guess this works in a normal way but lets look at cloths, they start out as either a) go to town cloths or b) straight up farm gear. Now most :sunday best” can last you years with good care and while you might freshen it up with different jewelery or sweater or boots etc.. you are not normally replacing sunday best that often.. I mean, we paid big bucks for my hubby’s good suit (around a thousand) but its also last with care 16 years, we might change the shirt for a big event but most of the time, its just a matter of updating the tie if needed.

But sadly average cloths these days do not hold up, I still can buy some things from some company’s that last years but the flood of cheap clothing often means they only look good for a limited amount of time.. so they can move fairly quickly from go to town to farm wear.

Speaking of hard wearing, I have finally after 14 years worn out my knight in white flannel cotton summer gowns and that is one thing I do plan on ordering in a few more for my extreme hot summer garden working times. I adore their sleeveless gown, wears and washed like a dream.

My two big heavy winter gowns are still going strong, one is now 18 years old and one is 12 or 13 years.. I am giving thought to picking up one or two pj at some point

So that swings me back to my own plan to declutter.. the goal is to go thought the house, yard, farm, barns and sheds with a goal of 365 items to be, donated, gifted, reused, Sold or recycled and only lastly throw out this year.

I am only going to update now and again though the year.. We will see how I do. I am expecting the first say 50 to 100 small items to be fairly easy to track and find.. I mean I know I have a rusted solid tool that I have in a bucket that I have sworn that I am going to soak and see if I can fix but in truth, I most likely will never be able to fix it properly.

Just to keep it a little different, just as i will snag a photo or two of what is going out, I intend to snap a photo or two of things that I found that is going to be kept or reused, these will be items that I “expect” I will have forgotten I got at a farm sale, at the second hand store or bought? at a sale price, going hmm.. 70 plus percent off.. this could be something we need..

I hate paying full price for something and will often buy deap sale discounts while hedging then have to go pay full price.. so we will see what treasure or trash I find and report back on.

Posted in frugal, Goals, homestead | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

Kitchen Garden 2021 (Jan)

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Just another day on the farm

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On the first day of Jan 2021, it started to snow.. and this morning on the 2nd we woke up finally to a good winter snow cover.. I am crossing my fingers that the snow is here to stay, these crazy warm days have not been good at all for the plants and I know that it will be very hard on my 1st and 2nd year transplants.

We are coming into the 3rd year for the front yard rebuild and the 3rd year for the kitchen garden build.. thankfully there is very little to do in the coming year.

We need to finish off the path between the last row of the kitchen garden and the rain garden, and put in the logs on the big slope, as its clearly not going to hold without me putting it into steps.

Put a new layer down on the cedar paths and do a small amount of pruning for shaping and putting in the annuals.. we got the soils topped up, compost added in, a sprinkle of organic kelp added.

So the last big push to finish it off is the last three round gardens on the pond side of the stumps.. once those three are built and planted. its done..

It produced like a house of fire in 2020.. it was the most productive garden on the farm, herbs, small fruit, root veggies, climbing veggies, so many peppers, eggplants, tomato’s and more

We have planted a whole 22 foot row by 3 into hard neck garlic that went in this fall for harvest next season.

We also needed to split out one of the big chive clumps to give more space, I transplanted out 30 smaller clumps under the hawthorn tree in a multi ring, mmost of them made well into the fall so I am hopeful they will come up and start growing solidly in the spring, they are there as a early blooming flower for the native bees which adore them, as well as a edible ground cover.

We also put in 80 more strawberry plants on the one slope to ideally create a stable plant held space, they appear to be doing well so we will see if we have any issues in the spring, they are everberrying and they did produce this past fall in a small amount.

Its nice to be heading into the garden season with 90 plus of this garden built, planted, seeded and ready to head into a productive garden season for 2021.

Do you have hard neck garlic planted in your garden this year for harvest next year? did you bed it down with straw? I am glad we did, it was most needed to help with this freeze/thaw, rain/snow/thaw and so on.

Posted in gardening, local food | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

New Years Eve 2020

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Just another day on the farm

The end of the year.. Man what a year 2020 has been.. we all know it and so I am not going to recap it.. Really we lived it.. that is enough right?

So today is the day we are to be looking forward too..

Forward to 2021 and all that it will bring.. and on a normal year, we should be looking for bright shiny things and goals that are set to high in the hopes that if we get even some of them done, we will still be happy

Normally I would be looking at how and what and where I would be spending my budget for my continuing education.. but that’s not going to happen this year, at least not in person.. it will be books or online courses.

I mean lets face it, the norms do not work this year..

Can you really plan for that awesome trip

That amazing concert

That wow camping trip with your best girl friends

Heck we are not even sure if we can do more basic’s like have game night, suppers in, or sitting around the camp fire or fishing in the boat.

No, its 2021 and if you are smart, you are hunkered down and you have that grit in your eye that says..

Lets do this! One foot in front of the other..

So that my plans for the year in life and here on the blog.. Real life 2021, Day to Day life, its going to so be all about the small things folks. We have a number of projects on the go and I will share how they are going.

The farm and all the things that make my world go round..

So what do you think our first thing is going to be?? Hmmm..

For Hubby, he is currently working on his Second Novel, so lots of writing going on right now, he is also still writing short story’s.

well, anyone that has been around for a while knows I love a good challenge.. Short Challenges, Wierd Challenges, Basic Challenges.. I just find them fun..

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The 12 Week Winter Horse Challenge (from England) at the most basic bronze level!

This means 3 hours of working with horse’s weekly, thankfully I can do up to a hour of grooming work per week but I still need to do ground work, take mini challenges ( I have a massive list to choose from) and I will be sharing along the way..

Typically they do less and less at this time of the year, so it will be a good thing for eveyone to do a bit more, however when its really cold, you can expect that I might be doing trick training in the barn lol

The weather so far has been a mix of rain (so much rain), sleet, ice and snow.. so it will limit me to a point on what I can do with the horse’s both for safety for myself and them in regards to working as we have no indoor riding area.. but I have a creative mind and we will work on a number of things none the less.

Not going to sugar coat it, my horses have been lean pasture puffs, (normally pasture puff horses are fat, but that at least I made sure they did not get fat, its really bad for them to do that) and while they get their daily love on, they have not been worked much other then the basic’s that come with daily living.

They are both far to well broke to say they need retraining would be unfair to their awesomeness.. but they do need a refresh on a few things and they both need to be slowly brought out of Pasture Puff shape into Riding Shape for the spring.

So tell me one thing you are working on over the next couple winter months? It can be anything really..

Posted in draft horse | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bottle Neck.. find them now!

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Just another day on the farm

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This Afternoon my phone beeped at me.. its my old butcher shop, the one that I have used for years.. it burned down and was rebuilt, I called in with 4 months like normal to book my lambs in the fall of 2020 for butcher and was told no.. they were taking bookings for Late Jan and Feb 2020 then.

So the phone beeped at me, and I look at it.. they were called to ask me if I wanted to book my “UNBORN” lambs in for my regular butcher spots in sept and what week and number did I want.. Its still DEC 2020 peaple and I am to be picking my butcher dates today?

9 months.. 9 months in advance.. before they are born and I know how many are twins, did I get a single, did I get set of 3.. do want to send out a hoggot or keep back the pick ewe lamb as a replacement to grow out?

Do you have any idea what can all go wrong in 9 months, as a livestock producer, i do and I think its udderly stupid to be booking right now..

And I am guess I am one of the “LUCKY” ones as I am on the regular list that is getting the calls now.. heaven help those folks that pick up some lambs to grow out or start a new flock that think they can call and get in.. As I found out the hard way when I called around this year, None of them are taking new clients.. they are just trying to meet the needs of their current clients.

When my beef order arrived they told me that while they were picking up their order, they had to book the butcher dates at that time for their beef for 2021.

Is your area bottlenecking in regards to locally being able to get your livestock in to be butchered for farm gate sales or even personal use? Just give general info, country, province or state and what is happeing in your area?

In my case, ottawa valley area, ontario, Canada.. I booked the spots.. and hope I can fill them..

Posted in At the kitchen table | 18 Comments

Just keep Moving Forward..

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Just another day on the farm

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Only a few more days for 2020 to be done, and its going out strong, came in with fires burning and its going out on the rising crest of horse pucks and then some..

Normally at this time of the year I would be breathing out a sigh, as this is my two month break time. the gardens are done and I am not starting new plants yet.. the livestock raising is done, the butcher is done, the freezers and jars are full, the extra that overwhelmed at a early point in the harvest has all been processed.

The ewe’s are getting fatter and maybe I might have one or two new lambs come early but most will not arrive till March.. so I even get a break on milking..

O yes on any normal year I would be saying hunker down, get ready for the winter rest.. Everyone certainly should and needs that rest..

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Take the rests in small naps this winter.. that lovely winter walk.. enjoy each one of your bright spots, hold those small and maybe bigger joys tight and get every moment you can from them..

However keep in the back of the mind that 2021 is coming at us like a run away freight train, so I will say it..

Just keep moving..

  • Order your seeds NOW
  • Order your wood for any build projects NOW 
  • Need a new freezer? or parts? Order them NOW
  • Need to repair a tool, a mower or anything else, get it in the shop, get the part now while you are seeing it start to wear. 
  • Get your summer boots NOW
  • Got kiddo’s growing leeps and bounds.. GET THE NEXT sizes Now
  • Need to get a dog fixed- Book it
  • Need  spring chicks- talk to your feed store, call the hatchery, find out the first order date and make it happen
  • Need a butcher date.. locally they are requiring peaple to book a YEAR IN ADVANCE
  • Need jars or lids : order them in now in bulk.. 
  • Need another pressure canner? Put your self on te wait lists.. 

Wait.. hold.. the above only works if you still have income, if you have a steady paycheck, if you can afford to put money down and then wait weeks, months to get the yield or return.. 

If you either don’t have a steady job and or its touch and go.. back up.. start watching those kijji and market place ads.. Put the word out.. maybe you can trade your smaller apartment size freezer to someone who is downsizing and swap out their big one for your smaller one.. 

Maybe you can talk to your friends, share seed packages, only need to grow 4 plants and your friend does two on her deck and someone else does a half dozen.. split it up folks..  

Think outside the box.. buy a organic local tomato and save the seeds, ask online if anyone has seeds to share, ask at your local church if anyone has extra’s.  

If I had to put a motto on 2021.. its the year to ask.. 

Ask for advice

Ask for help

Ask to trade

Ask to barter 

Ask to learn

If you have money and pay.. great.. keep that money as much as possable in your local area, your county, your province or state, your country.  

But if you are riding the line, going paycheck to paycheck and you are selling off things to make ends meet, taking on small part time jobs, needing the help at the food banks etc.  then I can’t say it loud enough ASK.. 

Ask if you have skills someone else might need?

Ask if you can trade your time for something you need?

Ask if you can trade part time farm work or yard work for a cut in rent on that extra bedroom someone has..  Better to ask and downsize, then struggle to keep your one bedroom and lose everything.. 

Ask now with those you trust about what if I lose my job? What if I lose my car? what if I lose my health? What if I lose my home? 

Figure out what you need for the coming year, make the lists, make the plans and then work on how you are going to make that happen.. then take a hard look at the bottom line.

Stay flexable, think outside the box.. make it work.. and JUST KEEP MOVING..

Posted in At the kitchen table | 15 Comments

Indoor Garden Winter 2021

Posted on December 26, 2020 by Just another day on the farm

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Its 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall.. add in 4 sets of 4 foot length led full sun lights, two boxes of heavy thick snap together flooring to help keep the cold out of the bottom in regards to the cement floor and this big guy is going into our “just” heated basement. We will see if we need to add a small oil hearter to the space or not.

I will not call this a christmas present or a boxing sale’s day.. I did get them on sale and I will be using my own already owned wooden seed starting shelves, reusing our pots and trays that we already have, our own compost and I will sigh deeply as I cook the soil and then use fish tank water and a homemade seaweed/nettle tea to refeed it

I can’t take the chance with the hatching and such in the soil itself in such a small garden, I had to order in special “patio” seeds for the pot of cherry tomato’s, cucumbers and zucchini.. I have lots and lots of “greens” seeds so I am not worried about making micro greens for salads.

In winter typically we eat ouf of the freezers, the canning pantry and the cold storage, which means lots of roots, but with our new diet for hubby, while I can eat some of the roots, some he can’t and thankfully the hounds love it, so nothing will go to waste..

We are BLOWING our food budget sky high on fresh greens and salad fixings for at least two main meals.. now we have plans for a geodome year round growing greenhouse, its being order to be made in 2021, prep work done on the farm in 2021 but it will not be put up and into full growing until 2022 and we can not wait that long to figure out how to grow for the table

Never mind that the cost just in the sense of handing over hard cash (well tap, they do not let you pay with cash that is a different grrrrr post) but add in how its grown , the distanced traveled, and the recalls, so many recalls.. no.. just no..

My little lean too side greenhouse is a three season only.. and this is by far easier and cheaper to set up then to try and heat that much much larger space.. we will see how it goes..

Posted in Life moves on daily | 13 Comments

Another Day Another lockdown Covid Christmas 2020

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Just another day on the farm

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What can I say..

We are having a covid Christmas.. Its just us on the farm.. and our whole province offically goes into lock down at 12.01 boxing day for a 28 days.. well that is what they are saying right now.. Broke the daily record locally both for number infected and highest single daily death rate.

I hope you are all prepped up for a very long dark winter, stay warm, stay safe.. and if possable spend the holidays with your family and loved ones. See you in 2021

Posted in Life moves on daily | 9 Comments