Thursday, December 18, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Bacon!
Wow. I don't really know why, perhaps because we were so disappointed with the bacon made for us last year, but I didn't expect the bacon to come out actually tasting like bacon.
Last year, a friend said he would brine and smoke some streaky bacon for us from the pig that we had bought, he was doing his own and had a smoker etc. so we left him to it. Not sure what wood he used, whether it was sawdust made with a chainsaw, or softwood, or just too long in the smoker? But it was a disappointment.
So we made our own this time. I dry cured it for about 3.5 days in salt, with peppercorns, brown sugar and crushed bay leaves. 2.5 days would probably have been enough, because we wanted to create a breakfast rasher rather than a preserved pancetta. After curing, it was rinsed and hung up to dry for a few days. In the meantime, I realised that I needed to build a smoker!
There are lots of plans and pictures of smoker designs on t'internet - not so many for cold smokers, but the general principle is that you have a smoke source and a smoky box and separate the two using pipe, so that the smoke has a chance to cool down before reaching the smokee. I had a wee charcoal bbq lying around (fairly redundant after Donal and Nicola bought us a propane one!) and once I worked out how to stick a big tin can on to the lid as a chimney, that was the smoke source sorted. You can get away with cardboard box as a smokehouse, but we splashed out a few dollars for a galvanised garbage can, drilled some holes in the lid, other holes in the side to put rods through, and bolts for suspending a rack and a larger hole to put the pipe in.
The wonderful hardware store in the village, N. F. Douglas & Sons had all the bits, including some flexible hose. It's like tumble dryer hose, but made of a sort of foil, so seems to be heat resistant. Looks like something off a '50s sci-fi B-movie (Plan 9 from Outer Space - anyone seen it?) :-)
Don Kimball, a local furniture maker had given us bags of maple shaving, primarily for animal bedding, and I went and picked up some apple tree branches that we had pruned in early Spring. Using a sharp axe I could make thin shavings and after getting a bed of hot coals from some seasoned oak wood, I put a mixture of apple with a wee bit of dampened maple on top, put on the lid and we were in business.
Half the bacon I sliced unsmoked and the other half went into the smoker for just a few hours. The result is outstandingly good! It really is. The transformation from simple pork to sweet, salty, savoury bacon is only just short of miraculous!
So much so, that we have ordered 2 Berkshire piglets from Ross Farm for delivery around mid-February!
Last year, a friend said he would brine and smoke some streaky bacon for us from the pig that we had bought, he was doing his own and had a smoker etc. so we left him to it. Not sure what wood he used, whether it was sawdust made with a chainsaw, or softwood, or just too long in the smoker? But it was a disappointment.
So we made our own this time. I dry cured it for about 3.5 days in salt, with peppercorns, brown sugar and crushed bay leaves. 2.5 days would probably have been enough, because we wanted to create a breakfast rasher rather than a preserved pancetta. After curing, it was rinsed and hung up to dry for a few days. In the meantime, I realised that I needed to build a smoker!
There are lots of plans and pictures of smoker designs on t'internet - not so many for cold smokers, but the general principle is that you have a smoke source and a smoky box and separate the two using pipe, so that the smoke has a chance to cool down before reaching the smokee. I had a wee charcoal bbq lying around (fairly redundant after Donal and Nicola bought us a propane one!) and once I worked out how to stick a big tin can on to the lid as a chimney, that was the smoke source sorted. You can get away with cardboard box as a smokehouse, but we splashed out a few dollars for a galvanised garbage can, drilled some holes in the lid, other holes in the side to put rods through, and bolts for suspending a rack and a larger hole to put the pipe in.
The wonderful hardware store in the village, N. F. Douglas & Sons had all the bits, including some flexible hose. It's like tumble dryer hose, but made of a sort of foil, so seems to be heat resistant. Looks like something off a '50s sci-fi B-movie (Plan 9 from Outer Space - anyone seen it?) :-)
Don Kimball, a local furniture maker had given us bags of maple shaving, primarily for animal bedding, and I went and picked up some apple tree branches that we had pruned in early Spring. Using a sharp axe I could make thin shavings and after getting a bed of hot coals from some seasoned oak wood, I put a mixture of apple with a wee bit of dampened maple on top, put on the lid and we were in business.
Half the bacon I sliced unsmoked and the other half went into the smoker for just a few hours. The result is outstandingly good! It really is. The transformation from simple pork to sweet, salty, savoury bacon is only just short of miraculous!
So much so, that we have ordered 2 Berkshire piglets from Ross Farm for delivery around mid-February!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Ou est le Grand Saucisson de la Maison?
Il est ici...!
We finally got around to butchering a pig! Well, half a pig - 103lb though. With the help of Hugh and Ray's 'Pig in a Day', we tackled it and to be honest, it was pretty straightforward. I actually found taking the meat off the hand (front leg), was the trickiest bit.
We took off the hind leg, and divided it into a full ham, and a corner gammon - both went into a cider cure...
Then we divided the loin from the belly. We took the tenderloin off, then took some chops from the chump end. The rest, I boned the ribs out of, rolled and tied into a neat loin roast, which we cut in two (skin on, scored, for crackling), and saved the rack of ribs.
There is a small roast to be had from the first 4 ribs of the belly piece, on the bone, leaving the rest of the 'thin end' of belly to be dry cured for streaky bacon. Salt, cracked black pepper, soft brown sugar and shredded bay leaves makes the cure. To be rubbed in daily for three days or so.
That left the shoulder and hand. I boned out the blade bone for a shoulder roast and the rest went into the box for sausage meat, along with trimmings from all sorts of elsewhere.
I ha'ed ma doots that the hand mincer/stuffer was going to do it, but do it it did, do it, it did, indeed, aye. Jane, Cam and I (Breagh is above such peasant pleasures) took a batch of sausage meat each; Cam's was a fairly plain breakfast banger, mace and white pepper and not much else, Jane's was a supper banger with sage, thyme (both from the garden :-) and black pepper, and mine was an evening of debauchery banger with paprika, chili and garlic. They have come out better than I imagined they might, fan-bleeding-tastic.
We finally got around to butchering a pig! Well, half a pig - 103lb though. With the help of Hugh and Ray's 'Pig in a Day', we tackled it and to be honest, it was pretty straightforward. I actually found taking the meat off the hand (front leg), was the trickiest bit.
We took off the hind leg, and divided it into a full ham, and a corner gammon - both went into a cider cure...
Then we divided the loin from the belly. We took the tenderloin off, then took some chops from the chump end. The rest, I boned the ribs out of, rolled and tied into a neat loin roast, which we cut in two (skin on, scored, for crackling), and saved the rack of ribs.
There is a small roast to be had from the first 4 ribs of the belly piece, on the bone, leaving the rest of the 'thin end' of belly to be dry cured for streaky bacon. Salt, cracked black pepper, soft brown sugar and shredded bay leaves makes the cure. To be rubbed in daily for three days or so.
That left the shoulder and hand. I boned out the blade bone for a shoulder roast and the rest went into the box for sausage meat, along with trimmings from all sorts of elsewhere.
I ha'ed ma doots that the hand mincer/stuffer was going to do it, but do it it did, do it, it did, indeed, aye. Jane, Cam and I (Breagh is above such peasant pleasures) took a batch of sausage meat each; Cam's was a fairly plain breakfast banger, mace and white pepper and not much else, Jane's was a supper banger with sage, thyme (both from the garden :-) and black pepper, and mine was an evening of debauchery banger with paprika, chili and garlic. They have come out better than I imagined they might, fan-bleeding-tastic.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Odd ways to spend a weekend, pt.993
Odd ways to spend a weekend really. "Hey Bud! How was the weekend?", "Well, first I sawed a pigs head into bits and then I helped make a skating rink..."
Pig Processing pt.1
-------------------
We arranged to buy half a pig from friends of ours who raise a few each year for slaughter and sale. Last year we helped with the slaughter (on Jane's birthday!) but had the butchery done by a local aquaintance. This year we didn't have time to go to the slaughtering, but have said that we would cut it up ourselves. That process started with going a collecting all the unwanted pig parts - but it hasn't been terribly successful so far. The children don't like fried liver much, so I made 2 liver pates using our new meat grinder - we'll leave them a couple of days to see if they are any more palatable for fussy children! We saved some kidney for tonight's Steak and Kiddly Pie. Nobody really wanted to eat the hearts (they killed two pigs!), so the leftover liver, hearts and kidneys (the other three), went into a big pan for dog/cat food.
I had them save a couple of litres of blood for making black pudding, but because I wasn't there at time of collection, it didn't get stirred and so ended up as one large unappetising clot - that went on the compost heap instead!
Cam and I spent a fair amount of time and energy yesterday sawing and cutting up, cleaning and brining a whole pigs head, tongue and trotters to make into brawn, but I've just managed to burn the bottom of the stew, ruining the whole thing :-(
So, we're not doing very well so far. We need to go pick up the rest of the carcass in a few days - sausage casings and brine buckets at the ready! I can't afford to waste any more of it though, dammit.
Ach, at least I did manage to successfully, and relatively pain-freely, change the washroom lavatory faucet (that's the bathroom basin taps to those on the East side of the pond). And we made a good go at Georgie's grand plan to turn the riding ring at the Exhibition Grounds into a large skating rink this year by nailing a bottom board around the rails and leveling the surface. It still needs a plastic skirt tacked to it and it will be ready to be flooded when the temperature drops and freeze-up begins.
Pig Processing pt.1
-------------------
We arranged to buy half a pig from friends of ours who raise a few each year for slaughter and sale. Last year we helped with the slaughter (on Jane's birthday!) but had the butchery done by a local aquaintance. This year we didn't have time to go to the slaughtering, but have said that we would cut it up ourselves. That process started with going a collecting all the unwanted pig parts - but it hasn't been terribly successful so far. The children don't like fried liver much, so I made 2 liver pates using our new meat grinder - we'll leave them a couple of days to see if they are any more palatable for fussy children! We saved some kidney for tonight's Steak and Kiddly Pie. Nobody really wanted to eat the hearts (they killed two pigs!), so the leftover liver, hearts and kidneys (the other three), went into a big pan for dog/cat food.
I had them save a couple of litres of blood for making black pudding, but because I wasn't there at time of collection, it didn't get stirred and so ended up as one large unappetising clot - that went on the compost heap instead!
Cam and I spent a fair amount of time and energy yesterday sawing and cutting up, cleaning and brining a whole pigs head, tongue and trotters to make into brawn, but I've just managed to burn the bottom of the stew, ruining the whole thing :-(
So, we're not doing very well so far. We need to go pick up the rest of the carcass in a few days - sausage casings and brine buckets at the ready! I can't afford to waste any more of it though, dammit.
Ach, at least I did manage to successfully, and relatively pain-freely, change the washroom lavatory faucet (that's the bathroom basin taps to those on the East side of the pond). And we made a good go at Georgie's grand plan to turn the riding ring at the Exhibition Grounds into a large skating rink this year by nailing a bottom board around the rails and leveling the surface. It still needs a plastic skirt tacked to it and it will be ready to be flooded when the temperature drops and freeze-up begins.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Snow!
First proper snowstorm of the year has dumped a fair amount on us - and it's still snowing.
We weren't absolutely unprepared, but I hadn't put snowchains or the snow bucket on the tractor, so I spent most of the morning doing that before I could shovel any snow. These things are never as simple as they should be!
Because the ground isn't frozen yet, the drive is a bit of a mess. You can't go too close or else you dig up the gravel, but too high runs the risk of it leaving ridges which can freeze and then you're stuffed until spring. Hopefully though, the forecast is calling for it warming up by Tuesday, so we will maybe get another shot at it.
We weren't absolutely unprepared, but I hadn't put snowchains or the snow bucket on the tractor, so I spent most of the morning doing that before I could shovel any snow. These things are never as simple as they should be!
Because the ground isn't frozen yet, the drive is a bit of a mess. You can't go too close or else you dig up the gravel, but too high runs the risk of it leaving ridges which can freeze and then you're stuffed until spring. Hopefully though, the forecast is calling for it warming up by Tuesday, so we will maybe get another shot at it.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Autumn Frenzy (Get Set for Winter)
We have managed to tick off quite a number of items on the grand to-do list recently, which is encouraging. Most are related to getting ready for winter in one way or another.
That process started with the canning and preserving of a whole range of late summer produce, from cranberries to sauerkraut joining the array of tomatoes, pickled cukes and chutney. We bought half a cow and that went in the freezer with our table birds. We should have half a pig coming this week to round out our meat store. More of the pig when it happens!
The garden and greenhouse are just about cleared and prepared for winter, the strawberries and asparagus are pruned and mulched. We have some experimental greenery in the tunnel, it'll be interesting to see how it gets on, though with Jane's accident, we didn't really catch up on winter planting, so the experiment will have to wait for another year properly. The one and only apple tree still needs to be pruned, but presumably there isn't any rush to do that now. We still have plans to put in a bit of an orchard next spring. We really wanted to have a new propagation / transplant greenhouse up before next spring - maybe we've missed our chance now, but we might get to it yet.
Last winter's manure was tractored to join this year's cut grass in a large windrow compost heap, and we divided the stable into 2 separate loose boxes for the horses - hopefully they'll be easier to manage singly. I made a start brushcutting the rushes and weedy grass in the lower field, where I didn't mow this year - it's wet and boggy down there at the moment, and I thought I would end up with the tractor stuck, but the longer it lies uncut, the worse the tangle will become. I was hoping to cut it all by hand, so the new growth in the spring would be palatable for grazing. We still need drainage though.
When Neal was here, he managed to stack most of this year's firewood, and I have added to that and made an outdoor stack, covered, which may even do us for next year too. For the first time ever, we are actually ahead of ourselves in firewood. I even felled a couple of small trees to make up the cordage.
In the house, we got the insulation done - we have blown cellulose, recycled newsprint into the attic and coombe spaces, which will hopefully make it a little more bearable upstairs for the kids bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom renovation is coming along, albeit painfully slowly. I have stripped the 'den' behind the bathroom. We did the pre-winter chimney sweep, put away the trampoline and the volleyball net and gathered bags of birchbark and kindling for fire lighting.
After a mixed spell of weather, the temperature has announced winter with a vengeance. There are snow flurries today and it has been below freezing all day. We brought the horses in tonight for the first time, and shifted the new chickens into their winter quarters. The latter process involved a cardboard box and a pokey stick - good grief, are we professionals at this?!
So, are we ready for winter? No, it doesn't feel so, but we have managed to do a bunch of pre-winter tasks and that feels fairly good!
That process started with the canning and preserving of a whole range of late summer produce, from cranberries to sauerkraut joining the array of tomatoes, pickled cukes and chutney. We bought half a cow and that went in the freezer with our table birds. We should have half a pig coming this week to round out our meat store. More of the pig when it happens!
The garden and greenhouse are just about cleared and prepared for winter, the strawberries and asparagus are pruned and mulched. We have some experimental greenery in the tunnel, it'll be interesting to see how it gets on, though with Jane's accident, we didn't really catch up on winter planting, so the experiment will have to wait for another year properly. The one and only apple tree still needs to be pruned, but presumably there isn't any rush to do that now. We still have plans to put in a bit of an orchard next spring. We really wanted to have a new propagation / transplant greenhouse up before next spring - maybe we've missed our chance now, but we might get to it yet.
Last winter's manure was tractored to join this year's cut grass in a large windrow compost heap, and we divided the stable into 2 separate loose boxes for the horses - hopefully they'll be easier to manage singly. I made a start brushcutting the rushes and weedy grass in the lower field, where I didn't mow this year - it's wet and boggy down there at the moment, and I thought I would end up with the tractor stuck, but the longer it lies uncut, the worse the tangle will become. I was hoping to cut it all by hand, so the new growth in the spring would be palatable for grazing. We still need drainage though.
When Neal was here, he managed to stack most of this year's firewood, and I have added to that and made an outdoor stack, covered, which may even do us for next year too. For the first time ever, we are actually ahead of ourselves in firewood. I even felled a couple of small trees to make up the cordage.
In the house, we got the insulation done - we have blown cellulose, recycled newsprint into the attic and coombe spaces, which will hopefully make it a little more bearable upstairs for the kids bedrooms. The upstairs bathroom renovation is coming along, albeit painfully slowly. I have stripped the 'den' behind the bathroom. We did the pre-winter chimney sweep, put away the trampoline and the volleyball net and gathered bags of birchbark and kindling for fire lighting.
After a mixed spell of weather, the temperature has announced winter with a vengeance. There are snow flurries today and it has been below freezing all day. We brought the horses in tonight for the first time, and shifted the new chickens into their winter quarters. The latter process involved a cardboard box and a pokey stick - good grief, are we professionals at this?!
So, are we ready for winter? No, it doesn't feel so, but we have managed to do a bunch of pre-winter tasks and that feels fairly good!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
As the dust settles...
Well, it has been a time of it.
The last blog entry was anticipating visitors, and I'm sitting now just an hour after seeing Neal, Madeleine, Jessica and Robin off and contemplating an empty house for the first time in umpteen weeks.
It has been a blast and we have really enjoyed everyone's company, but my last blog couldn't anticipate the fact that in the forthcoming period Jane would spend a week in Intensive Care - just to add an extra level of excitement to an already hectic time.
As most of you probably know, we waved goodbye to Ian and Hilary as they set off to tour the province and left us to get ready for the Queens County Fair at which we were both due to be helping. We had stabled the horses along at the Exhibition Grounds and on that Monday evening, Jane saddled Mocha up to give her a bit of a spin around the riding ring - 5 seconds later she was seriously injured as the horse threw her and accidentally stood on her abdomen for good measure. She was taken 'lights and sirens' to Bridgewater where they scanned her and sent her through to Halifax for emergency surgery fearing that her pancreas, spleen and bowel were damaged.
Yoy, that was a scary night, but by the next morning it was clear that there wasn't any major organ damage at least, and that she wasn't about to peg it! We went through to visit - she had the full range of tubes in and was doped up with morphine, but, as we hoped, out of the woods. That was Tuesday.
My mother brought her flight forward a week and landed on Thursday night. Having her around was fantastic. I'm sure that I would have coped without, but having her here was such a help. The garden was in the midst of harvest and she got stuck right in! Joe flew in a week later and we got Jane home shortly after, albeit with a new 7 inch scar to add to the collection. We were apprehensive as to how my folks would find Nova Scotia and them having to find a new flight with Icelandair plus change plans in light of Jane's accident boded badly for their impression of our new life here. I needn't have worried...
Folks here in Caledonia were just superb. From the first responders on the evening of the accident, to all the people who brought food and cards and gifts, to everyone (some of whom I hadn't met before) who stopped me to ask after Jane and offer help - I thank you all from my heart. You made us feel like we were part of a very caring, inclusive community and after such a short period of time living here it was way more than I, or my folks, expected. You did Nova Scotia, and Canada, proud. All of our visitors have gone away amazed at how friendly and welcoming the people are here, and I'm bloody proud to say I live in Caledonia.
Woo, so Jane missed the Fair entirely, and I was really too busy to lend a hand, but we have managed to limp though harvest, Farmers' Markets and all the rest of it with the help of friends, family and community.
So, I'm sitting waiting for Jane to phone to say she has dropped Neal and Madeleine safely at the airport - she offered to do the driving tonight. I think it's fair to say that they've had a good vacation. Neal did a grand job of getting our winter firewood stacked ready, and we got a new chicken house built. It was great having them around, and they might even come back!
So, as the dust settles on an incredibly busy time, I look back at some of the scariest moments of my life as I honestly felt I might lose Jane, but my over-riding feeling about this period is joy. We have a big circle of friends from all over the place, near and far, family who were there when we needed them, neighbours who were above and beyond neighbourly, and we live on a beautiful farm in a special part of the world. Cool :-)
Stand-out moments: Georgie and Helen's Thanksgiving Dinner in the woods, Cam's 3rd place in the 4H Pro Show for his wooden truck, Breagh's school report at the parent-teacher meetings, getting Jane out of hospital and bringing her home to the farm.
The last blog entry was anticipating visitors, and I'm sitting now just an hour after seeing Neal, Madeleine, Jessica and Robin off and contemplating an empty house for the first time in umpteen weeks.
It has been a blast and we have really enjoyed everyone's company, but my last blog couldn't anticipate the fact that in the forthcoming period Jane would spend a week in Intensive Care - just to add an extra level of excitement to an already hectic time.
As most of you probably know, we waved goodbye to Ian and Hilary as they set off to tour the province and left us to get ready for the Queens County Fair at which we were both due to be helping. We had stabled the horses along at the Exhibition Grounds and on that Monday evening, Jane saddled Mocha up to give her a bit of a spin around the riding ring - 5 seconds later she was seriously injured as the horse threw her and accidentally stood on her abdomen for good measure. She was taken 'lights and sirens' to Bridgewater where they scanned her and sent her through to Halifax for emergency surgery fearing that her pancreas, spleen and bowel were damaged.
Yoy, that was a scary night, but by the next morning it was clear that there wasn't any major organ damage at least, and that she wasn't about to peg it! We went through to visit - she had the full range of tubes in and was doped up with morphine, but, as we hoped, out of the woods. That was Tuesday.
My mother brought her flight forward a week and landed on Thursday night. Having her around was fantastic. I'm sure that I would have coped without, but having her here was such a help. The garden was in the midst of harvest and she got stuck right in! Joe flew in a week later and we got Jane home shortly after, albeit with a new 7 inch scar to add to the collection. We were apprehensive as to how my folks would find Nova Scotia and them having to find a new flight with Icelandair plus change plans in light of Jane's accident boded badly for their impression of our new life here. I needn't have worried...
Folks here in Caledonia were just superb. From the first responders on the evening of the accident, to all the people who brought food and cards and gifts, to everyone (some of whom I hadn't met before) who stopped me to ask after Jane and offer help - I thank you all from my heart. You made us feel like we were part of a very caring, inclusive community and after such a short period of time living here it was way more than I, or my folks, expected. You did Nova Scotia, and Canada, proud. All of our visitors have gone away amazed at how friendly and welcoming the people are here, and I'm bloody proud to say I live in Caledonia.
Woo, so Jane missed the Fair entirely, and I was really too busy to lend a hand, but we have managed to limp though harvest, Farmers' Markets and all the rest of it with the help of friends, family and community.
So, I'm sitting waiting for Jane to phone to say she has dropped Neal and Madeleine safely at the airport - she offered to do the driving tonight. I think it's fair to say that they've had a good vacation. Neal did a grand job of getting our winter firewood stacked ready, and we got a new chicken house built. It was great having them around, and they might even come back!
So, as the dust settles on an incredibly busy time, I look back at some of the scariest moments of my life as I honestly felt I might lose Jane, but my over-riding feeling about this period is joy. We have a big circle of friends from all over the place, near and far, family who were there when we needed them, neighbours who were above and beyond neighbourly, and we live on a beautiful farm in a special part of the world. Cool :-)
Stand-out moments: Georgie and Helen's Thanksgiving Dinner in the woods, Cam's 3rd place in the 4H Pro Show for his wooden truck, Breagh's school report at the parent-teacher meetings, getting Jane out of hospital and bringing her home to the farm.
Friday, September 5, 2008
September already
O Tardy Loon, wherefore art thy scribings?
Yeh, well, it's bin busy like. But September? Already? Jings... I was berated by Neal about us not having blogged for a while, and time does, indeed, slip past. I started a deep, serious blog on the first anniversary of our landing in Nova Scotia last month, but haven't finished it yet.
What have we been up to? Lots.
The house is still in chaos and we have visitors arriving soon. I capitulated, and booked contractors to help move the work on. They put a Velux window in the landing and altered the stair line, so you don't bang your head going up stairs, they also stripped out the room which will become the upstairs bathroom. In doing so, we discovered that several room joists don't actually stretch to the outside wall! The only thing holding up the floor, was the floor... sigh. New bathroom bits are ordered and should be here next week.
Talking of visitors, it's a wonder we are having any, as Zoom airlines went bust and severed the link between Glasgow and Halifax. A royal pain for everyone involved, and a rude lesson that you should always pay for flights with a credit card!
The Queens County Farmers' Market has been doing well. Every other Saturday at the Exhibition Grounds in Caledonia, 8:30 - 12 noon. We pretty much sell out, though it doesn't quite provide a living wage, at least not this year. It does encourage us to plan for markets next year though. There are still a few outlets not plugged by Cindy and David's organic megalopolous.
Faced with umpteen cords of firewood to split, I capitulated (again) and hired a logsplitter. That's a wee fellow that comes along out of the backwoods, with his chopper slung over his shoulder. Nah, not really. I got a good deal, as it was a holiday weekend, they only charged me a day and a half rate, and we ploughed our way through the entire pile - woohoo. I've never managed to be so far ahead in firewood before. This thing is great - it's probably no quicker than a maul for easy bits, but for big, knotty logs, it's brilliant! It doesn't split them, so much as brutalise them into pieces. Our friendly local machine shop is going to build one for me, to fit on the BCS tiller...
I finally got a mower and rake for the tractor, though the grass had gone past good hay quality, so we mowed and gathered it into a long windrow where we will mix it with stable muck and woodash and compost it. O heart's dream! A BIG compost heap :-)
What else? Loads, but this is turning into an epic. LaHave Folk Festival was good fun. Cam's drum teacher Jamie Junger was great. Kids are back to school, finally, after a looong summer holiday, Breagh's now in High School, crivens. Meat birds need to go in the freezer before they eat us out of house and home. The buckwheat on the new plot needs turned under and winter rye sown, been waiting for a dry spell to go on it with the tractor - the weather has actually been a bit mixed lately.
Crikey, that'll do...
Yeh, well, it's bin busy like. But September? Already? Jings... I was berated by Neal about us not having blogged for a while, and time does, indeed, slip past. I started a deep, serious blog on the first anniversary of our landing in Nova Scotia last month, but haven't finished it yet.
What have we been up to? Lots.
The house is still in chaos and we have visitors arriving soon. I capitulated, and booked contractors to help move the work on. They put a Velux window in the landing and altered the stair line, so you don't bang your head going up stairs, they also stripped out the room which will become the upstairs bathroom. In doing so, we discovered that several room joists don't actually stretch to the outside wall! The only thing holding up the floor, was the floor... sigh. New bathroom bits are ordered and should be here next week.
Talking of visitors, it's a wonder we are having any, as Zoom airlines went bust and severed the link between Glasgow and Halifax. A royal pain for everyone involved, and a rude lesson that you should always pay for flights with a credit card!
The Queens County Farmers' Market has been doing well. Every other Saturday at the Exhibition Grounds in Caledonia, 8:30 - 12 noon. We pretty much sell out, though it doesn't quite provide a living wage, at least not this year. It does encourage us to plan for markets next year though. There are still a few outlets not plugged by Cindy and David's organic megalopolous.
Faced with umpteen cords of firewood to split, I capitulated (again) and hired a logsplitter. That's a wee fellow that comes along out of the backwoods, with his chopper slung over his shoulder. Nah, not really. I got a good deal, as it was a holiday weekend, they only charged me a day and a half rate, and we ploughed our way through the entire pile - woohoo. I've never managed to be so far ahead in firewood before. This thing is great - it's probably no quicker than a maul for easy bits, but for big, knotty logs, it's brilliant! It doesn't split them, so much as brutalise them into pieces. Our friendly local machine shop is going to build one for me, to fit on the BCS tiller...
I finally got a mower and rake for the tractor, though the grass had gone past good hay quality, so we mowed and gathered it into a long windrow where we will mix it with stable muck and woodash and compost it. O heart's dream! A BIG compost heap :-)
What else? Loads, but this is turning into an epic. LaHave Folk Festival was good fun. Cam's drum teacher Jamie Junger was great. Kids are back to school, finally, after a looong summer holiday, Breagh's now in High School, crivens. Meat birds need to go in the freezer before they eat us out of house and home. The buckwheat on the new plot needs turned under and winter rye sown, been waiting for a dry spell to go on it with the tractor - the weather has actually been a bit mixed lately.
Crikey, that'll do...
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Farmers' Market
Yesterday was the first Queens County Farmers' Market in Caledonia.
Actually, there used to a regular farmers' market in in Caledonia about 20 years ago, before Farmers' Markets were generally fashionable. There were a few growers in the area at that time, and the market was a popular social event. Caledonia used to be an important growing area, in fact. If you look at historical records, this area was the main source of fruit and vegetables for the South Shore and further afield. Boats shipped produce out from Liverpool, which had been grown and carted from Caledonia and North/South Brookfield.
When we were scouting for a farm to buy several people 'in the know' told us that the micro-climate in Caledonia meant that we were out of the snow belt and probably had the best growing climate in Nova Scotia, after the Annapolis Valley. That, coupled with the fertile (if a little rocky) soil of a glacial drumlin on which the farm is situated and the south/south-east aspect, gave us high hopes.
We don't have a huge amount of produce yet, so we supplemented our offerings with some of Cindy and David's Pleasant Hill Farm Organics. They sell at the large Hubbards Market on a Saturday morning and it will be a while until Caledonia can rival the city for well-healed customers paying top dollar for organic produce!
The first market went really well. There were around a dozen vendors selling baked goods, garden produce, jewellery, stick furniture, raspberries - many vendors were sold out by 10am having underestimated the number of folk that would turn out to buy. All I spoke to were really pleased and said they would be back next time. The market is to run every other Saturday until end-October, so see y'all on August 2nd!
Actually, there used to a regular farmers' market in in Caledonia about 20 years ago, before Farmers' Markets were generally fashionable. There were a few growers in the area at that time, and the market was a popular social event. Caledonia used to be an important growing area, in fact. If you look at historical records, this area was the main source of fruit and vegetables for the South Shore and further afield. Boats shipped produce out from Liverpool, which had been grown and carted from Caledonia and North/South Brookfield.
When we were scouting for a farm to buy several people 'in the know' told us that the micro-climate in Caledonia meant that we were out of the snow belt and probably had the best growing climate in Nova Scotia, after the Annapolis Valley. That, coupled with the fertile (if a little rocky) soil of a glacial drumlin on which the farm is situated and the south/south-east aspect, gave us high hopes.
We don't have a huge amount of produce yet, so we supplemented our offerings with some of Cindy and David's Pleasant Hill Farm Organics. They sell at the large Hubbards Market on a Saturday morning and it will be a while until Caledonia can rival the city for well-healed customers paying top dollar for organic produce!
The first market went really well. There were around a dozen vendors selling baked goods, garden produce, jewellery, stick furniture, raspberries - many vendors were sold out by 10am having underestimated the number of folk that would turn out to buy. All I spoke to were really pleased and said they would be back next time. The market is to run every other Saturday until end-October, so see y'all on August 2nd!
Bugs!
We can't let the spring pass by without pausing to contemplate the entomological paradise that Nova Scotia is at this time of year. In other words, there are so many different kinds of annoying bugs, it is unreal.
There are the plain old short-lived blackflies, that bite like hell whenever the sun is shining, and then three weeks later they are gone. Just like that. But alongside them are the sneaky wood ticks, much faster and more wily than the lumbering scoottish sheep tick. Oh yes, you'll find them in your hair, belly button, between your toes, and even, ouch, on your nipple. First hand knowledge. Thankfully, they too are short lived and have bid us goodbye till next year.
Then there are the enormous stump-lifters, a large elongated beetle with great long scary looking antennae; appropriately named as you certainly know when they arrive as you feel a thud on the back, or head. They take a little more killing than even a tick, and supposedly give you a hell of a bite, though so far I've managed to calmly remove them (run screaming and flapping and jumping up and down upon the beast) before they have done any harm. And now we have the mosquito, who saunter out at closing time to spoil an otherwise perfect evening, and by day the poor horses are driven demented by horseflies, moose flies and deer flies, all different but equally irritating in their own special way.
Supposedly the bug season will soon calm down, and despite various lumps and bumps it hasn't been too bad given that I've spent most of the spring outdoors, not used repellent at all, and only had a bug suit on for the worst of the blackflies. And there are lots of interesting nice bugs too. Well maybe nice is not the right word to use. But interesting. Like I said, an entemologist's heaven...
There are the plain old short-lived blackflies, that bite like hell whenever the sun is shining, and then three weeks later they are gone. Just like that. But alongside them are the sneaky wood ticks, much faster and more wily than the lumbering scoottish sheep tick. Oh yes, you'll find them in your hair, belly button, between your toes, and even, ouch, on your nipple. First hand knowledge. Thankfully, they too are short lived and have bid us goodbye till next year.
Then there are the enormous stump-lifters, a large elongated beetle with great long scary looking antennae; appropriately named as you certainly know when they arrive as you feel a thud on the back, or head. They take a little more killing than even a tick, and supposedly give you a hell of a bite, though so far I've managed to calmly remove them (run screaming and flapping and jumping up and down upon the beast) before they have done any harm. And now we have the mosquito, who saunter out at closing time to spoil an otherwise perfect evening, and by day the poor horses are driven demented by horseflies, moose flies and deer flies, all different but equally irritating in their own special way.
Supposedly the bug season will soon calm down, and despite various lumps and bumps it hasn't been too bad given that I've spent most of the spring outdoors, not used repellent at all, and only had a bug suit on for the worst of the blackflies. And there are lots of interesting nice bugs too. Well maybe nice is not the right word to use. But interesting. Like I said, an entemologist's heaven...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Chickens vs. Humans - Part #237
Hurrah! We have cleared the house of chicks!
First, there were the layer chicks in a home-made brooder (cardboard box) in the mud room. Once they were a few weeks old we put them out into a new hen house with run attached, in time to take delivery of the meat bird chicks into the same but different cardboard box brooder.
They have grown exponentially and needed to go out, so we have had to be inventive and build another hen house quickly. That's where building with straw bales has the edge. It looks horrible and dark in there, but it was quick and cheap to build.
At the same time, we took the run away from the layer chicks and after clipping their wings and surrounding them with an electric net, we let them free range. Not before we tested the fence. And how did we do that? We got Jane to take off her shoes and stick a finger on it...
Apparently, her brother and sister used to do this for fun when she was little, and as a form of entertainment, I can heartily recommend it. Laugh? I nearly did.
So the meat birds are in the run for a few days, and the layers are running around happily and peace descends, albeit briefly, on Kilbrannan Farm.
First, there were the layer chicks in a home-made brooder (cardboard box) in the mud room. Once they were a few weeks old we put them out into a new hen house with run attached, in time to take delivery of the meat bird chicks into the same but different cardboard box brooder.
They have grown exponentially and needed to go out, so we have had to be inventive and build another hen house quickly. That's where building with straw bales has the edge. It looks horrible and dark in there, but it was quick and cheap to build.
At the same time, we took the run away from the layer chicks and after clipping their wings and surrounding them with an electric net, we let them free range. Not before we tested the fence. And how did we do that? We got Jane to take off her shoes and stick a finger on it...
Apparently, her brother and sister used to do this for fun when she was little, and as a form of entertainment, I can heartily recommend it. Laugh? I nearly did.
So the meat birds are in the run for a few days, and the layers are running around happily and peace descends, albeit briefly, on Kilbrannan Farm.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Yarr - welcome back to the world!!
We have HIGH SPEED internet! Yasss, 5mbps is the estimated speed and at current testing it just seems plenty fast enough. What do we do with it? We immediately sign back up for MSN streaming music, which gives us access to a vast music collection, including currently playing Eels 'Daisies of the Galaxy', checking that BBC Radio 3's 'Late Junction' is still online and playing the trailer for the coming move 'Control' - the tragic story of Ian Curtis and of Joy Division.
Actually, the very first thing we did was play an Avril Lavigne music vid from youtube.com for Breagh - times change, eh?
It's just too good, really. Even though we don't spend all that much time in front of the computer (outside my work hours), the internet was so entrenched with our little recreation - streaming music, online dvd rental, radio. It's bloody good to have it back, and a whole lot faster than it was before too.
Actually, the very first thing we did was play an Avril Lavigne music vid from youtube.com for Breagh - times change, eh?
It's just too good, really. Even though we don't spend all that much time in front of the computer (outside my work hours), the internet was so entrenched with our little recreation - streaming music, online dvd rental, radio. It's bloody good to have it back, and a whole lot faster than it was before too.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Spring Fever...
A whole month has passed in a whirl of manuring, tilling, planting, swatting blackflies, finally getting the polytunnel finished and drinking lots of beer with visitors form the UK!
First things first. With much tweaking, the polytunnel cover is tight as a drum and even meets Richard's high standards. We now have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil and salad planted up inside plus strawberries, raspberries, onions, peas and potatoes, plus a few other bits in the ground outside. Everything is still quite dinky, but despite the hot temperatures during the day, it still can get parky at night, so we're holding off with some of the more tender plants.
The kids have hectic after-school lives, between guides, music lessons, cross country, art club and 4H, and so consequently, Mum and Dad have hectic after school lives too!
Our mudroom is the new nursery - as well as Breagh's latest crop of baby gerbils, we have twelve two week old chicks in a brooder - the layers of the future we hope. Next week we hope to pick up two Berkshire weaners, but they will be housed out of doors!
Spring has taken it's time getting here, the trees bursting reluctantly into leaf within the last two weeks, but the birds are busy (we've had our first hummingbirds), and things are starting to look pretty lush. And the big question - are blackfly as bad as the scottish midge? Our verdict? No. Pretty bloody annoying, but no, and more short lived; they already seem to be waning. But they do come out when the sun is shining, which can be frustrating.
We had two lots of visitors this month; Claire (my sister), Nigel (her partner) and Alex (Nige's son), plus Donal & Nicola and Eleana, Ceile, & Osin (their kids)- old friends from Arran. Having them here has had a number of effects, not least the fabby new propane BBQ which was a gift from Donal and Nicola (we had our usual humming and hawing about buying a proper one), but also we have been inspired to root out the burgeoning music scene on the South Shore and pick up our instruments a bit more.
It's been just great to have them around, and feels a bit empty to see them all away, but back to planting onions I guess....
First things first. With much tweaking, the polytunnel cover is tight as a drum and even meets Richard's high standards. We now have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil and salad planted up inside plus strawberries, raspberries, onions, peas and potatoes, plus a few other bits in the ground outside. Everything is still quite dinky, but despite the hot temperatures during the day, it still can get parky at night, so we're holding off with some of the more tender plants.
The kids have hectic after-school lives, between guides, music lessons, cross country, art club and 4H, and so consequently, Mum and Dad have hectic after school lives too!
Our mudroom is the new nursery - as well as Breagh's latest crop of baby gerbils, we have twelve two week old chicks in a brooder - the layers of the future we hope. Next week we hope to pick up two Berkshire weaners, but they will be housed out of doors!
Spring has taken it's time getting here, the trees bursting reluctantly into leaf within the last two weeks, but the birds are busy (we've had our first hummingbirds), and things are starting to look pretty lush. And the big question - are blackfly as bad as the scottish midge? Our verdict? No. Pretty bloody annoying, but no, and more short lived; they already seem to be waning. But they do come out when the sun is shining, which can be frustrating.
We had two lots of visitors this month; Claire (my sister), Nigel (her partner) and Alex (Nige's son), plus Donal & Nicola and Eleana, Ceile, & Osin (their kids)- old friends from Arran. Having them here has had a number of effects, not least the fabby new propane BBQ which was a gift from Donal and Nicola (we had our usual humming and hawing about buying a proper one), but also we have been inspired to root out the burgeoning music scene on the South Shore and pick up our instruments a bit more.
It's been just great to have them around, and feels a bit empty to see them all away, but back to planting onions I guess....
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Loons and Peepers
What a racket! It's like living in the middle of a rainforest here, at night, at the moment.
The Spring Peepers are little tree frogs with big gobs and bobbly toes and there's thoosands of them all chirping at the same time. You can hear them from inside your car as you drive the highway!
On top of that, we have loons on the lake and they have such a distinctive call.
We were sat on the deck the other night with a glass of home brewed wine, under the stars, drinking it all in...
The Spring Peepers are little tree frogs with big gobs and bobbly toes and there's thoosands of them all chirping at the same time. You can hear them from inside your car as you drive the highway!
On top of that, we have loons on the lake and they have such a distinctive call.
We were sat on the deck the other night with a glass of home brewed wine, under the stars, drinking it all in...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Caledonia in the the Spring
We've gone from snow cover to sunburn in a few short days. Those in the know reckon '3 snows after Easter' and I think we've had them. The weather forecast here is pretty reliable, Environment Canada, the last frost date isn't until early May, but the temperatures are now forecast consistently above freezing. Fantastic - time to get doing...
You may know that one item we brought with us from the UK was a 18' x 32' polytunnel (term not used here, folk look at you blankly - it's a greenhouse, or a hoophouse). We had bought the tunnel not long after we moved to Skye, but never found the time to put it up - that's five years or more that we've had it, making that a very long erection indeed (sorry).
We could not find any flat ground at all! 76 acres, and not enough flat ground for a wee polytunnel. So, we've had to be inventive. You'll see from the photos,that we dug one corner in below ground, and I bought some tubing and made my own 5' ground tubes for the other end. That is going to cause other problems with fitting the plastic, opening doors, bed layout, but I think we have it sorted.
I can't remember if I mentioned the Hun yet? He's a 13hp BCS 2-wheel tractor with a 30" rotovator attachment. Beast. Why the Hun? Well, he's 'a tiller' - boomboom. The Hun cost us a fortune, but will handle most of the land cultivation. We do have a tractor with single furrow plough and disk harrows, but for small beds, and small turning circles, we feel the compaction and damage the tractor would cause isn't justified.
So, we now have 56 x 30' rows cultivated, plus some rows for fruit bushes. Working on the fences around this plot, so that we are ready come the last frost date to get a whole load of stuff in the ground.
Yesterday, and today, there was a frost first thing, but the thermometer (in the sun) had reached 34deg. by afternoon - wow!
You may know that one item we brought with us from the UK was a 18' x 32' polytunnel (term not used here, folk look at you blankly - it's a greenhouse, or a hoophouse). We had bought the tunnel not long after we moved to Skye, but never found the time to put it up - that's five years or more that we've had it, making that a very long erection indeed (sorry).
We could not find any flat ground at all! 76 acres, and not enough flat ground for a wee polytunnel. So, we've had to be inventive. You'll see from the photos,that we dug one corner in below ground, and I bought some tubing and made my own 5' ground tubes for the other end. That is going to cause other problems with fitting the plastic, opening doors, bed layout, but I think we have it sorted.
I can't remember if I mentioned the Hun yet? He's a 13hp BCS 2-wheel tractor with a 30" rotovator attachment. Beast. Why the Hun? Well, he's 'a tiller' - boomboom. The Hun cost us a fortune, but will handle most of the land cultivation. We do have a tractor with single furrow plough and disk harrows, but for small beds, and small turning circles, we feel the compaction and damage the tractor would cause isn't justified.
So, we now have 56 x 30' rows cultivated, plus some rows for fruit bushes. Working on the fences around this plot, so that we are ready come the last frost date to get a whole load of stuff in the ground.
Yesterday, and today, there was a frost first thing, but the thermometer (in the sun) had reached 34deg. by afternoon - wow!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
egg fun and new vehicles
We held the inaugural 1st Annual Kilbrannan Farm Egg Hurling Competition last Sunday, amid cold temperatures but blue skies.
The idea is that you have half an hour to come up with, design, source and build, a device for hurling a decorated hard-boiled egg the furthest distance down the hill. You can use any material found on the farm. You can't just chuck it, there has to be some sort of mechanical device involved.
We made teams of two, girls vs. boys, and the boys won by a long chalk :-)
Today, we did a rash thing, and swapped our very swanky 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup, and a 2003 Ford Focus wagon. Wagon? Surely that's an estate car? Well, it gets very confusing - a pickup is a truck, an estate is a wagon, a truck (lorry) is a tractor, a tractor is thankfully still a tractor, a caravan is a bloody trailer, but a trailer is a trailer too, and folk still think you are talking about a caravan! Woh, 2 countries separated by the same language. It's a wonder we didn't swap our SUV and end up with a hoop and stick - sorry, obscure joke reference in there.
What else? The ground tubes are in for the polytunnel, more on this in another post. I went mad and ordered satellite broadband, haven't got an installation date yet. I got my firearm's certificate, so could go buy a gun. Jane is on the board of the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, I'm on the board of the Queen's County Fair Association. I've joined the local Board of Trade, and there are discussions about me building a new website for Caledonia and area, more on this anon. The kids got great school reports, they are both doing really well. I think that's about it.
The idea is that you have half an hour to come up with, design, source and build, a device for hurling a decorated hard-boiled egg the furthest distance down the hill. You can use any material found on the farm. You can't just chuck it, there has to be some sort of mechanical device involved.
We made teams of two, girls vs. boys, and the boys won by a long chalk :-)
Today, we did a rash thing, and swapped our very swanky 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee for a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup, and a 2003 Ford Focus wagon. Wagon? Surely that's an estate car? Well, it gets very confusing - a pickup is a truck, an estate is a wagon, a truck (lorry) is a tractor, a tractor is thankfully still a tractor, a caravan is a bloody trailer, but a trailer is a trailer too, and folk still think you are talking about a caravan! Woh, 2 countries separated by the same language. It's a wonder we didn't swap our SUV and end up with a hoop and stick - sorry, obscure joke reference in there.
What else? The ground tubes are in for the polytunnel, more on this in another post. I went mad and ordered satellite broadband, haven't got an installation date yet. I got my firearm's certificate, so could go buy a gun. Jane is on the board of the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, I'm on the board of the Queen's County Fair Association. I've joined the local Board of Trade, and there are discussions about me building a new website for Caledonia and area, more on this anon. The kids got great school reports, they are both doing really well. I think that's about it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
tragic news
As many of you already know, we were floored last Monday by the sudden and totally unexpected death of Jane's nephew, Kit. All of us with children can only hope that we never have to go through the pain of losing them, as poor Claire is now experiencing. All of our thoughts and best wishes are with Claire and Charlotte this morning.
The funeral is today, in Yorkshire, and Jane flew back to the UK last Friday to be with her sister. We were joking a couple of weeks ago, saying that we should save the proceeds from egg sales for a Funeral Flying Fund, as we realise the inevitability of making that trans-atlantic journey - but, bloody hell, we didn't think it would be Kit, or so soon.
I suppose it's at times like this that you feel a long way from home. Though, to be honest, when you've lived as an incomer on Skye, everywhere is a helluva long way away, and it's probably quicker and easier living in Nova Scotia, albeit a bit more expensive to get back!
So, the kids and I are holding the fort and looking forward to having Jane back on Saturday - I am sure that she is at least as needed and appreciated where she is though.
The funeral is today, in Yorkshire, and Jane flew back to the UK last Friday to be with her sister. We were joking a couple of weeks ago, saying that we should save the proceeds from egg sales for a Funeral Flying Fund, as we realise the inevitability of making that trans-atlantic journey - but, bloody hell, we didn't think it would be Kit, or so soon.
I suppose it's at times like this that you feel a long way from home. Though, to be honest, when you've lived as an incomer on Skye, everywhere is a helluva long way away, and it's probably quicker and easier living in Nova Scotia, albeit a bit more expensive to get back!
So, the kids and I are holding the fort and looking forward to having Jane back on Saturday - I am sure that she is at least as needed and appreciated where she is though.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The sap is rising!
It's time for the first harvest of the year, and one I have looked forward to for a long time. I remember a fellow tapping birch trees in Lochranza when I was Breagh's age and have harboured a desire to do it ever since. Since we now own our own woodland, including several sugar maples, I have been waiting for early Spring to get doing. Jonathon came over the other day to say he reckoned the time was right - several warm sunny days with cold frosty nights, and the sap should be running.
We helped him put the taps, or spiles, into several of his trees and dashed off to the hardware store to buy some for ourselves. A brace drill, 7/16" (none of your metric nonsense here!) auger bit, 4 spiles, 4 small buckets, 4 plastic bags plus ubiquitous bundle of baler twine were required and off to the woods we went. Luckily, we have several sugar maples at the edge of our woods, at the top of the main pasture and because the buckets need emptying, we looked no further for larger trees. It's recommended that a tree should be at least 7 inches in diameter, but most folk wouldn't tap anything less than 12". We drilled a hole about 6cm deep (a 6cm hole with a 7/16" bit - hey! I'm ambidextrous), on the south side of the tree, about a metre (note, euro spelling) up. After cleaning the hole, the sap was already dripping out and tapping the spile into the hole with a bucket hung on in the center (sorry, couldn't resist), resulted in a satisfying steady drip. Plastic bag over the top in case of rain.
The sap is only 2% sugar, or so, but tastes nicely sweet and can be drunk fresh, used to make tea (note to self: could do with some mint leaves next year) or, most famously, boiled down to make maple syrup. It takes about 30-40 : 1 reduction to make good syrup, so a lot of boiling. Jonathon pointed out "it'll take the paint of your walls" with the steam, so we'll try to put the jeelie pan over the firepit and do the boiling outside.
In other news, Jane has been working with the horses on a daily basis and Mocha, especially, is coming on really well. Kids are doing fine, Breagh has applied to go on a week-long vet camp in Prince Edward Island in July. Cam won 3rd prize in a moose-calling competition! I've just about decided on a new business name, more on that in another post.
We helped him put the taps, or spiles, into several of his trees and dashed off to the hardware store to buy some for ourselves. A brace drill, 7/16" (none of your metric nonsense here!) auger bit, 4 spiles, 4 small buckets, 4 plastic bags plus ubiquitous bundle of baler twine were required and off to the woods we went. Luckily, we have several sugar maples at the edge of our woods, at the top of the main pasture and because the buckets need emptying, we looked no further for larger trees. It's recommended that a tree should be at least 7 inches in diameter, but most folk wouldn't tap anything less than 12". We drilled a hole about 6cm deep (a 6cm hole with a 7/16" bit - hey! I'm ambidextrous), on the south side of the tree, about a metre (note, euro spelling) up. After cleaning the hole, the sap was already dripping out and tapping the spile into the hole with a bucket hung on in the center (sorry, couldn't resist), resulted in a satisfying steady drip. Plastic bag over the top in case of rain.
The sap is only 2% sugar, or so, but tastes nicely sweet and can be drunk fresh, used to make tea (note to self: could do with some mint leaves next year) or, most famously, boiled down to make maple syrup. It takes about 30-40 : 1 reduction to make good syrup, so a lot of boiling. Jonathon pointed out "it'll take the paint of your walls" with the steam, so we'll try to put the jeelie pan over the firepit and do the boiling outside.
In other news, Jane has been working with the horses on a daily basis and Mocha, especially, is coming on really well. Kids are doing fine, Breagh has applied to go on a week-long vet camp in Prince Edward Island in July. Cam won 3rd prize in a moose-calling competition! I've just about decided on a new business name, more on that in another post.
Friday, February 15, 2008
quick roundup
There have been no dramatic developments recently, but a steady trickle of stuff happening that I thought I would just precis, in case there was anything of interest to anybody!
We went cross-country skiing for the first time last week. The kids were off school because of the snow, but we managed to get out to some folk locally who rented us all skis and boots for the afternoon. It was good fun, in a kind of falling down sort of way, and bizarrely enough, everyone wants to give it another go before the snow disappears.
The weather has been very variable. There was a big dump of snow a couple of days ago and then a day where it started at at -12 went up to +10 and rained. That got rid of most of the ice and snow on the drive thankfully, as it is back to sub-zero again.
Jane and Breagh have started training with the horses. Slowly introducing lunge rope work. It's going reasonably well, as far as I can see.
Our big seed order went in this week. If we manage to turn over enough ground to plant all the seed, then we are going to be pretty busy. Before we get livestock, we are going to have to address the poor state of our boundary fences, but we're thinking we might get away using electric fence for now, and tackle the fixed fence bit at a time. Jane is at a workshop on organic crop rotation today, and I have a chainsaw safety course tomorrow. She was at a spinning workshop a couple of weeks ago, and I passed my firearms safety training and am waiting for a firearm posession and acquisition licence.
We have managed a few days work in the woods, but nowhere near enough. The plan is to thin the areas of woodland edging the fields first. That should give us enough small log wood for fuel, but we need to be accumulating 6+ cords for next year. A cord of wood, for those who don't know, measures 8' x 4' x 4'. We still haven't decided which route to take for heating the house and water, and that will affect the amount of wood we need to store dramatically.
The house renovation started, but is taking a long time to get moving properly. I have worked on new wiring plans with an electrician for the upstairs and the room that will be Breagh's bedroom is completely gutted. I'm waiting for electrical supplies to come to get on with the next bit.
We have been getting fresh milk from friends who have a small herd of dairy cattle locally, so urged on by another friend, we have added cheese-making to the usual yoghurt production. Jane has made cream cheese, cottage cheese and mozzarella with great success.
We had a chem-free filter and uv treatment added to our well water system. The water was very iron-rich and smelled sulphurous, but now is drinkable straight from the tap, and no longer do we emerge from a shower dirtier than we went in. It tastes great now - I always wanted a private water supply, and it had been a bit of a disappointment. Mind you, it made me examine the plumbing in the basement - yikes, add re-plumbing to the todo list.
I still don't have a good name for my internet business, despite the best efforts of friends and family! I've had a busy spell recently doing several new website builds and a couple of voluntary projects. One, possibly of the latter type will be looking at a community website for this area - badly needed. I was at a local Board of Trade meeting the other night, at which speakers were outlining the opportunities for business startup and expansion in North Queens. Apparently, we are also in a biosphere designation. Need to look into this stuff more.
Cam has a girlfriend, Breagh has a cold - we trundle on...
We went cross-country skiing for the first time last week. The kids were off school because of the snow, but we managed to get out to some folk locally who rented us all skis and boots for the afternoon. It was good fun, in a kind of falling down sort of way, and bizarrely enough, everyone wants to give it another go before the snow disappears.
The weather has been very variable. There was a big dump of snow a couple of days ago and then a day where it started at at -12 went up to +10 and rained. That got rid of most of the ice and snow on the drive thankfully, as it is back to sub-zero again.
Jane and Breagh have started training with the horses. Slowly introducing lunge rope work. It's going reasonably well, as far as I can see.
Our big seed order went in this week. If we manage to turn over enough ground to plant all the seed, then we are going to be pretty busy. Before we get livestock, we are going to have to address the poor state of our boundary fences, but we're thinking we might get away using electric fence for now, and tackle the fixed fence bit at a time. Jane is at a workshop on organic crop rotation today, and I have a chainsaw safety course tomorrow. She was at a spinning workshop a couple of weeks ago, and I passed my firearms safety training and am waiting for a firearm posession and acquisition licence.
We have managed a few days work in the woods, but nowhere near enough. The plan is to thin the areas of woodland edging the fields first. That should give us enough small log wood for fuel, but we need to be accumulating 6+ cords for next year. A cord of wood, for those who don't know, measures 8' x 4' x 4'. We still haven't decided which route to take for heating the house and water, and that will affect the amount of wood we need to store dramatically.
The house renovation started, but is taking a long time to get moving properly. I have worked on new wiring plans with an electrician for the upstairs and the room that will be Breagh's bedroom is completely gutted. I'm waiting for electrical supplies to come to get on with the next bit.
We have been getting fresh milk from friends who have a small herd of dairy cattle locally, so urged on by another friend, we have added cheese-making to the usual yoghurt production. Jane has made cream cheese, cottage cheese and mozzarella with great success.
We had a chem-free filter and uv treatment added to our well water system. The water was very iron-rich and smelled sulphurous, but now is drinkable straight from the tap, and no longer do we emerge from a shower dirtier than we went in. It tastes great now - I always wanted a private water supply, and it had been a bit of a disappointment. Mind you, it made me examine the plumbing in the basement - yikes, add re-plumbing to the todo list.
I still don't have a good name for my internet business, despite the best efforts of friends and family! I've had a busy spell recently doing several new website builds and a couple of voluntary projects. One, possibly of the latter type will be looking at a community website for this area - badly needed. I was at a local Board of Trade meeting the other night, at which speakers were outlining the opportunities for business startup and expansion in North Queens. Apparently, we are also in a biosphere designation. Need to look into this stuff more.
Cam has a girlfriend, Breagh has a cold - we trundle on...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Bogie Freezer
By George, it's been a bit nippy out. The thermometer was only reading -18C most of yesterday, and -20 this morning, but with wind chill the forecast reckoned -26C. Freezes the very bogies in your nose, so it does - an interesting sensation. I had icicles in my beard when I was out ploughing the drive and repairing the barn yesterday!
Another un-anticipated problem of the low temperatures became apparent when I trundled thankfully to the beer store the other night, and found the beer frozen in the kegs! Not good. I had cleverly found a suitably cool spot for storing beer kegs to clear and condition. Unsuitably cool, as it turns out. You know the 'slushy' soft drinks you can make, like flavoured snow - well it was like that - a beer slushy, yum, it might just catch on.
The animals are all taking it in their strides though. Jane has a chillblain on her toe, and the kids have fallen whilst cavorting on the ice sheets, but the horses and chickens seem happy enough! As Jane pointed out, last winter our biggest chore was wading through knee deep mud wrenching silage out of a bale for the cows, this winter it is gently chipping holes through the ice on chicken drinkers and buckets, with a hammer. Makes for an interesting life, though, eh.
Other than during the snow flurries, though, it has been clear, sunny and pretty stunning weather-wise. Suits us fine.
Another un-anticipated problem of the low temperatures became apparent when I trundled thankfully to the beer store the other night, and found the beer frozen in the kegs! Not good. I had cleverly found a suitably cool spot for storing beer kegs to clear and condition. Unsuitably cool, as it turns out. You know the 'slushy' soft drinks you can make, like flavoured snow - well it was like that - a beer slushy, yum, it might just catch on.
The animals are all taking it in their strides though. Jane has a chillblain on her toe, and the kids have fallen whilst cavorting on the ice sheets, but the horses and chickens seem happy enough! As Jane pointed out, last winter our biggest chore was wading through knee deep mud wrenching silage out of a bale for the cows, this winter it is gently chipping holes through the ice on chicken drinkers and buckets, with a hammer. Makes for an interesting life, though, eh.
Other than during the snow flurries, though, it has been clear, sunny and pretty stunning weather-wise. Suits us fine.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Who am I?
We're having a dreadfully struggly time here at barkerlane acres. The problem is one of identity. Namely, what should I call my new web development business.
I never really liked 'lanetech' - it was short and reasonably memorable blah blah, but apart from being incredibly unimaginative, it just sounds kinda cheesy, like Krazy Komputers, or Cybershack (actually, that's not too bad!).
Of course, finding a business name has become a lot harder since the internet came along. It's not good enough to come up with a good name, it now has to be available as a domain too. Trying to find a .com that hasn't been registered is frustrating to say the least. Nerves are becoming frayed, is all I will say.
You name it, I've looked it up... so, I'm throwing it open to ideas. Can anyone make a decent suggestion? If I get a few, I'll maybe post a poll on here and the best of three votes gets it...
I never really liked 'lanetech' - it was short and reasonably memorable blah blah, but apart from being incredibly unimaginative, it just sounds kinda cheesy, like Krazy Komputers, or Cybershack (actually, that's not too bad!).
Of course, finding a business name has become a lot harder since the internet came along. It's not good enough to come up with a good name, it now has to be available as a domain too. Trying to find a .com that hasn't been registered is frustrating to say the least. Nerves are becoming frayed, is all I will say.
You name it, I've looked it up... so, I'm throwing it open to ideas. Can anyone make a decent suggestion? If I get a few, I'll maybe post a poll on here and the best of three votes gets it...
Thursday, January 3, 2008
... and a happy new year 2
Well, my significant other has already reported all the juicy news for Hogmanay. The festive season is over. Enough with the over-indulgence and jolity. And on with the rest of the year, which as Richard says, gives us plenty to go at.
We have started the new year with some head scratching; still trying to decide on how to change the heating system for this place, which must happen. Oil is very expensive (not to mention all the environmental stuff), and it is very cold (currently minus 16). Wood costs us our time and a little chainsaw fuel, giving us an opportunity to vastly reduce heating bills, and gives us a valid excuse to spend time in our lovely woods. We have hopes that Mocha, the big horse may be able to haul timber from the woods one day ...
We really need to sit down and plan veg beds for next year and order seeds and fruit trees/bushes soon. We're probably going to try a little of a lot of different kinds of things and see what works and what doesn't this year. We don't really know what to expect,as there are so many new factors - new climate, new soil, new varieties of veg, new pests. Speaking of pests, as far as growing is concerned, I think our biggest challenges will involve keeping friends and foe out of the garden - the friends, our dear chickens, and the foe; the graceful and much admired by all passing drivers, white-tailed deer. I think they will look less beautiful if I see them munching my brassicas!
As the winter rolls by, dealing with snow and ice are high on the daily agenda. There is a lot to learn, the dangers of one kind of snow after another (and there are so many different kinds of snow - I'd forgotten!) on the roads, walking over different kinds of deep snow, how long it takes for the chicken drinkers to freeze, that sort of thing. But there are so many lovely things too, the different patterns made by ice on the windows, following tracks in snow in the silent woods, the (distant) shrieks of the kids having a blast as they sled down the hill, our hill, a dream hill for sledging.
We've come a long way this year, in more ways than one, but there's still so much to learn. Better go pick up a book ...
We have started the new year with some head scratching; still trying to decide on how to change the heating system for this place, which must happen. Oil is very expensive (not to mention all the environmental stuff), and it is very cold (currently minus 16). Wood costs us our time and a little chainsaw fuel, giving us an opportunity to vastly reduce heating bills, and gives us a valid excuse to spend time in our lovely woods. We have hopes that Mocha, the big horse may be able to haul timber from the woods one day ...
We really need to sit down and plan veg beds for next year and order seeds and fruit trees/bushes soon. We're probably going to try a little of a lot of different kinds of things and see what works and what doesn't this year. We don't really know what to expect,as there are so many new factors - new climate, new soil, new varieties of veg, new pests. Speaking of pests, as far as growing is concerned, I think our biggest challenges will involve keeping friends and foe out of the garden - the friends, our dear chickens, and the foe; the graceful and much admired by all passing drivers, white-tailed deer. I think they will look less beautiful if I see them munching my brassicas!
As the winter rolls by, dealing with snow and ice are high on the daily agenda. There is a lot to learn, the dangers of one kind of snow after another (and there are so many different kinds of snow - I'd forgotten!) on the roads, walking over different kinds of deep snow, how long it takes for the chicken drinkers to freeze, that sort of thing. But there are so many lovely things too, the different patterns made by ice on the windows, following tracks in snow in the silent woods, the (distant) shrieks of the kids having a blast as they sled down the hill, our hill, a dream hill for sledging.
We've come a long way this year, in more ways than one, but there's still so much to learn. Better go pick up a book ...
... and a happy new year!
Ah, another Hogmany, another spirited rendition of Auld Lang Syne by the Family von Krapp. This year saw an increase in both instrumentation and general musicality, despite Janey practising so hard in the 5 minutes before UK midnight that she busted right out of her d-string and had to relegate to playing rhythm fiddle, standing in a slightly ginger manner.
This year, we had Breagh 'fingers' Lane on electric piano and Cameron 'thumper' Lane on a mesh-headed snare drum, in addition to regulars; Janey 'not a full set of strings' Barker on aforementioned fiddle and Richard 'too many fingers not enough space' on geetar. It was a corking session, we flew through our list of phone victims in record time. Methinks it was partly down to it only being 8pm in Canada, so 'not a full set' Barker and 'too many fingers' Lane weren't overtly stotious. Actually, we missed a few folk who I daresay are currently breathing sighs of relief, and we didn't carry out our threat to phone back when it got to midnight in Nova Scotia - a rude 4am awakening for UK listeners.
We started ripping the hardboard off the walls in one upstairs bedroom, so for the bells we had a roaring fire going in the firepit out the back and brought the New Year in under a starry, frosty sky toasting our cockles, or at least preventing them from freezing and dropping off.
Lots to do in 2008, some would say 'too much', and I would probably agree, but in the usual barkerlane stylee we will resolve to continue to make rods for our own backs, sticks to whack ourselves over the head with and generally overextend ourselves. I shall be continuing in my chosen profession of hair-shirt knitter.
Have a good one y'all!
This year, we had Breagh 'fingers' Lane on electric piano and Cameron 'thumper' Lane on a mesh-headed snare drum, in addition to regulars; Janey 'not a full set of strings' Barker on aforementioned fiddle and Richard 'too many fingers not enough space' on geetar. It was a corking session, we flew through our list of phone victims in record time. Methinks it was partly down to it only being 8pm in Canada, so 'not a full set' Barker and 'too many fingers' Lane weren't overtly stotious. Actually, we missed a few folk who I daresay are currently breathing sighs of relief, and we didn't carry out our threat to phone back when it got to midnight in Nova Scotia - a rude 4am awakening for UK listeners.
We started ripping the hardboard off the walls in one upstairs bedroom, so for the bells we had a roaring fire going in the firepit out the back and brought the New Year in under a starry, frosty sky toasting our cockles, or at least preventing them from freezing and dropping off.
Lots to do in 2008, some would say 'too much', and I would probably agree, but in the usual barkerlane stylee we will resolve to continue to make rods for our own backs, sticks to whack ourselves over the head with and generally overextend ourselves. I shall be continuing in my chosen profession of hair-shirt knitter.
Have a good one y'all!
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