"Mom, We Need To Save Them!"

This past Saturday it was raining like crazy. The boys and I had just arrived in Halifax and were about to make a run for it. Rain jackets on, hoods up, stuffies and bags ready. Count of 3, let's go!

Navarre took off like a shot for the front door. I ran to the trunk, grabbed the last bag and was about to follow when I saw Anthony still next to the car. "Honey, c'mon let's GO!!!"

"I can't Mom. We need to save them!"

"What?"

"A worm"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Mom, you know they will die on the pavement if we don't get them back on the soil."

Staring at my son I went from feeling incredulous to an amazed and proud Mommy. "Okay, let's get this done." 

We picked up about 15 worms and put them far back on the lawn. Huge smiles from Anthony. 

Interesting fact is worms don't drown. They can survive in water. The reason they come out of the ground when it rains, is that it's humid enough that they can without drying out. The problem is they are blind so can't find their way back to the soil if they crawl out onto the pavement. I've been saving worms since I was little. Now my guys are too. Happy Mommy

Ouch!

Found this in the barn last night. Hopefully the little hen is feeling fully recovered. All looked well this morning.

There is no way it will fit into an egg carton, so it looks like the boys will be enjoying it!

Winter Storm

I awoke in the middle of the night to a beam of light moving back and forth in my room. What on earth? Then I hear Anthony whisper, "Mom guess what? The power's out." 

"Okay Honey, go back to bed"

"Oh,okay"

Very cute.

So of course that woke me up. 

I look out the window to find a ton of snow has fallen and the wind is whipping through the trees. Immediately I'm worried about the greenhouse. NS Power says the outage is expected to be fixed by 9:30am which is good, except it's only 4am now. Assessing my options I realize there's not much I can do. Hopefully the inflation in the greenhouse walls stays secure. Going outside leaving the kids alone in the house is not an option. Plus, I have no idea what I could do. So, the next couple hours were spent trying to sleep but were actually spent, thinking up back up plans for if the greenhouse plastic was destroyed. Stay positive girl, everything will be fine!

When the sun finally came up the wind died down. I got a fire going in the wood stove and thankfully the power came back on. I made my way up to the barn to first quickly check on the chickens who looked out at the snow and weren't impressed.

Crossing the yard I see the greenhouse looked decent, it's normal shape but snow covered. I shoveled my way into the front door and had a peek inside. Completely dark. Having a look at the outside I see I can't even brush it off as the snow melted and stuck to the plastic as ice crystals. Now I don't know what to do. I don't want to risk ripping the plastic. Finally I decide to check it later, hoping the sun will help. Wish I had someone here to bounce ideas back and forth with.

Time to cook the boys a special breakfast of waffles and fruit, then it's time for us to shovel. Thank goodness I don't have to plow the driveway, with this much snow it's well worth the money to pay my friend Mark. The boys are wonderful helpers. I need to upsize their shovels as "Mommy, these kid ones are too small. We need big ones!"

This afternoon I am happy and relieved to say the greenhouse is back to normal. The sun melted off almost all of the snow and it is full of light once again. 

Sitting here writing, looking out at the winter windswept day, I'm listening to my boys laughing. Life is good.

Snowshoeing with the Boys

This past week the kids and I finally broke out our snowshoes. I'm shocked at how much their feet have grown since last year. They will most likely be wearing adult sizes next year.

The first day we were all completely excited. It was like releasing a spring. As soon as I had their snowshoes on, the boys were off! Snow flying up behind them, giggling like crazy, screaming with laughter. I love it!
I caught up to the two rascals at the barn and we set off for the fields. About a quarter of the way around the garden they were exhausted. Too cute. So it became snow angel time and then back down to the house for board games.

The next day we all had more energy. We were able to explore all of the field finding many different prints in the snow and even some bunny holes.
Each of us are looking forward to a fresh snowfall but are hoping the last of the ice will be gone beforehand. Tons of fun.

Winter Morning

With the boys back in school my winter morning routine has begun. Chickens get first priority with warm water, more feed and a dressing of sawdust in their coops. Yesterday was quite cold so I wasn't surprised to only find two eggs. The little cuties are still figuring out what all the white stuff is.

Next it's time to build a fire in the wood stove. The German wood stove we have is one where you build two huge fires each day, in the morning and at night. It's a great idea but with so much insulating still remaining to be done, a regular wood stove would probably work better. It's located in the dining room under the boys room, so I'm happy that they are warm with the "in floor heating". Slippers, cosy sweaters and warm beverages are the ticket here.

As for renovations, I have about 2 more months to finish as much as possible before gardening starts. The month before Christmas was a whirlwind of gyprock dust and cheers as we finally got upper kitchen cabinets installed and now have some rooms up to prime. Awesome!
Now that the Christmas decorations are down I can get back at it. I'm hoping to have the upstairs bathroom ready to install the tub in a few weeks. Plus, I would love to have the living room primed. It will be so nice to come in from the fields this year and relax in a finished room. I say relax but we all know its really collapse on the couch after the boys are in bed.

Running this farm on my own is a handful and I am extremely thankful for all the support I receive. Each year we continue to grow and improve. This year is going to be even better.

Nice little gifts.

Just in time for Christmas the little birdies started laying and the eggs are gorgeous!

On a whim this past Spring, we purchased straight run Americanas, who lay blue green eggs. We will be expanding our flock again this Spring.

Up in the barn we currently have Barred Rocks who are laying brown, sometimes speckled, the Americanas and one small Pheonix hen who lays white ones.

Nice little gifts!

Time to Plant Garlic!

Garlic is the first crop to be planted for the next growing season. It benefits from establishing itself by putting down roots before the winter so it can be strong when it emerges in the Spring. The hard part is finding the right time and conditions to plant it. Plant it too early and you risk it sending up a shoot and then dying when winter comes. Planting too late means that usually the Fall rains have come and with the colder temperatures the soil stays too muddy to plant. 

Yesterday was the best conditions. The soil was damp but after squeezing it together into a ball it would easily fall apart. Perfect. I prepared the beds for planting and announced to the boys at the bus stop, it was time to plant the garlic! I love how excited they are to help with this every year. After a quick snack and setting out the homework for later, we headed up. I grabbed my trowel and the boys brought up the bags of garlic bulbs.

The boys broke the bulbs up into cloves and spread them out. Meanwhile I started planting the cloves roughly 7 inches apart and deep enough to leave 2 inches of soil above the bulb.

Some of us got a little distracted by the Brussels Sprouts. Anthony especially enjoyed munching on a few of them.

After they 180-200 cloves were in the ground, all that was left was to cover them up and even out the soil. Navarre and Anthony did an awesome job helping! We will next put a cover of mulch over them to prevent any damage from frost which will break down and add nutrients to the soil. 

First crop for 2016 is now in the ground!