Welcome 2011

It's been awhile since I've sat down and put my fingers to the keyboard to write about what's going on here at the farm. It's been a busy couple of weeks with Christmas, New Years, going back to work at the ski park and just general life's craziness. So what is new around the farm? Well, we have alot of snow and the forecast is calling for a lot more!! It's been interesting with Ben and Jake and the new snow fall, at first they were not big fans of it at all but they are starting to actually enjoy it. Jake likes to take random found sticks and use them to dig under the snow and flip it at the kitty cats.

Derek has gotten the doors built for one end of the barn and the other we just boarded in for the winter. We had wanted to get both doors built and installed before Christmas but life got in the way and the horses will be spending the winter in the old barn yet again. They seem quite happy in there hiding from the winter weather snuggled in with the cats.

I have been spending the boys nap time pouring over the latest seed catalogues trying to decide which varieties to grow for the upcoming growing season. It is going quite well and I'm having lots of fun dreaming of all the yummy veggies that I'll be growing this summer. The four companies I'm ordering from include, William Dam Seeds, Veseys, High Mowing Seeds and Johnny's. We have to purchase certified organic seeds as per our certification regulations and in the past we have only been doing a fair job. Our inspector has noted for the past two years that we need to purchase more organic seeds so this is the year. So far so good.


So many different varities of carrots to choose


My daily nap time homework

The 2011 Federation of Agriculture calendars came out this week and we are quite excited to see our faces on the June month. Ben & Jake were only 11 months old at the time and I can't believe how much they have grown since then.


Federation of Agriculture's 2011 "PEI faces of Farming" Calendar


Early morning reading


Ben


Jake

We are looking forward to the upcoming season and we can't wait to start providing our CSA members with farm fresh organic veggies once again.

Odds & Ends

Ben laying down on the job

Here are a few pictures of Ben & Jake helping me plant garlic in the garden yesterday. They mostly chased the kittens around and played in the nice soft straw but it's nice to be able to take them outside and actually be able to get some work done while they are there. My boys are growing up.


Getting ready to plant the garlic, the soil was cold


My favourite trowel


Garlic all ready for planting, over 600 cloves put in the ground yesterday


The strawberries are all mulched and ready for a winter's sleep


Ben


Sprout


Jake


My two favourite helpers


The barn is looking great. We just need some doors

More Progress & Public Speeking

It has been very mild the last few days and all our snow is now gone. We have gotten most of our farm clean up finished but there still a few projects still on the go. I still have not gotten the rest of my garlic planted but this mild weather should help to get that completed. I'm hoping to get my soil samples taken today and submitted to the lab by the end of the week. I will be curious to see if the pH levels have increaced since we started in 2007. I have a big round bale of straw waiting to be spread over the strawberries and the garlic whenever it gets finished. Other than that the fall to do list is pretty much completed.

Last Saturday was another great weather day so we made the most of it by working on getting the ends of the new barn closed in. My uncle Ronald and my brother Andrew, along with my Dad and Derek spent the day measuring and cutting steel to complete both ends of the barn as well as the back wall. Now when you drive by it looks like the barn is finished. When you get a bit closer you can see that there are still quite a few odds and ends left but the main work is done. We still do not have doors on the barn but Derek will hopefully get started on those this weekend.


Dad checking on Derek and Andrew's progress, he had the noisy job of cutting the steel


Andrew and Derek fitting the steel


Almost finished


The back wall all finished, just needs the corner piece


The first end wall all completed

The boys were not too happy with all the noise being generated by the saw so we spent most of our time admiring the work for a distance. Here are a few pics from our day while the guys were working.


Ben & Jake enjoying their apples


Ben laughing, who knew I was so funny


Mr Smiley Pants

On another note.....
This past Wednesday evening I was asked to speak to the North River 4H club about our CSA farm. I had not done a public speak in a long time so I was very nervous. The room was packed full of 4H members, leaders and parents. After a few technical difficulties in which my computer decided to not connect to the projector (luckily Kelly Hughes had brought her laptop as a backup) I was able to proceed. I was pleased with the talk but when I was over I realised I forgot a few very important points that I wanted to cover but oh well, maybe next time. The North River 4H club owns their own clubhouse in the community of Kingston, what a lovely building. I can't wait till the boys are old enough to join.

Progress - Told through pictures

How the barn looked before the work crew arrived (ignore the date, I did not get a chance to actually get a picture before the crew started)


The first picture I was able to get after the boys went for a nap. I could not believe how much they had gotten done already


John & Ronnie measuring for the steel along the front wall


John working on the front wall and Allan and Derek are on the roof just finishing up the front side


Cutting steel, now that was a loud experience.


Ben & Jake were very curious about all the noise at the new barn


Ben & Jake supervising Dad & Ronnie's work.


Chris working on the front wall


Team work


Chris & John


Derek installing the soffit & fascia


Derek & Kenny


The last piece of steel for the roof


Ronnie holding the last piece of steel


The roof is finished


Dad - our hard-working foreman. There is no way we would have gotten as much done without his expert organisational skills. Thanks Dad!!


Derek and Jeremy starting the ridge cap


Finishing up the front side


The front side all completed


Still lots of work to do but having the roof completed is such a relief


Taken Monday morning, looks awesome if I do say so myself

We had a great work day on Saturday. We had 7 people show up to help us put steel on the roof and the front wall. It was beautiful weather, sunny and warm and absolutely no wind. We could not have asked for a better day. Thank you to everyone who came out to help including Dad, Ronnie, John, Chris, Allan, Jeremy & Kenny. Thanks also to Mom for the yummy lunch and for watching the boys.

Here's a few pictures of the boys playing

The boys trying to figure out where the kittens were hiding, it was so nice and warm on Saturday we did not even need coats


The boys enjoying playing in the newly covered barn


The kittens basking in the sun


The boys learning that kittens love to chase strings


Hours of fun with the kitties


Ben & Jake exploring the wood shed


Jake, what a little monkey