Summer 2023 Coming to a Close

It is the end of August and we have all been working hard on the property. So many projects but it is amazing what we have accomplished this year. Lisa and Ashley have taken charge of many of the tasks during the day while Colin is still doing web dev and marketing.

Just last week, our plumber who did all the initial work we had done came out for visit to help us find a solution to a barn water issue. One of the first things he said, other than hello, is that it is not the same property he was at last year. It is completely changed and it looks good. That was so nice to hear and awesome as someone else sees the difference. Sometimes you are so close to the work that changes are hard to see.

We have a new family friend…. United Rentals. We had rented a brush cutter in July to cut down all the heavy thick brush on the property. Over half the property was cleared, actually only 2 paddocks really remain. We are going to wait till fall and comb through those paddocks and pull out any crap and rocks in there. The brush cutter doesn’t play well with rocks, metal and wood. That brush cutter may be making a second appearance next spring!

On August 25 we had arranged to pick up a woodchipper to get rid of all the tree branches we trimmed from all over property. The trimming made a huge difference in some areas out front and right behind the house. We found that we have a couple of healthy crab apple trees amongst our little treed area behind the house. We now have residents on the property who love crab apples, perfect (the pigs). With the wood chips/shavings we created from the chipping, we now have wood shavings for under the pigs straw for the winter, awesome. The mulch like shavings will also be great to help winterize the flower and veg gardens and keep any perennials alive and well for the spring.

The flower gardens have 5 massive lavender plants that we planted this year as seedlings. They have flourished. Those and a few rose bushes will benefit from the mulch created. The vegetable garden is still producing strong with squash, tomatoes, and zucchini. The average size of the zucchini is equivalent to a 2 litre pop bottle. Lisa and Ashley had planted potatoes and the haul was 23 pounds of them in just a 2’ x 4’ space. They were also very tasty!

Lisa has been chopping up the squash for the freezer and shredding the zucchini for the same. Down the road, squash soup and zucchini bread through the winter months.

The Pumpkin craze….. yes, the plants that have taken over some of our driveway and has some massive carving pumpkins growing for the upcoming Halloween season. Well, we know we can grow pumpkins! So this little sampler has solidified a decision to have a pumpkin patch next year. We are also going to expand the garden with some other veggies like corn and carrots. This year was just a throw it together and see what happens kind of test. The storm on Canada Day weekend shredded most of the garden completely with the hail we got, but the only two things that didn’t bounce back stronger than ever were the cantaloupe and watermelon plants. However, we do have a baby cantaloupe on the vine and there are some budding watermelons, but the season is too far along to really get any fruit.

Then there is our miraculous sunflower. Never have we seen one with so many blossoms/buds and such height. Pushing on 8-9ft tall easily with the highest one, these sunflowers are amazing! Around the base of the large sunflower plant is a “Common Sunflower” bush plant which just seems to produce more and more blossoms all summer long.

A small sample of pictures……..

For the Birds

Barn Swallow

Our Barn Swallow population has definitely multiplied a few times over in the past months. They can be a pain in the rear end at times, but, Barn Swallows are AWESOME to have on the property. They feast on mosquitos and other bugs. Colin is looking at building a full nesting space for them when they return in the spring so it will attract even more swallows. A great way to control the bug population is to welcome their predators, the Barn Swallow.

Many people in the region also struggled this year with grasshoppers. We had some, but, nowhere near what some people had. Again, swallows love to eat grasshoppers.

Our tree hotel architects the magpie’s had disappeared for about a month or so but they just returned to the property. Apparently, they will leave during summer if there is a more convenient food source for them in the area and we are assuming it is the corn as it is in abundance right now. We are leaving the nest they built for now as we really didn’t have any issues with them this year. They also contribute to the bug eating so if they are not a nuisance, might as well keep them around.

Lisa has our front living room window covered in these stick-on vinyl bird shapes so it deters birds from flying top speed into the window. The more birds we have, the less bugs we have so it is always a sad day when yet another bird decides suicide is the better option than eating a juicy grasshopper! With that said, everything seems to hit the window from dragonflies to bumble bees and everything in between.

Summer is coming to an end soon, the mornings are definitely cooler, fewer birds and more mosquitos to go with our mojitos. Hmmm, perhaps Mojitos should be on the menu for this coming long weekend! (thinking to go along with some smoked beef brisque)

Our Dogs – Another New Addition

Well we have 3 dogs now and all with at least half Great Pyrenes. Luke is 1 yrs old now, Solo is 5 months and Leia is 4 months. Yes, the complete Star Wars Jedi Force is protecting us from all those bad flying leaves.

Luke is fixed already but, Solo is not and we thought about sharing our amazing dogs with others and breed Solo with our newest addition, Leia. She is a real sweetheart and a magician apparently. Always finding that escape route when we thought we had it all sealed up. We have to keep our eyes on her, she is a sneaky one. She hangs around the outside of her enclosure and appears to mock the other two big boys who couldn’t get out.

The two boys love her to death and they all get along wonderfully. We are just hoping that when the time comes, Solo and Leia can step up and grant us some puppies? Our dogs, as young as they are, fit in with our environment perfectly and their temperament is amazing. Next year we will give them a go and see what happens!

On the funny side of dog life, Luke doesn’t like equipment or machinery or anything he deems doesn’t belong on the property including animals, birds and people. He barked and growled at our new trailer when we brought it home, the brush cutter, and most recently the wood chipper. He is hilarious! If it wasn’t there before, it shouldn’t be there now, right? Yes, Luke, you are correct! He simply likes things to be the same. The funnier side is that Solo and Leia try to figure out what the heck he is barking at and sometimes bark along with him.

Reuse-Recycle-Repurpose

We have been using recycled pallets for a lot of things around the property and continue to do so. They are very functional for many different things. Colin is slowly tearing a couple of pallets apart to make a Barn Swallow hotel so they have somewhere to nest each year safely. Ashley has used them to construct a variety of things such as a box for crab apples that we store in our cold cellar and ramps for the pigs.

We have even used pallets for temporary fencing in one of our paddocks and we are currently building a larger pen area for the dogs during the winter off of our back deck area. With wood being SOOOOO expensive, some things that are temporary or are for our 4 legged farm friends simply don’t need fancy wood at all.

Much of the fencing that had fallen over from years of neglect by the previous owners throughout the pastures, we have been repurposing to strengthen the wind fencing around a couple of the paddocks we cleared out. We are fairly confident that most of the wood we are repurposing is older than us.

The Pigs – Hamlet & Wilbur

Ashley and Lisa completed the construction of the pig pen and access to a paddock filled with grass for grazing. We have been stocking up on their nutritional supplement which is ground oats. They also love black sunflower seeds so we have that stocked along with alfalfa hay for the winter. When winter hits they can go into their pen, but they won’t really be able to graze in the grazing paddock for good reason, snow.

Hamlet and Wilbur are growing fast, and have awesome personalities. Ashley has even trained Wilbur to sit and take apples from her. SMART, hilarious and clean. They are pretty awesome! They love their veggies with fruit once a day. The diet they are on is fairly balanced and completely healthy of course. We need them to be big and strong for many years.

We mentioned wind fencing before and this is what their pen has around it. It will allow them to still go out into their pen in the winter if they wish and not have the wind beat on them. We have two females arriving soon and their pen, which is separate from the males, is also getting wind fencing around it. The wind fencing stands at 8-9ft high which not only breaks the wind but also protects from predators. We have also been installing solar powered motion lights in the pasture area and around the paddocks. Motion lighting is something that startles coyotes and deters them from coming closer to where the light is. These same lights are actually being put in around the front of the house, the area we call the compound, lol!

As we add value to the property, and we of course want to see what is going on all the time, security is something to consider. We will be installing security cameras in due time which we hope will provide us with a feed into the pigs pen for all to see. Colin is trying to figure out which system to get based on our current internet system setup.

In Closing……

So as we take that corner from summer to fall, many things change and winterizing becomes a priority. We don’t have as much winterizing and planning to do this year as we got structured last year with most of it. Many of our summer projects actually prepped us for winter already so we are looking good. The pigs will be a bit of work through the winter with the boys and girls living in different housing, but it will help us out in the spring to make any changes we need to.

We already know that the barn will need some fixing next year so it can properly house more pigs/piglets. Once spring 2024 hits however, temporary shelters and grazing in the paddocks becomes an option.

Let’s see what September 2023 brings and we hope everyone is doing awesome! Thanks for keeping up with what we are doing here and we have a guest room… now taking reservations for Spring 2024 farm labour.  😁