A chick by any other name is still cute as hell... (continued)

Part Deux:

The winning chicken breeds are as follows: (mostly bought for egg colour)

• White Chantacler - Canadian breed, winter hardy, our only white chickens.
• Black Copper Marans - Good breed from Europe, super dark brown/red eggs. 
• Amaracauna - Couple different colourings of this breed, but all lay blue eggs.
• Malines - Suppose to be a great tasting bird, bought mostly on a whim. 
• Euskal Oiloa - Super friendly bird, there for the kids and wife to play with. 
• Mystery Green and Blue Egg layers (aka Easter Eggers)- lays blue or green eggs.
• Olive Layers - Lays dark green egg. 

So what did I take away from this experience?

1. It's a good move to set up presales unless you are getting there at 4am like a lunatic. Frankly I don't know what I may have missed due to people selling out early and high tailing out of there.
2. Look closely at what you buy and ensure freshness.
3. Many of the people at these swaps shouldn't be breeding with each other never mind eggs. Buyer beware, go with your gut.
4. The swaps happen both in spring and fall, but if nothing else you can set up connections to get eggs off the swap circuit. 
5. Park far away for a quick exit. Some looked like they got boxed in until 3 people moved their trucks. 
6. Bring llama treats.   

Egg army ready for world domination

 Step 3: Time to turn up the heat...

A couple days prior to the swap I fired up the incubator to get it set to the right temp to hit the ground running. I'm glad I did because it took a couple days to get things just right. 99 deg is what the goal temp is with a humidity of about 60-65 percent. An impossible calculation if you don't have the right instruments.

We set it up in the office on the floor where the temperature stays stable and there are no breezes. Ultimately I should have put it on a desk but paranoia initially started it on the floor and it stayed there. As soon as I got home, I put the eggs into the office for a couple hours to settle at room temp and started to decide which eggs won't make the cut. 48 eggs and 41 spaces, really the turner holds 42 but one of the spots looked a little dangerously close to turner motor so we left it at 41. The choice was decided based on cost of eggs, colour of eggs and purity of the breed. We ended up posting an ad on craigslist to give away the others to a nice hippie woman. If she was wearing a tank there'd be armpit hair for sure, but none the less she was nice and promised to slip us a couple chicks in the future if we want it. I didnt have the heart to just toss them. I'm a softy like that...

So the winning eggs are in their spots, turner is plugged in and the temps are all right. There's no going back now, and with a total investment of 200$ we're in good shape. For the next 18 days tho, it's a case of hurry up and wait. Over the next 2 and a half weeks it was uneventful except for a power outage which happened while I was an hour away. D's mother called me up all frantic about the power knowing what it meant to the chicks. I was too far and had to call a buddy to swing by the house to make sure it wasn't a breaker and to possibly transport the chicks to an electrical source. If the temperature goes too far above or below 99 deg for too long, you can kiss your eggs goodbye. After all that work it would have been a bad scene if we lost them. Luckily it was short lived and the heat wasn't off for very long. 

On the 18th day it time to get the eggs into lock down for the next 3 days. At day 18 you:

1. Remove eggs from turner and remove turner from incubator
2. Replace eggs on their sides with small end pointing kinda downward. 
3. Raise humidity to 75% by filling most or all of the water traps the incubator has.
4. Try to make eggs not touch one another, which was hard with 41 eggs. 
5. Replace lid to incubator and don't touch it for 3 days. I ended up having to add water once or twice but I found a way with a straw to feed water through a vent hole.

At the end of the 2nd of 3 days we had a couple eggs wobbling back n forth periodically and eventually our first 'pip' (a small break in the eggs caused by the chicks beak) It was a great site to see considering I assumed something messed up along the way and we'd have maybe 1 hatch. I'd be happy if 5 made it honestly. Your instinct is to help but for so many reasons you can't. A few hours later (midnight) while doing a quick check we had our first hatch. I was excited and woke D with a quick iPhone pic of it, she was dazed but happy. (99% of pics on this blog are all iPhone) D woke me the next morning on her way to work to let me know 3 more had hatched. More revenge than information I'd guess....

I must admit I spent more time than I'm proud of bent over the incubator talking to the eggs encouragingly and tapping the outside. Midway through that day we had 10 chicks and by dinner time we had 15. This is where things started getting tricky and there are 2 schools of thought here regarding the lockdown period. Some say you can't open it no matter what for 3 days, after that period there may be more over the next day or two but most likely your set. Others say it's ok to open the lid quickly to do what you need to and get out. It's tricky because at 15 chicks hatched the incubator started getting a little crowded. Some at this point are now dry, which takes a few hours. Some are still wet and meandering around drunkenly and some are in partway through hatching in varying degrees. Chicks can stay in an incubator for 48 hrs+ feeding off an internal yoke sack so they don't have to be rushed out. The hatched ones are bumping around and knocking not only each other but the eggs around them and causing what I deem to be 'problems'.

I went with the school of get in and get out, but make sure the temp and humidity get back up quickly. A couple times I popped open the lid and grabbed out the dry chicks. In retrospect it may have not been a good move, but the number of chicks I had in there warranted it. It's not unlike when you know your dryer can fit 10 towels but when there's 7 it does a better job. The hatching chicks are fighting the shell, but more importantly, the membrane holding them in, and when that dries out, they're in trouble. There were a couple cases of chicks stuck in their shells, some made it, some didn't. There is a tang of guilt as to whether better planning would have avoided that.

Our new watchdogs: Thor and Whitey

 
In the end, we had 28 of 41 eggs hatch, 2 had passed away midway through coming out, and the rest stayed as coloured eggs silently yearning to chase bugs. We lost one a couple days later which was one I ended up trying to help finish hatching but obviously shouldn't have. Mother nature has a way to pick the ones that should make it, but did my messing with the lid cause this or any others to not hatch?

What I'd do next time:

• Start with less eggs. 41 made it too crowded, maybe at 25-30 there'd me more room for patience.  
• Not open the lid til the eggs were basically done hatching.
• If you do feel it necessary to intervene, just have a little sugar water there to feed the little beaks for a burst of energy. 
• Prepare not only for a little heartache but the unusual smell as well... wish the office had a little more circulation.
• Once the lockdown starts, don't block any vent holes trying to conserve humidity. 
• Make sure you have backup plans for a power outage situation. 

After all the dust settled and we cleaned the gear I have to say it was a great experience. We learned a lot and ended up with more then we expected and they all seem healthy. In fact I would do it again, probably next year. It is one of those moments you feel all warm inside and really feel, even for a moment, like we are legitimate farmers. But most of all, I can't wait to share this with our kids.

Now all that's left is figuring out which is which. They mixed together as they hatched and not only do I not know male from female but the game to figure out the breeds is on now too. I'm going to post some picks on the chicken sites and hope they can help, they always do...

Life Lesson # 922 - Don't count your eggs before they are hatched. This is true literally and figuratively...

 








               

One can count the seeds in an apple etc etc...

Part Deux

 

Seeds worth trading for...

The seed swap site we used the most was The Garden Web  They have a forum section with seed and plant swaps, even a specific area for Canucks. However I found most from the USA were more then happy to trade with us and shipping/customs was no problem at all. This is where the diversity of our seeds really went haywire. People are posting all the time things they are looking for or have to trade. The key is to have one or two seeds people will find unique, luckily I grew and harvested seeds from last years patio garden, the Chinese 5 Colour Pepper and an heirloom tomato seed. I put up my list and then went hunting for others who had long lists of interesting seeds. Struck up a friendly conversation via email and a trade was established. I then sit back and wait to see what they send, and those in the garden world are definitely happy to share. Ultimately they don't want to see the seeds go to waste, but the fact we are just starting out and included our personal story info in our bio and emails certainly helped with the generosity factor. I'd set up a trade for 3 kinds of seeds and sometimes people send like 6 or even 10 kinds. It was great, like a mini Christmas every day the mail arrived.

There were two people specifically who were generous above and beyond. One was a guy who grows tomatoes. I read a few blogs about certain kinds of tomatoes and starting a hunt to find some seeds. I sent and email to a guy who seemed to be a guru in the field and he was more than happy to help us out. He ended up sending us like 10 varieties, all with nothing from us in terms of a trade or postage and more importantly, he sent us two strains which he himself created and named just this year. One named for his wife which I cant wait to check out. Doubt I'll tell D about that one or I'll be knee deep in veggie genes trying to make a Danni Squash.

5 Colour Twilight Zone

The next guy, we'll call him Greg. I think he took it on himself to get us in the right direction with a head start many may be envious of. All with barely more then a couple emails with our story and a request for a few top bean choices. This guy was the bean guru as far as I could tell and after we chatted a little he told me to hang tight and he'd send up a little package. Couple weeks later a bubble envelop arrives the size of a grapefruit. When I opened the package it literally burst out onto the table and we both actually said a vulgar version of "WOW!!" In the package was 83 different kinds of snap and dry beans, 8 kinds of tomatoes and probably 20 kinds of watermelon, squash or pumkins. With 5-10 seeds of each variety, all labeled and many with his personal notes pointing out his favs, or little tips. It was amazing really, and a moment that at some point in the future I may Pay it Forward to someone else deserving.

By the way, one of the bean seeds was suppose to be on the Mayflower back in the day and the strain has been kept 'pure' since then.  If nothing else, we can grow one or two plants of the most rare or desirable plants and sell/trade the seeds in the future years. We do value the benefit of heritage seed saving and being anti GMO, so we will do our part.

Something of note to keep your eye out for when checking the seed swapping sites are either;

1. 'Round Robin Exchange' where you mail in 10 packs each of 1 - 5 kinds of seeds to a 'Host', the Host takes your seeds and 10 or 20 other people's who have done the same, then splits them up for all those who participated. You wait patiently and they send you back a package with an interesting mix of seeds. We've joined two so far and just got one back which was exclusively peppers. The number of seeds you get back is usually a direct correlation to how many you send in.  
2. 'Seed Trains' this is where one person takes a box and starts with a few varieties of seeds. People sign up to be a stop on the train and you mail the package to the next person on the list. When it stops at you, you sort through what you want, add a little to replenish your bounty and mail it on to the next person. We are just waiting for now coming from out west. We found this one on The Hot Pepper , again in the forums section. Wish I liked hot peppers more... 

Small portion of the bible...

Keep in mind, when you get seeds from a swap or train, technically you never know what your getting. Might be old, cross pollinated or just the wrong seed. So as they said in the 70's, swapper beware.

I won't bother to get specific with what seeds we have moving into this year, but I will share some overall numbers. Most likely a majority, if not all, will have at least 1 seed planted to test and preserve, but as usual the reality may be different. Some of course will have multiple planted.

  
Final Seed Tally 

 

• Tomatoes: 55 varieties - small to beefsteak, yellow to black
• Beets: 7 varieties - Striped, yellow and a few variations on the standard red
• Peas: 12 varieties - Not much to say about peas frankly
• Broccoli: 5 varieties - Purple heads, some Italian that branches out and an early sprouter 
• Cauliflower: 3 varieties - Super white, a purple and one which is suppose to taste like heaven
• Cucumbers: 10 varieties - Pickling, slicing and a few which may question my manhood
• Lettuce: 15 varieties - These include spinach, romaines, various heads and loose leafs
• Peppers: 45 varieties - Uber spicy, super sweet with every colour and size known
• Carrots: 9 varieties - Rainbow of colours but mainly on the larger size. No minis here
• Beans: 115 varieties - Snaps, dry, rare and some worth 2$/seed. We'll focus on the larger ones 
• Melons: 35 varieties - Pumpkins, squash, melons & watermelons. Anything you could ask for
• Potatoes: 10 varieties - Early, mid and late season, mostly large with focus on long storage
• Sweet potatoes: 6 varieties - Testing the waters, most are early season varieties for our climate
• Asparagus: 4 varieties - Green and purple with half being a male only high producing strains
• Garlic: 7 varieties - From all over the world, mild to pungent. Looking forward to this one.
• Misc: 29 varieties: Corn, celery, onions, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, radish etc etc

What do you mean that's too many? D wanted me to try mushrooms too... Anyway, I have everything laid out in a computer file and with the help of the software mentioned previously, it should be smooth sailing. This is one of those examples, I hope, where spending some extra time now will make future years less stressful and productive. I'll let you know... 

Finally, what we did with the seeds was to preserve them not only for safety from natural disasters but also for ease of identification. When the seeds first started coming in I knew the small envelopes they usually come in would be hard to maintain, difficult to sort through and ultimately a recipe for mix-ups and seed errors. To eliminate these pesky issues I went to a friend who has a company shipping Chia Seeds coast to coast. If you don't know Chia seeds, I'll give him a free plug: Chia Seeds

The Larry, Moe and Curly of seed safety

Anyway, to carry the seeds around they have a small hinge top air tight container and I grabbed a hundred of these and proceeded to place each type of seed in one. If the seed was bought commercially I'd actually tape the label or pertinent information on it, to the container. If it was a swap or direct trade seeds I make a label myself or tape the label they included to it.  I recently found mini versions of these at the dollar store, 6 or 8 in a pack and perfect for small seeds, or those of only a few. They can seem to get lost when you only have 5 tomato seeds in a 'large' container. After buying a cheap tool box, the Seed Bank Project is in full effect and frankly I enjoy bringing it out to bore people with. Most people's eyes haze over if I do, but we'll see this fall what they think...       

Seed Bank vault rare opening...

All in all I am happy with the overall outlook. Total cost to us so far is about $500 which includes the seeds, the potatoes, asparagus crowns and a few different trees and fruit bearing bushes. In the next month or two we will buy a bunch more fruit trees for the back plot and then that's it for this year. If we can grow some good seeds worth saving and selling, next year will be much easier. Worse case scenario, we can always eat Cooper...

I'll see you sooner then you think...

Life Lesson # 559b - People, like seeds, need good companionship. Be near those who will help you flourish and bloom. Otherwise you might as well plant yourself under a black walnut tree, alone...
   

One can count the seeds in an apple, but only Mother Nature can count the number of apples in a seed...

Part 1

(This ones was a doozy but we split it into a two parter)

Do birds have snow shovels?...

At last, spring is upon us and honestly it couldn't come quick enough. Now however, is when we have to put up or shut up. It's coming at us like a boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but we knew what we were signing up for, and in many ways I look forward to days of true progress. I'm pretty much planned out.

The last month or so I have been spending a chunk of my spare time gathering seeds for the coming year. They ended up coming from an interesting mix of places and if you get anything from this specific episode it would be about the seeds.

• First of all, we decided to not focus on one specific fruit or veggie in any category. This year we will grow as many different varieties of fruits/veggies as we can. Not only to judge what we'd like to focus on, but also to save the seeds moving forward so we won't have to buy many commercially. 
• Next, I decided to organize and safely preserve all the seeds we got to ensure longevity and protection in case of natural disaster or Cooper attack. Our own Seed Bank Project.
• Finally, where we got our seeds from varied more than we thought it would. I always assumed you look seeds up in a catalog, order them and wait patiently in the bushes while the postal worker does their business with the snail mail.          

Now that the dust has settled, I think, as usual, my tunnel vision got me a little crazy with the seed collecting. Why? While D and I were attending a seed saving show last month, I pulled out my list to ensure we didn't duplicate and the person behind the counter yelped "Woah!! Are those all your seeds?!?!" D cleared her throat subtly. When you know nothing about seeds and growing, every description you read seems like one you'd like to try. Yesterday at a seed place we were getting herb seeds for her garden and she actually said in a firm tone, "OK, enough with the bean seeds".

We bought almost exclusively from Canadian retailers with a few packs coming from companies in the USA I couldn't resist. A minor deciding factor was any coupon code I could locate online at that time, usually free shipping or $X off $XX worth of order. Overall everything came in swiftly, except for the living plants, bulbs and tubers (potatoes) which ship once frost has passed. The final retailer tally and my 2 cents worth are as follows:

1. Veseys Seeds  A Canadian company with a good reputation and decent prices. Bought seeds, a few potatoes and sweet potatoes to test them out.
2. TT Seeds  Canadian, good prices and quick shipping. Bought seeds, asparagus and a few small tools.
3. Mapple Farm   Canadian and mostly known for their sweet potatoes. I actually had these guys on my hotbar watching and waiting for their 2013 to go on sale. We weren't missing out on our choices. Also bought asparagus, and a unique kind of tomato which is suppose to store over winter.
4. Eagle Creek Farms East Coast Canadian and exclusively sells seed potatoes. Good variety and decent customer service. We ended up getting 7 different kinds to test the waters.
5. Park Seeds - The only USA company we ordered from, they had great prices on a couple specific seeds I couldn't resist. Fast shipping and good selection. Minus 1 point for being Yankees tho... 
6. Henry Fields Canadian website I found out later they may ship from the USA. Not sure I like the rouse but we'll see. Initially I wanted to order one type of potato D was on me about and ended getting sucked into a bunch of fruit and nut trees. Good prices, good selection and decent coupon codes floating around.
7. Seeds of Diversity Canadian seed preservation 'charity' organization. Pay a membership fee and get access to heirloom seed growers. Bought some seeds more to test it out and support the cause than anything. Overall not sure how I feel about the seeds received, they sure dont kill themselves with the quantities.
8. Ontario Seed Company (OSC)  Local seed company with good variety, good prices, fast shipping and they have the option for larger quantity discounts. IE 1 pak or 1/4 oz or 1/2 oz etc. 
9. Richters Herbs Local seed company known mostly for their herbs and medicinal plants. Large greenhouse and friendly staff. Seed prices aren't cheap but the variety is pretty overwhelming.    

Now that I see this list it's a little much, but the buying was peppered over a month or so if that means anything. In the end, one was just as good as another for different reasons. No one stiffed us in any major way, many of the retailers have some sort of guarantee which is reassuring. (We cancelled an order from West Coast Seeds due to slow order shipping and substandard customer service.) We'll monitor how the seeds turn out and that will narrow our choices down for next year if we choose to buy again.

Nice to look at but hard to conquer... 

An alternate source for seeds for you to consider, which we stumbled on, is now your new favourite term: Seed Swap. No, not a fertility clinic after hours party, but a place where gardeners hook up to exchange their seeds. Actually not that different when you think about it. The beauty of the internet is you can do it from your couch while eating licorice. You can find swaps at brick and mortar events, but there are a couple websites out there that I have found very useful. Obviously there are more, but most seem to have 4 posts since 2007, or require me to crack my college botany book in order to list the seeds by genus and phylum. I have zero patience and like to get in and out quick. (insert joke here)

Life Lesson #559a - Patience comes to those who wait...


                                                                To Be Continued.....

A little older now, but still runnin' against the wind...

Unlocks from the Outside Only

It's been a little while since our last post, partially due to a mountain of things going on, and partially because I didn't want to blog for the sake of blogging. I'd kind of felt like it was starting to become a babble fest and no one wants that. So thanks for hanging in there, I hope your winter has been a warm and cuddly one, regardless of the weather outside.

Things have been motoring along at the Keltic Kreek home front. The new entrance has been installed for the in-law suite and most of the flooring torn out. Next move is to tear out the bathroom to prep for an entirely new one and begin the task of plumbing for the kitchen. One of the guys I've made buddies with at the weekly poker game is a plumber, so it should be no big deal. Most of it I can do but if you can stand on the shoulders of geniuses, why wouldn't you?

Rack to Torture Garlic

The shop is taking shape. This is a separate building we have on site, with a hydraulic lift and tons of space inside, it's like 40 x 80 or so. I'm going to build a seedling room inside to start some of the veggies, a carpenters section for renos/building projects and a large portion for farm stuff... the 'stuff' to be determined as time goes on. The goal is to let it develop organically, and so far the first farm project is a drying rack for garlic and onions. Again with a tree hugging maneuver, it's made from a metal futon frame I drove past on the way home from a seed buying mission. Saw it in a snowbank and pulled over to scoop it. No, there wasn't a blanket or pillow with it, the homeless couple had moved out already. My detective skills, based on the other garbage out there, says it was a tenant who did a midnight move and the owners of the house were recklessly tossing out all the furniture. There was a desk chair and other items, but frankly who needs small town bedbugs. The side rails of the frame are now shelves above the dry rack, and the rack will swing out from the wall when needed and tuck away when the dance cave opens, or not in use...

Hmm... Shovel or Snowblower

The weather has not been friendly this year. We moved from a small condo downtown, where everything was taken care of by hired help and by chance, old man winter was on vacation for a couple years. Well, he came back and wanted to remind us he is still in charge. I'm one of those wierdos that actually enjoys shoveling snow, but this year is pushing it. Our area to shovel last year was 7 steps and a 6 x 12 patio on the roof. Now it's a driveway that fits 20 cars, a 1000sq ft deck and a meandering path leading from the house to the shop. Not to mention now we are a couple degrees further north and have gone from 1/2 inch of snow all last year, to probably 36 inches so far, the last big one was 18 inches in 1 day. I know there are Eskimos that deal with more but that's their problem. We've been lucky with great neighbours who have helped out a bit until we get some machines. Perhaps I should say I've been lucky, I do 99% of the snow work and would have keeled over in a  snowbank left until spring thaw came.  It's about 36 days until spring and no one is looking forward to it more than this guy right here...

Sentinel Cooper

Cooper is still alive... for now...

Life Lesson #118: Take a good honest look around you. You are the sum of your 5 closest friends, so if you're not impressed with that you see, make a change... 
   

 

It's never too late to catch up with old friends... unless you owe them money...

When you start doing a blog it's not uncommon to psych yourself up to be a Hemingway of sorts. You anticipate that your poetic ramblings will be quickly adored by thousands and it will be nothing at all to rip off poignant thought rivers daily. The fact of the matter is unless you put tons of time into pumping your blog, very few read it and the daily thing is a pipe dream for anyone over 25 with any kind of life. I will do my best and appreciate your patience. Not sure who that is directed to but if you read it, than it's you...

It's been a few days since the last post, my longest hiatus I think. If you were going through withdrawal I apologize but I'm sure it will be fine, this post may be a long one.

The garlic patch is in and growing. Things didn't really turn out like I had planned but hopefully it all works out. I borrowed my uncles dump truck and he gave me a few cubic yards of quality top soil to drop off at my place. I had wanted this "Max-gro" stuff from a local topsoil provider but ended up with one a step down (in my ignorant opinion). However it was much cheaper and I added a bunch of quality compost etc. so hopefully it works out. We'll know next fall if you can hang in there. Oh, I also planted a couple dozen bulbils but I'm not expecting much. If the whole thing craps out I won't be surprised. It's a first shot and I will be working right next to the garlic plot over the next couple weeks prepping Montego for next spring. 

Good to have great neighbours

Big side note bonus, when I pulled in with the dump truck, my neighbour, the old guy with all the tools, was in my yard mowing down my 5 foot hayfield of weeds in Montego. The whole thing was laid out flat from his industrial mower. It was a such a great lift, even D gasped when she saw it all cleared. In a way it took a mountain and made it a large annoying hill you'd hate to have to climb but can... oh he also had a bucket on the mower and dropped all my soil right into the garlic hole. Saving me about 3 hours of lugging a lame wheelbarrow back n forth. Country neighbours, so far, are great. Another neighbour, a young silver spooned kid a few doors south came over to say hi and offered a barter of some of our trees for some excavation work via his company. We do have too many trees which I will have to get rid of for planting but if we can sell some or at least trade them off for man hours/items than all the better. We still haven't sold our condo yet so money is tighter than (insert hillbilly one liner here)

The puppy, although cute as hell and full of life, has been a handful. In hindsight not sure it was the best idea to get him this quickly but I may say that at anytime. Once he's house trained and a loyal companion I'm sure it will be all great. He already knows how to sit and comes when his name is called. When he can use an abacus I'll call the media. By the way for those of you out there betting, we named the puppy Cooper. 

Future Greenhouse

All in all we love it so far. The property is huge which makes it all the better. We're still finding out new things about the house, hidden passageways and perks here and there. Something not so nice is the cost of everything. Things we need to buy for the farm business, things we need to buy to maintain/fix the house and everything in between. Most importantly D is happy and always has a little pep in her step regardless of what's going on. It's nice that we can be getting into our groove so quickly. I am however getting a little worried about pulling this whole things off. Just the small amount of work involved in getting the garlic patch going was a little tough. What am I going to do with a 60 x 80 plot, or even 4 acres. Hopefully by then aliens will have sold us slave robots that run off carbon monoxide or Twinkies... 
   
Life Lesson #17: To master your 9 X multiplication table hold up both hands palms up, fingers fanned out. Always starting with the number 9 in your head, try 9 x 3. The 3 being the 3rd finger on your left hand, put it down. The number represented by your fingers still up is the answer to 9 x 3  (2 and 7) 27. Try it with 9 x 5, the 5 being your pinkie finger on your left hand. Once you roll that down, the 4 fingers remaining on your left hand and the 5 on your right is the answer. 9 x 5 = (4 and 5) 45   
    

Call it what you wish, it's still home...

Week 1 of the move is now complete and we have started work on the first planting bed for next season. An advantage of the fall move is plenty of prep time for the growing season. On the other hand its a full winter of busy work which may or may not become a Shining situation. We have no red rum in the house at the moment.

We have decided to name our planting locations based on different places we have been to, or would like to visit. So far we only have two,

1. Montego: Name significance: First place we ever met while on vacation. Farm Significance: the initial planting location for next years first crops. It's a 60 ft-ish by 80 ft-ish plot of land right on the front corner of our overall garden lot, closest to the house and the only spot without a forest of trees and stumps.  
2. Eden: Name significance: The place everyone would want to live. Farm Significance: the back 2.5ish or so acres of our property separated from the front section by a creek and some trees. Ultimately it will be where we plant an orchard of various fruit trees. Probably 2+ each of apples, cherries, plums, apricots, peaches etc etc. Anything we can get our hands on will be grown and tested there. Most likely also the beehive hangout...

 Why name them you may be wondering?

• A just for fun 
• B for easy reference when discussing any given location
• C in case one has to look for the other it would be an easy find 

After 1 hr with a shovel? really...?

Anyway, we will have a heck of a struggle trying to get Montego ready for food planting. As mentioned before we were happy that the previous owner ran a landscaping company. Now we're seeing a negative side effect of that, tons of debris and stones mixed into the soil. After an hour of plain shovel digging I found way too much garbage to be optimistic about the whole ordeal. So for the time being we are focusing on the garlic patch. We have about 180+ cloves consisting of 8 different strains and a handful of garlic bulbils as a test. The bulbils won't pay off for about 3 years but economically it much better than plain bulbs.

Semi Interesting Factoid: Bulbils are small garlic seeds that grow in the flower of a mature garlic scape. A scape can have 60 to 400 bulbils, the average garlic bulb has 6-8 cloves.    

 

Garlic slave at work

On to the planting. The old owners still have some items left here he has yet to clean up. We're being patient with them for various reasons. So after my hour long wrestling match with their garbage in Montego, I flagged down one of the workers he has cleaning up the mess. Following a quick chat, I picked a spot at the NW corner of the Montego plot and he drove his bobcat over and cleared me a 6 inch deep plot 5ft wide and about 15 ft long. Just enough space for the garlic patch. It's got full sun and it's enough out of the way I can prep the rest of the plot over the next couple weeks for next year. As you can see from the pic on the right, it's all a nightmare of weeds, but the potential is there. Main priority is getting the garlic in the ground and once I have the 3 yards of special soil dropped tomorrow, Sunday becomes planting day. And not a moment too soon. Good thing D got me the farmer overalls with leather knees...

Life Lesson # 104: Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Oh we get puppy tomorrow too... can't wait. Overheard a helpful clerk at the TSC Store saying for a puppy you need a ticking clock and hot water bottle in their bed to help with mommy separation. Got one for puppy and for myself. I'll let you know how it goes. 

Wish I didn't know now, what I didn't know then...

So it's been a couple full days since we moved in and things have so far been great. D is over the top happy, telling me every 10 mins or so. I don't mind it really, as they say "happy wife, happy life."and the alternative would be a nightmare. We hit the ground running and have basically all the important stuff set up. The kitchen is functional, the office is up and downloading movies, the shower is hot but the garage is still full of boxes and that's ok for now.

In terms of farm work we bought a few key tools, mostly shovels and rakes, I've located the spot for the garlic to go and cleared much of the overgrown vegetation around our deck. Halfway through my battle on the deck jungle I thought for a minute Jane Goodall was studying me, but it was just a shadow.

Weepin' Willow

Our twin 50ft willows are now trimmed and no longer sagging to the ground. Some may think the willows could have waited but the trimming had ulterior motives since we needed some sort of ground cover for the garlic bed once they are planted and after a couple light frosts have it. Covering them with 4-6 inches of straw or leaves helps to regulate the ground temp and stops the bulbs from being dislodged during frost heaving. See there are things to learn here... Once we plant the garlic we are trying different combinations of additives and soil enhancements to see what benefits work. I'll let you know the final choices and ultimately the outcome in a later blog(s).. so stay tuned...

We pick up the puppy in 5 days, he'll be 8 weeks and ready for a new home, the cats will not be thrilled but they'll live. They haven't really adapted to the bigger house yet, both them and D are pretty jittery with the new noises. I sleep through anything, literally. In our old condo, the fire alarm would go off right outside our bedroom and it wouldn't even phase me. Hope that's true when the puppy (and kids) are whining/crying... I may fake it anyway... 
  
Life Lesson #76: What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s...










      

Be careful with your actions, you never know when you're creating a memory...

Tomorrow is the day it all begins. We did our final inspection today to make sure the farm wasn't burned down or rented out to hippies with a grow-op. The place itself was still standing but the homeowner has not lived up to her agreement to get a list of issues taken care of. Let this be a lesson to anyone buying a house from a bitter old curmudgeon. Get the price to where you want it regardless of the issues with the idea you're fixing it. When it comes time to sign and get the keys, if things aren't done, you're pretty much out of luck unless you want to cancel the deal and sue in court for a year or two.

Well, even with a grow-op we'd be taking the farm but the hassles we are now faced with have just added a few more posts in the future blog file. Including but ot restricted to a new AC unit, oil tank replacement and garbage removal from 10 years of bad landscaping jobs. All in all, it's better to have us do it, at least it will be done right. This will be a constant theme in the future. You want something done right, do it yourself or at least watch the person doing it and figure it out for next time, unless of course it's a root canal or colonoscopy.   

We drop off the cats tomorrow and await the pods we filled a few weeks ago. Everything will be on site for Saturday so when the movers show up we can have it done ASAP. At $150/hr we'll do anything we can to speed things up including oil up the driveway with PAM. We ended up finding a good moving company on the website www.homestars.com , it's the same place we found our home inspector and that worked out great for us so I'll let you know how this one goes.

Rules change after 30...

"Don't you have friends to help you move?" you're asking?

Of course we do, however we are trying to live by a new rule of thumb. Once you ask someone to help you move, you're on the hook to help them. So let's say you ask 4 buddies to help you move once. You now have to help 4 people move, and if your friends are like some of mine, they drift around like plastic in the ocean, it could be every year or so. Not to mention, you shouldn't ask people to help you move after you're 30. Add that to the list of things to not do after 30, including using "party" as a verb and men having piercings.



Life Lesson #888: People will forget what you said and what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel, so be kind.

One thing vampire children are taught early on is, don't run with wooden stakes...

In preparation for the coming move and fall planting season we are planning to hit the Toronto Garlic Festival which, turns out, is happening on our moving day next Saturday. In any other circumstance we would skip the garlic fest but because it's literally 2 mins. off the highway on our way up, we are going to make it happen. After we're packed up and loaded, D will head on to the Farm and I will make a slight detour for the cloves.

Better have a mint...

The 2nd annual Toronto Garlic Fest is a mix of food and farm suppliers with anything from oils and dried garlic to roasters and seed for planting. We have no interest in the food aspect at this point of course, but I have been doing some research as to who is going to be selling seed garlic there. Over the past few days I have taken the time to contact them, find out what strains they are bringing and in some cases asked them to set up a package for me to pickup. The reason for this is two fold. First, the obvious time constraint, if I can just pick it up and go all the better. Second, and more importantly, I'm hoping that the direct contact will edge them to perhaps include a better quality of seed vs a person just walking in off the street. I'll let you know how that one goes.

One of the hottest around...

The odd thing is, and this is a trait of mine I'm trying to dissect, I could care less about garlic. Not that I don't like it, but do I like it enough to go through all this hassle and energy? Not really, however it's a popular food, and if we want to have a solid hold on what people are going to eat/order then my own personal feeling don't come into the mix. Another example of this is the peppers we grew up on our balcony as a pre-test for out green thumb abilities. Along with a couple sweet peppers, we grew some habanero and a ghost pepper plant from seeds we bought on Craigslist. Ghost peppers being one of the hottest in the world if you didn't know. Again, I don't like spicy foods at all but many people do and if nothing else it's an added value addition people may appreciate just to try, or at least contemplate. I tend to be more on the side of diaper wearing when it comes to testing my spice resistance. D's brother ate one and said his eyes sweated... wished he got it on video. We've decided we will have a few odd things like this peppered (lame pun intended) throughout our growing stocks.

I guess the point is, we are trying to be prepared regardless of convenience and personal preference. Many books say to grow what you like to eat yourself, but god hasn't invented a cookie tree so... We will be prepared with the garlic for future growing seasons and prepared with a variety of unique items to offer to our customers as a way to stand out. Well that, along with quality organically grown products of course...

Life Lesson # 51: Never wear anything that advertises a company, unless they're paying you...

Just a filler to try and do a blog per day...

It never ceases to amaze me the degree in which most people will go out of there way to help a virtual stranger when you are starting off in farming. It's like a brotherhood I never even knew existed but now that I do we are very appreciative. The value of books as a quick and in most ways substantiated form of information has it's value for sure, but the information super highway definitely lives up to its name. Any subject pertaining to a hobby farm has its own dedicated message board, and most likely one located either within Canada or even better Ontario. Even if it's just a general one it's still priceless in terms of information, its just a little less concrete.

Just within the last few weeks of researching a variety of Hobby Farm topics we have come across some valuable user generated information resources:

• www.backyardchickens.com  user generated information website/message board for raising chickens
• www.canadiangunnutz.com  user generated information website/message board for safe handling of firearms
• www.beesource.com  user generated information website/message board about beekeeping
• www.gardenweb.com user generated information website/message board about everything garden related. 

These are just some examples of useful sites of course. These sites in particular we have joined, tossed out a few questions here and there and the responses were quick, informative and first hand from someone we know was in our position not too long ago. Some have even gone out of there way to contact us outside the message board via email to offer advice for locations for good chicken/bee stocks or anything else we may be looking for. The time and money saved utilizing these type of sites are incalculable. Of course it has to be said to always use common sense before trusting anything anyone says right off the bat. We probably wouldn't meet someone in a dark alley while being lured with a candy or a baby chick, but in general everything has been nothing but positive.

Life Lesson #212: Success nowadays is 10% Inspiration, 50% Perspiration and 40% Nepotism.
  

Families are like fudge, mostly sweet but there's a few nuts...

When I was in grade school, we lived with my grandmother for a few years. She lived down the road from the same school my mom and most of her 11 brothers and sisters went to growing up. My brother was 4 years older so he went to school by himself without his snot-nose little brother tagging along. That was fine by me because I had my own companion to walk me. Our dog Kelly was a Border Collie mix and pretty much the reincarnation of Einstein. Every day he'd walk me to school a couple kms. through traffic lights, over a bridge and passed numerous other dogs, cats and scrambling animals and then, at lunch, he'd come back by himself, get me and walk me home. Twice a day he did this, he was never late, never forgot and never complained.

For whatever reason we moved to an apartment and had to give Kelly away. I had no vote in that decision and was devastated, but I never forgot how great that dog was. I vowed to one day get another Border Collie mix and they'd watch over my kids too. (This was reinforced by an article I read recently about BC mixes being best dogs to own) D and I presently live with 2 cats in our condo, both are rescues. Mojo would be mine and BiBi (aka Scarface) would be hers. Take a guess as to which one is the cuddly genius and which one is basically a rug we feed and clean up after...

Bibi "relaxin"

Mojo "chillaxin"

So when D and I were midway through our courtship I casually let her know that one day we would have a BC mix. The idea was to wait til our kids were 5ish and then find a pup. D has had dogs before but we both knew this condo was no place for a K9 so I shelved the idea but brought it up here and there to ensure it worked it's way in like a bad jingle. Again, D takes the bragging rights when she comes home a couple weeks ago and she found a guy who has BC and Blue Heeler cross puppies 2 hours north of us. This is the kind of thing that makes me love her more. I had no idea she was even scouring the net watching for this. 

Obviously when you're just buying a farm and starting a family, throwing a dog into the mix is just a bad idea. However sometimes if you're going to mix it up in life, you might as well get it all over with at once, especially when it carries with it the trifecta of positive points:

1. This guy up north had a fresh a litter of 11, which is important to me. I like to have a choice of many. I'd do a fancy whistle or kissing sound to see which one responds, runs over and ends up being the lucky winner of our family unit. 
2. His price was reasonable compared to most we've seen around. (see previous post about saving $$) 
3. Because of the puppies birth date, we can't even have the dog til 2 weeks after we move into Keltic Kreek, giving us time to settle in before he/she craps all over the place. 

Short story long, we drove up today and went to find our newest family member. The guy was a nice enough older gentlemen farmer type with ducks running wild and a few cows gnawing the fence line here and there. He had the pups all caged up with the parents watching closely nearby. Overall we were pleased that it didn't seem like a puppy mill but my attempt at an ultra primal link with one specific puppy via whistle or kissing sound went out the door because they were all constantly chewing at my jean pants and growling playfully. We ended up deciding we wanted a male which narrowed our choices from 11 to 3. Next I wanted one that stood out in terms of markings and didn't seem too runty. And if they could look like a pirate or little rascals dog that would be a bonus.

And then there were 5... We are happy to announce, to our 3 readers, the newest member of our family, we pick him up in 4 weeks.
**(Name Withheld for Security/Indecision Reasons)

Future Chicken Wrangler

Life Lesson #112: Children aren't that different from puppies. When it comes to raising good ones, start early, be firm and stay consistent.
 







 

A full wallet is not as good as an empty one is bad...

Part of what will help make us successful is our ability to stretch a dime, and making $10 do the work of $25. Saving money is like losing weight, it's all about priorities. I'm 6 ft tall and never been over 199lbs and it's not about a regimented diet and killing myself at the gym, it's priorities and common sense. Statistically artists and musicians live longer than marathon runners and triathletes. You'd expect that to be reversed but the numbers don't lie. Money can do the same thing, if you're creative, do your research and shop right, you can make it seem like you spent a ton but you'll have more in the reserves for the long haul. All of this will not be easy to do this first year because we will be hemorrhaging money trying to get the ball rolling the right way. If I make a big score I let you know... 

We try to buy Canadian

One of the websites I like to visit daily is www.redflagdeals.com. Completely Canadian based and monitored by a group of rabid fans, we can pretty much trust what we read here as being the gospel in terms of best deals on an item/service. There is a rolling, up to the minute 'deal banner' and the usual forum sections for discussions. If you haven't already, bookmark it. We also watch www.dell.ca for their periodic deals, great for computers and electronics. Of course Google is our friend when looking for a coupon code. Anytime we're buying something online we do a quick check for any coupons hiding around the net. Usually www.retailmenot.com comes up with a few choices. Point is don't be afraid to poke around before buying anything. Amazon is great for reviews of almost any items.
Edit: New addition which is right down our alley is www.tscstores.com their flyer comes out online every Thursday at midnight, so we'll be there early Friday mornings to ensure good stock. 

Sometimes, the best way to save a dollar is to be patient young grasshopper. Know what it is we want, find the one that is the best combo of quality, warranty, usefulness and of course final sale price. No point in paying 10$ for a rake that'll be rusty toothpicks in a season or two. Watch the local places that sell both the quality ones and the lame ones, like Canadian Tire. When they good ones go on sale for 25$ we strike. Buying 3 crappy rakes over 5 years or 1 really good one only makes positive treehugger sense. Of course auctions, craigslist and kijiji are always an option but as always, buyer beware. As a general rule, we rarely buy tools or electronics used, we prefer to know what they've been through.

Life Lesson #811: Never buy a tool, product or services of a company that has a notation of quality in their name.


   




 

Feel free to be yourself, everyone else is already taken...

It's interesting when I think about people's initial reactions to news about making a move like we are. The older people all moan about the workload, wondering why you'd do such a thing. The people our age all moan about the commute or distance to the 'action' and younger people (pre 25) could care less, just shrugging with a light moan of indifference. What makes it interesting is as the time approaches, every one of them seems almost as excited as we are. No one we know lives in a situation like we're moving into, and yet I can almost tell that in some way, many of them seem to wish they were. Everyone is welcome to come by and hang out/help on the farm, but I'll assume the draw of that will wear off within a few weeks. 

When we first started dating, D and I had zero intentions on moving to farm country or starting a business based on anything to do with Mother Nature. As time passed, our discussions about food quality, EotW scenarios, the zompocalypse and other interesting pillow chat started to make us think differently. The push to move into the country and be self sufficient happened organically. Just through osmosis we one day looked at each other and agreed which direction was best for us as a family. Once we started down that path, we've never looked back. Life Lesson #343 - When it comes to your better half, always be yourself and speak your mind honestly.

So the initial plan, as it stands, is to build the farm to a stage of feeding our family, our extended families and any local neighbours who are interested in quality and sometimes unique foods. We'll do this without pesticides, hybrids or damage to our ecosystem. In the end, we don't care about what other people think or moan about. It's not just about the money obviously, it's not about the in-laws all accepting it. It's about a unified dream and as D says 'Team Us' (usually followed by a Wonder Twins fist pump)

Everyone can have their own dream but this one is taken. We have plans to start a festival for a certain veggie we feel is being neglected and perhaps a cook-off contest of some kind. But none of this can happen without us building various projects.  These are including but not restricted to the following. This blog will share them all in some capacity and if you have any questions feel free to ask, I assume no one will read this but D and I.

8 ft Patio Sunflower

• Massive Greenhouse
• Chicken Coop  (aka Cooptopia)
• Beehive(s)  (aka Buzztropolis)
• Worm Farm
• Root Cellar  (aka Root Cellar)
• Carpentry Shop
• Solar Heater
• Solar Power Unit
• Solar Dehydrator   
• Canning Station
• Composting Station
• Fruit Orchard
• Vegetable Garden
• Mushroom Farm 
• Gunsmith Station
• Herb Garden
• Water Collection Unit (grey?)

 





  

Our very own Shangri-La, but with kids.. and chickens...

So the night we get back from our weekend away, we both hopped on our respective computers and starting searching to see if any new houses came online. Somehow even tho I'm sure we search the same sites and criteria, D always seems to find things I can't. We always have a little rivalry over who found the best restaurant for butter chicken or the best deal at a garage sale so finding our family homestead would hold tons of bragging rights.

D bounces upstairs and tells me to look up a realty listing number online. At first the house didn't seem like anything we'd be over the top about. And after searching some Google maps, the listing didn't really fit what we were looking at via online satellite images. It save tons of time to be able to check an overhead view for a real perspective on neighbours, distance to major towns, even just the basics of the property.

We booked a viewing immediately with our agent, The Dragon Lady, as my friend who suggested her calls her. He's kind of old school so the fact she is Asian and it could be a little insensitive, is lost on him. Regardless, we went for a viewing, and fell in love. As it turns out the place had been on sale for over 6 months, and the sale was a result of a bad divorce. Not sure how we didn't see it before but we didn't want to lose another place like last time. So with the the Dragon Lady unleashed, we battled it out and happily ended up getting the property for 40% under original asking.
As a side note, Life Lesson #621: Make sure you get a pro inspection when purchasing a home. The bitter homeowner was less than truthful about almost everything but we found out and were compensated nicely in terms of a price drop.

You have to understand tho, this place had basically been untouched for years. To say the vegetation is  overgrown, is an understatement. I'm positive an Ewok swung by during our first visit. The interior is a cheesy Cali Santa Fe motif and needs to be updated top to bottom including replacing anything that runs off power. The important thing is, the place has very solid bones and even better, we have the skills to make this place an incredible home(stead) and hobby farm.

Inspection Day

Our family farm, tentatively coined Keltic Kreek Farm, is located on 10 acres, with 2 ponds, a creek cutting through it, a detached workshop, and less than 45 mins. from the city. I will keep you up on all the projects and various milestones once we move in, 2 weeks from now. The excitement level is like 10 Christmas' mixed with a dozen first kisses and topped with a few last days of school before summer vacation. Ya, we're pumped and the wait is torturous...





     

Life's a journey, not a destination...

I would like to start off by giving credit to a person who inspired this blog. His name is Jason and he has a blog Modern Pioneer based in the USA. We've never met, never spoken and never emailed, but his story isn't that different from my own and I liked how he went about sharing it. He is more of a 'pioneer' tho, hunting animals, tanning hides, canning beef and veggies alike. For the time being, we are not killing anything except in self-defense. I'm not a hunter of anything but cookies, and more of a soft heart ultimately, so when it comes time to cull a chicken, I'll hire a local guy probably. We are trying to be self sufficient while still keeping a toe in society. Oh and as far as canning goes, it's fruit and veggies only. There's something unnaturally odd about bacon in a jar. If for nothing else this blog may inspire/entertain others but its also to share with our children the chronicle of our journey. So, Jason... thanks...
Modern Pioneer Blog

Pic Off Condo Balcony

At present, my wife Danielle (D) and I live in a small condo within the downtown core of Canada's largest city. The area offers everything a young couple could ask for in terms of distractions. Walking distance to everything that happens in the big city and to some degree we took advantage of it. I spent too much of my youth 'partying' so I was more of a worker bee while living here, D however rode the wave and enjoyed the city life to its fullest. By the way, party should not be used as a verb after 30.                           
                                                    

Luckiest man alive...

Anyways, I have always lived near the city, D on the other hand was born and raised in small town Ontario. We met in Jamaica 5 years ago and were married there last year as well. She is a great woman who understands the meaning of team. I love her with all my heart and truly am lucky to have met her. Coming up to our 1st anniversary we have decided not only do we want to be responsible for our own food, but in our opinion, the city is no place to raise a family. Some may call it homesteading, others hobby farming, I'm not really sure what we're calling it. Ultimately, we want to depend on others as little as possible in as many aspects as possible. It was also some point between the 10th disease awareness marathon and the 5th religion based protest march that closed our area that year which told us we've had enough. Deep down we aren't city people anymore.


We started looking for a new home 6 months ago, criteria in mind and budget firm, we began the hunt. This new place is going to be our family home, something where roots will run deep and a true heritage can be established for our children and hopefully grandchildren. I will dig into my Irish genetics, channel my forefathers who came to Canada after the potato famine and farmed the land for family and neighbour. D is French Canadian and Eastern European, she can't choose if it's Ukrainian or Polish but I'll let you know when she decides. Either way she makes a mean perogie.

Family Roots

Family heritage was never a big thing in my house. Being raised by a single mother of 2, it left little room for anything but the basics. That being said, we never went without, and it wasn't until I got older than I appreciate what she gave up for us. My mother tells of her childhood on a farm in eastern Ontario but they had moved to the city long before I came along. Throughout my childhood I spent many a summer day working on a friend's grandparent's farm, I have an incredible memory and learned as much as I could. But honestly, if I learned anything at that time, it was a love of fresh food and a respect for nature. As is true with most parents, I want to make sure my children have what I didn't, but for us, that also means understanding who you are and how we fit into the world as a whole, with an emphasis on self sufficiency.  

After a short home search, D and I found a great place just north of the city. Sometimes when you have a dream, you can get blinded but what you don't want to see. Long story short we didn't get that house. We were crushed to lose that first house by $1000, but in hind sight I'm glad we did. I'll tell that educational story another time.

We kept looking but hope was low because what we needed was pretty specific. 5+ acre utopian dream home close enough to the city to commute and flexible enough to have freedom to do what we want to. D will keep working at her job while I get Keltic Kreek Farm up and running. Did I mention I have little experience homesteading? So what, I have read countless books and websites already on various subjects from beekeeping, chicken raising, alternate views on food cultivation, solar energy and grey water usage. Perhaps my memory will come in handy for once. Either way, we'll take the journey together and one day you'll come to our farm for great food or to learn how to be more self sufficient. Well that's the general plan anyway.

Months of disappointed searching past and we went away for a weekend to relax. One night we finished dinner and were having a discussion with an older couple next door about our future plans. Older couples love talking with newlyweds and dispensing words of wisdom, and this was no exception. The man in the equation turned to us after hearing our obvious dismay about losing that first house, and said "No matter how great a deal is, there's always a better one around the corner, you just gotta be ready..." I know it seems very simplistic, everyone else was moaning about 'fate' and 'meant to be', which always seems like the cry of the loser to me, but this, for whatever reason hung with us in terms of making us feel optimistic. The next day we went home to real life and everything changed...