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.
  

Jack of all trades, master of some... (Pt.II)

The springtime will be 'off the hook' in terms of things going on, as it is for most who own a farm I'm sure. More so for us this year because it will be our first and we're setting up everything ASAP so we can hit the ground running. It may end up being too much and we'll implode buy at least it will be intriguing to watch. 

Another project I worked on in preparation for the Green Acres maneuver was to build a beehive. 

1. If we are growing fruits and veggies it would make sense for optimal pollination to have a few bees scurrying about. 
2. We want to do our part to help the ailing bee population thrive.
3. We love honey.  

After reading a few books on the subject it turns out trying the traditional 'Langstroth' hive may be the way to go when starting out. For those who are not sure, it's the stacked square box hives you usually see in pics and on the side of the road. Research points to them possibly being more susceptible to the C.C.D, Colony Collapse Disease we have been hearing so much about, but I guess for a beginner it's the way to go. 
Despite this information, my first attempt at building a beehive was the 'Top Bar' design, popular in some poorer countries around the world. There are pluses and minuses for both designs according to experts. If nothing else, the top bar designs look a lot better, however when we do start a hive in the spring, it will be in the 'Langstroth' for the first year. If the bees survive we may attempt to split the colony and use my 'Top Bar' as well. (I will post better pics in the future, it's in storage)

What's a farm without Liquid Gold?

2nd project was a Top Bar Beehive

A design made from:

Exterior of the Buzztropolis

•  Select Pine 1" x 10" x 8ft
•  Select Pine 2" x 4" x 8ft
•  Select Pine 1" x 3" x 8ft
•  3/4" good 1 side plywood
•  Metal Roofing
•  Plexiglass for a viewing window
•  Mesh for a open bottom (unseen)
  

We are planning to take a beginners course at a local Apiary (Bee  Place) in the springtime as well. That way we can get a little more hands on and perhaps even purchase some decent local bees. If you're planning to read any books on the subject of Bees, which I have done to more than a half dozen so far, a good starter,

Interior Shot to Show Frames

as cliche as it sounds, is Beekeeping for Dummies. http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/product/9780470430651-item.html?ref=google:sayt 
In fact, I have read a few of these 'Dummies' books pertaining to the Hobby Farm themes and as a solid starting overview, they are handy and easy to understand. In Ontario, you have to register your bees and open yourself up to inspection from Gov't officials. This is fine by us, why not have another person to pick their brain. Plus after a few emails the guy seemed nice enough. I'll let you know if they show up with a SWAT team...

Life Lesson #654: Anything you do in life should only benefit nature. There's another generation who needs to use it...

Now just have to make sure I don't buy any Africanized honey bees.
 

T-Minus 11 days until Shangri-La move in.

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?)

 





  

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...