lessons learned?

This past winter (and I use the word 'past' with hesitation) has been very trying for Cindy and I. While there have been many positives with the farm business, there have been just as many setbacks and hardships. I certainly want to avoid complaining. Our children are healthy. We have a warm bed to sleep in and food to eat. Our entire farm has not been washed away in horrifying fashion as so many were in Japan. Those events that we watched in awe from so far away have served to remind me that things could be so much worse. 

Still though the hardships we've faced were stressful enough and have helped to remind me that I need to be more pro-active and work harder still to be prepared. The snow this year was just too much to handle and wrecked equipment and made it difficult if not impossible to perform farming business at certain times. I have not been able to get to the grain bins for most of the winter. The cost to repeatedly bring in the snow removal company would have simply been too great. The strong winds also blew in under the eaves of the steel grain bins and I had to shovel snow off the piles of grain. Of course, a lot of grain got shoveled out along with the snow. Lesson Learned...plant more fast growing trees and stuff the gaps with something that vents but keeps snow out and figure out better snow removal equipment. 

Even feeding the cattle has been hard. For most of the winter I was able to get the tractor out to the bale pile in the middle of the field. We have a rather large chore tractor with dual tires on the back, even so I had to borrow the neighbour's small tractor with attached snowblower to make a path to the bales. Of course, a week later the wind would blow for 4 days and that path would be rendered invisible. I just couldn't bring myself to keep borrowing equipment so I did my best to pack the snow with the tractor to get back and forth to the bales. Finally about a week ago the tractor became stuck and there is no way to get it out until the snow melts. So, that means feeding 9 cattle by hand from stacked round bales twice a day...not fun. Lesson Learned...stack the bales close to the house and keep the cattle close too (or get rid of the cattle).

This has been a tough winter. Our new property is so vulnerable to wind and bad weather. We need to focus on improving our land through the planting of as many trees as we can possibly handle. I am completely embarrassed for the previous generations of landowners in the area who actually went along with plans to eliminate trees from the ditches and fencerows to allow more cultivatable land. Supposedly our area was treed quite nicely prior to the 70's. I was told this by a family we know that have owned their farm for 100 years. Now I will have to try to fix that as best I can on our own property. 

We have so much work ahead of us to build proper out-buildings to shelter bags of grain and equipment. To plant trees and care for them. To gravel the yard and build or purchase proper snow removal equipment. To landscape and beautify our farm. Most of this work I look at as a challenge and I look forward to. But there is just so much to do and that is a little daunting. 

The weather now holds the promise of Spring. The snow is receding and with that comes renewed energy and optimism. We are so encouraged with all the new friends we are meeting with the flour business and that encourages us even more. See you at market tomorrow at Alberta Ave.!

feb 5 blizzard

And yet another blizzard to contend with. Outside the wind is wailing. Through the window I see the snow speeding across the fields. The cows are miserable. The roads are miserable. I am miserable.

Actually, I am not entirely. The house is indeed toasty warm with a gentle fire rolling in the stove. A little glass of rum and ice is a luxury beside me on the desk as I type. Things could be worse.

I did have to experience the wind and blowing snow first hand while watering the cows and repairing fence earlier tonight. That whole process, on a night like tonight, simply reinforces my ideas about the price of food...it isn't high enough!

Thankfully, I receive little opposition to my pricing of our farm products. I try my best to keep things fair and so far my customers are extremely educated on the subject...they get it. They get that it is a tremendous amount of work to do things right, the hard way. The small-scale way, without chemicals and poisons, and unsustainable borrowing practices. I suspect that they appreciate that work and devotion and I appreciate them.

So, with ears and nose stinging with cold, I continue to do what it takes. To haul the grain, water the cows and mill the flour in order to make our little farm work and provide good quality, locally grown, organic food to as many people as I can.

Dreaming of spring.

snow low

In my recent posts I have been purposefully ignoring the problems that we are facing this winter with the sheer enormousness of snow that we have received so far. This winter's snow accumulation is nothing short of frustrating for me. The snow is stacked up so high in the fields that the fence which was once 4 feet high is now simply a step-over for the cows. I have had to raise the fence in spots with bamboo stakes to stop the cows from their regular raiding of the hay stack. Tonight, I think I finally have it figured out. The solar electric fencer is back operating at full power (now that I've dug it out of the snow bank) and I've parked the tractor in front of the favorite escape route. 

Our driveway has become a cow path of its own and I am now no longer able to keep it cleared wide enough with the tractor to allow the water delivery truck access. We had to call the county to come in with the grader so now I am at their mercy and timeliness to get our cistern filled. We are now on water saving mode more than usual. I hope that the grader can come tomorrow early enough to allow us to call the water delivery guy. 

On Sunday the wind was blowing so hard that there was a blizzard with clear sunny skies. The snow had completely enveloped the driveway. My neighbor saw me struggling in a futile effort to get out and he graciously started digging our driveway with his tractor from the road while I started from the house. Two tractors and 3 hours later and we have a driveway path cleared barely big enough to allow our vehicles through. 

A fun day of snow fort building!

On the positive of all this snow the kids are having fun....and we'll have lots of water around next summer to make up for our years of drought. I just wish that things could settle down into more normal patterns. It seems to me lately that there is far more extremes than ever before. More drought. More wind. More snowfall. More thunderstorms. More hail. Enough already!

more snow and flour deliveries

As I type it is snowing yet again. I do not know what the total accumulation has been so far this winter, but it is enough. Walking through the fields is nearly impossible and it is usual to sink up to my hips when I break through a crusted drift. The piles around the farm are over 6 feet tall from where the tractor has been pushing. The old snow blade is taking an absolute beating and has broken and bent several times and in several places. I need to spend an afternoon with the welder to get it back into shape.

The flour sales are going strong and we are getting calls daily...we thank all of you who are ordering flour very much for your support. We are still going through some growing pains for the delivery of the products. We recognize that we want to make it as easy as possible for people to purchase from us, but it is difficult to make special trips for one little bag of flour. We are working on a few solutions including a regular weekly drop-off spot in St. Albert. Of course for those of you who order larger amounts of around 60 pounds or more it is worthwhile for us to deliver in a more timely basis somewhere closer to home. 

Just please bear with us and we will establish a pattern for our customers that everyone can live with. We are in Stony Plain monthly at a minimum and St. Albert 3 times a week at a minimum. We are also in East Edmonton each Tuesday. We are in South Edmonton once a month. Of course, like I said earlier, if you have a larger order we can make special trips and include other farm business in our travels. 

Please make your order as early as possible to allow us the time to mill your flour and package and then have time to deliver it to your most convenient pick up spot.