Coming back with a cheep!

Inadvertently, this blog has been napping. Uff da. A lot has been going on since my last post. Harvest 2018 did finish, we survived the craziness of life during the holidays and have finally seen spring. At least the grass is green if the weather isn’t exactly sunny and balmy yet.

There’s something about being exhausted tired from harvest in between rain and then stressed from the holidays that saps my creative spark down to an ember. And we dealt with a few losses in the family, grieving takes its own time.

Now I find with the warmer weather (aka lack of snow and ice-kissed wind) life is perking up with a CHEEP! Just a disclaimer, this was originally all hubs’ idea a couple of years ago and he’s not here to defend himself. 😊 Originally his shock and awe plan was for a couple hundred of chickens. Yes, hundred plus.

Then I said we weren’t doing free range as his last attempt of chicken herding sadly failed and he concluded he didn’t want to build a barn ‘just for chickens’. And I wasn’t thrilled to do an ‘Easter egg hunt’ style of collecting eggs every day. No thank you.

So we talked, okay I did most of the talking and research. Somehow he decided he was too busy to build a coop so while he was online shopping (what I facetiously call his online auction sales and bargain hunting) he came across a guy who built large garden sheds.

A hop and a skip some time later, we were proud owners of two large garden sheds.

‘Do you want to paint them?’ he’d asked.

‘Nope,’ I replied, “red tin with white trim.’

You should have seen his eye roll, I was impressed. But if we do it right, we’re investing for down the road because I really despise painting buildings. Logic for the win. And no paint brushes to clean in my future!

The coop turned out really cute, almost like a mini barn. In between seeding/planting we’ll be working on getting the outdoor run put in and enclosed to keep unwanted critters out. And there’s plans for a little cupola to be put on top for air ventilation.

We’ve had these chicks for almost a month and they’re growing like crazy! Right now, they look like they’re in the awkward chicken teenage stage with baby down molting and real feathers coming in.

Hubs came in one day after working in the shop all disgruntled. To my surprise he was irritated about how the chicks were making the shop office so terribly dirty. We kept the chicks in a DIY brooder – Scooter’s old dog kennel – lined with cardboard borders and wood shavings. I changed the bedding weekly, kept the food and water fresh and a heat lamp kept them toasty warm.

I about fell off my chair laughing over that. It’s an office, in the shop. Hardly used because men tend to congregate around coffee and food or around equipment. To say it was ‘clean’ before the chicks moved in would be untrue. The office holds more of the grain samples, dust, some office supplies and a few small parts.

Like my dad said last fall, ‘it’s just surface mud.’ I told hubs that it was ‘just surface dust’ and easily cleaned. It’s not like there was a cat in there shredding the office chairs or window sills. Oh the disgruntled look I got for my light-hearted mockery.

But now they’re happily living in the coop and they seem to have grown the moment we moved them there. In the mix, we have four Amercaunas, about ten barred rocks and the rest are mixed mutts but they sure are good lookin’ birds.

And hopefully by late fall, middle of harvest, we’ll be swimming in eggs.

But what is the other shed for? 

When you just can't keep your head tucked for a nice long nap...

Fall arrival… and its ‘just surface mud’

Unloading at sunset

Wow. It appears in this crazy, busy season of harvest I dropped the ball on this blog. As they say, something’s got to give. I do apologize for my unintended absence and the shortage of farm tales.

In Canuckland fall arrived quickly. Shortly after my last post in August I scented fall in the air; that special blend of crisp, cold, hint of fall leaf and chilled earth. Then the first days of October it snowed! Heavy, wet snow with quarter-sized snow flakes that merrily tumbled and rolled down from the heavens. (See photo on Facebook or Instagram)

Finally! A photo of myself, proof I was there, ha. Thanks Mom

Meanwhile, back home in SD, it wouldn’t stop raining. A little rain here and a couple of inches there. Enough rain that I didn’t head south (snowbird style and it really was warmer in SD) until the middle of October. Insert shock and awe. A killing frost (early) knocked out my tomatoes in mid-September; there went the salsa, bummer. I even got my garden cleared of all the remnants of plant life before I left. Hubs lucked out, he wasn’t stuck doing it. Although he did help. Scooter ‘helped’ by dragging the sweet corn stalks out in the far reaches of the lawn; at least he was helping me get steps in.

Friendly visitor for the day

 And the combining! I got my fill of combining and then some. However, a dry season in Canuckland does not prepare you for a wet season in SD. Or wolves, okay wolf, that pop out of the corn field adjacent like a jack in the box. I had been thinking of stopping for a wee minute to walk around the combine for quick look over and stretch my legs. And then again, I think I’ll stay in the cab. I was stalked until I finished the field as the wolf popped out every couple of rounds to check the cutting job, supervise, that kind of thing you know and maybe snag a spare ground squirrel for snack. (See Facebook or Instagram for a video as well.)

Keeping pace

 We’ve gotten a great jag of acres done in the week and a half we’ve had of good weather. Although I’ll admit I am tired of the mud or as Dad likes to say ‘it’s just surface mud, you’ll be fine.’ Meanwhile I can feel the heavy weight of the combine as it slowly sinks or how the back wheels get that weird, uncontrolled feeling of sliding around as I slide sideways down a tiny hill. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo as I floated my way across ‘surface mud’ and water. We’re good though, no worries. I haven’t buried it yet and my chances of low ground to do so are rapidly decreasing as we move into high ground. My tires may be completely covered in mud and leave a trail telling of my whereabouts (or where I had been), very Hansel and Gretel style, if you ignore that I don’t need to go back. 

Evening office view

If you find me in the field a la where’s waldo give me a wave, I usually feel the force shift and look up and wave back. 😊 Perhaps this week, you’ll see a buddy riding with. Farm dog Scooter has filled out his application for a ride-along and is ready to go to work!

May your harvest be going well, no rain in sight and have coffee in hand (I’ll be indulging in a pumpkin latte when/if I get to town).

60-80lb pumpkins. What to do with them?

Busy harvest days of summer

Scooter testing for harvest readiness with the 'crunch test'

The week has flown by! Like a kite on a string that’s taking you for the ride. Zooming along at a speedy 3.5 miles per hour but still. Or maybe it was the tune of crackling POP’s that filled with the air on Tuesday as canned beets and pickles sealed.

Harvesting canola

The canola swaths steadily feed into the hungry combine and the rich, black grain fills the tank. Hubs stays out of trouble trucking the grain from field to bin. I was only on the combine for a hot minute this week. Sad.

Hazy, dusty days at work

The ‘normal’ duties called to me. Not like a siren, more like ‘drag yourself to the gym because you ‘have’ to but really you’d rather be on the couch and watch tv while eating junk food.’ It’s beautiful weather outside, the sun is shining (or trying to through the thick smoky haze lately) and there’s a nice breeze. All that makes me feel like the first days of school again where I’d rather be outside than inside.

This dog is always ready to ride

Someone has to do the bookwork, perhaps file a few papers to make it look like something got done, rifle through the mail and buy the groceries. Food is good and eating that food is even better. Evens out the hangry side effects of long days in the field. Uff da.

Hubs sprayed a desiccation blend on the edible beans to even out the drying and prepare them for undercutting. This week he’ll begin the undercutting of the beans (and swathed) and hopefully close to the week’s end I’ll be back in the combine harvesting edibles. Wahoo!

Adjusting the spacing

He and his dad are finishing the canola today as I write this (again, I’m stuck with the normal duties of life and I should probably meal prep for the week if I’m going to be on the combine); with maybe a bit left for tomorrow.

Final adjustments on row spacing

Everyone is happy with the yields with the caveat of better than expected, considering the drought and the inconsistent, spotty rain showers.

With this crazy drought we’re on the fast track for harvest to be done here before I go south snow bird-style for harvest in SD. It just boggles my mind. We’re very thankful to have average to good yields and we know that our heavenly Father has been watching over us.

With the lack of rain, the lawn grass has died but I still have to mow because of the weeds that are somehow cropping up. Sigh. However, the garden is the only green spot on the yard (thanks to daily evening watering) as the trees think its fall and are turning the brilliant hues of autumn. And it’s way too early to begin raking leaves… so I think I’ll use the lawn mower to shred them to bits.

May your week be full of happy days of harvest, summer festivals and iced coffee.

Ready to undercut the edibles