Frosty Morning Fun

Wow!!  Yesterday sure was a frosty morning!!!  It is one of the things that gets me excited about winter.  While heading out to put the kids on the bus, I snapped a couple of pictures around the farm.  It sure was a cold nippy morning too!!  Sometimes it's what keeps you in the fight to make living on the farm all worth it.  As my husband has to work in the city, he doesn't always get to see the beauty that I get to see at those special parts of the day.  In other news, we had a good dumping of snow last week and we tried something new.  My husband took the tractor and snow blowed a path so the kids could get their x-country skis out and not have to wade through the snow.  I think it was the first time too that the little one in the sled wasn't carrying a load of snow :)  It sure adds a lot of weight and you know who is pulling the sled....mom sure gets tired after that!!  Well I am sure it won't be here too much longer so we will enjoy it while it last as we start heading into March in a couple of weeks and the sap starts to run!!

The Newest Addition!!

Happy Belated New Year Everyone!  It has been a while but we have been busy getting everything else done.  The picture to my right is of our new charolais heifer.  We don't have a name for her yet but Ethan seems to like to call her Olivia??? She is suppose to have a name beginning with 'X' but Ethan doesn't know any 'X' names and to be truthful, neither do I.  The baby book that my husband wishes that I throw out doesn't have much either.  I wish it was a lot warmer out as you can see she is quite dirty and I would like to hose her off but that will have to wait till it warms up.  In the meantime, we are still getting to know her and she us.  She has a fairly quite temperment but will let you know right away if you are doing something she doesn't like.  Unlike my Dexters, she eats and drinks twice as much but she is also a larger breed and has a whole other purpose than the Dexters.  Willow and Whisper are still letting her know that she is last in line for everything, especially when it comes to grain time!!

Chickens Ready To Go!!

I have some really nice and fresh free ranged grown chicken....no hormones, no antibiotics, feed locally grown grains. They are $3.50/lb and roughly 3-4 lbs.  Call 613-570-8083!!!

Chickens!! Batch #2

We are now taking orders for our next batch of chickens - Sept. 30th.  They will be $3.50/lb and should be around the 6 - 8 lb mark.  Please let us know if you would like some fresh as we will have to make arrangements to get them to you. 

Crazy Weekend

Well we have recovered from our crazy weekend!!  On Friday evening we went to check on our little piggies (who have hence been named Hammy and Bacon) and discovered they had escaped.  We asked the kids when the last time they saw them and my oldest said right after school.  Well, we figured, they didn't get far as it had only been about 45 min.  We searched high and low but came up with nothing!  Figured they bedded down for the night.  It was getting dark and I still had veggies to wash!  I definitely was an ice cube by the end of that.  I went to market in the morning and my husband continued the search till the kids got up. No luck.  Well later that morning, they showed up alright, decided to play "This little piggy has a death wish" on the road.  So glad that no accidents happened!!!  By the time I got home from Market they had disappeared again as it was a warm afternoon and we figured they were in a shady bush somewhere.  Later we got a call from our neighbour saying there is a little pig walking through the alfalfa field!  So here starts the chase!  Did I ever get a lesson on how fast pigs can be.  After about 3 hours we got him cornered and caught!  That just left one out and about!  It was getting dark and we just decided to head to the local fair!  The next morning we were out getting the chores done, as we had to go look for piggy #2, when he came trotting home!!  We got the grain and baited him (as he was hungry) and we were able to catch him too!!  They are both nicely penned up now with no chance of getting out of the barn!! Till we get them more use to us and better fencing!  Well we headed to the local apple orchard and back to the fair!  What a weekend!  Lesson learned- Don't put pigs into pen when they even have a crack to escape from!! Later all!!

Finally a Tractor Picture :)

I have inserted this picture as there was a complaint from the household tractor committee that there was yet to be a picture of any tractor.  Well I have one up it and it is our Massey Ferguson with the old cultivators on the back.  In the corner is the 9n's back wheel with the finish mower on back!

Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy :)

Well we have been busy this last little while with the gardens and the chickens, getting the kids ready for school and our new recent addition...2 little pigs! It is a totally new adventure for us as we have never had pigs before.  I grew up with cattle and chickens and rode horses but never pigs.  My grandfather had them and I have a vague recollection of them but I was really young then.  In the picture above are of the 2 pigs bedding down in the fresh hay bed and hopefully they start rooting through the cows old bedding to make it easier on me to clean it out!  Silly me in the winter I couldn't wait for Carl to get home to chop some fresh straw and I just threw the bedding in unchopped!  As we cannot get our tractor in this part of the barn to clean it, I have to do it by hand!!  Ouchy on the back!  In the second picture is of the carrier we brought them home in, which fit into the middle of the Farm King (Dodge minivan).  I had trouble posting this pic but you get the idea!  We got the pigs from a nice couple Tom and Helen White out of Tickle Island Farm in Eganville!  They free range everything which is really cool!!  We got to see what pigs can do to the ground and are natural composters  so I have some plans for them in the next month or so for when I pack up the gardens!!  :) Renfrew is having a Rural Ramble and if you are interested in seeing lots of animals in their natural environment you should check Tom and Helen out!! You can always come out and see us but we are just starting and they have been doing this for 7 years!  Our next batch of chickens are soon approaching and I will post in the next couple days about them!! You can see them in picture 3 naturally grazing in the grass.  This is what will give them that different taste from store bought chicken.  Think of all that natural food and how good it will be for you!!  Ta Ta For Now !!