Along with changing my internet system to cellular, I switched to my daughter's older iPhone from the Samsung Gallaxy 3 that I had. I have an iMac computer, so I thought the switch would be seamless. I also for some reason thought the phone would be clear, but her pictures and some data and preferences were still on it. Drat! 45 emails in one day! That could not be me. 

There were 576 photos. I was unure whether I could delete them or she wanted them saved . She said delete and reset the phone, but then I could not figure out how to delete. I tried a lot of ways and the phone would not connect to the computer. That is because I was not using iMac software, so I found out later. The connection was simply a matter of using a program called image capture, which goes directly into the phone and scoops the images and allows the user to change or delete them from the computer. Deleting them from the phone is a tedious task where groups have to be ticked and then deleted. 576 ticks did not appeal to me at all. 

After deleting the photos, I realized I had also deleted the photos I took with the phone camera over the last few days. That was not such a problem though, since most are reproduceable in some capacity. There were photos of the newly hatched ducklings, 14 of them, now down to 12, which is excellent given out raven problem. The last two hatches I put in hoop shelters for 2 weeks until the babies were strong, but this bunch I have taken a chance on. There are 5 other ducks on nests and there are already over 100 ducks on the farm. July 21 is the first processing date. It is a good thing I love roast duck and that it is very good for me! 

Tomorrow the lambs we butchered are to be picked up from the butcher shop where we took them just to hang in the cooler for a few days. So the morning will be spent cutting the meat up. Yesterday, it was 32 degrees and very humid all day from the small tunderstorm at night, much too uncomfortable to work outside, so I stayed in and continued going through the cupboards in the big house. All cupboards have been emptied and cleaned now and only what I wish to keep from both houses combined will be in those cupboards. 

Yesterday I sold my beutiful antique 1940's sofa and two chairs. It broke my heart since I nearly had to give it away to get it gone, but at least that is one more large item out of the way, or should I say three more. I have a keyboard to sell, but own two and have not decided which one to keep and which one to sell, One is Korg and one is Yahmaha. I will play one then the other and decide. There is nothing else to sell in my little house after that and only one large sideboard and one long dresser with matching night tables in the other house, so things are finally getting down to manageable states. The massive amounts of bedding from the bed and breakfast, my mother's estate and my own stuff still has to be sold. I have only managed to sell a bit of it. No one came to my sale yesterday, boo hoo. Weekends are not good days for garage type sales here, isn't that strange? People keep their weekends for family and camping and whatever, but the streets are empty. I am keeping the sale going all week and will see what happens. 

Slowly, over this month, July, I plan to move everything from the farm house and then use August to paint and prep. Now that I have the iphone figured out more, I can get back to normal with the farm updates and blog writing. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Love you all!

Oh Boy! The ducks are growing and they are everywhere. I opened another major pen for them to the north with lots of nice green grass, however; the smaller ones still stick in the inner yard where it is quite safe. The ravens seem to have left the babies alone this year. I am not sure whether it was the paint ball gun, which can hurt a lot but not damage a raven, or the fact that Jenna and Jade are starting to keep the birds away from any food they have, ravens included. I also go out and clap my hands very loudly, trying to sound like gun shots and they fly away. I really think they are too smart to think claps are shots though. 

So, the new mother with 14 hatched a couple of days ago still has 14 today! I did not take any away from her or confine her and the babies to quarters for 2 weeks. But she is the second to hatch babies and there are 4 more that I know of sitting on nests. There are also 5 chickens that I am aware of sitting on huge nests. Sometimes when there are too many eggs, none of only one or two will hatch. The duck with 14 babies had over 20 eggs in her nest and they rotted, though she had a very successful hatch. She is highly protective and an excellent mother, a purebred Rouen duck. Some of her babies appear to be other breeds, so most likely, she was not the only duck who laid in that nest. 

The oldest ducklings were hatched on May 4 and will be sent to the butcher on July 21st. They should still be small, but tender and tasty and easy to pluck. The pin feathers of older ducks are hard to remove and the Hutterites who do the job are not very careful about pin feathers. 

In the meantime, there are so many ducklings and ducks and geese. It is almost over running the farm! And they are eating more now than they will at any other time in their lives as they grow the fastest after a few weeks old. Duck city, you bet! I love duckies. Good thing, eh?

I don't belong here. I was just looking on Kijiji, an online classified buy and sell site, at sheep and lambs for sale both in BC and Alberta. In BC there are the sheep I like, smaller farms and farmers deidcated to organic production. Here in Alberta it is all about big meat. Suffolk, Katahdin, Texel and even Dorset are huge meat sheep, some with wool, some that shed. That is what the market is in Alberta. I raise wool sheep for fibre and try to be as organic as possible here. The sheep are raised without antibiotics unless they are sick,but they are not routinely given a course of treatment in case they get sick and that is what the sheep farmers do here. The ewe lamb I recently acquired was given 2 weeks of antibiotics in case she got sick in weaning. She was also given vaccinations, wormers and everythng possible. I don't use any of those routinely, but will do what is necessary for the health of an animal if it is sick. 

Aside from sheep, just procuring organic grains is impossible, or it was last year. Here, people live in the dark ages, promote GMO's and Round up ready canola and put hormone implants in the beef and so on. They are exactly the opposite of me. I did not consider this before I moved, but in the next move, I will either rent a year before settling or ensure that where I am going is a place with like minded people. People who are educated, read, learn, are hungry for new information leading to better quality of lives for themselves and their animals and are stewards of the Earth, that is care about how they treat this world. Not here, they don't. There is no fine for littering and people toss garbage out their windows without a thought. Disgusting. 

Yes, I am a little down. I just spent a day butchering my lambs with a local farmer, who although he is a very nice person, is exactly the opposite of me and is proud of it. One day in the company of a person so contrary to health and health of the world, was enough for me. I want to hibernate today and am, partly because it is 32 degrees outside and too hot to do much at this time of day, and partly because I need to recharge my energy. As an introvert the way I do that is withdraw into myself and become retrospective, to read, study , learn and previously to play music and sing, though I have not done much of that since coming here, not sure why exactly. 

But, location matters. I cannot sell my farm produced organic meat, but even if I could, people here do not want it. They prefer grain fed fat meat to lean organic grass fed animals. Even the guy butchering said the animals were skinny, which they were not, but they were not fat, that is for sure. They had never seen grain and thrived on forage based feed only. They did not need to be wormed because they had a natural resistance to worms, unlike grain fed animals. 

People here do not care about hand made soap, only what is highly scented and from a pyramid marketing scheme, cause that is what they know. They are ignorant, not wanting to learn and grow. 

Now, since I am here for some time yet, I must make the best of my time and make it the best I can. So, I need to find ways to market my organic face and body creams and butters, essential oils and soaps and the things I wish to sell. The farm store has not brought many visitors yet, but maybe a grand opening sale day would help. I need to brainstorm for ideas to make life not only bearable, but wonderful for the next while, despite feeling the a matchstick in a toothpick box. So, it is time to meditate, think, create, dream and grow again. When plans change unexpectedly, then we must change also, without pain or aggrevation, but with joy and with a hope that life will be the best we can make it be. 

So, I dream. Where I go next will be somewhere that like minded people dwell. Then reitrement will be fulfilled, joyous and pleasurable, all that it is meant to be. It should be thus for all of us. You?

We had a thunderstorm and the internet went down again. This is just after I purchased a new router, because they told me that was the problem. Then they sent a repair person who does not climb towers, and I have a 40 foot tower, so the repair was rescheduled again. They installed the tower and had they any business acumen they would have bothered to look at my account and get it right. So, I went in search of any alternative. As it turns out, Bell has cellular internet in this area finally and I purchased the box and now have internet. It is not great, but works off the cell waves and will hardly go out. It is also much more expensive, especially for streaming.  My contract was up on the cell phone too, so I went on a month to month system to see how it works, using my daughter's old iphone. What I would really like is a phone with a superior camera because I take so many pictures of my farm. My son has Koodo which allows a lot of data streaming. It might be a solution to the internet problem, since streaming data is expensive with Bell cellular. I will check it out next month. 

The bull arrived to breed the boarded cows. He was not supposed to come here. The cows were to be bred prior to arriving. The man did not read the ad, but that is typical of people here. I have two heifer calves and a bull calf that do not need to be injured by the 3 ton Charolais bull he brought. Also, when he brought his cows, he did not close the gate and all the cows, his and mine were running together. He did not speak to me before bringing the bull, so I told him to take it home, come back and round the cows up, separate mine from his and close the gate this time and then bring the bull back. My cows are with the rams now and they will be fine, hopefully. I watched that monster of a bull talk to the bull calf, smell the heifers, then walk on. Whew! 

We butchered the ram lambs from last year. They were right around a year old and one was smelling like a ram already. Of course we did not know that until he was butchered. I cried for every single one, all four of them. Each time the life was given up, I cried. I think we are somewhat barbaric raising animals to kill them. In a city we are far removed from the death and cutting the meat part and many do not even think about it. Here, on the farm, it is a different story. I watch the babies being born, I cuddle them and love them and speak to them every day, then I kill them. Well, I did not kill them, but it was the same sort of thing. It is not an easy thing to do, not for me. And then I have to reconsider how this farming is done. 

I am not allowed to sell meat and selling a live sheep does not bring much money. The rams are byproducts of the fibre industry, which has yet to earn me dollars because I cannot keep the hay out of the wool. This year I have hay nets and  that should do the trick, or I give up. This is not the place to have a fibre farm. With the closure of the bed and breakfast, my income was lost too, so the number of animals needs to but cut way back. There is a drought in most of Alberta and hay will be astronimically expensive this year.  I have enough to get through summer and fall, but not winter. The farmers were telling me thy have paid as much as 125 a bale plus transport. Ouch! 

The farm store is open, sort of. The flies get in there and they drive me crazy. I have stickly fly traps and a different  trap and still they get in in huge numbers. Gross. I bought more spray foam to try to ensure the space where the walls meet the roof is sealed. I hope that helps. I need that store to sell the things I own over the next number of years. I said 5, but the wind is out of my sales somewhat and maybe it will be 3 or 4. Selling things here is not in keeping with the timing. Over 4000 people have left the area when the oil crashed and those who were around to buy are gone. 

There are so many ducklings running around, well over 100. I really like them and the ducks keep hatching the little ones. People do not want to buy them, so their fate is food, but wow, I will have to eat duck two or three times a week! There are still more ducks on nests. 

The pen clean up continues too, now that the heat is drying the mess up a lot. In a few days, the skid steer will be able to maneuver without getting stuck. In July, I plan to move 10 boxes over to the other house every day until all  is gone, then in August I will paint and ready the house to rent. I will not have a chance to unpack until winter most likely. When the little farmhouse is rented, I will feel a bit of stress released because of a source of much needed income. 

And that is the farm update. Internet is up and running, new cell phone, same number, store almost underway, moving begun, yard cleanup begun and onward I go!

I live in the country and our internet is poor at best, or was. I just invested in cellular interent at a greater cost, but it should be up and I will be writing a blog again this evening. 

Thanks for sticking with me. 

Fluffy

I am city folk. I didn't grow up on a farm or even live in the country. As a child I lived in a small town, then moved to Vancouver when I was just 11. I embraced the opportunity to live in such an exciting place, thinking of the many new opportunities that would be afforded to me which were not remotely available where I lived before. But, I always loved to visit my Aunty Dora and Uncle Paul, except when the turkeys were out and about. I was afraid of turkeys, well, all birds, due to an unfortunate incident of being spurred by the rooster on that farm when I was the tender age of three. 

My life progressed in an unusual fashion, and I was fortunate enough to create opportunities to do whatever I wished to. I had many careers and enjoyed most of them, yet in the back of my heart, the memory of the farm was sweet. Some of that had to do with my cousin, Joyce, who was 7 years my senior and I looked up to her like a goddess. She lived on the farm. 

I tried briefly to do a little when I was an interior designer living in the district of Chilliwack, but the land was only 7 acres, and in town, so my options were limited. I had 2 sheep and 2 cows and a friend boarded some horses. I did not much like the horses, but the cows were interesting and the sheep were beautiful. We raised some pigs to butcher and I fell in love with them. They were personable and friendly and came when I called them, wagging their tails, just like the dogs. Oh, the dogs! I had 7 border collies. There were the loves of my life then, other than my kids. The mini farm did not last long and I moved to White Rock to care for my elderly parents. 

Still, I thought about racing the dogs in the fields and playing hide and seek in the tall grass, listening to the bellow of the cows and enjoying it so much. I even had some chickens, but was still very afraid of them, so could not go in the coop to collect eggs. The kids had to do that and no one enjoyed the chickens. 

So, I made a plan to have a farm when I retired, and a bed and breakfast. I studied and learned much about farming, organic farming that is, farming the natural way my grandfather might have. I read constantly and became fairly knowledgable on paper, but didn't have any experience. I bought books on organic farming, raising livestock naturally, and found the way I wanted to proceed. Masnubo Fukuoka became my hero. He was a Japanese farmer that used livestock and nature to farm. He didnt believe in weeding. I liked him already. 

I have noticed that other people who have a strong desire to farm, but have come from the city, are better informed than farmers who have grown up on a farm and never left, generally. They are also more open minded, more open to learning new methods, and open to finding solutions to problems that are not used simply because that is the way it was always done and who knew why. Another aspect, is that the city farmers can read and write English with proficiency. Sometimes it is just downright impossible to decipher the writing of a farmer who has grown up on the farm and never left. Most did not even graduate high school, but then maybe they did not need to. 

The city farmers do things differently. They listen to advice but not necessarily heed it. Why would they if it contradicts their instincts and is counterproductive? Some of the experience of an old farmer is invaluable. The assistance provided for a cow who cannot birth her calf on her own, from a farmer who grew up birthing calves, is something that, although you can read it in books, until you participate in it, you just don't know. 

I don't know many city farmers. Most people do not choose to retire to work harder than they did while they were in the paying work force, though the ones who do are dedicated and committed.  I am. I am not going to farm forever. I like the life, but it is lonely at times since I am alone and it is very hard work. Being self sustainable is wonderful though, and part of the reason I came to this northern place. In a few years, I will be done with my farming experience and will move forward to the last part of my life journey, whatever it is. Until then, I farm and am a city farmer and proud of it. 

My friend Allan made and exquisite supper for my son Travis and I tonight as a good bye celebration. Travis is leaving back to Vancouver in a few weeks and Allan helped secure a job for him when he first arrived. They have become freinds and Allan is one of the first people I became friends with when I arrived in Alberta. 

He has a pair of miniature donkeys. They had a baby girl last year, but he forgot that I asked to purchase the baby and sold it to some one else when she was ready to be weaned. So, I said when the donkey has a baby, if it is a little girl, then I would like to buy her. Guess what? Last night, the little jennet was born and she will be mine when she is weaned in about 5 months. Already she has been handled to help with imprinting on humans and making her trusting and friendly. I will visit her and see if I can also imprint her on me so when she comes home, she will know me and fit right in to the menagerie of critters at the Fat Ewe Farm. 

The mother is larger than the father, who is definitely a mini. The mother could almost be a small standard. The baby is all legs and ears right now and so adorable. She is shy, and hides behind her mommy. The llamas and daddy donkey are watching over her and keeping her safe from the coyotes and dogs in the area, plus there are two young livestock guardian dogs in training to assist. 

I have been looking for a baby donkey girl for a long time and here she is! Sweet angel. 

OK, Who changed the forecast? There was not supposed to be rain or a storm today, that is why I chose this day to put out a lot of bedding for sale. All was well, the sky was blue, it was mild out and the wind was gentle. 

I fed the critters this morning early and let the sheep and goats out to the pasture. Then I began the arduous task of porting out the tons of bedding from the bed and breakfast, which is closed as of May 1st, due to the downturn in the oil industry and resultant mass migration of people in this area. Services were second to go, for you can't run and bed and breakfast without the patrons. The bed and breakfast was up and moving for three good years and it was a business I enjoyed immensely, meeting new folks from all walks of life and places in the world. What a better thing to do than to entertain the people in the comfort of a beautiful home. I also had a food service permit, which allowed me to cook and bake and serve all meals and sell the baking too. 

Back the the thunderstorms. The dogs have a keen sense of order for their farm. The one thing that challenges that sense is thunder, loud, riotous frightening thunder. They run for me to protect them. Currently there are two big dogs and one medium one in the porch, the livestock guardians that normally would not back down from a wild animal twice their size, and two border collies in the house, one hiding under the kitchen table and the other hiding in her kennel. The other three livestock guardian dogs are out with the sheep and goats, wherever they are. They are moving further and further into the bush these days as they get bolder and eat up the good treats and long grass on ther fringes. 

This storm came very quickly. From the blue sky, suddenly there was an ominous darkening and the wind escalated in its timbre. I felt the rain coming using my keen sixth sense, or at least that is what I told myself, so I quickly got some big black bags and began stuffing the sheets, comforters, pillows, towels and other bedding into the bags and tossing them into the farm store. I watched the sky and in a mere 17 minutes or so, the sky was grey and the thunder was closer. The dogs already were at my heels, looking to me for their protection from the impending danger they percieved. 

I got the bedding in and thought I had time to run to the end of the driveway to retreive the signs. The driveway is 750 feet one way uphill, though I swear sometimes it is uphill both ways. Jogging and jiggling, I trotted as fast as my fleshy thighs would carry me, dogs at heel, and managed to get the signs off the road, then high tailed it back. The rain started just as I turned for home, of course, but it was light enough that I was not soaked. A huge clap of thunder sent Jenna under the bench and Ofcharka and Harley nearly ran me over trying to get into the porch first. Robbie and Sofi were already inside. 

I just sat down and realized I had not covered the turkeys. They are too dumb to get out of the rain themselves, so I donned a jacket and by this time, the rain was so profuse, I could barely see across the yard. Because we have had so much rain, puddles were already ankle deep and I was wearing Crocs of course. A farmer must do what a farmer must do, soaking feet or not, so I managed to get the turkeys covered, the tarp secured over the grain and snuck in to grab some yogurt as I was down for the count to wait out the storm. I left that house for my little farmhouse and was looking at the rams when a lightning bolt lit up the sky about 25 yards from me in the empty field. The rams had taken shelter, thank goodness. I felt the shock of the impact of the lightning striking the earth and looked for smoke or flames, but saw nothing. I was thanking my lucky stars for rubber shoes, wet feet or not. Pink Crocs, I love you. 

The dogs were hiding, Robbie still under the table and Sofi in her crate, the others in corners of the porch. I have to love these flash storms though, because as I am finishing writing this, the sun has already come out and is shiny through the last rain drops. Now, I can go get the sheep and goats without the deluge, only I will wear rubber boots, this time. The kids and lambs do not much like the rain and they had not made it back home by the time the big storm was upon them. I bet they are happy to see the sun. 

And that, my friends, is what a thunderstorm is like on the Alberta prairie. Want to join me for the next one?

Yes, there are lots more ducklings on the way. This year I have been either stealing the babies or penning the mother and babies to keep them safe from the ravens. That means that all the ducklings hatched are going to be ducks on the farm - way too many! There are 19 eggs in this nest. A beautiful Khaki Campbell is sitting on the eggs. Khaki Campbells are not supposed to be sitters, but I guess I got lucky because I definitely do have some that hatch their young. 

So, If a dozen of these eggs hatch, and I think that because she is a small duck to hatch so many eggs. There is just not enough of her to cover the entire clutch. She is also going through the moult, or losing her old feathers and growing new ones for winter. Still, she is in the sitting pose and is decidedly going to hatch these eggs. I put a piece of a board over the nest and her to shade her from the sun and give her shelter from the rain. She built the nest in the hay feeder for the sheep, but the sheep are not eating this old hay, so she should be safe. 

What will I do with all the ducks? My goodness, there are already about 50 new ones and two more nest that I know of, no wait, three more, are going to hatch more babies. I am not allowed by law to sell the ducks, cleaned and frozen. I can sell them to some one who might want to have roast duck, but they would have to process them themselves and people are not much into that these days. I can only eat so much duck in a week! Birth control for ducks means penning the drakes away from the ducks so the eggs are not fertile and removing the eggs from the ducks as they lay them, if I find them, so they do not go broody. What a dilemma. Who would have thought I would ever be considering birth control for ducks at the Fat Ewe Farm? Hmmm...

Two years ago, I created a berm garden. I dug a trench in the lawn down the hill and then filled the depression with rotted manure. I then put the sod and topsoil on top of that and then layered another layer of straw and manure. The year after I stirred it up with the skid steer bucket. The first year the only thing planted were roses and 5 of them have survived. Last year I planted some wild flowers, elder trees, and potatoes. 

This year I planted potatoes and onions and wild flowers. The roses and elder trees are growing too. It was easy to weed and finally, I found worms, lots of earth worms. The grass had been sprayed with pesticides and herbiscides and there were no worms to be found anywhere. Even last year there were so few, but his year, there were lots of worms, big beautiful worms. 

The idea of the trench is to collect the water from the rains as it runs down hill. The berm is in a depression of the land naturally and does get sun most of the day. So being protected and sunny, it is idea for growing. The potatoes last year did very well there. I also planted 200 onion sets so I will see how they grow. 

I was excited to notice some green leaves coming from the cardboard retainer around the base of the dead plum tree. I didn't know if there were leaves on the tree or shoots or it was another plant entireley different growing. After removing the cardboard, the leaves were easily seen and are from the tree! Yay, the plum tree, the $75 plum tree was alive! The entire trunk had died, but the shoots came from the well protected base. In time, the tree will grow and produce fruit I hope. The apple trees survived and so the the pear. 

After planted the potatoes and onions, I scattered wild flower seeds on the berm and under the plum and apple trees. Tomorrow I will water the planting and then the rest is up to the seeds. I have a small flower bed with the tomatoes in it that needs weeding desperately and I do plan to mow the lawn. Two weeks of growth with lots of rain means it is almost a hay field,even though I have allowed the geese and ducks to be in it. They eat what they can, but cannot keep up. Geese live on grass it seems. 

It feels good to be done with the planting. Now I am at the mercy of the seeds and weather, but I am a happy gardener just the same!