After a bad scare a month or so ago with the little border collie, Sofi, I am most pleased to report that she is doing remarkably well given her state of affairs. Sofi has cancer. It started with a cancerous lump in her throat, which has now grown to the size of a baseball and is pushing her esophagus to the side causing her to vomit frequently. Because she can only eat small amounts of soft food at best, and even then it has trouble going down, I have resorted to feeding her canned food to supplement her diet. She likes that, but still likes to chew on bones and scarf down some raw meat when she can, only it mostly comes back up. Fortunately for Sofi, she did gain some weight after that last scare when she went down down down to skin and bones. I thought she might be done then and was watching her very closely, but she was still playing with the stick and the ball and doing her crazy things she does, like bopping. 

Bopping started when the tag she wears reflected the sunlight onto a corner of the wall and she tried to catch it. She would go down and "bite" the shadow and whatever was there that was soft. This is a good activity for her and keeps her busy but not overly active so it does not use her reserves of energy, which she needs to fight the slow growing cancer. The x rays showed that the cancer has spread and is in most of her major organs. She has had it for several years and it is not advancing at a rapid rate, so she may have a few years left still. As long as her quality of life remains  good and she has both the desire and the energy to play, she will be fine to continue. 

Sofi actually belongs to my daughter, who is studying midwifery in Australia. Sofi has been on the farm before when I first came out here almost 5 years ago. She loves the farm, but I am sure she misses my daughter, who spoils her rotten and loves her to bits. I do not spoil her other than ensure she is under good care and is happy. She is one of the dogs on the Fat Ewe Farm and is expected to be good. 

Sofi could not find a small stick to play with today so she got what she could and carried it around until she got cold and went to her doghouse while I finished the chores. Silly pup. I am rooting for her to make it until my daughter returns and then some, 2 years longer. Send her some love now and again if you think of it to help her along. Thank ewe so much. 

The white wool with the dirty ends was my Karakul Fleece sent to Quebec to be shared for a learning experience last year. Karakul wool in Canada is hard to come by. I did not skirt the fleece, which is remove the manure tags and hay infested neck areas, but sent the entire thing. The receiver could have skirted and discarded the more difficult parts, but she offered it to those who wanted to try it just as is. 

I am not sure what the others did with the wool, but Woolaine Mohair from Quebec, made a lovely bag. She cleaned the Karakul fleece, carded it, combed it and removed the hay from it after it was thoroughly washed. Then she spun it with Merino wool and knit a huge bag, which was then felted down to a manageable size. The bag, being knit and felted, would be extremely durable and strong, and Karakul wool would add to the strength of it because of its coarseness. The wool of the Karakul sheep is actually fairly coarse and almost more goat like, but it is wool. It is used extensively for carpet and rug making in the middle east because of its strength. I am not sure if Woolaine Mohair dyed the wool, but I am thinking so. Merino wool is primarily white and the Karakul she used was also white, but the bag is a beautiful dark chocolate colour. 

It will be another washout year for fleece for the Fat Ewe Farm. The hay nets were supposed to keep the vegetative matter from the wool, but they do not. The sheep eat through the net and pull the hay out dropping it on the sheep beside them and they still get quite covered in bits of hay. I feel the only way to keep the sheep wool clean will be to coat the sheep. I have a freind who is coating her wool sheep this year and she had coats made locally. I would be interested in knowing the cost of them and whether or not the person would be willing to make some for my wool sheep too. I want to design a coat that is different than some coats and does not need constant changing as the wool grows due to some cords that can be lengthened to release the coat somewhat. I will work on that. 

Thank you Lucy from Woolaine Mohair for sharing your photo of the bag made with wool from the Fat Ewe Farm! I hope I can provide some better quality wool in the future. Here is wishing!

The first genetically modified food was approved in 1980, two years before my first child was born. I was aware of the research going on and was skeptical at best and decided more studies needed to be done to show that it had no adverse effects on humans. But, when Monsanto brought out Roundup and Roundup ready seeds that were patented, I knew there was something drastically wrong. When farmers could no longer save their seeds to replant, and became dependent on a corporation for the continuity of crops, then some one other than farmers and the general public was in control of the food chain. Control food, control people. Hunger games, here we come. 

I see firsthand now the results of this domination by corporations feeding our people. As a teacher of foods, I am hoping to have a small impact on at least a few individual students, hoping to help educate them about choices and why we cannot trust the people we think are protecting us, like the corporations that supply 90% of the food. 

Today I went through the cafeteria at lunch to take a casual observation of the type of food the students I am teaching would eat. I was shocked. Few had real food. Most had packages, plastic wrapped pseudo foods, complete with genetically modified ingredients, plus chemicals that are not helpful to the growth of a child. And to top that all off, the amount of plastic garbage created at lunch is historical! There is no recycling in the far north either, not even for mixed paper. Everything is thrown into the large bins and then transferred to a landfill. 

Then after lunch, one student was drinking a 2 litre bottle of Mountain Dew pop. Mountain Dew has the highest sugar content of all pop sold in Canada. It is also one of the highest caffeine substances legally sold. It is not or should not have been a surprise to find that kids are 'wired', that is cannot sit still and do not stop talking to listen. 

But who then, is truly responsible for the diet of the kids? The parents are unaware of the consequences of feeding their children diets that are unnatural, that is, until it is too late. I spoke to one mom, whose child is not well, and she only feeds him organic food and limits the intake of dairy, flour and sugar to almost nothing. Childhood diabetes is rampant here too and the answer for that is a pill or a needle. How sad! 

I want to be able to help the kids understand what they eat will affect their entire lives, not just that moment, and diets of processed non-foods will and can and do change the way the body works, sometimes without the possibility of reversal. And if the food has anything to do with the reasons why girls enter puberty by age 9 and kids are 6 feet tall when they are 12 and weigh in excess of 200 pounds in elementary school, shouldn't we be concerned? 

And, it is just not here, but North America is in trouble. Big trouble. What would you suggest to make a difference? Can it be stopped? Can change be made in time?

I came to Alberta on a 10 year plan. 5 years have gone by and I have managed to reach several of my goals. Now what?

My original scheme was to build a monolithic dome home and live off grid in the county of Thorhild, where I bought the first farm, but when Waste Management bought the 18 farms around me for a class 1 landfill, I hightailed it out there pronto. Who wants to have an organic permaculture farm next to a dump? 

It was quite by accident and in a hurry that I ended up here in the Elk Point area of St. Paul county. My dreams of building the monolithic dome were gone, since two houses already existed on the property. Now, I am thinking of building something out of the earth. The land on my farm for as deep as we have dug, which is 9 feet, is pure beautiful golden sand. There is always an 'if' to every story. If I had clay, I would build a wapini, or pit green house. The wapini makes use of the warmth of the earth, which is a constant temperature 10 feet down and lower, and of the sun. It has a southern exposure roof of glass sloped to collect the heat and light of the sun. The problem here though, is we are quite far north and there is not the intensity in the sun's rays, even on full sun days, not in the winter. Lots of folks suffer from seasonal affective disorder or lack of sunlight. Taking vitamin D in large quantities helps and spending time outside helps, however; the only part of the person exposed to the sun is the face and if it is really cold, not even that. Still, I would like to build a wapini, 'if' there was clay. 

I put an ad on the local buy and sell site looking for clay if some one was building a house and wanted to dump the clay somewhere. There was no response, but I am not giving up. With clay I could do straw bale construction, or cord wood or build a cob oven. There are so many natural building techniques to do, if only I had clay. The early settlers built their homes of roughly planed logs notched together and then infilled with a mixture of straw, manure, sand and clay. Drat! I need to find some clay. I could even do some raku style pottery. 

So, if I can locate a few gravel truck loads of clay, I would be off engaging on a new and exciting natural earth building project for sure, and the wapini. I need to start thinking about setting some new goals and some of them definitely will depend on the acquisition of clay. But there is also the new garden plot which will be the south slope of the penned area where the cows are this winter and the sheep were last winter. It is close to both houses and can be watered with a hose if necessary. I have some wonderful heritage tomato seeds, sent as thank you for the soap I sent to Mandy, the gardener extraordinaire from Manitoba. And there are many other seeds but no place to plant them, YET!  That new plot will be goal number two, after finding and procuring some clay. 

Then I will work on the next new goals. Learning to felt wool is one, not a very lofty one, but nonetheless, still an aspiration . 
Think good thoughts surrounding clay on my farm, would you please? Thank ewe!

Geese are magical creatures, delightful to watch, comical, friendly and are very excellent parents. They sit and hatch their own eggs, and the whole gaggle, males and females, care for the babies. Unfortunately, with the ravens gone wild population around the farm, I cannot let the geese keep their babies out in the open, and the ravens even lure them to the wire and eat them through the fences. 

This winter, the number of ducks was greatly reduced, only with trios of the breeds being retained. There are Rouens, Anconas, Khaki campbells and Buff ducks. They cohabit with the geese, because the number of geese and ducks actually raises the temperature in their shelter quite a lot and it is warmer for them. They learn very quickly, unlike chickens. I only had to herd the ducks and geese into their winter shelter twice and the next night, they were already in there themselves. Chickens take forever to learn where they need to go and even then, some are too stubborn to go anywhere but where they want to! 

The Fat Ewe Farm geese are beautiful. There are two American Buff geese and a Tufted Toulouse cross gander that are mated. There is a Sebastopol pair and the offspring from the Sebs and the Toulouse and the Buffs. The Sebastopol cross geese are stunning, with their long ruffled coloured feathers and blue eyes. Well, not all of them have blue eyes, but most do. My only problem is that I cannot sex the ganders from the geese of the offspring. Several experts have tried to as well, but without turning the geese upside down and vent sexing, we won't know for sure until mating season. 

There are several people interested in these beautiful birds for their own farms. I love the geese. They seem to float rather than waddle like the ducks and the Sebastopol's feathers, when completely grown in, hang to the ground, some over a foot long. Stunning! 

In winter, they are easy care. They do have a large rubber tub they can bathe in once a day. They will go in the water, no matter what the temperature is. To them, water is the best thing going! They do not have to have bathing water, but they do require enough water to dip their heads in so their eyes are washed. The Muscovy ducks sleep in the chicken coop, though, because they need a warmer house than the goose/duck house. The loose feathered birds, like the Sebs and crosses of them, do not have the same insulation factor as the smooth feathered geese, but they are doing well in their large hoop coop. I sprinkle new hay on the floor once a week. When it is still fresh they eat quite a bit of it, which helps them with fibre and greens, since greens are scarce in Alberta winters. 

I think when I move from here, if I ever do, I will always have Sebastopol geese. The Fat Ewe Farm would not be complete without them!

Nothing says winter like a hearty home made soup!

Coming home from work and cooking for one is not always an exciting thing to do, but thinking about supper tonight, I was excited. I love thick, creamy soups, but am avoiding grains and dairy to some extent too. So, I wanted to make a creamy soup without flour, but full of flavour and hearty enough to be the entire meal. 

I made some new kefir a couple of days ago of 18% fat coffee cream. It is so good! You will simply have to try making some yourself. It is much easier than yogurt, because the milk does not have to be scalded and temperature really does not matter. You just add the kefir grains and let it sit overnight or for a few days, as it creates its magic. The milk or cream thickens and is lush, like Greek yogurt, but with a smooth and mild flavour. I thought it would go well with the soup and yes, it surely did, adding just enough of a unique flavour to make the soup memorable. 

I sprinkled a little grated old cheddar on top, because, well, broccoli and cheddar are made for each other and it does supply a bit of protein to round off the meal. 

Here is the um, recipe. I say recipe, but really I just winged it as usual. 

Broccoli Cream Soup

5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut to similar sizes.  I used the organic Russets from the summer garden. 
1 medium large onion, sliced. 
5 cloves of fresh garlic (garlic powder, not salt, would work if garlic was not available)
3 heads of organic broccoli
salt. I used Himilayan pink salt, about a heaping teaspoon. 
pepper, a heaping teaspoon
and about 3 cups of cold water

Cook the potatoes and onions in the water until tender, then add the broccoli and cook only until a fork goes through easily. Add salt and pepper, remove from heat. Add the garlic, sliced into smaller pieces. Blend with a stick blender, water and all, until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If you have not overcooked the broccoli, the soup will be green. 

Add two big dollops of kefir cream and gently stir in. Heating the kefir too much destroys some of the beneficial bacteria so basically, it is on the top and not mixed right in. Top with a sprinkle of sharp cheddar cheese and voila! Now that is a good soup for an Alberta winter! 

It was with a heavy heart I found this young pullet half eaten and half frozen at noon today. She was fine this morning, but the ravens were around all day. They are hungry when the snow comes and this little girl was only 3 months old. She was the last chick hatched by the Silkie hen, who would not quit sitting all summer. The Silkie is a terrible mother though, so I gave her to a broody Partridge Chantecler and she raised her as her own. I worried about the baby at first because it was already October when she was hatched and it started to get cold, but the mamma hen was excellent in calling her to get warm under her snuggly breast of fluffy feathers and in looking after her. She did not perch, but slept on the ground keeping the little one warm all night long. 

Jade,the livestock guardian dog,  was mighty upset this morning. She had been chasing the ravens for some time. She and Robbie are the only ones who seem to understand that those birds are not welcome, while the other ones who fly around here, are. The chick's breast was pecked open and her innards were barred and bloody. Even if she could have recovered, and chickens are remarkable at recovering from terrible injuries, her left foot was already frozen solid. She was a purebred Ameraucana and I loved her very much. I picked her up frequently and after she squawked in protest, she settled into my arms and was quiet and allowed me to stroke her pretty feathers. I could not let her suffer. There was no one else around and it was up to me to put her out of her misery. I cried as I did and thanked her for her life and told her I was so sorry for not better protecting her. I was. That was the second chick I have ever done away with in my life. It is very hard. 

The ravens need to be reduced in number. There were 3 when I moved here 5 years ago. Now there are at least a dozen if not 18. They are hard to keep track of though. At one time they were protected, but their numbers have rapidly increased and they have become pests in some areas, similar to crows. Only these ravens eat babies at the Fat Ewe Farm. This is the third one they have demolished. No, wait, I do not know how many potbelly piglets there were , but only one was left and the ravens got the rest. They also got one lamb as it was being born. 

I am going to ask some hunters to come and try to shoot a few of the ravens. They are incredibly intelligent birds and if they know there is danger, they will not come around. At least that is the concept. I do not want to lose any more babies either, nor do I want the ravens to die, but what does a farmer do? It is truly up to me to protect my livestock. What would you do?

Long, dark nights, cold dreary days, critters trying to stay warm in hovels and shacks, stars brilliantly glittering, diamond frosting on gossamer trees, crisp air and frozen breath - ah, winter! 

Many dread winter. It was so long ago in days gone by when there was no central heat or a vehicle in which to travel. Nights were cold and a forgotten fire meant frozen toes in the morning, teeth chattering until the fire began to warm the home once again. Now, we have furnaces that provide heat. Even though I have a furnace, I love a toasty warm wood fire in the porcelain stove, radiating that dry heat and warming the old bones. Winter gives time for reflection, for crafting and planning the spring planting, for making garments and sundries or if one is fortunate enough to have a large heated space, to build and create large items. 

Long ago people were fearful of the dark nights and prayed to the gods to bring the fertility of the soil back to the land. The myth of Demeter and Persephone is well known. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the Earth. One day Hades falls in love with her and steals her to rule his kingdom in the underworld, but Demeter is greatly displeased and distraught and causes the Earth to become barren, cold and dark. Hades feels sorry and strikes a bargain with Demeter so the people will have crops and joy once again, and they agree that for half the year Persephone will stay with Hades as his bride and rule the underworld with him and for half of the year she may return to her mother. When Persephone returns, Demeter is overjoyed and brings back the light and the gardens and crops once again flourish, though they die and the days are dark and nights long when Hades has her with him. This was an old way to explain why we have seasons. 

My godmother said she would not like to live somewhere where it is the same all the time and that she loves all four seasons. She lives not far from where I am now and though they traveled to Hawaii in the winter, they still loved the snow and the crisp air when they came back home. I do not mind the winter. It is cold, yes, and the nights are so long and the days not intense enough to provide that dose of vitamin D from the sunlight that humans need to feel spry. But it is a blessing just the same. 

Winter, if nothing else, gives us an appreciation for not winter. And I am so grateful that I have a little home that is warm and a soft bed to lay my head and rest at the end of a busy day. Thank you Creator for the seasons and for all that there is, and for winter and the beauty we miss in it. 

As of Monday, I have started a part time, afternoon job teaching Home Economics, cooking and sewing, to junior high students at a local St. Paul school. I am the 3rd teacher for these kids this semester. Their first teacher was returning after a long term illness and found it was too much for her, so gave up her afternoons, which were fulfilled by the retired home economics teacher, who found it was too much for her. So, the school offered the job for placement, I applied and was not the original choice, but their first choice declined for some reason, so was then offered the job and here I am. The school has  a 6 day rotation schedule, so they do not get the class except once in 6 days. That is not many classes in a semester actually, but enough to teach some basics in cooking and sewing. They are done at the end of January and I will only see them for 3 classes. The classes are 2.5 hours long though, whew. 

It is difficult to interest students in doing something that they did not chose in the first place. Sewing and cooking are mandatory essential classes that all students must take. So, the boys and girls who do not want to learn to sew, simply do not want to learn to sew. It is hard. How does one interest some one in something they have no interest in? I will skim the internet for sewing projects done by grade 7 boys and girls that might seem more applicable than pyjama bottoms. My daughter sewed pyjama bottoms in home ec twenty years ago and hated it then too. I recall one leg of her pjs was at least 2 inches longer than the other. I have no idea, nor did she, how that happened. 

Fitting in the teaching along with the farm is a little tiring. ONce I am better adjusted to the schedule, I am sure my energy level will return. I am used to getting up and going to bed when I feel like it and both of those are late times according to most people. I like to go to sleep around midnight to 1 am and get up around 10 am. I have been setting my alarm for 9, only an hour earlier, and it is already affecting me. But if I can go to bed by 11, then it will get better and eventually, I would like to rise at 8. I am able to get the chores done before work as long as I stick to just watering and feeding. There is no time for any extras, which will have to be done on the weekends and holidays. 

Today, after school, I spent a little time with the vice principal going over some details, then hightailed it to the Hutterite colony in Glendon, another half hour away, to pick up dog meat. The dogs have not had dog meat for 2 weeks because they were closed for the Christmas holiday and they were forced to eat dog food, which they do only if there is absolutely nothing better. It is a good thing too, because they will eat an 8 pound bag of food in 2 days easily and that is very expensive at just over a dollar a pound. The dog meat and bones helps balance the budget and although I pay for the scraps, it is much cheaper than dog food. 

I may have to take Daphne, the Nigerian Dwarf goat, to the veterinarian's if she does not improve. She has been losing weight constantly since coming in off pasture and she is usually robust and plump. I have dewormed her twice and have been giving her a shot of Redcell every few days to boost her blood because she seems to be anemic. I purchased a new wormer today and will administer it tomorrow and hope she improves rapidly because she is too thin and it is very cold. I do not want to lose her. She has been my absolute best goat for the past 5 years, giving me quads every year that are beautiful and healthy. My fingers are crossed. 

So, it is a little challenging so far to make the timing work. The dogs are upset that there is less time to play with me, especially Robbie and Sofi. They like to play with the stick while I am working outside and that is limited to 2 hours in the morning now. I am sure it will work out and hopefully the job will continue until the end of the year somehow. That would really help with the bills. Let's hope for the best. Til then....onward ho!

Winter evenings in the frozen north are long. The sun goes down by 4 pm prior to the winter solstice and the cold prevents any outside activities generally, so one must find things to do that are quiet indoor  hobbies. I crochet, knit a little and this year plan to do some wet felted slippers. I have the wool and just need to practice on a few pairs. If they turn out as beautifully as I see in pictures then they would be gift giving quality. 
I usually knit or crochet a hat or two in the winter. This one is a wool and soy fibre hat in raspberry colour way. The stipes are because of the variegated yarn, which virtually self stripes as it is being constructed. The hat is deep which allows it to be worn two ways, one with a wide turned up brim to keep the cold from blowing through at the ears and the other, a stylish long slouch hat. The pom pom is a little wild, not perfectly round, in keeping with the  slouch hat's casual nature. The hat was crocheted on a 5.5mm  hook and it took two full balls of yarn including the pom pom. There  is only a tiny bit left over which I will keep for repairs should I snag it on something in the future. I enjoyed doing this hat and as usual, it has no pattern, just an idea from my head. I am thinking of doing a similar thing, only a little larger and longer for a baby cocoon for my granddaughter due in April. I would not make it out of wool though because the parents want everything such that it can be thrown in the washer and dryer, and of course, wool can not be. 

The next winter project will be to start a felted pair of slippers. When my parents came to Canada with their parents, they brought the art of making wool felted boots, but it has been lost. My mother recalls her father going to do chores in those big felted wool boots. Slippers are made the same way, only of course they do not have the long shaft of a boot. Russian wool felted boots are now the rage with the in the know crowd, replacing Ugg boots from Australia. 

I think I will wear my hat to school tomorrow. What do you think of it?