Well it's late August now and I'm 5 weeks into this 40 hour + (paid) work week gig and I've got to tell you I am tired. Very tired. Although the paycheck is certainly a wondrous thing. I am enjoying that part, a lot.
But I'm missing everything that happens at home and on the farm. The housework isn't getting done (ok so not alot was getting done before but now I'm ready to move into a tent). So what does a person a person do when you get into this situation and I know all of us will at least once in a while.
I'm trying to focus on the little pleasures, the small victories and I'm also developing a new appreciation for when I start to see our family pull together better. No this is not a Hallmark card but 5 weeks away from home (and at least 3 more to go) is forcing us to work together better. It's easier for the kids to see when their help actually makes a noticeable difference because I'm not there to pick up after them or to build on what they've done so it becomes my accomplishment.
For example Hannah has learned how to hang out laundry. As a WWOOF host I am always amazed, at least momentarily, how many people haven't the remotest idea how to do this. Obviously it's a 'learn by doing skill'. Once you've done it several times you don't notice how physically demanding it can be or how you compensate for the rosebush in the middle of your line by hanging your smalls there. You automaticaly hang things up by their seams, with the sleeves hanging freely instead of wadded up and you know your line; where things dry fastest and smoothest and you work it. Hannah is learning that skill this summer. Mind you a few well placed threats like "if you continue to hang it out this way, after I've told you three times to hang things, you can iron it all when it comes off the line" have certainly assisted in this education. She is learning to bake and to tidy (well sort of). Best of all she is learning to use the information she already has to inform some of her decisions. I was so proud of her when she told me she had figured out that if you freeze your palmiers for a few minutes before baking them they turn out better (it was store bought puff pastry; so don'y get too excited). Learning to reason and problem solve is something I see people being able to so less and less so I get really excited whenever I see an example of it. Did I tell you she also likes to clean toilet bowls; I think I scored here.Now if only she would do the dishes.
Eben has been helping his father even more this summer (or I would have nabbed him too in the housework area) and is getting surer of himself all the time.It is a delight to watch him slowly becoming a dependable young man.
He's a help too when you don't want to climb in the high places.
And while he did whippersnip my onions the potatoes that were planted quite late have started to bloom:
My garlic has been harvested and is curing in the attic. I am a total garlic babe! This Fall I want to plant even more! And since my boss should be back, at least part time, by the end of September, it looks doable.I'll keep you posted on that front.
Until then we will just keep soldiering on.
August 19, 2010 August and the Exhibition
Well now it's the middle of August and all I can think is how time does fly! My boss at work is still recuperating from her retinal detachment but things seem to be getting better which is fabulous. Working 42 hours a week is challenging, especially in the summer when we're haying and all; I won't miss making jam come fall at all. But the paycheck is nice and I feel more competent everyday.
This past week has been the Annapolis County Exhibition. This 3rd week in August has always been a big deal in this family since before Danny and I got married. Exhibition is a chance to strut your stuff and see how you stack up against the rest of the world. For several years I would enter the jams and jelly sections; my ruby basil and orange jelly always won Best Certo Jam. (Insert smirk here) Danny often entered hay and grain, the kids sometimes entered the art exhibits. But now we're a 4H family and that means getting up early Sunday morning and bringing the life skills projects to the 4H building before noon, Mom and Dad bringing the herefored cows for the beef project to go in the barn. At 5 o'clock we all rush back to help set up displays for our respective clubs and see how we've done.
The kids did great this year; Eben got Grand Champion Sr Wood Working for his mahogany and marble tiled table:
It's going to look great in my living room after the 4H provincial show too.
Hannah was in several life skills projects and was lucky enough to get reserve champion for her cards in the Scrap Booking Project:
We are all very pleased and excited.
And then of course there is the Beef Project. This year mom had 4 15 yr old boys signed up, an all time high when her herd is smaller than it use to be.
Here they all are with their animals. I think they are all going on to Pro Show too because they're in different classes. I think of them as the 4 amigos.
Of course not every moment of the Ex is easy. Working in the 4H canteen is hot and sweaty but the company is good and I was lucky it was not a super busy shift. Sunday night we will have to rush out in the morning to pick everything up and then hurry home for the Incredible Picnic at the Farmer's Market that afternoon. we will be barbequing hamburgers and selling cider as well. I think it will be a great time if you're wondering what to do Sunday for lunch.
In the meantime I'm going to sign off and get my self home; tomorrow is our 6th CSA delivery and I need to get the newsletters to Doug. Enjoy the rest of the summer!
August 9, 2010 Quick Note
By now many of you may have noticed that the blog disappeared for a few weeks but now (great round of applause) it'sback! This is largely because of the great work of Brandon@Spadewerks.com (another, even louder, round of applause). Brandon saw my distress on the Bruce Family Farm Facebook page update and gallantly offered his services. Thank to his efforts I am back. I have no idea what the problem was, some update incompatibility issue, but Brandon fixed it. Big thank you.
Back on the farm everyone has forgotten what I look like. Or that I even exist. Occasionally I get phonecalls asking me how to start the washing machine or if it's neccesarry to preheat the oven when baking but by and large I live in a seperate universe at the moment. In many ways things at home haven't changed:
We are still haying. This will go on all summer but on the upside; our normal manpower shortage has been helped somewhat by the discovery that we can raid Eben's soccer team for help when loading. As long as we promise to drive them to practise or the game, if there's one on, they will come and help. And Eben is so much better natured when team mates are on the field with him. Plus our old apprentices from a few years ago are in the area visiting and they very kindly come out to help sometimes too. So I am not missed on the field.
While the cool weather lately has made sleeping easier it has not made haying easier. Last week Danny mowed the Stephen's Marsh, my favourite place in the whole world, thinking that he had time to get the hay made before the weather changed. This is the time of year when the pressure to get the hay done builds as you realize Fall is approaching and you're still getting your first cut in, never mind the second cut that you also need/want. So we were all pretty disappointed when the weather took a sudden turn and it rained 6 hours sooner than the weather forecast suggested it would. I still haven't been down to the Marsh to look but I don''t think I want to see the hay that got rained on 3 times and is probably black now and not fit for much of anything.
On the up side Exhibition is coming. Next week the Lawrencetown Exhibition will open. Monday is 4H day with all it's competitions and events. We're all pumped especially Eben who will move to his Grammy's for the week and go in with her every single day. He thinks it's great. It adds to the hay stress here at home though.Ihave taken Monday off from work next week and hope to be back with lots of new pictures and stories. Until then...
July 22, 2010 Changes are a comin'
Sweeping changes, lots of changes, yes changes are a comin'.
First off we are still farming but for the next 6 - 10 weeks I will be
working full time at the Annapolis Royal Branch library instead of just 7
or so hours a week. This means of course that our lives will be (even)
more hectic and that a lot more stuff isn't going to get done. Also I
don't know what will happen with the blog since I won't be home to take
pictures and won't have my fingers on the pulse of our farm. I will try
to keep you updated every Thursday night but time will tell how well
that works.
Anyhow this week has been a great week. First off the report you've all been waiting for; my garlic:
Yes there are lots of weeds thanks to all the rain a week or so ago but
here it is. The cloves are fully individuated; I checked one last night.
I think I'm going to pull it tomorrow night. Nothing like a heap of
garlic to make you feel accomplished.
Speaking of the weeds in the garlic that rain caught us by surprise. Up
to that moment are late planted garden wasn't doing much on the weed
side. And of course we were all too busy with everything after it rained
to pay any attention. So here it is now:
Most of the garden is green with lush weeds except for the part my saint
of a mother in law weeded for her son; the cawliflower and in another
spot some of the tomatoes. Of course this shames me. I should really try
harder and do better all the way around. It's lucky for me that Louise
helps her sons as much as she does.
Anyhow after we had the talk about how we're going to cope with me
working all the time, we looked at the garden, and I looked at my garlic
it was getting kind of late. Since I don't know when and how much I'll
be able to do in the garden over the next weeks I decided to weed the
onions. Eventually i had to stop because it was getting to dark to see:
The camera flash made this picture possible. As you can see I found some of the onions. The pulled weeds can serve as mulch.
The one other thing that seems to be thriving despite the weeds (and
there are some mean old jerusalem artichokes hungry for their space) is
my echinacea. Anyway I think it's beautiful and that the queen anne's
lace adds charm to the setting.
So long for the week. I'm quite curious how this full time work works
out. I'm also wondering how I'll make all the jam for Market. We'll see.
July 15, 2010 Hot Summer Weather
Man it's hot! I can hardly stand it. And to watch Danny and Eben out there making hay, Eben is his hoody no less, my heart goes out to them as I look for a cool place to sit.
One of the things I admire about Danny is his perseverance and how hard he can work to get a job done. I'm the kind of person who needs to talk about doing something, for about 5 years, and then it sometimes happens. So being married to someone who is a man of action always surprises me. Anyhow I'm sure it's this man of action quality of his that gets the hay made, the fences trimmed and the animals fed so you can imagine how pleased I am that this week one of his man of action qualities was 'getting the raspberries picked'.
Because I make jam for market I need a lot of fruit every summer for the different jams I make. Raspberries are a very important part of the repertoire as they work solo or in many blends. My two most popular blends; Best of Summer and Jewel jams both include raspberries. A quick survey through my batches book determined that last year I used 6 flats of raspberries. That means we need to get 72 pints of raspberries into the freezer now! I mentioned this casually to Danny over the weekend. Monday morning he decided to start the day with a visit to the u-pick down the road:
Here he and Hannah are heading off to pick raspberries. They picked a 3 flats; 30 pints for me and 6 for his Mom. I'm started with my raspberry acquisition.
Tuesday was a super busy day for our family what with swimming lessons, 4H preparations and general farming; Danny decides another visit to the u-pick is necessary. This time we all go...
Hannah and Eben are made to get up and ready earlier than usual. They don't complain...too much. It doesn't take long though for everyone's individual picking styles to show as we all pick raspberries. Hannah's is a more hedonistic approach:
"Uhmmmm...the perfect berry" Of course it's not going into the box; she's going to eat it herself. Eben watches on in amazement and some disgust.
I'm there to enjoy the picking, see neighbours and enjoy the sun:
Note the pause as I enjoy the visual contemplation of the vetch in the raspberries as well as the not entirely adequate, but pretty, sun hat.
Danny of course is all work.
He works continuously and mutters how it was better yesterday...where are the berries thicker?.. Eben works beside him; not as fast but anxious to get the job over with which means pick until the parents count them and say you can stop.
He doesn't eat very many but continuously asks the time because he has to be taken to my Mom's to work on getting his calf ready for achievement day next week. At 9:30 we're off and I take him across the river. Then I hurry home to get Hannah because she has swimming lessons at 10:30. Danny has said he'll be home at 10:00. Not so. I call his cell. Hannah answers. "You better come get me because Daddy's talking" SO he works hard but it is good to know that when the job is done he'll spend a few minutes socializing. I get Hannah and take her to swimming. When we finally get back I deal with all the raspberries we, but especially Danny, picked. Guess what; I have 72 pints in the freezer. Danny goes mowing.
Wednesday it pours rain. I gloat over the fact that I have all the berries I need for jam. But now we need berries for us too. Fortunately we have a small patch by the house. I should be able to get them myself there.
Raspberries are so beautiful and so tasty. They certainly are a patch in my heaven.
See you next week.
July 8, 2010 Still haying
It's been a hot week and despite the initial bits of rain we have been hard at it. Actually Danny and Eben have been hard at it making hay and silage.
Silage is made when the rain is going to fall before you can get the hay dry enough to bail but you want to maintain the protein and nutrition that are available in it. Basically silage is hay made into the grass equivalent of sauerkraut. To make silage you bale and wrap the hay before it's dry. You wrap the hay in plastic so it's airtight. This is done so lactic fermentation, which can only happen in an anaerobic or oxygen free environment exists, can take place. Woe betide any holes or punctures that occur along the way! Sorry I wasn't fast enough to photograph the guys wrapping hay. I think Hannah and I were busy checking out the red currants (finally got those picked) and my garlic. Before you ask let me share it with you:
As you can see the leaves are starting to die back. This means it's almost ready. I couldn't wait another second and pulled one:
There it is. Unfortunately when I cut it up for our supper meal I learned it still needs a few more weeks; although the cloves are easy to see they have not yet fully individuated. I'll keep you posted.
This morning Danny decided that rather than wait until the grass dried off enough to get to work he would start right away by picking a few pints, 6, of raspberries at the local u-pick for my jamming. This in turn inspired me to check out our small patch of raspberries beside the house. I found one:
Soon there will be some ready and while I'm at it I better pick some raspberry leaves for tea and for the animal herbal medicine chest. Raspberries contain small amounts of pitocin. Anyone who has ever "failed to dilate" while giving birth might have been given a pitocin drip before the cesarion option was considered. It starts the smooth, involuntary, muscle to contracting which is what the uterus muscles are made from. We use it on the odd occasion when an sheep or cow retains her placenta for too long. I like to mix it with black strap molasses to add nutrition and make it taste good. So far it has never been refused nor does it appear to ever have failed to work.
Unfortunately while I was checking out my raspberries I also looked at my Damson plum tree
There are several black lumpy spots present. This is known as black knot and will eventually kill the tree. I will remove it carefully, trying not to touch other parts of the tree as I cut it out. I will not burn the offending pieces but put them in a plastic bag and throw it away with the garbage. It's very contagious. Unfortunately it's difficult to control because the wild plum in the woods and along the road is also susceptible to it.
Today was another hot one. Danny was excited enough (how does he manage that when it's too hot to consider breathing at times?) to make square bales for the sheep barn.
Eben is on the wagon with the ball hat and with a friend he also plays soccer with. Anyhow the load was built and taken to the sheepbarn and unloaded. I think the part that really has Danny excited is that he's started a field of second cut! This was the field we made into hay in May, that took 5 days to cure.
Enjoy your week, may it not be as full of jam making as mine has been.
July 5, 2010 Making Hay
My it's been a hot weekend! But one thing farmers know is that if you want to make hay you need hot weather with a drying breeze. This week we have been making lots of hay and I have managed to get a few pictures. When Danny and I first got married one of the things he told me was that he liked to enter his hay in the local county exhibition and he liked to compare his hay to everyone else's hay. As he should. Good hay is important if you want your animals to thrive and do well.
First of all most farmers will have a variety of fields to hay; early ones, late ones as well as fields with clover, alfalfa and timothy as well as fields with native grasses. Generally speaking native grasses do not do as well as fields you have sewn down with clover or timothy and alfalfa, however you need the variety for a well balanced diet for your animals. Clover and alfalfa also act as nitrogen fixers in your fields improving it's fertility. Vetch, a native wild flower is a legume that also fixes nitrogen.
Because it usually takes us 2 days to make the hay in any field we want
our fields to be ready in a staggered fashion. Ideally, for maximum
protein, you want to mow when your grass is in its milk stage; that is
the grass has just started flowering. If you mow too soon or too late the hay will not be as nutritious and the animal will have to eat more hay to get the nutrition it needs.
First we mow.
As you can see the grass is going down in rows. There is space between the cut grass. We have a mower conditioner which also helps speed the making of hay by mowing the grass and then squeezing or crimping the grass. This squeezing of the grass breaks the cells in the plants, making the juices flow more easily and hence dry faster. Like I said we use a mower conditioner. My father, who also makes hay, chooses not to use a conditioner and feels his hay makes just as fast as everyone elses does.
A light rain at this point, while it slows down the making of the hay, does not hurt the overall quality too much.
Next we ted. Tedding is a fluffing process which spreads the grass out to cover the entire bed of hay helping it to dry faster.
The spoked wheels on the tedder whirl around and fluff the hay up so the air can circulate through it more freely, allowing the hair to dry more quickly. Most people ted twice. We ted in the afternoon after we mow the hay and then again the next day when the dew has dried off it. A rain now can be disastrous. As the grass is only partially dry it will rewet and have to dry out again. Mold and dust are common qualities of this lower quality hay. Horse people cannot use this hay at all for their animals. Ruminants (cows, goats and sheep) can eat it but they don't like to and you can't blame them. If you have to ted the hay too many times because it gets rained on or doesn't dry well you get a stalky hay that doesn't have much by way of leaves or seed heads. The animals will not want to eat it.
Once the grass is dried or the hay is made you have to rake the hay:
Here Eben is showing off for the camera but you get a good view how the rake gives the hay a final fluff and the rake puts the hay in nice lines or furrows. This makes it easier for the baler to go over the grass and bunch it up.
Ideally if you have 2 tractors one person will start raking and almost immediately the other person will start baling. We use both a round baler and a square baler depending on what we want the hay for.
Here Danny is using his round baler. There is a computer in the cab to help him know how the bale is making up. You want it to go in evenly but of course there will be thinner and thicker piles in your furrows. Also since you can't see the bale as it's making the computer will tell you when it's ready and you can dump the bale as Danny has just done here.
Round bales are easier because they require less manpower to make. You can leave them on the field for several days if you want to before you bring them home. You don't want to leave them there for too long though because they will kill the grass for your second cut of hay (if you're lucky). If you leave them in until next year they will have settled and been exposed to so much inclement weather they will be very difficult to remove from the field.
Square bales need to be removed from the field the day they are made. Because a higher surface area proportionally is exposed to the weather they need to be stored right away. You need a crew to do this. Someone drives the tractor (often the least capable person does this but you're glad they are there because then you have an extra person to get bales), ideally you have 2 other people to grab the bales and throw them on the wagon and someone else to stack or build the load. The person who builds the load is often the most experienced person on your crew. It's a job that requires good spatial abilities and fairly precise placement. Just because they're square bales does not mean they are all the same. Often some are lighter or tighter than the other bales and you have to stack them in a well balanced fashion if you don't want to risk losing the load in as you go over bumpy roads or make sharp turns onto driveways. We are very lucky that our 14 year old son has been able to build a load of hay since he was 10. He had been watching his Dad do this since he was 3 but usually your load builder is the physically strongest person whom you wish was getting the bales off the field and throwing them to the person stacking the load. Once the load is made you drive the tractor and wagon to your barn and start loading them into the hot, dusty hay mow. This is perhaps one of the hardest parts of the job just because of the temperature. You need to make sure your crew knows there will be kool-aid and popsicles at the end of each load. Organic farm or not your crew needs to be happy or they will quit on you. Icecream sandwitches can go a long way to making you feel respected.
Here you can see the hay elevator which is a great toy for getting the bales up to the loft. The person who gets to stay outside on the wagon, often a coveted position, works hard! Usually it's just 1 person which means they will handle each and every bale. If they put the hay on to fast they get in trouble. If they put the hay on to slow they get in trouble. It has to be someone who's physically capable of handling 225 bales by themselves and who can keep up with the crew in the mow.
First cut hay is bulkier than second cut. Second cut hay is finer and often higher in protein. When your animals are in their final month of pregnancy or are lactating it's nice to give them good quality second cut which gives them more nutrition for less work on their part.
It's a lot of work; most of the summer is spent making hay, to get you to the salad bar in late Fall, Winter and at least half of Spring. Good hay is necessary for a successful livestock operation and any farmer worth his salt will have strong ideas on how to make it and how to make it well. Some years are harder for making hay than others; you don't want too much rain or too much humidity. Listen to the AVR radio station sometime and you will hear them announcing the drying conditions for the day. Every farmer knows the weatherline number off by heart; a reliable weather forecast is a requirement when planning your hay making progress.
This is a long blog and probably a little tedious but it's one of the most important things we do as farmers.
June 24, 2010 Summer
It's hard to believe it's still June; we're so busy that it feels like it should be at least the middle of July!
Sadly many of the things we're busy with are not blog worthy; no one needs another tale of exams taken, the church financial report for Revenue Canada or the plumbing work that needs to be done (thank heavens this last is under control!).
However it's June and that means that finally we have strawberries!
Here is Hannah with the huge to overflowing box she picked her teacher today. She wanted to give it to her teacher on Monday night at her grade 6 graduation but I explained to her they would not keep well over4 days. Now I get to enjoy them at work. We spent today sewing a dress for her to wear to graduation (personally I don't think we need to get excited about grade 6 grad but a lot of other parents do). It was a lot of fun because Hannah likes to see how things go together. This was especially apparent when she was getting ready for crazy day yesterday at school and was experimenting with paper to see how to get a bustle and how to make sleeves.
Tilt your head! Okay so it's not farmy but Hannah was proud of her costume and I was proud of watching her learn as she putzed with paper sleeves (not in picture) and figured out how to make a bustle.
On a more farm oriented note, as I reported last week we have chicks now. Mostly meat kings but some egg layers. Danny has been patiently saving blue eggs and getting a friend to brood them out. Eventually ha had about 24. Hopefully some will be hens. For now some of them are living here:
Eventually when they are old enough, and the hens can be separated from the hens easily we will put them in with the egg layers. The meat kings are all together in a big house.
School is over now so the kids are home to help more. Eben is a big help making hay; he teds and rakes. Hannah will be helping with strawberry picking, making meals and finishing up all her 4H projects that she's really behind on. I finally feel like i can catch my breath before diving into all the work that beckons.
Enjoy the summer. Go to a U pick and pich some strawberries. Have all the strawberry shortcake you can and make jam with the rest.
June 17, 2010 Summer Weather
Well this is the week we brought home our new camper/bus:
See we've decided to change careers; we're going to sing and make music as we travel around making everyone get happy! Well actually not; first of all Danny can't sing and secondly the bus has no radiator. Sunday morning, way early, it was towed to the farm and parked near the house by the wood pile. As soon as we get all the yard sale items out of the bus and a good wiping out we're going to move it a little farther away from the house and voila! Our new apprentice/wwoofer home. So if you've ever wanted to live on a bus come work for us!
Yesterday I drove up country and picked up some dayold chicks for our meat chicken coop. They're all cute, yellow and fuzzy now; hard to believe that they'll grow into these big white chickens that want to eat all the time.
We got our first bit of hay in 3 weeks ago; last weekend we brought in another 500 bales. It was great when the last bale went in. (Actually I was in the house making supper at the time but they tell me it was great.) Usually we don't start making hay until the end of June. Harvesting and curing hay this early certainly adds to the feelings of overwhelmedness Danny and I both share right now. It's hard not to look around and see what hasn't been done. The garden still isn't planted for the most part and everything needs picking up or fixing. Add to that all the jam one needs to make, yesterday I made 3 cases, and all the other little jobs that fill ones day it's hard not to be overwhelmed. That's why farmers don't like early seasons. Come to that though farmers always complain about the weather.
Tuesday Wendy's Daycare visited; they've been doing this for over 10 years now. We saw the chickens, Danny caught a goose to show them, then we checked out the cows and the baby goat. Of course one of the highlights of such a tour is the comments on all the manure. It's a farm and it's everywhere; of course the kids must comment on it. I'm waiting for the day a parent comes with their child and tells me they remember visiting us when they were a kid. Hopefully it will be a few years yet.
Now for the update you've all been waiting for: my garlic:
Look; you don't even have to tilt your head! Now if only I knew how I did that. If you look up in the left hand top corner you will see a curly thing. That curly thing is a garlic scape. If left to its own devices the garlic scape will flower and eventually set seed. Because I want the plants to put all their energy into growing nice fat bulbs I went out and cut off as many garlic scapes as I could find before coming to work. It was therapy from paperwork. This is really exciting in some ways; it means in another 3 weeks or so I will have garlic. But what concerns me is I already have scapes and my strawberries are several days from being ready to pick.
See this is what is making this such an interesting but overwhelming year for us. Most things are ready several weeks before they usually are. It's hard to make good hay when the grass is ready but because the days are still short; summer solstice is next week, the hay takes longer to cure. It's hard to get the garden planted when the jobs you usually do a few weeks down the road are standing there demanding your attention. This is one of the reasons farmers are so stressed out right now. What do you do first; the rythm of the season is out of whack. The weather may be warmer but the daylength hasn't changed.
I think i'll go stand in my garlic and breathe a little. Until next week.
June 10, 2010 In the Garden
It's odd that I should be writing a blog about our garden since we haven't even planted it yet. I know bad farmers, bad farmers! But despite the fact that I haven't planted any lettuce, tomatoes or potatoes yet a lot of my thoughts this week have been on the garden.
Tuesday the library where I work graciously provided a training day to help me understand how the new eaudio and ebook technology would work so i could help our patrons should they so desire. I wasn't a hundred percent sure when my ride would arrive and so was ready before 9am. What to do? Housework? Blech! Dishes? Blech!! I know; I'll weed the garlic.
Isn't it beautiful! And whenever I stood up this was the view I got to enjoy:
Sheep, pastures, winding rivers, trees: I love where I live.
I was also extremely fortunate to have just enough time to finish weeding the garlic before Dorothy and Ken came to whisk me off to the training session.
On Wednesday I decided to harvest some red clover blossoms. Red clover is very good for you, it's one of those tonic herbs that you should enjoy whenever possible. I picked young flowers to dry for tea. The red clover has infested the strawberry patch so I decided to harvest it from there; that way I could also see how the strawberries were faring. I have worried this year how they made it through pollination. While i was picking the clover i noticed butterflies and bumblebees enjoying the nectar. Where are the honeybees I wondered? But then I remembered. Pierre Blanchette, who started keeping bees when he was just a kid once told me that honeybees can't collect the nectar from the first blossoming of the clover; their tongues are too short. They can collect nectar if the clover flowers a second time in the season because these blossoms will be shorter. Cool eh. Which is great because the roses came out last Friday and there is nectar there and a host of other places. The bees are busy; let the bumblebees and butterflies do this. I always enjoy trying to figure out who is doing the pollinating when a plant is in blossom; I see ants, beetles, wasps, wild bees, honeybees, bumblebees and insects I don't recognize looking after the various blooms and it fills me with wonder. I would never be clever enough to design a world where the interdependence between species was so finely balanced.
Wednesday when Hannah came home from school she harvested some more clover and some rose blossoms for tea.
This is the old fashioned June rose we have just before the barn gate. The clover and the roses are drying together and they smell heavenly. Hopefully it will work out and they won't mold.
Finally I wanted to share a book with all of you. Last year Ruth Owen was in touch with me by email asking questions about organic livestock farming for a childrens book she was writing. We are featured on page 25. There are no pictures from our farm; she asked for some but I wasn't smart enough to send any then. Here's the book:
It features farms from many countries and covers a lot of organic issues. This would be the perfect gift for any 10-12 year olds on your shopping list. No I'm not on commission and I requested the book from the library to have a look at it. But I think it's pretty good for the age group.
So now it's time to think about next week and what to get done. Danny still has 2 fields to finish walking the fences on, the garden needs planting; I can't buy all my vegetable. I want back into my sewing room and the porch and veranda floors need painting. Hannah will have her grade 6 graduation in 2 weeks time and asked to me to help her sew a dress. It's not a question of what to do but how to do it all. Oh well, me and everybody else.
June 3, 2010 June
So the end of may saw us bring in about 475 square bales for the sheep barn. We have NEVER made hay in May before. But the grass was ready and to wait any longer meant it would be too mature when we started. Thankfully the hay turned out pretty well; although it took almost 5 days to cure it was a nice green (not bleached out or dusty), not too heavy or too light. Another blog will see a more in depth discussion of hay (I bet you think it's just grass!)
The past 2 weeks have seen me working off farm a lot but this week I did get the chance to check out a few things around the farm:
My garlic again. I checked it today and it's up to my waist! Imagine if I get it weeded next week. And now that it's rained I want to plant the garden finally. It just seemed so pointless when the earth was so dry. Plus Danny disced it just before it rained. We're both getting sweaty palms just thinking about it.
The bees have been out all week; you should hear the roar under the chestnut trees which are in blossom now. I find it quite comforting. And since our strawberries are still in bloom they are probably getting fertilized which 2 weeks ago when they first came out I was worried about. As well the red currants have set their fruit:
Red currants are vastly under rated. The fruit is red of course and tart. It makes a lovely jelly but even better, it teams up with other fruits to make outstanding jams. My mother in law taught me to make a raspberry jam/red currant jelly combo when I first started out that my 5 year old son preferred to just raspberry jam. You also find it blended with different fruit to make more artisan style jams like Jewel Jam or Best of Summer Jam. Jewel is a combo of sour cherries,gooseberries, raspberries and red currants. It's tart but tasty. And every bite is different. Best of Summer is made with black currant, red currants, strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries. The black currants give it a more adult taste; I compare it to wine on toast when I'm trying to describe it to people at the market. They are 2 of my best sellers at the market. The only thing I don't like about red currants is picking them but I have a few days yet.
Finally i want to share a treasure that Danny found when he was down at the Hicks'es place moving cattle. He was looking in Willoughby's old shop and what did he find?
Willoughby Hicks was Danny's great uncle. There is a picture of him in the May 6 blog fixing barrels. He died about 8 years ago. But this is the thing: Willoughby, and many of the people born in the first half of the 1900's saw so much change. They have lived through one or both of the World Wars. They saw the the introduction of radios, cars and tv's, never mind computers. When I was a child (I'm 46 now) we would come to NS on vacation to visit family and some of my great aunts were still using an outdoor privy. I remember my great aunt Helen showing off her newly installed bathroom when I was in elementary. They were use to not having any money but not being poor. They were able to make something from nothing and mend it when it broke. Many of these people are still alive and when you get the chance to talk with them you realize what a different world it was only a few decades ago. They worked so hard and they knew so much, much of what doesn't seem relevant now but we still find ourselves wishing we knew when the power goes out or when we're trying to live more simply or greener.
I want to clean up the sign, restore it, and hang it out on the side veranda when we finish having it rebuilt. I want to remember how much everything has changed, not just his lifetime but in mine. And I want to stop and think about what's important to me and my family and about our legacy.
Until next week.
May 27, 2010 4H and other long weekend events
The Victoria weekend has passed. I for one needed it to get caught up and have one last day to sleep in before the end of the school year. Don't get me wrong it was a very busy weekend but it was a good one.
Friday before the weekend my father, Hannah and I went up to Halifax to deliver the beef boxes for our beef csa. Finally I got to meet most of the people who subscribe as well as Janet, the woman from the Grainery Coop who helps us. She was awesome and really gave me a new perspective on the communitty aspect of communitty supported agriculture. You really need to have a committed,dependable person helping your subscribers get their boxes. The only downside was that Dad and I didn't really know where we were going until we left halifax. It was 10pm by the time we got home and we were all beat. Hannah was happy though because Grampy stopped for fastfood on the way home and that was the whole reason she went.
The Annapolis Royal Farmers and Traders market started early Saturday morning. So much for sleeping in a little on Saturdays; for the rest of the summer we will get up early and go to Annapolis to flog our wares. But the weather was beautiful and it was so nice to see everybody again.
Eben's long weekend started a little differently. The 4H Fluff'n'Buff is always the long weekend in may. This is an event hosted by Annapolis County, open to other counties, where kids with sheep, goats, dairy and beef cows can get together to learn more about animal health, grooming, showing and judging. And just because dairy cows and beef cows both have the word cow in them don't think they are anything at all alike. A dairy cow is a rack of bones because all the animals energy has been bred to go into milk production. (Okay dairy farmers I apologize, rack, while somewhat accurate, is unfair. My beef bias is out in the open now.) When showing the kids dress in white and gently lead the animal in a way that seems trance like and calming to the animal. This is good because an excited animal is both hard to milk and less likely to let you have most of it.
When showing beef the kids dress in black pants and white shirts. The animal is on a lead, the kids have show sticks to help them set up the cow in a particular way and a comb in their pocket. They also try to lead their animals nicely in the show ring but it isn't as calm. This is the reader's digest condensed version of showing beef. More on a day when I have pictures to illustrate the process better.
Anyhow Eben spent the weekend at Fluff'n'Buff. As with many 4H events it needed many volunteers to run successfully. My thanks to all of them especially Shelley Parsons who is always easy going and fun to work with. The kids all did their judging, most 4H projects require the kids to judge a class related to their project, as well as hanging out with one another. Eben is really lucky this year to have 3 other boys doing the beef project with him and here are the 4 amigos:
Eben is the second from the left.
Not all these animals are calves, some are yearlings. As my mother, their 4H leader, slowly retires from farming, she has less animals for the kids to work with. That was fun, let's have another picture:
Here he is combing and grooming Whoopy.
I helped during the weekend with the Saturday supper, lasagna and spaghetti and then again Sunday morning making westerns for breakfast. I believe that when people are giving their time to help my child succeed the least I can do is help with the grunt work.
Monday morning came and it certainly felt like a day of opportunity. So much so that I finally got the floor mopped after weeks of thinking I should get to that. Hannah was given a lesson in cleaning bathrooms and was tested on the downstairs one. She passed. Eben was out on the field helping his Dad plow.
At times conferences were necessary
Eventually the job was done. The field was then harrowed and today I think Danny seeded it down with grass. When your beef is grass fed it's important to keep your pastures and fields vital and healthy. In a few weeks I will share what I know about making hay. It's a more serious venture than most people realize and involves more than driving around the field in circles.
Spring is always busy on a farm. This year it has started earlier; Danny cut hay earlier this week. Usually we don't start cutting until the end of June. My boss is on vacation enjoying her grandson so here at the farm it's even more frantic than usual. Hopefully things will calm down a little next week. Hot cooked meals will help. Until then.
May 20, 2010 This Week...
All weeks are busy, how did this week get to be one of the busiest one's yet?
Let's see...On Friday my best friend from high school, Edwina and her husband, came down to pick up some beef and visit. we had a great time. She and Tony walked around the farm with me and we checked on the progress of everything.
Here they are feeding lambs with Danny. We talked about the bottle fed lambs and the ones whose mothers have enough milk. You can tell them apart if you're feeding them regularly or you have them separated from the rest of the flock. I don't feed them regularly and we don't have them separated because some of their mother's have some milk. If I'm not sure I check their knees. That's right, their knees.
Tilt your head and you'll see this lamb has green knees. That's from getting down on it's front knees when it wants to nurse its mother. Think about it: the lambs are growing and the sheep aren't. The lambs are getting too tall to stand under their mother's udders so they have to bend down to do it, hence the green knees. A bottlefed lamb will probably not have green knees as it's not getting under an udder too often.
We also checked out my garlic
As you can tell it's growing well. If you want to see some more pictures from their visit checkout the Facebook page for Bruce Family Farm; they're both better photographers than I am and some of the photos are really lovely.
Tomorrow is Friday and it will be the third delivery of our beef csa in Halifax. We were up after midnight last night making up the bags and cutting beef. I'm rather excited because my father will be making this delivery and as he has never gone before Hannah and I are going up with him to show him the ropes. Not that either of us has ever done it before, a friend has always done it before but we're more use to the ideas and procedures so will help him with his baptism. Personally I think Hannah's main desire to go is the likelyhood of going to Wendy's or somewhere for fastfood with Grampy.
Danny is still walking the fences. I would like to get a good group of photos to explain this process better but in the meantime
Here he is with a chainsaw. He cuts a lot of our fence posts and sharpens them with the chainsaw. Here is the trailer he takes with him and as you can see he is getting a load of fenceposts sharpened for the next field he has to go and check. The lambs are out and next week we hope to have the cows out on grass too.
Here are our strawberries:
As you can see our patch is very weedy. Grass is a disaster in strawberry patch and as you can see we have way too much of that. Some weeds though aren't too bad; take dandelions for example. Dandelions grow from a taproot so you have a rosette of dandelions growing, and they cover a fair bit of ground but they don't compete too much with the strawberries. Grass on the other hand has all these runners and root systems running under ground choking your plants. Great in your lawn of course, not in your garden.
I'm a little concerned with how pollination is going. Everything is early of course but I don't think the bees are. I know the plums and cherry trees in our area had poor pollination and the conclusion I've come to goes something like this: Global warming is happening. For the last several years Spring has begun earlier and earlier in part because of increasingly warm temperatures. However the length of the days, or the amount of daylight hours has not changed. What this means for insects and others is that it cools down faster at night and is slower warming up in the day. In other words while the warmer temperatures are happening during the day, spurring the plants to bloom sooner, the amount of time the bees have to pollinate these blooms is shorter than before global warming started. I think that's why I'm not seeing as many bees this spring and why they seem 'stupid'.
Busy as a bee takes on a whole new meaning. I hope some of our strawberries get pollinated so I can enjoy strawberry shortcake. See you next week.
May 13, 2010 Getting ready...
Spring is about beginnings. As we step further and further into Spring this becomes more and more apparent. This week has definitely been about getting ready for beginnings.
The Annapolis Royal Farmer's and Trader's market will begin again on May 22nd. This means I need to get lots of jam made. I've been trying but something always comes up. That and the fact that I am a master procrastinator. But last week i scored a lot of extra hours at the library and on the second to last day my most excellent boss told me she was taking the last 2 weeks of may off. I'm very pleased of course; I like making money. But then i realized that I still have a lot of jam to make and that there won't be time if I am working. So for the last four days that is what I have been doing:
Here it is in all its glory. Strawberry jam, raspberry jam, french cherry jam, red pepper jelly, rhubarb orange conserve (cunningly named rhubART orange conserve as I intend to donate the proceeds to the Annapolis Region Community Arts Council), best of summer jam and jewel jam. These last 2 are what I like to call, in my more pretentious moments, artisan jams. These are old fashioned, slow cooked jams where I stir and stir for quite some time until the jam 'sets'. What many people don't realize is that proper jam is a chemical state. If you mix the right amounts of fruit, which have high amounts of acid and pectin, with the right amount of sugar, Heat it to the right temperature (235 F I think) then you get jam. Some fruits make jam real easily; gooseberries, plums, currants, fall apples (their sugar content changes when they are stored all winter in cold storage) to name a few. Black currants will gel if you just look at them right. Other berries will usually gel, especially if you add a little lemon juice: strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Peaches and cherries will not gel at all unless you mix them with something else; often old time recipes for these will be 'conserves' which means there will be oranges and maybe lemons present as well. Over the years I've turned into quite a jam geek and I must admit that I really enjoy talking with fellow jam makers who understand the challenges of cooking stone fruit jams (peaches and plums) or how when you're in the zone you don't have to test to see if the jam has set because you can feel it as you stir. Although I use Certo for many of my jams, it saves a lot of time and isn't particularly evil, I like to make a few the old fashioned way. Gooseberry jam when made with Certo comes out green and not very appetizing in my opinion. When you cook it slowly it turns a beautiful mahogany pink colour. It only takes about 20 minutes once you reach the boil. Sometimes I like to count the different kinds of jams, jellies and conserves I've made and the count is well over 60. After the variety is what keeps it interesting.
Back to beginnings... Danny is walking the fences at last. The saying 'Good fences make good neighbours" is very true. There is nothing worse than chasing after animals that have escaped their pastures and are looking for food in your neighbours garden of worse are on the road staring down on coming traffic. So walking the fences is an important rite of Spring. You walk along and test each fencepost to see if it's still secure or it it needs to be replaced. They rot off and need to be replaced every few years. You check the wire to make sure it's attached, there are no breaks and that it's still under tension. We run three strands of barbed wire on our fences to help remind everyone to stay in. You want your line of fence posts to be straight; as straight as you can make it. This is really important because pulling barbed wire tight, on a fence line that is NOT straight is really hard to do. If you think about it you will realize how much strength is required to pull it tight and how an uneven fenceline will make this almost impossible. And you want to put the wire on the right side of the fence; the side your cattle are on, otherwise it's easier for them to pull against it and get out. Pastures need to be watched and rotated as they become eaten down too. It doesn't matter how well you've fenced if the pastures are depleted. Hungry animals will get out in their quest for food and you can't blame them. In the fall when the grass is growing more slowly but we don't want to bring them home to the barn yet we will bring them a round bale of hay every day or so to supplement their feeding.
In some of out pastures there are old apple trees. You can tell their old because they haven't been pruned or kept up. yes even tree farms must look after their crop. We had someone staying at the farm last year who knew how to prune trees so our apple trees were all looked after at that time but most of them need to be pruned for about 3 years running in order to be more productive. Now everybody tilt their head; i haven't found the picture manager program on this computer yet
This is an apple tree in our back yard. You can see a lot of young branches, scions growing up to the sky. If we had time and if we were orchardists we would be pruning and cutting off many of these branches. If you look at a fruit orchard you will notice that the branches all go DOWN, making it easier to pick the fruit in the Fall. These skyward growing branches are just one of the signs that are apple trees are old and not an important part of our farm income anymore. You can only so so many things well depending on your manpower.
The last beginning I want to talk about is the chicks. Several blogs/weeks back i showed you a picture of hannah with three chicks; Butterscotch, Stripes and Freckles. That was the first batch of chicks we had hatched out by a neighbour. When we picked them up Danny gave him 39 more eggs. After 21 days 3 more hatched out (Danny thinks are Aracana rooster is getting old). Never one to give up Danny gave the guy another 3 dozen eggs. This time we got 7 chicks and of course Danny has given him still more eggs to hatch out, (by now I'm getting a little annoyed with him because these are all blue egg layers and I'm not as fond of them as he is). I'll let you know haw many of those work out. However the original 3 chicks are now over 6 weeks old. And they're growing. Danny has kept them in a box in our kitchen. They can be quite the conversation starter but I have to admit I'm not thrilled about hem being here. Anyhow Sunday night one made a startling discovery:
It could get out of the box on its own. The next morning it jumped out of the box and onto the kitchen floor. It's siblings were contemplating a similar break for freedom. "Enough" I said to Danny, "time for them to live somewhere else!". So now they are living in the barn until they are big enough to fend for themselves in the chicken coop.
The days are full, getting ready for the beginnings that growing seasons always promise. This weekend, weather permitting, Danny and Eben will start plowing fields to get them ready for reseeding, where the hay is worn out, or for grain. May all your beginnings be as exciting as ours.
May 6, 2010 Farm Heritage
Recently Hannah had to do a heritage project in school. For her topic she chose our farm which was established, as you may know, in 1788. The project was a lot of fun for us and my computer skills have increased to the point where i can scan old photos and make them loadable for the blog! (Does that ever make me feel smart!). So in honour of Hannah''s accomplishment here goes:
Bruce Family Farm
The
original farm was purchased from Christopher?The farm was already a farm
when it was purchased. We believe it was originally an Acadian farm. After the
Acadian expulsion in 1655 the land in the area was granted to retired soldiers
in the British Army. Some of the ex-soldiers farmed their land; some sold it.
The
first Bruce was Daniel Bruce (1760-1843). We believe that he came from Scotland
through the United States. He was married to a Mary or a Lydia Messinger.Mary had family connections in this area with
the Messengers that were already here.
The
original farm had a stone house (probably Acadian), a barn with orchard, some
fields and a woodlot.
John
Bruce (1802-1887) eventually took over the farm from his father. He was married
to a Myra Messinger (1819-1861) He used the marshes, diked by the Acadians. He
made improvements to the farm as well. The woodlot has always been an important
part of the farm’s income. At that time wood was cut and sent as cordwood to
Bridgetown, by oxen, to customers who heated their houses with it. We also cut
lumber. John had at least 2 sons.
John’s
son Wallace Bruce (1849-1901) took over the farm next. He married Louisa
Hall.A house back in the woods was
moved to a place near our house on the way to Bridgetown. Wallace lived here
with Louisa. This house is still standing today but is no longer part of the
Bruce Farm.
Eventually
Wallace and Louisa Bruce had the house beside our house, the house my Nanny now
lives in, built and they moved there.
John’s
brother Ed lived in the stone house on the farm. The same house that Daniel and
John Bruce lived in. He lived in it with his two sisters. At this time farmers
were doing very well financially.Then
people with money were building big houses so Ed did it too. This is the same
house I now live in.
At
some point a water powered mill was built between these two properties.
Although there is no record of a gristmill we have found two stone wheels that
would have been used for grinding grain. There is record of a lumber mill. It
is possible that both existed.
Nova
Scotia and the Annapolis Valley were well known for their terrifically awesome
apples. The apples from our farm were packed in barrels and shipped from a
wharf in Tupperville to England and Bermuda.
(This is Willoughby Hicks, Danny's uncle fixing some barrels.)
(This is Danny as a little boy sitting on some barrels. That's his grandfather Lloyd with him. It amazes me that they were still using barrels to pack the apples in when Danny, currently 49, was a child)
Lloyd
Bruce (1884-1965) was probably born in my Nanny’s house. He was the only son
and inherited his father Wallace’s farm and his uncle Ed’s farm. He was very
prosperous. He hired people to work the farm for him while he concentrated on
the business side of things. He married Hilda Stephens (1900-1993). She was a
nurse and a midwife. In addition to the regular farm business Lloyd also grew
some foxes for their skins. Many people at this time grew fox or mink to add to
their income.
(This is Hilda Stephenson, Lloyd's wife, he was in the previous picture, helping to make the hay.)
(This is Danny Amero, the hired hand, with Peg and Daisy. The team of horses belonged to Danny's father Wallace)
By
now the mill had been sold to the Lantz’s, my Nanny’s family.The Bruce’s sold logs here.
Up
to now the farming had been organic. After the WWI pesticides and other
chemicals began to be used. The main place they were used was in the orchard.
My
Grandfather William Wallace Bruce (1926-2001) was the next to farm the land. He
married Louise Lantz (1932-). He bought
the first tractor on our farm. We were one of the last farms in the area to get
a tractor. This tractor is still being used on the farm today. He also bought
the first car in the family. Up to then the Bruce’s had always traveled by
horse and wagon.
The
orchard became less important in the late 1960’s. Up to then they were picked,
packed in barrels, and sold every year. My Dad still remembers doing this when
he was a child. In the 1980’s my Grampy and my Dad cut down a lot of the
orchard although some still stands. Our main crops became beef and wood.
My
Dad, also a Daniel Bruce (1961-)
started farming in the 1980’s. He married my Mom Sandra Troop (1964-). She works off the farm part time. My
brother Eben Bruce was born in 1995.We started organic certification in 1996. I
was born in 1998. Both beef and wood are still important to our farm. However
we sell at farmer’s markets and health food stores. We have a website; www.BruceFamilyFarm.com and this
winter we started a beef csa (community supported agriculture) scheme to help
market our beef. We have a page on Facebook and we our doing things that my
ancestors never imagined possible. We are still doing a lot of the same things
they did but we are doing them differently.
