The Brockingtons

Help Make Dreams Come True

2011-12-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

*New* Online Fundraiser - Magazine Subscriptions! Please visit our "store" at www.EfundraisingOnline.ca/WeDreamOfDance. Our online fundraising store has over 500 of the most popular magazine titles at up to 85% off newsstands prices. Purchase or renew your favorite magazine subscriptions and 37%* of your purchase will go directly to our cause!

Have you ever had a dream? Was there something you really wanted to be when you grew up but because of money you weren't able to pursue those dreams? Do you believe that every child should have a shot at following their heart and living up to their greatest potential?

Our story started about 2.5 years ago when I enrolled my youngest daughter (Morghan) in a preschooler's ballet class. Then Ayden (then almost 9) asked if he could come and watch his sister's class. He tried all the classes EXCEPT ballet. We encouraged him and explained that any competitive program would include ballet so he should at least give it a try, especially as he seemed to love dance so much. He finally agreed and after the class said "Ballet! Oh mom I love it so much!"

That first year we were at a small local studio with the thought of just giving them the year to try it out. However, it was extremely clear that both of them really loved performing after watching the absolute joy and excitement on their faces during the year end show performances.

After a year of dancing locally we switched to Performing Dance Arts in Vaughan. This is when Benjamyn (then 7.5 years old) decided to give dance a try after watching his siblings love it so much. Once his teachers at PDA realized what he was able to do they strongly encouraged him to try out for their competitive team and now he’s determined to be a professional dancer too.

About the same time, we discovered Canada's National Ballet School. Ayden fell in love! To learn about his experience please read my previous post.

Our first year at PDA was a great starting point and they loved it!

This brings us to the current year. Morghan is on the "micro mini" competitive team, Benjamyn is on the "mini" full time competitive team and Ayden is on the "inter" part time competitive team. Our schedule is crazy! Unfortunately Ayden's heart just isn't in the other classes like it is with ballet. Thankfully we found out that the ballet teachers from PDA have their own studio in Richmond Hill and he’s been able to add classes there. He's back to really loving the dance and connecting well with his peers. We are hoping with continued hard work that he will be able to move up to the next level program, which will include several more hours of ballet.

So, why we are fundraising? As a family we're struggling through a rough patch and it’s just more than we can handle financially right now. We really feel the children are passionate about their dancing and have great potential. Pulling them out, even for a year or two, could make the difference in their futures, especially for the boys. Talent is a terrible thing to waste. Please help us keep them doing what they love to do so much. Fundraising ideas and business sponsorship/donations are definitely welcome! Donations can be made by clicking on the ‘donate’ button at the top left. It will take you to PayPal where you can use a credit card or bank account to contribute. Remember, every little bit helps! It was all the little bits that helped us reach our goal last year. If you are unable to help financially then please feel free to write a comment or email us with words of support/encouragement – these are important too and meant so much to us all last year!

Help Dreams Come True

2011-12-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

Help Ayden live his Dream! You Did It!

2011-06-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Update August 8th, 2011: Ayden had an amazing time at Canada's National Ballet School's month long audition. He's made some wonderful friends and it was an experience he will never forget. Thank you again to everyone who helped make this possible. There's no way we could have done it without you! Unfortunately though he was not offered a spot in there full-time program for the fall but he's not giving up! He'll be working hard for another year with Performing Dance Arts & his private lessons with Miss Sonia so hopefully next year will be his year!

Hello everyone,

Thank you for visiting our site. Our son Ayden has a dream. He wants to be a professional, classical ballet dancer when he grows up. We are trying to help him make this dream a reality but we need your help! Ayden auditioned for Canada's National Ballet School back in January and was offered a spot in the next stage of the audition process - a mandatory, month long audition. You see, he has to attend this audition camp if he hopes to be offered admission to the school for September. The school calls is 'summer camp' I think in an attempt for it to be less intimidating then having the kids know they will be going through a month long of testing and auditioning. You can learn more about this school here.

Ayden first fell in love with dance when he came to watch his younger sister in one of her classes. He was eager to try a few classes and loved every one of them. However, he was reluctant to take ballet. The staff at the studio and I let him know that if he decided to enter the competition program then he would be required to take ballet. He decided to give it a try. That was it! On the way home after that very first class he expressed how much he loved ballet. How much he loved it over all the other classes.

He has worked very hard and is a natural performer. He absolutely radiates on stage. After a year at a local studio we realized that this wasn't a passing fancy for Ayden. We started looking at options that would give him the opportunity to work with the best Canada has to offer. We switched him to Performing Dance Arts in Vaughan.

About the same time we discovered Canada's National Ballet School. As soon as he realized he could make ballet his life, he was determined to see his dream become a reality. I have never met anyone so young who was so clear in his focus and goal (to be a professional, classical ballet dancer). However, the school is expensive and not something we had anticipated needing to cover so soon. The NBS website assured all who tried out that financial assistance was available - that no one was turned away based on ability to pay.

However, once we completed the audition we were told that the second stage is the month long intensive/audition/"camp" and that no assistance is available for it. We had not counted on this expense and although we worked very hard to try and use our own resources, we just have not been able to come up with the balance still owing. NBS tried to help us cover this expense but their budget is just too over stretched! (Update** NBS has pledged $1000 towards Ayden's audition! That leaves us with $2217 to raise.)If you would like to donate directly to the school click here. I'm not sure if you can earmark the funds for Ayden though. If you can please include a note of 'Ayden Brockington'.

To see a video of Ayden dancing, please click here.

This is why we are appealing to all of you today! Ayden will be 11 in the fall. That sounds very young for most of us but in the professional dance world he needs to start with his training at this age so he can be molded and shaped into a world class dancer. Please help us make Ayden's dream come true! The amount is relatively small - only $3,217. (Update** NBS has pledged $1000 towards Ayden's audition! That leaves us with $2217 to raise.)Any little bit will help and you can safely donate through the PayPal button on the upper left of the screen. You can use credit cards or a bank account and do NOT need to be a PayPal member! This is an urgent appeal as we need to confirm with the school by Friday, we were only told on Thursday (June 2nd) that funding wasn't available ...remember, every little bit helps.

If you would like to visit Ayden's page on Facebook you can click the link on the upper left of your screen or click here. Be sure to click 'like' and 'share' on your own page. This is a simple step but a huge one for getting the word out.

Thanks to everyone who has already donated! We actually have a little bit over so can buy Ayden the necessary dance wear for the audition (shoes, tights, leotard etc.)! If any more donations are made, we will set it aside to help with his tuition (if he is offered a spot) and if he isn't able to get in then we will set it aside for next year's audition.

*Someone made a donation to NBS via an online charity group. Unfortunately the school cannot earmark this money for Ayden as our efforts are considered paying a balance instead of donating to a recognized charity. The funds will still go to help Ayden, and others, through bursaries etc. available through NBS. I'm sorry that we were not able to add your name to the following list. Please feel free to contact me with all the information and I will...

Nicole August........$25
Bonnie Annis.........$10
Julie-Ann Lee........$10
Anonymous............$10
Jonathan Fike........$50
Ryan Dejczakiwskyj...$25
Anonymous............$500
Hilary Corbeil.......$200
Anonymous............$500
George Chung.........$100
Andrea Skinner.......$50
Larissa Fike.........$60
Sylmadel Coke........$100
Anonymous............$100
Shelley Raker........$30
Jennifer Patterson...$25
Cayra Deluna.........$20
The Holistic Parent Store $20
Karen Derrah.........$20
Kathryn McDonald.....$100
Charlotte Hamilton...$20
Deanna Adamson.......$10
Janine Zeck..........$40
Tomoyo, Steven, Scott & Neil...$50
Grandma & Grandpa Brockington..$50
Wendy Cameron........$40
Kari Norman..........$20
A Chisholm...........$7
Nathalie Cliche......$50
Carolyn Hastie.......$50
Cybervision MMX Inc..$25
Karen Ava............$30

Farmers Without a Farm

2010-08-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to purchase a farm for a few years now. It is just proving to be an impossible dream for us. So, we have come to the decision to live the life we have been given instead of longing for the life we cannot have. The yo-yo ride of back and forth is just too stressful for us and the kids. This means that we will be staying in town but thankfully have a good sized lot so we will look at purchasing the house we are in and putting in a food forest. We will still try to be Farmers Without a Farm and have summer pasture so we can raise meat for our freezer each winter. It will be a bit more expensive but at least we will know how the meat is raised. Our changed story will likely be of interest to others that can't or don't want to move out to a farm but still want to grow their own food. Thankfully I've found permaculture which is wonderfully suited for an urban food forest. The years have also allowed us to narrow down on the types of foods we will actually use.

This year we have discovered the benefits of preserving our own foods. I have done some preserving over the years but this is the first time I've done it on a large scale. We often have used the freezer but learned the hard way that this isn't a great idea. Our freezer door was accidently left open and we lost a ton of food. At least with preserving, the energy use stops when the processing is done. We will still use the freezer for some things but will preserve as much as we can. This year we have discovered some free produce in the form of apple trees unused on an abandoned farm property, inexpensive roma tomatoes, peppers and peaches. Hopefully we can learn to grow some of these on our own lot. I'm guessing we can still have day old chicks and poults in the backyard to grow out until they are big enough for summer pasture. We also have some good contacts now to purchase animals for summer pasturing and fall meat. It will just be the beef that will be a challenge since they take so long to grow out (18-24 months to butcher weight).

I will still be posting on our journey but the posts will be light for the next few weeks as I focus on getting the kids registered for their various activities and arrange for a private tutor again. I'm guessing that things will be light over the winter too as there just won't be a lot going on, other then eating our havest! I really appreciate all of our followers. It's nice to know there are others cheering for us...

The Great Piggie Escape!

2010-08-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned how much we love our piggies. They are ever so tame and easy to work with. However, the piggies discovered that the fencing in the large pen was not secured on the bottom. Actually, we had forgotten all about it. Unfortunately, once they realized how easy it was to escape, they kept forcing the issue, even after we fixed it. So, as much as we hate to do it, the piggies have gone into one of the smaller pens because the fencing is actually buried 12 inches into the ground. This means much more pig food, which means more money from us. James says this is all part of our 'tuition' into finding what will work for us. The lesson learned here is that if we don't want to use electric fencing (and we don't) then we need to spend the extra time and bury the fencing about a foot into the ground. Obviously something you can't go back and do once the fencing is in.

On the lighter side, our 6 year old son decided to try riding the pigs. We were surprised that they were rather accomodating! However, after tolerating this for a couple of days, one of the pigs (Tammy) has decided she will have none of it and runs away whenever he tries to get on her back. I took a video of Ben riding the pig, note his little sister chasing afte the other pig that just won't cooperate. The second pig (Ginger) figured out a way to get him off her back though...

Click here to see the video. If you do view it, please leave some comments as my son has been checking regularly to see if anyone finds it as hilarious as he does.

In other farm news, many of the larger crossbred heritage turkeys were consistantly getting out of the larger pen. So, we had to confine them to one of the smaller pens because the sides are much higher (6 ft). Unfortunately, two or three of them still seem to make it over. We may need to clip their wings again, which was really not a chore we enjoyed. This again means more feeding costs as they don't have the large forest habitate to scratch around for food. The lessons we have learned here are that we need to start them young to get attached to us and clip their wings early (before they start making it over the fence). Thankfully this group is growing well and will likely be ready to butcher in another month or so. We are keeping an eye on them though because I have enjoyed looking after them the least of all the critters.

Our food experiment with the goats has been very interesting. The two kids are doing really well. They don't get any grain inputs and are busy foraging in the forest all day. However, the two older does are persistant in hanging out at the gate waiting for food, unless we walk them into the forest. We are still giving them sunflower seeds while they are milking. Unfortunately I'm not thrilled with the condition of Bevanne so have gone back to supplementing her more. She's getting sunflower seeds and a dairy goat ration now. Toffee is still looking pretty good, so is only getting the sunflower seeds but I will keep an eye on her.

In other news, we took a different route home from the farm one day and noticed an abandoned farm with several apple trees. The trees are overflowing with apples and no one is picking them as the ground is littered with the ripe ones. We stopped by the next day and filled up two 25 kg feed bags with the apples. We took mainly the ones on the ground, originally with the intent to feed the animals. However, the apples were in such good shape that I have since used them to make apple sauce. Out of one bag I was able to make 12, 1 litre jars of unsweetened apple sauce. I left out all seasoning and sugar so that I could use it for cooking. Apple sauce is a good substitute for oil in most recipes, and much better for you then oil. I could type out all the instructions but I think it's better to just share the link to the website I found here. It has lots of information on many different things to preserve.

Happy Piggies and a Queen Goat

2010-08-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have finally posted a picture of myself. I'm not the one with the red hair! My little porkers are very friendly now. They have a habit of staying close by, unless there is food to be had. They like to come close and plop down in hopes of a belly rub. We generally offer one up. This piggy looks like she is smiling as she gets her belly rubbed. That's Tammy and she is a bit bigger then her sister. Yes, I do still plan to have them butchered in the fall. This is all part of our philosophy to ensure they have the best lives we can give them, while they are still with us.

That's my son Gaelen. The goat playing 'Queen of the Castle' is Toffee. We have seen a nice change in her since she first came to us. She is really enjoying her environment and it shows in how playful she is now. She loves to bound around, actually looks like a bunny, and she has taken to sleeping on top of one of the shelters. She is the oldest of the group at 3 years old, almost middle age for a goat.

The above picture shows some of the differences in our birds. The smallest is the youngest group of our Bourbon Red turkeys, the other turkey is from the older Bourbon Red group. The chicken is one of our Chantecler chickens that started as a chick. They still have some growing to do. On that note, I've done some more research and there is apparently controversy on the fact that true Chantecler chickens are only white and the other colours are actually crosses. They are recognized breeds but were apparently wrongly classified as varieties of the Chantecler. I'm going to look into it further and try to decide what to purchase for the spring. Please feel free to comment on it!

In other farm news, this is one of the chickens we had in the backyard chicken tractor. She seems to be a bit of a loner but caught on the fastest in that she has learned to stay with the group. Two of the other layers are hanging around more but one has gone missing. I'm guessing it's the one that was acting very broody when we still had them in the backyard. She had taken to staying in the house all day and our egg production went way down. I'm guessing she has found a spot to sit on some eggs. Too bad they won't be fertile. She hasn't had any contact with a mature enough rooster for them to be.

On that note, one of our chantecler chicks looks like he might be mature enough to get the job done. His 'skin' around his head is very red, something I've read indicates maturity, and he likes to strut around. The flash on my camera has washed out the colour but his comb is fire engine red. He's a good looking rooster and will likely join the mature flock of our friend who has lent us the land. I want to wait for him to be bigger though as the flock is much older.

Lastly I wanted to discuss our Pilgrim ganders. If you have read my previous post on Pilgrim geese, you would have discovered that Pilgrims are the only domestic geese that can be sexed at hatching based on colour. The females are grey and the males are all white. I generally don't agree with breeding just for colour, but in this case I think it has it's value. The breed standard sets out that a male must be all white. We have 4 Pilgrims and they are all male (ganders). Three are from the same parents. Our hope had been to keep the best of the three brothers and the unrelated one (Bob). It was obvious very early on that the largest gander (Moe) had the best personality and Bob was a close second. This seemed to work well for our plans. Unfortunately, as they have gotten older, it has become obvious that only Moe meets the breed standard. I personally think he is an excellent Pilgrim gander and have high hopes for his mating, if we have somewhere for him over the winter. We hope to get him a mate but he may need to wait until next year. Hopefully you can see the difference in the above picture.

Food or Feed?

2010-08-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

We've had some bumps along the way, as we try to figure things out. We find that the biggest hurdles are the mental ones. We have been taught all our lives that there are things that you HAVE to do. I think most people can understand what I mean if they just step back and clear their mind for a minute. For example, what we feed our pet dogs. We have always been told that you feed them kibble, or if you really want to spoil them, canned food. It's just what you do. Oh, and don't change the brand/type or you risk upsetting their stomachs. Then a friend of ours mentioned they were feeding their animals raw meat. We were shocked and worried that these animals just wouldn't have their needs met or be at greater risk of disease. As we followed our friend's progress though we saw the dogs thrive. We made ourselves step back and realize - would we really want to eat the same thing for every meal? Would we really want to eat only processed meals (IE canned pasta)? Would that really be good for us, even if we took a multi vitamin every day? Seemed pretty clear and so we started to think outside the box.

It was that new way of thinking that made me explore alternative methods of farming. Well, they aren't exactly alternative because many of the methods really are 'old' ways of doing things. For instance, many 'old' farmers will talk about a plot of land that wasn't good for crops (hilly, damp, etc) so they would throw the pigs there for the summer. This is a common practice around the world and makes for less feed inputs while producing good pork.

We know this but it is still really hard for us to not 'feed' the pigs. We know they have an extensive amount of food, even in the relatively small 3-5 acre plot they are on, yet we feel the need to give them food as if they were in a barn. We see them rooting and eating through the forest, see them getting plump, yet are reluctant to cut back on the commercial feed. Well, after a good assessment of our two plump little porkers, we have decided to cut out the commercial feed and see how it goes. They will still get about two to two and a half litres of goat's milk a day, plus an egg or two per day, plus the grains we broadcast across the forest floor for the poultry, but we won't give them the commercial chop everyday. We will keep a close eye on their condition but already know they will do great.

We had the same thing come up with the goats. We've been told they NEED grain to produce milk. So, we have given them grain everyday. Today we noticed how FAT these goats are getting. They are eating all these great plants all day, I really don't think they NEED grain. First we decided to cut out all the minerals, vitamins etc. we were told they need. That stuff may be necessary when they are confined but why would they need it with all that available naturally? Next, we stopped giving the two kids any grain. Are we ever happy we did. Even without the grain these two are plump and happy, with nice shiny coats. So only the milkers get grain, while they are milked. I cut down their grain to about half and they are still doing great. Now I'm a little worried they are looking too fat. I looked into other food that I could give them while milking and discovered sunflower seeds (oil seeds). The goats LOVE them and so do the sheep. So I think I will try milking with just a handful of seeds. Hopefully the girls will stand for me.

This will reduce our feed bill tremendously. It will leave us with only feeding the poultry. The geese don't need grain and it can be bad for them to actually get too much, they really do thrive on grass. I was worried that if I stopped feeding the turkeys and chickens they would fly away. Well, they were doing this anyway so we've clipped their wings. We missed two turkeys when we did it and I think they kept leading the flock over the fence. We've clipped them too and put everyone into a pen with a nice high fence (6 ft). We're hoping if we wait a week they will forget about going over. These are strictly the mixed breed turkeys we bought for meat, the Bourbon Reds and chickens are staying in the pen. We've clipped them for good measure anyway though. We have been trying to wean everything off the grain though. We don't have bowls of food for them to come get whenever they want. We broadcast the grains across the forest floor so they have to scratch and dig for it. In this way we were hoping they would discover other goodies and eat that too. So far it is working and they like to scratch and peck all day, even when the grain is gone. We'll keep cutting back and hope to be poultry feed free too.

The sheep have no added inputs. We do give them a bit of sunflower seeds each day, so we can pet them and get them use to greeting us when we come. When we first put them in the big pen they would be deep in the forest and we would have to search them out. Now they come close when we arrive. This is important because we do need to at least do a visual inspection of them everyday to be sure they aren't injured or ill. Two of the kids have been working with them and are able to pet them each day.

Each time James and I have hesitated and wondered if we should do something outside the box, like putting the turkeys in with the pigs, I've just reminded us that this is all an experiment and if the turkeys fly away, or the pigs eat them, then we've learned a good lesson. So far though, we still have the turkeys and the pigs haven't decided to eat any of the other animals...

Our New Icelandic Sheep

2010-07-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Our little farm away from the city is growing. We have added two Icelandic ram lambs to our herd. They are strictly for meat in the fall since we still don't have confirmed winter housing for everything.

They are twins which I think has helped them with the transition. We still have them separated from the other animals for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's always good to keep new animals separate and watch for any signs of illness before you put them with other animals. Secondly, I wanted the chance to get them use to me before putting them out into the larger pen.

Icelandics are a triple purpose breed; meat, milk and fleece. They are suppose to do well on pasture only, without any extra input of grains. With this in mind I have decided to give them a daily treat of sunflower seeds as a way to get closer to them. We picked them up a couple of days ago and already they are coming fairly close to me as I sit near the treat dish. They were not handled on the farm where we purchased them as they were not going to be breeding stock and they have a good sized herd. We will be keeping an eye on them to see how they do in our management system.

In other farm news, I thought it was a good idea to put the feed bin for the turkeys ontop of one of the animal shelters. However, our little buck would have none of it and managed to jump up, scare the turkeys away and proceed to eat all their grain.

But I did figure out the best way to get a goat of a shed roof, just spray him with the hose. Worked great!

By the way, there are new videos of the critters up on youtube HERE.

Video Update on YouTube

2010-07-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hubby has been suggesting I make some videos to share the hilarity that is my everyday morning with the critters. I finally relented and thought I would give you all the full experience, from the time I get out of the van to when I leave. Unfortunately, as you will see in this video, the pigs were so noisy that I had to abandon that idea. Be sure to turn down the volume on this first video...

Hungry Piggies

This second video worked out much better and you will get a guided tour of our farm away from the city. Sorry that some of the videography is a bit off, it was my first attempt and I hope to improve!

Video Update 1

You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel and I think it will let you know when I add new videos. Enjoy!

Piggies on the Move

2010-06-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

As much as our little piggies where loving the pampering they were getting at our friend's farm with the goats, we want these piggies to be foragers. So it was time to move them to a place where they would be outside 24/7. In my previous post I shared our experience of moving the screaming piggies and they didn't let us down this time but gave us a great repeat performance.

This was their home before...

This is their home now...

We had the kids with us for this move and they were surprised by just how stinky it was to move livestock in the back of our van. They had a preview as we brought two of our older turkeys for the trip to get the pigs. We gave them to the goat lady to say thanks for her help with the pigs.

A Piggy Tale

2010-06-23T13:00:00.001-07:00

We were all anxiously awaiting the day when we would be able to pick up our two Tamworth piglets. We had named the event 'Pig Day' and had other things planned around it. Unfortunately the fenced forest/pasture we had planned to put them in wasn't ready for Pig Day, so we found somewhere else for them to go. A friend of ours has many dairy goats and a surplus of goats milk right now. So, her place seemed like a gift for the pigs until more permanent quarters could be set up.

A friend of ours suggested we handle the pigs a lot and even suggested we bring them home for the first couple of days. This seemed reasonable enough and we headed out with our dog crate in the back of our huge (15 passenger) van. We headed out to the dairy farm for a bunch of 'extra milk' to give to the pig farmers. While we were there I spotted a larger dog crate and asked if we could borrow it. Turned out to be a good thing.

Now, none of these farms are particularly close to where we live. Our friend with the forest/pasture is probably 20 minutes away, the goat farm is about 45 minutes and the pig farm is about 1.5 hours in the opposite direction. We got a bit of a late start so decided to leave the kids at home for this grand adventure. Our van had been acting up so we took it slow on the highway.

Again, the plan was to drive to the goat farm, get the milk and larger dog crate, then drive to the pig farm. Things went well and we made good time. We arrived at the pig farm (actually they have many animals) and noticed the piglets had indeed been moved away from their mama for weening. The plan seemed simple, feed the little piggies and grab them while they were distracted with the feed. From there it was simple to pop them in the crate and drive away. Well, we fed them and I made the bold move to grab one of them (did I mentioned I picked the biggest two gilts?). I had a pretty good hold on her but was instantly surprised by how heavy and STRONG this little lady was. I called out for some help but she wiggled away before help reached me. Not too bad, we'd just try again. This time the gentleman farmer grabbed one and held on. He hoisted it up by the back legs and headed for the van. Seems easy eh? Well this little piggy was not going without a fight. She SCREAMED her head off. I have never heard a pig squeal like this but she was really freaking out. He got her to the van, hubby opened the crate, lifted her front end and into the crate she went. How much worse could it get.

Well we headed back for the next only to discover they had all scattered and were not coming back for their dinner. To add to the scene was the huge auntie pig in the next pen who REALLY didn't like what was going on. We had no doubt that if the electric fence wasn't there, she would have been on us in a minute.

There was no way those pigs were coming anywhere near us so we called out for Mrs. Farmer to come lend a hand. Hubby and I dropped back and she stepped in. She stood by the food and waited patiently. They eventually came back and she made a grab for her legs. Mr. Farmer stepped in and we repeated the process to get the second girl into the crate. I was really worried for the first piglet in the crate because she was absolutely terrified to hear her sisters screams as we approached the crate.

It was all done so now we just needed to make the drive home. First off we got in the van and noticed the smell. I've heard that pigs stink but these little ones had been living in a very mucky pen, which is why they couldn't stay there any longer while we got the forest/pasture ready. The second thing we noticed was the flies. The van was absolutely full. We had no idea how so many had gotten in there in such a short time. We opened the windows and headed out with a wave and a goodbye to Mr & Mrs Farmer. I don't think we even made it to the end of the driveway when hubby and I turned to each other and said "there's no way we're taking these home". We had a chuckle and agreed they were far too noisy for our neighbours not to have a problem with it, even if only for a couple of days, and how would be ever catch them again? So, we made a call to the goat lady and she was generous to offer a stall that night.

The adventure ended with us hoisting the dog crate into a 4 wheeled cart, clearing out some wood from an unused pen, then struggling to get the little piggies to actually leave the dog crate. You'd think the little darlings had fingers, the way they gripped onto that dog crate, even when it was held on end and given a good shake. Once out they rooted in the abundance of hay and refused to move, even to eat. By the next day they were happily lapping up the extra goat's milk and our lady goat farmer was doing a good job getting them use to human touch.

We have been out to visit them and tried them on some different types of produce however, once they got their goat's milk they had little interest in anything else. This has got me seriously thinking about how we will manage things on our own farm. We do have dairy goats now and will likely have more milk then we need but I'm not sure I would want to feed the piglets milk, for fear they wouldn't learn to eat other foods. We are thinking we will let the mama pigs wean them when they are ready and they can transition to adult, summertime foods. I think a better plan for the milk is to somehow store it for the winter months when we can give it to our core breeding stock since the produce will be lean during those months. Wonder how big of a freezer I'm going to need...

By the way, I have a youtube channel with lots of videos of the critters now. If you want to check it out just visit... http://www.youtube.com/user/thebirthden

Growing is Good

2010-06-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated pictures of some of our critters. If you compare to the pictures in my previous post, you will see just how much they have grown.

15 Chantecler Chickens (still chicks)

5 Bourbon Red Turkeys (still poults)

4 Pilgrim Geese (all ganders)

22 Crossbred Heritage Turkeys (still poults)

These are the newest members of our group. We got 8 Bourbon Red poults June 20th. We noticed that one was acting differently from the rest; moving in circles, head twitching etc. It seemed to indicate a brain injury of some kind and we were worried about this little one. We took them all out in the backyard for the first time and this one had a really hard time. He was running in circles, peeping and falling over. I held him close, which seemed to settle him, but we were worried what would happen when we moved them out to the larger group later on. As farmers it would make sense to take this damaged bird out of our group but we just couldn't bring ourselves to it. Nature decided for us and when we woke this morning we discovered s/he had passed away. We were saddened but relieved we would not need to watch him continue to struggle and likely starve (not that we would have let it get that far).

On a happier note, we picked up our two Tamworth Piglets. I still need to get some pictures of the girls and will follow up with a post at that time.

Farmers Without A Farm

2010-06-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

We've had a delightful spring as we try to live our dream while not having the farm. We worked out a deal with a friend of ours who has land. We buy the animals and feed. He provides the land and care. In the fall we share the meat. However, life took a bit of a turn, as it often does. Our friend wanted me to see if I could find some dairy goats as he enjoys the milk they give. I found a woman with Alpines and negotiated a good price for 2 does (pictured above). He wasn't really looking for purebred, registered goats and thought it was a bit pricey for him. By this time we had spent a fair bit of time at the goat farm and seen what good goats these were. We decided to buy them and keep them at his place, sharing the milk. However, we discovered they needed to be milked twice a day which was a bit much for his busy schedule so I was volunteered to go out once a day and milk. So far I'm loving it. So much so that we have bought a doeling (first picture below) and buckling (second picture below). They are both stunning kids and we are confident the buckling will make a fine herdsire. Did I mention that I intended to have meat goats NOT dairy goats. Oh well, we will have some dairy but still mainly meat (Kiko) goats. It's been a great experience to work with these animals and learn some of the issues relating to goats such as - hoof trimming, disbudding, dehorning, deworming, feed choices and supplements.

We didn't stop with the goats however. We also have...

... 4 Pilgrim Geese, all ganders and now much bigger then in this photo ...

... 22 Crossbred heritage turkeys (still poults) ...

... 15 Chantecler buff chickens (still chicks) ...

... 5 Bourbon Red heritage turkeys (still poults) with another 8-10 just hatching out, picking up on Wednesday ...

... 4 Chantecler partridge laying hens (in a backyard chicken tractor) ...

... 2 Tamworth piglets (girls) set to pick up on Friday/Saturday when they are weaned at 8 weeks, and hoping for another 2 when the next sow farrows in about a week (will need to wait until they are weaned at 8 weeks though to pick up) ...

Still no farm but we are making progress. Our friend has a large forested area (approx 5 acres) that we are fencing in now with the plan to put most, if not all, of the animals in to see how they do in that type of management system. We will still feed limited grain, in an attached smaller pen, so we can train them to enter it and catch the milking does/work with the kids. It will also be handy when we need to catch things for butchering.

However, our friend doesn't have much in the way of winter barn space so most of the animals (except the dairy goats) will need to be butchered before cold weather sets in. He has outdoor plumbing to the pens right now but it will be turned off before freezing in the fall/winter. Our Bourbon Red turkey poults just won't be ready by then (new years maybe) so we have made a similar deal with another friend (the one we bought the dairy goats off) to take the Bourbon Red turkey poults there. She has a good set up for it and it will be fine once colder weather sets in. It's further from us but since she can handle the care, it will work out just fine.

These pictures are a bit dated and everything seems so much bigger now. I will try to get some new pictures and post them.

Ballerina Cake for Opening House

2010-04-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

Two of my kids are very involved in dancing. The studio they go to recently moved and I decided to make them a cake. Was another all nighter but it turned out great. I prefer the taste of a nice, moist carrot cake but this means more movement under the fondant. You will probably notice that the bottom tier is bulging right were the two layers are filled with icing. Oh well, was worth it for the taste! I also tried a new fondant. It's called a buttercream fondant is from the chef (Duff) off Charm City Cakes. I really liked the taste and it was gobbled up with the cake. Much nicer then having people pick off the Wilton Fondant because it tastes bad.

Copper - What's the big deal?

2010-04-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

My blog has strayed away from farming for a bit. I've been helping a woman with her dairy goats and it has brought back my focus - still no farm of our own though! I borrowed a few dairy goat books from her and a topic I've been meaning to research has come up - Copper. I've heard/read it many times, sheep can't handle copper, it's toxic to them. However, many of the other animals we want to have need copper. What to do since we want them all to share the same space?

It is true that sheep can get copper toxicity from too much copper but they can handle some. So, what is the acceptable level? According to Susan Schoenian, a Sheep & Goat Specialist at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center and an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland College Park, Generally, sheep require about 5 ppm (parts per million or mg/kg) of Cu in their total diet. Toxicity can occur at levels above 25 ppm. (http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles/coppertox.html)

So the next obvious question became, what levels do all the other animals need for their minimum nutritional needs to be met? You would think this would be an easy to find answer, and yes I did eventually find it, but not before coming across some other information. It seems that many swine farmers supplement their pigs heavily with copper because research has shown it improves their growth rate. Apparently 200-250 mg/kg is a common level however there is some research that suggests 100-150 mg/kg provides just as much but obviously at a lower cost. But, and this is an important but, should we really be supplementing that high when the level they actually need is 10-25 times less? What is the environmental impact of all that extra copper? What about all that extra copper in the foods we eat? I was fortunate to find a great article that discusses these issues and outlines required copper levels for many animals. The article is from the European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-general,(http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scan/out115_en.pdf).

Here are the levels, as outlined in the document mentioned above. Please note that copper, as with many minerals and vitamins, can interact with other minerals and vitamins that can either aid or hamper it's absorption. In addition, their bioavailability can be different depending on the form of copper used and the amount required can change based on stage of life of the animal.

Pigs 3-10 mg/kg
Cows 9-10 mg/kg
Sheep & Goats 5-11 mg/kg
Chickens & other avian species 4-8 mg/kg
Turkeys 6-15 mg/kg

The thing with sheep, as mentioned above, is that they have a rather narrow window before the copper levels can lead to toxicity but they should be fine up to 25 mg/kg. Since most of the species need between 3-15 mg/kg the sheep should be just fine.

Next I decided to look at food sources and their copper levels. Again taken from the above mentioned article, is this handy list. Please note that the levels can vary depending on the region the food is grown in. If the soil is deficient in copper, then the crops grown will also be deficient. I have included the entire list for those who may be interested.

Alfalfa hay 7.3
Alfalfa meal CP=12 20% 6-7
Barley 3.5-7
Barley dist. grains 37
Brewer's grain 20-22
Brewer's yeast 25-57
Citrus pulp dried 4.3-6
Cotton seed 14
Cotton, dehulled solvent 3.2-18
Fish meal 5.6-10
Grass hay 9
Horse beans 10.7-13
Linseed 12-16
Linseed solv.extr 18
Lupins 6
Maize 1.9-3.3
Maize dist. grains 45-75
Maize dist. sol. dehyd. 17-72
Maize germ meal 7-12
Maize gluten feed, meal 6-31
Maize silage 7.6
Oats 2.8-5
Rapeseed, solv. Extr. 5-7
Rapeseed whole 7
Rye 4-6
Skimmed milk 0.9-6.5
Sorghum 2.7-10
Soybean meal 44 14-20
Soybean meal 50 15-18
Soybean whole 12-15
Straw Barley 1.7-5
Straw Wheat 7
Sugar Beet Pulps 10
Sugar molasses 8.4-12
Sunflower 25
Sunflower Dehulled 28
Torula yeast 15
Triticale 3.7-10
Wheat bran 10-30
Wheat hard, soft 4.2-8
Wheat middlings 5.8-9
Wheat middlings 12-13
Whole milk powder 1.3

It looks like grass hay may provide the level we need for most of the animals we are working with, which is great since we want a grass fed only system for the ruminants. However, it is our intention to provide seeds, nuts, fruits and vegetables to the animals so they can get the vitamins they need for good nutrition, with the non-ruminants getting a proportionately larger amount. Sunflower (25 mg/kg) is one of the ones we plan to use so will need to be aware of the high level of copper. It is still within the acceptable level for sheep, although the maximum. I will need to do more research as I go along so I can be sure of a balanced diet for the animals, but at least the copper 'problem' is solved.

Our Big Buddy

2010-03-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

This is Buddy, the newest addition to our family. He really is an awesome dog. He is part lab and we think he is mixed with a hound because of the eyes. He joined the gang almost a month ago and is fitting right in. He walks well on a leash although I'm sure he has some hound in him because his nose sometimes gets the best of him and he pulls on the leash. I've gotten some good tips online though so will be giving these a try. He does well though off leash, as long as there aren't any other dogs around. He's still a puppy (8 months) so gets excited when he meets new friends. That and he came from a home with other dogs so being without canine companions is a bit of an adjustment for him. I'm working on getting him a companion but have to convince hubby first. Buddy is completely housetrained and will whine when he needs to go out, although we walk him so much that it's often not necessary. He is great in the house but still a dog and will get into the garbage if unattended. We recently had one of the cats pass away after eating dental floss from the garbage so I'm very protective of him and keep him close at all times. Too bad we had gotten rid of the baby gates, had to go buy a new one.

Buddy just loves to play! He would run after the ball/toys when we first got him but didn't really return them. He pick up on that really quickly though and brings it back to us now. He also had a bad habbit of jumping up but that too is history. He use to like to walk with his leash in his mouth but not anymore. He was a bit nippy with everyone when he was playing. He's basically stopped with me but it's harder to teach the kids and him how to play nice. They all just get so excited. He doesn't hurt, just playing but it's still one of those things to deal with now. He isn't at all possessive of his toys or food. The kids can easily take his bone from him - another thing he has learned since joining us - how to give when asked. He responds really well to treats but we've had to train Benjamyn not to give him 10-12 at a time! I can't imagine what life was like before Buddy and I wouldn't give him up for anything...

Mushroom, Spinach & Feta Triangles with Balsamic Reduction Sauce

2010-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

I made a nice stew last night and knew we would have leftovers for dinner for a few days. I wanted to add some variation through our lunches but we were almost out of spinach so salad wasn't an option today. I did an inventory of the fridge and decided to give these a try. They turned out great and even the picky 4 year old princess asked for seconds. I used fresh spinach but it would probably work great with frozen too. Go easy on the balsamic sauce as it is rather strong/rich, so only a little goes a long way. Probably only 1/4-1/2 teaspoon per triangle.

Mushroom, Spinach & Feta Triangles

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup spinach
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Phyllo Pastry approximately 10 sheets
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Melt butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions. Once the onions have absorbed much of the butter & oil, add some vegetable broth to keep it moist. Keep cooking the onions slowly, adding vegetable broth as necessary, until the onions are nicely caramelized. You will need to gradually lower the heat as the onions become darker.
2. Add white wine, mushrooms and garlic. Raise the heat to medium cooking off the alcohol and aromatizing the garlic.
3. Add spinach just until wilted and mixed with the other ingredients. Remove from heat.
4. Add feta cheese. Mix well.
5. Preheat oven to 375.
6. Unroll 10 sheets of phyllo pastry, cutting into 3 long strips. Work with only 2 strips at a time and keep the other strips covered with a damp cloth or they will dry out very quickly.
7. Gently brush butter over the phyllo pastry strip (double layer) you are working with. Place about a teaspoon of filling at the end of on of the strips then fold over the phyllo to make a triangle. Keep folding until you reach the end of the strip. Place on a baking sheet and brush with butter.
8. Continue making triangles until all the filling is used.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven, or until the tops are lightly browned.
10. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar sauce.

Balsamic Vinegar Sauce

2 cups balsamic vinegar (make sure it's a good one)
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

1. Combine ingredients in a frying pan over high heat. Stir consistently until reduced by half. Be careful not to burn the sauce. It should coat the back of a spoon nicely, indicating it has a nice syrupy consistency.

Our Princess Turns 4!

2010-02-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

Our youngest is very much a girly-girl. All of her clothes must be pink, although she may accept some purple. Her birthday was this past week and a princess theme was a must. I got lots of great ideas for her party just from doing a google search. Some of the things we did included -
1. Homemade 'scroll' invitations with purple velvet and ribbon details.
2. On the day of her actual birthday I made a Castle birthday cake using the Wilton castle kit. (recipes below)

3. For her party (a couple of days later) we asked the moms to come dressed as fairy godmothers.
4. We asked that the girls dressed as princess but not wear crowns or jewelery.
5. On the day of her party, I took our princess out to get her finger and toenails painted. She also went and got her hair done up with gold sparkles. She loves doing these things! I also thought it would be nice to buy her some flowers and the local flower shop did a really great job of making it all very special for her. (Flower shop attached to Nature's Emporium).
6. Our daughter greeted her guests at the door with their crown and a welcome.
7. We had a tea party. I purchased a teacup and saucer for each guest to use. They got to take them home.
8. We had crown shaped sugar cookies with royal icing (recipes below).
9. We had heart shaped biscuits with jam (biscuit recipe below).
10. They played 'Plant the kiss on the frog'. It's just like 'Pin the tail on the donkey' but we used a frog and red lips.
11. We played freeze dance to a princess sing-a-long dvd.
12. We played musical squares/chairs to the princess sing-a-long dvd.
13. We meant to play find the pea (princess and the pea fairytale) but didn't get to it. Basically it is the 'shell game' but with a small green ball and three pillows.
14. All of the prizes were princess dress up to go with their costumes - rings, necklaces, bracelets etc.
15. I took a picture of each of the princesses with my digital camera once they had all of their prizes. I printed up the pictures and put them in a plain white frame with a Cinderella sticker on the front.
16. I made a Cinderella carriage cake. I used the Wilton ball cake pans to get the basic round shape. The bottom layer was the most amazing carrot cake with cream cheese icing (recipe below).

Sugar Cookies
*This recipe came from a children's book my daughter got about 15 years ago. Sorry, don't remember the title.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup raw sugar (can use white)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1. Mix the butter and sugar together in a big bowl until they are creamy.
2. Add the egg and vanilla extract to the bowl. Mix again.
3. In another bowl, stir the flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. Bit by bit, add the flour mixture to the bowl with the butter mixture and mix until smooth.
5. Pat the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Put the dough in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350. I used my stoneware so I didn't need to, but you might need to grease the pans.
7. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is half as thick as your cookie cutters.
8. Gently remove the extra dough around the dough letters. Put the cookies on your cookie sheet, leaving a space as wide as three of your fingers between each one.
9. Bake the cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, checking them to make sure they don't burn.
10. Cook slightly then move to wire rack.

Wilton Royal Icing Recipe
(www.wilton.com)
This smooth, hard-drying icing is perfect for making decorations that last. It is also useful as a "cement" to fasten decorations together. Royal icing is edible, but not recommended for icing cakes.

3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners' (icing) sugar
6 tablespoons warm water
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).

NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.

* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

**When using large counter top mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency.

I used the straight recipe for icing the cookies and it came out great. I used a plain plastic icing bag (no tip) and just cut off the tip. I outlines the design I wanted then filled it in. The outline hardens first so the inside doesn't ooze over the sides of the cookie. It all smoothed out wonderfully to give a glossy finish. You can add candy sprinkles for added sparkle but I ran out of time.

Biscuits
This recipe came from the same children's book as above.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 450.
2. Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
3. Add the butter-and-flour mixture between your fingers until it looks like bread crumbs.
4. Bit by bit, stir in the milk with a fork until the dough sticks together in a ball. (You may not have to use all the milk.)
5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is half as thick as your cookie cutters. Cut out the dough, using any of your cookie cutters.
6. Gently remove the extra dough around the dough shapes. Put the biscuits on your cookie sheet, leaving a space as wide as three of your fingers between each one.
7. Bake the biscuits for about 12 minutes. Let the biscuits cool before eating.

* I thought these biscuits would taste better if they were thicker but you might need to lower the temp as they brown up quickly. You would also need to cook for longer.

Lemon Cake
I used this cake in place of a pound cake and it worked great!

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup raw sugar (can use white)
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 large lemon (I actually preferred it with 2 large lemon zests, about 2-3 tsps)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

(Lemon Frosting - I didn't use it for the decorated cakes but it makes for a lovely tea time cake if you make it with just this simple frosting. 2 cups icing sugar mixed with 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice until smooth then drizzled over top of cakes and allowed to drip down the sides.)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place pan of water on bottom rack and move the second rack to the middle.
2. Grease and flour a 9 inch pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Beat in vanilla and zest.
6. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix dry mix and lemon juice to wet ingredients only until incorporated.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted int he center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the pan.

Wilton Buttercream Icing Recipe
(www.wilton.com)
Our Buttercream Icing recipe is perfect for spreading or decorating. Follow our instructions to make it the ideal consistency you need.

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk
Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Medium Consistency)
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and add 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes

NOTE: Changes in Wilton's traditional recipes have been made due to Trans Fat Free Shortening replacing Hydrogenated Shortening.

**For the birthday cakes I used the lemon cake recipe, cut the shapes required, iced with buttercream. If the cake had fondant then I iced it lightly and added the rolled fondant over. The fondant actually helps to keep the cake moist.

Best Carrot Cake in the World!

This carrot cake is so moist, without adding pineapple.

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil (I used canola)
2 cups raw sugar (can use white)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 heaping cups grated carrots
(optional) 1 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place pan of water on lowest rack, then place second rack in middle position. Grease and flour two 9 inch pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add to wet ingredients.
3. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, softened
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
(optional) 1 cup chopped pecans

For a really decadent cake double the icing! To make a very spreadable and smooth icing you can add some milk (by the tbsp) or corn syrup.

In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

I iced the carrot cake generously with this icing and had some left over. I then covered it with fondant. It was so soft that some of the icing oozed out the bottom of the fondant and it was hard to get a perfectly straight shape. I didn't care though as the taste definitely made it worth the fussing and no one noticed it wasn't perfect.

Big Kickbutt Sandwich

2010-01-26T20:57:00.000-08:00

That's Ben who got to help make this big kickbutt sandwich today for dinner. I'm not sure where we first got this idea but it has been a family favourite for years. We call it simply, Big Sandwich. It's exactly as it sounds, a large sandwich, enough to feed the entire family. We serve it family style with chips or fries. Our favourite is a nice club type with bacon, chicken, ham, lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo or mustard. We have tried several different types of bread but the biggest thing to remember is it can't have too hard of a crust because of the young kids. Also, you want a rather thin bread or it gets too big to fit in your mouth. We tried it today with the bread I made yesterday (I made a double batch). This bread was too thick so next time I will flatten it out a bit.

Hubby got me a french fry cutter years ago which makes it really easy to make them. He also got me a 'large' deep fryer but I find it just takes too much oil and it's a bit of a pain with the lid. I much prefer my wok and a scoop type strainer, to put them in and take them out of the oil. I heat the oil on med/high (about 300) and cook until a nice golden brown. You do need to salt them as soon as they come out of the oil. Made with organic red potatoes (or Yukon gold) and they are heavenly. I have a friend that double fries them but I just don't have the patience for that.

Handmade Bread - Well Worth the Wait!

2010-01-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

In the past I've made bread using my breadmaker. Unfortunately I've always felt it was missing something. Turns out it was my sweat and tears. Just kidding. It took awhile to make and I'm going to have some killer arm muscles if I keep at it but wow did it taste yummy. To go with my hearty bread I made a blade pot roast with red wine reduction, sweet root vegetables and risotto stuffed tomatoes.

Whole Wheat Seed Bread

Makes 1 loaf but can be doubled.
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (I used the whey from my homemade goat cheese)
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oil (I used olive)
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tsp sunflower seeds
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp flax seeds
1 cup white flour
2-3 cups whole wheat flour
Extra seeds for top of loaf

1. Place yeast, water, milk, honey, oil and salt in a large bowl. Stir with wooden spoon. Add wheat germ, seeds, white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. Mix until well blended.
2. Add 1 more cup of whole wheat flour, then mix with hands until flour is incorporated. If it is too wet to handle, add more flour. Once you can handle it, sprinkle with more flour and begin to knead directly in the bowl, or you can turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Add more flour as necessary. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until dough leaves the sides of the bowl, is easy to handle and elastic. Shape into a ball.
3. Spray the sides and bottom of the bowl with cooking spray. Add the dough and spay the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 400. Place a pan of water in the bottom of the oven. Punch down the dough, knead for a minute then form into a ball. Place on stoneware baking sheet. Cut a cross on the top of the loaf and lightly spray with cold water. Sprinkle the extra seeds on the top. Cover and let rise about 10 minutes.
5. Spray again with cold water and cook for about 10 minutes. Spray with cold water again and cook for another 30 minutes. Loaf is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Cool before slicing.

Blade Pot Roast

2 tbsp oil
4lb Blade Roast
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
bundle thyme
bundle oregano
pepper to taste
1/2 bottle red wine
1 litre beef or chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Saute all sides of blade roast on high head. Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup wine. Set aside.
3. Place onions in the bottom of roasting pan, then herbs and pepper. Add the blade roast, wine, deglazing wine and broth.
4. Cover and bake for 3-4 hours.
5. Strain and remove liquid to a large frying pan and reduce liquid to 1/4. Keep roast in covered roasting pan and let rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Sweet Root Vegetables

1/2 sweet potato, cubed
4 carrots, cubed
4 apples, cubed
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Cooking oil spray

1. Lightly spray baking sheet with cooking oil. Place sweet potato and carrots on sheet. Lightly spray tops with cooking oil.
2. Roast in preheated 450 oven for about 15 minutes. Then broil until lightly browned.
3. Over medium heat bring sugar and water to a boil. Gently boil for a few minutes then add sweet potato, carrots and apples. Cover and let cook until tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I made risotto the other night for dinner and had leftovers. I used the risotto to stuff tomatoes that I cut in half, and scooped out. I cover them with lightly chopped buffalo mozzarella and baked in a 450 oven for about 15 minutes. I broiled for about 2 minutes for brown and bubbly cheese.

Italian Feast

2010-01-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Well I wouldn't call it a feast but it sure did feel like I was cooking one. It wasn't really that bad but since it was the first time for doing the pasta this way, it definitely took more time then I counted on. I've used my Kitchen Aid mixer to make pasta before but I always have trouble with the pasta sticking together. I think the issue is that I have the pasta extruder, not the pasta attachment. With the extruder, the pasta comes out in two 'layers' while the pasta attachment seems to produce a single layer that would be a lot easier to flour and hang to dry. However, the pasta attachment looks slower because you have to keep thinning the dough and then cut it. If anyone has experience with both of these, please offer me some feedback.

I made Whole Wheat Pasta, Tomato Basil Sauce and Basil Garlic Bread. Here is the video I posted.

On to the recipes!

Whole Wheat Pasta
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
4 eggs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup water

1. In the mixer bowl gently mix the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, place the eggs and oil.
3. Using the mixing paddle, slowly add the eggs/oil to the flour. Slowly add water until the dough starts to form smaller balls.
4. Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough. If it won't come together in a ball, you may want to bring it together with your hands then use the dough hook. Be careful not to add too much water. Let the mixer knead the dough unti the dough is stiff and elastic. Cover, and let stand for 30 minutes to relax.
5. Using the clean handle from your broom (or cover with clean towels/parchment paper), suspend it on the tops of two chairs to act as a drying rack. I used only one but in hindsight two would have fit on the chair and been handy.
6. Divide the dough into walnut size balls and feed into the hopper. As the pasta comes out flour it lightly. As seen in the video, place your finger between the two layers, remove the top 'layer' and hang on the drying pole. Flour the lower 'layer' and separate the individual strands of pasta, haning them on the drying pole. Do the same for the first layer you set aside. Gently flour the pasta.
7. When the pasta is slightly dry but not brittle, remove to a large bowl and lightly coat with flour.
8. Generously salt the plenty of water. Boil the pasta for only 2 to 3 minutes then strain and serve.

Tomato Basil Sauce
1 cup water
20 Plum tomatoes, frozen, diced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh oregano, chopped
salt & pepper
5 Plum tomatoes fresh, diced
2 cups fresh basil, coarsly chopped

I always buy a bushel of plum tomatoes at the farmers market in the summer, wash and put into the freezer in large ziplock bags. I find this works great because I just pop them in the microwave for about 3 minutes then can slice them very easily since they are still fairly frozen and firm.

1. Dice 20 of the (frozen) plum tomatoes.
2. Place water and frozen tomatoes in a stock pot. Simmer on medium, with a tightly fitted lid, until soft and cooked.
3. Using a hand blender, puree the stewed tomatoes. Strain out seeds and skin in a seive. Reserve puree.
4. Saute onion in butter/oil on low/medium until soft and aromatic.
5. Add garlic, oregano, salt & pepper - saute for 2 minutes.
6. Add reserved tomato puree and simmer on medium until desired thickness, then lower heat to gentle simmer.
7. Add fresh tomatoes and cook for about 20 minutes until soft but not broken down.
8. About 10 minutes before you serve, add the fresh basil.

Basil Garlic Bread
1 whole wheat baguette, cut lengthwise
butter, softened
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1 large ball fresh buffalo motzarella, finely chopped

1. Lightly butter baguette and lightly drizzle with olive oil.
2. Lightly sprinkle with garlic, then basil, parmesan and finally motzarella.
3. Broil until cheese is lightly browned.

French Onion Soup - Amazing Transformation

2010-01-17T16:50:00.000-08:00

I think onions are quickly becoming my favourite food. They are simply amazing. You can take one fresh and put a little zing in a salad. Saute it a bit and it adds a nice hit of flavour to most dishes. Breaded and deep fried they are a real treat. The most amazing transformation though is to take this raw, cheap ingredient and turn it into a sweet, savory delicacy. I've been trying my hand at French Onion soup now for about a year. My now 9 year old son really loves the stuff and I haven't been too impressed with those we get while dining out. I've learned a bit as I've gone along and no two batches are exactly the same, but I've tried to share what I can here. The key really is good ingredients. I use a wonderfully juicy organic onion, it's nothing fancy, just a yellow cooking onion. The second most important ingredient is the cheese. Don't be shy and be sure to sample some that are available at your local grocery store. We discovered the perfect one so far, Kaltbach aged Gruyere. It's not cheap but since the rest of the ingredients cost so little, it's well worth it. I think an equally important ingredient is the beef stock. If you have a great homemade stock, or one that you really like, than use it. If not, I really like the Wolfgang Puck Organic Beef Broth.

French Onion Soup
6 lbs onions, sliced
1/2 lb butter
1 cup water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bottle good drinking red wine
2 litres beef stock
2 litres water
2 beef bullion cubes
2 onion bullion cubes
3 bay leaves
1 bundle thyme
salt and pepper
whole wheat baguette
approx 400g Gruyere cheese, grated
oven safe soup bowls

1. In a large stock pot, melt butter.
2. Add sliced onions, coat with butter then add 1 cup water.
3. The most important step* simmer slowly and stir frequently. When you first put the raw onions in the pot you can keep the temperature to low/medium and stir about every 8-10 minutes. As the onions start to cook down you will need to lower the temperature and how frequently you stir them. It is very important that you not fry the onions but slowly simmer them to turn their juices into a nice sweet flavour. The darker the onions get, the sweeter the flavour - as long as you don't crisp them up. I find this process takes about three hours, sometimes less, sometimes more.
4. Once the onions are a nice light brown colour and savoury, add the garlic for about 2 minutes.
5. Add the wine for about 2 minutes. Be sure to give a glass to the cook!
6. Add the beef stock, water, bullion cubes, bay leaves and thyme. Add the salt and pepper to taste.
7. Raise the heat to high and return to a boil. Lower heat to medium/high and reduce liquid to a consistency and flavour you like. This should take about 30 minutes.
8. Cut baguette into 1/2 inch thick slices. Lightly toast one side under the broiler in your oven.
9. Ladle soup into oven safe soup bowl, leaving 1/2-1 inch at the top. Place two slices of toasted baguette on top of each soup, toasted side down. Top with cheese and broil until cheese is lightly brown and bubbly.
10. Add a bit of salt and pepper. Serve bowls on plates as they will be hot. Let cool until they can be touched if giving to children.

Makes approximately 14 bowls of soup, depending on the size of dish and amount of cheese you like.

So Easy Chicken Noodle Soup with Dumplings

2010-01-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to make Chicken Noodle Soup for a few years now but was always intimidated, thinking it would be a huge undertaking. Boy was I wrong! I made it last night for dinner and it was so easy. The flavour was awesome and it was the first try. I was going to make bread but decided dumplings were much faster and a nice change. The kids loved it all!

Chicken Noodle Soup
1 whole chicken
Water
2 onions, coarsely chopped
2 large carots, coarsely chopped
2 whole cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
bundle of thyme
3 bay leaves
bundle of savory
Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cups finely diced carrots
2 cups finely diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package flat egg noodles (linguni style)
Water or chicken stock
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

1. Rinse chicken thoroughly.
2. Add whole, raw, chicken to stock pot along with enough water to cover completely, onions,carrots, salt, pepper and herbs.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked.
4. When done, remove chicken from pot.
5. Strain liquid, reserve.
6. In the same stock pot heat the oil & butter over medium heat.
7. Add onions and carrots, saute lightly.
8. Add garlic and saute lightly but do not brown.
9. Add reserved liquid.
10. Once chicken has cooled enough to handle, debone and chop into bite size pieces. Add to soup.
11. At this point your soup is probably nice and thick - loaded with flavour. It looks wonderful but you need to add more liquid for the next few steps. I still need to play with the amount but I would suggest you almost double your soup by adding water or chicken stock - about 1 litres.
12. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt. Using a fork, add milk. Add more milk to get a sticky, paste like consistancy.
13. Break up and add noodles to soup.
14. Bring soup to a boil and simmer.
15. Drop flour/milk mixture by tablespoons on the top of the soup. Cover tightly and do not open for 15 minutes.
16. Serve immediately.

The biggest issue I had with the soup was the moisture content. The noodles and dumplings really soaked up a ton of soup, that's why I've added the step of adding even more liquid. You will probably need to play with the amount a bit.

Awesome Salad, As Easy As 1-2-3!

2010-01-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've never been a big salad fan but boy has that changed. I did a little research and learned the secret to the best salad dressing. Just remember 1-2-3. Actually it's more like 3-2-1.

1. You want 3 parts to the salad dressing. Olive oil makes 2 parts and your sour makes 1 part. For example 2/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar. That's it! It's insanely easy. You can substitute the balsamic vinegar for lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar - anything sour. Then you just add the flavours you like that goes with what you have on hand. I've added maple syrup or honey for a tiny hint of sweetness. Some basil, oregano, thyme or italian mix adds a bit more depth and of course salt & pepper are a standard addition.
2. I always start with spinach but you can use a nice spring mix, or any type of greens you love.
3. Then pick out a sweet like apple, pear, strawberries, blueberries, whatever you have on hand.
4. Goat cheese is my new best friend. We can get one locally that has such a nice creamy flavour. It's nice an neutral so goes with absolutely all the flavours and variations I can come up with. If you aren't a goat cheese fan then you can use whatever cheese you like. We've used feta, shredded gouda etc.
5. Nuts are a great addition to a salad. I do up a batch of spiced pecans and sprinkle a bit on top. You can do a honey walnut, salted cashews whatever. It's all about trying new combinations and flavours that you like.
6. Seeds add some nice flavour and healthy kick to your salad. I'm not a seed person but don't really notice them with all the other flavours in my salad. I've used flax and sunflower seeds.
7. Add whatever else you have on had that you think will add to the flavours you've already added. Some common salad additions would be cucumber, tomato, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, green beans...well you get the idea.

If you are a bit nervous about coming up with your own combinations, here's a recipe to get you started.

Strawberry and Spinach Salad
Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
1/8 tsp dried basil

Salad
6 fresh strawberries, sliced
8 cups baby spinach, washed & dried
4 tbsp spiced pecans
2 tbsp flax seeds
1/2 cup black olives
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1. For dressing, place all ingredients in a glass jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake to mix well.
2. For salad, layer all ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Sprinkle dressing over salad (I did not use all the dressing, adjust to your taste).
4. Try to get some topings with the spinach for a nice rounded plate.

Spiced Pecans
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; add oil, and stir. Add pecans and toss until well coated.
3. Bake at on a sheet for 12-15 minutes. (You might want to stir/toss them at the half way point.)
4. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
5. Store in an airtight container.

Greek Inspired Deliciousness & Butter Tarts

2010-01-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

I've tried to list the dishes in order of when they should be made. Make the taziki and salad a few hours ahead of dinner and stick them in the fridge. Then do the potatoes in the microwave, or you could bake them in the oven. The lamb and potatoes are pretty quick in the oven but you should be able to prepare the pita crisp during this time. You can also take the taziki and salad out so they aren't so cold when it's time to serve dinner. Pop the crisps in the oven while the lamb is resting and it should all be ready at the same time. Feel free to make comments or ask questions.

Taziki
1 cup low fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup grated cucumber
2 cloves garlic (I would half this unless you REALLY like garlic)
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients & mix.
2. Let sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours for the flavours to mingle.

Cucumber, Tomato & Mint Salad
1 english cucumber
4 tomatoes
1 lemon, juiced
Mint to taste (I think I used about 1/2 cup chopped mint)

1. Combine all ingredients & fold gently so you don't squish the tomatoes.
2. Let sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours for the flavours to mingle.

Lamb & Potatoes
Lamb Shoulder, cubed
Red Potatoes, cubed
1/8 cup water
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Fresh thyme
Fresh ground pepper
Salt

*I have not listed amounts because it will depend on how many you serve and since I have a large family I tend to make a lot. I used the same amount of lamb as potatoes.

1. Place the potatoes in a microwave safe dish with water, cover and microwave until tender (about 10-20 minutes on high).
2. Grease baking sheet with olive oil (I always use stoneware which never sticks so I don't know how it will work on a regular cooking sheet).
3. Add potatoes & lamb to sheet. Do NOT crowd the pan!
4. Drizzle with olive oil and some fresh lemon juice.
5. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and fresh ground pepper. *If you are using dried thyme then just remember the flavour is stronger so you only need a small amount.
6. Broil in oven just until nicely browned. Try not to overcook the lamb as you do want some pink in the middle of the cubes. Takes about 10 minutes. Again, I use stoneware so don't have to flip halfway through but you might have to with a regular cookie sheet.
7. Salt potatoes & lamb after you take it out of the oven. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. It is nice to dip in the taziki.

Pita Crisps
1 pita pocket (see earlier post for homemade, breadmaker recipe)
olive oil
thyme
pepper
salt
parmesean cheese

1. Cut pita pocket into 8 pieces.
2. Open each piece and break into two wedges.
3. Place rough side up on a baking sheet.
4. Drizzle with olive oil.
5. Sprinkle lightly with fresh thyme, pepper, salt and parmesean cheese.
6. Broil on high for 2 minutes. Watch them closely and remove immediately when lightly browned. They will burn quickly!

Butter Tarts

For a gooier tart, substitute 1/2 cup maple or corn syrup for half the brown sugar. I recommend 1/4 cup substitute of maple syrup.

1/4 cup butter softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup raisins or chopped pecans
10 medium uncooked tenderflake tart shells, thawed

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar and egg until light.
3. Add vanilla and salt.
4. Stir in raisins, nuts or just leave plain.
5. Fill each cup about 2/3 full.
6. Bake for about 15 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Swedish Meatballs & Oatmeal Everything Muffins

2010-01-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

The cooking continues! At the request of several friends on facebook, I decided to post the Swedish Meatballs recipe I made last night. It was the first time I used this recipe and of course I made some changes, based on previous Swedish meatballs made with the packaged Ikea meatballs & gravy. PLEASE read the comment after for some ideas on changes to make. An important note - I doubled the original recipe so the one posted below makes a TON of food, enough for 8 adults and 6 children. I suggest you half it back again if you have a smaller family. We had leftovers today for lunch but they don't heat up as nicely.

Swedish Meatballs
Meatballs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup half & half cream (or milk)
4 tbsps butter, divided
1 onion, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
white pepper
nutmeg (optional)
flour (for rolling meatballs)
Sauce
1 cup red wine
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups button mushrooms, chopped
2 cups portabello mushrooms, chopped
2 cups oyster mushrooms, chopped
2 cups shitake mushrooms, chopped
2 onions, sliced
2 cups water
1 beef boulin cube
1 cup half & half
nutmeg
salt
pepper
bundle of fresh thyme (tied with kitchen string)
2 packages egg noodles

For Meatballs
1. Soak breadcrumbs with cream.
2. Using a heavy bottomed fry pan or roasting pan fry chopped onion over medium heat, in butter, until translucent. Reserve pan.
3. Mix all the ingredients thorougly.
4. Using a 1 tbsp melon baller, form small meatballs, roll directly in flour and set aside on a plate.
5. Heat oil and butter in the reserved pan, then add the meatballs. Don't crowd the meatballs! Allow the meatballs to brown nicely on one side before turning, they are VERY moist and will fall apart if you flip them frequently. Brown the outside nicely, the centre will be raw but the browning will seal in the moisture and we will finish cooking in the oven. Add more oil and/or butter as needed.
6. Remove meatballs to bowl.
7. Preheat oven to 400.
For Sauce
1. Deglaze the pan with red wine.
2. Add more oil and butter as needed to saute the onions & mushrooms over medium heat until nicely aromatic.
3. Add water and boulion cube, mix until disolved.
4. Add the cream, return the meatballs to the pan and add the bundle of thyme, salt & pepper. You want to be sure to have enough sauce to cover the meatballs. If not, add more cream/milk. The sauce will thicken as it cooks in the oven because of the flour on the meatballs.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Cook pasta, drain well.
To serve, place some pasta in the bottom of a bowl then add the meatballs & sauce directly on top.

Now the suggestions/observations.
1. These meatballs were crazy moist which made them hard to fry. Either reduce the amount of cream used to make or be very sure you have no 'cool' spots in your pan when frying and be extra careful about flipping. Also, don't flip to often as you want a nice crispy outside.
2. I found the meatballs themselves rather bland, although the thyme in the sauce added some great flavour. I was pretty light on the salt, pepper & nutmeg because I obviously couldn't test the flavours once mixed with the raw meat. I think you will just need to play with the amount a few times until you get it to the right taste.
3. The original recipe called for beef broth but I didn't have any so substituted with the boulion. It worked out fine.
4. The sauce really thickened up in the oven because of the flour on the meatballs. I'm going to try to reduce the amount of flour next time by placing the meatballs on a floured plate (instead of rolling) then sprinkling flour on top. I hope this will still thicken the sauce but leave me with some 'gravy' for the pasta. The other thing you can do is to just add more cream or milk.
5. By cooking the meatballs with the sauce, the cream heats up and the milk separates. This left us with a lot of butter on the top of the dish. You could probably remove some of this (if you don't like it) or you could cook the meatballs separately, with the mushrooms, onions, boulion, water & spices going in the oven. You could then add the cream at the end and let it simmer a bit to thicken. You might need to add more water this way as you want to be sure to keep all those flavours.
6. I added way too much pasta and actually mixed it all together. This totally diluted those great flavours I had going when the meatballs first came out of the oven. Much easier to control this if you plate it by dishing the pasta first then the meatballs ontop.
7. This dish was rather heavy so I think the next time I will be sure to make a nice steamed veggie to go with it. I had meant to do some green beans but forgot. I would layer them between the pasta and the meatballs when you plate.

This next recipe was really great. I used a basic oatmeal muffin recipe then added whatever I had on hand - and I added a lot. The muffins took the additions well so feel free to just throw whatever you have into the mix. I've included what I added.

Oatmeal Muffins
1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil (may be able to sub with applesauce for healthier muffin)
1/2 cup raw sugar (can sub with brown sugar)
1 cup chopped strawberries
1/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, divided
1 1/4 cups soft whole wheat flour
2 tbsp psyllium husks (optional)
1 tbsp flax seeds (optional)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Combine oats and milk to stand for 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 400.
3. Grease 24 muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners.
4. Stir egg, oil, raw sugar, strawberries, raisins, chocolate chips & 1/2 cup pecans into the oat and milk mixture.
5. Combine flour, psyllium husks, flax seeds, baking powder and salt.
6. Add oat mixture to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. It's thick so use a strong spoon!
7. Fill each cup about 2/3 full.
8. Sprinkle tops with brown sugar and remaining pecans.
9. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Suggestions/Observations
1. These were great but could use a bit more flavour. Next time I would add about a 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg and sub some of the raw sugar for maple syrup. Mapel syrup is more concentrated so it's not a straight sub.
2. I think I would use the raw sugar to top the muffins instead of brown. I've never done that before though so it's totally in the 'experiment' category.
3. I really overloaded these muffins and the took it great. I think the next time I would add more fruit. The chocolate chips really dominated the muffins too and I barely noticed the raisins. Stick to the base recipe and you could probably add whatever you have on hand. I was easily able to sneak in some goodness by adding the psyllium husks & flax seed. If you do add the psyllium, remember that psyllium will really absorb moisture in the gut so drink lots of water with your muffin!

Granola Goodness & Delicious Sticky Cinnamon Buns

2010-01-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

Our family had been like many modern families, dependant on store bought breakfast foods like frozen waffles, toaster strudel and dry cereals. They weren't overly tasty and were full of refined sugars. We've made a couple of changes around our house to get rid of all those. My husband uses a basic waffle recipe we got off the Internet and we can freeze these for the kids to just pop in the toaster. Our main breakfast is usually granola with yogurt and fresh berries when available, frozen when they're not. I prefer using fresh/frozen berries to dried so our granola recipe doesn't have any in it. You can always add as you like. We've bought organic granola in the past but just recently started making our own. When the kids first tried it they said it was the best they'd ever tried! We also have other things as more of a treat, like my sticky buns recipe I make with the bread maker.

Granola

2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup wheat germ (can sub with all purpose flour)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp flavourless oil (veg or canola)
1 Tbsp water
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 275.
2. The original recipe calls for spraying the pans with a non stick spray. I use stoneware baking pans that are well seasoned so I don't need to grease the pans.
3. Mix oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, salt, sunflower seeds, almonds, flax seed and cinnamon in a bowl.
4. Bring syrup, oil, water, almond extract and vanilla extract to a simmer over low heat. Drizzle over oat mixture and stir to combine.
5. Pour mixture onto prepared pan. Spread out and flatten with a spatula.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, turning once at which point you can add dried fruit and bake another 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Let cool. (Granola can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks)

Sticky Buns
Dough
1 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cup all-purpose flour (1 sub some with soft whole wheat flour)
2 tsp bread machine or quick-rise instant yeast
Filling
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
Ground cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Chopped apple
Chopped pecans
Raisins
Topping
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter
Extra ingredients like used in filling, to your taste

1. Measure milk, eggs, 1/4 cup melted butter, sugar, salt, flour & yeast into bread pan in order for your machine. Put in bread maker on dough cycle.
2. Turn out dough, roll into 18 x 14 inch (45 x 35 cm) rectangle. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle filling ingredients: brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, pecans, apple - you can add anything you like! Starting at wide end, roll dough tightly into log. Slice into 12 equal sized pieces.
3. Grease inside of 2 loaf pans with butter. 1 prefer stoneware because the topping won't burn fast. In the bottom of each, sprinkle about 1/3 cup brown sugar and 3 separated tbsps of butter. You can also add more of any of the filling ingredients if you want. Place 6 rolls in each pan.
4. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free place for 30-60 minutes. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Bake on lowest rack for 35-40 minutes or until golden and top sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Let stand for 5 minutes. Turn out buns onto platter. Ideally serve warm!
6. If you have a very strong sweet tooth then you could make up an icing sugar/milk/vanilla icing to drizzle over the top when cooled. I find it too much though.

More to the Farm then Farming

2009-12-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

After I wrote my update, in which I posted that I don't have anything to post about, I realized that wasn't entirely true. Our wish to be self sufficient isn't all about farming practices. We've been trying to eat mainly organic produce but since this can be very expensive for a family of our size, I try to cut costs by doing a lot of cooking. This has the added benefits of fresh, tasty food with no additives. However, it could be very time consuming - if I let it. I have worked over the years to try out recipes that are generally really easy to make. If it takes me all day to make dinner then I'm not likely to make it. Now I'm trying to think about the ingredients too. I want to try and use ingredients that we can grow on the farm. I know there will likely be things that we really want, or need, but just can't produce on the farm and I'm going to let us have them. This first recipe has a mixture of things we can grow and a few main ingredients we probably can't. It is really easy to make and tastes ten times better then store bought. It's also extremely healthy and great for me since my system doesn't like milk very much and many dips are mainly dairy based.

These recipes are not my own although I may alter them to fit our own tastes.

Tahini is a staple for many Middle Eastern recipes. This recipe makes a huge amount but it will keep in the refrigerator for a very long time.

Tahini
5 cups sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups olive oil or vegetable oil

Preparation: Preheat oven to 350. Toast sesame seeds for 5-10 minutes, shaking the seeds frequently. Do not allow to brown. Cool.

Pour seed into blender and add oil. Blend until smooth and no obvious seeds are left. You are looking for a final product that you can pour yet is still think. Add extra oil if it's too thick.

Originally I tried blending the mixture in my food processor but the seeds just didn't break down. I tried for a REALLY long time and finally gave up for the blender. It broke them down in only a couple of minutes. Basically you want a strong machine for the job. Also, I exclusively use stoneware baking sheets so I don't know how quickly the seed could burn on a more common type baking sheet. That's why I use the stoneware, nothing burns! It's more expensive but it lasts forever. Instead of burning though, you can dry things out if you leave them too long. The stoneware generally needs an extra 2 minutes to heat the stone. I get mine through The Pampered Chef but I'm sure others would be fine.

I made the Tahini first because it is a key ingredient to this next recipe - Hummus.

Hummus
2 cups canned chick peas, drained or fresh cooked
2/3 cup tahini
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp salt
Olive oil

In a food processor puree chick peas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Mix until smooth. If it is too thick then add some olive oil, or you could add some liquid from the chick peas if you are concerned with calories - although the oil adds a richer flavour. Refrigerate.

Be sure to play with this recipe to make it your own. You can add extra ingredients for different flavours. Roasted red pepper, black olives, or sun-dried tomatoes would probably all be lovely additions.

Now the final part to this trio of recipes - Pita Bread made with the help of a bread maker. I use the bread maker as much as I can as it saves me tons of time kneading, raising etc. I love making this as it's so quick and really neat to watch the pita's puff up and you could really make pita pockets with them.

Pita Bread
1 1/8 cup water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup soft whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbs oil
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp bread maker yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread pan, in the order your bread maker generally directs (wet to dry or dry to wet). Select dough setting & start. When cycle is finished, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. Roll each section into a ball and then into a 6-7 inch circle. You want it to be nice and thin so it will puff properly. Cover with a damp kitchen town and let rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

Preheat oven to 500. Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4-5 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Remove from oven and place pitas immediately in a sealed brown paper bag or cover with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or freezer for 1-2 months.

Avoid using too much flour while rolling and be sure to keep covered with a damp towel to avoid drying out.

Be careful to not tear or crease as this will prevent them from puffing up while baking.

Over baking will cause them to turn crisp.

I make it with only one cup of soft whole wheat flour but you could probably play with increasing this amount.

I'm always looking for better recipes so if you have a better one please share. If you try something different and it works great, please share

Long Overdue Update...

2009-12-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

There have been even more changes since my last update. Our oldest is working full-time at a large local organic grocery store and has her own place. Our second started grade 9 last September and is doing great (80% average). She's joined the robotics team and they just won a spot at the world championships in Dallas, TX. Since I was working more we had to decide whether to put the kids back in school so I would have more time. It was not a pleasant experience looking at extra tutoring options and back to school. We just couldn't send them back to an institutional setting so have hired on a private tutor. She is great and the kids are progressing really well. She is also able to help our grade niner with the transition. Things are going great but now I'm not working as much. We've decided to still keep the tutor. Our youngest is finally old enough to take dancing lessons and she loves it. Since it's mainly the only activity she has right now, we've actually signed her up for four classes, which means an hour twice a week. She is on cloud nine and surprisingly focused for a 3 year old. The side effect of her taking dancing is that our 9 year old son has opened up about his own interest in dance. We started by trying out a few classes and he loves it too. He has 5 classes a week and since he's older the classes are longer. Our 9 & 12 year olds are doing french classes with other homeschoolers once a week and our 3 & 6 year olds will start back to gymnastics in the new year.

So here's the news that many of you are probably waiting for - the farm is back on the table. The original farm I mentioned in previous posts seems to have sold but we have been able to find a group that runs a lease-to-own farming setup focused on organic farming. The group's aim is to help young farmers get on the farm since it is just so difficult to get financing. This also gives us the chance to 'try it out' so to speak, just in case it turns into a complete disaster. So, we are back to dreaming and hope to get some solid answers in the new year.

There really isn't a lot for me to blog about the farm at this point. But I just watched Julie & Julia on DVD so it's inspired me to share some of my experiences with others. I also keep getting requests from youtube for revenue sharing because the breastfeeding videos I posted get so many hits. I can't do the revenue sharing because they will probably fill the pages with formula ads and I am soooo not doing that. However, it reminded me that I have some knowledge in the areas of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting so maybe I should start sharing.

Here's my big question...I could really use some feedback on this...should I just put all the info on this blog or start another? I thinking I should start another because this one is suppose to be about our journey to the farm and talking about all the other is more about my past then my future...

Unhappy Update

2009-08-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like we will need to put the farm dream on hold for a bit longer. It seems that no one likes to give mortgages to farms around here. So, we will be saving up so we can have a huge downpayment to encourage the lenders. With that in mind, I won't be doing much blogging about farming for awhile but hopefully my previous posts will give others some ideas. Please give me some feedback if you do try thing out on your own as I'm eager to know if how things work out.

On a happy note, I will be posting about some travel we hope to do, plus a trip we just completed to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Gathering. I hope we can offer some info on the places we stay, the restaurants we visit and the attractions we like best.

Life is ever changing

2009-05-23T06:57:00.001-07:00

I like to think of life as a fluid journey, always changing to meet new needs as they develop. We've had some changes in our lives. Still no news on the farm although we haven't given up yet. The good news is that I have been working. I've been lucky to get involved with something that I can mainly do from home. With just a few hours work a day (not even that much yet) I can bring in a tidy income. Bye bye to the stay at home mother guilt - I'm bringing in an income. No, this is not one of those internet scams, it's a legitamite business.

This will change our farm plans a bit though. There is no longer pressure for me to try and produce an income from the farm. The main focus can remain feeding our family and producing good, clean, renewable food. This does influence some of my choices though. It had been my intention to buy good quality, purebred breeding stock, likely importing new bloodlines so any breeding quality animals might appeal to Canadian breeders. However, since I won't need to produce breeding quality animals, I can change my criteria for animals. I don't think we need registered animals and we will focus completely on production qualities. Our entire focus will be on hardiness, parasite resistance and duality of the breed. Breed standard will no longer need to be considered (horns, colour etc.) because we will strickly be breeding everything for freezer camp. We won't need to import either as finding the best breeding stock isn't our focus anymore. For most breeds there are breeders right here in Ontario to choose from. We will also have fewer animals since we will only need to produce for our own needs.

This really takes some of the pressure off me. I will likely not be going to do the training with Bill Mollison, although hubby thinks I should still go. Personally, I think that for what I would pay for the training, I can get an experienced consultant to do a detailed plan for us to follow. We recently got the chance to walk the property and it is pretty waterlogged for a good portion of the back of the property. Since we won't need to produce as much meat we don't need to worry as much about transforming that part of the property to airable pasture land. It seems that part of the waterlogging issue actually comes from a man made dam further upstream. There is likely no quick fix. We will need to focus on producing lots of biomass to build up the level of our land. Of course, first we will need to develop strategies for eliminating soil erosion and directing the water, all while preserving the natural habitat and focusing on improvement. See why calling in a professional takes off the pressure?

We also discovered some more concerns with the house. The list is now rather long for things that need to be done before we can realistically live in the house. Core issues include; rewire electrical, drilled well, waterproof the basement, possible lead/mold/asbestus removal, window replacements and laundry facilities. More 'superficial' renos include; wallpaper removal, lots of plaster repairs, refinish the floors, both bathrooms redone, new kitchen, basement entrance and porch rebuilt. We also need to put in all the fencing for the animals. One 'uncertain' issue is a part of the foundation. The house has a 'woodshed' with a dirt floor. This woodshed is part of the house though. It's kind of hard to explain but we hope it has the potential to refinish the area and make it livingspace. It seems the previous owner decided to dig out the dirt floor to try and connect it to the existing house basement. It's a century home so the foundation is made from large stones. Well, one of those stones fell out of the foundation. We hope it will be a simple repair but won't know until we get a home inspection done. Our biggest worry is that the owner won't negotiate any further to bring the cost down to reflect the repairs that need to be done. In his mind he already sold the property for $650,000 but it fell through. With the repairs and waterlogged property issues, it's probably worth half that! I'm guessing thats a big part of why that deal fell through.

I'll continue to update as I can. Now that we have a clear focus, I think we will start visiting farms for stock. I hope to post about each of these farms. We can't buy until we have the farm but at least we can get more research done so we can move quickly once we do have the farm.

Laziness - the Mother of Invention

2009-05-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

I made an accidental discovery a couple of days ago. In the past I have used shoebox sized containers to separate out the different feeder insects into the different stages. Well, life got in the way and I left the beetles in their shoebox a bit longer then I intended. What resulted was a very nice discovery. We found worms growing in the same bin as the beetles. So, I have now put all of the superworms, at all the different stages, into one large bin. I will still need to pull out mature worms to force them to pupate, but it will significantly cut down on the amount of work I will need to do. I have done the same with the mealworms (there were also worms growing in their beetle bin) and I will need to continue to remove the pupae so they can safely transform without risk of being eaten. The bins are very large with clear plastic sides so I can still check on any worm activity without digging around in the bin.

A Wee Update

2009-05-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Finally found the camera, the kids almost threw it out with the old couch. It was tucked in the cover but thankfully we found it in the garage. Anyway, this let me take a few videos to update the feeder insect situation. Since a picture just won't do justice to the real impact of seeing a bin full of beetles, I decided to take a couple of videos. They are complete with real life background noise from a house with 6 kids and cut short by a mischievous kitten.

This is the breeding colony of 'Superworm' beetles. They like to swarm and there legs have an amazing ability to cling to things - even each other. Sorry for the outcry from my 3 year old but I just couldn't resist including it. She was rather surprised to suddenly notice the beetles.

This is the breeding colony of 'Mealworm' beetles. There are actually a lot more then the video shows because they really like to burrow into the substrate. I have many 'shoebox' size bins from this colony, going back to Feb. The first batch of eggs (Feb 1-15) has grown into full size adults and one of them is even preparing to pupate!

A huge tip here for anyone looking at duplicating this experiment. One thing for sure that I have discovered is that you should only feed carrots for moisture. Apples get very moldy and stinky quickly. Potatoes grow dark and will get moldy. The carrots though just dry up and I don't think I have ever seen mold! Also, I tried feeding some other types of grains - cornmeal, cereals - and found that these just aren't eaten by the worms/beetles. Now I do a mix of oatmeal and wheat bran although other types of soft grains would work well. It is also much easier to transfer the adult beetles out of the egg bins if I grind the oatmeal into a powder first. It's a bit tough on my food processor (cheap $20 model) and it takes awhile. However you can spot the beetles, and later the baby worms, much easier.

I had hoped to include a some good news about the farm today but it seems we will need to wait for Friday to get some real answers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because this could be our last chance for awhile. We got the chance to visit the farm again on the weekend and found a few things that concerned us. There was water in the basement. Not completely unexpected in a century home but it means more time and money to fix it. The real estate agent for the property continues to not be overly helpful and is downright comical with her replies to things. Such as "It's an old house, of course there will be water. You weren't going to use it or anything so what does it matter?" Thankfully we got the chance to meet the family and have some real discussions. We also got to walk the property and it really is a rather wet piece of property. This reinforced our need to learn about controlling and directing that water. It seemed rather timely that I also got an email reminder of a permaculture training in the area. If you would like more info visit True Source Seminars at http://www.truesourceseminars.com/fundamentals-of-permaculture-a-self-reliance-workshop.html. We are seriously toying with the idea of learning from the founders though and I may go to learn directly from Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton in Australia. You can learn more at www.Tagari.com.

In more news, we have decided to get two kittens. We currently live in a slightly older house and have had issues with mice. We figured it will continue to be an issue on the farm so might as well get mousers. The kids are thrilled and so far things are going great. Friends of ours have their dogs on a raw food diet and we knew we wanted to do the same for any of our meat eating animals. Hubby suggested chicken but I really didn't want to train them to snatch chicks! I'm serious about training them to be mousers though so have done a few things to ensure this happens. Now this may seem a bit weird but I figure that if they were still with their mother they would be learning this from her so I should do it instead. I've purchased some 'pinky' mice (from a local reptile store) for them to eat thinking they should get a real taste for them. They absolutely love the mice! I'm hoping this will encourage them to actually eat what they catch since it really is a viable food source for them. For toys I've purchased only the furry little fake mice.

I forgot to mention that my husband and I got another opportunity to visit a Dexter cattle farm on a recent business trip to Wisconsin. The gentleman was rather helpful and gave me a bunch of past issues to various Dexter cattle magazines/newsletters. It really is important to see these animals in person and talk directly to the farmers. Some of his management practices were similar but there were also some that were different. For example, he didn't really have a rotational grazing system established. We could see the wear this left on his pastures and the small winter pasture was essentially a big pit of mud. This really got us thinking about how we could solve some of these issues on our own farm. However, we seemed to have similar ideas around culling for hardiness. We were able to explore issues like hoof trimming and worming. He indicated that he doesn't need to trim hooves or deworm. It was important to be able to actually see the condition of the animals when a statement like that is made and they were in good shape with solid (not elfish) hooves. We still like the idea of getting animals from different farms to ensure good genetic diversity but also brought home some advise I got from a farmer on one of the yahoo groups. He said it was important to buy stock from farms that have similar management styles instead of thinking we can breed out unwanted qualities. Thanks Ben!

Farming for the future

2009-04-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

I recently received a link to a documentary titled Farming for the Future. I think it does a good job of exploring some of the things we want to do on our farm and why. Here is a link to the video...

Click on the title of this post to see the video or cut and paste the following link into your browser Address window.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=2750012006939737230

My thanks to those that created this video and are willing to share. I hope it provides others with some ideas.

Time for a party!

2009-04-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

A few months ago my husband and I invited some friends out to a local restaurant that was holding a special event. We have been going to the restaurant for years and have never been disappointed by price, quality or quantity. The event included dinner, a professional drummer and professional belly dancer. We all had an amazing time. I was in to the restaurant today and he has another event planned. He has agreed to give me a week to fill as many seats as we want and then he will open it up to the rest of his customers. I can guarantee they will all be gone because these events usually sell out in about a week. So, I'm sending out this invite to all my friends. The party is on Saturday April 25th at about 6:30pm. The cost is $35 per person, teens and adults only. I need payment up front to hold our seats. Cash bar.

Please contact me directly at thebirthden@yahoo.ca if you are interested. This is an all you can eat buffet dinner of authentic Lebanese Cuisine. The event is here in Newmarket, I will give more details once I confirm with you. I don't make any money off this event, I'm just really looking forward to spending the evening with some friends - eating, drinking and enjoying the entertainment. Woohoo!

Family Herds

2009-03-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

This information is specific to cattle, as the discussions I have had are with cattle breeders, but I'm assuming it would also work with other species. There seems to be two different management styles for herds.

The first is a managed breeding system where the bulls are separated from the cows and only put back with the herd for breeding. This often also comes with calves needing to be weaned early (4-6 months) and separated from the cows to avoid these young heifers being bred at too early an age. The obvious benefit to this system is that the breeder can determine when breeding will take place, which will determine when calves will be born, and what age the cows are first bred. However, this means more work for the farmer and separate facilities for the bull when it is not breeding season.

The second is a family herd system where the bull is left with the herd all year. The cows will decide when to wean their calves and the cows will generally come into cycle together. According to a farmer that uses this system, the cows will have their first heat (after calving) when the calf is still too young to go into heat, so the calf won't be bred by the bull. The next time the cow comes into heat will be when the calf is now 13-15 months old, an acceptable age for breeding. The obvious benefit to this system is that there is a lot less work for the farmer and no separate facilities for the bull during the off season. This fits well with the low input system we want. Unfortunately it also introduces some unpredictables to breeding as calves can potentially be born at any time of the year and heifers can be bred at a younger age, although the breeders I have spoken with have said they haven't had a heifer breed younger then 11 months old. The farmer also needs to be careful to keep this system in balance. Introducing a new cow, separating the herd for any period of time, or a bull calf coming of age could all cause the herd sire to be more aggressive with breeding.

I'm hoping we can do things to try and manage this type of system. New cows will only be introduced to the herd when we know we want them bred, we will avoid separating the herd and then only reintroduce when we know we want breeding to take place, and we will cull any cows that consistently cycle separately from the herd or at a time of year when we will have winter babies. We can separate all the bull calves - either with castration, providing separate pasture, by sending them to freezer camp or selling them.

I first read about the idea of a family herd on the Dexter Cattle yahoo group I belong to. Since then I have been very interested in any information that comes along. I've found that some breeders really don't support a family herd system, even when hearing from those that have used the system for years. Many seem to like to bring up horror stories of what could happen, instead of hearing what is said by those actually doing it. Of course, it's on the list of things we want to try but will be aware that we may change to another system if it doesn't fit our needs.

General Update

2009-03-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

There have been many things going on so I haven't had the chance to post lately. I thought it would be a good idea to offer a bit of an update on few things today.

As some may have noticed in my earlier posts, we are researching goats and the Kiko breed looks like it will fit into our needs for a low input, high producing meat goat. At first our focus will be on feeding our own family and if things go well, then there is a very strong potential for us to turn things into a business. My husband is an amazing salesman and already has some great connections with distributors if we do decide to sell meat. It helps that we are relatively close to a major city like Toronto.

The one surprise that I have encounter is that although I understand there are differences of opinion in a lot of associations, the Kiko goat associations seem to have much more conflict. In particular, the American Kiko Goat Association is being pulled into court by it's members and there is a big conflict among some of the originators of the breed. As someone who has no idea what is going on, in particular the interpersonal conflicts that often contribute to these situations, I have been trying to weed through the accusations to try to get some evidence. Understandably, emotions are high which makes it even more difficult, and frankly intimidating, for me to ask any questions. So, this is the reason I haven't been posting much, I'm trying to get a handle on the situation before jumping in and buying goats from anyone in particular. The question of which association to belong to, there are more then one, is also something I will need to figure out. And I though just picking a breed was going to be tough!

Some good news on my feeder insect experiment for the poultry - we have Superworm babies! I'm actually really surprised because I haven't seen them breeding like I have the mealworms. So currently I have one bin that had about 20-80 superworm beetles in over the course of a month. I moved them about a week ago to a new bin and will leave them there for another week before moving them on again. I now have three bins of baby worms from the Mealworm beetles. There have been between 50-120 beetles in each of those bins although there are so many that I'm just guessing at this point. At this point it looks like each bin (shoebox size) is just crawling with babies. I'm eager to see how quickly they grow and how many we get. We will keep some to feed the bearded dragons but since we don't have any poultry yet we should have a ton of extra. We may sell some to the local reptile store. The rest will be given as treats to the chickens at a local farm that currently supply us with eggs.

I'm hoping to try a new experiment with the mealworms. Currently I pick all of the pupae out of the main bin, about once a day. It only takes a couple of minutes, but then again, it's a small bin. If we decide to do this on a much larger scale, then the bins will be much larger, then number of pupae each day will be greater and the time needed to maintain it will also increase. I have noticed that the pre-pupal mealworms migrate to the edges of the bin. This made me think of the black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) I have posted about in the past. The BSFL will migrate out of their specially designed bins and drop into a pail where they can be easily harvested for livestock food. I'm wondering if a similar set up would work for the mealworms. I tried to create a miniature version of the BSFL bin but it just wasn't up to par. So I think I will change the design a bit and try it again. I'll post again once I have a prototype and some results.

We continue to be shocked and discouraged by the state of affairs with the farm we want to purchase. We had no idea what a challenge it is to buy a farm and with the current economic crisis it is proving next to impossible. My husband is creative and determined so keeps plugging away looking for alternative sources of finance that won't charge us 12% interest rates. I'd really like to know what is happening since I'm anxious about getting onto the property to get the gardens going. I can even wait a bit for the animals but there's no holding mother nature off and spring is the time to plant if we want food for the year. Thanks to those that have chosen to follow my blog. I'll try to get back on track and post more often.

Feeder Larvae Update

2009-03-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

We have baby mealworms! They are way to small to show up on a photograph, but I was able to see them. I was getting a bit worried because it's been about 6 weeks since we first got beetles and we still hadn't seen any. It will be interesting to see how many come out of the first bin. Once they get large enough, we plan to take some to the farmer that supplies our eggs and give them to his chickens. I've read that the chickens really enjoy them so I'm looking forward to seeing their reaction.

Current Colony of Beetles (Mealworms)

Current Colony of Beetles (Superworms)

Creating a Food Forest - An Obvious Choice

2009-02-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

I mentioned the idea of a food forest in my previous post and thought I would discuss it a bit more. If you are anything like me, you've had the impression that growing fruit trees was a ton of work. As I started learning more about permaculture it struck me much the same as my ideas on the animals did. At one time these entities existed just fine on their own. I'm sure that those who have orchards and tend their trees will argue that your yield will not be as great if you don't fertilize, prune, tie and do all those other things we've been taught come with fruit trees. I've got thick skin and have heard the same about the animals. "You have to give them corn and other grains for them to gain weight". My solution to the fruit tree challenge is the same as with the animals - pick hardy, heritage varieties and be willing to sacrifice some yield if it means less hard labour.

Obviously there are differences between plants and animals. Let's look at some of the issues. Food for the trees. This will depend on what type of tree but essentially, within the permaculture idea, you want to grow the food for your trees close to where they live. It's referred to as 'chop and drop'. Plants that are able to harvest needed elements, whether through air or land harvesting, are planted close to the tree to be fed. Then the idea is a simple matter of chopping that plant and dropping it at the base of the tree to act as mulch. Of course, over time those plants will decompose and those elements (vitamins, minerals etc.) will enrich the soil. For some plants you can even just plant them at the base of the tree and let nature do the rest - they grow in spring, self seed over the season, die back with the frost which creates the mulch, which creates a good environment for the seeds to grow while feeding the tree. All with zero work from the humans.

The next issue is pests and disease. By spreading your plants around, instead of planting all of the same type of plant in one zone (ie. field of pumpkins) you reduce the risk of pests. There are several reasons for this. First is that if one plant is infected on one side of the yard, it doesn't necessarily mean that the plant on the other side of the yard will be infected too. Of course with an entire field of plants the disease quickly spreads from one plant to another until the entire crop is infected. Yes, I do realize that it can be a bit more work to harvest from separate areas then from nice neat rows but if it cuts down on all the other labour usually involved, you're still ahead of the game.

Also, you can plant other plants around the plant in question. There are a few things to consider here. You want to look at plants that will attract beneficial insects (this will cut down on the pests), plants with strong scents can help to hide your vegetable plant from the pests (harder to find, harder to eat), and you want to move the plants around in the garden so that if disease/pests do strike it reduces the risk of reinfection/infestation (very similar to rotational grazing benefits). However, to help reduce your labour you really want to try and look at perennial plants. If they can self-seed and go through their life cycle without you then all you need to do is harvest. With perennials you obviously aren't going to rotate them around the garden and will need to rely on the other measures mentioned.

Next there is shelter. Yes, some plants need shelter. For some this means from the wind. The obvious solution is to plant around others that can act as a windbreak. Some plants need shelter from the sun. You can plant them under trees or other taller plants. This can get as complicated as you want to make it but, and for me that's a big but, once you have your system established, there really isn't a lot you should need to do. Although since we plan to plant our forest in stages, we will always have something to do.

Now we come to water. Water is a big issue in many parts of the world. Permaculture incorporates rain water harvesting into the design. Actually it is generally where you want to start when designing a property mainly because it is the most important system and a very permanent part of your design. Since it can involve digging dams/ponds, swales and/or ditches, you really aren't going to want to change these things later. Also, these elements will all determine where everything else in the system will go - tall water loving plants near the water, then shorter plants as you get further away.

It will also determine where fencing will go and even what type of fence. I have to admit that this has been the most challenging part of the permaculture design for me to understand. I've watched many videos to try and understand where the different elements should go in the landscape but still feel a bit at a loss when I look at the specific property we want. Essentially there are a few things that I have been able to pick up, even if I can't apply them yet.

Swales will go with the contour of the land. The idea is that they will trap water uphill which allows it to slowly penetrate into the ground. This is apparently the best way to store the water, in the ground instead of letting it run off the land, often taking valuable topsoil with it. Any plants on the lower ridge of the swale will have the most available water. Also, by storing the water in the ground you are reducing the amount lost to evaporation.

A Big Swale

Ponds/Dams are located where there is a natural concave in the landscape. They are generally fed by direct rainwater and run off. They can be a valuable resource for the dry months. Diversion swales/ditches are at a slight angle (1%) to the contour. The idea is that they will divert some of the water, generally to the pond/dam, while still allowing the water to penetrate the soil.

Sounds good right? But what about the property that gets too much water and/or floods? This describes the property we are looking at. Essentially the permaculture earthworks is designed to slow down water. Take it from a run to a crawl. By catching the water higher on the landscape you reduce the flooding in the lower parts. Yes, your land can become waterlogged but this is where the trees become essential. They will use up that water for you while producing free food! Ah the beauty of this system!

In addition, by having ponds/dams higher up on the landscape, you catch a lot of the water and again reduce flooding in the lower areas. These ponds can be used for livestock. No need for me to haul water or put in an expensive watering system, let nature do it for me. I still need to think of the particulars for this one because, ideally, I want water to come to each of the pastures. I want separate areas for the pigs to wallow, the waterfowl to swim and the livestock to drink. It will also ensure that the livestock is kept out of the wild wetlands. By putting all of that under a shade cover of trees, it will keep the water cool and provide an oasis of escape for the animals from the heat of summer.

It's funny. When I was a teenager I use to go trail riding with my best friend. We were lucky to have a great forested area where we could spend all day, and often did. Even on the hottest days it would be cool within the forest and the stream running through it was always ice cold. I was always truly amazed by this. Nature's air conditioning! I'm very excited about trying to create the same thing on my farm.

Sorry, I wandered a bit there. Back to the earthworks. In the lower lying areas we can even look at crops that need water. We live in southern Ontario and the property we are looking at is very close to two lakes, one of which is lake Ontario. In this region, wild rice was once abundant. I've been doing some research and discovered that many areas are trying to reintroduce wild rice to their wetlands. I think this is a project we should take on. The back of the property has a stream going through it but it also has a large pond area. I don't know that the pond goes very deep so it creates a large, shallow area - perfect for wild rice. I'm a rice lover so if I can get some going it will once again be an issue of just harvesting since history has shown it can survive just fine without us humans. Coincidentally, the other lake that is very close to us is called...Rice Lake.

Harvesting Wild Rice

So, at this point I am researching what types of food trees I can plant in our climate zone (right on the border of 5a & 5b). I've been absolutely delighted to realize there are many more then I thought. So far there are apple, pear, peach, cherry, grape and possibly mini kiwi fruit trees. Fruit bushes include raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, red currant and gooseberry. I'm also looking into cranberries although most of the information I've found has been from big monoculture farms. For nut trees there are hazelnut, walnut and of course pine nut. My research has basically just started so I'm sure I will find others.

Another area I need to get into is companion planting. I will admit that I'm a bit intimidated as it seems so complicated at this point. I just keep reminding myself that's what I thought about everything else too and so far it's been very easy to understand...

My ideas given a name - Permaculture

2009-02-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

It turns out that the ideas I have expressed on this blog have a name...Permaculture. This is not a new movement. It has roots that go way back but it was in the 70s that Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton wrote comprehensive texts for those wanting to live this philosophy. The word permaculture comes from permanent and agriculture. Essentially it is the concept that we can create our own self-sustaining ecosystems on our property but with an agricultural basis.

Out of this came the idea of the food forest. Essentially Bill and Geoff studied nature and the natural systems around them. They decided that it would make a lot more sense to work with nature rather then against it. At the same time though, they could choose plants that would have multiple functions to get the most out of the available land. For instance, planting an apple tree will obviously provide you with apples to eat but it will also provide shade conditions for other plants that can grow below it and apples to feed a variety of livestock. There are other obvious uses like free mulch after pruning and wood for furniture, smoker etc.

The concept takes things farther though. It's the idea of letting the system do the work for you, thereby cutting down on the hard labour required of people. Although I haven't specifically read of this associated with permaculture, I think a fine example is rotational grazing. Let the land produce the food and you simply move the animals around to harvest the food and fertilize the fields. Seems to make more sense than keeping all the animals in the barn that needs to be mucked out twice a day, then the manure spread on the fields, the fields planted, then cut, dried, stored and fed back to the animals living in the barn, twice/three times a day. There are many possibilities once you start looking at things from a different perspective. The idea is that each element should have at least three functions in order to 'qualify' for inclusion, although the range of functions is tremendous.

Biodiversity is another important part of this system. Although harvesting may mean moving around a bit more, it's the idea of having lots of plants mixed together. This helps to eliminate disease wiping out an entire crop, it may affect that patch over there, but the others can remain unaffected. Also, plants can benefit each other when planted together, often called companion planting. A good example is taken from our own North American Aboriginal history. It was common for a squash, beans, corn system to be planted. The corn would grow quickly and straight up. The beans would grow up and climb on the corn, thereby avoiding the need for a trellis. The squash will grow quickly as a ground cover, thereby shading out many of the weeds, reducing your need to manually pull weeds. All three produce food. These plants also take what they need differently from the soil. This is a similar concept to the benefits of multi-species grazing. You could put 20 Dexter cattle on 10 acres of land or you could put 20 Dexter cattle, 50 Kiko goats, 150 Chickens, 20 Tamworth pigs ALL on the same 10 acres. Now obviously you have to play around with this as there will be some cross over, and it is dependant an exactly what is available on those 10 acres, but the basic idea is the same.

Permaculture also looks at how to make the land the most productive. A firm belief in dams, swales, diversion ditches etc. help to harvest rain, thereby providing a ground rain catchment system which reduces the effects of drought. An important principle to have originated from Australia since they are experiencing some terrible drought conditions right now. Bill and Geoff have also spend a lot of time developing systems to regreen the deserts. You can find their videos on youtube and I highly recommend spending some time learning about these dynamic men. I plan to buy their books and would really be thrilled to actually do a permaculture training directly with them, although I may need to settle for something more local.

It's important to think of this system as always adding to your land. Building up the soil and systems. For example, plant nitrogen fixing plants to improve the soil. There are many plants that will take nitrogen from the atmosphere and capture it. Then when the plant dies, that nitrogen is carried into the soil. Plant another plant there that needs nitrogen and you've just cut out adding synthetic fertilizers. It can be more work to set up but once it is established, the work should diminish substantially.

The permaculture farm is divided into a series of zones with zone 0 being the house. These zones are not symmetrical circles but often fluid and curving guidelines. Zone 1 is where most of your frequently accessed areas are. For instance, if you are needing to feed the chickens every day (which of course we hope the forest will feed them but it's just an example). As you walk the path to and back from the chickens you can look out to either side and see those plants that need the most attention. By setting it up this way, you are more likely to actually take the time those plants need, instead of having to walk to a seldom used part of your land/yard. There are several other zones with the last being a completely undisturbed, natural zone for wildlife. Not everyone will have all those zones but it helps to define them so you can get a good idea of the concept.

I think the most exciting thing about this system is that it can be used in a very small space. It opens up the question of why those of us that live 'in town' have these flat, useless, green lawns instead of the diverse, productive food forests that we could create. The movement has probably taken off more for these 'in town' folks then on farms. There are even some examples where people are producing so much that they are able to share it with their communities, selling at farmers markets and/or to local restaurants. If you have never seen the TV series 'The Good Life', I highly recommend you look it up on youtube and spend some time thinking (and laughing)...

Willow: A Living Fence Option

2009-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

During my searches I have come across a very interesting idea - Living Fences. A living fence can be many things but essentially it is a fence using living plants. We all know that fences can have different purposes - ornamental, privacy, windbreak, snow fence, contain livestock, keep out wild animals etc. The type of fencing you create will then obviously be dictated by it's purpose. Now take this a bit further and you will find that some will have the entire fence made from plants and others will use conventional fencing material married with living plants. For example, you can plant trees as the fence posts and then attach a welded wire fence. Over time, the tree will graft with the wire, creating a secure fence with a very solid post. Obviously there can be pros and cons. The pro is that it is inexpensive if you have a source for clippings/seedlings, the fence will be alive, therefore less susceptible to rot and more secure because of it's root system. The cons are that it takes time to grow for it to be strong enough, is susceptible to disease, may be eaten and likely difficult to replace.

Our purpose is pretty clear - livestock fencing. It will be a complete experiment since we can't seem to find information from others on using this type of fencing. Willow seems to be a good choice for a few reasons. The property we are looking at is fairly wet and willow trees do well in that environment. Willows grow very quickly so we should be able to establish the fencing within a few years. Salix Willow varieties (Weeping Willows) make great animal fodder. This is where the catch comes in. Yes, the goats will eat the fence! So this is where I hope a bit of balance will come in. A living willow fence is generally stripped of it's branches and woven together. Over time the overlapping stems will graft together, creating a solid fence. You can make them as tall as you want, we still need to decide how tall. You can also weave them as tightly as you want. I really think they would make the best chicken fence out there! As the fence grows, the majority of the growth will be along the top edge of the fence. It's a good idea to keep this trimmed down so that your fence doesn't get away from you. It is our hope that the animals will eat this top growth and leave the stems alone.

We are concerned that the animals might put too much pressure on the fence/overgraze it. This is where we hope the rotational grazing will be helpful. Essentially the animals will only have access to the fence for about a week at a time and then it will be able to rest for about 30 days. Although, since this is for fencing, they will essentially be able to access some sections for two weeks, either side of a fence. So we should see the same benefit for the willow fence as we will for the grasses and other plants in the pasture.

Another project could be to use the willows to create shelters in the pastures. They are so versatile that you can create a lot of different shapes. As the plants grow, the foliage will fill in to create a nice shaded area.

Since willow can grow very quickly and we will be starting out with a very light livestock density rate, there is the concern that the fence could overproduce and then turn into a real jungle. I'm looking into a few ideas to deal with this, including drying the branches and leaves to feed in the winter. At any time the fence can be trimmed back and this waste used for mulch. This free mulch will provide biomass to increase the humus of the soil, protect against water evaporation, feed the soil and all the other things that mulch can add to your farm.

Planting all those fences and waiting for them to grow before we test them will be challenging but we are really trying to keep in our minds that what we are creating isn't just for us...it's for our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren...all those who deserve a beautiful, productive, healthy space to live...

Quick Farm Update

2009-02-22T22:16:00.001-08:00

I've been a bit reluctant to post much on what is happening with our dream farm, since everything seems to be taking sooo long. We did put an offer in on the place a couple of weeks ago but the owner wasn't too thrilled and hasn't been willing to negotiate much. So, we are working more on the financing to see if we can meet the price he wants for the place. The financing is really proving to be a pain in the butt. Lenders just don't like financing farms. Many seem to want 30%-50% down payments. That's a lot to come up with for what farms are going for around here.

We went out to see another farm today but all it did was remind us of just how good of a fit the other place really is. It's so in our heads now. At this point we are just keeping our fingers crossed that someone else doesn't buy it before we can figure out the financing. Anyone want to lend us an extra $80,000 Canadian for the down payment?

High Protein Free Chicken, Turkey and Duck Food

2009-02-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

I have posted before about our little experiment with the mealworms and superworms. Just as a reminder - the entire reason we are experimenting with establishing breeding colonies is because we hope they will be a viable, free food source for some of our critters over the winter months. Mealworms and Superworms really aren't worms, they are larva.

Mealworms are a common pest that are frequently found in bags of grains. By all accounts it is easy to build up a large colony fairly quickly. They are a favourite snack of chickens and there are several videos on youtube showing how eagerly they are gobbled up. They are fairly small however so many would be needed to offer them as more of a food than a snack.

There doesn't seem to be as much information on Superworms. I have discovered that they are larger, will bite, and are slower to grow and reproduce. Apparently they are also eaten by humans. You can get them in a variety of flavours, freeze dried of course. There is more work in breeding them as the Superworms must be separated and isolated in order to force them to pupate.

I have found information in the past about using freeze dried larvae to feed pigs. I don't know the resource however so I can't remember if it was Superworms or Mealworms. Based on the information I have, either should be fine. There seems to be a wide range of nutrient values but one source indicates a protein value of 20-48% and fat value of 12-40%. Superworms look to be about 18% protein.

I now have a good starter colony of beetles for both Mealworms and Superworms. My first batch of 'eggs' should be getting big enough soon that I should be able to see small mealworms, if there is any actually there. There seems to be mixed information out there on how long the different life stages actually take, so we will just need to wait and see. Below is a photograph showing the difference in size of a 'superworm' beetle (top) and a 'mealworm' beetle (bottom).

Fencing

2009-02-06T20:42:00.000-08:00

Fencing can be an expensive start up consideration for any hobbyist or small farmer. There seems to be a lot to consider too. I have absolutely no experience with many of the animals we are looking to have on the farm which makes it more difficult to decide what type of fencing to invest in. I can't have the animals without the fencing though so I need to somehow figure this one out without the benefit of personal experience.

I have used the Internet as the resource that it can be. I have to wonder if some fencing is chosen because it is cheap, easy to install and generally keeps the animals in or if it's because it's the best choice. The answer is obvious for some grazing systems, like the intensive rotational grazing I mentioned in a previous post, electric fencing is cheap and portable. We don't need our fencing to be that portable though so I'm looking more for quality and durability, which seems to be an ongoing theme I'm trying to stick to for everything on the farm.

I really like the durability of the split rail fencing but have read that it can be expensive if you don't collect and split the wood yourself. The no climb welded wire fencing looks like a more durable and less maintenance alternative to electric fencing but appears to be rather expensive for fencing large areas. I think I've come up with a plan though. I had another look at the property we want to buy and the paddocks look to be about 9-10 acres. This seems fairly common, based on the other farms we've looked at (just in case we can't get the farm we want). There is some fencing but we really didn't take a close look at it so I can't say for sure if we would be able to use it.

I think we will go with the standard wooden posts and use a fence post driver to do the work. We will use no climb fencing with a top and bottom wooden rail. Based on the animals we want, a 4 foot fence will work well. With this design it should be easy to add a strip of electric fence at a later date if we need to. Any farm we get will likely be around 100 acres. That's a lot of fence, especially if we plan to section it off into 1.5-2 acre paddocks for the rotational grazing. I'm always trying to take the path of least resistance by working with what we already have. So, we will focus on just one 9-10 acre existing paddock at a time. Hopefully any farm will already have something of that size for us to start with. From this one paddock, which will hopefully have a perimeter fence that we can repair and/or add to, at the very least we hope to have fence posts in place. We can then add interior fencing to create six approximately 1.5 acre paddocks.

This diagram shows the common layout of many 100 lots and the division of paddocks that often exists on them. No, they are not all straight and nicely laid out like this, however this was easiest for demonstrating my ideas. Please notice the bottom left paddock which represents the work we would aim for completing the first year.

I've been trying to estimate stocking rates and think we can do nicely with this 9-10 acre system for the amount of animals we want to start with. If we decide to have more animals then we will at least have a bit more experience and can work on dividing another larger paddock. It isn't my intention to have large herds of animals as I would prefer to have several smaller herds, with different herd sires, to facilitate genetic diversity and reduce the need for bringing in new animals on a regular basis. Ideally I hope to have 3 smaller herds, each in the 9-10 acre rotational system. As we expand we can also alternate the pasture land with the hay to give the land a break from one year to the next, allow manure to provide fertilizer for the hay fields, reduce parasite loads etc.

Here are two more simple diagrams that would illustrate a long-term goal. The fields in grey would have a herd on it, the fields in green have hay. I did mention only 3 herds but wanted to show the full potential of a property like this. We obviously need to find the right balance so the land will still produce the amount of hay and bedding we will need to get through the winters. The first diagram would be year one in a rotation, the second diagram year two. In an effort to reduce friction from one herd to another through fencing I have staggered them.

Diagram #1

Diagram #2

The other option is to leave the animals in the same paddocks each year. This would cut down on fencing the other, larger paddocks into smaller ones and would make haying easier. I also didn't include the house, barns, quarantine zone, gardens, pond, streams, bush or planned orchard.

We hope that each 'herd' can have 1 male and 5 females of each of the ruminant species - cows, sheep and goats. Pigs seem to be big producers so only 1 male and 2 females. We would probably be fine with just 1 sow but that would be a bit like putting all your eggs in one basket - what if she didn't take? Then no pork for a year. Those numbers are probably pretty conservative but I'm leaving extra room for the offspring we hope to grow out over the spring, summer and fall. Potentially we could have as many as 5 calves, 10 lambs, 10 kids and 20 piglets. They start out small enough but it's in the fall that the pasture could be stretched to feed them all.

We will play around with the number of poultry and waterfowl as they are less expensive to buy more of and likely a bit easier to put in the freezer. I'm thinking 50 of each chicken and turkey with about 25 of each duck and geese. Stocking rate information that I have found is generally based on birds that are given a lot of supplement. I also need to consider available winter shelter to avoid overcrowding. Most of the animal numbers will drop off after the fall cull but I hope to keep the base number of breeding stock mentioned above.

Kelp and Kale

2009-01-30T11:34:00.000-08:00

Please note: The following post has been edited from it's original version. Most notable is the mineral information now included in the chart provided.

I'm a member to several Yahoo! email groups where members talk about issues related to the group focus - Rare Hogs, Dexter Cattle, Icelandic Sheep etc. I feel it is a great resource to directly communicate with people who have often been working with these animals for a long time. I try not to ask a ton of questions but to sit back and read the different topics. One of the things that I noticed was that many people will give Kelp (dried seaweed) as a supplement to their animals. For some it even replaces the mineral and/or salt blocks that are frequently given.

Unfortunately, much of the information on Kelp comes from companies that are selling it. Also, it doesn't really fit with my wish to buy local, or even produce our own. This led me on the hunt for an alternative that I could either grow in my own garden or buy from a local farmer. I don't have any answers yet just a simple table to compare what is in Kelp with something else I found - Kale. There are different varieties of Kale. Some producers are even using it as winter fodder. There seems to be concerns with an element found in some varieties but if given as a free choice supplement, as kelp is, then I don't see it being an issue as problems that have arisen have been when that was a large part of livestock diets.

I did put out a question to each of the email groups to find out what it is about Kelp that made them choose it for their livestock. For many, it seems to be based on the advice and experience of other trusted farmers. Those that had more specific information sited that it is high in vitamins and minerals. The comparison chart below shows that Kale and Kelp are very comparable in many of these. I'm sorry it is so small, I had to convert it from a .doc document as I couldn't just cut and paste here. It would be helpful for me to get information on the nutritional needs of the specific breeds, but this information doesn't seem readily available.

I am very interested to hear from anyone with experience feeding Kale as either a supplement or fodder, as I have no actual experience or knowledge beyond the basic analysis below.

* for a larger view, click on chart

I find it very interesting that Kale has a significantly higher Vitamin A content, is higher in Vitamins K & C and a much better source of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids. Kelp is obviously higher in sodium and is higher in Folate. Someone pointed out that the mineral information was missing from my original chart. It was an editing mistake and I have now included it. From the new mineral information, of particular note is the higher Potassium level in Kale and the slightly higher Ash content in Kelp. Outside of these differences, they seem very comparable. However, I also realize there may be many things missing from this chart. I'm not a nutritionist so I don't know how these things should be interpreted. Others have brought up iodine so I will look into that further.

The information was all taken from the same source which actually looks at these foods for human consumption. As well, they are all fresh which doesn't provide a good comparison if you have fresh Kale available versus dry Kelp.

Farm Update

2009-01-29T19:31:00.000-08:00

Since many of our homeschooling friends are now following our blog, I wanted to give everyone an update on the farm. At this point there really isn't much to update. We are trying to get our financing in order to even just put an offer in on the 'dream' farm that we found. We know we can get the financing, it's just a matter of trying to set it up the way WE want. James has been very busy with a huge deal at work too and since he is the one with the creative financing connections, the ball is really in his court. He really is putting in a lot of long hours so although I am crazy impatient to get this journey to the next stage, I respect where he's at.

Thank you to everyone for the warm wishes that we can get this going. I promise to post as soon as we have some info.

We will have more hurdles to jump over once the financing is in place so I know this could drag out for months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sellers will jump at our first offer but I'm not going to hold my breath. Since the property is probably $100,000 - $150,000 over priced, plus housing prices are continuing to drop, we will be coming at them with a much lower offer then they are asking. We are willing to play the waiting game but it's going to be stressful!

Reducing our Global Footprint - Animal Power!

2009-01-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

I'm sure some of you will think I am insane (hubby does) with this idea but let me start by saying that I really do love working with horses. I grew up on a horse farm and then worked at one during highschool (co-op placement). That being said, I'm also not a glutton for punishment so if the reality is too much, then we will switch to something more conventional.

After talking with Nicole Heath at our visit to her farm (previous post) I was surprised to hear about the problems she had with hiring someone else to harvest her hay. Then I started hearing the same thing from other people. I guess the problem comes in that those you hire will have their own hay fields. Since you are often dealing with a short window for haying, they will look after their fields first, which leaves some small farmers stuck when the weather turns. I thought that one way around this would be to barter with the other farmer, half the hay crop would be his/hers and in that way they would be more motivated to see that it's actually managed properly. However, I'm also not willing to try it out and risk losing our hay for the year.

A lot of the larger equipment that will finish a field quickly is very expensive. Fine if you're in the hay business or have a huge acreage to do but that's not our situation. There is smaller equipment available and I'm keeping that in the back of my mind as I explore this idea. I really would like to reduce our global footprint and reducing our use of fossil fuels seems like a good idea to me.

So my idea is to have draft animals. I know that Dexter cattle can be used but they are slower and will already be working for us by producing meat. Horses are faster, and when watching videos of people using animals, it was obvious that they are easier to work with. With oxen there are often two people working the animals, with one generally leading/walking near their heads. With the horses, you can direct them with one person, from the rear, which lends itself to ride on equipment.

Here is the haying process and machines we will need. The machines are often available inexpensively although condition can be an issue.

Cutting the Hay with a Side Sickle Mower

Flip the Hay with a Hay Tedder

Turning Hay and Putting it into Windrows Using a Hay Rake

Loading the Wagon with a Hay Loader

Loading into the Barn with a Grappling Hook

Wet hay is a big issue for many farms. Compact bales can burst into flames from the head generated in the middle of the bale. According to a local farmer loose hay isn't as big of a concern, although there is always 'too wet'.

I'm still researching what breed of horse we will have. At this point I'm leaning towards the Canadian.

The Glue to Hold it all Together - Multi-Species Farming

2009-01-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

For those of you that have been following my blog, you would have noticed that I have spoken of many different species we want to have on the farm. There are several reasons for having all these animal species, here are the top two. The first, is that it will provide our family with a varied diet and hopefully eliminate all outside meat. The second, is that it will allow us to have a multi-species farming operation which has many benefits.

Let me start by offering a bit of a disclaimer here. I am not currently farming. Information from farmers that are using this system seems to be very limited. In addition there are different methods within this system that make specifics even harder to gather information on. These are ideas. I have learned about the different species, what they eat, how they eat and how they can all work together in a beneficial ecosystem. I have then taken that knowledge to come up with a plan on what we would like to try. Of course the minor (and often important) details will only reveal themselves once we are actually farming and we all know they can have a major impact on success!

Just as in nature, animals on a farm can exist together in a well balanced ecosystem. We plan to have all the animals housed and on pasture together. Some systems will have the animals separated and 'follow' the other animals through the rotational grazing system. I feel the most benefits can happen from them living in the same pasture and worry about the 'follow' system's abilities to limit parasite populations. Worming seems to be a huge part of many farming operations and we really want to eliminate, or at least limit, the need for these. To do that, we need to take it back to the source by not giving the parasites the environment to thrive and grow, mainly by breaking their life cycle.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the rotational grazing system often has the animals come into a new pasture when is 8" long and are taken out when it is 4". Parasitologists know that 80%-90% of the parasites never travel higher than 2"-2.5" above the soil. By only allowing the animals to graze it down to 4", it will help reduce the number that they ingest. In addition, the 3 main poultry/waterfowl we have chosen will eat the parasites or break up the manure of the larger animals.

Good pasture will provide excellent nutrition for the animals and will help with evaluating the grass heights to know when it is time for the animals to move on. The previous post revealed that one of the challenges with many grazing systems is that only certain plants are grazed. Over time the 'ungrazed' plants can gain an upper hand and the grazed plants can die back. One way of reducing this is by giving the pasture a period of rest and regrowth, the other is to till and reseed. However, there is another way to ensure that all the plants are grazed evenly. It seems so simple - have different types of animals, that eat different types of plants, all in the pasture at the same time. In this way the animals will all eat down the plants so no one species 'should' have the advantage. Of course, we will need to adjust the number of animals, reseeding schedules etc.

Pigs are well know natural tillers and many claim they can't be properly pastured because they will tear up the pasture. When provided with plenty of good pasture and lots of space, this seems to be a bit of a myth, although some breeds are said to be 'worse' than others. The minor amount of tilling that the pigs will do should help to further incorporate the animal manures into the soil.

The cows, sheep and goats are all considered ruminants. They eat grasses, legumes and some types of weeds. However, each species has it's preferences, the cows mainly grasses/legumes, sheep a mix of all three and goats seem to prefer the weeds. Even the length of grasses and varieties seem to be different among these species. Actually, there are herds of goats available for farmers to rent to help get rid of some weed infestations. The pigs will eat leaves, grasses, legumes, fruit, vegetable, roots, nuts, insects and small animals. A great compliment to the other species, as long as they don't eat their pasture mates. The chickens, turkeys and ducks will eat plants and bugs (including the worms from larger animal manure). The chickens and ducks will also scratch, or break up with their bills, the manures. All of the birds will eat seeds and grains, but the geese eat grasses, no bugs or animals.

The other benefit of having all the species together is that the larger animals will help to protect the smaller ones, in theory. I'm really hoping this one is true as I've heard some of the birds are very susceptible to predators. Those predators might be a bit reluctant to enter the pasture though if an angry ram, bull or sow is there to run them off.

With all the different animals eating different types of food off the same pasture, you can actually get a much higher number of animals that can be raised on the same acreage. When you are dealing with cattle you can only have, depending on many factors, 1-2 cows per acre. With sheep it may be something like 4. But when you put the animals together you might get 1-2 cows PLUS 4 sheep on that same acreage. Factors that would influence the stocking density rate include breed type, parasite loads, pasture quality etc.

Clear as mud?

Good Plant Usage - Rotational Grazing

2009-01-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

There are different methods of grazing available for livestock. Some systems allow the animals full access to a set pasture on a continual basis. Others will intensively graze an area, only allowing animals on for days (or even hours) to eat all the available grasses before they are moved on to a new area. The method we have chosen is in the middle - a basic rotational grazing system.

The first pasture method has some drawbacks. Firstly that the animals will graze on the plants they like first and then move on to the less desirable plants. However, when given free access, they will come back to those 'favourite' spots as soon as there is just a bit of growth. This means that over time those desired plants will be way over grazed. At the very least they will not have the chance to spread and grow over the pasture and at worst they will die. This type of system likely involves pastures that need to be reseeded and tilled to control weeds.

The second system is the best use of pasture land but very labour intensive. The animals are 'forced' to eat all available plants, thereby 'cutting' back all available plants. Then the pasture is given a period of rest for the plants to grow back up before the animals graze there again. Over time, with reseeding, the pasture will likely build up the type of plants that are being reseeded and there will be a nice nutrient level because of the manure, although care needs to be taken not to 'burn' the area. This is a very labour intensive system though. The animals need to be moved once or twice a day. Depending on the number and type of animals, this could be a bit of a challenge. There is also the added expense for fencing, although inexpensive electrical netting or ribbons are often used. Often the fencing is moved with the animals.

The system we like is a rotational system where the animals are given a moderate size pasture for no more then a week at a time. Ideally you need 5 or 6 pastures the size will be determined by the number and type of animals you keep. Once the first pasture has a length of about 8" the animals are allowed to eat it down to 4" before they are moved on to the next pasture. That first pasture is left for at least a month to help reduce any parasite populations on that pasture. However, some will time it so the animals go back on once the grass is 8" again. This is not a perfect system. It lends itself to some tricky management to be sure the grasses are given time to grow during times of drought, that the grasses don't get too long during times of plenty and that stocking rates are adjusted. Farmers also need to be sure to leave the fields for at least 30 days to break the parasite cycle. However labour is reduced because you only need to move the animals once a week. Fencing is also able to be a more established set up which opens up the system to some of the more difficult to contain animals.

Another consideration needs to be the three basic things most animals need to survive; food, water and shelter. We've covered food but the other two issues need to be considered when looking at these systems.

Obviously the first system allows you to use fixed barns and watering systems. These structures/systems can be rather large. However the drawback in housing animals in a set barn is the need to clean it. As well, there will likely be higher numbers of parasites and pests - flies are a huge issue with many barns.

The intensive systems requires lightweight (often man moved) structures and watering systems. These types of shelters often lose stability in favour of being lightweight, which can lead to blowing over with winds. Again, the work involved in moving structures this frequently is a drawback for many. However, there is often less need for bedding as the available grass is usually enough and there is little need for cleaning out the structure because you just move it to another spot.

I like the rotational system though because it lends itself to a slightly more stable structure, although stability always needs to be considered with a portable unit. However, I can make them a bit heavier and move them with machine or animal power. They still have the benefit of not needing to be cleaned out because they get moved regularly. Moving once a week is a bit more manageable then 1-2 times a day. Parasite levels should also remain low.

I will address more of the issues around grazing a later post looking at multi-species grazing systems.

Here is a good article that explores rotational grazing in detail. http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id143/id143.htm

Experiment Results - Feeder Insects Update

2009-01-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

We started our experiment 12 days ago. The small containers didn't have enough ventilation - well I should say - not as much ventilation as the open top, larger containers we have the majority of the worms in. This meant that the food we put in for moisture (first potato, then apple) became stinky and sometimes moldy very quickly. I decided they were more work then they were worth, especially as I seemed to be doing the majority of the work. Besides, it seems to have been enough time for us to notice some interesting things.

Superworms - all seemed vigorous

Cornmeal - 1 dead

Oats - 5 dead - damp, slightly moldy bedding

Newspaper - 0 dead - damp, slightly moldy bedding

Wheat Bran - 1 dead - damp, slightly moldy bedding

Cereal - 0 dead

I should clarify that many of the noted dead superworms died before we had moldy bedding issues.

Mealworms

Cornmeal - 6 dead - 6 Pupae - worms not moving much - easy to find pupae

Oats - 10 dead - 1 Pupae - pupae can be found but must look closely

Newspaper - 11 dead - 4 Pupae - damp, slightly moldy bedding - easy to find pupae

Wheat Bran - 10 dead - 1 Pupae - slightly damp bedding - hard to find pupae

Cereal - 8 dead - 1 Pupae - worms not moving much - easy to find pupae

The pupae were removed each day to avoid being harmed by the other worms. It would have been beneficial to keep them separate to observe if the pupae later died or produced deformed beetles, which could have been an indication of deficiencies. This has been noticed with some but since all pupae were put in the same container, I have no way of knowing which container they came from.

At the conclusion of the experiment we took out all the dead larvae and any apple we could find. We then put all of the bedding and worms into the big containers with all the other worms.

In conclusion, I find it interesting that we had a lot more dead superworms and a low number of mealworm pupae in the oats. Especially since this was the recommended bedding I found all over the internet. Obviously the cheapest bedding was the newspaper (free) and while not the best it seems comparable to the other mediums. We chose to shred it but this made the paper light and fluffy which means you need a larger container, or use less bedding. You could also try using flat or crumpled sheets but this could affect the ease of cleaning. It became stinky faster, although it was VERY easy to clean out the frass (poop) and/or change the paper. This might not be an issue in an open air container. The cornmeal had the fewest dead mealworms and the highest number of pupae with many of the live worms looking very still. However, mealworms do get very still before they pupate. Without more experience though I have no way of knowing for sure. The cornmeal did seem a bit dense for the mealworms so I think I would grind it finer if I was going to use it. Although it would likely be best to mix in some of the cheaper wheat bran for more 'fluff'.

Updates on the other feeder insects...

We now have 6 mealworm (darkling) beetles with another 18 pupae, some very close to emerging. I think that we will have an explosion of pupae soon because there seem to be a lot of fat, still, larvae sitting on the top of the bedding. One pupae that wasn't able to shed it's larval skin has died (turned from white to black and stopped moving when touched). A second that wasn't able to completely shed it's larval skin is turning black in one spot but it still moves when I touch it.

I now have 12 containers (3 groups) of superworms that I am trying to force to pupate. They are spaced about 6 days apart from when I put them in isolation. Each container has room for 15 superworms. A small number have died but a large number of the first group has curled up, and some of the second group also. Based on our room temperature and set up, it seems to take about 7 days for them to start curling up although we still have some who haven't curled after about 14 days. Curling is the stage before they pupate. We do not have any superworm pupae at this time.

Update: Jan 22, 2009 - We woke up to our first Super (worm) pupae. There were two in the containers. I took a picture of a dime, meal (worm) pupa and super (worm) pupa for comparison. The super pupa is more curled. They are both at about the same stage, just emerged into larvae. I don't know what the super pupa will do but I know the meal pupa will turn yellow quickly.

I'm all for less work! - Deep Litter Systems

2009-01-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

I may have mentioned this in previous posts - I grew up on a horse farm and then did a co-op placement at a farm in highschool. Not that either of those really taught me much about nutrition, horse management or healthcare but it did teach me about mucking out stalls, hauling hay and turning out animals twice a day. Needless to say, these were not may favourite parts of working with horses. No, my favourite part was working with them - riding, grooming or best of all was just hanging out with them in the pastures. Curling up under a big tree to read a book and watch the horses - with the occasional visit.

These experiences are what led me to want a different way of doing things on our farm. I know the responsibility of needing to be there to muck out the stalls once a day and feed at least twice a day, plus turning out the animals in the morning, bringing them back into the barn in the evening. I started to think about the farm being a pleasure and how to reduce the work.

The first thing was how to get away from mucking out. This lead me to search out animals that could survive - no actually thrive - on pasture only, at least during the warm months. I was very relieved to see that there are some to choose from. However, that still left me with the cold months when the warmth and shelter of a barn are going to be really important. Thankfully I discovered a wonderful system known as Deep Litter System or Deep Bedding System.

I first read about it being used for swine management. It's much better for the animals, humans and environment. Recently I came across a good discussion about it among chicken fanciers at the Backyard Chicken website. Essentially it is starting with a good deep layer of bedding. You continue to add to the bedding as the waste builds up. You want to quickly add litter to any areas that smell or are obviously wet. Ventilation is important to keep moisture levels down. Mold would not be a good thing. As the bedding and manure sit on the bottom they will start to decompose, similar to a compost pile. This in turn gives off heat. Think of it as an infloor radiant heat system for your animals. Some with chickens have talked about doing this on wood or other types of floors but they just don't get the same heat generated. The best bet is to start with a nice dirt floor as it will already be populated with all the beneficial microorganisms that compost systems need. You can clean out the barn once or twice a year. Some will spray it down with a mixture of bleach and water or natural citrus disinfectants when it is cleaned.

We plan to have the animals on pasture, in a rotational grazing system, to maximize grazing and keep parasite loads down (that will be another post). So we will only be using the barn in the winter, which should also help with parasites as it will be free of animals for half the year. We can start with a nice deep litter in the fall, add to it over the winter and then clean it out in the spring when the animals go back to pasture.

Sounds great right? However, I could just imagine the huge mound of bedding I was going to need to shovel each year. I know that the bedding will be great to compost, which will leave me with some really good stuff for the gardens. At first I was thinking I would need to move the bedding from the barn to compost piles and then to the garden. Always looking for a way to do less work (I'm sure there will be more than enough) I wondered about composting in the barn.

On turned the eager wheels of my mind and I started thinking about barns that would be best for this type of system - deep bedding turned compost pile - and easy to clear out. The farm we want has two really nice, big century barns with great big haylofts and they have been well maintained. However, at some point a concrete floor was put in, including a tract system for manure removal in the big barn. Long term I could see us taking out those floors and having the animals there but at this point it's a huge project.

However, there are also two 'machine' shed buildings on the property. One of these will likely be perfect for what we want. Someone was thinking when they put this structure up as it has a nice cement block foundation that comes up to about 4 feet on three of the walls. The third long wall has several large doors that slide open. It has a dirt floor.

This would provide us with several things we need for this to work well.

A dirt floor to properly 'seed' the bedding.
Large doors that facilitate ventilation - especially in the spring and through the summer as the bedding decomposes. It also provides very easy access for a tractor to be used to clean out the barn.
Cement block foundation which will provide three important things - a solid wall to block the wind, provides a barrier for the beneficial composters to be kept in the pile and provides some insulation value from the frozen ground outside to the hopefully unfrozen ground in the barn.
The top part of the barn is a spaced board design - similar to what you see in century barn haylofts. This can be great for ventilation but we may consider putting in something different to help brighten up the indoor space and leave the top portion open for even better ventilation. Still working on this idea.

I'm even looking at what types of beneficial critters I can add to the bedding to help with the composting. I wrote in an earlier post about the red wigglers I'm trying out. They are great little composters and can provide a food source for the poultry/waterfowl. They do extremely well in manure systems and tend to get very big with this type of food source. I'm thinking about 'seeding' the dirt floor with red wigglers - including their castings and beneficial microorganisms. Then lay the clean bedding on top of this layer.

It really makes me think of the system I have now.

I gave them a bedding of newspaper and cardboard - on the farm it would be straw.
I give them food throughout the bedding, keeping a low food to bedding ratio - on the farm they will be getting manure.
They are contained to avoid them wiggling away to greener pastures - on the farm the cement block foundation will keep them contained to the barn, that and I'm sure the frozen ground will also keep them in.

Obviously I won't know until I can actually try it out on the farm but here is my plan.

Seed the barn floor with red wigglers and their compost in the fall.
Cover with a nice deep layer of bedding - likely straw.
Wait a couple of weeks for the worms and composting to get established.
Bring the animals to the barn, with free access to the outside, where they can forage through that summer's gardens, in addition to pasture.
Add bedding as needed throughout the fall, winter and spring.
Return the animals to pasture in the spring.
Open up the doors to the barn and allow the worms to finish composting the bedding over the summer.
Clean out the compost in the fall and add to the gardens for the next year, which the animals, especially the pigs and chickens, will help work into the soil as they search for the forage in the beds.
Reserve some of the compost - complete with red wigglers.
Start back at #1

At this point it sounds really good, easy and straight forward. I'm hoping it proves to be reality instead of fantasy...

Plans Sometimes Change - Kiko Goats

2009-01-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Early on I wrote about the Toggenburg goats. They are a lovely breed of heritage, dairy goats. However, our main focus is on producing meat, only enough milk for the family. So I have continued my search and it has brought me back to the Kiko goats.

Now these goats don't technically fall under the heading of 'heritage'. They were developed by a New Zealand corporation and introduced in 1987. However, the breed is taken from the large feral goat population that had been running wild for a long time. This produced a goat that was very well suited to take care of itself. The corporation cross bred the feral goats with other goat breeds to improve milk and meat production.

The breed was first imported to the United States in 1992. I can't find clear information on when they were first imported to Canada, but I believe they came from the United States, so sometime after 1992. They are doing well in the US but didn't seem to take off in their native New Zealand. There are a few breeders in Canada but it seems very limited. This could mean that we look into bringing breeding stock from the US, to help increase the genetic diversity of the breed here. It can be a bit of a gamble to import animals, as recent years have shown. I am assuming that not many do it because of that and the added expense. So, perhaps by us importing we can actually be helping other breeders to fill out their herds with new bloodlines.

There seem to be two different 'strains' of Kikos - New Zealand Kikos and American Kikos. I think we will try to bring up the New Zealand Kikos. Here is what we like about them...

Hardy - thrives under less then ideal conditions
Resistant to parasites
Good hooves
Superior growth
Substantial weight gains on pasture only
Lean, well- muscled, large frame
Will grow longer hair in colder climates
Good utter placement and attachment
Good mothering skills and capability
Kids born average size with considerable vigor
Exceptional survivability under natural conditions

I often view my life as a fluid journey. I need to be open to the ebbs and flows, sometimes riding on the tides of change. Some change can be good and I think the Kikos will work out much better for our farm then the Toggenburgs would have.

Rouen Ducks

2009-01-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

The Rouen Duck was developed in France. It is pronounced roan. They look very similar to the Mallard but are bigger. It is considered a heritage breed, admitted to the American Standard in 1874. The http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website lists the Rouen (production) duck as critical. So, once again it will be tough to find some breeding stock. I can get them from a big hatchery in the US but of course would need to pay extra for health papers and pick them up in our closest US city. I'm pretty sure I also found a Canadian source but I'll have to check my notes.

Here's why I picked this breed.

Excellent foragers
Calm, docile disposition
Unlikely to fly
Mature drake 8 lbs, duck 7 lbs
35 - 150 eggs a year
Leaner meat
Beautiful 'wild' look
Premier meat bird
Fine roasting birds - tasty, abundant, delicately flavoured flesh
Slow to mature, 6-8 months
Pond not required but definitely appreciated!

Chantecler Chickens - true Canadians!

2009-01-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

When researching chicken breeds I came across the Chantecler Chickens. This heritage breed was developed here in Canada, Quebec to be exact. They were recognized as a breed in 1921. The name is derived from two french words, "chanter" - to sing and "clair" - bright. The main focus in developing this breed was so they could tolerate our harsh winters. They have small comb and wattles to avoid frostbite. The original birds were white but a partridge colour was developed and excepted as a breed in 1935. I think we will be looking for the partridge colour for the farm. The http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website lists the Chantecler chicken as vulnerable.

Here's why we picked this breed.

They're Canadian!
Dual purpose - eggs and meat
Small comb and wattles - frostbite resistant
Very hardy
Brown partridge colour should be a bit 'warmer'
Dependant on age, roosters 3.4 kg - 3.9 kg, hens 2.5 kg - 3.0 kg
Well fleshed breast
Good winter layer
Up to 210 light brown eggs, per year, per bird
Calm, gentle and personable

Now the challenge will be finding good breeding stock. There seem to be some good resources out there so we are hopeful.

Pilgrim Geese

2009-01-13T07:10:00.000-08:00

I'll start off by saying that I really know very little about geese. So, this post will be a 'learn as I write' tool. The http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website lists the Pilgrim geese as critical here in Canada. This means that it's going to be kind of tough for me to get eggs. I may have one contact though so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They are considered a heritage breed.

Here are some of the things I like about them.

Only breed sexed by colour - males white, females grey
Fairly docile, calm, personable, sweet-tempered
Quiet
Good foragers
Geese weigh 13 lbs, large gander up to 16 lbs
Good egg layers (35-45 annually)
Excellent natural parents
Good medium-sized roasting bird
Ganders can be mated with 3-5 geese
Easy keepers
Pond appreciated but not necessary
Will 'sound the alarm' at any intrusion
Can be raised on pasture only

According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, there are a few things to be aware of when looking for breeding stock.

When selecting for breeding stock "look for broad backs and breasts that are keelless. Stay away from using birds with any sign of a knob (an indication of crossbreeding), long necks and legs, shallow breasts, ganders with excessive gray in the plumage and geese with predominantly white necks. Because Pilgrims are noted for being sweet-tempered, this trait should be considered when retaining birds for reproduction." (Holderread, 1981).

Geese are vegetarians and will graze on the pastures we plan to have. They love dandelions, apples, etc. Of course you can also use their down to make pillows.

Bourbon Red Turkeys

2009-01-11T20:33:00.000-08:00

The turkey breed we have decided to go with is the Bourbon Red. They are considered a heritage breed and were developed in the United States. They are also listed as vulnerable on the www.RareBreedsCanada.ca website. These birds are absolutely beautiful.

Here are some of the things we like about these birds...

Standard weights are 23 lbs for young toms, 14 lbs for young hens.
Active foragers, likely do well on pasture.
Superior flavour.
Biological fitness.
Survivability.

According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, this breed has not been selected for production attributes for years so we will need to carefully select for a natural ability to mate, egg production and good health. For our personal needs we will also be selecting for hens that will sit on their own nests and raise their own poults (baby turkeys).

Small Cattle (Don't call them mini)

2009-01-10T13:49:00.001-08:00

Back to talking about some of the breeds we've chosen for the farm. James was concerned about the children and I working around the large cattle breeds we often see. So I researched smaller breeds. Of course, I came across several mini breeds - mini meaning they are a smaller version of the full size breed. Thankfully, I found the Dexter cattle. These are not minis of any other breed but instead a distinct breed all on their own. Many Dexter cattle breeders are rather touchie when you call their cattle 'mini'. This breed originated in Ireland. We were able to see some of these cattle at Nicole Heath's farm during our recent visit. I think they will be a nice size for me. They are listed on the http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website and are a heritage breed (first Royal Dublin Society records date back to 1879).

Here are some of the reasons we think this breed will work for us.

Dual purpose - meat and milk
Produce rich, easily digested, small-fat-globule milk
Lean, tender, tasty meat
Small size - cows 38-42 inches, 750 lbs - bulls 38-44 inches, 1000 lbs
Thrifty and hardy
Thrive in all climates and pasture types
Can be raised and finished on pasture alone
Docile, calm, gentle nature
Calving ease, cows can calve into their 20s
Dexter Cattle in the UK have resisted Mad Cow Disease

As with many of the breeds we are looking at, there is a debate on whether to have horned or naturally polled (hornless) animals. Although I realize that we can only know for sure by actually working with these animals, most of the owners of the horned animals don't see the horns as a safety issue. Some even like the 'handles' they offer when needing to handle the animals. You obviously need to be aware of them but most injuries seem to be true accidents rather than the animal deliberately trying to injure someone. We also plan to have goats. My research revealed that all goats have horns. If you have a naturally polled goat, it will be sterile. Since there is no way we will de-horn our goats and we plan to put all of the animals in the same pasture, I thought it best for all the animals to have horns. I've also discovered that I really like the look of a nice set of horns.

You can learn more about this vulnerable breed of cattle at the Canadian Dexter Cattle Association website (http://www.dextercattle.ca/info.html).

Worms, worms and more worms

2009-01-07T18:19:00.000-08:00

Ok, so now we have meal worms and super worms. I called Cathy at Cathy's Crawly Composters (http://www.cathyscomposters.com/) and we are getting 1 lb of red wigglers on Friday. She said I should put out some water overnight and then I can set up the bedding tomorrow. This should get it, at least a bit, 'seasoned' for the worms on Friday. I was a bit worried that the house might be a bit too cool for the red wigglers but she said 60-80 should be fine. I've searched on the internet and found instructions for setting up worm bins. I'll have a look for some bins tomorrow, we should have some used for storing old clothing, in the basement. It will give me a reason to get rid of some more junk.

I've had a bit of a look at greenhouses today but I really need to decide what exactly we would be growing in them. I know they would be great for starting seeds in the spring but wonder about having some things over the winter too. I definitely need to do more research though.

The worm experiments all seem to be going just fine. We will wait until tomorrow before we write up any observations.

We ate the Tamworth pork sausages today that we got from Nicole. They were good. I must admit that there was a small part of me that worried the 'great' flavour of the heritage breeds would be a bit gamie - thankfully my worries were for not! Of course when we have our own pork, we can also have our own sausages to suit our tastes. James is really looking forward to doing that as I have had the sausage making attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer for ages and never used it.

I also went out today and got bacon and eggs from Don Howard. We met Don at the farmers market, on Main Street in Newmarket. He has all kinds of meat available, although it is all frozen. The kids and I have been to visit his farm a couple of times. His animal husbandry practices are a bit different than what we plan to have but his meats are 'naturally' raised. He's just north of Newmarket. If anyone would like his contact info, just send me an email.

This post is a bit about everything. I will hopefully be able to focus on just one topic tomorrow. Maybe another breed of animal.

Experiment Time with the Kids

2009-01-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

The kids and I decided to start a little experiment today. Here is what Shaughna recorded for us.

Super Worms

Purpose:
What is the cheapest food we can give the Super Worms,and still keep them alive.

Equiptment:
-5 three cup opaque containers
-Opaque blue lids
-Drill
-Small drillbit
-Corn meal
-Wheat bran
-Grain cereal
-Super Worms
-Shredded newspaper
-Organic large oats
-Potatoes
-1 cup size measuring cup

-Habitat with full spectrum light and heat lamp

Methods:
1. Drilled 3 holes per side each container.
2. Poured 1 cup of each medium into each container.
3. We put 20 worms and one slice of potatoe in each container.
4. Containers were put in the dark, under the bearded dragon habitat.

5. The next morning, we noticed that many of the worms were at the top of their medium and very still. This could be due to light or temperature, so we moved them up above to the sunny, warm bearded dragon habitat.

Notes:
01/06/09 – Costs were $0.15 for 2 cups Wheat Bran, $0.80 for 2 cups Grain Cereal, $1.30 for 2 + cups Corn Meal. Cost of Oats $6.59 for 2.27 kg. Newspaper was waste, therefore free.

We took some pictures. Most of the worms burrowed into the medium very quickly, so you won't see many in the pictures. Shaughna decided to leave the lid on the newspaper one because she didn't want any crawling out - then she might actually need to pick one up. Funny how the little girl who use to love digging in the dirt, hunting for crayfish and playing with bugs is now consumed by the 'ick' factor when dealing with Super Worms. The last photo shows 10 containers because we also plan to do the same thing with the Meal Worms when I pick them up tonight.

Update! I got the meal worms tonight. They are very tiny. So, the meal worm experiment can also include how well they will grow in the different mediums. However, they were also different sizes, so likely different ages too. I put 50 worms in each container and the rest in a big bin with the oats. I bought a bin of about 1000.

More Feeder Insects

2009-01-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

If you have noticed some of my earlier posts, you may have noticed the one on Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL). I'm still very optimistic about this little creature but since I'm in Canada and they are reluctant to breed indoors, I guess I will need to wait until the spring. However, in my search for other types of feeder insects, I have come across two.

The superworm is the first. Actually we have been using superworms to feed our two bearded dragons for a while now. We have even seen plenty of the beetles hanging around but had no idea how easy they could be to breed. With a bit of research, I have discovered how to go about doing it. Usually we just have a shallow pan in the big habitat for the beardies and they help themselves when they are hungry. We don't usually do much for them, just add some scraps every once in awhile but the beardies eat them fairly quickly. However, when I went to have a look in the pan to see if there were any left (for me to start my project) I was surprised that there were about 100.

So here is what I have done - as per instructions found all over the Internet.

1. Moved all the worms to a nice clean bed of oats. I added a few slices of potato for moisture.

2. At first I tried to find small containers to encourage them to pupate but then I decided to just go one of the small 'organizer' bins since they seemed so much easier and compact.

3. I drilled holes in the 'organizer' bins - I'll call them keepers from now on.

4. I put 1 worm in each of the compartments in the keepers.

5. I put all the keepers in a larger bin and put them under the habitat, in the base. In doing so I found some casting from the beetles we likely saw in the past. So I figure it's a good spot to put these ones.

6. Now I wait! I plan to do another batch in more keepers next week too, just to keep the supply going.

So the other feeder insect I came across was the mealworms. By all accounts these are extremely easy to raise. There are different ways of raising them but one guy on the net said he just puts them all in one bin and they do the rest. As long as they have fresh, clean bedding every once in a while and get potato slices for moisture, they seem to supply a continuous stock for feeding his pets. Now, if you are looking to have optimum yield, then you probably want to separate out the pupae, then put the beetles into their own container. I haven't decided which method to use yet.

First Farm Visit

2009-01-04T04:48:00.000-08:00

We decided to make the drive to Nicole Heath's farm yesterday http://www.veliraf.com/. It was myself, James, the two youngest kids and our friend Ian. It was so extremely important that we get to see these animals in person. The pigs were a bit bigger than James had expected but thankfully the cows were a bit smaller than I had expected. I think it's all coming together.

James noted that Nicole and I tried to fit a lot of info into our relatively short conversation. I personally think it comes from both of us having many kids - we know that you only have a set amount of time before they demand your attention and your chance to gather/provide info is ended. Of course, that is exactly what happened. The little ones got cold and it was time for us to go.

Nicole was a wonderful and informative. She was patient and answered all our questions. We both acknowledged that our animal husbandry practices will likely be different but this didn't stop us from talking about the different issues that come up with the animals. We also touched on a rather contentious issue that seems to come up among breeders - other breeders that flood the market with cheaper animals that, although registered, do not carry those characteristic that highlight the breed standards. As a newbie, it is important for me to learn what those standards are and be very careful on which breeders I purchase my herd stock from. Some traits could be very hard for me to get rid of. Thankfully, I don't think that this is the norm and the majority of responsible breeders out there are truly interested in the best for the breeds they work with.

We have some pork sausages, gift from Nicole, that we hope to cook up today. I'll be sure to let everyone know what our thoughts are.

On a side note, the conversation about running sheep and pigs together has taken a rather bizarre turn over at the Sugar Mountain Farm blog http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/. Go for a visit as it is well worth a few chuckles!

Here are a few pictures from Veliraf Farm. She has other breeds/species on her farm but these are the ones we went to see..

The Tamworth Pigs

The Icelandic Sheep

The Dexter Cattle

The Tamworth Pig

2009-01-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get over my shyness and have mentioned this blog to a few. Thanks to all those that are stopping by and offering their experience.

In my search for heritage breeds I have been fortunate to come across someone that lives about 1-1.5 hours away from me, with several of the breeds we have been researching. Her name is Nicole Heath at Veliraf Farm (http://www.veliraf.com/). Hopefully the kids and I will be able to go for a visit soon. I can't wait to see all these animals in person, and of course meet Nicole ;}.

The Tamworth pig was another animal that didn't take much for us to decide on. They are one of the oldest pig breeds and listed as critical on the http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website. They are described as a long-legged ginger pig. Yes they have red 'hair'!

Here are some of the traits we like...

'Easy keeper'
Dual purpose - pork and bacon
Exceptional tasting lean meat
Loving, talkative, gentle giant
Good conversion on poor pasture, even rough forest
Disease resistant
Good mothers with lots of milk
Tolerant of temperature extremes
Ginger colour protects them from sunburn

I've had a hard time finding out info on handling boars. Nicole has a boar so I hope we can get a better idea of the reality of these animals, especially size and temperament simply by seeing them in person. Hubby has been worried about me handling some of the male animals and them being around the kids. I know the importance of keeping an eye on animals, looking at their behaviours and knowing that there are just some times when it's not a good idea to handle them. I don't intend to have the kids around any animal that I can't trust. I've also been exploring safe and gentle herding techniques but that will need to wait for another post.

Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL)

2009-01-01T22:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We are really hoping this will be our year of putting into practice all of our dreams.

Yes, the title today is accurate. Let me give a bit of background on why I've been researching the Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) and then I will talk a bit about what I've discovered.

We are really looking for farming methods that are sustainable, environmentally healthy and require as little work from us as possible. We want to avoid buying any feed for the animals because that will only take away from us being able to cut our food bills and will likely introduce things into our food sources that we don't want (unless we want to pay even more for organic).

With the cattle, sheep and goat breeds we have chosen, it looks like they will all thrive on pasture and/or hay, which we can grow ourselves and work out a crop sharing with a local farmer to handle the harvesting (hopefully). However, I have been very worried about the pigs, chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. During the summer months I am fairly confident that there will be plenty of available food sources for them but I am also fairly confident that they won't be able to survive on just hay for the cold months. I've been researching native local wild diets of these types of animals, trying to discover things that could be grown and harvested for winter feeding.

My most recent search brought me face to face with the lord of the flies - Jerry at http://www.blacksoldierflyblog.com/. Well not exactly face to face, more like my face in front of the computer while I have spent the last 16 hours reading all I could find about these creatures - and almost all that info was from Jerry - on various forums around the Internet. I looks like these ravenous little larvae are amazingly efficient at turning basic kitchen scraps into food for the animals (themselves) and food for red wigglers (but that is another post).

Here is the information I have gathered - of course taken from the blog above.

Bio-conversion
The process of feeding organic wastes to black soldier fly larvae is called bio-conversion. That’s because the process doesn’t exactly eliminate the garbage, it converts it into BSF larvae. Rotting garbage is a liability and BSF larvae are a valuable asset. (more about bio-conversion HERE)

Generally accepted data about black soldier flies and larvae
· They are not associated with the transmission of diseases.
· They don’t bite or sting and they avoid human habitats.
· Their presence in waste deters or even eliminates house fly reproduction in that waste.
· Larvae rapidly consume almost any organic waste except for high cellulose items like yard waste or paper.
· Larvae reduce the volume of household food waste by up to 95%.
· A 2 foot (60cm) container of larvae can process several pounds of household food waste in 24 hours.
· When larvae mature they will self harvest using a simple ramp system.
· Live larvae are very nutritious and are readily consumed by many different animals (pigs, chickens, reptiles, fish, etc).
· Meal made from dried larvae is roughly equal to Menhaden fish meal, a valuable and widely used ingredient in animal feeds.

Right now it is January in Southern, Ontario, Canada so giving this a try isn't really an option, on a large scale, at this point. However, James (hubby) actually pointed out these little critters to me months ago as a project for raising food for our two beaded dragons. Like a good, attentive wife - I dismissed him entirely. Raising flies in the house - disgusting! (I now know it isn't disgusting at all). As reluctant as I am to put this in writing, I was wrong. Oh, that hurt.

I am now so excited about this that I was ready to order some today. But alas it is a holiday and a Thursday too so any suppliers will not ship until Monday. I think I can make it.

Now you might be asking, what exactly is she planning to do? I will explain a bit further. As I mentioned, we have two bearded dragon lizards. What I haven't mentioned is that they are spoiled and exalted members of our family. This past summer we bought them an elaborate (used) and extremely large (had to fight to get it thought the door - even in sections) habitat. Their living space is about 6' length x 3' width 4' height. We bought a full spectrum light used for growing plants indoors. The habitat was once used for a water dragon so has a 'pond' area that we usually use as a 'garden' with plants they can eat. There is even a built in drain to remove the pond water. The entire habitat is enclosed (to keep in the heat) except for two vents in the top, one in the floor and small holes in each of the two doors.

Let me just clarify here that the 'pond' I refer to will NOT have water in it. I simply refer to it as that because it was it's original intended purpose in the habitat. The environment needed for the worms should be essentially dry but with some moisture, just not a lot of standing liquid or the larvae can die.

Here is the plan. We will purchase larvae from a Canadian supplier with different size larvae. We will set them up in the 'pond' area, with a makeshift ramp. The lizards can eat them as they self harvest up the ramp. I'm sure they will miss a few and hopefully there will be enough that make it to maturity that we will have some flies. The flies don't tend to go too far but they do need to mate while flying. We are hoping that this enclosure will be big enough, as long as the mating activity doesn't get them eaten by the beardies. The habitat is still small enough though that there are plenty of dry areas for egg laying and small enough for the larvae to still be close to the food source.

I haven't seen anything from anyone else about trying this (exactly) although there is research about other closed indoor systems. There are two things that usually come with BSFL. Heat - which is welcomed for this habitat and too much liquid, if fed high liquid foods, but we can drain this if necessary. I guess the only other thing is the light but we can put a lightweight cover over the 'pond' for the BSFL, which will hopefully keep the beardies from eating the immature BSFL, although they might prefer these.

Here is a pic of the habitat. Note the 'pond' (black 'circle' on the bottom), the light above, and the irritated beardie that was trying to sleep!

Looks like I will be ordering some Phoenix Worms on Monday!

Update! It seems that the BSF is not as easy to breed indoors as I thought it would be there. There have been studies to look at effective systems but at this point it looks like a lot of space (in a greenhouse) is required for the mating habit of this industrious little creature. So it looks like we will be waiting until the spring to try and get a colony going. Which is fine because we probably won't have animals until then. I really want to know how to dry them though so maybe they can be used that way in the winter, as dry feed. I'm looking at other feeder insects though so check some of the more recent posts for updates.

Our Ideal Sheep

2008-12-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

We discovered the Icelandic sheep breed very early on in our research. Although they are not listed on the http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ website, they are an ancient breed that can be traced back to the time of the Vikings. Iceland found that any time they brought in other breeds, it 'infected' their herds and lead to disease. So, Iceland stopped all imports. It was introduced fairly recently to Canada and then into the US.

The Icelandic Sheep Breeders of North America website (http://www.isbona.com/) is a wonderful resource. Here are the things that seem to fit with what we want;

Triple purpose breed for fiber, meat and milking.
Excellent mothers.
Vigorous Lambs.
Suitable for pasture lambing.
Highly prolific, reliable twinners.
Thrive on good pasture and hay.
Early maturing, medium sized and long lived.
Finish on good pasture in 4 to 5 months.
Mild flavoured, lean meat.
Farmstead milk and cheese.
Soft lustrous dual coated fleece.
High value products for niche markets.

They come in many different colours and are polled or horned. I think we will likely go with horned as many of the other animals will also be horned. This particular breed of sheep may have a gene (Thoka gene) that causes multiple births of triplets, quads, quints and even sextuplets. Since it is our wish for our animals to raise and care for their young, without our assistance, we will not be looking for breeding stock that has this gene. We want the kids to grow quickly and to their optimum potential. I think twins will be enough of a challenge for the ewe to feed and I certainly don't want to get into bottle feeding.

Obviously shearing will be a new experience for us. Since we plan to start out small it will be unlikely we would hire someone in to do it. So, it looks like I will be learning this art! There are plenty of videos on the Internet to demonstrate shearing and I have seen it done at some of the Highland Games we've been to. It would be nice though to find someone to teach me first hand. I also hope to learn how to process the raw fiber; cleaning, carding, spinning. Thankfully I already know how to knit ;}.

There is a meat processor just down the street from 'the farm', another reason we really like the location. Gestation is 142-144 days, then the lambs will be ready for processing at about 4-5 months. So, if breeding goes well, it would be 10-11 months later that we will have meat for the freezer. It will be so awesome to feel that I am providing for the family again and taking some of the pressure off James. With such a large family, you can imagine our grocery bills!

A big part of me wants to start with animals that have birthed before and are pregnant. Since we are inexperienced we hope this will ease us into things. Of course, this route is more expensive but faster. Also, we will be able to see the adult temperament of any of the animals we get. On the flip side, if we get a young lamb and bottle feed it, we will likely have a very friendly animal for our breeding stock - in theory. We would then assume that any future lambs would also be friendly, if their mama is. If we can afford it, I would pick proven adult breeding stock...

Selecting a Goat Breed

2008-12-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

For the last two years I have been researching different breeds of animals for the farm. I think I will go through each animal and the breed we chose so that others can understand why. However, the one that I have had the hardest time with is the goats.

Let me back track a bit and list the types of animals we hope to have on the farm. We really like the idea of Heritage breeds of animals. We also prefer those that are listed on http://www.rarebreedscanada.ca/ because we understand the importance of preserving genetic diversity for future generations, especially as our world is saturated with a few main breeds suitable to confinement type operations. As we are interested in homestead type farming, we are looking for animals that are especially hardy, parasite resistant, multi-purpose, thrive on pasture feed, pasture breeding, giving birth without aid and raising their own young.

Now to the goats. Rare Breeds Canada lists 6 breeds that need help. In order of priority they are;

San Clemente Island Goat
Tennessee Fainting Goat
Angora Goat
Toggenburg Goat
Nubian Goat
Saanen Goat

We've ruled out the San Clemente Island Goat as they are too small for our plans. The Tennessee Fainting Goats are interesting but we worry about their safety running with other animals in a multi-species grazing situation. The Angora seem interesting but since we will get fleece from the sheep, there really isn't the need.

This brings us to the Toggenburgs.

I really like what I have read about these goats and am really leaning towards this breed. Here are some of the reasons I like them. If you can add any insight, please comment!

We can milk them.
The are an old, heritage breed.
They seem a good size and while not ideal, they can be used for meat.
Cold climates seem to suit them, actually they thrive in the cold.
They have good feet.
They have a gentle, affectionate, alert, friendly temperament.
Listed as extremely hardy.
Easy kidders.
Good mothers.
Fine foragers.

I've considered the Nubian goats as they seem to have good milk for cheese and are listed as dual purpose - milk and meat. However, everywhere I look it is emphasized that these goats are loud and stubborn.

Lastly their is the Saanen goats. They seem to be the best of the dairy goats but since our main focus is not on milking but on meat, this doesn't seem to be the goat for us. The breed also seems to have very strict standards and many goats are deemed unfit simply for not being white. There is a movement to recognize the 'coloured' Saanens as their own breed.

Since we do plan to use the goats mainly for meat, I did look at some of the meat specific breeds. The Boer was the first but it is so widespread that it really doesn't fit with our heritage goals. Their is the Kiko which I really like because of their extreme hardiness but again they are not a heritage goat, being developed more recently.

Our First Blog...

2008-12-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

This is my very first blog entry. Please excuse me if it's a bit dry as I'm not to sure how this all works, so I will just go ahead and type...

A bit about us and why I thought a blog would be a good idea. James and I have been close friends since high school and it's now been 18 years that we have been together. We have six children. Our life together has been a roller coaster adventure ride but the last two years have been particularly changing for our family.

Almost two years ago we made the great leap into homeschooling. I left midwifery school, and all the birth/breastfeeding work I loved, so that I could spend time with the people I really love being with - my family. This decision also allowed us to explore other lifestyle changes we had always dreamed about.

This brings us to our current path. We think we have found our dream home! There have been other places that we have seen over the years but this one seems to have everything we are looking for. Of course, there is a catch. The property is way overpriced. I was going to just skip over the uncertainty and journey related to buying this farm but I guess this is what blogging is for.

So here are some of the steps we have taken. We've been searching http://www.mls.ca/ for properties that meet our search criteria for a few months now. This was a bit risky though because we knew we wouldn't be in a position to buy until January 2009 at the minimum and optimally spring 2009. However, it's really nice to be able to look and dream. So, when we spotted the place we loved, we figured we absolutely had to see it. At first we simply contacted the listing agent and asked for a viewing. What we hadn't realized is that unless we wanted the listing agent to also represent our interests, then we needed to find our own agent.

A friend of ours, Ian MacRae, had recently sold his house with realtor Michael Dorrian. His house wasn't expensive yet Mike still put in an impressive amount of work to get the house sold. The area we were looking to buy is a fair distance from Mike's usual stomping ground but we thought we would at least ask if he would come with us for a viewing. Michael Dorrian has, to this point, gone well above and beyond anything we had expected. He has taken the 1.5 hour drive with us twice now to see the farm. He's done satellite searches and even made an extra drive back just to join their local 'board'. If you're looking for an agent in the Newmarket, Ontario, Canada area then check out http://www.michaeldorrian.ca/. His site will also likely become a great resource for others wanting information on buying a home.

We haven't put in an offer yet as we are waiting for the banker to go out and do an assessment. Since it is the holiday season, many businesses are closed and professionals away. We hope the banker will be able to get out next week but it might be the new year before we can line things up.

The next step was finding a home inspector. Although we haven't put in an offer yet, we did realize that the home inspection is probably the most important thing we could do before buying a home. So we wanted to make sure that we did a lot of research beforehand. That way we could move quickly, with confidence, once we were in the position to do so. We were very lucky to find Mike O'Grady. He has extensive experience which you could learn about at http://www.mikeogrady.ca/. I'll write more once we have actually done business with him.

We also researched other properties in the area to be sure we paid fair market value for the farm. We found at least one that is a comparable size however it's 'turn key' ready with very little upgrading needed. It's also listed at $100,000 less then the farm we like. We like the property more on the comparable but we prefer the layout of the house for the one we've chosen. 'The Farm' needs some work, especially as the house was built in the 1880s. Electrical is key, a new kitchen, full heating to the second floor, insulation, wall paper removal and plaster repair throughout. Oh, and the bathrooms all need updating.

James also brought up that we might have asbestos to worry about. Once I started researching, I discovered that we could be dealing with asbestos and likely lead paint because of the age of the house - and the lack of updating, meaning these things have probably not been dealt with, if they did exist. I'm waiting to hear back from the home inspector to see if he can do an assessment on these issues or if we need to bring in a separate company. More on that in a later post.

So at this point we are waiting, and dreaming, for the new year. The realtor is back January 4th/5th, but then the home inspector is away for a few days. Hopefully the banker would have done his assessment and we can move ahead with an offer, then have the home inspector do his thing when he gets back. Seems simple right? We'll see...