November

It's November already and though we just finished a week long of beautiful weather, the cold northern wind is starting to blow in and I'm spending more time inside. It's been over a month since my last post. A lot has been going on that I really haven't found the time to blog. I'm now working on a chicken farm full-time to help with expenses.

My ex had cut me off support payments without notice. I had to scramble to make rent, selling most all my belongings to do so. But I'm back on track now and I've started legal action against ex. Farm Girl bought her first car.  Isn't it cute?

It's a Suzuki SX4 with a 4x4 option. Perfect for the approaching winter. Though rumour has it it is supposed to be a mild one. Fingers crossed it is.

In the livestock department, we haven't increased in number there yet, but we sold all our chickens after I got the job at the chicken farm as bio-security reasons demand no cross-contamination of birds. But that was okay, as they weren't laying anymore and were just another mouth to feed. Besides, I can get free eggs at work.

Our house was overrun with cluster flys.

The previous tenant hadn't bothered to get the house sprayed. Cluster flies are impossible to keep out of old farmhouses so it's important to get them sprayed every spring and fall. However, according to the exterminator who came and sprayed my house, the fall should be good enough to keep them at bay year round or at least the numbers down. Since I have a good landlord willing to pay for the spraying which can be costly at $300, I'll probably get it sprayed again in the spring.

The pigs are getting fatter. Especially Pork Chop, he's always been the biggest and the one we plan on eating ourselves. I'd estimate he weighs a good 150lbs. Won't be long now.

And I think that's it for now. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner just the three of us. Was planning on going out since it was just us but in the end, made a turkey so that we could have leftovers for lunches.

Halloween was wet as per usual but that didn't stop the boy from going out of course. He dressed up as Bane from the Dark Knight.

We are still hoping to get some more sheep in before winter, but not sure if that's going to happen. With winter comes heating bills and Christmas. I've secured a snow removal guy to do my laneway so no more worries about trying to find a snow plow for the truck. We decided after I got the job at the chicken farm that we would not accept any horse boarders. We just weren't ready for winter boarding and besides we wanted the space for sheep. So I guess since we've turned away boarders, we'll have to somehow find money to bring in the sheep or the space will go to waste.

Updates

Haven't posted in a while, so thought I'd write a blog with updates. First the pigs. I learned that I hate pigs. This is my one and only time I will ever raise them. That said, I've gotten more used to them than I did at the beginning.

Pigs are filthy, disgusting...well, pigs. I can't keep up with their pen. I took these photos right after I cleaned and laid a new layer of straw in their pen. If I didn't, I wouldn't get the chance to get a good clean photo again until I mucked out their pen once again.

My truck. I love my truck.

Cosmetically, he isn't the most handsome beast on the road, but man oh man, he's got power. I can feel his strength beneath me when I drive him and that makes me feel very happy. And safe.

Chase. Who is Chase you ask? Chase is my Farm Girl's horse. She had sold him to a family friend, then bought him back, then sold him again when we realized the previous farm was not an appropriate property to raise animals. She sold him to the same family friend so basically the horse has been handed back and forth over the past two years. Well now that we are on a great farm, Farm Girl bought him back once again.

She loves having the arena and working him almost nightly. She's been practicing her riding saddleless at a lope and both saddleless and bridleless at a walk.

Just this morning, Emma gave birth to a litter of eight puppies.

The three little lambs have merged nicely with the other sheep.

While the ram is being stalled permanently after he rammed Farm Girl pretty good in the pasture.

FreedomPeg

So I have always uploaded videos to youtube in the past as a platform to share my videos only. They were never anything of importance just fun little things I found worth sharing. Well I've discovered since becoming single, I've had to take on a lot more handyman chores than ever befoe. That's not to say I never did while married because that was one area my ex had no interest in or cared enough about to bother, but someone had to learn how to change a light switch or fix a leaky pipe or whatever. So I stepped up and quite frankly I didn't mind. I enjoyed it. It felt empowering to be able to figure out a problem on my own and actually fix it. There were times though that I felt it was a man's "job" and would force my ex to get the job done (usually with a lot of coaching from me). But since I've been on my own for the past year, I've had to confront and deal with everything. From a stranger wandering around the property to repairing a seized lawnmower.

As I deal and learn from each dilemma, I ensure I draw my kids over and share my new found knowledge with them. I want to educate them and we all know education equals empowerment. That got me to thinking about how many other women like myself find themselves without a handyman to fix those everyday issues without forking out big bucks to call in a professional when really it was simple enough to fix ourselves. That was when I decided to start sharing some of those things I learn on youtube. Youtube has been crucial in helping me out so many times and teaching me things I'd never thought I'd master before. So I am giving back and providing some helpful tips. Many times you will learn along with me as I try and figure things out and if you can contribute some experience or knowledge, even better.

If you are interested in watching some of those tips or follow along on the many mishaps that befall me, then subscribe to my youtube channel at FreedomPeg.

Farm Visit

Yesterday we visited the farm Farm Girl works at. They actually keep their flock at two barns and the majority of them were at the other barn we didn't visit. But that's okay, because this barn was where they housed the nursing mothers and newborn lambs.

I forgot how much I love those bottle lambs.

We also visited the market barn where all the lambs going to market are housed, along with the veal cows.

Farm Girl fed the sheep while we there.

While my son begged me for most of the visit for a kitten.

What is it with kids and kittens?

My budding shepherdess.

Hank

I have a long, long, LONG, list of things I need for the farm. Some expensive, some not so expensive. When starting up a farm from nothing, this list is very daunting. I have to prioritize, not by expense but urgency or need. Winter is coming (I've been saying this a lot lately and beginning to feel like a character in The Game of Thrones) and that is my first concern.

After the move, Farm Girl remained at her job which meant she has a two hour commute both ways every day. Last winter, she worked ten minutes down the road. We hired a farmer we rented some land to in exchange to plow our laneway. If there was an issue at school or the boy got sick, all I needed to do was text Farm Girl and she would drive into town to get him. That never happened thankfully, but that was the emergency plan. In the end, the winter went very smooth for having just the one vehicle. We only got the van stuck once at the end of the laneway all winter. Those odds are good for a Canadian winter out in the country.

But this winter will be different. As I said Farm Girl will be a hour's drive away. The school my boy will be attending is 25 minutes north of the farm so add that onto Farm Girl's commute if there was any emergency. I also am concerned about the winter drive for Farm Girl. She's a fairly new driver and though she has done one winter in Canada, you need to have many behind you before you're considered a good winter driver. Plus, the van's heater is broken. She spent most of last winter freezing her fingertips off and that was only for a ten minute commute.

The other issue we are facing this winter is the laneway. I could hire someone if I could find someone and I may still do that, but having horse boarders, we have to ensure the laneway is clear all the time. I've thought about buying an old tractor (and at my price it would be OLD) but I know nothing about mechanics and if anything went wrong with it, I'd be out a winter plow. My other option is to purchase a lawn tractor/compact tractor that could double as a lawn mower which is also on my list. My concern about that is our laneway is huge. Actually, if it was just the laneway, I'd probably get buy with this option, but we have to plow past the house to the barns and the arena and plow the "parking lot" down there. So, I could be at it all day which will cost me in gas, abuse on the machine, and let's face it, who wants to be outside in the cold that long!

So, I looked at my next option. Attaching a snow plow to an old farm truck. The plows are bigger than those on a lawn tractor or an ATV which I also considered, and if anything goes wrong with the truck, I can take it to a local mechanic to get fixed. Plus the job will be done doubly fast and I get to stay nice and warm inside the cab. This looks like the option I'm leaning to. Then I got to thinking about the other items on my list. A truck is pretty high up there, but far above my budget. Since my van seems to be working fine and we don't have any lambs to haul to the livestock, we are getting by with the van, the truck was pushed down the list. But with everything I mentioned above, it suddenly was soaring to the top. Having a truck would provide a second vehicle in case of winter emergency. If road conditions were really bad, a 4x4 would get Farm Girl to work safely or if she got into trouble on the roads, I could drive out and get her or haul her out of a ditch. We do have CAA but still this was added protection.

So now I began to think the snow plow truck could have many advantages. But my initial idea of it being an old beater upper raised the requirements slightly. But I still have a very tight budget and limited funds.

Now I have a firm belief that everything will work out. It's been proven to me over and over again so that is why I truly believe in this. Call it faith, alignment of the stars, law of attraction...I don't know. It just does. My faith in this carries me through some difficult times, let me tell you. Every Christmas while my ex would stress nonstop about money, I'd simply tell him to stop worrying. It always works out and the kids get their Santa presents. Since my marriage ended, it seems I've been faced with more issues than I can count. But every time, something happened and things would be fine.

This present dilemma has been no different. I went into my bank account and discovered a large sum of money. Now large being in the eye of the beholder and where it might not be much to others, it was a godsend to me. When I separated from my ex, we did not report it the government but when I went to file my return, I reported it on there...a year later. As a single mother I guess my child tax benefit payment should have been higher than I was receiving, so they reimbursed me for the difference. Now it wasn't enough to buy me a fancy new truck, but a decent enough one to fulfil all the requirements I was looking for.

I searched the kijiji ads and those stars were in alignment again. There wasn't a whole lot of selection, but not more than ten minutes away, someone was selling a Chev 2500 series truck. Now I had done my research and new what I wanted. I definitely wanted a 2500 series or higher as they have the best towing power, an extended cab with four doors as those pocket doors are a hazard just waiting to happen for any passengers in the back seat, a long box as those shorter ones always seem to be just a tad short and those couple extra inches would come in handy as they help with weight distribution better when towing, which hence it needed a trailer hitch, preferably a gooseneck but figured that was pushing my luck.

But there it was, my truck. It had everything I wanted. The extended cab, the four doors, the long box, and even a gooseneck hitch. The body is in okay shape, some surface rust but no holes yet. The guy had spent $1500 on it to get safetied two years ago but has since barely driven it. It did not come safetied, but he thinks it shouldn't cost a whole lot as I mentioned he barely drove it since.

Now it may sit for a while before getting the safety until more money magically appears but I have my truck! I am super excited about that. This was one of the bigger ticket items on my list. It feels good going into winter with this tank on the farm.

I've never named any of my vehicles before but felt this one deserved it. Meet Hank the Tank. Yes, I know, not very original but Hank it is. He looks like a Hank.

Broody

Several weeks back I answered an add for two free broody chicks. I thought it would be easier and cheaper to raise my own chickens in the spring than having to order some from the hatchery. You know you are taking a chance on anything when it is free, but the woman wasn't exaggerating. These hens are broody.  They started brooding nearly the moment they arrived at my farm.

The one in the back more than the one in the foreground. She won't let us anywhere near her eggs. Actually, I'm not sure if the one in the front is broody at all or she's just imitating her friend there and pretending to brood.

I'm not sure if chicks can be hatched this late in the summer, but we'll find out in a couple more weeks.

Three Little Lambs

The guy we bought the piglets from, had a barn full of an assortment of animals. In one small corner, he had three little lambs. He offered to sell them to me at again below market prices. I said yes of course. Another impulse buy as I didn't even bother to look them over properly or ask for more information regarding their parents. But, hey, if they turn out to be duds, at least I can sell them at the auction and make a little bit of money on them.

But I really hope not as I really like the look of the ewes.

And particularly the ram lamb.

They are a Dorset mix breed which makes them my first non-hair sheep.

Christmas Ham

I know I've said that I've curved my impulse buying, and I have, really, but we brought home four piglets yesterday.

My farming practice is geared toward farming for profit but I have no intention of getting into pigs. We've thought often of buying and raising our own swine for self-consumption but I've always put it off because well, they're pigs. Not my favorite livestock. They're stinky, messy, and carry countless bacteria.

But then these four came up for sale at a really good price. Now, I don't need four pigs but in order to get the deal, I had to buy them in a group of four. I'll probably sell the extra's to someone or raise them myself and sell the meat. So, technically, it is a small money making scheme. Though I don't think much if any. But since pigs are a fast growing animal, I knew it would be a short time commitment. They should be ready for butcher right before Christmas. This year, we should have our very first home raised Christmas ham. Now that's exciting. Almost enough to make me tolerate their presence.

Big Day for the Sheep

After weeks and weeks of working on the pasture fencing outside the barn run-in, I finally finished the job and the sheep were allowed outdoors for the first time since arriving at my farm.

Weed Oasis

I've been spending the last several days working on the mini's pasture. At present, they are in the pasture adjacent to the barn and have grazed most of the pasture down to the roots minus the weeds. Our plan is to move them into the neighbouring pasture on the other side of their present pasture. You can see it here in this picture.

That had been our plans from the beginning. But that pasture was far too overgrown for minis who can get very sick off lush pastures so we sent the boarding horses in there first to graze it down to a manageable height. Meanwhile, I surveyed their current pasture as the sheep will be coming out to graze the weeds down, and determined woven wire was needed over the cedar fence as I really, REALLY, don't want any escapees. And with the potential of increasing the flock in the fall/winter, I decided to go ahead and sheep proof it now.

Next to sheep proofing the fence, I confronted the wild oasis of weeds growing between the two pastures. I'm not sure of the proper name for this weed, but I do know they are detrimental to the growth of healthy brush and grass nearby and multiply like mad and nearly impossible to kill. You can see them in the above photo where they have killed the tree they have overtaken.

They are nasty buggers and the only way I'm aware of destroying them is with an ax and match. DO NOT let them flower if you find any on your property as that is how they multiple. I had been consumed with everything else on the property that I neglected this batch. And with it being in an area of not much concern, I failed to watch its rapid growth. But once the horses grazed down the adjoining pasture, I was able to really get a good look at the fence line and subsequent wild forest growing there. So with ax in hand, I began hacking away. I covered my body from head to feet as the weeds are loaded with velcro like burs. And bees. Lots and lots of bees who didn't appreciate me removing their pollinating buffet. But at last the job was done.

This is the area now free of weeds.

A closer look between pasture fences.

Nothing but grass. Which of course the minis helped mow the best they could.

Fencing

Our large pasture required the north side to be fenced properly before we could put any livestock in it. The previous owner had simply roped the fence line.

Not good. So I knew that the fence would need to be redone to safely contain animals. The main posts were already installed so all we had to do was add t-posts for extra support and page wire. Luckily, we already had both materials. All we needed was manpower.

That came surprisingly in the form of my 11 year old son.

Now, he didn't do the majority of the work but to be honest, I couldn't have finished the job without his muscle help. I always knew I would be grateful for his manpower some day, I'm just surprised it has arrived earlier than I thought.

We had to mow the grass along the fence line, then poud in the t-posts. Farm Girl managed to pound in about five a night and it wasn't until we got near the end that my son asked if he could have a go. Humoring him, we handed over the post pounder and was startled to discover he pound the post into the ground faster than his sister. Then when his sister got busy at work with lambing season underway and I not wanting the grass to grow back and having to mow it over again, I enlisted my son's help for unrolling the fence wire and nailing it to the posts. Again, his muscles surprised me. He was able to pull the fence taut while I nailed it in.

I'm super pleased with how it turned out. Better, actually, than I thought it. All thanks to my boy.

Summer Heat

We've been having one hot day after the next in the past week and I think today was the hottest yet. When you can see the humidity in the air, you know its too dang hot to go outside. But I needed to check on the animals water and see how they were all handling the heat---with camera in tow.

The horses rarely leave their shelter in the heat. Which I don't blame them.

Whereas the miniatures are braver and rarely go indoors.

But when they do, it's a team decision.

The sheep also were keeping cool inside the cool barn.

Along with the breeding dogs.

Well, except for Emma who took comfort from a stoned pillow.

The horse's eventually did come out briefly, long enough to get a snack then hunkered back under the shade of their shelter once again.

Which was pretty much when I too decided I had enough of the heat and rushed back to the comfort of my cool home.

A Beautiful Blossom

I was out in the pasture letting Fantasia out for the first time with the minis.

When Blossom raised her head and looked over at me I was literally taken aback. When had this beauty arrived?

I'm not sure why it took me so long to notice. Probably because her winter coat has taken so long to shed and still needs to but since I don't own a pair of clippers to finish the job, I will have to wait and let nature do its thing. Then she was in a stall for several weeks while Joey was here breeding Pixie so I guess my attention was on them and not her.

But yesterday, wow, she just stunned me. And excited me. I always thought she'd be a stunner. Then she got lax tendon and the vet gave her a grim diagnosis. He recommended we put her down if the skin ever split open which would cause infection and pain. But instead, she began to stand up properly. Lax tendon is gone forever.

She is truly turning into the beauty I always believed she would be. We hadn't bothered to register her because it was no sense if she was only going to be put down, but our plans have obviously changed now and not only are we going to register her, but we plan on showing her as well. I'm so excited for this mini's future. I absolutely adore Blossom and seeing her develop into the beauty she is, makes my heart glow.