New Ewes

Last night, my new ewes were delivered. I ended up buying only 8 but plan on going back in a couple weeks to buy a few more.

There are two dorset and four rideau crosses and two mixed commercial breeds that probably have some rideau in them.

They are all around 3-4 years old which makes them nice and experienced and hopefully throw me some duplicates. They've been exposed to a ram for the past month so fingers crossed they are bred.

We also bought some cats. Yes, not very exciting news, but my barn was infested with rats over winter. We put out traps and poison but they just were not going away, so I finally relented and bought four working cats. Now I use the word "bought" and "working" lightly because two of them are males and two are still young so not sure how much "work" I'll get out of them. I've already lost track of the two males. They are, however, not tom cats as they came to me fixed. There are people and organizations who visit farms and "trap" wild cats then take them to the vet to get fixed and vaccinated. The cats themselves were actually free I just had to pay the price of gas to the city where the volunteering vet was located. So now, I think, I have four cats living in my barn. At least I hope so and they haven't deserted me and wandered off to greener pastures. That's always a possibility.

Where Are You Spring?

Well, winter was long. And cold. And snowy. And still here. This photo was taken this morning.

We had more snow at Easter than we did at Christmas. But in all fairness, we did have a nice mild break in March. But it was just a teaser. Made us yearn for green grass and gravel driveways. But alas, April provided us with a famous late winter blast. Hopefully this will be the end. Warmer weather is bound to be just around the corner. Oh please, let warmer weather just be around the corner! My heating bills just can't tolerate it any longer. I want to spend hundreds of dollars on livestock, not oil! Or wood. We heated the house over winter mainly on wood but did have to fill the oil tank twice and are waiting on another fill as I type. When temps got below -20C, and I wasn't home to feed the fire, than I had no other choice but to buy oil. Which really spoiled me. Blessed warm heat with no labour involved!! I can officially say I'm sick of stacking wood. 

Speaking of livestock. We sold the pigs. Yay! We never ended up butchering them for ourselves. We had every intention, but both finances and means really didn't necessitate the cost. There would have been far too much meat left over that would never had gotten eaten and when you balance the cost of slaughtering and smoking and cutting, it just didn't pan out for us. So we sold them instead and chalked them up to experience.

One of our ewes had twins that were born stillborn just before Christmas. That was very upsetting. Both me and Farm Girl were at work and missed the birth. Not that I can guarantee we could have done anything to help, but it was another lesson we learned. Putting time aside for our livestock. But, in the new year, another ewe gave birth to a big healthy girl. That lived! Yay! First lamb born on the farm and to me since my separation.

But one lamb wasn't enough. I wanted more. Farm Girl kept texting me photos of lambs born at work and I was jealous. Especially when she texted me a photo of a set of quadruplets. I texted back and joked she buy a female off them. Having those genetics would be an awesome addition to our flock. Of course she laughed and said there would be no way, but lo and behold, I found an add for 3 bottle lambs that came from a set of quintuplets! I texted immediately and was successful in purchasing them (she had a LOT of interest).

Two ewes and one ram which we plan to raise for breeding. We love them and enjoy bottle feeding them so much that Farm Boy declared he wanted some bottle goat kids of his own to raise. So guess what? We now have two adorable little newborn bucks in the barn.  Man, I love babies!

Farm Boy then decided he wanted to raise goats so I bought him his first nanny.  She is part nubian and will make a good breeding doe but also a good milking doe. She's super friendly and easy to handle. Perfect for a 12 year old's first goat.

The little buck next to her is not hers but came from the same farm. We took him to finish him off and send him to market. Goats did very well at the auction over easter so we have our fingers crossed its a good year for goats all around.

So that's it in the barn that's new. In the equine department, we still have Chase, Farm Girl's horse, Pixie and Blossom. We sold Fantasia as I just didn't feel the connection with her. Our love for Pixie and Blossom is pretty tight that I think I just want to keep their babies and not bring in any others. I did buy a little project for us over the winter which I never got at.

However, in the spring for sure I'm going to hook Pixie up and teach her how to drive. I can't wait.

Meanwhile, we have gone to view some sheep and are hoping to bring them home within the next week or two. I'll try to remember to post some photos. That's it for now. I'll leave you with one of my favourite photos of our recent puppy litter. She reminds me so much of Quinn who we had to rehome after my husband cut me off support payments (will update later on that in a future post) without notice and we were forced to sell a bunch of items to help with finances until I got a job. And poor Quinn was one of our sacrifices.

We are not keeping this little cutie but she is going home to her grandpa's family. Sadly, he died back in November and they want to continue the line so bought one of Jewel's pups from us. Jewel is his daughter. Instead, we plan on keeping a pup from our other breeding dog, Jewel's mom, Emma who is at Oldest place getting bred to her stud who not only has a matching personality as Em, but is super gorgeous. We can't wait for their line.

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.