Look what we found

For the past few days there have been two chickens hanging around at the front of the coop. Every so often one of these hens would start cackling and go back to the flock.

Something told us that they were laying but could never find out where.

Well, today the nest was found and it appears as though the hens have been telling each other about the best nest.

The only reason that their nest was discovered was the wheelbarrow was needed to put away the feed order. Isn't it a beautiful nest!
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In Memoriam

The other day was very sad. We lost our dear friend Scrufflechook. Scrufflechook was a very special chicken. She was part of our original flock of Chanteclers. There was nothing special about her until one day last fall when we noticed she was cowering in the corner of the pen, and that her neck seemed twisted. We took her in, (something we should really never do if we want to be "real" farmers) first into the basement then she slowly made her way upstairs into the office, my office. SHe spent most of the winter in a large dog crate, being fed a diet of broccoli and kale. Her bent neck never quite was right again but other than that she seemed fine. One of the sheep, we thought, had knocked her down badly when coming out of their barn. She did after all like to hang out and lay eggs in their side of the barn.

Over the time she was indoors Scrufflechook became very friendly. She would say hello and talk to us, take food from out hands, and generally seemed to enjoy human company. She got used to the cats hanging around, and even Beauty our large dog. Scrufflechook had become very much a pet and friend. She was slowly reintroduced into the outside world. First in with the silkies, which didn't go very well, and then out into the chicken coop. She made trips into school to teach the Urban Chicken course and was a hit with everyone who met her, she was the chicken that liked to be held.

Although she was still low on the chicken totem pole she made the best of it. Slowly she was accepted again and she seemed very much to enjoy herself. At one point this summer she had even seemed to NOT want to be friends with us anymore. More chickens came and went and was just fine. There was a point where she was being picked on again and thought she would go for a walk about. So we set her up in the Aark so she wouldn't be harassed, kept checking her crop to make sure she had been eating. After a few days of that and letting her in a different part of the garden she settled down and seemed happy and active again.

Last Thursday, October 14, a day after the second urban chicken course in Guelph she took poorly. Nothing really serious, she was just acting a bit strangely. It is the time of year that our chickens are molting so she looked pretty scruffy. She also seemed to have a good time at the urban chicken class on Wednesday. She was alert, eating, calm, moving around a bit but generally more interested in preening herself than just about anything.

On Thursday during the day she seemed fine, walking around and eating. It wasn't until closer to evening that she changed. She wasn't moving and had stopped eating. She had that hunched up look that chickens get when they are not well. I put her into the Aark as she knows it and has seemed comfortable in there. We went out a little later to check on her and weren't happy with how she was doing. She was sitting inside the Aark and just ill.

Out came a small dog cage, tarp, feeder, waterer, and anything else that we thought would have made her comfortable. She settled into the cage on the Thursday evening just fine. On Friday morning she had forgotten no better. We knew his was not good. Scrufflechook was put down by our vet last Monday, the 18th of October. Neither of us could face chopping her head off. She had been too good a friend to do that. Our vet is a wonderful lady, and understood that chicken or not, Scrufflechook was a pet and should be treated with dignity.

We'll miss you Scrufflechook, you won't be able to be replaced.

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Chicken day!

What a day yesterday was. Most of all lit was long. We started at 4:45am to go to our friend's old farm to get both our roosters and help catch their chickens too.

In total we caught a bunch of chickens in the dark or near dark. Tim and I didn't have headlamps so we had to put the light in the barn on. We then stumbled around trying to catch a few ducks. Catching ducks is like trying to run down a really angry two year old. Once held they flail and writhe for their life. Of course in this case it really is their life as they are going off on the final trip. Even getting the ducks into the crates was hard as they spread their wings as far as they can, trying to flap away and beat you simultaneously.

Next was the turkeys. Luckily there were only 4 turkeys and they were quite easy to get. A dog crate was their home for the next little while, they were all far to big for the chicken crates. They were quite beautiful to see up close. Niether Tim nor I have really seen turkeys up close and they really are lovely birds. Finally it was the pastured barred rocks. Luckily it was still dark so catching thirty onlt took a matter of minutes. Trying to determine size and sex was a challenge thought, they are black and white birds that visually read as grey in the dawn.

Around 7:30 we left the farm for a small scale Mennonite poultry processor, one of a handful left in the area. We chose this one as it came highly recommended by other farmers. After seeing them we would have to agree.

We arrived there just after eight and we were about 6th in line. Tim talked to some other people in line. We got our green slips and waited. Most people do a white-rock-cornish cross bird for meat. These birds are bred for meat and grow can grow to 10 pounds in around 10 weeks. At least that is what we are told. Most of these birds cannot fly and do not seem to care about much of anything around them. What they do do is convert feed to mead very well. Our birds took 28 weeks to get to 6 pounds. Of course our roosters weren't meant for meat, they were meant for eggs and we just had too many roosters. After a while the inspector came round and said everything looked good.

Actually watching the kill line was disturbing, but having said that...there was a person at every step of the way. The kids picked up the birds and flipped them around with ease. One, two, three, fours, five into the stocks. The next kid with the electric knife would then grab hold of their neck and cut it. It wasn't graceful but it did appear immediate. The little chicken body was now stained red, it shook a bit and was done. The next step was the scalder to break down the proteins in the feathers to make it easier to pluck the birds, then into the Featherman plucker and onto the next stage inside the building. It really was, in many ways amazing to watch.

The chances of a chicken getting injured and wandering around for too long is very low. Of course, that exact scenario happened while we were there. One of the chickens, not ours, came out of the stocks and landed on the floor. It was a bit dazed, but in no time it was picked up and killed. The site really bothered me, but people are people and can make mistakes.

Of course our birds were not docile meat birds and can fly. The Mennonite kids had to be told of this. They were very good about it and only had one, occasionally two birds in the stocks. They also kept a hold of the birds so they couldn't go anywhere. Once again it was all over very fast.

Watching anything be killed is not a nice site. For us the entire process was somewhat traumatic. The thought of a mobile abattoir is wonderful because the worse part of the whole thing was catching the birds. Once they were in the cages they settled right down. The drive was okay too as they were well protected by the trailer and tarp. But, if we want to sell our birds legally this is what has to be done. After watching the entire process I can see a reason for having docile birds willing to accept their death.

We left and went home to tend to the rest of our animals, have a shower, and get a bite to eat. We went back to the plant to pick up the birds in the afternoon. At the end of it all we have ten chickens in our freezer along with one duck for our friend. We have made another collective step towards knowing we can produce some mre of our own food. Now we have to find out how much all of this cost!

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Winding down and ramping up

Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone. Family get togethers with lots of food and fun was had. Of course there has also been lots of work too. Mother nature gave us one last hurrah. All weekend it has been sunny, warm, and generally picture-perfect autumn weather.

Tim gave the lawn one last cut and collected all the clippings and leaf mulch in a pile where the next forest garden is supposed to be. I have cleaned up the gardens for the final round of plants along with getting out the agribon garden fleece to keep everything that little bit warmer. We have made a small hoop-house over the kitchen garden with hopes of prolonging the pepper planted there.
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Grass fed beef take care of themselves and their calves...poor bear

 A couple of evenings ago, Wayne went out to check the cows and saw a very strange sight and was able to photograph the event.  A black bear approached our cow herd which turned out to be a very big mistake on his part. 

    The blonde and white Simmental cow we know as I-12.  She is a very good cow, a very attentive mother and about 12 years old.  She's in her prime and knows that bears are bad news.  She went right for him and tried her best to mash him into the ground.  

A younger cow, R-55, an Angus-Cross cow, age 7, is helping her out as best she can.  It is an incredible photo to see two cows at once trying to crush the bear.  There are a couple of photos where the bear is biting I-12's leg and clawing her face but she is not giving up.  Her stiff tail shows how agitated she is.  

Wayne said all the cows were bawling, the bear was squealing, the calves were running around with their tails in the air.  Finally, the bear decided to vacate the area.  We thought he'd be dead for sure, but there was no sign of him the next day.  We'll have to keep an eye out for eagles in the trees or flocks of ravens flying up.  We're sure he's got some broken ribs out of the deal at the very least. 

    I looked up the calving records of both cows who are so aggressive in these photos and they are both good, calm cows around us and have given us no troubles whatsoever.   I'll have to add in my notes that they have a very distinct dislike of bears. 

    We'll be watching I-12 over the next few days to see if she needs treatment for infection.  I don't know how willingly she'll come to the corrals for treatment, but she might not have a choice. 
    Wayne couldn't believe his eyes when he witnessed this ruckus.  This is another once-in-a-lifetime photography event to add to all the others he managed to document this summer.  It is amazing.

  
Cathy

 

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http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Paul+Hughes+wants+Calgary+give+pluck+about+urban+chickens/3530789/story.html

CALGARY HERALD

Paul Hughes wants Calgary to give a pluck about urban chickens

The mayoral candidate is constitutionally challenging city ban

By Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald

September 16, 2010

Mayoral candidate and urban chicken advocate Paul Hughes has officially made his constitutional challenge to the city's bylaw banning backyard egg-laying hens.

Photograph by: Brett Gundlock/National Post, NP

CALGARY -- Mayoral candidate and urban chicken advocate Paul Hughes has officially made his constitutional challenge to the city's bylaw banning backyard egg-laying hens.

Hughes filed his document, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, following a pre-trial conference at provincial court on Wednesday.

"The city does not have the jurisdiction to regulate activity pertaining to household food security, in this case exemplified by backyard chickens," Hughes wrote as his primary ground for the challenge.

He also says the city and country are bound by the United Nations declaration of human rights/universal declaration of human rights, which addresses an individual's or family's right to food.

Hughes, a Killarney resident who was charged last year under the city's bylaw preventing anyone from having chickens, faces a trial on Dec. 23. But it will basically entail only the contitutional argument, he told court.

"I am 111 per cent guilty of possession of chickens," Hughes told Judge Jim Ogle, in an at-times lighthearted banter.

"I have no intention of calling any witnesses. I may have and exhibit, which is an egg."

"Make sure it's a fresh one," replied Ogle. "I'll see if I can get it through security," Hughes added. "I'll bring a chicken and an egg."

A city council committee voted 5-2 in June against allowing residential chicken coops, with members expressing concerns about everything from chicken-feline conflicts to livestock-borne disease.

Other citizens have complained to council about smell and noise, although hens do not make any noise like roosters and advocates are not asking to be allowed to have roosters.

Hughes, who had six hens until he recently gave two away to friends, said there are some organizations that may request standing to participate in the constitutional challenge at his trial, as the issue has become increasingly important with several British Columbia cities and other provinces now allowing urban chickens.

He said he has had a high level of co-operation with the city to discuss the issue, meeting city lawyer Ola Malik about 10 times so far, as the city has a vested interest in the issue.

"If Mr. Hughes approaches me and has an organization that wants standing, we'll discuss it. But our goal is to get them heard on Dec. 23," said Malik.

Malik agreed the city is interested in hearing what the court has to say and said he will file an agreed statement of facts by Oct. 1. Hughes then has another two weeks to peruse the document and, if necessary, request changes or reject it.

Both lawyers will then filed their written arguments to the as-yet unassigned trial judge for trial.

"Mr. Hughes is prepared to admit the facts and plead guilty to the charge," Malik told the judge. "The only thing at issue is if the bylaw has juridsiction."

Court heard there are a few other cases on hold, waiting until a judge decides on the larger constitutional issue.

"It's not about chickens, but about households and family . . . the right to food and whether the city has the right to tell us what we can and cannot eat," said Hughes, who on principle does not expect he'll hire a lawyer.

"The city may be able to tell us how many chickens we can have, but it shouldn't be whether we can."

The parties will be back in court on Dec. 2 to continue the pre-trial conference and ensure they are ready to go ahead with trial.

dslade@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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Aquaponics the home game

With the weather cooling down there are a lot of things to think about. A big one around here is what to do with the fish in our aquaponics setup out side.

This is something we had been mulling over all summer. Well, the temperatures are now in the single digits which means fish need to come in, now. So this afternoon we have transplanted the fish to our living room, pond and all.

There is a bit of a concern about the animals' reaction. Maybe we'll create a self-serve cat grass station.
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Being a tree

This little movie a is a great insight into being a tree, not to mention the great animation too!

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First Maran Egg!

Today we received the first egg from our Copper Maran hens. It is smaller than the older Chantecler eggs, but that is normal for the first few eggs from all breeds.

This is good as some of our Chanteclers are molting and not laying.

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Introducing Thomas, the ram

This year in many ways has been pivotal. We have added to our chicken flock, had our own homegrown chicks, and brought some animals to slaughter, with more to go soon (damned roosters)! A full life cycle has taken place here. We really didn't know how we would react to all of this birthing and dying. At times it has been traumatic (Mr. Tufts) but also fulfilling (our first lamb roast). All in all we feel that we want to continue raising animals for more than pets.

Of course this means that we had to think about how we were going to have more lambs and chicks. Well, we kind of have the chick thing covered, but the having more lambs is a more complicated thing. It seems that loaner rams are not common here, and likely they are not as common in England as they once were either. this is due to transmitting diseases between farms, not something that anyone really wants to do. So, we took the plunge an got a ram.

Because our ewes are of small stature we had to make sure we did get a small breed. Of course a Shetland ram is the logical choice, so that is what we looked for. Of course we had determined what kind of animal we needed: white, male, good fleece. Luckily we managed to find the perfect ram at the right (a.k.a. as low as possible)price down near Sarnia. Tammy has been breeding Shetland's for a number of years and wanted to reduce her flock. She had a ram available that suited our needs perfectly. So we looked at Thomas and decided he was the one for our girls. Unfortunately his original home had cut his horns before they had fully turned outward so he has a few maintenance issues that we need to address. But other than that he is very good and gentle with the girls.

We had Tammy deliver Thomas here as we didn't think our hatchback was a good way to bring him home. S far everything is going great and he has settled in beautifully. We have noticed that the girls are no longer afraid to go to the end of the pasture the way they were when there was just the two of them. Now we just hope he is going to do his ramly duties!

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Chick update

Earlier in the year we tried to hatch two lots of chicks from our Chanteclers. None of them hatched and only a fraction were fertile at all. It was really disappointing as we were hoping for another batch of chickens. We tried one last time before winter. Once again we didn't think that any would hatch. They did. We didn't try many as the Silkies can only handle so many eggs. to our surprise four out of five eggs hatched. ONe was a Maran influenced egg as it looks like a Maran chick. I am curious to see how it develops.

All of the chicks are still with their two Mums. It is a different ball-game to have mother hens looking after the chicks. The hens are really taking care of their chicks. It is so cute to watch the chicks run around with the Mums calling them back, jumping up onto Mum's back and burrowing into their feathers to stay warm. We still have a heat lamp in there, but it isn't nearly so much of a concern. Also they are already going outside during the day. If they chicks get cold Mum will warm them underneath her. I highly recommend hatching chicks with a Mum hen!

We may only have another two hens from our flock, but they will truly be All Sorts Acre hens!

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Are kids here much different?

British children are increasingly out of touch with the natural world, demonstrating an alarming lack of knowledge when it comes to the seasons and indigenous plants and animals. That is the verdict of a compelling new study, which highlights a ‘closeted generation' for whom outdoor activities such as climbing trees, camping and going on country walks are fast becoming a thing of the past.

The survey of 2,000 children aged eight to 12 years was specially commissioned by TV channel Eden to celebrate the launch of the Eden Inspires campaign, which aims to re-engage children with nature. The study asked a series of questions relating to the natural environment and the results provide an insight into a generation of youngsters who demonstrate a worrying knowledge-gap when it comes to the natural world. MORE 

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10 Resilient Ideas

As the planet heat ups, oil becomes increasingly hard to reach, and the global economy continues to plummet, individuals and communities are faced with an uncertain future. The Fall 2010 issue of YES! Magazine showcases communities that are improvising new ways of living in an unpredictable world.

Here are 10 creative ways to build resilience for what's ahead.

A Hand-Built Home: No fortune? No skills? No problem. How a novice builder used mud–and teamwork–to make a house from scratch.

Low-Impact Urban Living:The challenges of creating urban ecovillages can also be great advantages.

Bike As You Are: Whether it's in lycra or heels, the emerging movement of "come as you are" cycling proves that anyone can bike–anytime, anywhere.

Return of the Mercantile: How a small town in Wyoming replaced a dying downtown with a community-owned shopping hub.

Beekeeping On City Rooftops: Urban hives allow landless city dwellers to create their own honey–and may even provide solutions to colony collapse.

Reclaim, Repair, Rebuild: How the rebuilding boom improves communities, benefits the environment, and even creates jobs.

Making Fruit Public:Art-infused activism to bring city fruit to the public..

Get Off The Grid: A pioneering town in Germany pulls off clean, reliable energy with stable prices.

Sunshine on the Menu: Come for the food, stay for the art at New York City's first solar-powered restaurant. 

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Deer and Murder at the Sit Spot

Part of the teaching in both Kamana Naturalist Training and the Coyote's Guide to the Art of Mentoring is having a Sit Spot. A Sit Spot is literally that, a place you sit out in nature somewhere and notice. It isn't about knowing the names of everything, just noticing with all your senses what is going on. Ideally a Sit Spot should be visited regularly throughout the seasons. The longer the period of time you are at one Sit Spot, the more you get to know the place and the place gets to know you. 

So I, Jennifer, have found my Sit Spot. It is in the riparian part of another field behind the soybean field behind our land. It may sound like a long way, but it is only perhaps 300' away from our pasture. This field is an overgrown, lush, place with swaying goldenrod and a trembling aspen grove that has lost almost all of its leaves at this time of year. At the south-easternly edge there is a cedar wetland full of overturned trees and  ribcages of tree trunks that have been lost to the water. There is a fair bit of old farm detritus around, but right now it is hidden by the long grass and field peas.

The exact place of my Sit Spot is almost in the middle of this riparian field. Creeping through the middle of the field is an aspen grove that keeps expanding. Dotted around the edges of the grove are some stray black walnut trees let over from some squirrel's summer harvest. My tree is between the cedar marsh and the aspen grove. It is a comfortable spot that I can look out over a large area but remain what feels slightly hidden from others.

Often our dog Beauty and I go this route and in the past have stopped and looked around. She was with me today as well. Having a dog along is not necessarily great when you want to sit quietly and look, listen, and feel, but if I pet her constantly she will settle and be good. Having her along on this day was good as she was the one who directed me to my tree. I thank her for that as I am not sure I would have seen it.

We sat under our tree Beauty and I. She panted long and hard as she had just had a great sniff though the undergrowth. Her bell was pulsing to her panting so I turned it arund onto her back to muffle the sound. Off in the distance over the cedar marsh we heard a loud raucous racket. In the distance were a murder of crows flying around and around over the trees. Some would fly, caw constantly then land, and it seemed another group of crows would pick up where they left off. Around and around the crows went. Beauty thought this was quite fascinating. The wind started to pick up and every now and then I could feel a mist of rain through the walnut above me. Some inquisitive chickadees came a little closer, and one almost flew overhead. They didn't make much noise.

A group of crows is called a murder and this murder was moving closer. Slowly the crows all circled closer and closer. Suddenly they all took to the air and let loose their yells all at once. The sky seemed darker, more shrouded for a moment. Almost as quickly as they all exploded the crows settled down again. They had made their point and were satisfied for the night. A suitable roost had been found. A small bird then landed on a dead cedar tree at the edge of the marsh. Maybe it was a chickadee, I couldn't tell. It perched their for a moment, looked around then flew off into the brush beneath it.

the wet mist was now turing into small drops so I thought it was time to go. I wasn't really dressed for rain and I had chores to do at home. So we continued on our usual walking route. When crossing from one field to another we had a little detour to look for a couple of sticks. Beauty was very quite. As we were turning the corner away from the marsh, I heard a swishing in the bush in front and to the right of us. I really didn't know what it was so I stopped and made Beauty sit. In a brown and white flash a deer exploded out of the bush and through the soybean field. Even Beauty was surprised as she didn't move while the deer passed by. Once she realized what happened she bolted. She didn't get very far as her lead was on and it was short. We then went home to do chores.

I have to say, my first Sit Spot experience was pretty amazing!

 

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New seed swap and buy website

Last week we recieved an e-mail from our contact form. Now half the time these are just a form of people generated spam, but we do get some good ones too. Anna-Monique send a really good e-mail. She and her family started a website called Seed Living (seedliving.ca). It is a swap, buy site for anyone that produces open-pollinated seeds. So really small farmers and gardeners can actually distribute their seeds in an economical fashion. It is almost like Etsy for gardeners.

It is a pay what you can site so everyone can have access to good, open pollinated seeds. We are thrilled about this because this year we actually made an effort to save some seeds. Not many mind you, but some and we have far too many to plant on our own. No-one should eat that much cabbage!

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Our first chicks!

We have had our first homegrown chicks hatch today. So far we have three happy and healthy chicks. Hall and Oates have been co-sitting on the eggs. They seem to be quite happy to share the responsibility of being a Mum.

I have just helped a fourth chick out of it's shell which it had cracked open a few hours ago.

The brooder coop is all set up and ready to be home for a while. This is so exciting!

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The Big Dig

This past season we have had some successes and some no so successes. One of our no-so-successes has been our nightshades. Namely our tomatoes and potatoes, our eggplants seem to be okay but we don't have a lot. Like last year our tomato and potato plants got late blight. This is a nasty "water mold" that makes the plants turn brown and shrivel up. The fruits or tubers do the same thing so they have to be picked before they are affected. This year the tomatoes were really ad and fast. Our potatoes have not been quite so affected, but we thought it best not to take any chances. Despite having to harvest early, we seem to have enough potatoes until next season. We both estimated that the full trug would be around 60-70 pounds. 

So out I, Jennifer went to finish digging up the potatoes. There is something magical about digging up potatoes. Knowing that this one small slightly squishy, wrinkly, and multi-legged lump of starch that made it through the winter can become a mound of beautiful, delicious, healthy and long lasting potatoes is much like a caterpillar to butterfly to me. I love the anticipation of finding out how many potatoes I am going to find, like partaking on an archeological dig again and again.

Now we only have the equivalent of around 70' of potatoes, but when there is a ton of mulch over them it can get tiring. This year was a bit of an experiment (code for can't quite remember what was done in the first place) as there were three different types of potatoes in the same bed. There were also some planted in parts of the forest gardens...the extras that didn't fit into the beds. All together I think there were five different varieties.

The first big job was to move the wilted and withered old hay that we had used as mulch. this job was somewhat sad because a nice little world had been created. there were pill bugs, wood lice, ants, millipedes, centipedes, earwigs, slugs, and many, many spiders both on top and below the mulch. On my digging journey I did discover that some voles had had some dinner parties featuring my potatoes as the main course. There was one handsome fellow among the mulch. He was special, I could tell by his house. Mr. Grass Spider had built an impressive home in the nooks and crannies of the mulch. Another, less sophisticated Grass Spider had made a home not too far away, but it was not nearly as nice as the fellow's house below. I did make sure to give them a shake to let them know that danger was on it's way.

 

There is a lot to know about growing potatoes and I know barely any of it. I would have never thought that different varieties would behave so differently. this is my own ignorance, because I know how different tomatoes can be. By harvesting all the rest of the potatoes I have learned a few things about what I wanted in a potato that I had never even known!

length of time to maturity: it was really interesting to see which potatoes had a lot of tubers on them and which didn't. The blue ones did better than a heritage variety which averaged two tubers per plant; barely enough to make it worth planting. The winner had several good sized tubers on each plant even now, a month earlier than I would have normally harvested.

depth of tubers: some of the plants required me to dig quite deep to get at the tubers. the worst for this was the blue ones. The best were almost at the surface of the soil but stayed beneath the mulch.

distance of new tubers from original tuber: having to dig around in the soil a foot from the original plant is a bit of a pain. Having the tubers close together reduces the risk of putting a tine through a spud and pointless digging to try and fins that one last starchy lump. The best plants literally had all the new potatoes all clumped together so digging was really easy and satisfying.

After I had dug up all the potatoes it seemed like a good time to just wander around the gardens. This is probably one of my favourite activities. Great joy comes from just wandering too see what has changed in a small space. Sometimes I am just amazed at how fast a community can change. One my travels through the garden a garter snake made her presence known. She wasn't that large so I suspect that she may have been one of this years young ones. I had seen one last year, but was not sure if any were still around, now I know. I guess our big rock is a good hibernaculum. While inspecting the heavy and healthy climbing cucumbers I narrowly missed stepping on a leopard frog hiding from the sun's heat under a cucumber leaf.

After collecting all the potatoes, cucumbers, beans, and whatever else I could find that needed to be picked I headed back up to the house to sort and cure the potatoes. Looking into the trug, I saw there were a good number of potatoes of various sizes.We managed to finish off the voles leftovers.

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Looking through new eyes

It has been REALLY busy here over the last little while. It always seems that the gardens go without a lot of change for a few weeks then...WHAMMO, everything is ready all at once. Which of course means doing something with the bounty of the garden. Along with the bounty ay issues also come up. Alas, we have a return of the dreaded late blight.  It has hit our tomatoes, potatoes, but thankfully not the peppers so far. Last year was a real lesson about tomatoes. We planted a ton of tomatoes and lost almost all of them. We didn't repeat it again this year, but losing anything to such a nasty problem is disappointing. Despite this it has been a great year for squash, OUr cucumbers are going mad and I can't imagine how we are going to eat all the squash we will have this winter. 

A couple of tours have happened here as well. Living here it is easy to take a lot of what we do for granted. Having people come by and visit is great because they always help us see things through new eyes.

Most recently we had Heather, a masters student at York University come and talk to us about vermicomposting. Although we only have two vermicomposting bins they are doing quite well. It was great to talk to her and research on apartment agriculture and worm bins.  Heather may soon be know as the worm whisperer as she has done a lot of work with her bins.We are eagerly awaiting her final thesis.

 The other weekend we had S.O.N.S.I. (Southern Ontario Nature and Science Illustrators)come by for a tour. Of course I (jennifer) am a member so it was low key and a lot of fun to have good friends round. It ended up being a really delicious pot-luck, and SONSI member Emily, makes an amazing zucchini crumble.

It was a fun afternoon of eating, talking and sketching. Steve took some photos. He has managed to make our chickens look beautiful. Thanks Steve!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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St. Catharines to allow urban chickens

Chickens are once again taking over Canadian cities. St. Catharines is the latest Ontario city to allow urban chickens. Read more...

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It's all about R E S P E C T...

Curt Pate is a new breed of cowboy. He is one who knows about the animals he is working with beyond just breed and purpose. He knows about how they act and what their natural signals are. Curt realizes that there are brains in those big head and behind those big eyes. Curt respects the animals he is working with. Curt is a Cow Whisperer. He is one of a growing number of new style farmers.

Many of the techniques used by animal whisperers' are traditional methods of animal husbandry that comes from both book knowledge and, most importantly time spent with animals directly observing them. Spending time with an animals can teach much more than an entire book on behaviour. Often the biggest challenge for farmers is having tine to really stop and watch their animals. Not only is time an issue, but in large scale factory farms animals are not given the chance to exhibit natural behaviours.

Temple Grandin is a pioneer in livestock behaviour and using an animals natural tendencies to make their farm lives a better experience from birth to death. 

Read More... 

This Aug. 4, 2010 photo shows cowboy Curt Pate demonstrating stress-free handling of cattle on the Siben Ranch outside of Helena, Monana. Man at right is employee, Jon Selby. (AP Photo/Janie Osborne)

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Cukes for pickling

Part if this weekend will be put aside for some more canning. In the past it has been challenging to get enough produce all at once to use an entire box of jars. This year it seems quite certain that there will have enough cucumbers to make some more pickles and hopefully some sort of chutney.

Unfortunately the best egg plant we had was blown off it's plant by a gust of wind.

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Haitian farmers reject Monsanto seeds

Despite their desperate need of seed, Haitian farmers know what is good for them long term. After the earthquake much of the seed farmers were saving for planting went to feed people when they fled to rural areas in search of safety. 

With such a small seed supply to grow more food some was needed. In stepped Monsanto to donate some hybrid seeds. These seeds, of saved the following growing year will not grow true to the plant that they were collected from. This means that farmers would have to go back to Monsanto to buy more seed the following  year, and the following, and the following. 

Benoit Griouard of Union Paysanne (a  called Monsanto's donation "...and attack on Hatian farmers and the future of their local seeds." Chavannes Jean-Baptist of the Peasant Movement of Papay called on farmers to burn the Monsanto seeds. 

The article is fascinating and gives one a lot to think about. Download the rest of the National Farmers Union article.

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Moog is back!

As unbelievable as it is Moog is back! Our WONDERFUL neighbour Yarrick has just returned her to us. He found her in his lawn. He lives beside the pond and noticed her. He recognized that she wasn't native to the area and called around. It was a long shot but he thought he would try us to see if we knew about a turtle. Thank you Yarrick! It is nice to have Moog home. If only she could talk.

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The gardens are growing!

This time of year is great! It is when the garden is just beginning to express it's full potential. We have eaten our first cucumber as seen on Tim's head. The first squash are really coming along and the lettuce seed forest is almost ready to get seeds from.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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