Still Growing

It's been a bit wet lately, as it often is this time of year as the weather systems draw moisture from hurricanes and tropical storms. Leslie is going to miss us but has still given us 125mm of rain in the last 24 hours. So I'm busy working on drying onions and preserving tomatoes. Indoor work is good on a rainy day. We bit the bullet and got some black poly that farmers use for their plantings and are going to try using it in our Autumn garden for both weed suppression and to warm the soil on cool days. That in combination with a poly tunnel should give us a few more weeks of cool weather growing. The greenhouse still does not have the end walls on so that's something we'll need to do before the month is out. It's still doing well with tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and melons etc. but I want to get the next lot of crops started so how do I do that if the ground is in use? Simple...start seedlings in flats, just like you'd do in the spring. It's also a good way to do it when the weather is wet and you just don't want to be slogging through a muddy garden.

Our main garden has now got lots of field (dry) beans maturing and they look very impressive. It was a packet of Jacob's Cattle beans we bought from the store and planted into a 50 foot row as an experiment. Well, I'm happy to announce that our 1 lb bag of beans has made beautifully healthy plants bearing hundreds of beans each so if we can get them all matured and dried we'll call it a success. We also have the next batch of green beans ready for picking so this week I'll take Kate out and pick some. She is our queen of beans but sometimes picks them too old and stringy so we're going to pick together this time. Pumpkins are beginning to turn orange in the garden and we have some zucchini to harvest too. Please ignore the weeds in the pics, we later pulled them out :) And the fence is lowered down because we tilled over the garden in preparation for planting this week.

The strawbale garden idea, remember that? Well it eventually took off and now the tomatoes that were clinging to life have re-rooted themselves, flowered and are looking promising. I'm going to put fall lettuce in the other side this week and see how they do. It's another experiment that worked but here are some tips. Next time I'd leave the bales to decompose longer, perhaps starting them earlier in the year. Initially they don't hold much water and if the weather is hot it's hard to keep them moist, but once they're decomposing they hold a lot more water. We didn't have a weed problem at all, just a few mushrooms which we left alone. Would I do this again? Absolutely if for no other reason than we used them to anchor down the greenhouse plastic and they worked a charm!

The poly tunnel greenhouse is currently home to eggplant (with the purple flowers), melons, English cucumbers and tomatoes. The melons have pretty much stopped flowering but the other plants are still going strong so as long as they're flowering and it's warm enough, they'll keep producing. You can see the tiny cucumbers with flowers still attached, aren't they adorable? I have dry hay under the eggplants to keep the fruit off the ground but the cucumbers are growing up a wire so they're ok without the mulch. I ripened the melons on upside down clay pots to keep them off the ground and away from slugs.

Our next batch of chicks comes in a couple of days, both meat birds and next year's layers. The big hens are all laying but with the shorter days it's almost time to put a light in their coop for them. The light has 2 benefits, it's like a beacon in the evening saying 'come to bed' and the light fools them into laying in the winter instead of going through a molt and ceasing to lay. We've always just used a simple bulb and timer to have the light increase in the morning from 6-9am and then in the evening for a couple of hours. I've used solar lights before and they can work but a simple 40 or 60 watt bulb works great too and provides a little heat in the winter. We're debating about building a new winter coop and having it out at the property with the sheep. I'll let you know what we decide.

Another thought lately has been that rather than buying a mobile home and living in it temporarily while we build, maybe we'll get an RV and put that out there. It would save us the cost of moving (we got a quote for moving a mobile home and it was $2600 not including the permits) plus we could always resell the RV when done. It's a thought, we haven't made any plans yet. Still waiting for our tax refund and family allowance to get straightened out which will be at the end of October hopefully.

With the wet weather this week it's been a good reminder to get the firewood covered up. It's going to be warm and sunny for the rest of the week once this weather moves out overnight which will dry the wood again, then it's time to stack it indoors and in the garage. If the boys can get it all cut to length then I'll help the girls stack it.

All Photos taken in our garden or poly tunnel greenhouse Sept 7th, 2012.

Is That Spring Peeking Around The Corner?

In the last 48 hours we'll have gone from no snow, to 3 inches of ice pellets, to snow, we had freezing drizzle for a full day in parts of the province and over the next couple of days it's supposed to get up into the teens for temperature and be sunny, reaching a predicted high of 18 degrees on Wednesday. Crazy! Welcome to Spring in Nova Scotia.

As mentioned in comments from our last few posts, the sap out of the trees is indeed turning darker so we assume that the syrup will also be darker. We have 2 20l jugs full and we still need to empty buckets today yet, so we need to get cracking! Or boiling as the case may be.

We're cutting and hauling firewood this weekend with any luck and also still looking for someone to help us buy that land in Victoria Vale for $40,000. I'm going to do another post so I have a link to post all over the internet :) Even if I can't buy it, at least it will help the owners sell it, and Frank and Linda are super nice people.

How are your spring plans coming along? I'm starting to turn soil this weekend and my greenhouse will hopefully be going up next week if the boys will help me. My first seeds are going in the ground today but in pots indoors. If the weather turns nice it will be great to be able to fill the greenhouse quickly. But I'm babysitting so I have to get going now and clean my house before I leave.

Hope things are good for you all.

It's snowing

School (and exams) were cancelled today ahead of this snow that's currently falling. It looks pretty but with my lovely tyres I've decided to not chance it on the roads. Better to wait for it to melt in the next few days. It's still coming down in fat while flakes and the kids have had a good time outside tobogganing down the neighbours back lawn. We're keeping warm with our supply of firewood, and so far now we've figured that we've used up about 1 cord this winter...all of it free. The stuff we paid for is still stacked in the garage. But the basement is fairly empty of firewood now so we'll move some more inside to dry out a little bit more ready for burning. Perhaps the boys can do that tomorrow if they're home from school again. We won't know if school is closed until the morning so there's no point in worrying about it.

I do have to get the sidewalks shoveled out and maybe get the snowblower onto the driveway but if I get really lucky, it'll warm up and melt. It looks like it's going to remain cold and snowy for a few days yet but that's ok. It's normal for this time of year. These 2 pics show the road beside our house as seen from the back bedroom window and the front of the house looking towards the driveway as seen from my porch. It's pretty isn't it? It's certainly not the 17 inches we got back in November but it's enough to make everything look fantastic. I can also hear the plow in the background so I'm guessing the roads will be drivable pretty soon which will be nice. Hopefully he doesn't plow a huge pile of snow across my driveway again...it's a pet peeve of all Canadians I'm sure. In fact I remember a funny comedy skit about it...I wonder if I can find it for you to look at. Nope, can't find it...sorry.

Well, I should go put some wood in the furnace and tend to my little kinderlings. Getting them packed just in case school is actually going tomorrow. I imagine classes will be in and Chris has an exam so I need to go pick him up again about 11am. By then the roads should be ok if it stops snowing. Hope you're all staying warm, must be nice for our friends reading this who live in warm climates or the southern hemisphere. Some day I will take a mid-winter vacation...some day. But not today. Today I'm making baked perogies with cheese and onions and some roasted yams on the side. Delicious! And then I'm going to take a couple of pain killers and head to bed with a hot water bottle...I love being a girl...NOT!!

First Hard Frost

We woke up this morning to a silvery frost over everything. Actually, it didn't come as a surprise because it was -4c when we went to bed and the big pile of firewood in our driveway was starting to sparkle. It's -7c now. The whole rest of the country seems to be under a deep freeze with Alberta recording temps in the low -30's Brrr! That's cold for November. Just because they're used to it (we lived there for years) doesn't mean they have to like it. That's cold! Even Vancouver Island where it rarely snows has a nice white blanket. So all things considered we're doing good. It's been 15 degrees a couple of days over the weekend and sunny, but we know that winter is inevitable. So Steve winterized the motorhome last night, draining the water systems and putting RV anti-freeze in the plumbing and regular anti-freeze in the engine. It should be ready to move to Sackville this week, just waiting on a moving permit.

We've been very busy finishing stocking up with firewood. A massive pile of cut and split logs is on the driveway (about 2 cords) with the exception of the oak we cut, we need a log splitter for those massive rounds. Once it's all cut we're loading it into the garage and into the basement to help get it nice and dry. It's really important that the moisture has somewhere to go and we have 2 extractor fans in the basement, one right by the woodpile. The basement currently contains almost a cord of very very dry wood and another half cord that's drying. So we should be good now for the winter with a total of about 6 cords of hardwood. All in all with scrounging, cutting ourselves, donations and $350 cash paid out, we've got our winter supply. And with any luck there will be some left over to go towards next year. We couldn't have done it without our friends too, you guys are terrific!

It's 64 degrees in the house right now, or 17 celcius, so I lit a fire to take off the chill. We're still getting acclimatized to the damp cold here and so keeping the hose a bit warmer than we usually would. Outside it's sunny and there's a nice wintery blue sky. It's -7c (19f) so the kids dressed up warmly when they headed out for the bus today. The low pressure system we've been watching over the last few days has moved up the Atlantic seaboard and is now lying to the southwest of Nova Scotia so we have a snowfall warning that we could get upto a foot (30cm) of snow tonight. As soon as I see the clouds coming I'm pulling that trailer of wood inside! Hopefully I can get the other pile moved or tarped as well. It's no fun to have to try and dry wet wood before you can stack it. And if it gets snowed on and then melts it's going to wet the outside of every log. Not a disaster on seasoned wood, but it's less efficient to burn. What we want are logs with check marks (small cracks) on the ends indicating that it's dry.

Tonight I'm teaching a class at church for the women about emerency preparedness. We're going to discuss a 72 hour kit, fuel storage, water storage and we're having a basic first aid class too. As important as it is to learn these things...I'm just glad for a chance to hang out and get to know them better. Guess that means I should take some snacks too...maybe cookies and hot apple cider? I'll think about it.

So what's in your 72 hour kit? Can you carry it in a backpack or is it in totes? Ours is partly in the motorhome and we're working on backpacks for everyone too. We have a lot of camping gear and use it fairly regularly during the warmer weather, but now that we live where it gets colder int he winter I think we should reassess the thermal ratings of our sleeping bags. Another thing to add to the 'to do' list. Also have to stock up on fuel again too for our camping stove. It's never ending isn't it?

Well I've got to go print up supply lists and other emergency info stuff for tonight. Hope you're all keeping warm. And a big cold hug to those readers who live where it's warm!

Elizabeth

Did you miss us?

Hi! I'm sorry we missed you for a couple of days. Here's what we've been up to.

Migraines for a couple of days but feeling a little better now. Meghan felt under the weather too. Then yesterday Kate was on the receiving end of a swung leaf rake and she's totally swollen and bruised from her forehead to cheek on one side of her face. This morning her eye is swollen shut but at least the weeping has stopped and her cheek is scabbing over. She's beautiful shades of red, blue and purple. We have the annual Harvest Ball coming up tomorrow and she's just going to look fabulous! Actually she wants me to go to Frenchy's clothing store to find her a fancy dress so she feels better about her eye. She didn't go to school today because she felt bad and didn't ride last night either. But she seems more chipper today so that's good. Jordan and Meghan had a riding lesson last night while Steve tuned their piano so everyone came away happy I think. And I found a horse I would like to buy but don't have the money yet so I'm hoping it doesn't sell right away and gets cheaper. It's a draft/quarter horse so would be good both for me to ride and pull a light plow or hoe for the garden. Hopefully nobody out there is looking for a big horse right now. This is typically the time of year when livestock sells very cheaply or not at all because people don't want to have to buy in hay for the winter. Hay here is usually between $2 and $4 per bale with really expensive hay in a bad year going for $5. WAY cheaper than when we lived in BC. Straw is easily available and cheap too. Due to the wet weather this summer there isn't as much cut hay as usual so I expect that the prices will stay higher for the winter this year.

The weather is warm and wet. We're supposed to get up to 80mm of rain but we'll see. It has rained pretty constantly all night and morning so far. It's dull and overcast like BC in the winter but at least the leaves remaining on the trees are pretty. The rain is really coming down now and for the fourth time this year I've lit the furnace but just put on a couple of small logs. We picked up some boxes of those compressed sawdust logs, you know, the ones that come 9 to a box and are supposed to burn for a couple of hours. Well they were on really cheap as a special promo, I think it came to about $4.50 for a box of 9 logs with 13 boxes having the same BTU's as a cord of hardwood apparently. The logs are pretty small but once they get going they burn nice and clean so a couple of those is all that's really needed to raise the house by a few degrees to make it comfortable again so they work perfectly. We also made sure they don't have any weird additives and are environmentally certified. I think we got 20 boxes so for the occasional small fire in fall and spring they should work like a charm.

Unlike BC where most firewood is pine, cedar, poplar and other locally available softwoods, in Nova Scotia the firewood is predominantly hardwood. Oak, maple, apple etc with some other woods mixed in. We're able to get wood for $90 per cord that's been cut into 8 foot lengths and left to season for 2 years. It's nice stuff and once it's finished drying the water from the rain it will burn clean and hot. The amount of heat from wood really varies so do your research and get the best wood for your money. Of course we'll be cutting wood off our property from here on in with any luck and so it doesn't matter what kind it is...we'll burn it because it's free. But hardwood does typically burn hotter and cleaner than softwood so 3 or 4 cords of softwood would perhaps equal the heat available in 1 cord of hardwood.

Managing a woodlot takes a little time and forethought. The first year will be spent picking up and dragging out any blow downs so they can be assessed and dried if still good. Rotten logs can be used for growing mushrooms once inoculated with spores but burn poorly. Snags (trees that are dead but still standing or leaning against other trees) are great for burning because they are typically dry and not rotten. They do pose a fire hazard though so getting them out of your woodlot and into a woodshed is the second task for us to do. The longer wood has to dry and season, the better. I'd be happy to have a 3 year supply of wood or more if we have the space. It doesn't all have to be cut and split at once either. Wood that's in 8 foot lengths is much less likely to be stolen than split wood. And if you have lengths you can use them for other things too such as posts, fence rails, or mill them for dimensional lumber.

Once you've cleared out your woodlot the next thing to do is assess if there are some trees that are too close to others and remove them if there are. Having good light penetration and air flow makes for a healthy eco system. Another thing to consider is long term goals for your woodlot. Hazel and maple trees can both be coppiced which means to cut out the main trunk and let the shoots that come up from the stump, called a 'stool', reach a certain size before using them. This can make for very usable handles, hurdle making wood or slender poles. One interesting note is that trees which are coppiced typically don't reach the end of their natural lives for hundreds of years instead of maybe 50 years for an un-coppiced tree. So planning ahead is important. These trees are going to be around for a while.