Patiently Waiting

Hi there! Just in case you wonder what's up with us...the answer is nothing. Well that's not entirely true. We're still finding ourselves super busy which is typical of Spring in the country. For us it's a little different though because we're living in town right now, buying land in the country, and gardening and raising chickens wherever we can. Yes, we're farmers without a farm. But hopefully all of that is about to change!

I'm trying to not get overly excited for a few reasons. Firstly, both Steve and I have been disappointed before and don't want to get our hopes up only to later have them dashed. Secondly, we know that once the buying process is done, the real work begins. Right now it's just paperwork, sketches and plans on paper, research and inspections. As soon as that's all done the actual physical labour begins with fencing and building some small but sturdy barns. And a home for us of course, but that's going to take more time and money so we have to stick to our plan and do things in their proper order, not rush things.

That's one of the greatest things about this 'build your own farm' we're doing. We get to put exactly what we want where we want. Want a tack room in the barn? I can do that! Need a small space to brood chicks? I can do that too. Hate having a formal dining room but want a pantry and a cold storage? Done! We'll get to build a practical house for us that's also energy efficient and will hopefully save us a lot of money in utility bills over the course of our lives and will be a blessing to our children when they inherit it. Steve's got 10 more years before retirement is an option so by then we should have everything running smoothly, most of the kids out of the house, and be self-sufficient. Maybe that seems like a long time to some of you, but trust me, even the best laid plans have a way of evolving over time and taking longer than you think. We're basically working on the next 6 months, the next 18 months, and the next 3 years when planning. Since most outdoor work will happen in the Summer and Fall it makes sense to plan building activities then. Of course that doesn't mean the winters are idle. That's a good time for fixing fences, storing firewood and building materials for the upcoming season and getting permits arranged.

So we're patiently waiting for the lawyers to do their thing and draw up papers for us to sign. Shouldn't be long now.

Speaking of not long...Nicole's new book is available for pre-order on Amazon and Indigo so I'm eagerly awaiting The Ultimate Guide to Permaculture. Oh crumbs Helga...I still owe you a book!

This weekend is also the time to break out the tiller and get the gardens dug over ready for planting. The temperature averages are creeping up now so we're getting closer to being able to start some cool season crops like peas, leeks and leafy greens. Our 4 new layers will be here next Friday so we need a coop built for them too, a nice little portable one we can wheel around and eventually move out to the other farm. We're going to use the chickens as weeders and bug removers as we prepare the beds for planting and before we let them roam free during the day. We already know there's at least one local fox so we need to have a good predator proof set up before we even think about leaving the chickens out there overnight. Steve's working on an idea to have a coop door that closes automatically and opens automatically...I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, thanks very much for your kind thoughts and prayers on our behalf. We feel very blessed to have you as friends, to have each other, and to have this opportunity to finally build a place of our very own. I can't wait to invite you over for a house warming party!

Permaculture and Land Choices

With the idea that we'll be living a long time on this land, and leaving it to our children to farm, the choice of a good piece of land is really important. Yes, we can amend soil if we need to and we can dig wells and plant trees. But some things are permanent. We can't make a stream or river appear out of nowhere. We can't drastically alter the shape of the land or the slope without doing real damage to the soil structure. In fact, even the direction it faces is an important consideration.

Our plans include:

barn, house, root cellar and greenhouse construction
raising livestock and vegetables
planting permanent fruit and orchard sites

Animals can live anywhere there's adequate food water and shelter but having good pasture for them and an easily accessible water source just makes life more pleasant. Before we get any animals we'll need some secure housing and fencing and establishing a good mix of grasses is easier to do before animals arrive, so we'll be looking to fertilize the soil and overseed if necessary. We'll know more once we test the soil and see how it grows in the late spring.

Any permanent crops like fruit trees and bushes need planning ahead of time too. Choosing a site that's got air flow and isn't in a frost pocket, with good soil depth and fertility, these and many more things need to be considered before you head for the nursery.

We'd like a thermally efficient home, facing south if possible and one that makes good use of solar gain. By that I mean it will allow sunlight into the home to aid in heating and we'd like a hot water heating system on the roof. That's Steve's baby! It doesn't take much to make your home more efficient, just a little forethought and planning. We turn our beehives to warm up with the low winter sun, why not our human house? We're still exploring the possibility of getting planning permission for an alternative building method like strawbale or cordwood for both out home and out buildings. Research continues and we'll first start by building a barn or workshop to test our skills. And I've got to talk to the powers that be to get an idea of the hoops involved before hand. Hey, forewarned is forearmed. And we've never dealt with Annapolis County so we'll ask some discreet and anonymous questions before making plans.

But the very first things we have to do are these:

Find land and make an offer.
Confirm our financing and complete the sale.
Drill a well.
Arrange for a temporary electrical service.

Yes, we're staying on grid for right now and for ease of construction (using electric tools) but in designing and building a house we want to allow for the possibility of being energy independent. Not even using propane. Wood cookstoves and woodstoves in general are a good option for almost all the properties we've looked at because they have woodlots that we can manage. The same goes for construction, using cordwood as a method of building is good because it makes use of available resources.

And yes, you drill a well before building any structures. Why? Because occasionally it'll turn out that the best location for a well is under your house or close to a septic field. So do the well first, then the septic where it won't pollute your water supply (has to be done by certified companies in NS but we're going to see if any of the work can be done by us to save money) and finally the house and out buildings. Even though we don't plan on using the septic tank much if at all, we still might need one in place. I'm not sure that you can put a new outhouse on property here, but I'll find out.

Anyways the sun is shining again and so I'm going out while I can. Then I've got to mop floors in preparation for Kate's party at 5pm.

Have a good day.

Elizabeth

Very Quiet Neighbours

Stephen and I found another Annapolis Valley Property to go look at, and despite the snow and my bald tyres, I drove out there today. It's not a bad location at all with the lot being fairly regular and rectangular with one corner belonging to the lot next door. From the road the cleared land slopes south to a brook and then north up the hill which is mixed forest. The road is fairly quiet, being off the valley floor and away from the major roads, but it's still close enough to town for supplies and to have customers within easy reach. Since we know the price of fuel is just going to keep going up, being closer to town is important if you plan on selling produce as a part of your farming business plan. And yes, even people who are self-sufficient have some sort of a plan. We experiment along the way, but we have an idea of where we're going too.

I won't give you all the details of the land...look how well that worked out for us last time. I'm going to take the advice of some friends and just say "tell you all about it once it's ours". I will tell you about the neighbours though. It's just out from the village, and I use that term loosely since it's maybe a closer collection of 2 dozen houses, and has one home across the road, one next door that can't be seen from the road, and on the other side is a small church and cemetery.

So here's the kicker...how do we feel about having a cemetery beside us? In Nova Scotia, they're all over the place. From small family ones to great big community ones, cemeteries are everywhere. Not like in BC where many times they are hidden behind hedges on the outskirts of town. It's something you get used to, same as the number of upright stones instead of the modern flat ones. I like the upright ones, it reminds me of English churchyards I guess. It's an interesting thing to think about though because I already have a very over active imagination and I don't imagine living beside a cemetery will help much. But I'm also religious and having a knowledge of what happens to people after they die, I'm not much worried about ghosts. Still, I think that side of the property would be better suited to an orchard than a yard so we'll plan accordingly.

I think this place will work for us. It's got cleared land, decent soil, no chemicals for a few years at least and running water. Time to pray about it and think about making an offer. Any thoughts you have? Oh and here's another question. If you knew someone had bought a piece of land, kept it for 1 year without doing anything to it, and then they were selling it for 25% more than they paid for it, would you offer them close to what they paid originally? ie. If they bought it for $45k and were selling it for $55k, would you offer them say $47? How much can you low ball a property without being rude and insulting?

Good News and Bad

Hi! Sorry everyone, it's been a busy weekend of gardening, chick raising and everything else we have to do, so I haven't had time to write.

Here are the highlights....

The chicks are doing great and are growing very quickly...time for a bigger box!

We threw Steve a surprise birthday party on Friday when he came home from work. He got some new tools, a popcorn popper and a huge popcorn bucket for his favourite snack. In fact he and Meghan are in the kitchen now popping kernels! Lots of Meghan and Kate's friends were over and since they all call him 'Dad' anyways it was a fun little party, and he really was surprised. I think he liked his 3 eyed purple monster ice-cream cake too.

Saturday we had our gardening class which was a nice time to get together and share knowledge and tips. It's great for me to learn all the local wisdom of gardening here in the Maritimes. Thanks ladies! And Steve worked on getting the tiller tuned up and running.

Saturday afternoon we met a lovely couple from Annapolis who might be able to help us finance the purchase of a property. They understand about organic farming and the amount of work it takes to have a successful farm. Super nice! Now for the bad news...the property we love looks like it was sold earlier that day to another party. So now we have 2 choices...wait and see if that deal falls through before April 20th or look for another property. There are others around of course, so I think we'll hedge our bets by seeing what else is out there in our price range. There's no point on dwelling on what we can't have...we just have to pick up and move on. But since the decision to purchase a piece of land is a permanent one for us (we're never moving again) we want to make sure we get the place that's right for us and our goals. I've got a short list already...I think that I'll be doing some driving tomorrow to check out some places now that the snow has melted off them. And Steve has been very optimistic too that while we probably won't find as large a place again in our price range, maybe we can find something with more cleared land which means less initial work for us. He's got a good point. So if you hear of anything for sale that's 20-120 acres, suitable for farming, in Annapolis County between Greenwood and Paradise and under $50,000, please let us know. One property we've been looking at for a year has recently had another price drop down to $53,000 with a house and 62 acres...Steve likes it because it's a reno instead of a full out build so that's less work for him. Something to think about. There certainly are options out there and we just have to pick the right one for us. We're open to any advice you can give us, please leave a comment.

Hope you all have a great week to come.

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.

Dirk Becker's Fight and Grass Farms of Nova Scotia

Dirk Becker and Nicole Shaw's fight to keep their "Urban Farm" has attracted media attention the world over and I've posted about it several times before as I've met Dirk and believe in the principle of what he's doing, to fight for the right to keep his livelihood and grow food in an 'urban' (that's debatable) area on his acreage. While I believe in the rule of law in most cases, I truly believe that this is one worth fighting mostly because if the back handed way that Dirk and Nicole have been dealt with by their local gov't. It's not really any wonder that an activist would then turn around and fight back is it? I'm amazed that he and Nicole didn't take up arms sooner. All the City of Lantzville has done is make folk heroes out of Dirk and Nicole and bring more attention to their cause. The City (a lot of Lantzville is actually rural and not paved) and mayor in particular look like a bunch of bullies. Here are a couple of videos I thought you might find interesting.

The reason I'm still writing about this issue even though we're now 7000km away is that this is a problem that affects everyone in Canada and in the developed world in general. Don't think it happens in Nova Scotia? Steve and I are constantly dismayed and shake our heads when we drive around the beautiful Annapolis Valley at the hundreds of 'grass farms'. That's what we call the rural houses that are surrounded by acres of neatly trimmed lawn and nothing else. No fence, hay fields, sheep, or anything resembling a vegetable garden. Just one small house and 3 acres of grass. There's a nice house on the way to Berwick that I swear has 12 acres of grass all beautifully cross mowed and not an animal in sight. People buy the houses and then sit back to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country, riding the mower for a couple of hours a week and that's fine but what about those of us who want to grow food and can't afford rural property that's suitable for agriculture because of the property prices being driven up by people from the city buying it and then not using it wisely.? What happened to understanding that we are stewards of the land? Isn't there some sort of balance? Don't we recognize where we're heading as a society? Sadly, the answers to these questions and others about our consumerism is mostly 'no' , we don't get it. For the majority of people things like 'Peak Oil' and 'Peak Water' are just topics for discussion amongst us cranks and conspiracy theorists. As long as WalMart has shelves filled with stuff and the grocery store is full of cans and veggies they feel secure and smug in their own little world and think that life will always be like this. They simply don't understand that something like 'peak phosphorous' means commercial growers won't have unlimited fertilizer for their crops so yields will decrease and prices will go up. That affects everyone. We all eat. Well, those of us who can afford it.

We're biased of course because we've experienced this personally when living on Vancouver Island and so we're living here in Nova Scotia now where land is still more affordable so we can provide a better life for our kids and grandchildren. And we love the people here too.

Well, that's my mini rant for today. Watch the videos and comment.

Where do we go from here? Nova Scotia!

** Note, this post should pre-date the one about trip plans...sorry for any confusion - Elizabeth***

While our plans of rejuvenating the farm in Hilliers were dashed, we're still optimistic that the future can hold wonderful things in store for our family. The dream is not dead, it's just changed a little.

Here's what our original introduction said about us.

One family learning to be self-sufficient on Canada's beautiful west coast. We hope you enjoy following our story as we turn a run down and seriously neglected little rented farm into a thriving and vital part of our community here in Hilliers, near Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We have a large market garden and raise chickens, turkeys, cows, goats, sheep, alpacas and bees. Oh and let's not forget the most important thing...we raise our family here too.

That all changed with the owner selling and the new owners bulldozing everything.

Despite of all this the motivation to create a vibrant and flourishing small family farm is still there! It just looks like we'll have to start over again somewhere else. So we're looking to get our own place in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia?!?! What? Isn't that at the opposite side of the country?

Well, yes it is. Infact, from here to there is about 7100km. Since we're planning a few detours to see family, see our beautiful country, and to have fun along the way, it should end up being a bit closer to 7500km. I'll work it out and let you know. Ok, here's the map.


View Directions to Halifax, Nova Scotia in a larger map

So the plan is to take our motorhome, 4 children, the dog, the goat, 2 cats and one trailer and drive 7000+km in search of a place to call our own. We'll need some help along the way I'm sure so we're going to look for some sponsors, sell pretty much everything we have, and we'll keep you posted each step of the way.

Coming soon...a tour of our current home, our Vancouver Island Bucket list, and how to do all sorts of stuff on a budget while travelling.

Trip Plan-Working out the budget and fuel costs

We're working out some things at the moment for the big move namely:

-How to pay for it
-When and where to go
-Where to live once there
-Where to get a job

Here are the maps we're using for planning on Google. You'll notice a number of stops in both BC and Alberta that seem out of the way...we'll post the itinerary so you can see why we're doing a bit of back tracking.

First let's do up a budget of sorts. Obviously these figures will vary as we gauge the Motorhomes actual fuel consumption and decide on stops of interest along the way. I'm making a general assumption of $10 per person per day for food, 10 mpg for the motorhome towing a trailer, gasoline price of $1.35 per litre and $100 per night for stops at campgrounds of which there are not likely to be many. SO here are the numbers:

10 mpg=.235 litres per km so a trip of 7100 km needs 1668 litres at $1.35=$2252 OUCH!!

If we can improve the gas mileage by even a little by simple things like good driving habits, properly inflated tires, a tune-up, keeping a speed of 80-90km/h then we should be able to get a few more mpg. Here, I'll show you how a little can make a difference. Say we can get 3 mpg better...
13mpg=.18 litres per km. x 7100 = 1278 litres at $1.35 = $1725 so we'd save $526.

Of course if the price of fuel goes up even a little it makes a difference too of about $16.68 for every penny increase at the pumps so if gas hits $1.50 then we'll be paying another $250. See how a few simple things can add up quickly? That's why we're going to make and track our budget so we can see where all the money is going.

Budget

$2250 Fuel
$1000 Food
$ 200 Ferry
$ 500 Repairs, upgrades and maintenance of motorhome.
$ 400 Campgrounds
$ 400 Admissions
$ 50 Parking and Tolls
$ 50 Animal food
$ 200 Interior upgrades such as foam and bunkbeds.
$ 500 Used trailer frame or shell
$ 300 Lumber to build trailer and animal pens.
$ 200 Insurance for trailer and motorhome
$ 150 BCAA membership (to cover towing if we need it)
$ 50 Sani-dump fees, propane refill
$ 40 New propane tank
$ 10 Memory card for camera
$ 50 Souvenirs

Total Budget for this expedition $6250. But that is still way cheaper than paying a moving company $8000+ and still paying for the 6 of us to get there which is another $3000 minimum. I know we'll try to cut the budget down as far as possible but your help would be greatly appreciated too. If you'd like to support us financially you can donate using paypal. If you go to our website novaappliance.com you'll see a payments page where you can give. We really appreciate it and we promise to not squander your money. Every dollar makes a difference.

We are also offering advertising space on our trailer. We have both sides available to feature ads up to 16x7 feet. Cost of advertising is $100 per square foot with the signage provided by you. All sponsors and advertisers will be featured both on our blog and our new Youtube channel starting next week and you can use us in your own company promotions.

Please e-mail us at fairesfamily@gmail.com for more info.

Have a fantastic day! We're off to Chamainus to finish the reno's at a friends place so her family can move tomorrow.

BIG NEWS!!

After a 4 month hiatus... we're back with news!

First off our daughter Nicole's new book is officially out today. It's selling so well already that it looks like she's going to get 2 more book deals out of it so YAY for them! And great for us readers!

The book is great. Go have a look at Amazon

Here's our big news.

It is with heavy hearts that our branch of the Faires Family announces the following... we're moving. We're excited too but there are so many unknowns and so much work to do that it's a bit nerve wracking. I hate moving. And we are still looking for a new place to call home.

Where are we going you might ask? Well, it looks like the choices are narrowed to the maritimes of Canada or somewhere here on Vancouver Island. We would like to stay around here because of the ease, costs of moving, established business, kids in school etc. but that will largely depend on finding a suitable home that's affordable. This property we're on sold for the greatly discounted price of $470k. Buying it in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia it would have cost about $80-$130k I would imagine. Maybe less. Since we want to settle down and NEVER MOVE AGAIN we are looking to start over with our own place. Even if it means you get another year of following my blog through the start up phase from building a travel trailer to breaking ground on a home or root cellar, we hope you'll stick around and let us know what you think about the whole thing.

You might also be wondering why on earth we would move after doing so much work here for a year and a half. And the simple answer is that the owner of this property has sold it. Yes, after saying that we could stay for 10 years he up and listed it, sold it, and now we're moving. What I didn't mention were the problems with him killing livestock and other destructive behaviours.

Living here has been 'the best of times and the worst of times'. But we are sorry to see so much hard work and planning go down the tubes. Still, we did learn an awful lot and practical experience is a valuable thing in this day and age when we think that reading something in a book or online means that now we know how to do it. These amazing tools we have should be there to guide and inspire us, not just give us an inflated sense of our own skills and resourcefulness.

Ok enough of the rant. I should nip it in the bud and get out my roll of packing tape and garbage bags. Our over stuffed house, garage and workshop have to be essentially paired down to the point that everything will fit into a 12x8x6'6 trailer just in case we find the perfect place and do move east. This is going to be the mother of all garage sales, the likes of which Hilliers has never seen!

We'll let you know how our winter projects shape up, namely building a trailer, finding a new home, and de-cluttering the house.