This update has been brought to you by the letter “L”..... hmmmmm, I sense a theme...

Well, I honestly didn’t expect this to come so close on the heels of my last update but to be honest I find writing these blogs therapeutic and in a lot of ways relaxing and cathartic as I venture into the forbidden arena of procrastination…. that moment when your list of ‘to does’ is so long that it just grinds you to a halt…. where the thought of prioritizing churns your stomach and pains your head…. Well I’m there… again apparently… and I honestly think Farmer Luke is there too… that awkward tone hangs in the air…. he chops wood and I blog.

so lets begin……

LLAMAS!!!!! Yup ~ crazy super fun as I never thought I would ever say we have llamas!! Funnily or not, I can’t help but say each time I see them “hey there Llama Llama Red Pajama” *NB children’s book…. a series actually… it’s like my farm animal earworm. They are really cool to look at and luckily we got them from a small farmer who had handled them often so they are really friendly too! Farmer Luke got heaps of information about them when he picked them up like; how to handle them (apparently they are easily herded with a rope), their reproduction (the only time a Mrs. drops an egg is after Mr. has paid a visit... he gets the motor runnin'.... who knew!), the explanation for their crazy teeth (their teeth don’t stop growing much like a beaver’s), their temperament (after a 20 minute struggle to get them on the trailer… which they had never been on before and Farmer Luke was pretty much new to.... well…. to it all! ......only one spat and it was at the last minute when he tripped... they are patient and sweet llamas.... as llamas go..... so they say). It really is a crazy new adventure…… cuz, of course we’re totally lacking in crazy new adventures….. right?... ahem….. sarcasm should not be wasted..... stay-tuned as our adventure continues

meet Mrs. BABACAKE.... named by Ms. Forrest Rea

meet Mr. Mashed Potatoes.... named by Mr. Fab Finn

Finally, meet Mrs. Amikwa..... named by Granola Girl and means Beaver People of the Algonquin Nation  

So that brings me to…..LIVE TRAP…. ya..... well..... that continues although we’ve had no deaths since the traps were reinstalled and set nightly (like we need another chore, ahhhh the life of a farmer!). This is a good thing for sure…. but along with the good thing is the lingering thought of when, if ever, that good thing will end. It’s not such an elephant in the room as much as a tiger waiting to strike. Good times! As the air hangs heavy with thoughts of what ifs and whens Farmer Luke has taken to chopping an inordinate amount of wood….. and I blog…. I guess productive procrastination isn’t too bad!

a place of productive therapy.... why stew when you can chop things in half?

Finally, I come to the delicious LEMON CUCUMBER ready for picking in our garden…… they really are delicious…. not necessarily lemony as the name connotes, as you see the ‘lemon’ is associated with it’s appearance:

this is an organic heritage variety and just as delicious as the APPLE CUCUMBER

This year we chose to take a backseat to our market garden in order to make room and inevitably time, for the fencing, barn completion, cows, llamas, sheep, turkeys, chickens, eggs…. honestly it’s a wonder why we would even bother drawing the line, why not add one more to the mix? Well, we kinda did. We went crazy on potatoes… our herb garden is completely overflowing… we have more beans than we can pickle….. and apparently we’re going to be having organic salsa verde for the next year and a half. So what does this mean; besides failing in our attempt at ‘avoiding’ a market garden? It means I’m in overdrive trying to figure out new and creative ways in which to use these amazing ingredients. We don’t have enough to sell individually but we have just enough to highlight something in a new value-added product each week. Besides the amount of time this takes in terms of planning and the eventual execution, I truly LOVE this aspect of the farm. Nothing feels better than producing something from the bounty of your own harvest…. yup super cheese I know.... but I'm serious.... NOTHING! I mean it’s why we do it…. right?! …. oh wait…. there is one other thing that feels better than making these gastro delights and that’s getting feedback from the people that buy our stuff and come back time after time. THAT. FEELS. AWESOME. It affirms where we are going and my specific contribution to it. I idyllically want to be a farmer but honestly, my skills are in marketing and in the kitchen…. I’m not about to swim-up-hill at this stage… but I won’t rule out venturing into the field in the future….

creating with the bounty of our harvest #luckyme

So back to the garden….. one last piece of advice and lesson learned… SUNFLOWERS. I LUUUUUUUURVE ME some sunflowers!!!! They put a smile on my face and they put colour in the garden. The second year we planted our raised beds at home Farmer Luke decided to plant a few sunflowers as a surprise for me. It was a sweet thought and one that didn’t go unnoticed… there were maybe 4 that first year… the next year we thought it was pretty cool that they had multiplied to around 10... YAY! "more happy flower time!" I thought.... well…… this year there are upwards of 35! Oh, and these aren’t the little cute sunflowers you can cut and put on your dinner table….. OH NO….. these are the bee loving bird buffet giant variety…. the kind you say HOLY CRAP look at the size of that flower!!! COOL RIGHT? um…. ya, if you weren’t trying to grow herbs, peas, strawberries, asparagus, lettuce, celery, etc… UNDER THE SHADE OF A GIANT SUNFLOWER!!! Kinda counter productive if you ask me. Something tells me we would have had more ‘fruits’ of our labour had we more direct sunlight…. just sayin’….. mental note for next year eh!? OH... on the other hand we did discover the fertilizing benefits of “steeped chicken poo tea”…. amazing stuff and so far it seems intuitive Farmer Luke got the formula just right the first time.... live and learn I guess!!!

perhaps harvesting sunflower oil is in our future?

So there you go and look at that... I feel better already! I think I’ll go and research new chicken jerky flavours……. or maybe I’ll draft that letter I promised I would send today…. either way, I feel clearer for some reason and ready to prioritize….. well kinda.

This update is brought to you by the letter “R”

Rats... 

Yup, we’re still there. FUN. not. For a bit there a false sense of security fell over the house like a warm comfy blanket…… we were convinced the cutting of the hay was the magic cure-all and for a week Farmer Luke didn’t put out the traps. They sat dormant housed on top of the chicken tractors. Then it happened.... out of the blue...... three chickens..... GONE. WHAT THE? SERIOUSLY? We’re not back here again are we?!! I had been happily basking in the calm of consistent, uneventful ‘everyday routine’ when BAM! In an instant I am sent back to….. well…. to WAR… involuntarily of course because I inherently want everyone to live PEACEFULLY together ~ total cheesy Granola Girl mindset which is completely impossible in light of the recent events but… it’s true. call it the Disney in me. I hate all things involving intentional death.... I became a vegetarian at 11. Don’t worry..... the irony that we 'harvest' chicken and turkey on a number of set dates throughout the summer is not lost on me… and that soon we will be harvesting larger animals that have lived with us longer...... gulp! NOTE: I will ALWAYS call it 'harvesting'…. I’m in total denial…. BUT I’m ok with it cuz somebody has to do it and we farm from the perspective of the best interest of the animal…. OK... WOW, that was quite the tangent.... anyhoo, RATS. Ya, they're back.... WAR is on... yippee!

RATS 7 – FARMER 0

....on the positive, the amount of traps and snares being set off while they are attempting entry to the chicken tractor sufficiently deters them from succeeding in their chicken leg mission… doesn’t necessarily succeed in calming Farmer Luke though… stay-tuned.....       

Relatives...

We are in the middle of two and half weeks without WWOOFers. Don’t get us wrong we honestly love everything about hosting wwoofers….. don’t forget Farmer Luke and I met while traveling and living abroad….. it’s who we are and instilling a sense of the ‘World’ to our kids is priceless…. but two weeks without ‘hosting’ is like a mini vacation in a summer of commitments. Interestingly, the commitments don’t change so we are required to stay home….. so we…. er…. host…. our friends and family in our time off…. funny how it doesn’t entirely feel like hosting but in reality we are still hosting..... Huh. Anyhoo, my folks were here for 3 nights over Mr. Fab Finn’s 8^th (I’m still in shock.) birthday and it was fantastic! My folks are foodies so you can imagine the fun we got up to in the kitchen with all the bounty from the farm!!! ~ they also LOVE to putter ~ so they helped us with 4 jobs on a list we started months ago….. YAY!!!!! The theme was ‘doors’…..

the FIRST DOOR: our sliding screen door had been instantly changed into a ‘doggy door’ after Greywacke opened it (and didn’t close it of course!) and Bella chased him into the house ~ after pausing in a moment of “where am I? OH this is what is in here!” Bella promptly ran back out the screen door.... but not the cat sized portion that was open..... of course. AWESOME. So Farmer Luke and Poppi fixed it…. after about two weeks of ignoring it. 

the SECOND DOOR: the apparatus on the front glass door had broken (for the umpteenth time) three weeks ago and to the best of our knowledge there were no more quick fixes…. so it sat broken….. until Poppi came and put a bolt in it and now it’s fixed forever! LOVE! YAY! 

the THIRD DOOR: the door that hides our washer and dryer has haunted me since we moved into the house. It was a bi-fold door that would constantly come off the track every time you opened it….. every time! Now contemplate how often you do laundry…. that is a lot of annoyances.... Yup. Drove me nuts. It would either remain open (Farmer Luke’s solution) or it would be closed despite being off the tracks and left to hang and flap throughout the day…. or I would struggle, curse, and close the damaged door dreaming of the day the annoyance would be resolved…. this frustration escalated to Farmer Luke finally just taking the door completely off about 6 months ago……. but my dream came true this week….. after 4 years of angst….. my dad turned the bi-fold into French doors!!!! BOOYAH!!! small pleasures my friends... small pleasures =)

one door two door three door ~ NO MORE!!

THREE CHEERS FOR HANDY RELATIVES!!!!! GrannyP created a ball game for Finn’s birthday party, weeded my garden and helped cook, clean and look after the little people. SO GRATEFUL!!! These WWOOFers are welcome back any day!     

Routine...

This is the part of the summer when the farmer’s market routine sets in. Monday is my mental day off. I don’t think about the farm or the impending farmer’s markets. I still have to 'lawyer' but I don’t have to prioritize my thoughts which is like a day off. Then by Tuesday my mind is beginning to be infiltrated with farmer’s market thoughts….. what am I going to prepare this week? What’s in the garden and needs to be harvested? What should I make with it? I’ve been smoking chicken and making pesto for four weeks now and I honestly LOVE IT but it’s also extremely hard to BALANCE. I’ve got to plan, pick and produce these things which mentally begins Tuesday… the rest of the week is a blur. But it’s also a routine now so it's more of a well choreographed blur…. that said, Friday’s are crazy….. *complete understatement*….. one Friday I had two 9-tray dehydrators going with two kinds of chicken jerky and another 5-tray with two flavours of kale chips… er… that’s 23 trays of dehydrated delights…. the smoker was smoking to fill pre-orders…. and I was making three flavours of pesto….. oh ya, and I still had to make all the signs for the Saturday Brockville market and pack everything up for the farmer to take…. Farmer Luke has to be packed up and on the road by no later than 7:15 on Saturday morning…. so ya, Friday and Saturday early morning are a blur…. but they are now a clearly anticipated and well-executed blur…. for the most part...... ahhhhhhh routine....

this is August last year ~ down to a science baby!!!

So there you go, the latest update….. brought to you by the letter “R”…… stay-tuned for the next installment which will likely be brought to you by the letter “L” in light of the LLAMA delivery on Friday…. the new LIVE TRAP loaned to us….. and the ripening of the ever popular and superbly delicious LEMON CUCUMBER…….  

....um...and yes, I did post this on Monday ~ so much for my day off!! .....

 

Midnight Mystery Murders SOLVED! ….now it’s just war.

I laid in bed this morning listening to the farmer get up and get ready to start the day and as he left the room I heard a whisper of “wish me luck…” ~ sadly it lacked the vigour and enthusiasm that comes with challenge and hope and read more as someone close to defeat…. we have all been rooting for him but each day it gets harder to keep him up. As he went about his morning routine we at home slept… restlessly….. wondering…. hoping…. wishing……. practically begging Mother Earth to ease up…… and that hour and a half seemed like eternity…. snoring child beside me…. incessant mosquitoes looking for an all you can eat buffet….. birds chirping….. then I heard the familiar alarm clock of the front door opening and the farmer was home ~ gulp. For the past two weeks I’ve felt the same horrible anticipation… the kind that hits you in the pit of your gut…. but this morning was different!…. the door flew open and Farmer Luke yelled out “hey hon, guess what! WE GOT A RAT! WE GOT ONE!!!” 

they were the best grass-fed organic chicken and turkey legs I've ever had! SLUUUUURP

~ it was like a veil was lifted off our house and the windows blew open to fresh clean air…. I responded with “YA! That’s awesome!”…. Forrest popped her head up and said, “WE GOT A RAT?” then jumped off the bed and did a dance and song in true Forrest Fashion…. then all you could hear was Finn’s sleepy voice coming from his room, “Congratulations Dad that’s awesome! Now what kind of animal is a rat? It’s a rodent right?” and off he went back to bed.

I have to say this has been a crazy ride and it certainly isn’t over but at least we have identified our enemy…. this makes it more bearable despite the continued battle. We can now plan our strategy, place our troops... er... I mean traps..... and set the stage for our counter-attack.  Of course the other part of the equation that I certainly never thought of, is the fact the hay hadn’t been cut and was long enough to instill just enough confidence in our rat population for them to wander the fields which normally are off bounds and healthily protected by various birds of prey ~ um, ya…. needless to say the hay was cut today. Live and learn I guess.

Now the question is….. HOW MANY ARE THERE? …… or better yet, how many more dare to take on the farmer? Will they retreat? 

the tides have turned and Farmer Luke has now begun strategizing.....

the current score is:

RATS / 18  -  FARMER LUKE / 1

Stay-tuned…..

Now don’t get me started on my “Mystery Kale Chomper”….. live-trap has been set for days and the raised bed is covered…. but somehow each time I go in more has been eaten….  I fear it’s coming up from the soil… what then? ARGH... 

I don't necessarily blame the Mystery Kale Chomper but I'd like to share......

Frustrations of a farmer……well this farmer anyway.

Let me name a few:
red text = the cRaZy story that has ensued since I first began writing this blog on July 4.....

• A barn finally completed 9 months after it was meant to be ~ through no fault of his own….. now to get the gates in... wood sides up..... hay stacked.... ya, OK it's not actually completed I guess.... getting there though..... the barn floor is finally down and finished... now to pick up the gates and cut hay this weekend in between farmers markets...... DAMN did I just say that?....ugh...reality just slapped me in the face #seeyouonmondayortuesdaydad

last year.......winter....then spring....then summer....patience is a WHAT?

• Animals that need to get out to pasture but a bit of fencing still needs to get accomplished….. not too big of a job right?.... if you like digging holes and pulling rocks out of the earth.... for 8 hours a day.... in the heat and mosquitoes.........ya, not so much for me either.....

solar electric fencing is slowly but surely getting finished....this is KIWI style fencing

• A full on attack on the turkeys ... then the laying hens..... then the meat birds............................ 'OMG' is a friggin' understatement..... due to cold nights, damp weather, and some crazy little rodent thing .....it seems the cold nights and damp weather have subsided leaving behind only the 'crazy little rodent' thing....... this thing only wants the birds for their legs….. still only legs!.... poor little guys are just left there…. legless….. this kills the farmer in so many ways… and well lets be honest.... it causes him to plough full steam ahead to WAR…. farmer vs. the wild…. .....the artillery now includes 30 traps, foot snares and one crazy MAD farmer...... you don't want to know the numbers that have perished in battle thus far.... unfortunately we just can’t figure out what is doing it!! We’ve attempted two sizes of live-traps but it seems the mystery animal only needs a couple of legs then it’s done for a few days (THEY ARE THAT GOOD I guess…..)….so it’s catching it on the right night with the right live-trap…which has alluded us thus far UGH!!! ......um,  it still alludes us....honestly...... our world sits on the edge every morning as Farmer Luke drives off to move the chickens....... it has been 6 days since I BEGAN THIS BLOG..... that's a long time on the edge of your seat for anyone! In that time we've narrowed it down to a probable RAT... but nothing has been caught...the 'probable' still lingers... The farmer is totally bummed because he doesn’t want to let anyone down….. and being a farmer is also about knowing his environment and what’s living around it…. so you can imagine the frustration and consternation ...understatement... this has created….. the life of a farmer eh! ….sigh. I have to say it has been amazing to see the support the farming AND trapping community has given Farmer Luke ~ it's really cool to see the community come together to help a farmer out.... and more particularly FARMER LUKE ~ SUPER COOL! 

poor little turkeys

• RAIN STORMS = MUD + WEEDS = MUDDY + WEEDING = TIME STEALERS!!!! Not enough time in the day…. with manageable weather and manageable mosquitoes…. to sit in the garden and weed... um, don't forget about the barn and fencing..... as Farmer Luke said… we need to farm in Yellowknife! 

Farmer Luke throwing in the towel....for the moment

• Having a young family, a wife who is still struggling to scale back her work hours, AND summer vacation with a 7-year-old at home and a 3-year-old in part-time Montessori….. this is uTtErLy CrAzY in all honesty….. I wouldn't recommend it...... but we are managing…. Luckily I’m extremely creative at entertaining from a computer screen in my office…. here’s an example of such an occasion:

Finn: Mom, I’m bored….

Granola Girl: Really….huh…how do you spell that again?

Finn: B.O.R.D.

Granola Girl: Almost…

Finn: E.D.?

Granola Girl: Yup… ok... HEY (in an excited voice), why don’t you go outside (adding this is like adding veggies to cake)… with this pen & paper and here’s some scissors, oh and a couple of paperclips would work too… and you’ll need some tape of course… a stapler….. and how about a couple of highlighters? K…. now go outside and build something CrAzY……..BORED.

Finn: MOM… MY NAME IS NOT BORED I'M FINN! Argh I hate that joke! 

          

And off he runs happily entertained and I’ve bought myself between 30 min to 2 hours ~ BOOYAH! … and I didn’t even leave my office chair!!!.... of course as the summer progresses the ideas wane but we won't go there until we have to...

Mr. Finn making a video game old school style ~ oh ya, I've got more where that came from!

So ya, that’s our world right now with the kids ~ Forrest is more manageable as she’s excited to follow Farmer Luke around whenever he lets her but she’s also a mama’s girl and loves to just sit with…. um… more like ON me in my office…. which is not so ‘computer work’ conducive… not sure if you’ve ever tried to write a memo with a squirmy 3-year-old on your lap or between your arms…. who also has a penchant to randomly push any button she sees #allworkgoneinaninstant…. gulp….. and if you do know what it is like… I suggest we get t-shirts and start a club.  

So needless to say there is a lot on Farmer Luke’s mind right now…. TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT........! he’s wearing it well…...as best a totally stressing out anxiety ridden new farmer can.... I would be (and lets be honest I kinda am....) a total mess..... it's killing me not knowing what is eating our stock.... I'm also offended by the wastefulness of the attacks.... I mean killing a bird for one of it's little legs then leaving the carcass for naught is crazy frustrating...it’s obvious Farmer Luke is weighed down.....he's a little further down now..... we know that it is only going to get better once the barn is functioning, the hay is cut and stacked..hello weekend...er, I mean good-bye weekend....Oh, neat farmer fact: you need 4 clear days in order to cut, bale and stack hay...., the fencing is up and the animals are rotationally grazing…. oh… and the mystery rodent is revealed... I think you get the picture on that one.... I will say in the 6 days we have gone through 2 sizes of live traps, $50 on 8 proper rat traps which we used without success while offering this rodent a buffet of peanut butter,  almonds and grass-fed organic chicken legs, 4 rat boxes which the storm last night prevented us from testing their potential..... clearly the extent of the current artillery is reflective of Farmer Luke's frustration (for lack of a better word).... and although supportive in the madness and calm...... I can't help but think of CADDYSHACK... wow there's my 80's sentimentality again... hehehehe...... I think I'll share this with the farmer after this has all past for fear the humour would be lost ....  
 

Caddyshack, circa 1980....another iconic Chevy Chase film

Anyhoo... that moment when all is well will come and it will be SPECTACULAR and we know it’s really just around the corner…. I guess it’s just one last great big bumpy ski hill to climb over and then we’ll be there!!!! um.... did I mention neither of us ski?...... coming down should be fun!!!!


STAY-TUNED FOR MY NEXT POST entitled:
.....just when you thought you were getting out of the RAT RACE 

NOTE: Title subject to change....