The Work Begins

On the 25th of June the Goddess/God stopped the rains and this area of Canada, anyway, has been thrown into summer.  We spent all day Friday and Saturday WEEDING!  It actually feels so good being out there doing this.  I have found a true sense of calm here at this farm. It's amazing.  I know without a doubt that I am right where I am supposed to be at this point in my life.  Everything is starting to come up, except for the strawberries who had a rough time with the rain. Dwayne already knows where he is going to be moving them to next summer.

Today is Sunday and we were out again by mid-morning.  The guys planted another 7 or 10 rows of something (WHERE DOES IT STOP?)(Let's see. More: carrots, beets, beans, peas, lettuce, spinach, do dah, do dah)!  I quit early as my body still requires some breaks, though I have built my endurance so much!  When I first got here walking to the back garden wore me out! To exhaustion, really.  Now I'm all over this place.  Thank the Goddess/God because there are weeds EVERYWHERE!  We made good progress though the last couple of days.

I didn't have my camera with me this morning (I got a little laxed on that, but know better now) and I missed a couple really good pictures this morning.  When I got up and went to head outside there was a coyote sitting in the back yard looking to the greenhouse where Dwayne and Newt were doing the morning inspection and door opening.  This is Newt.  She's 12 and having some bad hip problems this summer.  I yelled to Dwayne who came out  of the greenhouse wearing his white terry cloth bathrobe, saw the coyote, and gave an exasperated head shake.  He then started clapping his hands and yelling, "hey you get out of here!  Margaret get my gun!" If you've met my friend Dwayne you can picture this in your minds eye. He has never called me Margaret in the many years I've known him.  It was so strange to hear that come out of his mouth! He makes me laugh.  I think we make each other laugh this summer, which we all need.  Throw Alton in there and it's not unusual to pee oneself. T.M.I?  The coyote ran off and I missed a great picture.  The second one I missed was when I was out weeding in the "outback" garden.  A very large white tailed buck came out of the woods and stood and watched me for about a minute.  I talked to him and then he turned and walked back into the woods.  He was huge.  And you're just going to have to take my word on that.

This is Cletis Ann the cat.  She is an expert huntress and really controls the mouse and gopher population around here.  Not to mention the occassional bird.  She's good to have in an "organic" setting!  It's everyones job to make sure that once she is in for the night, not to let her back out.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  Then there's Newt, Max and Vinny, Sam's chocolate lab, all taking a hike down the road.  Max is slowly becoming a much less needy dog and I'm so happy for him.  Taking care of me was pushing him to the edge!

Sticking with this animal update page, the Magpie's have all been "fledged" and have left their nest.  And I haven't seen the Great Horned Owl or her 2 babies lately either.  Well, Dwayne and I are goin fishin.

Gone Fishin'

So, because we could not get into the garden yesterday, Dwayne and I had another fishing date (this part isn't so bad!).  Lake Diefenbaker is 150 miles long and the water is so clear!  And cold.  This rock is actually under the water.  

These are Sask Power hydro towers which supply electric to the area.  Great technology!  We fished at several locations...the fish just didn't seem to be biting. I just sat and listened to the new Melissa Etheridge CD while Dwayne did most of the fishing.  Below is the "spillway" which dumps water from Lake Diefenbaker into the South Saskatchewan River.  With water still coming out of the mountains and all the rain the water is high everywhere.

Today is Father's Day...happy day to all you fathers!  We were able to get into the garden today for more WEEDING, but the mosquitoes are really bad!  We quit around 4pm for cocktails.  Everything is starting to come up! The strawberries are having a slow go at it.  Too much rain.

June 19, 2010 - Saturday

Well, it's been a very wet and rainy spring here in Saskatchewan.  It's been extremely hard on all the farmers, not to mention the "gardeners".  Dwayne was able to get the greenhouse emptied out of all the seedlings they started and transformed it into a garden that houses tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. 

Here I am moving compost piles around....that's the same tractor that the "Swisher" is attached to for grass cutting.  And here also is one of my favorites of Alton.

On Tuesday night I "somehow" stepped on and broke my glasses.  Sam, who has been a friend of Dwayne's forever was kind enough to take me into Saskatoon, where she lives, and hooked me up with a place that fixed them.  In the meantime, I got to spend a couple days back in civilization where one can drink the water and order pizza for delivery!  I am grateful to her for the reprieve.  Today, I'm back on the farm.  The sun is trying to come out, but because of the rain the last couple of days, we won't be able to get into the garden for probably a couple of more days.  Maybe we'll go fishing.

The Killdeer Story

There is a strip in the back garden where a Killdeer seems to have taken up residence.  Dwayne has chosen to not disturb the family, even though it's really bothering him that he can't till that area!  We have closed in on her quite a bit,  but she still has a respectable amount of space.  I think these are just some really great pictures of her and the eggs.  Killdeer pretend they are injured to lure predators away from their nest.  A very unique survival technique.

I believe you can double click and enlarge these.

Week 2 - Day 1

June 9th: OMG IT'S STILL RAINING. We are all suffering from "play house fever" as PeeWee Herman used to say. Actually, it stopped long enough for Dwayne, Max and I to go fishing. Well, Dwayne fished, Max rolled in dead smelly stuff and I did some rock hunting. I just can't get over the amount of space for the amount of people that are here.

June 10th: Guess what? It's raining. Dwayne measures it daily and since they've been back they have had over 5" of rain. I'm getting worried about him. He's looking a little pale with a glazed look in his eyes. The rain and lack of activity is slowly taking it's toll. He seems to be taking it harder then the rest; becoming unresponsive and lethargic. Alton and I play on our laptops, Garth sews....Dwayne needs a hobby! The object sitting on the log are 2 sets of antlers that the guys found in a field somewhere. They are locked together. You can only imagine the rest of the story. It holds the rain gage. I think I'll take this opportunity to show you some more of the land and "stuff".

Alton researched high tunnel green houses on line and found plans through 2 universities. They picked the one they like best, and built it. This is what that looks like. Their goal, of coarse, is for a bigger and better.

The garden started out 4-5 acres in size, and an additional 3-4 acres were fenced last year. The fencing is beautiful, and they did it themselves! Most of the province plants oats, wheat, canola, flax, peas, lentils, soy beans, fava beans and supplies a good part of the world with food. This particular "farm" is known around the area as "the garden". (LOL) Everyone else are farmers; we're all "gardeners". I think they all are trying to understand these "boys" and what they're doing. They see them as gardners. Dwayne said he thinks of themselves as "Gentlemen Farmers"(in Dwayne's sense of humor). Wait until we put the purple dinosaur out at the road. It's not purple now, but it's going to be.  I believe with pink poka-dots. If you look at that piece of machinery (old combine) you can just see the mouth there infront, and the eyes. We'll use old hoes and rakes to make eyelashes. There is a piece on the back that comes up to be the tail.  Not that anyone will ever go by it to see it!  .

 

To the left is part of the newest addition of the garden. Please take note of this as being "before". You can witness "after" later in the summer. I have heard it is beautiful when everything is up and the flowers in bloom.



So, if anyone would like to come volunteer any spare time I would even give you my bed! Seriously. I mean it. At this point the garden is not on the web anywhere. I am in the process of teaching them to get something out there! They think it's too soon they're not ready. I guess it involves a lot of rules and regulations to do mail order. I said to just do something out there that will at least tell people who they are and what they are doing. Their primary income on the crops is by hitting as many farmers markets as they can. It's actually quite lucrative, but a lot of work. Like everything else involved. That's what it means to "Start A Business".

Days 3-7 (It's all a blurrr.....)

The rest of the week was spent cleaning up last years garden, starting a new compost pile, planting more potatoes (second crop), squashes, and other stuff. I'm not so good at keeping up yet on what's going in. After some hours of work "out there", I say I have to go into the house for something and I don't come back. Instead (!) I go work in the house and do domestic activities which are a whole lot easier if you ask me. They know if I say I'm coming back, I really won't be coming back.

On Saturday we were going to make a dump run. The pick-up truck had been loaded up in the back over winter. Unfortunately, when the truck was finally started it would only go in reverse (LOL)! It seems to start something you have to first take the battery out of something else. And then of coarse put it back where you found it (usually with the next piece of machinery that needs starting. It all makes me smile. The vastness, the huge sky, watching Dwayne & Alton farming (they are actually VERY GOOD at what they do. Just their usual entertaining ways. We moved the junk from the pick-up truck into a bigger truck! But then, we had to change that battery, too. Being exceptionally physically exhausted all I can do is laugh at them! We missed the dump times and so the garbage goes tomorrow, Wednesday. Picked up a lot of other crap, too.

First Week

The drive to Canada was beautiful. Went through FARGO ("and I suppose that's your associate in the chipper there, eh?") into Bismark, North Dakota first day. Stayed at Motel 6 where they "left the light on". Up 9am Tuesday, crossed the border (that's a whole nother story) and met Dwayne & Alton in Kenaston. They drove me in the last 60 kilometers (what?) to wherever it is that I am now. This is a picture of the boys at Minooka [sp?] park when they came to visit. They are legally married here in Canada. Upon arriving we grilled the brats and corn I "snuck" into the country (part of the border crossing story). Drank Old Fashions and crashed.

Day 1: Learning the house and land..

The water for the house comes from a holding pond (called a dug out). There is a pump that is turned on at a pole which can be fitted with hoses for the outdoor watering, or filling the cistern in the basement. We don't drink this water. It is for dishes, laundry, showers, etc. as it does go through a brief purification process, but....we don't drink the water. Water comes from the "city" of Outlook where Dwayne and Garth's mother lives.

Spend the first couple of days doing the first spring yard clean up. Picking up sticks and mowing very tall grass. I learned to drive the small tractor that pulls a 44" Swisher mower thing. Max had to sit on my lap...(he is detaching himself from me some now though and is learning to be a farm dog.) Going from doing almost nothing to bending, squatting, lifting, pulling I was pretty tired the first few days. Actually, only now am I feeling "somewhat" normal.

Water for irrigation to the guys garden comes from a canal (created by the government and comes from the South Saskatchewan  River) that passes very close here which they are routed into. The pipes must be installed in spring and uninstalled every winter. There is A LOT of work to be done around here! They work really hard...I'm getting there.

Day 2: Saskatoon

Woke up and was raining again. They have had a very rainy spring, but the garden seems to be doing ok. It was half planted when I got here. In already are red potatoes, beets, lettuce, peas, onions, carrots, spinach, corn, Swiss chard, beans, cucumbers, strawberries, and probably more.

Went to the biggest city in the Province, Saskatoon (pop. 250,000'ish), about an hour plus away and did some major grocery shopping.