Sharing knowledge; and, our grand plans for 2013

As we take in as many farming workshops as possible, I begin to think: there must be a way to share this information. We can't make it to every workshop (both of us are still working full time, remember) and we've begun to recognize faces that are attending the same workshops and we've noticed that sometimes they are missing some workshops too. Being a library person, I am first and foremost a helper person - everything I do I want to share with people. Knowledge is meant to be shared; what's the point of knowing something if you can't tell someone else and help them improve their situation?

I stumbled across a post on FarmHack about a month ago that really got this all started for me: encourage each farmer in the community to set up a specialized workshop, one farmer per specialty, and visit whoever has the equipment you need. One can set up a welding/fabricating shop, one can set up a mechanic's shop, one a woodworking shop, etc. That way, each farmer does not need to purchase the same equipment - this will definitely give the best bang per buck, while encouraging a sense of community and camaraderie among the farmers. Of course, it would only take one bad apple to ruin it for everyone, but if we're all in this together, why not help each other out? And why would you want to piss off your neighbours anyway?!!


Along this same train of thought, I've wanted to set up some sort of knowledge collective, where new and young farmers in the region can build a community and share knowledge and ideas. I have no idea how to go about this - at the moment, I'm sharing my Google Doc of event notes, but in order to encourage others to contribute, I was debating the merits of a blog, or a wiki, or a forum, or.... I really have no idea how to get this started, but I want it very badly. I started writing this post over a week ago, and at that point, I'd already been mulling it over for weeks. As I've also been researching seed saving, I came across a guide to growing for seed production, put out by Farm Folk City Folk. So, as I'm currently waiting for delicious things to happen on the dessert front (preparation for another game day tomorrow, and we're doing it potluck style this time! I, of course, claimed desserts, as I am a terrible cook... but, I digress...) I decided to quickly check out the Farm Folk City Folk website.  It's much like what I was hoping to set up!  They also have a Young Agrarians site - again very much like what I was thinking of! Brilliant! It's exactly these moments that give me that growing-heart sensation - knowing that there are like-minded, friendly folks out there who also want to build a community to help newbie farmers. It's very re-affirming: we can't be completely off our rockers if other young people are doing this too! This is something I knew already, as quite a few people I'm starting to recognize from local farming events are about our age, but I am always thrilled to find someone with similar interests (be it board games, raves, or heritage chickens). So now, we just need to get Prince George on the FFCF/YA radar! Who's with me?

 On to a more specific update: we've been planning. And planning, and planning, and planning. And we're getting tired of just planning. Today I realized why people do "spring cleaning": the days are longer, the sun is out, and we're itching to move, to accomplish something, to come out of our dormant winter state, but it's still too darn snowy to do anything outside. I cleaned the floor and the lower cupboard doors/outer structure today. This wasn't a planned event, like most of my cleaning, it was "ugh I need to do SOMETHING and it's still only +1 out and it's starting to cloud over....."

 As for our plans: they're a constantly shifting target. Our biggest variable right now is money. Jordan just started a new job here in town, so we'll be spending MUCH less on fuel (yay!!!!!!). His pay is also higher, but there are potentially more deductions, so we're waiting on a full paycheque to estimate how this will change our budget. A (not so) brief list of our current hopes for this year:

• Do something with the roof. It's still leaking (although it's not as bad if we keep it shovelled) and we're still discussing the best way to fix it without spending a small fortune to get it fully replaced. We could rip the tin off, replace whatever insulation needs replacing (if it's water damaged beyond salvation), lay Tyvek and screening, and put the tin back on properly, including replacing any flashing for vents and the chimney and overlapping the tin properly around these vents. We could also raise the roof over the bedrooms and put in a loft. I feel it's likely that the former will be what happens, as we can do all that ourselves in a weekend. We also need to increase the ventilation, and likely trim back the eaves - this will be interesting, but we can manage. After we fix the roof, we have to... 
• ... fix the bathroom wall. There's a decent leak happening behind the drywall and tub surround in the bathroom. It's bad enough that we have dampness and mould growing on the log walls on either side of the bathroom. Fun. I'm really concerned about opening it up - who knows what we'll find back there. Plus it means no showers for two weeks as we let the logs dry out so we can... 
• ... chink the house. Our heat bill is absolutely ridiculous. We can do the chinking ourselves - it will be a steep learning curve, but I'm not scared of that. A bigger concern: emptying and moving the huge food shelf to get at that wall. 
• Rebuild the root cellar. Right now, it's railway ties, which will leach creosote and who-knows-what else into whatever we store in there. Not cool, and quite counterintuitive; why bother growing organic food if we're going to store it in there? So we're researching, and planning, and trying to figure out the best way to do this on a budget. If we get really desperate, we can probably harvest some trees and build it out of those. Hopefully we can come up with something better than that. 
• Grow some food! We've got some seeds, and we're looking forward to planting them :) We'll have to create some more garden space somewhere - if we'd been thinking in the fall, we should have done it then. Oh well. Also, we only have one tiny south-facing window... I have no idea how we're going to start seeds. Under grow lamps? We'll figure something out. That reminds me, I wanted to do a post on seeds.... 
• Move the greenhouse. Who builds a greenhouse on the North side of a building??? 
• Grow some green manure on the hay field. It's starting to look like we'll be using part of the hay field to grow our market garden - it's relatively flat, and very easy to get to. If we want quality hay off it, it needs to be reseeded anyway - may as well till in a cover crop in the meantime. Hopefully we can get the farmer we leased it to to help us out. 
• Harvest rainwater. We've got eaves troughs for the house, they just need to be installed (see: fix the roof). I have a rough plan to hook up a bunch of barrels in a sequence so we can fill multiple barrels at once. Once I finalize it and get the barrels, I'll post some plans and pictures. then we can install a similar system for the shop, the longhouse, and the barn. We'll need to get eaves troughs for all of those, of course. 
• Get some chickens. At this point, we'll likely stick to meat birds. That way, we can build a quick chicken tractor (smaller movable coop) and move it around the yard with some fencing. The minimum order of heritage birds from the hatchery is 25 chicks, and we have a friend interested in going in with us so she can have some too. And if she buys the chickens when they're alive, then they're her chickens, and we can get around the 'no farm gate sales' law I think. Sneaky? Maybe, but that's how folks are circumventing the 'no raw milk' law - they buy shares in a cow, and 'pay' the farmer to look after it and milk it. Then they show up and collect their share of the milk. 
• At some point, we need to fix the vehicles. The car is leaking oil, and the truck's exhaust rusted through at the manifold connection. Jordan is getting dirty looks from people when he starts the truck, because this huge plume of exhaust erupts from underneath the cab. 
• We will likely also have to replace the well pump and pressure tank this year. We've noticed a decrease in pressure, and the shower squeals when it happens, so I think it's probable that we've lost one stage of the pump. And we know the pressure tank is shot. 

There is also a very very long list of "wouldn't it be nice if we could..." including fencing, clearing out the area around the pond, fixing up the longhouse, fixing the ceiling in the stalls of the barn (though we might have to just rebuild that side if we want stalls big enough for draft horses), and continuing to clean up the shop (which Jordan has already started). This is going to be a very, very busy year - and that's precisely why we went East to visit with my family last year. We might be able to sneak away from the garden (I bought hose timers last year for our vacation!) but there's no way we can leave the chickens overnight. So we're hoping for a quick trip or two back to Alberta in the spring (it's my 10-year high school reunion this year - time flies! - and I'm still debating if I'll go) and then if anyone wants to visit, they'll have to come here. Looking at the list above, I'm noticing a challenge about blogging about farming: in the winter, there's lots of time to blog but nothing to blog about; in the summer, there's lots to write about but no chance to actually sit still for 5 minutes!