tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17889354351218109962024-03-13T06:41:19.886-07:00Lone Pine FarmOur adventures on 40 acresLone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-80739969709888796792015-12-30T00:00:00.001-08:002015-12-30T00:00:41.925-08:00Semiannual Plant Repotting Dance Party!<div>
For the past few months, it has been painfully apparent that my plants at work needed some attention. I had rooted some spider plant offshoots in.... March? April? I can't remember - it was that long ago. The Princesses had been confined under the desk since about then as well, when I discovered they were suffering yet another spider mite infestation. (Damn mites.) Things were looking a little ragged and unkempt, and I had adopted two more plants and assumed responsibility for Kim's succulents in the meantime. So the cleanup was well overdue.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OP9YaLJuAc4/VoOF2Vy09AI/AAAAAAAABMo/y_RT7KiAi3w/s1600/20151229_172222_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OP9YaLJuAc4/VoOF2Vy09AI/AAAAAAAABMo/y_RT7KiAi3w/s320/20151229_172222_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you had walked past my desk, this is what you would have seen - plus another piece of plastic enclosing the Princesses under the desk. It looked terrible.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0gHq4nPG8Ls/VoOGF_DuXVI/AAAAAAAABNA/CPO1dAkqxdk/s1600/20151229_172139_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0gHq4nPG8Ls/VoOGF_DuXVI/AAAAAAAABNA/CPO1dAkqxdk/s320/20151229_172139_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main plant area. On the desk, back row, l-r: white-stripe spider plant; Vancouver Centennial geranium; solid spider plant. Desk, front row: spider plant babies; a mixed pot of succulents (Kim's); donkey's tail (Kim's); more spider plant babies. Under the desk: the saddest Princesses. On the white table: fuchsia. Then two aloes on the right, the matron (the original plant from my Mom's ancient aloe) and an incredibly prolific plant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtDflro_CN0/VoOGNJMDpII/AAAAAAAABNM/Evwowa1Nyyk/s1600/20151229_172156_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YtDflro_CN0/VoOGNJMDpII/AAAAAAAABNM/Evwowa1Nyyk/s320/20151229_172156_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Area #2. A giant fern on the floor, and the table holds...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h6kHzcQTIlg/VoOGTtLBleI/AAAAAAAABNY/va9SBxUrsYI/s1600/20151229_172208_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h6kHzcQTIlg/VoOGTtLBleI/AAAAAAAABNY/va9SBxUrsYI/s320/20151229_172208_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... Two aloes (the front one is Kim's); A mixed planter of succulents from the local plant sale; and a pot with three mystery plants.</td></tr>
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So I came in at 5, and got to work. The Princesses were suffering from YET ANOTHER mite attack - so they went in the garbage. Seriously. They were gorgeous (they were parrot's beaks, aka <i>Impatiens niamniamensis</i>) but they'd been plagued by mites ever since we picked up the fuchsias (Kim had one too) and a welsh onion for free. The mites hitched in on the onion - and took up firm residence in the princesses. The onion got tossed about two years ago, but I tried so hard to save my Princesses... Alas, they have succumbed/been tossed. I can look into locating another in the future.<br />
<br />
So, a full 6 hours later, and I have finished repotting, rearranging, cleaning, and watering.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MiYuiatESYM/VoOGZ87XvhI/AAAAAAAABNk/dLz2r8jEq_M/s1600/20151229_231300_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MiYuiatESYM/VoOGZ87XvhI/AAAAAAAABNk/dLz2r8jEq_M/s320/20151229_231300_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new view from my desk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2GxPBPwXg7I/VoOGn6X4SsI/AAAAAAAABNw/9rxR6yFDiks/s1600/20151229_231318_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2GxPBPwXg7I/VoOGn6X4SsI/AAAAAAAABNw/9rxR6yFDiks/s320/20151229_231318_HDR.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The desk. On top, back row l-r: white stripe spider plant; geranium; solid spider plant. Front row: Kim's mixed succulents; my mixed succulents; and Kim's huge donkey's tail. Underneath: Kim's aloes; an aloe I'm holding for a friend; and the mixed mystery pot - now down to two plants.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YNRM4wMvbN0/VoOGv0MzybI/AAAAAAAABN8/BWnG2Aoyjvk/s1600/20151229_231344_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YNRM4wMvbN0/VoOGv0MzybI/AAAAAAAABN8/BWnG2Aoyjvk/s320/20151229_231344_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The babies: a geranium I'm attempting to propagate; the spider plants; and the baby aloes - all 7 of them came from one pot!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42vHd5l7qP4/VoOG04x-wwI/AAAAAAAABOI/zknypBxIM4A/s1600/20151229_231354_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-42vHd5l7qP4/VoOG04x-wwI/AAAAAAAABOI/zknypBxIM4A/s320/20151229_231354_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The tall plants: the aloe matron; the prolific aloe; and the huge fern.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k2xH1hZdyAQ/VoOG6JKlHeI/AAAAAAAABOU/otJy0OJIlDw/s1600/20151229_231418_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k2xH1hZdyAQ/VoOG6JKlHeI/AAAAAAAABOU/otJy0OJIlDw/s320/20151229_231418_HDR.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I sent a white stripe spider plant and the fuchsia over to keep my colleague's coffee plant company.</td></tr>
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<br /><div>
The white stripe spider plant originally looked so full because it had split into two plants, so they got separated. The solid plant has also split, but it's not to the point that I want to battle it to split it (it's hard!). The prolific aloe, which is one of the last repotting's babies from the matron, gave me seven babies, and was putting up an eighth which I accidentally destroyed. The pot was waaaaaaay too small and she was prone to falling over, so she got repotted into a larger pot, and her 7 babies will be sold if they all root in the next month or so. The spider plant babies will also be sold or given away - there's 12 there that need to go next week. The geranium propagation is an experiment - I have no idea if it's going to work, but the main plant is getting nice and big and the missing cutting isn't terribly noticeable. The mystery pot and the fern are my two recent adoptions - the mystery pot came from an event in town that a coworker attended, and the fern belonged to another coworker (who got it from yet another coworker) and they have moved on to other opportunities.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I must say - it looks a lot better over here now, especially without the Princesses and their quarantine shelter.</div>
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<br /></div>
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(And a disclaimer: I have NO IDEA what I am doing with any of these plants, really. They get watered once a week, and I haven't lost any other than the Princesses (damn mites). My terminology is all wrong; I don't know the Latin name for any of these and can only identify half with any certainty. So if you want to try your hand at greening your work space or living space, take everything here with a box of salt, and a liberal dash of common sense - and Google or another gardening resource or mentor.)</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-88482775405704048952015-12-27T12:22:00.002-08:002015-12-27T12:22:26.390-08:00Clearing SnowI know it's been a while, and I'm sorry for it. The delay is caused by a
few factors, including: being busy with other things; needing more
down-time; a lack of all things farm-related to post about (we didn't
even do a garden this past year); and, if we're being honest (which I
am), just generally being fed up with living here.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
A very quick update before I get into the real topic of this post:</div>
<div>
-
The chickens have gone to live with a friend. Their egg production,
while still good, was slowing. Our friend had a buff orpington roo, and
borrowed our girls to hatch some new hens. These, along with other
chicks, were taken out by a coyote attack :( So we gave her our birds,
including Foghorn, along with some feed and the nest boxes I'd built. We
might do meat birds again, and just butcher them all - we'll see.</div>
<div>
- Jordan has
been working on a trade, and has successfully achieved his red seal
certification for fourth class power engineer. He's now focused on
getting his third class. (Power engineering is set up differently than
other trades in that other trades are first year, second year, etc while
power engineering is fourth class, third class, etc and does not go by
"year", per se, but rather the Safety Authority exams and the hours
worked.) </div>
<div>
-
We got a puppy! His name is Baran and he is a cocker spaniel. He comes
complete with the usual cocker issues, including but not limited to:
extreme submission, including submissive urination; excited urination;
ear infections; and overwhelming cuteness. He's just finished a round of
antibiotics to knock out a possible bladder infection, which may be the
source of his 'triggerless' urination (basically running and peeing
without being scared, submissive, or excited).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TWRff9BU-h0/VoBIPYr4O6I/AAAAAAAABMM/ncrBleIG-pU/s1600/Baran-Pup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TWRff9BU-h0/VoBIPYr4O6I/AAAAAAAABMM/ncrBleIG-pU/s320/Baran-Pup.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very young Baran - this is a photo from the breeder</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-34yiKT1rRSQ/VoBISSGBbjI/AAAAAAAABMU/JBAhrH4EtDE/s1600/Baran-Sep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-34yiKT1rRSQ/VoBISSGBbjI/AAAAAAAABMU/JBAhrH4EtDE/s320/Baran-Sep.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baran in September, at 7 months old.</td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, on to the reason for this post: I want to document the reasons behind our snow-clearing plan this year.</div>
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<div>
In
past years, we've used the quad with the snow blade attachment to clear
our snow. This takes a lot of time, and heavy, wet snows are
particularly hard on both the quad and the blade. Additionally, we could
only push the snow so high before we had to get someone in to push the
banks back for us and give us more room to pile the snow. This first two
winters, we used a local excavating company, and the owner (one of our
far neighbours) would come by with his front-end loader with a large
blade in place of the bucket and push our banks back. Last year, we
learned that fuel costs had made this service uneconomical for him and
prohibitively expensive for us, so he recommended another much closer
neighbour who has a snow blower on the back of his tractor. This worked
wonderfully last year and was much cheaper.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This
year, after a few discussions, we decided to use this neighbour
exclusively, and limit our use of the quad. There are a few reasons that
this made more sense for us this year:</div>
<div>
- We have both joined
the gym, which means we are spending less time at home. Adding snow
clearing on top of this would have added way too much stress, for me at
least.</div>
<div>
- Last winter, we bought a Nissan Xterra to replace the
car, a Chrysler Sebring. The Sebring could not handle much snow - she
was notorious for slipping the fan belt off at the worst time, due to a
missing belt guard that would normally block the area from becoming
packed with snow. She also had many miles on her, and was starting to
encounter other serious problems (the starter, the suspension, etc). The
Xterra can handle much deeper snow. Four-by-four and greater ground
clearance, when combined with studded winter tires, makes it a wonderful
vehicle in the snow. You may recall that our other vehicle is a one-ton
pickup, which is also equipped with four-by-four and outfitted with
studded winters. This means that we did not have to be quite so
attentive to, or stressed about, the depth of the snow on our road.</div>
<div>
-
We are not broke. We are not rich by any means, but we can afford the
cost of getting our neighbour to clear the road when needed.</div>
<div>
-
We have a deal with our neighbour that he only comes by when we call
him. I believe he does most of his other clients 'unprompted' (as in, he
clears when he sees an accumulation that would be difficult for a car,
without waiting for them to call him), which works out to more frequently
than we would need our road cleared.</div>
<div>
- By not using the quad, we are reducing the fuel and maintenance costs.</div>
<div>
- The lock on the shop is prone to freezing, making it difficult to open. The less we have to unlock it, the better.</div>
<div>
- And last, but certainly not least, contracting our neighbour has greatly reduced my stress level every time it starts snowing.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And
nature has given us a perfect example to illustrate why this is the
best choice for us, in my opinion. Yesterday morning, our predicted
snowfall at the airport was 2 cm. (We often get more snow and lower
winter temperatures than the airport does.) There was already some snow
on our road - about 3-4 inches worth. Jordan and I had a date planned:
take the dogs snowshoeing, go see the new Star Wars film, and go out for
dinner. As the morning turned to afternoon, it was clear that we were
getting more than the predicted amount of snow; a quick recheck of the
weather forecast indicated that we now had a snowfall warning for 15 cm.
And this snow came with wind too. The road was snowed over as we left
to snowshoe; when we returned an hour and a half later, our previous
tire tracks were now invisible under at least 6-8 inches of snow. We
left again 45 minutes later, our tracks again obscured. When we finally
returned home after 6 hours, we easily had a foot of snow in the 'low'
spots and drifts up to two feet high in two areas. These were no problem
for the Xterra. It continued to snow overnight, and Jordan had no
problems getting out in the morning in the truck. I called our
neighbour, and he came to clear our road with the tractor - and it took
him 20 minutes. 20 minutes! It would have taken me AT LEAST 3 hours; I
would have been stressed, cold, wet, and miserable; and the dogs would
have been cold and wet as well. Add to that the fuel and maintenance on
the quad, the other plans I had for today, and the fact that he cleared
not only the road, but the entire turnaround area in front of the shop
and longhouse plus Jordan's half of the driveway - and paying to get the
job done is clearly the best choice.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And if we
break it down to just money: we pay $50 for our neighbour to clear
snow. I make $27-something an hour at work; Jordan makes over $30. Fuel
for 3 hours would probably be about $15; I'll put maintenance at $15 for
3 hours as well (the winch needs some work, and the blade is getting
pretty bent up; we'd likely have to replace both by the end of the
winter if they were used heavily). It would 'cost' us over twice our
neighbour's rate to do the job ourselves.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I am very pleased with our decision.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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---------------</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
I
think I will continue to use the blog do post about non-farm related
things. I'll definitely give an update on the house, and on the puppy
(who is now 10.5 months old) - but who knows what other topics may be
included!</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-59090945179238031732015-03-15T12:50:00.004-07:002015-03-15T13:48:55.628-07:00Princesses, and PhoebeYou recall my last post on the Princesses, right? Well, I'm happy to report that after a few weeks of sadness, they are now doing amazing!<br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RP5-aKswuh0/VQXfgZNfmgI/AAAAAAAABJo/zka3-kjpbfo/s1600/20150218_130253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RP5-aKswuh0/VQXfgZNfmgI/AAAAAAAABJo/zka3-kjpbfo/s1600/20150218_130253.jpg" height="320" width="180"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">18Feb - Propogation day</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-og60nXt_OOU/VQXgHL3AFxI/AAAAAAAABJw/ucD_yxX05sM/s1600/20150221_120220.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-og60nXt_OOU/VQXgHL3AFxI/AAAAAAAABJw/ucD_yxX05sM/s1600/20150221_120220.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">21Feb - Droopy! This is why I named them 'Princess'</td></tr>
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<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XCnXci2NXis/VQXgyxXyCJI/AAAAAAAABJ4/boswXDLzWUs/s1600/20150308_181716.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XCnXci2NXis/VQXgyxXyCJI/AAAAAAAABJ4/boswXDLzWUs/s1600/20150308_181716.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">8Mar - Already putting out flowers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And Princess One is now furiously putting out new shoots. I might keep her just to continue propogating new impatiens - come fall, I'm going to be swimming in them at this rate!<div><br></div><div>In other news, we are down to seven hens - Phoebe died a couple weeks ago. We couldn't determine the cause of death, as she had no predator marks, had been eating and drinking, and had no sign of health issues. So we've chalked it up to natural causes, and have been keeping an eye on everyone else, who seem to be doing just fine.</div><div><br></div><div>Aside from Phoebe, things are good here. We had a windstorm yesterday, and I'm happy to report no damage and only 5 small power outtages, lasting from 5 seconds to 20 minutes each. Large chunks of the city were without power all day yesterday and into today - proof that town living doesn't guarantee a consistent power supply.</div><div><br></div><div>Well, time to go visit the chickens!</div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-86868404014813569072015-02-24T15:11:00.000-08:002015-02-24T15:18:07.826-08:00Why I took a break from the blogHi, folks.<br>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
Just a heads up: this post is going to have very, very little content related to the farm.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
So, as you likely noticed, we've been fairly silent since October. This wasn't a planned absence - I came home from a knife-sharpening workshop in early November and hand-wrote a blog post with the intention of posting it - but the stars kind of aligned and kept me away from this space. I wasn't checking other blogs, either. I missed reading posts from my friends (as I count most blogs I follow to be friends, especially Buttons and Tessa) and I missed updating you all on what was happening in our life. As such, I'm making a conscious effort to reconnect with you, and make our lives available to you as well.</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
As you may know, both Jordan and I work full time. Jordan is extra busy right now, studying and writing tests to advance his career goals, and I am busy with work as well. I'm a library technician at a small academic university, and I manage all of our online resources. This includes ensuring our users, both students and faculty, can access online books and journals, article indexes, and specialized resources (including 3D anatomy modelling!) that the university spends a lot of money on. I turn it on and make sure we are providing proper access points; I troubleshoot when users, or myself, can't get access to what is needed; I turn resources off at the end of our access period; I do some work with off-campus authentication so users can access the resources from work, home, or wherever their research (or vacations) take them; and I provide support to our Collections and Acquisitions librarian so she has the information she needs to make decisions regarding our e-resources. In addition, I provide 4 hours of reference a week - answering research, citation, and access questions. Right now, I'm slotted to contribute all my reference hours on chat reference with users from post-secondary institutions across BC and the Yukon (as opposed to face-to-face reference with our users).</div>
<div>
<br></div>
<div>
As you can imagine, this means that I have 35 hours a week staring at a computer. I really enjoy my job, and I love my career path, for so many reasons - but all of the computer work I do to get paid means I'm not super enthusiastic to come home and spend more time with the computer. I spent a good portion of December and January battling headaches at work, and it turned out my glasses prescription needed to be updated. But this meant that looking at the screen hurt like heck for a few weeks, and I was forcing myself to look away at least once an hour to get make it through the day.</div>
<div>
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I've also been busy with Zim. We've been at school two nights a week since August. It's been going great (more on that in an upcoming post), but as I'm struggling to avoid burnout, I will be taking a break from class for a bit. I plan to make some of the equipment (with Jordan's help) so we can keep practicing at home, but I'm also looking forward to taking a break from all extracurricular activities (except my work with the union at work - I am in a position with a two-year term, which ends next January) and try to regain my balance and sanity.</div>
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If we had the snow load that we had last year, I would have lost my mind this winter. I'm not exaggerating - last year's snow was so hard on us and it was a struggle to keep up. We also bought a small SUV for me, which has decreased my winter stress (look for a post about that soon too).</div>
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Anyway, I'm currently attending a conference related to my job: Electronic Resources and Libraries, or ER&L. The conference is in Texas, but they offer online attendance as well, which is about 10% of the total cost to attend in person. But the conference is on Texas time, so it starts at 6:45 am local time, and we live out in the sticks without "real" internet, so I am attending from Kim's house in town. I brought Zim in with me yesterday, and he'll join me tomorrow too (as it's his last class tomorrow), but today it was just me with Doodle and Pongo. And Pongo likes to sing. So I will leave you, for today, with a quick video of my favourite shelties singing the song of their people during a break between conference sessions.</div>
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And, rest assured: I am making an effort to be present on the blog. I'll be back soon with more news from the last few months.</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-78779657008608665092015-02-18T18:53:00.000-08:002015-02-18T18:53:00.623-08:00Off with her head! (or, Propagation by cuttings)I've introduced you to my 'work garden' <a href="http://lone-pine-farm.blogspot.ca/2014/08/gardening-not-just-for-home.html" target="_blank">before</a> - and today, I've got an update.<br />
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(Yes, yes, I know - I owe you a huge update. All is well, and I'll get to it, I promise.)<br />
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Princess - remember her? the giant Parrot's Beak that I've cut back once already? - has continued to grow. She's HUGE. Due to my terrible hands-off management of her growth, she's gotten too big, and too lopsided, and her stem(s) finally started to give way when I tried to turn her around to sun the other side of her last week. It was obvious that Princess needed to be cut back again, and today was the day.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The work garden</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZ4iAE6l7Xk/VOUb5kc3izI/AAAAAAAABIc/ZD4Hq54IPT8/s1600/20150218_123659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kZ4iAE6l7Xk/VOUb5kc3izI/AAAAAAAABIc/ZD4Hq54IPT8/s1600/20150218_123659.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fuscias - looking appropriately fuscia</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right row, front to back: Spider plant, Donkey's Tail (Kim's), another Spider plant. Front center: Vancouver Centennial Geranium. Left row, front to back: Garlic (Kim's), Princess Two, Princess One (you can see her leaning on the Spider plant's pot), Aloe Vera (Kim's)</td></tr>
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The Parrot's Beak (<i>Impatiens niamniamensis</i> - that's a fabulous name!) has stems that get woody as they grow, but the first few inches of new growth at the top are young and supple. I had clusters of leaves right at the bottom of the new growth, so I cut the stems right under that cluster, then removed the clustered leaves. The bottom two inches of these cuttings went into some nice wet potting soil mixed with a bit of compost - I'm hoping that they put out roots quickly and successfully. (Sending out a huge thanks to a now-retired colleague, who left a bag of potting soil for me that she had brought in to repot her giant fern. Thank you again - I'm putting it to good use!!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New cuttings - introducing Princesses Three through Five!</td></tr>
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There's one more new branch started on Princess One, and she's got a few flowers growing on her original stem, so I'll keep her around for a little bit longer, cut and plant that fourth branch, then likely dispatch Princess One. I am being much more careful with the growth of the other Princesses - I pinched the new growth off the main stem of Princess Two fairly short once she was firmly rooted, and she's since grown two more branches, one of which has reached my height tolerance and got pinched today. I'll keep Three through Five short as well - Three (the tallest in the above picture, on the right) is already a good height for a main stem, but I'll wait until she's rooted before pinching the new growth.<br />
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All three are now in the sun, with bags over them - Three gets the bag that I used for both One and Two when they were first cut, and Four and Five have large freezer bags over them. This raises the humidity, creating a little microclimate of their favourite conditions, which will reduce the stress while they take root.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Princess One and her beautiful - if slightly malformed - flowers</td></tr>
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The spider mites that I battled for months have been successfully eradicated, and I'm now very cautious about grabbing new plants. We have a yearly 'Green Day' here at work, and the greenhouse brings plants to share - they take pest control very seriously, so I am quite confident that their plants are clean. In fact, that's where Princess One came from, along with Kim's Donkey's Tail - last year's Green Day. This year, I got a geranium and Kim got garlic. They had some herbs too, but I already have lemon balm in the perennial garden at home so I decided on another huge, flowering plant.<br />
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I have another Aloe, it is keeping a colleague's big tree-like mystery plant company in another corner. All of the Aloes come from the one I got from Mom's Aloe a few years ago - and they're all putting out babies like mad!<br />
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Interested in learning more about <i>Impatiens niamniamensis</i>?<br />
<a href="http://www.stupidgardenplants.com/archives/tag/impatiens-niamniamensis" target="_blank">Stupid Garden Plants</a> - This plant blog is hilarious :)<br />
<a href="http://www.strangewonderfulthings.com/Parrot_Impatiens.htm" target="_blank">Strange Wonderful Things</a><br />
<a href="http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/impatiens/impatiens-rooting.htm" target="_blank">Gardening Know How</a> - information about propagating <i>Impatiens</i><br />
<br />Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-10474549557407748562014-10-26T08:15:00.001-07:002014-10-26T08:16:05.825-07:00It's that time again...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sxQuPjiXPCE/VE0QFXHoEUI/AAAAAAAABH8/LJErpeMGckw/s1600/1414336415048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sxQuPjiXPCE/VE0QFXHoEUI/AAAAAAAABH8/LJErpeMGckw/s640/1414336415048.jpg"> </a> </div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-55078203998324550842014-08-31T21:49:00.002-07:002014-08-31T21:49:13.261-07:00Keeping a roof over our heads and our bellies full<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Last weekend, Jordan and I took some extra time off from our town jobs to work on the house. We got a ton of work done! As we were finishing the sanding, Jordan noticed this sawdust-covered bat between the logs.</div>
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It seems like we haven't quite evicted the bats like we thought we had!</div>
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After we finished sanding, we used the air compressor to blow off the majority of the sand and sawdust, then we had to wash the house. As the house is down to bare wood, this seemed to go against our gut instinct to protect the house; we had to mist the logs with the hose, spray on the Log Wash solution, wait five minutes, then spray the house with the hose again. Just after we had gotten the sandblasting done, I had sprayed the back corner of the house with the hose, and it took four days to dry - we thought washing it would lead to the same results, but luckily the logs dried within 36 hours with no discolouration.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The male half of Team House Washing, with the backpack sprayer</td></tr>
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Once the logs were dry, we started filling the checks and then we took the leap and started chinking as well. It's easier than we thought it would be, and it actually looks pretty good!<br />
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It turns out that the chinking is pretty much a one-person job, so Jordan has taken over these last few days and has gotten quite a bit done. The weather has done a complete reversal on us: after two months of almost no rain, it has now rained every day since Monday. We've tarped the back deck and are almost done the two walls along that portion of the deck, and the weather was decent the other day so Jordan did the wall with the big window, as that would be difficult to tarp. We'll likely keep that pattern, and work on the exposed walls on nice days while saving the deck-facing walls for rainy days.</div>
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While Jordan was working on the house, I took turns either helping him or working in the kitchen. Over the weekend, I made:</div>
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1 dozen pumpkin muffins;<br />
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7 250mL (small) jars of pickled beets, and 2 jars of "cloves carrots" (sliced carrots in the brine I had left over from the beets);<br />
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5 small and 4 extra-small (125mL) jars of saskatoon jam; 12 small and 5 pint jars of pickled carrots;<br />
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and, half a large freezer bag of peas.<br />
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The beet recipe is Mom's top-secret recipe from when we were kids; the saskatoon jam recipe is <a href="http://www.bernardin.ca/pages/recipe_page/51.php?pid=141" target="_blank">here</a>; and the pickled carrot recipe came from a book titled Put 'em up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton. The peas were simply blanched, dried, then packed into a bag (I used a straw to suck out as much air as I could) then popped into the freezer. The beets, carrots, peas and saskatoons all came from our property; the fresh dill and fresh garlic were purchased from a local farm at the farmer's market. Jordan helped with the canning too: he pulled and cleaned the beets, shelled the peas, and provided moral support as I laboured in the kitchen.</div>
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Our canning equipment consists of an enamel steamer pot (one where the insert is as tall as the pot, so we can't use that pot alone to can anything bigger than the tiny 125mL jars), a large stock pot, and a circular cooling rack. I discovered two different configurations I can use while canning: putting the cake rack in the enamel pot, and the enamel insert in the stock pot, allows me to have two canners on the go; and by using the stock pot and insert, I could can 5 small jars, put the cake rack on top, and put 4 extra small jars on top, which allowed me to can the whole batch of saskatoon jam in one pot.<br />
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I have enough saskatoon berries left that I can make another batch of jam.</div>
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And, completely off-topic, I found the following book at the library:</div>
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Chickens are the closest living relative to Tyrannosaurus Rex, as evidenced by a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1154284" target="_blank">study</a> analyzing collagen from soft tissues in a T. Rex skeleton. This study proved that the T. Rex is closer related to chickens and jungle fowl than it is to alligators and crocodiles. That's awesome :D (That study is behind a paywall for the majority of you, dear readers, unless you click the link using a computer at a public library (you might get access) or a university (you will likely get access). Here are some links with more info: "<a href="http://blogs.lt.vt.edu/chickens/2013/05/01/evolutionary-history-of-the-chicken-pigeon-and-other-birds/" target="_blank">Evolutionary history of the chicken</a>," "<a href="http://www.ncsu.edu/bulletin/archive/2008/04/04-30/dino.php" target="_blank">T. Rex is cousin to modern-day chickens</a>.")</div>
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We have more company this weekend, and there's no telling what trouble we'll get in to...</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-14858824982859028832014-08-21T10:18:00.000-07:002014-08-21T10:18:17.582-07:00Can you help?After yesterday's post about some 'unfriendly' visitors, I happened to be outside last night when they started up a chorus. Can you help me identify these critters?<br />
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I think the yipping is a coyote, but I'm not sure about the deeper howl - is that also a coyote?<br />
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On a different note, Zim recently had a swollen ear and face, and started vomiting. We figured that it was an allergic reaction of some kind, but we weren't sure of the cause. But last night, on the way to visit the chickens, we walked past two trees that had a slight humming around them, and Zim started to dance. He stomped his feet, jumped around, rolled in the grass, and frantically scratched himself. Based on this evidence, I suspect he was stung by something, and is allergic to whatever that was.<br />
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He's now back to eating small amount of rice, and we'll manage his food quite closely over the next few days. The swelling has also gone down to the point that it is barely perceptible, and requires much ear and face rubbing to detect. Luckily, his breathing and bloodflow weren't affected, and he's still just as energetic as always, even though at the time I took this video he'd only eaten 1/4c of rice in over 36 hours. All in all, he's on the mend.Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-85218821023392597832014-08-20T17:11:00.000-07:002014-08-20T17:11:00.290-07:00VisitorsWork continues on the house - Jordan is mostly done sanding, and we should be washing the house by the end of the week. I've not been much help, unfortunately, as we've had a few visitors lately, which means a few weekends off for me! (Jordan has some time off coming up, so he'll get his chance to relax as well!)<br />
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My friend Steph came up from Ye Olde Stomping Grounds for a weekend in July. We hit a few of the local parks, played a round of mini golf, made kale chips, and lazed about. It was a wonderful time, and the timing was great too - we'd had a busy few months, but work on the house was on hold as we waited for the sandblaster, so a weekend off was both needed and permissible.<br />
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This past weekend, some of my extended family came up for a visit - my grandfather, aunt, and a cousin from my mother's side of the family. We spent Saturday at the farm, generally taking it easy with a game of "guess that tree" (we couldn't identify it, other than that it's a kind of pine), a wander to the berry picking spots (we found some highbush cranberries, discovered that the birds have eaten the rest of the saskatoons, and braved the wild roses to pick some thimbleberries), some lounging on the deck, and finishing with a fabulous dinner outside as the sun set and a fire. Sunday we ate breakfast at my favourite restaurant, enjoyed a round of mini golf and a few laps around the go-kart track, and had another delicious supper outside.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uh-GW4sVnPY/U_Txmn_YtoI/AAAAAAAABFY/p8EOW424_ls/s1600/20140816_171211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uh-GW4sVnPY/U_Txmn_YtoI/AAAAAAAABFY/p8EOW424_ls/s1600/20140816_171211.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Aunt raiding our peas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uOl_flbZOm8/U_TxmqxpFrI/AAAAAAAABFc/1veSb3wPEbM/s1600/20140816_201924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uOl_flbZOm8/U_TxmqxpFrI/AAAAAAAABFc/1veSb3wPEbM/s1600/20140816_201924.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7dLIttomAfk/U_TxnzgEUtI/AAAAAAAABFo/QvbHDC9Shi4/s1600/20140817_125258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7dLIttomAfk/U_TxnzgEUtI/AAAAAAAABFo/QvbHDC9Shi4/s1600/20140817_125258.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foghorn behaved very well for my cousin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--l7JYZ2ZZIM/U_Txo1XADmI/AAAAAAAABF4/8r4uWhe5NLM/s1600/20140817_153918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--l7JYZ2ZZIM/U_Txo1XADmI/AAAAAAAABF4/8r4uWhe5NLM/s1600/20140817_153918.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant tires after mini golf and go-karts</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wqEZnPdp3SU/U_TxpfqvevI/AAAAAAAABF8/0hqrA-Vnf30/s1600/20140817_154129.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wqEZnPdp3SU/U_TxpfqvevI/AAAAAAAABF8/0hqrA-Vnf30/s1600/20140817_154129.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why be 28 when you can be 6?!!</td></tr>
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We've also had some not-so-friendly visitors. We've got a pack of coyotes hanging around, and they're brave enough that they've been out during the day to pick a fight with a neighbouring dog. As such, the chickens haven't been outside in weeks, as we don't want to risk any getting snatched while our back is turned. We suspect that the coyotes have one den in the field behind the barn, and another den in the adjacent field to the north. They start howling around sundown, and we've seen a few wandering between the suspected dens; all of this activity drives Zim crazy so we've been keeping a very close eye on him as well. Coyotes spend their whole lives scrapping, and I don't think Zim's ever been in an earnest fight in his life, so we don't want to rake any chances.</div>
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Also, something took a wander through the garden this past week and ate the tops off the beets. So it looks like I'm canning this weekend - I'll borrow Kim's pressure canner and hopefully do all the canning inside. If that doesn't work out, I can move out to the longhouse; it has no running water, but we can plug in the old stove and bring water in buckets from the house.</div>
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We also went on a visit last week! We popped over to see the neighbours and the four of us had a wonderful chat. They were able to provide us with more history of our farm and our neighbourhood, and send us a few aerial shots of the farm from 2009. They are pretty fabulous people, and we are so lucky to have such friendly and helpful neighbours!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-grf52qqOcBY/U_TyI0PTjfI/AAAAAAAABGI/LKHkyXxBE5A/s1600/Farm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-grf52qqOcBY/U_TyI0PTjfI/AAAAAAAABGI/LKHkyXxBE5A/s1600/Farm1.jpg" height="134" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(c) belongs to our neighbour. Wish the photo was bigger? Give it a click!</td></tr>
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Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-39815358329467686192014-08-11T12:23:00.001-07:002014-08-11T12:23:23.311-07:00Gardening - not just for home!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We have cats. Two of them, in fact. And these cats aren't fond of plants. As such, I can't keep any plants at home, so I keep my plants at work instead! Last Friday, I brought in the unused half of our computer desk and set it up so I could get all the plants off the windowsills and the various stands coworkers have donated.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XiWS35KxKOQ/U-kTTkJ1L2I/AAAAAAAABDo/ECLJm1JH4OQ/s1600/20140808_090723.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XiWS35KxKOQ/U-kTTkJ1L2I/AAAAAAAABDo/ECLJm1JH4OQ/s1600/20140808_090723.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Various plants on the desk, aloes below it, and fuschias off to the right.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XjoIZeFfsI4/U-kTTgiGztI/AAAAAAAABDk/n2vD2_3NE48/s1600/20140808_090733.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XjoIZeFfsI4/U-kTTgiGztI/AAAAAAAABDk/n2vD2_3NE48/s1600/20140808_090733.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aloes! The large one on the right came from Mom's aloe, which she's had for as long as I can remember. It's sprouted another baby, and the other pots originated from this plant as well - on the top is Kim's, and to the left is one for our former landlord, which is now sprouting a baby of its' own!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pvRZrYp7zVw/U-kTTmOn_jI/AAAAAAAABDg/-tSzMbjPyoE/s1600/20140808_090753.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pvRZrYp7zVw/U-kTTmOn_jI/AAAAAAAABDg/-tSzMbjPyoE/s1600/20140808_090753.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R: Striped spider plant, ; the top of "Princess", now dubbed Princess Two, a parrot's beak; Kim's donkey's tail; Princess, the original parrot's beak; and a normal, solid green spider plant.</td></tr>
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A bit of history on these guys: The striped spider plant came from one plant downstairs here at work. Princess the parrot's beak and the donkey tail both came from an event here at work, in which our greenhouse brought plants to teach us about propagation by cuttings. Princess got pretty tall, so when she sent out a side shoot that started flowering, I lopped off her head and planted it in another pot (to try to discourage any more upward growth from putting her further off balance). I named her Princess because she was very wilty when I got her, but she spruced right up if she had a semi-opaque bag over her to great a humid little greenhouse; whenever I took the bag off, she'd wilt again until I put it back on. She eventually hardened sufficiently to no longer need the bag, which has now been pressed into service as Princess Two displays the same neediness. The solid green spider plant came from a silent auction fundraiser at a previous employer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fL2rLs-PDFI/U-kW7aw_mvI/AAAAAAAABEs/NOeLvtPSmBk/s1600/20140807_143048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fL2rLs-PDFI/U-kW7aw_mvI/AAAAAAAABEs/NOeLvtPSmBk/s1600/20140807_143048.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Princess Two</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2WWFmd_d6f8/U-kW-PH1D3I/AAAAAAAABE0/4qiL6v2Dg1o/s1600/20140807_143158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2WWFmd_d6f8/U-kW-PH1D3I/AAAAAAAABE0/4qiL6v2Dg1o/s1600/20140807_143158.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Princess</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SSXRUXjxT4M/U-kTWDGtYfI/AAAAAAAABD4/FdgiXWOMnnc/s1600/20140808_090822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SSXRUXjxT4M/U-kTWDGtYfI/AAAAAAAABD4/FdgiXWOMnnc/s1600/20140808_090822.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two fuschias, picked up for free - bonus spider mites included! I'm still battling the mites, which infected Princess for a time and resulted in two other plants meeting their untimely demise: a kalanchoe and a Welsh onion, who were too infested to surive (and the onion is the suspected source of these little buggers). So this is Mite Villa, and the fuschias can join the others once they get a clean bill of health.</td></tr>
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I'm not currently growing any edibles at work - that's what the garden at home is for!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A0e8G-cHsgc/U-kTYP0djHI/AAAAAAAABEE/Zurvv72CZlk/s1600/20140810_201147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A0e8G-cHsgc/U-kTYP0djHI/AAAAAAAABEE/Zurvv72CZlk/s1600/20140810_201147.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas behind the pumpkins</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6R2bViWiao/U-kTXxlLMrI/AAAAAAAABEA/5nUnSbzNycs/s1600/20140810_201208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q6R2bViWiao/U-kTXxlLMrI/AAAAAAAABEA/5nUnSbzNycs/s1600/20140810_201208.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two huge pumpkin plants</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cgIfrAEKcug/U-kTa759zoI/AAAAAAAABEQ/_q6Y2NxjqJI/s1600/20140810_201229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cgIfrAEKcug/U-kTa759zoI/AAAAAAAABEQ/_q6Y2NxjqJI/s1600/20140810_201229.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Acre cabbage</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0WWrA12tOLg/U-kTb4HNN6I/AAAAAAAABEY/59OxmKgYYu4/s1600/20140810_201238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0WWrA12tOLg/U-kTb4HNN6I/AAAAAAAABEY/59OxmKgYYu4/s1600/20140810_201238.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Potatoes in flower, then more cabbage, then another pumpkin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xrTk_bULQIM/U-kTcBTiQUI/AAAAAAAABEc/SLVFg8SaPVs/s1600/20140810_201248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xrTk_bULQIM/U-kTcBTiQUI/AAAAAAAABEc/SLVFg8SaPVs/s1600/20140810_201248.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carrots in back, then beets, then yet two more pumpkins</td></tr>
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I want to save all the seeds from the peas that came from the seeds we planted last year, and this time I'll store them correctly - they sat in a pie tin in a window all winter, and still managed to grow, so proper storage should really help!!! Then there are about 14 more feet of double-planted peas for us to enjoy - and some are ready for harvest. The potatoes have been quite successful at out-competing the weeds, and the beet tops have made a few wonderful salads!<br />
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Greenhouse photos to come - our cukes are producing!!!Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-33576228432447552232014-08-02T11:03:00.001-07:002014-08-02T11:03:55.523-07:00Naked house<p dir="ltr">The sandblasters were here on Tuesday, and our little house looks AMAZING! We also finished the two pieces of fascia that were left (with huge thanks to Kim and David for their ladder and contact extender thingy!) so we've started sanding and have purchased almost everything we need to finish the house: log wash solution, pump sprayer for application, check filler, stain, airless sprayer for application, log end seal, top coat, chinking, and the majority of our backer rod. And (hopefully without jinxing it) our weather is supposed to be very hot and very dry for the foreseeable future. I anticipate we'll encounter a challenge or two - what home improvement project would this be without a hiccup?! - but at this point I am confident we can finish this before the snow flies.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3VpYXY57oBA/U90oB7jP34I/AAAAAAAABDM/3xXIJhY2DOY/s1600/20140802_105219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3VpYXY57oBA/U90oB7jP34I/AAAAAAAABDM/3xXIJhY2DOY/s640/20140802_105219.jpg"> </a> </div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-45394433566580258482014-07-30T17:34:00.000-07:002014-07-30T17:34:00.640-07:00Angry people on the internet, in a round-about way<i>This post is not exactly farm-related, but since some aspects of farming, homesteading, animal husbandry, etc are controversial and get some folks really worked up, I just want to put this out there.</i><br />
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Two years ago, my friend and coworker Liz bought me a book for Christmas: <a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781603425841" target="_blank">Chick days by Jenna Woginrich</a> (this link goes to Indiebound, who works with Jenna for signed copies). This book is about raising chickens from hatch (or delivery) to six months old, and coupled with Storey's guide to raising chickens by Gail Damerow, really spurred us along our chicken journey so far. I refer to both of these books very often.<br />
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I adore Jenna's writing style, so I was tickled pink when I made it to the end of the book and discovered she has a <a href="http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.ca/" target="_blank">blog</a>. I've followed her blog ever since, and learned that she transitioned from being a vegetarian living in the city to an omnivore on her own 6.5 acres raising assorted veggies, chickens, goats, pigs and sheep. She's very passionate about how she farms, and has been a great inspiration to me.<br />
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She is honest about the slaughters of her animals that are raised for meat. She does not include graphic pictures, and doesn't provide a 'how-to' style post. However, she gets some emails and comments from folks that she calls "angry vegetarians" who can be downright nasty to her. She received one such email earlier this week, and <a href="http://coldantlerfarm.blogspot.ca/2014/07/an-open-letter-to-angry-vegetarians.html" target="_blank">this is her eloquent, thoughtful response</a>.<br />
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I also have no problems with vegetarians, or carnivores, or Jainism, or rednecks, or any other person or group of people who have a set of beliefs that may or may not be similar to my own. We're all diverse, and I think that's pretty darn awesome. So long as you are not pushing your beliefs on me and trying to change me, I am quite happy to 'live and let live.'<br />
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What I don't appreciate, however, are people who search the internet for things that make them angry, with the intent of 'putting the author straight' and 'enlightening the author to the error of their ways.' Three cheers for anyone if they are passionate about a topic, but I don't understand why someone would choose to channel that passion and energy into bringing other people down.<br />
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I used to get angry about some things - things I found in books, things I saw on TV, and yes, things I found on the internet. But I realized after a while that even though I was learning more about these topics and becoming more educated to different sides of the controversy (because I have a habit of falling into the rabbit-hole that is the comments section...), <u>I wasn't any happier for this knowledge and turmoil</u>. I did not feel that I was expert enough to add my opinion to the fray, and the energy other people projected really just sapped my own energy and made me jaded and suspicious of everything around me.<br />
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So one day, I decided to just stop. If I am not enjoying what I am reading, if I am getting worked up about a show on TV, if I find myself in a conversation that is becoming more like a confrontation, I will just bow out. I will no longer engage in something that just ends up making me angry. I have a finite amount of energy to put in to each day, and I am refusing to throw it away on avoidable situations that make me unhappy.<br />
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And this includes anyone who decides to school me in the 'murder' that is slaughtering chickens that have hatched here on the farm, and were tended to and raised thoughtfully. I do not tell others how to live their life, and I ask for the same respect in return.Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-51551468791450882242014-07-22T16:22:00.004-07:002014-07-22T17:05:27.289-07:00Teenage chicks, luscious gardens, and progress on the house - oh my!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<b>Chickens!</b></div>
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Our baby chicks continue to grow at what seems an amazing rate. Check out their progress:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June 16 - left to right: 3, 2 and 1</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June 23 - 1, 3 & 2</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1MeFGjjbVE/U82HedZ2laI/AAAAAAAAA90/_FujmWVCoOY/s1600/20140629_204635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1MeFGjjbVE/U82HedZ2laI/AAAAAAAAA90/_FujmWVCoOY/s1600/20140629_204635.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June 29 - 1, 2 & 3</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZB_0JBHG3Q/U82Hf1idHKI/AAAAAAAAA-M/hD9kpqEZp4U/s1600/20140709_200757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZB_0JBHG3Q/U82Hf1idHKI/AAAAAAAAA-M/hD9kpqEZp4U/s1600/20140709_200757.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July 9 - 3 & 2</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZvaHaOk7NE/U82Hf8SDLiI/AAAAAAAAA-I/x0JJnWX2XIA/s1600/20140717_191941_Burst05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZvaHaOk7NE/U82Hf8SDLiI/AAAAAAAAA-I/x0JJnWX2XIA/s1600/20140717_191941_Burst05.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July 17 - 1, 2 & 3 all in a row</td></tr>
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<br>
We've now turned off the heatlamp. They are nearly indistinguishable, and are close to the same size. 1 is fully feathered and still the largest by a very small margin; 3 is the smallest and still has a bit of baby fuzz; and 2 is between them for both size and feathering. 1's distinguishing feature is some trailing wing feather on his right wing that just don't quite line up. 2 seemed to have a slightly prolapsed vent for the first two weeks which resulted in sticky butt that needed to be monitored and cleaned, but that has completely cleared up and they all seem to be doing great! I haven't weighed them yet, but I've been meaning to - I need to find last year's weight sheet for comparison.<br>
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<div>
In the neighbouring stall, the adults are in great shape as well. They're still in the barn as we haven't fixed their run yet, but when we're home and it's nice out we kick them out of the barn completely and set up their waterer outside. They are evicted to protect the chicks, who aren't yet big enough that I feel comfortable with a potential run-in with the adults. But they wander around the barnyard and the barn itself and generally have a great time, especially in their dirtbath that they've wallowed out between the barn door to the stalls and the big door to the main barn.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DqQHvZmBjfM/U82JMrzk-SI/AAAAAAAAA_I/UY5uJtMz7R0/s1600/20140720_143647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DqQHvZmBjfM/U82JMrzk-SI/AAAAAAAAA_I/UY5uJtMz7R0/s1600/20140720_143647.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foghorn perfect his Covergirl head toss</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0_YSICQjoYo/U82JMm07uFI/AAAAAAAAA_E/L6f1MiCC2KY/s1600/20140720_190011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0_YSICQjoYo/U82JMm07uFI/AAAAAAAAA_E/L6f1MiCC2KY/s1600/20140720_190011.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foggy and three of his girls checking out the pea support</td></tr>
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<b><br></b>
<b>House!</b><br>
<br>
As always, we are working on the house. As I mentioned, last-last Saturday was the huge work party at the house. Scott, who owns a local log home company and has built log homes for over 30 years, came out to replace another log end and install our new front door. While he was out, he trimmed some overhanging logs for us so Jordan wasn't up on a ladder with a chainsaw.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-njYDzVw-3tc/U82H7_MD1OI/AAAAAAAAA-c/Ieu-ujQooVI/s1600/20140712_160610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-njYDzVw-3tc/U82H7_MD1OI/AAAAAAAAA-c/Ieu-ujQooVI/s1600/20140712_160610.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott, our go-to log home guy, taking his chainsaw to the peak of the roof</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oQxyPtU9xkc/U82H7mfYCQI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/OHaTmli3EBU/s1600/20140712_172903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oQxyPtU9xkc/U82H7mfYCQI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/OHaTmli3EBU/s1600/20140712_172903.jpg" height="320" width="180"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New front door!</td></tr>
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The door will be painted red to match the roof. This lets in so much more light that the living room and kitchen are much more delightful during the day - they seem much less like dungeons, even with the curtains and blinds closed on the big window.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t6JhdIQOLCY/U82H71MAucI/AAAAAAAAA-g/cPVle7pDGjc/s1600/20140712_173254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-t6JhdIQOLCY/U82H71MAucI/AAAAAAAAA-g/cPVle7pDGjc/s1600/20140712_173254.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jordan checking the fascia while David holds it in place</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y5of1T47SMc/U82H96oxXuI/AAAAAAAAA-w/wOfdI2X2okg/s1600/20140712_173315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y5of1T47SMc/U82H96oxXuI/AAAAAAAAA-w/wOfdI2X2okg/s1600/20140712_173315.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our clever concealment for the junction box in the soffit</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4FRSdxU0Bic/U82H_BuuFUI/AAAAAAAAA-4/5WEVrZTuYyo/s1600/20140717_190402.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4FRSdxU0Bic/U82H_BuuFUI/AAAAAAAAA-4/5WEVrZTuYyo/s1600/20140717_190402.jpg" height="320" width="180"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Various parts of the house, ready to burn!</td></tr>
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<br>
<b>Garden!</b><br>
<br>
The gardens are thriving, and so is the greenhouse. This year I picked up two Italian Parsley to add to the perennial garden - it is typically hardy to zone 4 but can be coaxed through a zone 3 witner with a few feet of mulch, so I will drop a hay bale on them after the first hard frost and see how they look in the spring. It is near the lemon balm, so while it came back this year, I am interested to see if it shows benefit next spring from the hay bale treatment. The strawberries started producing a few weeks ago, and I ate the first raspberry of the year this past Friday, so I anticipate I'll be spending some time each morning collecting berries.</div>
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Jordan was working on weeding the big garden this morning when I left for work - I am excited to see how it looks when I get home! The peas are big, so I have been working on building pea trellises and one is almost ready to go down to the garden (see photo above in the chickens section) - keep an eye out for a How To post in the near future! We also have to thin the carrots - what a nice problem to have after the trouble we had last year! - and the beets. I plan to make salads with the beet tops as I thin them; I tasted a leaf two weeks ago and it was very similar to spinach, which I enjoy for salads. Our pumpkins are starting to flower as well, and I'm very excited! I'll take some photos of the big garden once we get it a little cleaned up.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X-U1aFpENjc/U82J3dyVmdI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/e_meM6qbmaQ/s1600/20140624_203138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X-U1aFpENjc/U82J3dyVmdI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/e_meM6qbmaQ/s1600/20140624_203138.jpg" height="320" width="180"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blooming lilies in a bucket</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OYeXQ3lCDig/U82J2zNAnoI/AAAAAAAAA_U/Ni5Xj56565E/s1600/20140712_095514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OYeXQ3lCDig/U82J2zNAnoI/AAAAAAAAA_U/Ni5Xj56565E/s1600/20140712_095514.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swallowtail in the greenhouse</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EsfRK3yjocE/U82J3uC1jcI/AAAAAAAAA_g/dm5yBcueqJ8/s1600/20140718_210632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EsfRK3yjocE/U82J3uC1jcI/AAAAAAAAA_g/dm5yBcueqJ8/s1600/20140718_210632.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's raspberry season!</td></tr>
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<div><br></div><div>In the greenhouse, the zucchini is big, and the cucumbers and tomatoes are all looking great! I am very excited as this is the first year that our cukes have germinated, survived to transplanting, and then flourished. Last year they didn't germinate when we tried to start them early, and they did no better when I tried starting them in the garden. This year they are unstoppable!! We have a lot of tomatoes too: two Amish Paste, about 6-8 Azteca, and the rest are Black Plum. I am really hoping we get enough to sauce - I think we have over 20 plum tomato plants! They just started flowering last week.<br><br><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqzcHotdzEU/U87xzqqAphI/AAAAAAAABCw/5WtRRMhVuRA/s1600/20140722_081801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gqzcHotdzEU/U87xzqqAphI/AAAAAAAABCw/5WtRRMhVuRA/s1600/20140722_081801.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saskatoons, zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers, with lilies in the foreground</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hsmP4RjesGw/U87xzaGAdMI/AAAAAAAABCo/8c8hMjhYlG0/s1600/20140722_081809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hsmP4RjesGw/U87xzaGAdMI/AAAAAAAABCo/8c8hMjhYlG0/s1600/20140722_081809.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hanging cukes</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BVotQBiwuo/U87xztpuP0I/AAAAAAAABCs/e_mHBO_i-Z8/s1600/20140722_081817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5BVotQBiwuo/U87xztpuP0I/AAAAAAAABCs/e_mHBO_i-Z8/s1600/20140722_081817.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More tomatoes!</td></tr>
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<br><b>Random!</b><br>
<b><br></b>Here are some other bits and bobs from the past month<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLt_wY5QBoI/U82KVcYnKhI/AAAAAAAAA_4/RQtit9qAd0U/s1600/20140701_103822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLt_wY5QBoI/U82KVcYnKhI/AAAAAAAAA_4/RQtit9qAd0U/s1600/20140701_103822.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swallow chicks - "You don't have food for me, go away!"</td></tr>
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<br>The swallows had 5 chicks in the deck birdhouse this year, and they fledged almost three weeks ago. I am already looking forward to their reappearance next May!<br><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyP4qpyMlTo/U82KUswxzlI/AAAAAAAAA_0/hkSArrqwgDg/s1600/20140708_160511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LyP4qpyMlTo/U82KUswxzlI/AAAAAAAAA_0/hkSArrqwgDg/s1600/20140708_160511.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">LoW map, circa 1880</td></tr>
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<br>I have lots of family on the Lake of the Woods, and Kim found this old map for me. It's from 1880, when Kenora was still known as Rat Portage. I'll be mailing this beauty to Dad for his perusal and enjoyment :)<br><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mu1RecDiT3w/U82KUI_J_UI/AAAAAAAAA_s/0_0WFtTviK8/s1600/20140709_072607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mu1RecDiT3w/U82KUI_J_UI/AAAAAAAAA_s/0_0WFtTviK8/s1600/20140709_072607.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The house was like this for over a week</td></tr>
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<br>We had a huge heat wave that finally broke late last week. For two weeks we had highs in the high 20s and mid 30s. This was what the thermometer looked like every morning: at 7:30 it is already nearly 20 degrees out, and it' still in the mid to high 20s from the night before, even though we had the fan in the kitchen window and the living room ceiling fan both running all night. I love summer, and heat, and sunshine, but by the end of the heat wave I was surly if I was inside (and especially if I was trying to cook supper and it wasn't working out - I'm looking at you, udon noodles...).<br><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3VYalRfc4c/U82KVyTfGNI/AAAAAAAABAA/bBm12usDkXc/s1600/20140709_213320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v3VYalRfc4c/U82KVyTfGNI/AAAAAAAABAA/bBm12usDkXc/s1600/20140709_213320.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful moonrise!</td></tr>
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<br>The clear skies did make for some wonderful sunsets, when I was up late enough to see them!<br><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IiDux1LZeKc/U82KXkTmr9I/AAAAAAAABAQ/n4MFLBrSrtE/s1600/20140718_072331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IiDux1LZeKc/U82KXkTmr9I/AAAAAAAABAQ/n4MFLBrSrtE/s1600/20140718_072331.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The day of the smoke - I woke up to a very sepia-coloured world</td></tr>
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<br>However, the hot weather did not help our forest fire situation. There were a few burning before the heat wave rolled in, but the dry weather helped the spread of the fires. There weren't any near us, and only small fires near the city, but one very large fire was to the southwest of us. On Thursday, the smoke rolled in with the rain, and as the morning progressed the skies got darker and darker. The photo above is from 7:23 am, as I was leaving for work. It got darker as I got to work, and around 8:30 to 9:00 it was black outside, darker than it has been at midnight since early May. The photo below is from 9:33, as the sky was starting to lighten again.<br><br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tBFTfUVtkNA/U82KXpW0fsI/AAAAAAAABAM/gwLj7e5-pkM/s1600/20140718_093314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tBFTfUVtkNA/U82KXpW0fsI/AAAAAAAABAM/gwLj7e5-pkM/s1600/20140718_093314.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The day of the smoke - then it started to rain...</td></tr>
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<br>It was very creepy, and many of us commented on how eerie it looked outside. Luckily, the rain knocked down some of the smoke and particulate, so by 10:30 am the sky colour had stabilized. Note that these photos aren't that great and don't capture the true colour of the sky (it is just an Android phone, after all...)<br><br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ABaX2Oowcbw/U82KYIQP2xI/AAAAAAAABAU/VJxqJXcik_I/s1600/20140719_105010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ABaX2Oowcbw/U82KYIQP2xI/AAAAAAAABAU/VJxqJXcik_I/s1600/20140719_105010.jpg" height="180" width="320"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuddling kittens!</td></tr>
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<br></div><div>And, to counter the creepy, here are the kittens having a nap in the front window. Molly (closest the window) has yet to really get along with Mander; usually she just tolerates him. This near-cuddling was just adorable :)</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-74083491689977732532014-07-12T22:23:00.001-07:002014-07-12T22:23:24.435-07:00Mini update: chicks and houseJust a tiny, quick update, with a proper post to follow...<div><br></div><div>Got a new door, and it was installed today.</div><div><br></div><div>The soffits are done, including installing the floodlight, and the fascia is about 97% done - we've encountered a ladder deficiency - with the help of Kim and David today. The high was 32 degrees today! It's supposed to be 34 tomorrow - we may be helping Kim and David with their deck, depending on how they're feeling tomorrow.</div><div><br></div><div>Chicks are great - they're four weeks about Monday.</div><div><br></div><div>The track for the side-sliding shop door slid over and the door fell off the track, and Jordan discovered that one of the wheels had broken off, and that's why it has been so hard to slide. We replaced both hangars and she slides like a charm - I can move the door with one finger!</div><div><br></div><div>The zuchinni, pumpkins and cucumbers are all flowering and looking great!</div><div><br></div><div>Back soon with more info, I promise!</div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-2183540514621572952014-06-19T12:06:00.000-07:002014-06-19T12:06:00.286-07:00Introducing number three!!Look who I found this morning - this little guy on the left!<br />
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<br />Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-59807707152531162132014-06-17T09:26:00.001-07:002014-06-17T09:26:39.094-07:00(Mostly) warm and fuzzy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Turns out I know nothing about hatching chicks. They don't break out of their shell and then start hollering; rather, it's the other way around: first they pip, then they break free.</div>
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Anyhoo, as of 8:20 this morning I can confirm that we've had three chicks successfully hatch. Two are doing great, but one didn't make it. We aren't sure if Phoebe committed infanticide or if the other chickens found it. Phoebe had some fluff on her beak when I checked on her last night, but she was also eating the shavings in the nest, so I assumed she'd eaten some of the feathers she'd lined the nest with. I figured she was hungry so I brought her some scratch, but she wouldn't eat it out of my hand. I sprinkled it in a corner of the nest within her reach and decided to hope for the best. I could hear little chirps, but tucking my hand under her sides, I found only intact eggs. I decided against moving her off the nest and endangering the eggs that were potentially very close to hatching. "They're pipping," I figured, and went inside to bed. Then, seeing the fallout this morning, I lifted Phoebe's butt and found two chicks. Yay! We tucked them into the brooder, quickly made plans for the other chickens (which involved kicking them out of that side of the barn, putting their water outside, and opening the other side of the barn for them if they wanted shade or somewhere to roost - we'll hunt for the eggs tonight), and brought the chicks back to Phoebe... who proceeded to peck them. I had hoped that she was trying to scoot them back under her wing, but she was starting to peck harder, so we put the little ones back in the brooder.</div>
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Jordan will keep an eye on Phoebs during the day, and move any new chicks over to the brooder as soon as he finds them.</div>
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What we'll do differently next time:</div>
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If we decide to let Phoebe hatch another clutch, we'll move her to the brooder pen as soon as she starts setting. This will isolate the nest from the other hens, and will (hopefully) minimize any losses once they start hatching. She's a great brooder, but at this point, we aren't sure if she's a good Mom.</div>
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We could also pick up a mechanical brooder when we decide to next hatch. This has multiple advantages: we pick the timing, we monitor for humidity and temperature, and the chickens can't sneak into the machine and lay more eggs at odd intervals. We're home each day (of course), so we can easily handle the turning of the eggs; alternately, we can splurge on a fancy brooder that automatically turns them.</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-58802734442138319752014-06-16T10:48:00.002-07:002014-06-16T10:48:32.609-07:00I think I hear...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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... an egg cracking! Not normally cause for excitement (though our eggs are pretty darn awesome) but this egg just happened to be under Miss Phoebe at 7:00 this morning! I am stuck at work, but Husband has assured me he will check this afternoon when he wakes up.</div>
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Stay tuned for updates!!!!! :D</div>
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Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-51934247651024033682014-06-15T21:48:00.001-07:002014-06-15T21:49:15.500-07:00Super quick update!So today is day 21 for a third of Phoebe's eggs - we had refreshed the eggs in the nest over three days after Phoebs started sitting on week-old eggs. We've checked her multiple times today, and it's difficult to resist the urge to kick her off the nest to see what's going on. I may have heard some pips at the last check, just over an hour ago, but it's difficult to tell as the other chickens are still in the same coop/stall. We should have moved Phoebe within a few days of her setting and then provided fresh eggs, but we'll call this a learning experience and hope for the best. We've got the brooder ready, with food for the chicks and some layer mash up higher for Phoebs, though if this doesn't work then she can eat chick starter along with her babes. At this point, we are too late to order chicks for meat (and the minimum order is 25 chicks) so if these chicks don't work out, then we won't be processing birds this year. I'm okay with that, since we have a bunch of other things going on (as per usual).<div><br></div><div>We're looking at staining and chinking the house this year, so we have a few appointments this week to get some rotten log ends fixed, get the propane unhooked, and get a quote for mediablasting (which is sandblasting on steriods). We looked in to stripping the old stain ourselves, but that would require pressure-washing the logs. To avoid getting water in the house, since we are living in it and our important possessions are in it, we would have to chink. But if we chink first and then apply the stripping compound and start pressure washing it off it will peel the stain under the chink as well, so it would ruin the brand new chinking job. We would much rather deal with particulate in the house than water, or redoing the chinking, so we'll see what a few different mediablasters have to say. So we've purchased the majority of the supplies for chinking, and we hope to get started soon.</div><div><br></div><div>Most of the garden is in, and we've been picking away at it over the last few weeks. Our peas, which went in first, are starting to come up. This is the most heartening part of this garden so far, as some of the peas I planted were seeds we saved from last year. We also have carrots, beets, cabbages, and potatoes in. Today I planted the five pumpkins we started from seed. As I was planting them, I was on the phone with Dad (Happy Father's Day!!!) and he mentioned digging tires into the garden we had when I was growing up to encourage the pumpkins to grow, so I quickly tossed tires around three of the five pumpkins. As the idea is to keep them warmer, and our garden slopes down toward the south, I picked the three southernmost plants, and I'm leaving the two northern plants without the tires as a control group.</div><div><br></div><div>Zim's training is going great, he's clever and enthusiastic. Some days he gets too excited and it's a challenge to get him back on track and focused on me and what I'm asking him to do, but I am developing strategies to keep him engaged and on task.</div><div><br></div><div>Well, off to bed - I've got to be up a bit earlier than usual to check Phoebe before work.</div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-35086164827030685432014-05-31T22:21:00.000-07:002014-06-16T10:49:54.458-07:00Adventure #2, Skeeters, Phoebe, and DashMid-April through Mid-May was a busy time for us. As you know (I think I mentioned this...?) Kim and I went to visit her grandparents for Easter weekend. We had a great time, as always!<br />
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A week and a half later, I had another adventure: I took my first trip out of Canada! My employer sent me to a conference in Detriot. The conference was related to the software we use at work, and I went with one coworker (Dad calls her the "electric librarian" as she was an electrician before she completed her library technician diploma, and went on to get her MLIS). I had a great time, learned a lot, met some folks in person that I'd corresponded with at length over email, and got a few people interested in how we were using the software (related to displaying licensing restrictions for online resources). The city was bustling, as cities often do, though even downtown you could see that Detroit was suffering from its bankruptcy. The suburbs are even worse, of course, but I didn't venture out that far - all I saw of those were the many burned or crumbling houses along the highway to the airport. I got out for a walk downtown one afternoon, and my coworker and I went for a stroll along the waterfront another day. The conference was held at the Renaissance Center, which is the world headquarters for General Motors.</div>
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For more photos, and a bit more info, check <a href="http://lone-pine-farm.blogspot.ca/p/detroit_12.html" target="_blank">this page</a>.</div>
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Jordan and I also had a vacation - a week after I returned from Detroit, we headed out of town for 5 days. More on that in a future post - I still need to sort through the photos.</div>
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I enjoyed travelling, but I am happy to be home. We have lots to do this year, and I am excited to get started.</div>
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Here on the farm, the first hatch of mosquitos are hunting for a meal. The little buggers are fast!! I'm sure they will taper off soon, and we'll get a bit of a break before the next hatch. With the house lacking chinking, they get in through the cracks, so no matter how quick we are when we open the door, they manage to get in the house anyway. Needless to say, all of us are a skeeter buffet while we try to sleep.</div>
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Phoebe is back on the nest - she's been sitting for a week now. That gives us two more weeks to get the other chickens out, or figure out how to move the babes and Phoebs when they hatch. I'll try to candle the eggs tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to see anything, as they are moderately dark shelled (our girls lay brown eggs). I'm pretty sure she's got 9 eggs under her at the moment. Not all are hers specifically, but they all came from our birds. While we were away on Vacation Proper, I got Tessa to come check the chickens, and I hoped that by leaving the eggs in the nest while we were gone, one of the girls would get the idea and go broody. We had left Monday morning, and when we checked them Friday, there were 11 eggs, and 5 ladies on the roost with Foghorn. Hmmm. So I marked 6 eggs and left them in the nest. By Sunday, we noticed someone was missing from the roost at bedtime... Yup, Phoebs is in the nest again. Yay! So I switched out the eggs over the next three days so she is sitting on all fresh eggs. If everything goes well, they should hatch right around the collective birthday of our chickens: June 18th.</div>
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Also, Dash got adopted!!! A week ago today she went on a long car ride (well, about an hour) to live with her new family on a ranch. We miss her. Molly, unsurprisingly, does not miss Smash one bit, and has been hard at work, making up for 4 months of missed cuddles and silenced purrs. I think Zim is happy to be an 'only dog' for a while, though he still gets lots of play dates and training with Doodle and Pongo. And we're looking forward to reclaiming the living room that has been dominated by a kennel since mid-January, for now at least.....<br />
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I hope to get the majority of the garden planted tomorrow. I need to come up with a layout and decide where to put everything. Planning this seems so overwhelming (what if my plan sucks, and everything fails, and the soil gets terribly compacted, and the water pools/runs off all wrong.....) that I have to keep reminding myself: you can change it for next year if it doesn't work out. Just get out there and get it done, as the frost free date is fast approaching and there is NOTHING in the ground right now.</div>
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Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-42841042913984176702014-05-20T12:38:00.001-07:002014-05-20T12:38:30.336-07:00Plant saleOur local botanical society hosts a plant sale every spring on the May long weekend. I have been looking forward to this sale for months, hoping to get a couple sour cherry trees.<div><br></div><div>Well, May long was this past weekend, and while I didn't get the cherries I was hoping for the sale was not a complete bust. Instead, we came home with three saskatoon bushes and one Arctic Beauty kiwi.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-giTWmn0Moy0/U3uvGKLROjI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/ZPKm5x77nVE/s640/blogger-image-1227559774.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-giTWmn0Moy0/U3uvGKLROjI/AAAAAAAAA7Y/ZPKm5x77nVE/s640/blogger-image-1227559774.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>(The saskatoons are in the blue square containers, and the kiwi is the tall one. I found out yesterday that I will need two kiwis if I want to get any fruit, so I'll have to see if I can find another one. Live and learn, I guess!)</div><div><br></div><div>When we got home, I gathered all out outdoor potted plants in the greenhouse, and set up the auto-waterers.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fvl2QXhfvbA/U3uvH9DvhjI/AAAAAAAAA7g/wXK-c60CCOc/s640/blogger-image-548524194.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fvl2QXhfvbA/U3uvH9DvhjI/AAAAAAAAA7g/wXK-c60CCOc/s640/blogger-image-548524194.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">On the bench are the saskatoons and kiwis, which are new this year, along with the smaller plants from last year: a black currant, a lilac (which has already put out lots of new leaves!!!), the flowers, and two herbs: basil and oregano, which I'm hoping will come back (I busted open the seed heads into their pots, and now they're getting water every day). On the ground are last year's lilies from a coworker and another black currant from this year.</div><br></div><div>Things are leafing out in the garden too. The rhubarb and the raspberries are growing again, and the strawberries are looking good too.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PGRkF-gDVuA/U3uvLaYag8I/AAAAAAAAA7w/Dc3b2SmE0Hw/s640/blogger-image-1374201501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PGRkF-gDVuA/U3uvLaYag8I/AAAAAAAAA7w/Dc3b2SmE0Hw/s640/blogger-image-1374201501.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6Mw7PXjleyc/U3uvNEBeXRI/AAAAAAAAA74/7VMjQkEIWQY/s640/blogger-image--787088942.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6Mw7PXjleyc/U3uvNEBeXRI/AAAAAAAAA74/7VMjQkEIWQY/s640/blogger-image--787088942.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rontI0nENAw/U3uvJiqIIZI/AAAAAAAAA7o/acxMPa2SJD4/s640/blogger-image--53899589.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rontI0nENAw/U3uvJiqIIZI/AAAAAAAAA7o/acxMPa2SJD4/s640/blogger-image--53899589.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The seedlings are doing great too! A week and a half ago, we started 5 pumpkins, 2 zuchinni, and 27 pickling cucumbers. We always kill the cakes so I'm hoping that by starting almost 30 seeds, we should be able to nurse at least a few to fruiting. </div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Is anything coming up in your garden?</div><br></div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-69481382550726598142014-05-04T10:09:00.001-07:002014-05-04T10:09:19.020-07:00Sprouts so far<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The new seeds have been very quick to sprout! Out of the 108 seeds I planted Tuesday, we already have 2 Amish paste, 1 azteca, and 1 black plum coming up for tomatoes, and 10 cabbage sprouts are up as well. Wow!!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZDrQpoH6S64/U2Z0PaqXZ0I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/OIwkKV3XxpM/s640/blogger-image-1722428544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZDrQpoH6S64/U2Z0PaqXZ0I/AAAAAAAAAzQ/OIwkKV3XxpM/s640/blogger-image-1722428544.jpg"></a></div></div><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5mYwF7c0pUc/U2Z0Kiw2eXI/AAAAAAAAAy4/ow_-e8WqfcU/s640/blogger-image-332723431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5mYwF7c0pUc/U2Z0Kiw2eXI/AAAAAAAAAy4/ow_-e8WqfcU/s640/blogger-image-332723431.jpg"></a></div><br></span></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_iJSn9lphcw/U2Z0JMoVGeI/AAAAAAAAAyw/JcGBjDiRj3Q/s640/blogger-image-1778382954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_iJSn9lphcw/U2Z0JMoVGeI/AAAAAAAAAyw/JcGBjDiRj3Q/s640/blogger-image-1778382954.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>I am most surprised by the Amish paste; I didn't expect any of them to actually grow. Well done, little seeds!!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ix6DCFkgw2A/U2Z0N5zdMXI/AAAAAAAAAzI/VA2DYErnfug/s640/blogger-image-739387351.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ix6DCFkgw2A/U2Z0N5zdMXI/AAAAAAAAAzI/VA2DYErnfug/s640/blogger-image-739387351.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>It appears that the cranes won the battle for the field. I haven't heard the geese in the last two days, though admittedly, I haven't been home that much. The sun is out today, and the wind is starting to die down, so I'll be trying to spend some time outdoors today. I'll keep an ear out for another squawk-off, and I may let the chickens out as well.</div><div><br></div><div>We had an informal snow pool this year, betting on when the giant snow pile in front of the northeast corner of the house would melt away. Dad bet May15, Jordan picked June 1, and I put my money on June 14. (Bear in mind that we placed our bets in the middle of February.) Dad won, as the snow will be gone this week.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GkhohjB4n-g/U2Z0Mdk-u6I/AAAAAAAAAzA/D_OvoNOR_V8/s640/blogger-image-1070989496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GkhohjB4n-g/U2Z0Mdk-u6I/AAAAAAAAAzA/D_OvoNOR_V8/s640/blogger-image-1070989496.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>You can see that most of our other huge snow banks have been succumbing to the sun as well.</div><div><br></div><div>I can't wait to get into the garden!!!</div>Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-46832102441165852672014-05-02T08:34:00.001-07:002014-05-02T08:35:55.868-07:00The Squawk-offWe got home late from some after-work errands last night, pulling up to the house around 7:30 pm. There were birds all around us: swallows and chickadees in the trees, birdhouses, and power lines near the house; ducks and other assorted birds in the neighbour's pond; and in the field at the end of the road, just past the barn, were two cranes and two Canadian geese.<br />
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The cranes were to the North, on a little rise in the field. I believe their nest is on the next property, which is fairly heavily treed. The geese were on the road allowance, and we could see them clearly as we stood on the road in front of the house. And all four were hollering at the top of their lungs. The cranes stood tall, calling out loudly, and didn't move an inch. The geese had their necks outstretched and their heads low. I used to have geese (long, long, ago, and I'll never have them again) and I recognize this as their "serious" stance - they are ready for a fight, likely defending territory they have decided they want.<br />
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We watched for a few moments, then carried on hauling in the groceries. I didn't get a video, for a few reasons: my phone was already inside, and it wouldn't have gotten a good picture anyway; I can't immediately recall where the video camera is; and there was frozen food and other activities to attend to. I'll keep an eye out for them over the next few days, and I'll dig out the video camera tonight so I'm prepared if they put on another show for us.<br />
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I would love to have young cranes <u>and</u> young geese around this summer, but I'm not sure if they will both use this disputed territory. I'm confident the cranes will stay, as they've been here for at least the last two summers, and seem to have an established nest nearby; however, they just might chase off the geese. That doesn't upset me at all - these disputes occur daily all over the world, and I'm confident they'll come to some conclusion. I'm just amused, and heartened, that they've chosen the neighbour's fields for this display.<br />
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In other quick news:<br />
The last few days have been warm and sunny, and most of our snow has melted (yay!) so Jordan has let the chickens out while he's been home. They've LOVED it - this is their first true free-ranging. Wednesday night, I got home just after Jordan let them out, and all six wandered around and pecked at the new growth for twenty minutes, then fluffed themselves up and sunbathed in a dry patch in front of the barn. As we watched, they all started falling asleep - or at least, that's how it appeared to us, as they rocked onto their sides, stretched out their legs, and closed their eyes. Jordan's kindness was rewarded with zero eggs yesterday - they must have been too busy exploring!<br />
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Zim's class starts up again on Monday, after a two week break. Kim and I have taken Zim and Doodle to practice at the school, so they've still improved while on break.<br />
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Jordan took down the collapsed carport yesterday; we now have a very large tarp, some long nails, and some broken metal poles. I'll find a use for everything, so Jordan saved all the pieces for me. (I'm such a magpie - just ask Dad, who used to have to empty out my pockets before we could leave the local Pick Your Part, because I'd pick up coins, rocks, fuses, springs, light bulbs, washers, trinkets... pretty much anything interesting I could find on the ground or in the cars. And I don't think I'll ever grow out of that, because it comes in really useful sometimes!)<br />
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I started tomato and cabbage seedlings on Tuesday. For tomatoes: 45 black plum, 18 aztecas (they did okay last year), and 18 amish paste (which didn't come up last year at all, and we're using seeds from the same batch - if they aren't up a week or two after the other varieties, I'll plant something else in those seed pots). I also started 27 golden acre cabbages, in hopes that the early starts will be strong enough to survive the caterpillars that attacked last year's golden acre (the one that came up...). I'll seed the red acre cabbages directly, as they did AMAZING last year (the four that came up...). And, of course, I'll be protecting the seeds better this year for everything we direct sow - the birds ate 870+ carrot seeds last year, and the majority of the cabbage and lettuce seeds too. Jerks (though I understand why they did it - if someone opened a free buffet next door, I'd probably just eat there instead of bothering to organize my own meals too!). So I'll use some row cover once the seeds are in, at least until they've got a few true leaves.<br />
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In the next few weeks, I'll start pickling cucumber seeds as well. I might find some other things to start, but I really want to focus on peas, pickles and tomato sauce for us this year. I had a quick discussion with Kim's family about bartering cabbages, so I'll plant lots of those - if nothing else, it will keep our bare dirt in the garden to a minimum, which will discourage the weeds. We really need to come up with a better garden plan this year...<br />
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We took a huge load of junk to the dump last weekend, and as the snow reveals more items we were to overwhelmed and exhausted to deal with in the fall, we've picked them up and found them a proper home (in the shop, barn, or trash can, as appropriate). I find spring to be such a hopeful, energetic season - I'm excited to get our place cleaned up, fixed up, organized, and ready for another summer.<br />
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Are you excited for summer?Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-4824633535078316452014-04-24T22:18:00.003-07:002014-04-24T22:30:28.749-07:00Guess who's back!Today was (and still is, I suppose) pretty awesome.<br />
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I took they day off work today, just for fun. We started the day by heading in to town, where our first stop was a construction materials store. We had heard that they have supplies for finishing log homes, and we weren't disappointed! They have all we need to prep and stain the logs, and they have chinking supplies as well. It looks like we may get that accomplished this summer! And they have some stone façade stuff that we'd love to use on the basement. And to top it off, they sell metal roofing too - it's too bad we didn't know about this store last summer!!</div>
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The rest of our shopping was good too - we were able to find everything on our list today.</div>
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After we got home, we were sitting in the living room when I noticed a swallow checking out their nesting site. I remember them coming back in May last year, and I'm curious as to their usual return date and how these two years compare to that. Then I headed out to grab some items from the longhouse, and I hear the Sandhill cranes (I took a video in 2012 - see below)! Into the evening, we noticed a large crow picking at the grass near the large garden. And just an hour ago, we were out checking out the homesite, and the dogs treed a partridge!! So it's been a busy day for the spring critters here today.<br />
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As well, we got five eggs today, after getting four yesterday and an average of 3 or 3.5 daily since mid-January. Which is both good (more eggs!) and bad (none of the girls are currently broody). But all things come in time, right? We'll have naturally hatched chicks this summer :)</div>
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<b>What else is new?</b></div>
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We still have Dash. There was an adoption event at a pet store in town that was held to support the Rescue, so Kim and I took Dash there for the day. Another pup from Nicola's was there too (Ashley) and despite our best attempts to finish Dash a new home, she came home with me.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who can say no to that face??</td></tr>
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We're okay with that. She's a sweet gal.</div>
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We're starting seedlings this weekend; we'll be growing lots of sauce tomatoes, peas, carrots and cabbage this year.</div>
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There is still about a foot of snow in the open areas of the yard, including the garden. But there are large rings of grass around everything that sticks through the snow, so it won't be much longer before we can see the gardens and start checking for rhubarb.</div>
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I spent Easter weekend at Hal and Cathy's with Kim, others in her family, Doodle and Zim. Zim was less than well behaved, but we had a great time nonetheless. The chickens I took down at New Years are doing great, and still laying regularly. Everything was green and in bloom, including the daffodils, saskatoons and cherries. There are calves, and a few more to come, and seedlings in the sunroom as well. It was a great peek at what's to come up here as well, though without the cherry and saskatoon blossoms! We'll be working on that this year - I'd like to pick up some sour cherry trees (pie filling!) and saskatoon bushes (syrup!!) so we will be getting some more fruit in the next few years.</div>
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And, just in time for the snow to leave... We got the snow stops installed on the roof in the past week, so we *shouldn't* have any more problems with the roof once we get it fully finished. We'll be starting the soffits soon too, and it will be nice to have that job done, even if I am not particularly excited about actually doing the work. I am still roof-ed out after last year's roofing insanity.</div>
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So, folks, let's try this conversation thingy again - what are your plans for the upcoming season?</div>
Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-65970784406819419212014-04-04T21:11:00.000-07:002014-04-04T21:30:10.410-07:00In which Zim is confused and I am amusedTwo quick items:<br>
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News: Phoebe is officially off her nest! She's been out and about for four days now. I hope we can make it back up to five eggs daily, but I would imagine that it's someone else's turn next. The next hen who goes broody will be allowed to keep her eggs, and hatch us a new batch of chicks.<br>
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Story: I just got home from agility with Zim, and I let Smash out of her kennel and took the pups with me to fetch today's eggs. Zim got quite a way ahead of Dash, and turned around and laid down in the path to the barn. Ask Dash wandered closer, Zim perked his ears, dropped his head, and stared at her intently. Aha! Classic signs of a doggie ambush. As Dash reached Zim's usual pounce threshold, she suddenly veered to her right, broke through the crust on the snow, sank to her chest and started bounding through the snow to reach the fence and crawl through the grass under the trough. Zim raises his head with a look of surprise and watches her go, then looks at me as if to say, "Well would you look at that! Where's she going?!"<br>
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Just another fun-filled evening around here :)Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1788935435121810996.post-14118262757422972882014-03-23T18:27:00.000-07:002014-03-23T18:27:01.566-07:00Our rooster crows in the evening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My guess is that he crows because the heat lamp is on...? It's 5:42 pm in this video, which was taken in mid-February. There are no odd sounds outside that would encourage him to crow...Lone Pine Farmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08906485631802477304noreply@blogger.com1