Hope

We've had another busy few weeks, and we're very excited about what we've learned recently. Here's a bit of what's been happening:

How to be an organic farmer

We recently attended a farming session hosted by Gary and Wendy Lowe. In this session, they provided us with a list of things we need to be successful, and a roadmap of how to get there. They have worked with organic distributors over the years, and as such, they were able to provide a snapshot of just how big the market for organic produce in BC really is, along with how much of that market is currrently being fulfilled by imports. This did not include more warm-climate items such as peppers, lemons, and kiwi - the list was made up of root crops such a potatoes, onions and garlic that are easily grown in zone 3. They shared some great information, and we are excited about it all over again.

As the session came to a close, we realized we will not be farming this year. Of course, we'll be doing many of the things organic farming will entail (green manure, field prep, planning, researching, learning, etc.) but instead, this year we will focus on feeding ourselves. If we have extra, we may be able to share or sell it, but we can't focus on growing for a market this year. The house needs to be fixed (or at least improved), we need to do fencing and outbuilding maintenance (and at this point, it's looking like we'll be replacing the root cellar completely - I am not eager to have the creosote from those rail ties leaching into our dinner), and we have a million things to learn. Feeding ourselves this year will give us the opportunity to become acquainted with our land - the soil, the water and drainage, the sunny spots, and the veggies it can support. Up until now, I had half-formed hopes of getting up and running fairly quickly, but both Jillian and the Lowes have cautioned us that this will not happen overnight. Gary said in the session that you need successes to stay motovated and passionate, even if they are small successes. This has really reinforced my goal of "potato self-sufficiency" for this coming winter.

Seedy Saturday

This past Saturday was Seedy Saturday - an event that brings together people of all walks of life that have one thing in common: interest in heirloom plants.  Heirloom plants are open-pollinated varieties that have been preserved and kept pure (hybrid free) for generations.  The seeds, if kept pure, will consistently produce plants identical to the parent plant - this allows growers to save their own seeds and continue to grow favourite varieties.  If done right, a gardener will only need to purchase seeds once, and the plants will slowly adapt to the local growing conditions.  The Sweet Siberian Watermelon is a prime example of this - a farmer in Siberia desperately wanted to grow melons.  He tried many different varieties, and eventually, he managed to get one melon to ripen fully.  He saved the two seeds in the tiny melon to plan the following year.  Then he saved seeds from those melons, and the year after, and the year after... until finally, he had developed a melon that would reliably grow and ripen in Siberia.  Siberia is the last place I would think could grow melons, but by saving seeds from plants that did well in that climate, the farmer was able to develop a variety that was perfectly adapted to local conditions.

Anyway.... I attended three information sessions at Seedy Saturday: Herbs to know, sow and grow; Growing for seed saving; and Sustainability and reducing our dependence on Southern growers.  The herb session was informative but not very pertinent to what we would like to do.  The seed saving session was AMAZING, and I am very glad we were able to catch that one.  And the sustainability session was put on by the Lowes; while I did learn a bit, most of it had been covered in other sessions we had attended.  That being said, if Gary and Wendy are going to put in the time and effort to come talk to us (as they'll have a two hour drive and 30 miles by snowmobile to get to Prince George... then they have to do it again to get home) then I can put in the time and effort to show up.  they recognize us when we walk in, which is great - we are building a community of like-minded folks around us, and they want to help us succeed.

I've started typing up my notes (so I can at least keyword search them... it's a library-person thing!) so if you'd like to take a look at what I wrote down, you can find those here.  I'll be adding notes from past events in the next few weeks.

We also spent about $100 in seeds for us and Tessa.  Sounds like a lot, but if it works out right, it could be just a one-time investment, and if we eat only half of what grows this year and save the rest for seed..... we can easily keep growing indefinitely without needing to purchase more seed.  Sounds like a good investment to me :)

The House

As you know, we've had a leaky roof this winter, especially as the temperature swings wildly and we get more snow.  This afternoon, a local log home builder came out to talk to us.  Things are much better than we thought!  He is 80% sure that we have no to minimal rot, and advised us against building a new house because this one is still in really good shape.  We have one corner that's sinking (a different corner than the other guy told us - weird) but he said that it would be easy and cheap to build a loft over the West half of the house.  "6-8 friends, you two, and me, we could strip off the roof, raise it, and put it back on in 2 days, for just a few grand."  Well that sounds pretty darn good to me!  So that's something we'll be thinking about this coming year.  Then, next year or the year after, we could life the house and put in a basement.  Our current square footage is less than 800 square feet; a loft would add about 350, and basement another 800-ish, so we could easily more than double our living space over three or four years for less than $40,000 (this is a very high estimate - it could be as cheap as $23,000).  Comparatively, the cost of building a new house (with unfinished basement) is about $150 per square foot, and we'd need to redo the septic (as we wouldn't build the new house where this one currently sits - we'd replace the trailer, which has non-code septic and possibly a broken water line) for about $30,000 - it makes much more sense to stay in this house and fix it up.  So now that we have some numbers, we can start planning - once we get a second opinion, we can set some concrete goals.

So, with these three recent developments, we remain very hopeful for the future.  There are a few distant points on the horizon: a comfortable, safe, beautiful home; an abundant garden; and far off, barely visible, is the possibility that we will eventually make enough from growing food that at least one of us can quit our off-farm jobs.  This will not be an easy journey.  There will be long days, sleepless nights, sore muscles, failed crops, bad weather, and predators.  But there will also be purpose, fulfillment, community, and contentment.  I am reminded of the Grinch who stole Christmas: my heart is getting bigger, and I can't contain how hopeful and happy I am.

As well...

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