The very productive past week...

The past week since the tunnel greenhouse went up has been very very busy. I'm so lucky to have these energetic young folks pitching in. They have been working on various farms cross Canada for nearly a year and have picked up many competancies. Its fun to watch them working together intuitively, anticipating what comes next and creatively solving construction problems. They did a bang-up job of this sturdy fence intended to keep chickens, deer and horses out of the new greenhouse garden.

At 19, I would have loved to be doing what these two are so good at. I always loved playing in the dirt.

And then a day off, to go exploring the nearby Fundy Trail. This time of year the trail, along beautiful wooded coastline, is only open to hikers and bikers. They made it in to the 15km point thru some wicked uphills. http://www.fundytrailparkway.com/

Meanwhile Jimmy has been plugging away at next winters woodpile and has it all stacked very precisely (that's kinder than obsessively) in about a week.

Alina and Matt went to work finishing the chicken run that I started last fall. The chickens free range when there's somebody home but this will mean I can let them out safely when we are away.

Next was a redesign and strengthening of a chicken litter designated compost bin, to be placed strategically near the back door of the henhouse.

The new improved version should stand up to the horses using it for a scratching post.

The hen girls are in favor of any new opportunities for scratching about, having thoroughly turned over the kitchen compost pile many times.

Another job crossed off the long list on the fridge is stocking up on sawdust for horse and hen litter. Jimmy took "the kids" to the nearby mill and they filled enough bags to last till fall. Funny, when we were their age near the end of the '60's, we believed "Don't trust anyone over 30". Now anyone under 30 looks to us like fresh faced kids. How perspectives change with advancing years...

Finally it was dry enough for tilling one of the gardens. Matt ran the big tiller

and Alina ran the small one which is so handy for getting into tight spaces and corners.

We got all the leek seedlings planted. Since you want as much below ground as possible to get a blanched white lower stem we plant them by making an 8-9" hole with a T shaped dibble. We drop the seedling into the hole and just flick in enough dirt to cover the roots. As the plant grows up out of the hole over time the rain will wash more dirt in until the hole is gradually filled.

On wednesday, Laura arrived, another young wwoofer from Germany who has to be finding east coast NB very chilly after working in California! We did some preparation work on the front yard flower bed, covering the grass with cardboard to smother it, in preparation for a load of topsoil.

Today we started on the framework for a log cabin as a storm shelter for our little stallion, Prince Charming. Matt and Alina figured out the leveling of the 2x10 pressure treated base.

Laura prepared the corner posts by pre drilling for the spiral nails.

Four "pig trough" corner posts fastened in place..

leveled both ways, and braced in place, awaiting the chain saw guy to come tomorrow. This safety worry wart wont have one of our own...scared to death of the things.

The high tunnel greenhouse is finished!

The next step in constructing the tunnel greenhouse was to bolt the purlins in place, two parallel rows of pipe that will strengthen the structure and provide a place to tie up tomatoes and cucumbers.
The excess pipe is cut off and the cut end is covered with duct tape to protect the plastic from sharp edges.
Next came the scary part - putting on the plastic shorthanded with a 30 km wind blowing...but it went on remarkably easy. The ends are gathered like a bread bag and jammed between two t-posts.

We started lacing with strong army cord from one side to the other over the top, wrapping the cord around the bolts at the bottom of the bows. So the plastic is sandwiched between the bows and the cord.

This way the plastic sides can be pushed up and held in place by the tension of the cord, for access and ventilation.



This is my "TA-DA" moment.

What a pleasant place to work!

You can see why they call this style a caterpillar tunnel.

A wonderfully constructive day...

Yesterday here was the beginning of the new high tunnel greenhouse: 18 posts, cut to 3 feet long, pounded 2 feet into the ground. (Thankfully we have no rocks in this garden.) The posts are manufactured for chain link fence and come in 6 ' lengths. The pieces that will form the bows are 10' lengths of top rail for chain link fence. It takes 2 pieces to make a bow.
Here are our new friends Alina and Matt from Germany who have come to help for a while. They are "wwoofers" and our first guests from the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms program. This is a volunteer program where the hosts provide room and board and the volunteers work several hours

a day learning new skills and techniques in a variety of farm situations. This energetic couple of 19 year olds started out in BC last july and have wwoofed their way across the entire country since then. We are very lucky they chose us! Nova Scotia is their next stop.
Here they are figuring out how best to bolt the bender to the picnic table.
The straight pipes are slipped around the bender, and pulled into shape bit by bit until they have a consistant curve.
Next the ends for the top of the curve are fitted together, drilled through and bolted.

We made 9 bows, and then inserted them with some strenuous pushing of the bottom ends towards each other, into the waiting posts.

Our neighbor Wayne came by and got involved in working out the bugs. Here the connectors are put in place to carry the ridgepole, which is 4 lengths of the same straight pipe .

The ridgepole is drilled and bolted at each 10' joint. The connectors are tightened on the ridgepole with the spacing between the bows at exactly 5 '. After some adjustments to get the ridgepole straight,  holes were drilled through the posts and bows and then bolted through to hold everything together. And here's where we finished up today, very pleased with the progress we made. Two days of rain are coming so perhaps wednesday we'll get the next steps done.

Steps forward, steps back...

I really really very much dislike raccoons! This was only part of the mess they left at our rental cottage, the rest was all over the yard. They have been served notice. Further criminal acts will result in deportation.
Spring is very very slowly unfolding with its many chores like

making slip covers for the ratty deck chairs. Painting new signs, and re painting old ones to delete the B&B info. We've had some nice sunny days, altho way colder than I'd like. Warm enough to get out my little red sports car....
The conversation went like this: She, (lusting after the garden stuff in the Veseys Seed Catalog) "Ooooh, look , a non tippy big wheeled , 2 wheel barrow. I couln't tip this, and it would be easier on my back, and I could mix cement in it and yada yada ya..."










He, (sensing an opportunity in the inevitable) "If I got you that now for mother's day would I be off the hook then?"
I love my new wheelbarrow, bless his heart. What a treat after the last two battered single wheelers rescued from the side of the road. I call it Little Red as the 1978 troy tiller is Big Red.

More projects are started, to finish after the ground thaws out. Here's a big flower bed going in the front lawn. I need more space for edible flowers like nasturtiums and johnny jump ups to put into my restaurant salad mixes. They add a lovely splash of color against the greens.
And here's all the fencing to go around the garden where the high tunnel greenhouse will be built. I wish that last aggravating patch of snow would go!

And here's Mother Nature's April Fool's joke today, heavy snowfall warning! (sigh...)



Fun with chickens in Fredericton

My friend Lorraine and I and 5 travelling hens recently did "Meet a Chicken Day", a couple hours drive inland to Fredericton. There some valiant souls have been trying to get their city council to at least think about allowing regulated backyard pet hens in the city. It would have been nice if the opposition had shown up because they couldnt help but fall in love with our girls, like everyone else did. About 30 people came and listened to Lorraine and I profess our love for our feathered friends, talk about care and expectations, breeds and such, and then folks asked loads of questions. The hens visited whomever they chose, and sometimes settled in laps for a nap. A reporter did a positive article for the paper next day which was followed by a pro urban chicken, pro sustainability editorial. The council

has put a roadblock in the way in the form of a $250. fee just to look at making an exception for one person to try it for a year. Other sustainably minded cities (Over 500 across North Americain the last couple of years) Have charged $5. to $25. for a license, changed their bylaws and implemented rules such as no roosters and 3 or 4 hens max. Moncton has done a pilot urban chicken project that has been successful and their experience has gone ahead it seems with more open minds.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

We had a crazy busy day, fitting in a visit to the wonderful Boyce Farmers Market where I found some favorite cheeses and schnitzel, then on to the Acorn conference (Atlantic Canada Organic Regional Network) where we  got to talk to all sorts of growers doing all sorts of creative organic pursuits . I was given a cool Eat Locally Grown t-shirt by the Johnny's Selected Seeds guy. Finally on the way home, we made a visit to see my month old new baby granddaughter...

Isn't she beautiful?

We have dirt !!

The snow has been melting for 4 glorious days, finally , after countless snowstorms, roof shovelings and driveway plowings. A winter we'd all like to forget. Four days ago there was no sign of this post for the electric fence.

I got quite excited when its tip appeared out of the snow and must have checked it's progress through the window a dozen times a day. One of those "light at the end of the tunnel" moments. So the whole mess has dropped about 9 inches, with anywhere from 2 feet to 4 feet to go.

This was March 8th of 2010, much more civilized, with nary a speck of snow in sight. The sun has done it's best around the coop and today the girls were estatic to find real dirt to scratch in, indulging in some serious group dust bathing.
I'm watching them quite closely because some predator has been coming around at night and has shredded the fly screen on the coop window, trying to get in at the chicken dinners.

Thing One is looking out at me taking the photo of the clawed up screen.

A lovely day to putter in the greenhouse, listening to the blessed sound of snow water dripping.

Seeds and celebration

Our anniversary was last week so to celebrate we went to St Andrews-by-the-Sea for a great lunch. I had the best seafood chowder while the carnivore I married had what looked like half a raw cow on his plate. He enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed the very chocolatey cheesecake that I just couldn't say no to. Then, groaning somewhat, it was off to Seedy Sunday...

This is an anual event we were checking out for the first time. Gardeners who save their seed or have leftover seeds from last year bring them along and everybody helps themselves to whatever they like or want to try. What a good idea! I met all kinds of interesting people into organic gardening and sustainable living. Some were doing farmers markets, some supplying weekly csa produce boxes, and everybody, like me, cant wait for spring to come so we can get at it.

Back at  home it was back to work to try to keep ahead of the latest snow dump. We have an enormous amount of snow. Most of the horse fences have disappeared so its a good thing they stay near the barn.

One thing a snow bank is good for, I found out is butchering a chicken. Or what I thought was a chicken til it grew up into a rooster. The bird is cooling in the snow all the time I'm processing it and of course no flies. Much nicer than doing it in the summer.

The last rooster, cooked in the oven was tough and stringy so this 5 pound guy, after a rest in the fridge for 3 days, went to pressure cooker camp. Twenty minutes later he's in the large crock pot for most of the day and smelling really good.
From one rooster we got three chicken pot pies with cornmeal crust, a plate of breast meat for sandwiches and in the freezer, two containers of stock plus meat for future soups or stews.