Soft Water, Softer Lambs

After almost seven years of putting up with rusty looking bathroom fixtures, a fridge full of Brita Filtered water, using half a bottle of shampoo to wash our hair we now have wonderfully soft, iron free water.  What a thrill.  Drinking glass after glass of sweet, refreshing water straight from the tap.

Our water comes from a surface well a couple of hundred feet higher and a quarter mile away from our house.  It had a very high Iron, Manganese and Calcium content.  Hard water that stained everything.

A relative gifted us his slightly used water softener and we installed it behind a heavy duty iron remover and whole house filter.  16 valves, over a hundred PEX rings, a box of connectors,  elbows, air injector , pressure regulator, over pressure valve  later and we have wonderfully clear water.  No staining.  Tea straight from the tap.

Next is to replace all the traditional copper lines in the house with single run PEX tubing from a manifold system.  All part of the Plan to install a Solar domestic Hot Water augmentation system and subfloor supplemental heating.

Since the four week old lambs are now jumping higher than the kitchen table and have taken to chowing down on any paper or plastic laying about it was time to move them out to the Animal shed.

We just constructed a six by six pen with the scroungers secret weapon: used pallets.  The cabinet holds egg cartons

 A thick bed of straw on a wood floor and every ones snug a bug.

 The pigs are very curious and when we let the lambs out to romp around the barn the pigs stick their noses through the gate to get some kisses.

When their not lounging about.

 The chickens peek through their hen house giving the newcomers a sideways glance.  The lambs will stay in the Animal shed and environs for a month awaiting new quarters in the log barn.  I've got to install water and electricity there and won't get that done until the snow melts.

Just when winter had us lulled into a state of " Spring is just about here!" the temperatures have dropped, hitting -21 in Fraser Lake this morning.  Sunny weather tho so it's really quite pleasant.  One fire a day is keeping the green house nice and cozy.

Boose seems to like the family all being together working in the shed.

It's a group thing!

Bummer Road Trip

The Bummer lambs are putting on weight.

 They are now taking up most of the space in the large dog cage and soon will be moving out to the barn. Right now they sleep in the dog kennel and have the run of the kitchen, where we will be replacing the linoleum!  Keeping them out of the cupboards, cleaning up the after feeding puddles, and replacing toilet paper rolls does add to the kitchen chores!



We had to go to Prince George to pick up supplies and parts for our water conditioning project.  The lambs were still on a four hour feeding schedule so we just piled them in the dog carrier in the back of the jeep and took them with us.

Got some strange looks from people at the Home Depot in Prince George and Tim Ho's in Vanderhoof.  The lambs didn't seem to mind the trip and were nice and warm the whole way.  They even serenaded us with Baa Baa Black Sheep from time to time.  It's not like we had chickens in the back!  Altho, we've decided to take a page from Walter Jeffries, consumate porcine producer and general homesteading Guru, and use an all wheel drive van we have sitting around to work as a mobile chicken tractor and Livestock hauler.

The weather has been really nice lately, hovering around zero.  I am getting by with only one fire a night at the green house.  Last night was a little colder going down to -14C, but after -35C or so, it feels down right balmy, with the small wood heater upstairs keeping the house nice and comfy!

I really appreciate companies that stand behind what they sell.  A case in point is Lee Valley Tools, where we order our gardening tools and wood working equipment from.  I bought a very nice Stubai pickeroon from them.   It's a big help in the fire wood handling department - the best one I've ever had.  In the -35C weather we had a while back I was banging  a block of firewood  that had frozen in the ground and snapped the handle off.

One email to their very responsive customer service department and a gratis replacement handle was shipped to us. A noteworthy fine example of customer service, from a company that doesn't just talk the talk but actually walks the pickeroon..

We're all excited about finishing our water treatment plant today.  Soft water in abundance.  The ability to wash our hair without using half a bottle of shampoo.

More will be revealed..

Hope you run into some great service today. You deserve it.

Animal Care

At Savory Farm we treat your pork with special care.

And it's not just the apples and eggs they get every morning!

Hope you get your smooch today!

Feeling a little Sheepish

Day 10 of project sheep.  Or Sleepless in Endako.   Life with a couple of bummer lambs.

 Strange term - just means they were rejected by their moms, for what ever reason, lack of milk etc. When we got them they were less than 12 hours old.  We made it past the every two hour feed for the first  frantic 24 hours and are now into the luxurious every 6 hour feed.

It really wasn't too bad as I was up every four hours anyway to feed the fires during the -30 -40 week.  Thankfully that's passed.

We have Babba and Louie residing in a large dog carrier filled with sweet hay, when there not out galavanting across the kitchen fields.  Well the carrier starts out that way.. Feed and pee.  Pee and feed.  Ah well, the kitchen floor is due for replacement anyway.

They really are the cutest darn things.

They are following Jo around like puppy dogs.  Xena and the Cats seem to get along with the curious bounders.  Cleo not so much.  She gets upset with them at times. I can't wait for them to help out with the lawn mowing chores.  They'll have about 10 acres of that.

Had a weird weather phenomenon a day ago.  It was snowing like mad with a fierce wind through the night and when we woke up we noticed the fields all covered with wind blown snowballs.

  I have never see this before.  I assume it was the wind and not snow elves.

Xena seems to be wondering who was making all the mess too.

Looks like this morning's  blizzard has died down for now,  but I can see another one building over Josephs Mountain. I will be plowing tomorrow.  Right now it's just about time for the mid day nap.

Hope your having a restful weekend.

Water, Water, Everywhere

And now, the animals and us can drink it!

Just got the last run of  three frozen waterlines thawed out.  Five days of -35 to -40C will do that.  Especially if the maintenance department forgot to plug in the heat tapes.  Now we have water in the House, Green house, and Animal Shed.  No more packing water.  The tomatoes were looking a little parched.

 Brother Tom has a great technique for thawing out frozen water line.  It involves breaking the line at a convenient spot, putting in a ball valve.  And threading a 1/4 inch line down the frozen pipe.  Its connected via an adapter to a high pressure paint sprayer.  Turn on the paint sprayer and keep pumping hot water down the line until it eats through the dam.  Works like magic.  The water that comes back out the line is caught in a bucket and can even be reused.  When the water breaks through the 1/4 inch line gets whipped out, the ball valve closed and final repairs made to the line.  So far the worlds record seems to be sixty feet of 4" frozen sewer line.  A lot of places were frozen up, vehicles also.  I had a 50/50 antifreeze mix in the Jeep and it turned to slush.

I had no one to blame but myself for the freeze up.  I had been doing some plumbing repairs in the crawl space of Grandmas this summer and had unplugged the line heaters. It lasted for two days of -35 and then froze solid in a couple of places.  The water line feeds our Main house the green house and animal shed.

Having to pack water from miles away to flush the toilets and feed the animals sure makes me appreciate the simple act of turning on a tap.  Isn't life like that.  Sometimes I just don't appreciate the simple things in life until they disappear.

Hope the simple things in your life are keeping you happy!

Outstanding

 Which one of these things is different from the others:

That egg is goose size, and we cant seem to find a goose in the hen house.  Today I am going to see if I can locate a hen that is being very careful how she moves!

This is a very old wooden threshing machine that we donated to the local museum.  It was languishing  under a tin roof that was hung off an old rat crap infested shed.  It now has a lovely new home under a great roof. 

The roof became the outside pen area for the chucks and the old rat crap infested shed became the shell
for the all season green house

.

Now were looking at fixing up a hand hewn barn on the place that is in surprisingly good shape.

 I was getting it ready for some goats but that didn't happen.  Now were thinking of trying some Sheep.  We need a couple of good lawn mowers, and I can use some new wool socks.. the back of the barn will get a door cut in it so the pigs can get out of the weather.

If your out in the weather today hope your enjoying it.  It's the first time in a couple of weeks that we have fired up the furnace.  We got so used to the + temperatures, the -10's seem cold..

Slip Sliding Away

It's the fourth of January.  I am at 54 ° North and its pouring rain.  During a let up I slipped out ( literally ) without my crampons to feed the fire in the green house.  The dogs were laughing at me.  They have built in ones - but they didn't look all that steady either..

The good news is that four arm loads of firewood in the upstairs heater will keep the house warm and cozy for a day.  Some one has been stealing our firewood lately because of the 16 stock piled cords at least three has disappeared.  We suspect some one has been burning it.

Got a bajillion projects on the go - some of them weather dependent.  I.E.  I don't like to work outside in the rain wearing crampons unless I really have to.

Hope your getting around OK.

I've Been Fired!

From the yard plowing job.  I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat, 'er snow blade.  I am alright on the road plowing stuff but zippity doing around the yard, back and forth - well I get barfy thinking about it.  We've had a little dump of snow and with a big wind behind it, snow drifts are appearing all around the yard.

Jo-Ann, tired of my whining decided she was going to do it.  Let's just say she did a better job than the last guy who did it!

Our cats really do know how to make the best of the Winter season.

Hope your making the best of yours.

Between Celebrations

I don't know what it is about vehicle repair.  Around here we only try and do it when its cold out, preferable with a gale force wind blowing snow at the parts to be replaced, banged, or sworn at.  Not necessarily in that order.

Who would make a thermostat housing out of plastic?  Some one who works for a company that believes consumers only consume, and therfore need to make parts so they will have a very limited lifespan..

 On the Garden front, we remembered that we had left some cabbages growing in the tire garden and lifted the lid on them to find, much to our surprise:  They are still soft and pliable but looked like they had been frozen and then thawed in the winter sun.  Non the less, the piggies appreciated the bit of greenery.  One tire was overgrown with Chick Weed, and they chowed down on that with grunts of delight!

 The Green house has calmed down.  One of these days I am going to rip out the tomato plants and put in some Brassicas and mixed greens.  Still an inviting place to sit and dream about the garden on a cold winters day.  A wonderful way to start the day!

 The puppies keep various Bothersome Bears, Wily Wolves, Conniving Coyotes, Deranged Deer, Mad Moose and of course the worst scourges: Batty birds and jet contrails,  from invading the place.  And they seem to have a lot of fun doing it.  They are doing such a good job we haven't seen a Bear since late Fall!

Hope your having a great time over the Christmas season. Peace to you and yours.

It's That Time Of Year Again

I was supposed to be at the Coast today.  The Jeep continues to require new parts.  This time a distributer assembly which is making for hard starts and rough running.  Parts just came in today so here's hoping the mechanic can get it going.  If he does, and the weather looks like it will improve,  I might make the 1000 kilometer trip tomorrow.  The highways people are telling us to stay off the roads today, if possible.  Probably good advice.

The weather has been problematical:  several snow falls requiring plowing in the last couple of days,  freezing rain yesterday evening and this morning now turning to snow.  Cold days can make for some nice pics.

Of all the ways the weather can manifest,  the freezing rain crap is the worse.  Invariably it puts a film of water over the compact snow and ice.  We're talking curling rink.  Snow I can always plow,  and to see this stuff turn to the white stuff is a relief.

We have been spending days (weeks) cutting meat.

Easy to take apart, harder to get together..

 Got a hamburger ( dog food ) cow and a small Blue Beef one all comfortably ensconced in our freezer. The dog food cow was a gift from an organic Rancher in Vanderhoof, Whispering Winds Ranch  It had a bad foot, since healed, but was treated with antibiotics a year ago so he wouldn't sell it to his customers.  He sells all his beef, about 250 head a year via the internet and integrity is his byword.  I really admire that.









 Of course with the Jeep down we had to improvise transport to the shop.  Fortunately it was a calf:

We also discovered that half a cow in the trunk of a Ford Focus makes for dicey steering!

Working on a couple of computers for friends.  I am installing Linux Mint 12 on them.  I am trying to set up "Granny" Machines.  Simple trouble free set ups for people that don't want to fiddle with their sets, worry about virus's and can't afford to pay the Micro$oft tax.  I repair a lot of computers for people - well actually I spend 99% of my repair  time removing virus's and spyware from windows boxes.

The green house isn't doing well these days.  The problem I am having is regulating the temperature in the green house.  I know it sounds funny, especially nearing winter deep, but I heat it with wood and when the sun does come out, the temperature can soar.  I have an automatic fan installed but if it gets hot enough  (35c / 95 F)  to come on, it causes the fire to back draft, filling the place with smoke.  An installation of another fan in parallel at the other end of the green house should take care of that problem.  The other problem is the futility of trying to grow cold weather crops, spinach and Brassicas and tomatoes in the same building.  Vastly different heating requirements.  So, regretfully, that's the last of the tomatoes for a while.  Probably March or so.  By then it will be time to start the plantings for the outside mini green houses - the tire garden.

We are starting to get seed catalogues in the mail.  Jo-Ann refers to them as "Gardner Porn"!  And they do encourage some gardening fantasies!  Mmm, I can just about taste those new spuds.

Anyway I know my lucks improving: Here's proof, a piece of crispbread,  resplendent in butter and jam that fell from the counter and landed thusly - jammed side up.  How cool is that.

Hope your bread falls buttered side up!