He's laughing with us, not at us

So for anyone who doesn't believe that God has a sense of humour, you should read my last post. It was a lovely thing about taking time and enjoying life around me.

Giggle*Snort*Guffaw

Sigh.

Well, that didn't work so well. The summer ended up being a little crazier than expected. Henry was working full time at a job that wasn't a great fit for him. I was participating in three farmers' markets a week, which meant Moses was in daycare three days a week as well. It was a little nuts. Granted, we have learned from this process. Two markets a week is good, and we can handle that. Three seems to put us over the edge at this point in time.

The fall was busy with three times the bulk orders as last year, plus a Christmas rush. As well, we raised turkeys for Christmas and some chickens for our own freezer. We made a decision not to pursue a breeding herd at this time, but it is something we'd like to do once we are living on our own farm. I am not complaining about any of that as the increased sales were a welcome surprise. In the middle of all that, on my birthday in fact, I got this surprise as well:



Okay, so it wasn't a complete surprise, but I really didn't think that October was going to be the month. In fact, I was so sure that I was NOT pregnant that the day before when Henry and Moses took me out for lunch for my birthday I had a beer. (God really does have a sense of humour).

Thankfully, we seem to have established a kind of equilibrium. We are still busy, but things seem to be progressing at a pace with which we can deal. Henry is now teaching which is a much better fit. A full-time position may be opening up this summer, and we are praying that he gets it. Work on his thesis is progressing as well, and a rough draft should be submitted by mid-February. We were asked (after I asked to be asked) to participate in a really good market once a week, and if all goes well, we will hopefully be invited to participate weekly in the summer. Ideally, if we attend that market and we remain at our other favorite market, we should make at least as much if not more than we did last year at three markets. (Yes, we are still working out the logistics of a very pregnant woman loading and unloading coolers). I also continue to waffle about whether to find out the gender (final decision date February 19).

In between all that, we hosted my in-laws and parents for Christmas. Have had time to play in the snow. Do a billion and one puzzles. Dance. Play "hockey stick" in the basement. Relax.

It's nice.

Smelling the roses

Henry and I went for a bike ride with Moses in the trailer tonight, and I was reminded why I love living here. We saw Canada geese crossing the road ahead of us. I nearly impaled myself by stopping to quickly when I saw a beaver swimming in the creek. We could hear spring peepers and bullfrogs. We could taste gnats and mosquitoes.

Okay, so the last one isn't really high on my list of favourites.

I find that far too often Henry and I get too busy to actually enjoy living in the country. We bought a secondhand canoe last year, which we've wanted for years. Sadly, we really only took it out twice. There are three lakes within a five minute drive of our house. We should be canoeing every day or at least once a week. I don't know how to make more time to enjoy our landscape. There are so many pressures of work and farming and childcare. We try though, and sometimes we're successful.

A few weeks ago when we had some of our first gorgeous spring weather, we went on a whim to Algonquin Park. A few metres into the park, we saw a moose. We hiked a small boardwalk trail and then went to the visitors' centre. It was better than I imagined. There were animals on display and tons of other exhibits. For days afterwards, Moses said, "See moose? See wolf?"

I stink at keeping promises that I make to myself, but I'll still vow to get out and enjoy the creation around me on a regular basis.

Prayers needed

I feel nauseous about this. A friend of mine from high school is in the hospital with her son, Ike(asaurus). He was born 13 weeks early after Kari had been on bedrest for months. They FINALLY got to bring him home. He is now back in the hospital, seriously ill, and intubated. She tells the whole story here: haikuoftheday.com.

I have taken that ride on the hospital bed. I have been kicked out of the room while my baby was being intubated. There are no words to describe how awful it is. He is having a bronchoscopy tomorrow morning, and I really want you all to pray for Ike, for Kari, and for her husband and two older kids.

She seems to have a supportive community about her, and I think that's HUGE. Her friends have set up a web site for the family here. I'm glad they can care for her so she can care for Ike.

(To top it all off, her husband lost his job about a week ago - there go the benefits. I am so thankful for national healthcare in Canada, and no matter what the problems with it are, I can't imagine having to worry about costs while caring for your sick child. I think it is inhumane that anyone might be denied or avoid medical treatment because they cannot pay for it).

Dreaming of Sunshine

Ugh. This weather lately makes me want to curl up on the couch and eat cheese non-stop. Grey skies, temperatures warm enough to melt the top layer of snow into dirty mush, and on top of that, Henry has been gone 8 of the last 9 nights, so I'm single-parenting it. Ugh, ugh, ugh!

So, to make me think of happier times, we are going to discuss my garden, or at least the garden I have planned.

I've wanted to have some plants here at the house for a while. Last year, I had a few tomato plants mixed in with my flowers, but it was an awful year for tomatoes. I think I got about 5 fruits from 4 plants. This year, I'm going to try for quite a bit more, and I'm using the square foot gardening method by Mel Bartholomew.


Because we have a raised septic bed, hideous soil (It's all backfill and small rocks), and LOTS of manure, I'm going to do 3 raised beds that measure 4'x4', which gives me 48 squares. I also wanted to attempt companion planting to make my garden as productive as possible. It was a bit of a nightmare figuring out how to organize it, so I turned it into a craft project.

I wrote out what I wanted to plant and how many squares I would need for it. Then I cut out the squares and sorted them into piles of what vegetables like to be with each other. Then I arranged them into 3 larger squares that would be my raised beds. For example, each tomato plant gets its own square, so I cut out 6 tomato squares. On the other hand, 12 bean plants fit into one square, so I only cut out 2 squares. It ended up looking something like this (apologies for the HORRIBLE formatting. Anyone have any idea how to create boxes in html?):

Box 1

Cornell’s Bush Delicata squash (1)	Cornell’s Bush Delicata squash (1)	Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)
Zucchini and marigolds (1)	Zucchini and marigolds (1)	Zucchini and marigolds (1)	Zucchini and marigolds (1)
Jacob’s Cattle beans – drying (12)	Jacob’s Cattle beans – drying (12)	Purple beans (can’t remember name) (12)	Purple beans (can’t remember name) (12)
Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)

Box 2

Snow pea (1) with vining petunia	Snow pea (1) with vining petunia	Sugar pea (1) with vining petunia	Sugar pea (1) with vining petunia
Carrots (12)	Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums	Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums	dill
Purple bunching onions (12)	Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums	Brussel sprouts (1) with nasturtiums	Large leaf basil & garlic in fall
Carrots (12)	Genovese basil	Genovese basil	Large leaf basil & garlic in fall

Box 3

Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)	Tomato (1)
Sweet pepper (1)	Sweet pepper (1)	Fish pepper – hot (1)	Fish pepper – hot (1)
Spinach - succession planting	Swiss chard – succession planting	Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)
Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)	Strawberries with marigolds (2)

I'll be growing everything but the tomatoes and strawberries from seed. (I ordered from William Dam and Terra Edibles). The tomatoes I'll buy from a neighbour and the strawberries I ordered in a fit of foolishness from Veseys because they were 25 plants for only $10 (never mind the amount of room they need. Yeesh).

If you're actually interested in the specific names, let me know, and I can look them up. I'm being lazy right now and don't want to get off the couch because, did I mention, the weather STINKS!!!! Now, pass the cheese.

The actual farming life

So, what happens in the farm on the winter?

Not much, really. We have the daily care of making sure the waterers are working. Henry puts out round bales every few days, and we check to make sure that all is well. But, winter on the farm is relatively quiet. It's a nice break that way because we are plenty busy in other areas.

For the meat-side of the business, we're doing once-a-month drop offs in Toronto. We send out an email with all the details, people pre-order, and then we hang out at Tinto's (and drink coffee and eat their yummy food), while we wait for people to come pick up their orders. It's been going really well, and we've even had several new customers try us over the winter.

The Guelph Organic Conference was last weekend. I was on a panel called The Future of Farmers' Markets representing producers. It was really interesting to hear about the behind-the-scenes politics that can go on at these markets. It also makes me realize how much I love the Sorauren Park market. It was so great for us last year, and I'm looking forward to it starting up again this year. I was talking to one of market managers, and he mentioned that he was interested in getting me on the advisory committee. While I'm not sure I have the time, I would love to do it. I've always been passionate about farmers' markets as a consumer and a producer, so it would be great to have more say in how this market works.

It was also really good to see a bunch of familiar faces at the conference. I didn't actaully attend any workshops, but I spend a number of hours wandering around the trade show, meeting and talking to people. It really helped reinforce for me that this is where we should be. After ten years or marriage, I don't know how many different jobs, this feels like a calling. It was neat talking to people who have been doing this kind of thing (organic farming and direct marketing) for 30 years and thinking that I can see Henry and I in their position in another 30 years.

In other news, Henry has started a job working for FarmStart and the Ecological Farmers of Ontario. He's the Training and Resources Coordinator (I had to look that up online). I think it's perfect for him. He'll be coordinating their education programs (teaching and farming - his two specialties). It's a bit nuts right now in that he's trying to finish his MA thesis as well, but this job brings an economic stability to our lives and allows us to use our farming income for the farm. Hopefully, those two factors and the reduction of our debt load that getting bought out of Russet House Farm (a good thing but a topic for another post) brings will allow us to buy a farm in the next year or two.

A lifetime

I'm almost 33, and this is the first time I've ever seen an African-American US President.

If all goes well, my son might be almost 10 before he knows anything but an African-American US President.

The ad reads...

Wanted

Toddler repairperson for one (1) toddler. Doesn't eat. Doesn't sleep. Doesn't listen. Seems to be stuck on auto-whine. Will pay exorbitant fees.