I Wish It Would Rain Down...Somewhere Else

I don`t mean to be unappreciative of rain, so many are going without and we have gone without here even recently.  As a matter of fact, after a wet spring and then a heat wave we were needing a bit of shower activity.  But not the couple of more inches we got yesterday and today.  It is haying time in this area and we could really use a week and a half or two weeks of steady warm with maybe some breezes.

Well, one can hope, right?

As always, it could be worse.  We could have the flooding and landslides that British Columbia, Russia and parts of Asia have been having, or the record drought that I don`t have to tell folks in the US about.

Other than we farming types, all this rain is just what Alberta has been needing.  The water table is replenishing and our marsh lake has never been higher or seemed healthier (although I still know there`s a lot of garbage out there).  The pasture and undergrowth around the forested parts of our summer pasture half section have never been more lush.  We could be pasturing 200 cattle there, easily, for a couple of months anyway.  The less than 15 head there now should fare quite well!

By the way, anyone reading this who might be interested in Grande Prairie grass fed beef, we have 4 steers fattening there now.  They should be available late this fall and into winter.  I`m hoping to get them sold directly so we can keep this excellent beef out of the mainstream feedlot system.

Now that the shameless self advertisement is done, for the moment, I have been meaning to share some garden pictures for awhile.  I took some back in early June but these are from just two days ago.  Luckily I got them taken as its a muddy mess now.


Angie, this is the tomato patch.  In the background are some chickens that think they`re going to get some greens thrown to them.  Turns out they did when I discovered some kind of maggot eating one small patch of turnip roots.

One section of two kinds of beans (the far 3 rows are Pinto, the rest some kind of yellow wax bean that I don`t remember just now).  There are a LOT of beans this year.  I planted about 5 varieties in order to try some changes from our typical green and yellow beans.

A view of the southwest patch.  Some great beets and onions here, but also the turnips that were being eaten.  With all this new rain...I might lose a bunch of this to rot.  Think Ill start processing the beets tomorrow.

Onions in that same area.  They got flattened by a storm a few days ago.  Real strong winds had the tomato patch laying over the same way.  I love how they can go all crazy when going to seed, like the one in the center right of the picture.

North end of the garden.  Some weeds at the bottom, then some lettuces, potatoes, beans, chard, corn, and a thick patch of various pumpkins, squash and cucumbers.  

You can see some of the beans better here, and a small row of kohlrabi.

 More beans and some wimpy corn.  Won`t be much of a corn year again, methinks.  There is another struggling patch that is starting to get its tops, but most isn`t much taller than a foot or two.

These Tonda Padana pumpkins seem incredibly  prolific.  Almost like zucchini.  Some fruit is rotting but I bet there are 15 that are already a decent size like this, and many smaller ones.  I sure hope they taste good.  Gotta find some feeder piglets in case they don`t!

Closer view of the squash and pumpkin patch.  One can no longer tell easily where one variety stops and one begins.  Don`t think I will be saving any seed this year.

This is the plantain that was pointed out to me.  It is the only thing that flourishes in a low, wet spot so I`m going to harvest seed from it this year and if it looks like I can use a lot or sell some, then I`ll plant a bunch in that spot next year.  I now know it grows well in the wild here (when wet anyway) but it looks like I can grow some pretty impressive plants right in our garden, and fill a difficult area at the same time.
 

 

So that`s all for now I guess.  I hear it raining again outside...

Peace and comfort.

Goings On

Goodness this new blogger layout takes some getting used to!

Happy Birthday, Canada!  And to our American brothers and sisters, early Happy Independence Day wishes.

It's been a fairly busy month and a half since my last post.  I've been trying to find buyers for the small amount of beef and pork we have for sale.  You'd think this would be a very easy task in a fairly rich city like this but that is not always so.  I have been advertising primarily via Kijiji.ca and have had many responses asking for pricing, but I do not hear back from many people.  This is especially interesting as our prices are currently very low, lower even than most grocery stores.  I worry what raising our prices to actually profitable levels would do.

But at the same time, we have made some new customers and there ARE people who will pay good, conscientious farmers a fair price for well grown food.  Are there enough to support even one such farm?  I hope so.

One of our new customers are newcomers to the area, working here to try to raise some money towards building their own homestead one day.  Honorable intentions to say the least!  I have been really enjoying getting to know this young family a bit, and the female half of the couple is also an herbalist type who pointed out that we have a good amount of plantain growing in our lawn, garden and various other places around the farm.  It looks like plantain  really likes heavy, water logged soil.  Turns out that last two very rainy springs have left a spot in the garden where few things like to grow, other than weeds.  I have been wondering whether there is anything productive that I could plant there and now it looks like I could possibly be able to grow quite a nice plantain crop in this area.  For any readers who might not know, plantain is a very important  herb, known to some American Indians as "life medicine".  So how about that?  Kind of powerful to learn that life medicine grows wild in abundance on our little lake edge.

We have a new bull on the farm as of today as well.  The first Hereford bull on the farm in quite some time.  We have had Red Angus bulls the last several years and thought it was time to bring some Hereford blood back into the herd.  They aren't the neatest looking breed of cattle-beast but they tend to be very quiet, good milkers and have more recognizable markings which is nice in a hands-on herd like ours.  I am also interested to see how the coloring of calves from him with the Blonde sisters will turn out.  They may be pale yellow with a white face.  Kind of rare coloring if it manifests.  Now to most folk it is only the meat that matters, but we handle these cattle pretty much every day of the year so such differences are interesting to us.

I have also started a new blog that I wish to share with everyone, and that I hope everyone will share with the world.  Forever Ferguson Lake is about the lake our farm sits beside, the lake I have mentioned many times here, the lake that has been so much a part of who I am.  The lake to which I may not have such immediate and constant access for many more years.  The lake I know is such an important, but unknown, aspect of the local watershed and ecology.  The lake I want to see remain the amazing ecosystem that has regrown over the last two very wet years, despite the large amounts of garbage which have blown in from the also lakeside County Landfill site.  I`m hoping this blog will draw local and outside attention, putting some positive pressure on County and Provincial government to protect what I can`t help but feel as MY lake...but also OUR lake.  I will be trying to post to this new blog at least once a week.

Now this new blog does not mean the end of Soapboxtech.  I may not post much more often than I have been lately, but I will keep posting here.  I know there will be rants every so often, even though I`ve had difficulty writing them down over the last few months.  Just too many things to rant at sometimes I guess.  But is it likely to get better anytime soon?  I doubt I need to answer that.

But oh well.

Peace and comfort, brothers and sisters.  Be good to each other.

Another Overdue Update

Boy, I've really been letting time get away from me here.  Two months with no post is much too much of a habit for me to be in. 

Its become a lovely spring, here in this part of Canada.  After a cool and very blowy start to spring, the last two weeks have been just marvelous.  A few warm, sunny days followed by 3 days of rain that totaled almost 2 inches of rain that was just the right amount at just about the right time.  Then back to sun and warmth so the grass has been jumping out of the ground.   The cows are happy to be out roaming the pastures and the pigs are being backed off grain and finished on more and more grass.  It would sure be nice to be able to turn them into pasture but as we are short on capital but fairly flush with labor, we bring the pasture to the pigs.

The lake is teeming with life, our part of the shore is literally crawling with Canada Goose goslings and soon the ducklings will appear.  I have seen at least two types of ducks that are new to the lake this year so hopefully they will nest successfully and the offspring return to breed in subsequent years.  Once again this spring, it batters me that this fantastic wetland is not protected.  As I mentioned, it has been a very windy spring and despite a much welcomed high fence that now covers half of the east edge of the landfill site to catch garbage...an absolutely horrible amount has blown out of the landfill and into the lake (and onto fence lines and probably 30 acres of hay field).  As always, it shatters me to see this happening and realize how few people really care.

But back to happier notes, rows of green are beginning to appear in the garden.  Onion sets, spinach and peas are particularly noticeable.  Thankfully not much was ruined by the drunken idiot that ended up ripping through our garden last Saturday night after crashing off the road at a sharp but well marked corner.  I really have to take some pictures of the hole those crazy bastards drove through in order to get into the garden.  It is a bit of a miracle that they weren't very badly hurt.  Also thankfully, I had not yet set out the transplants meant for that section of garden.   They even drove past the garden rake and hoe without smashing them.

The greenhouse has been crammed full of various sets that are now starting to get transplanted into the garden.  The 60-some tomato plants now set out in the garden are the most even started right on this farm before.  I also sold some Christmas Grape and Tiny Tim tomato starts today, and a few other things, which pays for somewhere around at least 1/4 of what has been or will be seeded in the garden this year.

Its getting pretty late so I think that will be all for now.  Hopefully I will get my ass back here soon for more updates and commentary on significant happenings in Canada and abroad.  Its definitely not been a slow year so far!

Peace and comfort, brothers and sisters.

Righter Still, Alberta?

Well its election time again, here in Alberta. And for the first time in 40 years, it looks like the Progressive Conservative party has real competition. Only its from a new and even more conservative party, the Wild Rose Alliance. I'm not exactly sure who this is an alliance between, but at this stage it looks like they could well unseat this province's long sitting governing party.

I have to admit that it concerns me to see provincial politics seeming to shift even further to the right here in Alberta. Yet I must also be honest and admit that I've not spent enough time reading the Wild Rose position documents. I really must do more of that but I know that I DO find myself appreciating what I understand of their stance on property rights, in the face of a government that has been establishing imminent domain rules which include no compensation whatsoever. Yet it seems that this alliance has a comfy relationship with the oil patch that suggests this stance on property rights might be little more than hot air.

The latest campaign promise from the Alliance is resurrecting an old PC trick from the Ralph Klein government. Dividends cheques ($300 per year starting in 2015) we're supposed to be receiving from the province's oil industry are likely to solidify a large amount of votes for the Alliance. This seems painfully short sighted and small minded to me, but at the same time it is true that the government wastes a great deal of our money. Still, it seems sad that a vote can be bought for any amount, never say a possible $300 3 years into an increasingly uncertain future.

Worst of all, I have a nagging feeling that this party is going to introduce the backdrop for a real secessionist movement here in Alberta. Canada is facing some real troubles and definite imbalances between the east and west, but I cannot help but dislike secessionist talk...inevitable as it may be.

It should be an interesting month.

A Late February Update

I guess it's far past time that I shared an update from my part of the north.

I have been away from home for the better part of a month as my brother and his family have now returned to Calgary. Their house, which was rented out while he was overseas, was in need of some renovations so I have been down helping to put in new flooring, painting most of the rooms, and installing baseboards. I've also been helping a bit with unpacking and setting things up, lifting the heavy things, etc. It's looking like I should be headed home in about a week. It will be nice to get home but also a bit difficult as I've come to settle in here a certain amount.

As for back at home, it has remained a fairly mild, though windy, winter. This has allowed mom and dad to not have to do TOO much work by themselves, as there has not been a lot of snow. Depending on how March goes, this may make for a difficult spring since we rely so much on snow melt to get crops and garden going. People joke about farmers complaining about the weather but the reality is that bad weather can be absolutely devastating to all farmers, but even more to the small farmer.

We've had four calves so far, three being heifers that may be kept in order to further expand the herd. There should be four more calves making their appearances starting in early march so we are hoping for similar good fortune with their births. We traded some excess hay and cash to a neighbor in exchange for the heifer that was born to their milk cow a year and a half ago. She has been bred but her calf is not due for several months. She is a flighty, skittish creature so I am hoping that she calms with age and giving birth as did the two new heifers we bought last spring. If not, milking her may prove to be a big chore if she does retain and manifest the milking genes from her mother.

I also bought five weaner gilts late last fall, but lost two of them to an excessive infestation of Round worms. I am carrying some guilt (no pun intended) over this loss as I was stubbornly trying to treat this infestation with garlic instead of an injection of de-wormer. I should have applied the de-wormer much earlier than I did, as it was clear that two of the gilts were in rough shape. It is easy to say live and learn, but not so much when lives have been lost. As my sister wisely pointed out, however, I did not pay for the two lost weaners and they were going to be killed for meat next summer anyway. Doesn't remove all of the guilt but it does make it lighter.

As for the farm itself, I reported awhile back that it was looking like the County would be purchasing the portion of our remaining land that sits on the lake edge. We have finally been informed that the price suggested by an independent consultant is too high for their liking, so it has been decided that we will investigate putting the land up for sale openly. This leaves us in a bit of a bind financially but at least we are being "granted" the sub-division that was applied for two years ago. This will allow us to try to sell the other parcel of land for higher value as industrial land. Not exactly a comfortable option but considering the expanded landfill to our west and the huge asphalt plant to our north east, it's probably the best option remaining to us. It's hard to market naturally produced food when sited next to such nasty developments, after all.

I think I will leave the update there for now, and go back to awaiting the garage door repair people and delivery of a dumpster so all the old carpet, underlay and other renovation trash can finally be removed from the garage. More words to come though, as the global economy struggles along, war remains a looming likelihood, resource constrictions continue to mount, and the climate upheaval continues to increase.

So with that I will wish all peace and comfort once again, in this crazy wonderful world.

Day Late and A Dollar Short

So here I am, a day late for Robbie Burns Day, and with kind of a crappily lit picture. But at least it is a picture I took, in downtown Aberdeen, of the late Scottish poet hero.


It was kind of hard to take the picture too, being as it was hidden behind (yet towering over) some tents at the International Market that was going on that weekend. These markets are foods and craft type items from various counties. It was fairly impressive actually, especially in terms of food. One vendor had a whole young pig roasting on a spit right there at the side of his booth. There was no Canadian vendor, sadly. Maybe I should go back and set up a bacon and hockey sticks booth.

Anyway, Happy belated Robbie Burns day!

I'm Blushing Here!

I am honored to have the chance to thank LindaM at hello its me for bestowing this blog with its 2nd award.



I don't feel terribly worthy of this award lately, but I am awful thankful that she thought to pass it my way. It is a lovely impetus to be more active in my writing again.

So, I am to pass this award on to 3 other bloggers and I will choose 3 that I think suit the award title in their content. In no particular order:

1) MoonRaven's Social Alchemy blog touches on a wide variety of topics that pertain to all aspects of health, community, spirituality, social justice and living better in an increasingly difficult world. I immediately thought to pass this award MoonRaven's way, before I even remembered that he awarded my own blog its last award.

2) The Well Run Dry is a peak oil blog that covers the vast range of topics that peak oil is already affecting and will increase to affect. The author is very involved in his local community, working with others to try to build knowledge and an adaptive group of neighbors who can work together to survive the coming difficulties.

3) Kevin Kossowan is an Edmonton blogger that promotes food awareness and local food producers, in a very big way. His blog is visually impressive and chalk full of inspiring food prep ideas, as well as much support for local healthy food producers. A real local inspiration for the Great White North.

Now, the harder part of this award is that I am supposed to offer 7 pieces of obscure information about myself...a task I am finding difficult. But here goes:

1) I love Theatre but I kind of hate musicals.
2) I'm a Calgary Flames fan living in Oil country.
3) I couldn't identify a Led Zeppelin song until I was in my mid 20s.
4) I fucking hate being a shorter than average male.
5) I am concerned that #4 might be a bigger deal subconsciously than consciously.
6) I still haven't seen Avatar.
7) Patience and persistence are probably my biggest flaws, as in not enough of either.

Thanks again Linda.

Peace and comfort to all.

An End is Nigh

This might be the best forecast for 2012, and beyond, that I have seen to date. Happy and shiny it is not, but rational and honest it very much seems to be.




At the very least, it certainly sums up the world I see as I look around, far more comprehensively than I could do. I especially enjoy Pollock's admiration for the theories and writings of Buckminster Fuller. It is a fresh outlook in a world of Keynesian or Austrian economics.

Out of the Old, Into the New

I was meaning to do a bit of a yearly wrap up back around the solstice but my lower gastrointestinal tract and I have been sorting out a couple month long disagreement. Truth be told I think it is a longer disagreement than that but hopefully it is being sorted out now. Actually, I find the coincidence of this uncomfortable disagreement timing out with the transition into the new year (2012 no less, if it is to be a significant year after all) to be kind of humorous.

It has been sort of an uncomfortable year for meany reasons. Even my trip overseas, while amazing, had an uncomfortable personal aspect (not counting the fact that it may have served to catalyze this GI disagreement). It has been the kind of year where we received enough rain to produce more hay than our farm likely ever has before, but the vast majority is of rather low quality of which the cattle must eat a great amount and a lot goes to waste. The same heavy rains followed by wind and heat that gave us that hay, gave us a weak garden where at least half of what was planted was drowned. One patch of peas did quite well, and the bush beans weren't too bad. The greenhouse did alright, small as it is, and we had copious cherry tomatoes. I dabbled with herb growing in there for the first time as well, ending up with some success. I am keen to explore this area and could happily fill the whole greenhouse with herbs I think.

Given the weather through our growing season this year, I am still very concerned that our area is on a drying trend, especially if the windiness continues. For someone interested in growing food for a living this is a disturbing trend. On the bright side, after a couple weeks of January-like weather, the last month has been relatively lovely weather. We've had some very windy days but have very little snow and are able to move the cattle over to the pasture every day where they can scratch on trees and wander a larger area. It is a good thing the temperatures have been so mild because if it was normal temperatures with those winds (as was looking like might be the case when I returned from overseas) this would have been a pretty miserable winter so far.

Speaking of the cattle, it has been a fairly successful year. All of last year's calves were sold at market and did quite well. I would have loved the chance to finish them off this winter and market the beef directly in the spring but the money was needed at the time and Dad is very resistant to try a pre-sell on deposit arrangement. I admit I wonder lately just how big the potential local market is here, or rather, how small. Are people in this area willing to pay enough for food grown in a conscientious fashion?

Now, as the yearly cycle begins anew, some aspects of my future that seemed very unclear are finally beginning to take shape. It is now looking very much as though our time on the side of the lake that I have shared a bit here will be coming to an end over the next two years. I don't really feel comfortable talking about details at this point but, emotional response aside, it is now time to make some decisions and do some real planning for the future. There can be no more plodding along as this year has gone.

The main decision seems to be whether to set up a farmstead on our half section of summer pasture land, or to try to find some land to purchase elsewhere. Returning to school to pick up some kind of technical expertise is a tempting option as part of me wonders if it would not be wise to retain the ability to be mobile over the next 10 or 20 years as the climatic/peak oil situations solidify. The biggest problem there might be trying to settle just what area of expertise to pursue. I've never been terribly good at those kinds of decisions.

But, I have some time on my hands for the rest of this winter so I will have to spend it getting myself a little more focused. I've made some good steps over the past couple of years but there are still some big things I need to work out in this quest for balance.

I want to thank those of you who have been commenting and so supportive. It has been uplifting and is sincerely appreciated. I wish you all a peaceful and comfortable remainder of the renewal season. There's so much that needs doing come spring.

Love to all.

A Month?

I can't believe its been pretty much a month since I wrote something here. Seems to be a bit of a theme lately. This time I feel a little bit guilty since it feels like most of it was a whirlwind two week and 3 night holiday/visiting/relaxation trip to Scotland, the last known place where most of my blood originates. And then three nights in the middle was a whole other getaway over to Amsterdam.

Hee hee.

Yep, Amsterdam. Mostly just within the inner main tourist hub but still, that's the best part, right? Well if its me, and it was, and its your first time in Amsterdam, and it was, the inner hub is really the only place you need to go. Non-stop picturesque scenery, canals, languages, people on bikes, food choices, sex options, history, new smells, intimacy, art, solitude (somehow even solitude), fashion (in shops and on people), and good lord the coffee shops (pot-friendly and otherwise). Very cool.

Interestingly, to me at least, we (my excellent personal guide, the sister of my brother's wife, and I) stumbled across an Occupi camp late on our last night there. At one point early on I had been wondering if there would be an Occupi-Amsterdam camp so it was a little disappointing to just stumble across it rather late when most protestors would have been in the few tents clustered there. I didn't even take any pictures as I found the idea felt a bit intrusive, seeing as people were sleeping. In another way, though, there was kind of a (I hate to say) false feel to the scene...kind of a theatrical feel. They weren't out in any of the bigger open square type of places so they just seemed like part of the "show". I was tempted to try to get back in the morning, if even for a few minutes, before the flight back to Scotland. No time though, and that was honestly no big deal to me.

The main reason for the trip was just to see my brother and sister in law, and my now year old niece for the first time. Plus, everyone else in the family had had a chance to visit the "old country", so my brother wanted to be sure I had the chance as well. I am very lucky to have such a generous younger brother, especially given some of my behavior as an older brother when we were young.

I didn't spend much time running about the countryside of Scotland, beyond two weekend excursions to cool old castles just outside of Aberdeen. A gazillion pictures were taken at both. Some may well make their way on here. The rest of the time was spent in sheer relaxation and time with family, hanging out at their home or seeing some great restaurants and cool areas in Aberdeen. It was fascinating to spend plenty time with my niece and I just have to say, she is one brilliant little girl that I think might just grow up to rule the world. Seeing as there is already one Queen Sophia, I think she has a good start just in her name.

So yeah, sorry I ran off with no warning. I hope you all can forgive me.

Four More Down

Four more lives lost to selfishness last night. This time it was the oldest son of 2 of my oldest friends, my first 2 roommates. Killed by a drunk driver.

So many bad things happen in this world, I will never understand why people have to cause more of them by being self-centered. Oh and yes, the guy that did it tried to ditch the responsibility and ran for it.

Not much else to say on the matter right now. My poor friends...



Rest in Peace, young Vincent.

Occupi

One or two minds may wonder why I have been silent on the growing movement I will just refer to as Occupi. I've been quiet for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was the fact it takes me forever to write on these kinds of topics because there is SOOO much to consider. I mean, there are SO many issues facing our civilization that it seemed to me that protesting Wall Street alone might be a bit of a diversion. Yet there is no denying that our convoluted global financial ponzy sche...ahem...system is a large part of the problem. That many fat cats devoted only to accumulating further wealth and, more importantly, power...simply cannot be a good thing.

So,

I, for one, think it is phenomenal that this awakening has begun. I find hope in the dedication to non-violent protest and in attempting to reach decisions by consensus. I can look at fellow humans with pride as so many are acknowledging our responsibilities to one another, as at least partly evidenced by the efforts to keep these "occupied" areas clean.

I do worry about the often divided nature of mankind in general. How much consensus is possible with the extremes in ideologies among so many people? After all, just how many people see anyone who feels abortion is not a black and white issue as a literal demon? It might be a smaller number than I think, but I now know that it is a far larger number than I used to think possible. That so many cannot be convinced otherwise is, to me, a good (albeit extreme) example of just how far we might be from being ready for moving forward as a conscious, connected species and not just as a group of constantly competing individuals.

But my main worry is that this movement makes some progress, only to fizzle out under the sheer power of the system/machine and as people realize it is a life long process involving real work and focus, this systemic change. This is what eventually seemed to happen after the 60's, as so many radically driven youth slipped back into the materialistic mode that comes so very easy in our modern world...at least it did until we began to peak in energy available to us.

But for what it's worth, while I am not physically in one of those parks I am with you all, wholeheartedly. And I promise I'm trying to do my part, even though I am no longer here so often to report on just what I have been doing or thinking.

May we NEVER cease to strive for a more active consciousness, both individually AND collectively. In this balance would lie heaven, I feel.

Peace and comfort, sisters and brothers.

Will We Learn?

More insanity:




What is there to say other than this has to be stopped.

Shiny, Wheeled Signs of the Times

I've heard it said (and/or written) in many places, that one's driving shows a great deal of their personality. If this is so, and I believe I have written this before, Grande Prairie and the local area is home to one HELL of a lot of self centered, ignorant, impatient and outright dangerous people. At the very least, people seem to have forgotten they are operating a machine that can take lives in an instant.

Every day I am amazed that the news is not filled with stories of driving fatalities (yet bad driving takes multitudes of lives every year...do the research) but even the amount that I do hear makes me sick to the stomach at the thought of taking a life or lives by any sort of negligence behind the wheel. Yet so many others seem oblivious to this, even ripping through school zones or performing multiple tasks OTHER than focusing on the road all while hurtling along well beyond the speed limit.

But here a young family is snuffed while about to turn off to their rural home, there an old man snapped out of existence by one of countless youths obviously too immature for such responsibilities. Although, in fairness, many much older than he are no more mature, as is evidenced by the lack of ability to learn from the mistakes of others.

And it just seems to be getting worse. I feel ridiculous saying this but I remember a time when it seemed that when most people would make an honest mistake in driving, they would make some attempt to show the offended driver that they knew their mistake, felt bad, and would learn from the mistake. Just a couple of days ago I saved a young woman from getting t-boned by seeing a glimpse of her approaching and assuming she was going to blindly dart across in front of me in her little car. She did so and if I hadn't slowed enough, I'd have plowed right into her. She didn't even look at me, just peered straight ahead as if she'd done nothing stupid and dangerous at all.

And then, of course, there are the cell phones...

I think by now, most must be aware of the spike in road idiocy thanks to people talking, texting, surfing, gaming, reading and god knows what else on their phones while driving. So since people seem unable to use common sense in enough numbers so as to not be significantly dangerous to each other, governments are creating laws such as the distracted driving law here in Alberta. Now we can at least make some extra money off some of the idiots who get caught, as with speeding drunk driving laws. But what chance that a real impact in terms of safe driving will be made?

Not much, methinks.

*sigh*

Oh well. Please drive safe and be good to each other.

Award!

I was delighted to learn that during my hiatus, the wonderful MoonRaven awarded this blog (and 2 others) with the Liebster Blog Award.

This award is meant for blogs with less than 300 followers and with the honor of winning goes the duty of awarding it forward, so to speak, to 3 other such blogs. I am not being facetious when I say that I could happily give this award to most of those bloggers linked in the sidebar. However, my choices are:

LindaM at Hello Its Me was one of the first to comment here and I have always appreciated both her readership and her blogging, as well as admiring the moves she and her family are making to move forward into the uncomfortable future while keeping sustainability, community and information sharing as high priorities.

Mark and Anna at The Walden Effect are into year 5 of homesteading and put a lot of work into sharing what they learn and fostering an online community of homestead or sustainability-minded folks and information. My mother's flower garden has many beautiful poppies still blossoming from seeds I received from Anna 3 winters ago. I have been meaning to thank her and share pictures for a long time. This is one at least.


The 3rd I would like to give to my friend Angie at What's She Doing In There? Angie writes about projects in her career as a theatrical artisan, as well as personal projects and her urban garden. Her blog is also a nice window for me, back into the Edmonton theatre scene, in which I worked for over 10 years and which I often miss greatly. People can gain a real insight into some of the magic of theatre by following this great artist and technician.

Thanks again MoonRaven.

Peace and comfort, all.


UPDATE:

All day long I have been thinking that I should have ignored the 3 blog aspect of forwarding this award because there was another blog that I really wanted to add. But then I get home and discover that one awardee was ineligible due to having developed too larger a readership (congrats to Anna and Mark!!!) so now I can award the blog I have been thinking about all day and still hold on to the 3 blog limit.

Teresa of Eden Hills seems a most remarkably compassionate person whom I notice makes every effort to reply to each person who comments, and this number seems to be deservedly increasing. I hope she will soon be ineligible for this award as well! I really should have ignored the guideline to begin with.

Bad Blogger, No Donut

Holy Crap! Has it really been well over a month since I have bitched, moaned or offered some kind of farm/life update? I must have been soooo very busy or stressed out over the continually darkening future across much of the world, or maybe even celebrating with exuberant jubilation over the opportunities still available (?) in this same world.

Not really, sad to say.

Other than my normal thing, around 8 hours a day out at the farm, I haven't been doing a whole lot of anything important or interesting. Feels a bit like treading water, or waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The rain stopped falling shortly after my last post, other than the odd short shower or brief thunderstorm. This has allowed us to bale up a very nice quantity of hay, all the rain in June and July made for fantastic hay crops in the area. It would have been nice to have a fresh crop of alfalfa, ours are all quite old and diminished to mostly brome grass, but we still ended up with around 200 very nice, round bales.

This picture gives an idea just what I mean by fantastic hay:

That is brome grass, if you are unaware. It typically grows around two and a half feet high. The stuff in the picture is around 8. Now I should say, this is an exceptional patch. Most was around 4 feet this year. But still...pretty damn impressive.

The summer pasture has grown in nicely as well, and 4 cows, 4 calves, a yearling bull, 3 yearling steers and a yearling heifer are getting fat and sassy on thick, tall grass. It would be nice to have about 30 more head over there to take advantage of the good forage but at the same time...just letting it die and decompose will help regenerate soil that has been sorely tested by drought the last few years.

I think that's as far as I'll go in updating tonight. Next time I'll talk about the mixed blessing that has been the garden this year.

Peace and comfort, brothers and sisters. I hope you have been, and continue to be, well and good.

Here Comes The Rain Again

1:30 am and I am sitting here listening to the end of a big thunderstorm. This one was a doozy, louder and flashier than I've seen in years here. And it dumped at least another half inch of rain, or is dumping I should say. Maybe more like an inch. And it was finally starting to dry up a little today...

After several years of dryer than normal, this year has become just the opposite. This is now probably the wettest year I can remember. We've just finished about 4 days of rainfall warnings, with many areas on flood alert and at least one small town actually flooded. One creek that I drive by many days on my way to and from the farm, was flowing right at the edges of its banks.

Thankfully the farm is not in much flood danger. It would take a LOT of water to fill our lake to the point of overflowing, to the point of needing to build an ark if there has been that much rainfall. But it is still delaying grain crop growth and keeping us from getting off what is actually a fine growth of hay. A fine growth that will just go to waste if we cannot get it off.

This is the main dilemma in modern farming. At any scale you are still at the total mercy of nature. And if this is indeed the sign of things to come, are we ever in for some trouble. This is also the ongoing theme of what I have mainly been thinking about these days; just how hard is it going to get to survive even here in Canada?

With our short growing season a failed crop, or inability to harvest, would make for a very long and hungry winter if it was not for food shipped from great distances. This is especially so for people who are relatively remote. Being just north of the 55th parallel, we in the Grande Prairie area do not feel very remote in these days of relatively cheap and easy travel. But take away our cheap energy and we are most definitely in the boonies. It's a long and soggy walk to just about anywhere. We do have a good amount of oil and gas in the ground but its mostly headed out of the area as fast as possible. And all that oil and gas doesn't help anyone without a stable economic situation to extract, process and transport it.

My primary and personal concern is still the weather, however. If this excessive instability IS consistent in the long term, or gets worse, the horrible famine in Somalia is just an example of what is to come.

More on this line of thinking is on the way but its now 2 am and I best try to sleep.

Goodnight Mary Ellen.

Pasture 360 Degree View

This is a 360 degree view from the south entrance to our home summer pasture. I say "our" but it belongs to the county now and our lease may end this year. With the potential sale of the home quarter, we've not yet discussed extending our lease. I've written about this before but the main impetuses to selling are rather obviously visible in this video.



Right now this isn't great pasture as the last few years have been very dry and it was only ever marginal, marshy land that couldn't be broken for crops. Even the surrounding fields contain a lot of clay and don't produce the best crops, but they have already been seeded back into hay and with a few years of intensive managed grazing, I think they could be turned into fantastic pasture.

Pardon the shakiness but I can only take video with my Fujifilm digital camera and I was being mobbed by ravenous mosquitos.

Grande Prairie Grass Fed Beef Update

Well, for the first time since I have lived back up here, some 6 and a half years now, we have received a good hard rain. Around 3 days and probably 3 or 4 inches worth. Makes me wish he had a LOT more rainwater storage capability out at the farm. But mostly I'm just very, very grateful for the moisture and trying not to get greedy by hoping for a week or two of nice warm weather and then a few more showers.

I AM hoping that all this rain has been spread around to where it has been needed even more than where we are, places that have been afire or even just parched to the point of real worry about crops, pastures and woodlands.

Around 10 days ago though, we had just an amazingly beautiful day. Clear, calm, hot (especially considering our latitude), and not even too bad for mosquitoes. So lovely that I took my camera along for the walk to move the cattle over to their day pasture. I figured I would take some update pictures of the calves to share here.

These are the first two calves that were born this spring. Both are doing very well but clicking for the larger view should show just how muscular the lighter Blonde bull is getting. Impressive genetics indeed. The heifer is lovely as well, and looking like she will be a good herd addition.


The larger bull here is pretty special as well. A couple of weeks younger than the calves pictured above, this bull is pretty much the same size now. I'd just loooove to have about 20 versions of his mother at about 5 yrs old, or I guess a big pile of gold might be alright too.


Lickerish's bull, the little one of the group, is still lagging behind. He wasn't eating well for awhile but Dad nursed him along and now he is eating as voraciously as his siblings. I am betting that by summer's end he is just about as large as the rest, other than the Blonde who is likely to be massive by then. Click on the lower picture for another good look. That Blonde is one damn fine specimen.


2 of the next 4 beeves which will go to processing are looking good as well. The other two will dress out lean but probably quite light. They are twins whose mother had but one chamber of her udder working. She spent a few weeks trying to "lose" one of them, that one went on to steal from two other nursing cows and actually ended up the larger of the twins. In the wild, if she had managed to both survive and retain fertility she would likely have gone on to mother a line of very hardy animals. However it is highly unlikely that she will be fertile therefore she is likely to be processed. Kind of a shame but these things happen. As I said earlier, in the wild she would likely have been predator food within the first two weeks. With us she will have lived into maturity in the fresh air, on the side of the lake readers can see elsewhere on this blog.

Anyway, that's all for now I think. More to come on our grass fed beef and some ideas for the future.

What's She Doing In There?

It was a really nice surprise to learn that a good friend and co-worker from my years in the Edmonton theatre scene has been operating a blog. Angie Sotiropoulos is an excellent artist and technician who shares some nifty projects both from her career and her home life. Since we have not been much in contact in a few years, it was great to learn that Angie is one of the increasing amount of people who are actively concerned about our planet and trying to live in balance.

For a bit of a peek behind the scenes in the Edmonton theatrical arts community, into backstage theatre itself, and into the mind and activities of a very cool person, I highly suggest that folks visit What's She Doing in There.

Thanks for sharing, Angie, and thanks for giving me a reminder of the community I miss often.

To George!