Dark Creek Chronicles

Bramble challenges? We have the answer...

2011-11-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Running east-west along our north property line is a spectacular stand of thorny blackberries. While this might be considered the neighbour's problem, in fact, this bramble patch has made my goats very, very happy.

Not so very far from the troublesome bramble patch is the neighbour's ornamental garden, young apple tree, etc., none of which are meant for goat nibbles, so we installed a brilliantly designed portable electrified goat fence.

I had read about fences like these being used by commercial goat-aided-brush-removal services in the USA (apparently there are goat herders down there who have contracts with places like national parks and highway maintenance departments) but had never seen one until one showed up at our local Buckerfield's feed store.

Easily installed, amazingly tangle-free, we hooked the goat barricade into my electric horse fencing and, voila - the goats were contained and happily set to work.

All four goats have been gobbling away at this project. Not only are they steadily removing the pesky blackberries, they are also pruning the row of cedars along the property line and merrily fertilizing the newly revealed grass as they go. Our goats are browsers rather than grazers, so though they might have a taste of grass every now and then, their preference is to munch on the bushes, shrubs, and prickly things that had created a complete wilderness thicket.

Goats are happy. Neighbours are happy. I am happy.

A classic from the archives

2011-03-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last couple of hours searching for any photos of mountains in winter that I might have lurking on my hard drive (needed for a project I'm working on)... Because my filing system leaves something to be desired, this means I've been scrolling through about 50,000 or so images - my head is about to explode! But along the way, I've stumbled on a few random photos I'd totally forgotten about including this one of me in a cupcake pink dress and bonnet (!!) reading one of my books to the lovely Miss Emma. Emma is no longer with us, alas, but I have quite a charming set of photos of the pony reading various horsey books...

Love My Power Tools!!!

2011-03-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

I must say that using a power grinder is much, much easier than filing a hunk of steel by hand! Toryn (a most helpful friend of Dani's) and I modified the brown horse trailer so the dividers from the blue horse trailer would fit. At least, we've accomplished most of what we need to do. The bottom pins are only temporarily anchored. Toryn (I'm not kidding when I say he's helpful) is going to make a pair of mounting brackets into which the lower pins will slip. Meanwhile, though, we can comfortably load three horses and keep them all safely separated while on the road! Most excellent!

New use for old horseshoes

2011-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

About a year ago Dani and I visited Bainbridge Island in Washington. Outside a coffee shop we stumbled upon this fabulous dragon made of old horseshoes. I think this fellow would look great lurking somewhere in the garden, maybe tucked into the bamboo forest on the island in our pond... Perhaps I'll have a word with our wonderful farrier, Mitch (seen below making friends with a future client) to see if he can start saving his cast-offs.

Critters in the Snow

2011-02-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what my ponies enjoy about standing around outside when the snow starts flying. Even though they have access to shelters, their thick double coats seem to provide enough protection that they often prefer to brave the elements than stay sensibly inside. That's Bonny to the right and Brio closer to the camera. Note that Brio has inherited her mother's glorious broad rump.

Frances, on the other hand, has it all figured out. She burrows into her deep pile of hay, makes a nest, and snoozes until either a) more food arrives or b) the weather improves.

Nosmo and King (the Kashmir goats) have such a thick layer of soft insulation that the snow takes forever to melt even after they come inside the barn. Mind you, the goats are far less likely to venture outside in inclement weather. This afternoon, they saw me coming with the hay and decided to trot out into the blizzard to meet me at the gate.

Pippi is just confused by the snow. She thinks it should be fun to eat, play with, roll in, dive into - and then she's shocked when she winds up chilled to the bone. This, however, leads to a very entertaining reunion with the couch after she gets back to the house. She digs furiously at the blanket, fluffs up the pillows, dives under the pillows, spins around in place six times, wipes her face on the blanket and then repeats the whole process a couple of times before flaking out with a huge sigh.

Dogs will be dogs...

2011-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

What Were We Thinking??

2011-01-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

And in the 'only fools tread here' department, we bring you the Great Koko Head Stepmaster Marathon in which Dani, Nikki, and Hitomi decide to go for a stroll up the outside of Koko Crater.

It didn't look too bad down at the bottom - wide-ish, flattish 'stairs' which were really railway ties left over from a crazy military installation that ran a supply train up and down the mountain. We were raring to go and feeling frisky down at the bottom...

Then we started to climb....

... and climb. At this point, poor Dani was starting to feel a tad green around the gills. She had a bizarre reaction to something - the heat? not enough water to drink? the endless stairs? We're not sure, but it seemed like she was going to lose her lunch about half way up...

Having come so far, Dani decided to tough it out and keep going... Hitomi and I figure this is a once-is-plenty kind of hike, so we tried our best to enjoy every moment and take lots of photos for evidence...

One of the good things about the stair configuration of the expedition was that there were always plenty of places to sit and rest. Which we did often.

One of the not-so-good aspects of the stair configuration was that the steepest part of the climb was at the top, right about at the point where we were seriously wondering whether the huge effort was going to be worth it. The friendly people coming down were so encouraging 'you're nearly there!' and 'one step at a time - you'll make it!' that we had to keep going.

Whew! We made it! Dani took a little breather at the top of the stairs...

... all 1048 of them...

Then we set off to explore the rim of Koko Crater. The views from up top were spectacular - and, once we were up there, it didn't seem like such a bad climb after all.

Looking down on Hanauma Bay.

The rim of Koko Crater. An insanely fit young man and his German shepherd hiked along the narrow lip of the crater rim while we stood around and took photos...

After a pleasant interlude up at the top (during which we spotted whales spouting!) we headed back down. While this was certainly not as gruelling as climbing up, it was harder than you'd think not to trip and fall headlong off the side of the mountain! Knees, hips, and back were all complaining by the time we'd descended halfway and by the bottom, our legs were quivering blobs of jelly.

We were mightily happy to head off to Jamba Juice for well-deserved smoothies after our expedition!

Sunset #1

2010-12-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

We were treated to an amazing sunset upon arrival... (did I mention how handy it is handy having a brother with a place on Oahu?) Though I know the spectacular colours are a result of volcanic ash, the sky was stunning to behold.

The other great thing about being back here in Hawaii (well, another great thing... there are many) is I can sip my morning cuppa java without feeling at all guilty (it's locally grown). Of course, the fact I had to fly a gazillion miles to get to the cup of coffee probably counteracts drinking a cup back home... Sigh.

Merry Christmas!

Hunter's Moon

2010-12-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

One of the great joys of slipping out after dark to do the night feed is that I always know what the moon is up to. Last night it was so bright I didn't need a flashlight and was able to fully enjoy the experience of moving comfortably through the darkness while maneuvering through gates, tossing hay, and milking the goat.

The current American Life in Poetry seems relevant...   

American Life in Poetry: Column 300 
(Reproduced with permission)
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006 
This  is our 300th column, and we thank you for continuing to support us. I  realized a while back that there have been over 850 moons that have gone  through their phases since I arrived on the earth, and I haven’t taken  the time to look at nearly enough of them. Here Molly Fisk, a California  poet, gives us one of those many moons that you and I may have failed  to observe. 

Hunter's Moon 

Early December, dusk, and the sky
slips down the rungs of its blue ladder
into indigo. A late-quarter moon hangs
in the air above the ridge like a broken plate
and shines on us all, on the new deputy
almost asleep in his four-by-four,
lulled by the crackling song of the dispatcher,
on the bartender, slowly wiping a glass
and racking it, one eye checking the game.
It shines down on the fox’s red and grey life,
as he stills, a shadow beside someone’s gate,
listening to winter. Its pale gaze caresses
the lovers, curled together under a quilt,
dreaming alone, and shines on the scattered
ashes of terrible fires, on the owl’s black flight,
on the whelks, on the murmuring kelp,
on the whale that washed up six weeks ago
at the base of the dunes, and it shines
on the backhoe that buried her.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation,Poetry  magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the  University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2000 by Molly Fisk,  whose most recent book of poetry is The More Difficult Beauty, Hip Pocket Press, 2010. Poem reprinted from The Place That Inhabits Us,  Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010, by permission of Molly Fisk and the  publisher. Introduction copyright ©2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The  introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate  Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do  not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Dark Creek Dailies

2010-12-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

Life on the Farm as a Comic Strip

Poetry Friday

2010-11-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

A chilly, chilly ride yesterday, through the winding trails at Elk Lake. Bundled up, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and felt rather smug that even though there are plenty of places in Canada where late November trail rides are beyond impractical, here the worst I had to deal with was a nip in the wind and some big puddles.

Later, my feet toasting in front of a fire, I came across this poem by Denise Levertov and thought how apt her description of willows really is. Her willows might be in Massachusetts, but ours are likewise tenacious - holding onto their colour late and flushing with it early in spring. They are the trees that never really sleep.

The Willows of Massachusetts
Animal willows of November
in pelt of gold enduring when all else
has let go all ornament
and stands naked in the cold.
Cold shine of sun on swamp water,
cold caress of slant beam on bough,
gray light on brown bark.
Willows -- last to relinquish a leaf,
curious, patient, lion-headed, tense
with energy, watching
the serene cold through a curtain
of tarnished strands.
--by Denise Levertov (From the collection, The Life Around Us: Selected Poems on Nature)

The cheap thrill of stacked wood

2010-11-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

There is nothing quite like the pure pleasure of hauling, splitting, and stacking firewood (except maybe the warm, relaxing pleasure of falling asleep on the couch in front of a blazing fire after a day of hard labour). Slowly but surely the random piles of logs from various topped and felled trees are being chopped up and re-purposed. Thanks are due to the ever-helpful Toryn, who is a master with a chainsaw and good company despite the rain and a very grumpy goat. Yes, even though the main task of the day was doing things with firewood, Toryn was very good-natured about wrestling with a reluctant goat (just guess which one...) who needed to have her back feet trimmed. Between the two of us we managed to get the job done, though not without a bit of kicking and complaining (from Poppy) and grunting (from us). Despite the fact she was restrained in her milk stand, she still managed a hearty kick or two before resigning herself to standing sullenly while I snipped off her too-long toenails. Cloven hoofnails. Tips of her cloven hooves...

While we were busy upsetting the animals with routine maintenance, we decided to worm all the horses. All went well until we got to Ringo, who decided he was terrified of Toryn. There followed a bit of stampeding through the mud until we reassured him that all was well and he should just stand still and swallow his meds... After that, it was off to the duck pen where we re-clipped everyone's wings. One of our mature mother ducks has gone missing (Mocha). As there are no feathers, bones, or other misplaced duck bits around, I can only conclude she has flown the proverbial coop. Weirdly enough, it was only the other three old mommas whose replacement flight feathers have come in - the other young females and the two drakes were still snipped and trimmed from the last time around. I'll have to monitor the incoming feather growth more closely so we don't lose anyone else.

Diabolical Human Plan

2010-11-13T21:25:00.000-08:00

Here's the highly technical drawing (with careful measurements) with which the marvelous machinist, Toryn, will be working when he builds the ultimate anti-self-milking device certain to stop Poppy once and for all.

Goat Buucket Shattered

2010-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

Here's what's left of my goat bucket and chain combo... found unceremoniously dumped in the corner of the goat paddock.

I have now consulted a machinest friend who, based on drawings created by my superior (?) cerebral cortex and opposable thumbs is going to try to manufacture a custom anti-sucking collar device. At the moment it is taking three days to accumulate, dribble by dribble, a liter of milk. I can hear Poppy's slurps and chortles from here.

Chapter Eight Hundred and Fifty-Seven in the Great Goat Milk Challenge

2010-11-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

Poppy - head bucketed and udder spritzed

Undeterred (hey, we are talking human vs goat – surely we know who should win this battle of wits?), I went to the pet store to procure something nasty-tasting to spritz on Poppy’s udder and teats. Turns out there are a number of products that are guaranteed to stop unwanted licking. The Vet’s Best Bitter Cherry spray seemed to be a good bet – herbal, non-toxic, and recommended for use directly on incisions, etc., I coughed up my $12.99 and headed home to the goat pen. Poppy, still with her bucket on her head, waited for me, her strange slanty eyes glinting with excitement at the prospect of the next round in the battle for control over her nether regions.

After the afternoon milking, I spritzed her thoroughly (to her chagrin) and let her go. That night, another bonanza milking – 1.5 liters! A record! Finally – a solution – the combination of bucket and spray seemed to have done the trick. The next morning, another respectable liter and then – the afternoon milk. A few measly drops. Apparently, if a goat drinks enough milk, it washes away the taste of the Vet’s Best Bitter Apple. It occurred to me that it might not actually taste as bad as advertised on the bottle, so I made the foolish mistake of testing the substance by spraying a bit on the back of my hand having a lick. Rest assured, it DOES taste as bad as advertised on the bottle. Spitting in the dirt and repeatedly wiping my tongue on my sleeve did nothing to get rid of the evil, gag-inducing taste of the spray. And persistent? Definitely, yes. I had to race up to the house to flush my mouth before, finally, the nastiness abated sufficiently so I could finish my chores. Poppy watched my retching and fleeing with amusement, no doubt thinking, “A glass of milk would do wonders make you feel better.”

Said bucketed, spritzed, and grumpy goat continues to be completely inconsistent in terms of her self-sucking habits. Sometimes we get a decent amount of milk, sometimes virtually none. I have been reading about collars with spikes that face backwards, poking the goat when she tries to reach back, inflatable Elizabethan collars, and slightly different designs of neck-turning-restriction devices (same basic idea as the ice cream pail but a bit snugger).

There are those that say the best place for a self-milker is in the stew pot. This seems a tad harsh. I am determined to persist until a solution is found.

Score another for the self-milking goat

2010-11-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

A while back I blogged about making an Elizabethan collar to try to stop Poppy-the-thirsty-and-determined from milking herself. At the time a reader asked about the possibility of using a similar device for the udder end of a goat. As it turns out, there are various strategies that people use to protect goat teats. There are special ways to wrap each teat using gauze and tape, for example. This approach is sometimes beefed up by soaking the wrapping material in various noxious-tasting substances. Suggestions we’ve received include alum, bitter apple, and mushed up goat manure. One can also purchase an udder sling like this described on the Hoegger Goat Supply website.

Udder Support

Quality-made, adjustable udder support protects udder, prevents milk leakage, eliminates congestion and caking and discourages self-sucking and kid nursing. Heavy-duty canvas straps and durable 1/8" nylon mesh transfer the weight from udder to goat's back. Available in 3 sizes.

3 Sizes:

Small - (Heart Girth 30"-38")

Medium - (Heart Girth 39"-44")

Large - (Heart Girth 45" and up)

Apparently, though, all of these physical barrier techniques are no match for determined goats. Nimble as they are, it seems thirsty goats are able to remove wraps and such like with their stronger-than-they-look prehensile lips.

Searching the net, it seemed the best success was had by restricting the ability of the goat to turn her neck by using one or another design for a goat throat straight-jacket. One of the suggestions was to get a pail from Wallmart’s paint department, cut a hole in the bottom, and fasten put this over the goat’s head and neck. This made me think that one of the large ice cream pails I’ve got kicking around (which I used this year for tomato plants) might work. I measured Poppy’s neck and amazingly enough discovered it to be almost exactly the same length as a large, commercial ice cream pail. With great difficulty (the plastic is tougher than it looks) I cut a series of slits in the bottom, radiating from a small hole in the middle. These I bent back inside the pail so they would, in theory, give Poppy a poke if she tried to reach around back for a slurp.

What I hadn’t figured on was how hard it would be to slip this ice cream pail contraption over a ticked off goat’s head. Even though I had her confined to the milking stand, she was able to fling her head from side to side vigourously enough that I was seriously worried that she was going to poke her eye with a plastic triangle tip. Fortunately, this struggle took place in complete darkness at the time of the night milking, so I peeled off my shirt and put it over Poppy’s head as a kind of protective shield and lubrication system. She was less than impressed with this idea, but it allowed me to push the bucket over her head and into position without causing any damage to delicate (and surprisingly bulgy) eyeballs. Once it had slipped over her head, I secured the bottom of the pail to her plastic chain collar with some ever-so-handy binder twine.

It looks like this goat is heading for an appointment with the hangman. So far, at least, appearances are deceiving. (Having trouble figuring out what you're looking at here? This is Poppy with her head inside my t-shirt. Her ear is poking out over to the left of the picture, sticking out sideways through the sleeve of the shirt. In order to get her 'dressed' like this, I had to secure her in the milking stand, which is the wooden frame you see behind her cloaked head.)

After ensuring she could both eat and drink with the new device on her head, I turned her loose (after first retrieving my shirt). Sure enough, in the morning we had a full load – just over a liter of fresh, delicious goat milk!

The afternoon milking was likewise bountiful. By the night milking, she had figured out how to work around her new headgear and left us with a scant half cup of milk!

Back to the drawing board… Stay tuned for chapter eight hundred and fifty-seven in the great Goat Milk Challenge.

A Few Goat Myths - Busted

2010-11-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

1. Goats will eat anything. Definitely not. They are, in fact, quite finicky. They don’t like food that’s touched the ground. They pick through their hay, plucking out the leafy soft bits and leaving mountains of stalks and stems. They spurn green grass in favour of stripping the bark from our cedar hedge. A new bag of goat chow with a slightly different taste will result in five noses turned disdainfully to the sky and a dish full of uneaten kibble. Apparently, though, even the foulest tasting anti-chew sprays will not deter a goat who is determined to have a drink of her own milk.

2. Goats smell bad. Not true. Well, billy goats have a distinctive and quite unpleasant odour. But wethers (neutered goats) and nanny goats don’t smell at all. Like any livestock, as long as their pens are kept clean, their living accommodations don’t smell either.

3. Goats are stubborn. This one kind of depends on what it is you are expecting your goat to do. A well-trained goat is actually pretty amenable to all kinds of things – hopping up on the milking stand, pulling a cart, enjoying a belly rub. An unruly goat whose feet you need to trim is nothing short of insane. An annoyed goat is strong and more like a bulldozer than a cute little animal from Old Macdonald’s Farm. A head butt from an angry goat will land you in the dirt faster than you can say ‘Goatee!’ And if you are a small puppy who does not speak the language of goats, look out! Lying on your back, peeing in submission will not protect you from being catapulted through the air and thudding into the barn wall when an angry goat charges and flings you aside. I tried to explain this to Pippi BEFORE she failed to run away from Casey’s determined charge, but puppies don’t do so well with English, either. Fortunately, no ribs were cracked and, even better, Pippi now has a healthy respect for all things caprine.

Fast Eddie the Lurcher: Pippi's Distant Cousin

2010-11-02T17:43:00.001-07:00

Fast Eddie, originally uploaded by *Richard Cooper *.

So it turns out that my super-fast wunder-puppy is not a random mixed breed at all. Rather, she is a lurcher - who looks like she could be a full sister to this handsome lurcher, Eddie of West Kirby. Lurchers, turns out, are sight hounds (greyound, whippet, etc.) bred to something else (often terriers and shepherds) and used for hunting rabbits and other small game. Sometimes they are used in tandem with ferrets, who are sent down into the rabbit holes to flush out the bunnies, which are then run down by the speedy lurchers.

One source said that the lurchers were originally bred by the Romany and poachers to get around the law that forbade commoners from owning sight hounds (in an effort to control poaching). Well, the joke's on the Queen because these cool dogs could run down pretty well anything! We've just returned from a spectacularly energetic romp at the dog park where Pippi did, indeed, attempt to run down pretty well every dog in the place. She much prefers to chase, but nobody runs fast enough to get away, so she plays a ludicrous game where she settles into first gear and plays keep away, spinning and whirling and twirling and keeping just out of reach of her pursuer until the other dog drops in its tracks, tongue hanging down to its knees. Pippi then sprints off to find some other poor dog to torment.

Extremely entertaining to watch - must try to capture some of her antics on video!

Children riding a horse to school, Glass House Mountains

2010-10-30T09:03:00.001-07:00

Children riding a horse to school, Glass House Mountains, originally uploaded by State Library of Queensland, Australia.

And, yes, another photo from the Queensland archives. I love the matching hats and school bags! What a patient horse!

Vel and Dorris Phillips pose with their goat sulky

2010-10-29T09:06:00.001-07:00

Vel and Dorris Phillips pose with their goat sulky, originally uploaded by State Library of Queensland, Australia.

Another great photo from the archives! I love the hand-painted backdrop!! Dad and I really need to get to work putting our goat cart back together! Then, of course, there's the small matter of teaching the boys what to do once hitched to the front... or, rather, what NOT to do. I can just see the pair of them bolting off, heading straight for a thick patch of blackberries! I'll try to make sure someone is on hand with a camera...

Four boys riding goats, ca. 1918

2010-10-28T08:31:00.001-07:00

Four boys riding goats, ca. 1918, originally uploaded by State Library of Queensland, Australia.

Oh, wow - our boys (Nosmo and King) are almost big enough for me to hop aboard! And, bonus, our goats have horns to hang onto! This great photo is from the State Library of Queensland's archives.

Warmest Spot in the House

2010-10-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Not long ago my brother (who lives in Hawaii) sent me a photo of his dog snoozing on the cool tiles behind the toilet. The caption was, "Coolest Spot in the House." Around here, Pippi is like a heat-seeking missile when it comes to the lit fire. At the first sound of snap crackling twigs, she makes a beeline for the hearth and there she stays until forcibly removed. As the fire gets hotter or fades, she shifts closer and moves back, keeping herself in some kind of blissed out Goldilocks zone.

I attribute this heat appreciation trait to her whippet ancestry. Whippets have virtually no body fat, thin skin, and hair so short they are virtually bald. When you meet a shivery whippet, it's not because the dog is nervous, it's because it's hypothermic - even in summer. Pippi's other half (standard poodle) has at least blessed her with a bit of hair. This thin, scraggledy coat, though very cute in a disheveled-I'm-an-orphan kind of way, doesn't seem to offer the full insulating qualities of her poodle relatives.

Hence, the Keeper of the Hearth has arrived at Dark Creek Farm.

Note the ankle...

2010-10-07T21:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, bad planning, I know - deathly silence for weeks and then two posts within minutes. BUT, I was flipping through the photos of the garlic festival when I stumbled across this one. It's actually a small corner of a much larger image, but what's interesting is a) digital cameras are getting pretty darned good - I was able to pull out this corner and blow it up so you could see interesting point b) the tattoo of the garlic on this woman's ankle (I hadn't even noticed it when I was snapping the photo, which is of a colourful vegetable stand...). People take their garlic seriously up in the Slocan Valley!

(The size of that zucchini is pretty impressive, too!)

Garlic Again!

2010-10-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Wow - what happened? First it was summer - then a zillion things happened (including a trip to the world famous Garlic Festival in New Denver, BC) - and now it's time to plant garlic again! Fortunately, while in New Denver I stocked up on several varieties of garlic. Then, seeing my enthusiasm for the pungent jewels, Diane (of Winlaw, BC fame) added more garlic bulbs from her garden to the already considerable stack I was trying to fit into my luggage (along with a rosemary plant). It's probably a good thing there are no sniffer dogs at the Castlegar airport - a whiff of my bags could have permanently damaged tender canine nasal tissues!

With the turning of leaves I feel I should be turning over a new leaf myself in the regular blogging department. I will be better in the weeks to come - really!

New Farm Resident!

2010-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Meet Electra - miniature milk goat! She is my birthday present from Dad and Dani, who had to endure a VERY long trip back from Hornby Island with a wailing baby goat! She has bonded with Poppy and is sworn enemies with Casey, who head butts her at every opportunity. The boys remain neutral and mostly stay out of the way.

You're Never Too Young....

2010-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

...to learn how to change a tire. Around here, visiting relatives are immediately put to work. It baffles me why they keep on coming back! Maybe it has something to do with the rewards at the end of a long work day - like going for a ride along the Lochside Trail. Who wouldn't be grinning?

Pippi and Nikki on a Trail Ride

2010-07-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

After many miles of gamboling about on a long, hot trail ride - uphill and downhill, through thick brush and lush forest, Pippi was bagged. Fortunately, we've been working on teaching Ringo to accept having small, squirmy puppies in the saddle and I was able to toss her on board, climb up after her and give her a ride back to the parking lot. Did Ringo turn a hair? Nope. Would I have believed that this would ever be possible on a horse that used to panic at the thought of being tied up/brushed/bridled/looked-at-funny? Never in a million years would it have entered my head that my skittish maniac of a horse would become the best little trail horse west of the Rockies. Jeez... I'm feeling some cowboy poetry coming on!

Yogi on Horseback

2010-07-18T21:05:00.000-07:00

Now here's something you don't see every day... advanced yoga on horseback!

This is what happens when Jane invites her friend Peter out on a casual trail ride. Both Jane and Peter are Bikram Yoga fanatics and much of the chit chat while we were out on the ride involved yoga in one way or another.

I shouldn't have been surprised when, back at the parking lot after a long, lovely ride somehow the topic of yoga on horseback came up. Jane said how cool it would be if someone could do that foot behind the head move on horseback (yeah, yeah - I know the posture has some special name). And then, before I could suggest that this could be the last yoga move Peter ever did anywhere, he started contorting himself into pretzel formation and, yes, his foot wound up wrapped around the back of his neck!! On horseback! Gads! Good thing Dinny is a) dead quiet generally and b) was totally worn out after a long, hot ride.

Kids - don't try this at home!

Meet the Milk-Stealing Goat

2010-07-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that self-sucking goats are not so uncommon. While a self-milking caprine might save us some work, she also robs us of our daily harvest! Poppy seems to have this annoying and persistent habit and we've been having quite the battle to try to prevent her from guzzling away between milkings.

The gizmo in this photo was design-modification #4 of what started out as one of those Elizabethan collars for dogs that are used post-surgery to stop premature plucking out of stitches and licking of wounds. In its original fanned-out configuration, this didn't slow Poppy down at all. Goats, apparently, have much longer necks than dogs. She just reached around and slurped away.

Scissors and duct tape to the rescue!! In the course of making the cone ever more restrictive, we wound up with something that looked like... well, like nothing I've ever seen strapped to animal's head. The new design worked for about 24 hours and then Poppy figured out how to rotate the headgear, and reach around it for another drink. Then she figured out how to rotate it and get her nose stuck in the pointy bit - which, yes, did stop her from milking herself, but also stopped her from eating or drinking.

Back to the drawing board....

Poppy Goes to Seed

2010-07-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

This spent poppy flower looks more like some kind of sea creature than a land-based lifeform. From the blazing, fire engine red of their blooms to their propensity to self-sow and show up like clockwork each spring, what's there NOT to love about poppies?

Watch Your Back!

2010-06-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Not the greatest photo, but look closely and you'll see that Dinny is giving free riding lessons to the neighbourhood birds! We're delighted to have Dinny back for the summer and by the way he cheerfully heads out to the field each day, I think he's happy to be be home.

Why, oh Why Can't I Chase Those Ducklings?

2010-06-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

For a dog that is half sight-hound and still an impulsive puppy, Pippi shows remarkable restraint when it comes to NOT chasing the ducks. Her whole body quivers with anticipation and she lives in eternal hope that I'll give her the nod, but amazingly, even when the whole flock waddles past her, she stays put.

Miracle of Growth

2010-06-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

No matter how matter-of-fact I try to be about this whole gardening thing, I cannot help but be amazed by the way things grow! A prime example is this bed of purple sprouting broccoli which, if you recall, started out looking like this (those microscopic green flecks in the foreground):

And now, mere weeks later, a thick forest of green! I was getting a tad worried that there was still no sign of sprouting shoots to pluck, but after looking up the variety I was reminded that it will take 200 days, or so for the plants to start producing the mini-heads that characterize sprouting broccoli. Typical - on the one hand, I'm astonished by the spectacular rapid growth and other other hand, terribly impatient to start harvesting!

Meanwhile, out in the orchard, birds are snacking on my not-quite-ripe cherries (carefully procured netting remains in its package, waiting for time enough to install...), a robin was seen rooting about in my strawberry patch (must net that, too!), and the grass in the orchard is madly spewing clouds of pollen because I haven't had time to build some new goat containment panels that will allow the goats to clean up without decimating the four new fruit trees in the upper part of the orchard! Ack. I feel like it's time to post a new, seasonal to-do list here, except the very thought of how long that list will be is just plain depressing!

Watch Those Ducklings Grow!

2010-06-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Remember a few short hours ago (or so it seems) when we could fit a dozen ducklings in the water dish? Not any more! We are enjoying the final few days of duckling fuzz before our babies fledge out and their true colours are revealed.

Giant red leaf mustard lettuce

2010-06-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

For anyone who thinks lettuce is floppy and bland, try some of this! We scored some seeds labelled 'Giant Red Leaf Mustard Lettuce' at the Seedy Saturday seed exchange earlier this year and I threw some into the salad greens bed. Let me tell you, that was the best loonie I've ever spent! (at least, when it comes to salad greens!) The leaves are HUGE, a fabulous russet and deep, dark green - and the taste! Peppery, hot, tangy - they really spice up a plate of greens. We've had them in salads (they grow fast and were among the first we started harvesting), stir-fries, and sandwiches. This past week or so I've also been snipping off the tips of the flower buds before they have a chance to open and wow, do they add some serious zing to the salad! I must let a couple of plants go to seed so I can collect and save for next year.

Super Dani!

2010-06-11T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here's Dani doing her superhero impression at the Canadian National Futures Vaulting Championships in Chilliwack, BC. Dani's competing in the Women's Canter D division and here, though it looks like she is floating along behind her horse, she is actually partway through her dismount.

This is actually a pretty big deal competition as Chilliwack is simultaneously hosting Canada's first CVI (there are big time international competitors here, too - from all over the USA, one competitor from Australia, and another competing for China - though the latter now lives in the US). Many of the CVI vaulters are vying for scores high enough to qualify for spots at this fall's World Equestrian Games being held in Kentucky.

Lots of fun (well, fun for me as I'm a casual spectator). And, fun for Pippi who is on her first road trip. Today she discovered the joys of zooming around abandoned racetracks. As a dog who is half whippet, this has, so far, been the highlight of her journey!

Iago Loves My Truck

2010-06-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

... almost as much as I do! She knows the sound of the engine and appears from nowhere when we return with the horses (or after procuring a load of hay). She knows the engine will be warm and toasty and this fact makes her very, very happy. I've never seen a cat cuddle with a vehicle with quite the same degree of enthusiasm!

Electric Fencing is My Friend

2010-06-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Fi-Shock. All opinions are 100% mine.
I don't know exactly how they first figure it out, but horses know when the fence is off! Within days of figuring out that something wasn't working quite right, the beasties were reaching through, under, and over the fence of their paddock. Wires snapped, insulators popped off posts, and I was getting seriously worried I was going to show up in the morning to find the whole herd gone! Work deadlines kept me from getting out there to do a bit of maintenance and wow, by the time Dad and I methodically made our way around the perimeter yesterday, it was astonishing what a good job they had done of weed-eating under the fence line!

Anyway, armed with our bucket of essential electric fencing supplies (new insulators, nails, hammer, fencing pliers, wire, zap-straps -- or whatever those handy-dandy plastic ties are called--, and a sharp pair of loppers) we followed the fence, searching for places where something might be shorting out, trimming back weeds and branches that might grow into the fence (as I say, the horses did a remarkable job of tidying up for us!)

Brio the cheeky kept sneaking up on us, stealing tools, ruffling hair, blowing down Dad's unsuspecting neck (THAT made him jump!). When, at last, we were done, we switched the fence back on and watched. Sure enough, Brio investigated with what seemed to be a hair's breadth between her whiskers and the wire, but did not touch the fence with her muzzle. She turned away but misjudged the distance and brushed the now-hot wire with her shoulder. Zap! She did a dazzling sideways leap and the other horses sort of looked at her as if to say, "Dummy. What do you think they were doing to the fence all afternoon?"

Nobody else has come close to getting in trouble - except poor little Pipsters who, sadly, had to learn one of those awful lessons of puppyhood - that wet noses and hot wire do not good friends make...

Given that Dad and I had never installed an electric fence before we built the horse paddock, we are pretty happy with the way things have turned out. Horses are notoriously hard on fences of any kind and the electric really helps keep them from chewing, rubbing on, sitting upon, or blowing through. If we'd known about this company (Fi-Shock) and website before we started, we probably would have done a better job planning and installing the system in the first place. As it is, when we finally get around to building the new paddocks above the manure pile (as in, farther up the hill... not on top of the heap), I'll be checking in to see what info I can use and, maybe, invest in a solar-powered fence charger (I've always wanted one of those...)

Pippi the Pippet Puppy

2010-06-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

... with her freshly killed stick. It has been many years since I have enjoyed the pleasures of a new puppy. Pippi is just about the most entertaining dog with the happiest disposition that I've ever met (okay, I may be a bit biased, but still...) This photo was snapped during a marathon 'kill the stick!' game - pretty well all the other photos show a fuzzy black blur as Pippi whirled, pounced, spun, leapt, tossed, raced away with, tried to bury, and worried this stick she found while I was doing some grass-pulling along the orchard fence. It was very, very hard to keep my mind on my task and not just stop and play.

Ducklings on the Move

2010-05-31T23:09:00.000-07:00

At ten days old, the ducklings can't wait to get out and play in the field in the morning.

The mama ducks are never far away, escorting them from place to place and then standing guard when the little ones get tired and need a nap.

Escape Artists!

2010-05-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently, very young ducklings can squeeze through the 2" mesh of the duck nursery! What they don't seem to understand is that on the outside lurk eagles, raccoons, exuberant puppies, fanged and clawed cats, ravens, and who knows what other threats to duckling lives... The duck pen has been reinforced and, so far, the bill count remains at fifteen little peeplets.

Ducklings Aren't the Only Cute Creatures Around Here

2010-05-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

I know I've been flooding the blog recently with photos of the ducklings, but in fact there is lots of competition around here for cute animal moments. Here's Iago at work charming our pony, Ringo. Ringo is the one who adopted the wild rabbit in his paddock and taught it the pleasures of massage by horse lips. Iago has trained Ringo to perform this service on command. She shows up whenever we tie the horses to the trailer to get them ready to go riding. When she is in position at Ringo's muzzle he goes into a trance state, his eyes soft, and lips ever-so-gently rubbing Iago all over. Iago, meanwhile, dissolves into some kind of cat ecstasy. She purrs and kneads and contorts herself so Ringo can massage her head, shoulder, back, and tummy... One wonders what went wrong with this predator-prey relationship! I guess Iago doesn't look too much like a sabre tooth tiger and Ringo must be a size or two too big for her to consider him as a menu item.

Bathtime!

2010-05-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Fear not - the duckling photos will stop soon... but oh my, they are keeping me entertained! We seem to have fifteen in all...

Cutest Puppy in the World!

2010-05-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to overdose on cuteness? Because it's getting pretty close to overload on the OMG, how adorable front around here! Between Pippi, the ultra-lovely-best-puppy-in-the-world, and the ducklings... I am in perpetual danger of hyperventilating due to the regular sharp intakes of breath and way too much sighing!

Awwww!

2010-05-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Let's just all say it together, shall we? Awwww....

Duckling Alert!

2010-05-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Is this not the cutest little face ever? This was the first duckling spotted yesterday... There are at least four nestled under the three nesting mothers (who are sharing nest space in a very civilized manner...) There are still quite a few eggs under there, too - and the moms are not leaving the nests for anything, so more siblings may yet emerge over the next day or two...

Stay tuned!

Such a Handsome Boy!

2010-05-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

King - one of the Kashmir goat twins... It's always so strange to see him in the spring with his two-toned look. The undercoat (so soft!) is light grey and after it sheds out he returns to his usual jet black self (and looks about 20 lbs lighter!)

Up a Tree!

2010-05-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

The lateral arc of the summer sun has taken it far enough to the north that a whole strip of beds along the north side of the vegetable garden are now in full shade for most of the morning. The problem is the row of large trees along the north property line - their large branches stick out (pointing south) far enough to get in the way of that precious morning sun.

What do do? Why, scramble up into the trees and start sawing, of course!

I've always loved climbing trees...

...though you'd never know it from the next photo!

Things Seen at the Poker Ride

2010-05-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took Diego and Bonny to the Merle Rimmer Poker Ride at the Elk/Beaver Lake Park. The day was glorious, the turnout excellent, and the horses (mostly) well-behaved. After the ride we all had some lunch, which is where we saw our neighbour sharing her potato chips with her mustang-turned-dream-horse.

2010-05-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

From the Dark Creek Archives.

Sometimes I forget just how much fun we have around here... I can't believe Dad is looking so relaxed - does he not realize what kind of lunatic is waving a sledge hammer up there?

Puppy Alert!

2010-05-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

What is it about puppies? So, so, so [trying to avoid words like 'adorable' or 'cute' or 'irresistible'] adoristable? Meet Pippi [as in Longstocking] - a woodle (or pippet) depending on how you look at it... A whippet/standard poodle cross... So far she has been nuzzled by Ringo (who, though gentle, out-weighs Pippi by about eight hundred pounds), chewed on Iago's ear (the cat was less than impressed with this offer of friendship), and engaged in a standoff with Joe Louis, heavy-weight duck.

She survived all her adventures in good spirits, helped me get a load of hay, puked in the truck, then had a good nap.

Poppy the Goat

2010-05-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post from Winlaw, BC (in the Kootenays... dig out your maps!) where I'm staying for a couple of days after having spent a week working with students in New Denver and before heading back to the coast. I was fiddling around, downloading photos of the Slocan Valley, several fabulous local gardens, etc., when I discovered this photo on my laptop hard drive. This is Poppy, the visiting Saanen cross, responsible for goat milk, goat cheese, and goat zen. So generous is she, in fact, we have become milk-goat converts - stay tuned to hear about the newest resident at Dark Creek Farm!

If Only We'd Had Books Like These

2010-04-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

... when I was a kid. I might have had better luck with my early gardening efforts! In honour of Earth Day, Jo-Ann Roberts and I chatted on CBC's All Points West about some of the amazing gardening books that are available for children and teenagers. Do have any favourites to add to the list? Let me know and I'll post them here...

Getting Down and Dirty on Earth Day
(Gardening Books for Children and Teens)
Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy (Workman Publishing)

Good Growing: A Kid's Guide to Green Gardening (Klutz)

Plants (Starting With Science Series) by the Ontario Science Centre (Kids Can Press)

Ready, Set, Grow: A Kid's Guide to Gardening by Rebecca Spohn (Good Year Books)

Grow It, Cook It With Kids by Amanda Grant, photography by Tara Fisher (Ryland, Peters, and Small)

Wildlife Gardening by Martyn Cox (DK)

Young Gardener by Stefan and Beverley Buczacki (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)

Kids' Container Gardening: Year-round Projects for Inside and Out, by Cindy Krezel (Ball Publishing)

One Magic Square: The Easy, Organic Way to Grow Your Own Food on a 3-Foot Square, by Lolo Houbein (The Experiment)

Milking a Goat at Night

2010-04-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Dani milking Poppy - who, I must say, has been very patient with all of us here on the farm as we've learned yet another handy skill...

Such Pure Colour!

2010-04-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

When the sun hits the tulips - oh my - the colour is so intense it almost hurts the eyes!

Odd Goat Apparel

2010-04-15T23:10:00.000-07:00

Lots of people ask about the plastic chains we have around our goats' necks. After our old goat Molly suffered a horrible neck injury when her flat dog collar got hung up on something, we switched to these rather unattractive, but very practical and much safer, breakaway collars. The chain links are tied in front with a bit of binder twine and the excess dangles free, providing a handy goat-catching 'leash'. They are strong enough to lead even recalcitrant goats but if the goat gets the collar hooked on something solid, the plastic links will snap.

Quick! Get the guest stall ready!

2010-04-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

"Poppy, meet Casey... Casey, this is your new roomie, Poppy."

These are the conversations one has around here when introducing visiting livestock. Poppy (on the left) is a Saanen cross who needs to be milked three times a day. This is tricky to accomplish when her owners (the Hess family of North Saanich) are off tootling about, doing good deeds. So, we agreed to goat-sit for a couple of weeks, which will also give us a chance to see what goat-milking, goat milk-drinking, and goat cheese-making are like.

The goats took a couple of hours to decide who had the harder head butt and ever since have palled around like old chums. I'll provide an update on the inside-outs of goat milking in another post when I have a bit more time, but so far, we haven't spilled too much milk or blood (human or goat!)

Gallery of Lovely Ducks

2010-04-11T09:48:00.000-07:00

Audrey Hepduck

I don't know why it's so relaxing to duck watch, but it is... After the ducks are let out in the morning, there's a great deal of wing stretching, worm-hunting, bath-taking, kibble-gobbling - and then, not long after all that excitement, the ducks find cozy spots to scratch out hollows and snooze.

Latte (L) and Mocha (in the back)

Mocha

Latte

I'm not the only one who likes to watch the ducks - note Charlie sauntering along the fence in the background.

When he gets brave, he'll slip in among the ducks and stroll around pretending that he might, at any time, decide to take them on. Fortunately, their size (and talons) and his healthy sense of self-preservation mean he restrains his predatorial impulses when he's around these over-sized canaries. It doesn't stop him from having his little fantasies...

New Garden Gate!

2010-04-09T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to build a rustic gate (if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know I like to build things with sticks and string). In this case, I cheated and used screws, but the sticks are, indeed, very stick-like!

Pretty rustic, eh? This is looking at the gate from inside the vegetable garden. The greenery you see in the background is two different bamboo groves, one on each side of the pond. The closer, paler stand is black bamboo and the darker green stuff in the back to the right is golden bamboo. The sticks are mostly from the recent orchard prunathon, though there are a few bits of maple that I snipped off the side of the grand old maple we'll be taking out a little farther up the hill.

What's next? I'm thinking arbours, pergolas, a bean tee-pee - and maybe a bridge or two. Furniture? A cozy swing? A luxury duck condominium complex? The possibilities are endless... and to think, all I need are sticks and screws!

Constructing New Beds in the Vegetable Garden

2010-04-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy around here. We've been busy emptying the old raised beds, moving those that could be re-used for another season, and then building several new beds - all to give us more room in the vegetable garden. This photo shows the project in process - total chaos! If you look carefully, you'll see the blue binder twine that marked out the locations of the new beds. Note, too, that under the beds (over to the right there's one that's partially finished) we've put down layers of cardboard and newspaper and, over that, heavy duty landscape cloth.

What is astonishing is how much dirt one needs to fill said beds!

Times like this I am very, very glad I have a big farm truck. Not only does it handle huge loads of dirt with ease, the 4WD and dually wheels mean I can get the load up the slippery hill and backed reasonably close to the garden! From there, it's a relatively easy trundle with the muck bucket up through the orchard an into the garden.

After having lugged many, many buckets o' muck up the hill, here's the result... well, most of the result -there are several beds over to the left that I couldn't quite squeeze into the photo.

There's still a little room for expansion, but this will see us through this year's growing season.

The paths between the beds will eventually be covered with gravel, but that will require another trip (or three!) to Trio Gravel Mart and then a whole lot more schlepping, so for the moment, I'm living with the austere flavour of the landscape cloth.

This is one of the spud beds - (in fact, the very beds you can't see in the photo above) - to accommodate the ten varieties of potatoes we're experimenting with. Each box in the grid contains a different variety. Dad has already declared that there is no way he will ever eat a BLUE!! potato. We shall see.

Direct Seeding Cool Weather Babies

2010-04-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

This spring has arrived so fast!

Over the Easter Weekend we finished up the new beds just in time to plant out some of the babies started inside earlier this year - broccoli, cabbage, sweet peas. We also direct sowed some carrots and green onions. Somehow, we've wound up with a whole lot of real estate being given over to onions - some that I overwintered, red and yellow onion sets, and now the seeds. Good thing we love onions around here.

Speaking of overwintering, here are a few hardy plants that not only survived the winter in fine form, but also seem unphased by their recent relocation into their new bed. Clockwise from top left: Swiss chard, radishes, and garlic chives (which are, btw, pungent - in a good way). Likewise, our strawberries did well and have woken up.

They, too, needed to be moved and seem to have survived just fine. They were delicious last year, so we added another fifteen plants or so.

Teeny, weeny broccoli and cabbage plants (in the foreground, under the anti-cat netting). Behind that, on the right, carrots, shallots, red and yellow onions, and spring bunching onions. Bring on the sunshine!

Even the Parsnips Do Yoga Around Here!

2010-04-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Dark Creek Yoga

Around here, you never know who (or what) is going to strike a yoga pose. This is one of our leggy (and rather flexible) parsnips, doing a bit of suppling before supper.

Fantastic Seed-Starting Invention!

2010-03-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have a greenhouse in the living room. Heated, no less. We stumbled across these most excellent mini-greenhouse-seed-starting racks at Home Depot when we were on our drip irrigation purchasing expedition.

We bought two - one for inside the house (we've erected it in the living room and positioned it over the heat vent) and one for the deck. We start the seeds inside, covering the trays with plastic covers so they are truly snug and warm but don't dry out too quickly. I've put the seed-heating mat on the bottom rack to give our most delicate seeds some additional encouragement. Once the seeds sprout, they are moved out into the balcony mini-greenhouse which is tucked into the sunniest corner of the deck. Well protected, these cool weather crops get as much sun as possible as they muscle up into vigorous little seedlings. Meanwhile, the space created inside is filled with new seeds, those that need a slightly later planting-out date.

To help keep everything ticking along in the right order, I've organized all the seeds (somehow we've managed to accumulate a fair few) in envelopes sorted by sowing date. All will be well as long as I don't fall ill or break a limb or some such. There, I've said it so it won't happen!

What to Do When Your 800-pound Teenager Acts Up!

2010-03-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

After having enjoyed a blissful almost two years with Con Brio The Perfect, she has decided to test her limits and see if it's true that she actually has to do what the bipeds tell her. I suppose this is fairly normal horsey behaviour, but it's a tad annoying when the area up for discussion is in the region of her back feet. She has gone from being very patient about having her feet handled to being quite bratty. Remedial foot-picking-up-lessons are in progress. Sorry, beloved farrier!

Update: The remedial foot handling worked! Brio was back to her normal, basically perfect self for the farrier!

How Many People Does it Take to Prune an Old Orchard?

2010-03-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

With the early onset of spring this year, the available time for pruning slipped away faster than you can say, "Last Frost Date!"

Taking advantage of a glorious afternoon and the help of Peter and Eric (two yoga buffs), we set to work implementing Phase One of Jane's three-year orchard restoration plan.

Old Trees
Jane's strategy in the orchard is to take out the "Three D's"branches (the three D's being DEAD, DAMAGED and DOWNWARD-FACING). Peter and Jane leaped into action (Peter happily leaping into the trees)

while Eric and I chopped down and then chopped up the last of the transparent trees that we're taking out.

We still have one left (it is home to the treehouse) but we really don't like the apples and needed room to plant other varieties of fruit and nut trees.

The goal was to take out about 20% of the volume of each of the rambling old trees, removing branches that are crossing over or sprouting upwards from previous pruning sites. The result of a good afternoon's work is that the orchard looks MUCH better - much lighter, airier, and home to happier (and, we hope, more productive and easier-to-pick) trees.

This is an ongoing project, so no doubt there will be future posts...

Tree in Tree

(or, what happens when you put

a yoga boy out on a limb...)

Young Trees (the ones we planted last year) - don't have to do much at this point - the plan is to let the babies grow!

Espaliered Cherry Tree
Inadvertently planted in the middle of the orchard, we'll need to pound in stakes, stretch wires, and attach the delicate horizontal limbs. Said limbs have plenty of buds, btw. In fact, the four new babies we planted last year look very healthy as we head into deep spring.

Coolest Design EVER for a Goat Palace

2010-03-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned before how much I like Mother Earth News Magazine? I was reading through a back issue and came across this great design for a gravel-sack construction round-house. The photos practically screamed, "Goat House!" We are investigating local sources for feed sacks. Anybody feel like a sack-filling work bee?

Experiments in Seedlings

2010-03-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

The photo on the seed box looks more like an alien creature (or, at the very least, some kind of black jellyfish), but in fact, the plant is actually called a Bat Plant (Tacca Chantrierei). Here's how they describe it on the back of the package: "A bizarre plant with malevolent dusky black blooms with bat-like long tentacles. Makes an unusual houseplant."

Yes, indeedy - I'd call malevolent bat-like tentacles unusual! This is supposed to be somewhat tricky to germinate and grow (the germination period is 1-9 MONTHS!!), but we are in seed mode at the moment, so it seemed like as good a time as any for a challenge! Photos to follow, should there ever be anything to photograph!

Meanwhile, if you are feeling daring, look what I found on Amazon! Why not order a packet and see how you make out? Shouldn't every household include a malevolent plant?

Blossoms!

2010-03-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

I never, ever, ever get tired of seeing this flowering plum as it greets the turn of the season...

Duck Eggs! Who's Your Mommy?

2010-03-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

The signs of spring are everywhere around here - blossoms festoon the flowering plum and cherry trees, the daffodils are smiling away, the tulips are pushing their way up through the leaf mulch... I've spotted my first hummingbirds and heard the first frog songs (on the earliest date yet - February 26). We've enjoyed trail rides sans sweaters or raincoats and are furiously starting seeds, prepping beds, and erecting deer fence as the gardening season gets rolling. And, finally, the sign of spring we've all been waiting for arrived: duck eggs!

Were they laid in the comfort of one of the roomy, shavings-lined dog kennels? Nope. About ten days ago, the first eggs were found in a dirt hollow behind the bag of fresh wood shavings. We assume the nest was made by an industrious duck and seems to be shared by at least two of the girls (we are routinely getting two a day at the moment). What we can't tell (because they aren't signing their eggs upon deposit) is which girls. None of them seem the least interested in the eggs or nest so it's impossible to tell who is responsible. Of this we are certain: the eggs are delicious! Duck omelettes are both hearty and tasty - the eggs are huge with massive, deeply coloured yolks and a rich flavour. We've also had fried egg sandwiches and hard-boiled egg-bits tossed with our salad greens. We are happy, happy, eggivores.

The only thing one must keep in mind is the size. These eggs are so hefty you only need about half the number of regular chicken eggs you'd usually use.

Seedy Saturday Yikes!

2010-03-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Seed addicts, beware! Stay away from your local Seedy Saturday! Ours was predictably dangerous. Here's a list of the seeds we procured:

Arugula
Banana Squash
Blue Hubbard Squash
Brazilian Pole Beans
Caraway
Carrots
Cilantro
Dill
Haricot Long Beans
Hot Green Pepper
Kale
Lazy Housewife Beans
Leeks
Mixed Marigolds
Nasturtiums
Parsley
Pepper Squash
Radish
Various lettuces
Scarlet Runner Beans
Shelling Peas
Spinach
Sunflowers
Sweet Corn (Country Gentleman)
Sweet Red Pepper
Tomato Costoluto Fiorentino
Tomato Sugar Mandarin
Tomato Oregon Spring
Beets
Tomato Yellow Bell X

Plus seed potatoes (Desiree and Satina)

Add to this crazy list those we saved from last year (both from the garden and leftover from overgenerous seed packets) and you can see that we have WAY TOO MANY!!

I am doing my best to keep track of them all over at My Folia, but wow, we're going to be growing stuff in every nook and cranny of Dark Creek Farm!

Why Do I Love Magazines So Much?

2010-03-11T18:12:00.000-08:00

I don’t know, but I do. I’ve always loved them and can’t imagine not having print versions available. I always have one or two stuffed in my bag and always have a couple of subscriptions to current favourites. Those that I find most useful/inspiring/entertaining at the moment (at least when it comes to farm-y stuff) are Grit, Mother Earth News, Vegetarian Times, and Hobby Farm. I’m also enjoying the brand new magazine, Urban Farm (the second issue just came out). Occasionally I pick up a copy of the British publication Home Farmer. Always interesting to see what the Brits are up to in their gardens!

The current issue of Vegetarian Times has a good recipe for a German-style warm potato salad. Served over fresh spinach greens, this was oh-so-very tasty. I would add caraway seeds next time – and either serve as a side dish or add grilled sausages (vegetarian or local, grass-finished meat sausages of some sort… the Red Barn Market carries quite an assortment of hormone-free meats, though I’m not sure if they are also grass finished…)

What are your favourite magazines? Do you think there’s a future for our glossy hard-copy friends? Or will the Internet and the Kindle (and the IPad and all their high-tech virtual friends) make the old-fashioned magazine obsolete? Oh I hope not.

Spud-tastic!

2010-03-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

http://potatoes.wsu.edu/varieties/yellow-vars.htmGuess what we found today at Integrity Feeds? We found what we were looking for, yes (horse pellets variety A, horse pellets variety B, duck and goose kibble, and salt blocks) but on our way out the door we tripped over bins of heirloom varieties of spuds! Given our fondness for potatoes in all their many incarnations, we had to stock up! We had already procured some Satina and Desiree seed potatoes (on Seedy Saturday) and today we added a few each of the following:
Russian Blue
French Fingerlings
Marilyn
Carlita
German Butterball
Provento
Mozart

I can hardly wait!!!!! Is it ridiculous to be so insanely excited about spuds?

(Here's a link to a great list of potato varieties... who knew there were so many options beyond Yukon Gold?)

Could We Sell Our Produuce?

2010-03-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

I suspect that if we could get organized enough, we could grow a whole lot of stuff here on our teeny piece of land. I’ve been monitoring the phenomenal produce volumes harvested by various urban farmers – and, wow. I’m humbled, impressed, and inspired all at the same time. But how best to keep track of everything? In the past I’ve used a regular old pen and paper garden journal, but recently I discovered this cool online site that is kind of like Facebook for gardeners.

If you're a member of My Folia, come find me [DarkCreek] and we can compare garden notes. If I actually get organized enough to collect, weigh measure, etc., we can have a bit of a contest...

Garlic February 27

As for the selling side of things, I’ve been investigating how one goes about planting, harvesting, packaging, and selling at local farmer’s markets. In the course of my online meanderings, I came across this wonderful website: www.sare.org The Sustainable Agriculture and Research program works by giving out grants to my American cousins (read about some of their initiatives online). But even those of us north of the 49th can benefit by downloading (or requesting by mail) some of their publications. I sent away for a couple of booklets: Marketing Strategies for Farmers and Ranchers and Profitable Poultry: Raising Birds on Pasture. Both are professionally produced and full of good basic information. I particularly like the way they’ve included quotes and figures from actual farmers who are using the techniques and tips described in the booklets. Will I be raising thousands of broiler chickens any time soon? Probably not. But internet sales of Kashmir fiber? Or, even better, value-added products like Kashmiri Baby Booties? You never know…

Too Much of a Good Thing

2010-03-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

After penning my note about springtime duck shenanigans, it turns out that ducks can suffer dire consequences as a result of overindulgence. Yesterday afternoon when Jane was herding the ducks into their secure anti-raccoon fortress, she noticed something dangling out of Perfect Man. Pink and fleshy, it resembled a bit of innard or a giant earthworm.

She wondered if it could possibly be his manly bit, swinging in the breeze. I confess I had stopped reading the duck books at the point when they say 'duck sex organs are internal in both males and females' and I never really thought about how, exactly, that all works in there in the dark place beyond the cloaca. I certainly couldn't remember reading anything about the insides coming out.

After successfully avoiding any of the (many) questionable websites out there that pop up when one searches for terms like 'protruding drake penis', I discovered all kinds of fascinating things about duck and drake anatomy. The fact that any ducklings are ever conceived is nothing short of miraculous! Which doesn't stop them from trying, and this overexertion is one of the things that can cause a prolapsed phallus in a drake.

Further reading (and some of that was quite interesting as various worried homesteaders asked other homesteaders what to do about their ducks' dingly dicks...) revealed that if caught quickly (which was the case here) and if there isn't any damage to the member (there wasn't) you follow these steps to remedy the situation:

1. Catch and restrain the duck (remember, we have mighty large muscovy ducks with talons they know how to use). We donned body armor and long gloves and cornered our patient in the duck pen.

2. Wash the exposed member. (While restraining struggling duck and being very careful not to have an eye gouged out. This was probably a six person job, but Jane and I managed admirably well by using Jane's yoga-honed muscles to hold Perfect Man and a very clever device procured at Dig This. It's a perforated screw top that's meant to go on a 2-liter pop bottle, to be used for delicately watering seedlings. Having just started seedlings, I had that all ready to go. A little warm water and, voila, a perfect duck shower for delicate body parts.)

3. Liberally apply antibiotic ointment. (Unrepeatable lubrication quips accompanied this part of the procedure).

4. Gently push the phallus back inside. (You have GOT to be kidding!!) But, yes, indeed, that's what had to be done - which was a bit like pushing a slippery, floppy bit of limp spaghetti through a very narrow, wiggling opening while dodging knife blades flung by an angry toddler... or something... Let's just say that was not the most fun I have ever had on the farm.

5. Hold your breath and stare at your drake's back end and hope the wayward phallus doesn't pop out again.

6. Keep drake in isolation for several weeks so he isn't tempted to over-extend himself again. Watch for signs of infection.

Yikes! So, Perfect Man is in a temporary pen away from the rest of the flock while he heals up and we decide what the best course of action is from here. As of the late night feed last night, he seemed to be fine (this determined by me lying flat on the ground beside his cage in the orchard, pointing the beam of my flashlight up under his belly.) I shall report on any further developments...

Spring To Do List

2010-03-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s a partial list – and, a moving target. Every day brings new tasks – but no extra hours in which to accomplish them! Add to that basic equation the fact the Olympics have been more than a little distracting (my various relatives, who are Olympics mad, are dragging me off to watch hockey – which is cool – and ice skating – which is cool – and para skiing – which is cool – and the torch run in Whistler where both my daughter and my brother will be carrying the flame – which is cool) and you just know I’m not going to get to the end of the list any time soon. This is why spring comes every year – to give me another chance to get everything ready and planted and organized for the coming exuberant growth of summer.

Finish Deer Fence Around Vegetable Garden
– this is actually an essential item as it’s a bit pointless to plant anything at the moment as the deer stroll right in and gorge themselves. Good-bye leafy greens! Farewell onion tops! Fortunately, they don’t seem to like parsnips. Of those, we still have quite a few.

Move Existing Raised Beds
We were a bit haphazard in terms of bed placement last year. Jane had the very good idea of using some old bookcases for planting boxes, but in our haste to get things growing we didn't really make a plan, per se, but rather filled the book cases as quickly as possible without a whole lot of thought as to mowing between them or allowing enough room to get a wheelbarrow through the gate, around the pear tree, and past the last box. Anyway, we’re trying to decide on the best configuration for the garden as a whole and can re-use said book cases for another season or two. They will, however, need to be moved – in part to make wider paths between the beds so we can weed and mow a little more easily and also to make the best use of space when we build some new raised beds.

Build New Raised Beds
The existing beds will accommodate a fair bit, but we need more space. We want to double the amount of room given over to potatoes, for example (they were such a hit last year, we need more! And, we’d like to experiment with a couple of other varieties.) The planting wish lists are long and lovely, but we don’t have nearly enough square dirt footage. Yet. We may need to bring the lovely hot yoga Peter back to do a bit more heavy lifting.

Cut Back Flowering Crabapple
A great cross-pollinator, the crab apple blossoms early and feeds the pollinating insects while we wait for the rest of the fruit trees to bloom. The tree is a thousand years old, however (well, not quite, but it’s big and sprawling) and overhangs the beds at the back of the veggie garden plot. By cleaning out the lower branches, we’ll open up that area of the garden. We’ll also expose the terrible old bit of fencing back there. Somewhere under the tree my river kayak lies sleeping. I’m thinking I might dig that out and sell it as I can’t imagine having time to kayak any time soon. Not with so many horses to ride, goats to train (and shear…clip… comb… whatever Kashmir goat hair harvesting is called…), books to write, trips to take… Anyone wanna buy a used kayak? Have a two-wheeled horse cart you’d like to trade? Seriously, I’m looking for one for Con Brio.

Replace Terrible Old Bit of Fencing
In the area behind the summer house, we’re thinking of putting up a small storage shed for lawnmowers, bicycles, garden tools, etc. This is a great spot for a storage shed as the space (surrounded by big trees) is unusable for much else.

Clean Out Area Behind Summer House
No small task. We haven’t hacked our way through the overgrowth for the nearly fourteen years we’ve lived in the house. Getting in and out of the area requires…

Build New Gate Into Area Behind Summer House
Make that two new gates. One from the top and one from the vegetable garden, down at the bottom end.

Build Dog-Proof Fence Behind Area Behind Summer House
Sigh. You see how this list-making goes? Once we get into the area behind the summer house and get it all cleaned out and start using it, we need to make sure the dogs can’t escape into the wild blue yonder. This item has actually been on the list since we moved into the house in 1996.

Set Up Drip Irrigation System for Vegetable Garden
This is all about water conservation and efficient use of our time in the garden. Setting it up will be a bit of a chore, but in the end should save us time and money (and water!). Loving relatives (thanks, Richmonders!) gave me a gift certificate to Home Depot for Christmas. HD has everything we need to set up our drip irrigation system. Very much looking forward to a very practical shopping excursion sometime soon…

I think I’ll continue the list in another post. Just thinking about the vegetable garden is making me weary! And I didn’t even get to the part about filling the raised beds with good compost and soil, making a succession planting plan, starting seeds, cleaning out the greenhouse, pruning the treehouse apple tree, building a new gate leading into the garden, building trellis, deciding on the best way to build the garden paths, etc., etc., etc.

VEGETABLE GARDEN is just one item on the master farm list – Oh boy. Must place head back in sand before I start to panic. I meant to take a few photos to post of the various projects in progress, but somehow the To Do list was full!

Duck Sex

2010-03-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of it going on recently. We are thinking we may need to procure a couple more ducks as our three drakes are a) lusty and b) tireless. So far, the girls (we have four – Coco Channel, Audrey Hepburn, Latte, and Mocha) are holding up okay, but we’re keeping close watch to see if we need to do any separating. That said, we are hopeful that soon we will have more duck eggs. We’re also hoping that at least one of the ladies will be a broody sort. Here’s hoping I’ll be posting photos of Muscovy ducklings before too much longer.

(We've started an informal pool, trying to predict the date we'll discover the first egg. My guess is Easter Sunday April 4th).

Parsnips a'Plenty

2010-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

Who knew parsnips could be so delicious? Could it be that they are that much tastier having spent the winter (such as it has been) underground? Perhaps plucking them now has given them a chance to do something with their sugars… concentrate them, or some such. They are still alive and well – with the recent warm weather, the parsnips (like so many other things in the garden) are waking up. Fresh, green tops are growing. Given that we cheat and grow root vegetables like carrots and parsnips as annuals, I suppose it should come as no surprise that they are gearing up for year two of their biannual existence. Presumably, if we let them go and do their thing, they will grow exuberantly this year (their hefty, well-established roots would serve them well!), flower, and produce seeds of some sort. If we were going to collect parsnip seeds, the challenge will be leaving one or two in the ground long enough to let that happen. I’m tempted – we planted an open-pollinated variety, so the seeds should be viable.

Meanwhile, though, we have had to deal with (eat) an abundance of parsnips. Last week I made a vegetarian chili and substituted half the carrots called for with parsnips – very tasty. From the same cookbook (Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker: 200 Recipes for Healthy and Hearty Meals That Are Ready When You Are) I made French White Bean and Cabbage Soup.

Not only did I use up more parsnips, I was also able to fish out some of the Dark Creek cabbage I chopped up, blanched, and froze back in the fall. I really do like winter and all the fabulous soup, stew, and chili-type meals one enjoys!

The cookbook is excellent, btw – being a fan of both the slow cooker and vegetables, I’ve tested and enjoyed various recipes and found them all to be excellent. I confess that when I bought the cookbook, I wasn’t thinking of breakfasts – but oh my, the hot cereal recipes are GREAT! Bonus – by adding some of our Dark Creek Apple Butter to the oatmeal , I’ve found yet another way to enjoy our late season bonanza and actually break out of my multi-decades old habit of tea and toast for breakfast!

Building Better Fences for Happier Horses (and less stressed humans...)

2010-02-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

Down the road at the neighbour’s place is an empty field. Local thistles and tall grasses love the place – and happily take over each summer. At our place, we have very little room, are located on a hill (very slippery in the winter!) and currently have four horses (Bonny – Welsh Cob mare, her half-Gypsy cob two year-old filly, Con Brio, the happy appy, Diego, and Ringo, the Hackney-Welsh pony gelding). It seemed only natural that if we neighbours were neighbourly, we’d make our horses very happy and keep the field neatly groomed. Win. Win. Right?

So, late last summer we rigged up a temporary electric fence and started turning the horses out in the field. Of course, they loved it – and why wouldn’t they? More room to romp, roll, and munch – the activities for which horses live.

Being away over Christmas, we all took a break from the turnout routine. Bonny had also been away (our efforts at breeding her to the lovely stallion, North Forks Cardi were, alas, unsuccessful in the end…) so a couple of weeks ago when we decided to resume the romping, Bonny acted like a wild and crazy teenager. She floated up the road, snorting and dancing, one huge bundle of barely suppressed energy plunging around at the end of her lead rope. Good friend Jane kept a good hold on Bonny’s lead rope while I dealt with the bouncy baby, Brio – and Dad waited at the edge of the field with his camera at the ready. We released mother and daughter at the top of the field and fastened the hot wire gate across the opening.

What a rodeo! The girls bolted down to the far end of the field, bucking and kicking and snorting. They spun around and then blazed back up toward the gate (where we were standing giggling like fools in front of the hot wire). Bonny must have been doing forty clicks when she pelted straight past us and through our hot wire barrier. She was moving so fast I doubt she felt a thing. Apparently, a horse moving that fast in such a state of supreme excitement doesn’t listen to feeble humans calling, “Don’t go through the fence!” She went straight through and bolted down the road with Conbrio in hot pursuit.

The good news is we live on a very quiet dead end road. The other good news is that Bonny led the way straight back home. The other very good news is that though the wires snapped and electric insulators popped out and flung themselves every which way, nobody (horse or human) was hurt.

Humbled by Bonny’s mighty bolt for freedom, we hired Jane’s hot yoga instructor, Peter, to come and help us build a proper stretch of fence. Posts were sunk, boards pounded, hot wire affixed, a proper heavy farm gate schlepped down the hill from our place – and, voila – we are back in business. The horses have been absolutely blissed out during their subsequent romps in the field. Which, thankfully, have been safely contained within the field.

(Re-reading that last bit, I realize my reference to Peter could be interpreted a couple of ways… He teaches hot yoga – as in yoga that takes place in a very hot room – which is not to say he might not also be considered ‘hot’ but I don’t think it’s politically correct to say such things publicly.)

(I'm thinking I should maybe get a copy of this book...)

Dr. Oetker Goes Organic?

2010-01-12T13:59:00.000-08:00

The one and only cookbook my mother owned was one by Dr. Oetker. It contained basic recipes for lots of good old-fashioned German dishes, none of which (as far as I can remember) my mother ever prepared (my mother really didn't like to cook - I suspect the cookbook was an underutilized wedding present). Anyway, when an email arrived in my in-box that included a link to a contest sponsored by Dr. Oetker, I actually read the email instead of deleting it...
It turns out that the contest has some prizes that even I am tempted to try to win - so I visited the Dr. Oetker site, jumped through the hoops and signed up, hoping to perhaps be so lucky as to win a trip to Italy (some of the lesser prizes are pretty good, too - check them out here: Dr Oetker Adventure Romantica Contest...) Lo and behold, I found myself stomping virtual grapes in a silly online game, trying to earn more chances to win... After I'd exhausted my fingertips stomping on virtual grapes, I actually visited the Dr. Oetker website proper, checking to see if they are in any way responding to growing consumer interest in organic products. The organic product list is short, but it is there and, presumably, if enough people support the line with their shopping dollars, it will grow.

Note - the contest is only open to Canadians - sorry everyone else!

If you happen to win the trip to Italy, take me! Take me! I would take you... seriously, I would!

sticks, string, gers

2010-01-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

Around here we love to build things with sticks and string... but these folks build whole gers with not much more than those fundamental components...

Saving Seeds - Start Planning Now!

2010-01-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

One of the great pleasures of gardening is the annual winter tradition of studying seed catalogues. I love flipping through the pages of the old-fashioned paper catalogues, but the internet brings a whole slew of new possibilities right to my desktop. Here are some of my favourites (lots of heirloom, open-pollinated varieties):
Seed Saver's Exchange
Salt Spring Seeds
The Cottage Gardener Heirloom Seed and Plant Nursery
West Coast Seeds
Annapolis Seeds
Let me know which seed suppliers make you particularly happy and I'll add the to the list... Happy Garden Dreaming!

Building Fences - Hawaiian Style

2009-12-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

There's nothing like a fencing project to make one feel right at home! Turns out Pete's lovely lab, Venus, was hopping over the stone wall at the bottom of the garden. Add to that the problem of the reddish volcanic dirt she was tracking into the swimming pool and, well, a fence was inevitable. Several shopping trips later, essential tools and equipment procured, we set to work.

Everybody - Dani, Pete, Dad, Hitomi, and two of the neighbours all chipped in and we not only got all the fencing done, the crew also managed to get the three new fruit trees planted (more on those in a future post).
Yes, it is a LOT hotter here than at home. Fortunately, there is a handy swimming pool close by to prevent labourers from dropping with heat stroke! And for those who can't wait to swim, there's always the hose...

Local Food Solution for Sinful Pleasures

2009-12-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

I know I am not the only one caught on the horns of a dilemma when it comes to trying to eat locally. Where on Vancouver Island am I supposed to procure a steady (guilt free) supply of coffee? Chocolate? Bananas? Citrus fruits? Today at the KCC (Kapiolani Community College) Farmers Market,I discovered the obvious solution: move to Oahu!

Ka 'u coffee is, according to the sign, one of the top ten in the world. It was certainly the best cup of coffee I had today - so delicious, in fact, I went back for a second round. The rich flavour of the coffee was matched only by the superb mouthful of chocolate glory I enjoyed at the Malie Kai Chocolate stand! Oh my - was THAT ever good!

Thus fortified and fairly buzzing with cocoa flavonoids (or whatever it is in chocolate that produces that exquisite chocolate high), we shopped for locally produced butter, incredible bread, and fresh organic tomatoes.

Fresh grass-fed beef burgers (okay, okay - I know burgers do not eat grass) were available, though in the end we forgot to go back to the stand to buy some!

One of the great things (and there were many great things to note about strolling around in a market situated at the base of Diamond Head) was the fact the stands were exclusively selling food and other items that are GROWN here. Flowers, honey, beef, bakery goods, all manner of fresh produce, etc. and nary a bead earring or floral sun dress to be found! A real farmers' market, in fact.

Am I kidding about moving here? Not really... All I need now is a nice Hawaiian rancher with room for my horses...

Eat Wild - In Praise of Grass Fed Food

2009-12-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Looking for information about grass fed food, free range eggs, and more? The Eat Wild website has tons of useful resources... There are articles about the benefits for farmers, consumers, the environment and, of course, for the animals. The site also lists a number of reference books and includes links to some handy dandy kitchen gadgets.

Looking for a local source of pasture fed beef, chicken, pork, or lamb? Follow the links to find a farmer near you... Click on your state (or follow the link to Canadian producers) to find out who is producing the following:

beef
pork
lamb
veal
bison (buffalo)
rabbits
chevon (goat meat)
deer, elk, yak
wild-caught seafood

chicken
ducks
turkey
eggs
milk, butter, cheese
produce
honey
nuts

Excellent Regional Winter Gardening Handbook

2009-12-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

Want to extend your growing season and enjoy fresh produce from your garden pretty well year-round? Well, if you live on the coast of BC, here's the handbook for you...

Year-Around Harvest: Winter Gardening on the Coast by Linda A. Gilkerson

This is not a flashy, full colour, luscious gardening book (it's black and white and spiral bound) but this down-to-earth format in no way diminishes the value of the information contained inside. I love the idea of being able to harvest things when the rest of the country is shivering under a blanket of snow (I know that's a bit mean, but winter bragging rights are counted among the many benefits of living here on the island...). At the moment I'm waiting to see if, indeed, my kale and winter greens mix will bounce back after the chilly few days we've had. This afternoon I was surprised to see the heart of a couple of the larger plants sort of fluffing up a bit (most of the rest look decidedly sad!). The onion tops look a bit droopy, but they are still green and I'm hoping that underground, things are still in good shape.

Pollan on Food

2009-12-16T09:43:00.000-08:00

Another reading suggestion for those long, chilly winter nights...

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan (Penguin)

In a nutshell, here's Pollan's position on food: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

It's a simple enough premise - eat real, actual food (and not imitation food, food products, edible oil products, etc.) and not only will you be healthier, the planet will thank you, too. What is most astounding about this is not the premise (which falls into the 'well, duh' category) but the fact that we seem to need a whole book to remind us of some pretty basic principles.

Even more interesting is the fact that these simple ideas have got some industrial food producers' britches in a twist (here's an interesting blog post about Pollan speaking at Cal Poly SLO).

Want to introduce some of Pollan's ideas to younger readers? Check out this version of Pollan's earlier book, The Ominvore's Dilemma:

December rainbow!

2009-12-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

Ah... sun showers. Much, much better than the way too frosty weather we've had recently. Took this shot as the sun was coming up this morning and we were about to commence the paddock mucking...

Sprout - Local Food Website

2009-12-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

We're fortunate to live in a corner of the world blessed with a fabulous climate and lots going on in terms of urban agriculture/slow food/sustainable living initiatives. The Sprout website brings together the many organizations and individuals working on food-related projects in the area. From the website:

Sprout Victoria is a volunteer not-for-profit support network that acts as a hub connecting all urban agricultural activities in the Greater Victoria Region. It enables people interested in urban agriculture to become involved by accessing current urban agricultural initiatives, workshops, events, projects and other relevant resources.

The community events calendar is an effective tool aimed at connecting all urban agricultural grassroots initiatives in Victoria for community members; public, university students and professors, governmental bodies and small to large-scale non-government organizations. This will aid present and future generations in creating sustainable food sources on Vancouver Island.

The Sprout Victoria project has the following objectives;

To enable local and surrounding community members to become engaged in urban agricultural activities in Victoria and the Greater Region,
To spread a greater awareness of pertinent issues such as the island’s food security and accessibility,
To create a larger network of people now connected and talking about sustainable food sources on the island,
To provide resources and a support network for communities interested in urban agriculture.

Check out the calendar, list of resources, and if you are an event/course organizer, local farmer, or are otherwise involved with local food issues, get in touch and get connected.

Good reading while the garden is frozen

2009-12-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

I know there are plenty of places dealing with far worse than we are, but for us wimpy westcoasters, it's cold out there! My greens are looking rather unhappy - their row covers blew off in the big windstorm. They may well bounce back when things warm up again, but ewww...

Also annoying is the frozen water system... We rely on miles of buried water pipe which leads to various standpipes, attached in turn to more miles of hose that eventually winds up at the various animal shelters and paddocks. When things freeze we are reduced to hauling hot water in containers several times a day. It is during our rare cold snaps that I am reminded just how much horses drink every day!

Around here, cold snaps are usually accompanied by clear skies and glorious sunshine, and I must say that the break in the rain is nothing short of delightful. One cannot have everything all at the same time...

Being inside a bit more at the moment (another reality of the season is the short, short length of day - it's more or less dark by 4:30 in the afternoon) means more time to read, so I thought I'd post a few book reviews of titles I've particularly enjoyed.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Written with the help of her husband, Steven Hopp and one of her daughters (Camille Kingsolver), this is the story of her family's challenge to itself to eat food produced locally.

Living on a small acreage (or, at least, the amount of usable land is quite small), the family manages to grow quite the range of produce. Not only are they efficient in the gardening department, they throw themselves into tasks like canning tomatoes and coming up with creative ways to deal with excessive amounts of zucchini. Their adventures in everything from bread and cheese-making to farmers markets and travels abroad are related in a conversational, easy-to-digest style full of anecdotes and musings both practical and philosophical.

One of my favourite things about the book is the discussion of raising one's own chickens and turkeys. It has long seemed illogical to me that we are more squeamish about the idea of slaughtering our own meat than we are about purchasing packaged meat containing who-knows-what additives, raised in who-knows-what horrible conditions, and bereft of nutrients found in more traditionally raised animals.

As one would expect from a great spinner of yarns, the book is eminently readable. The addition of nutritional information, meal plans, and recipes (contributed by Camille) and a bit of scientific context and resources (pulled together by Steven) gives this book some serious heft in the practical/usefulness department. An index would have been handy, but the Kingsolvers have recognized this oversight and have provided one on their official website.

I'd love to hear what books you've found particularly inspiring. Drop me a note in the comments field and I'll compile a list of favourites.

Even more uses for tarps...

2009-11-27T10:13:00.001-08:00

Peek-a-Boo: I Am Beginning to Trust You, originally uploaded by Shoshin Seishu.

Impressive! While I can imagine Conbrio embracing life with a tarp draped over her head, our other three horses would have a thousand fits if we even suggested such a crazy activity! I was actually looking for photos of interesting tarp and string constructions when I stumbled across this one posted by Shoshin Seishu on Flickr...

However, during my search I did find this very cool website about building gers with tarps and string and my other favourite building material, sticks.

Our Good Friends: Tarps and Baling Twine

2009-11-25T15:48:00.001-08:00

Just because the weather has been a tad uncooperative recently (rain, rain, rain – high winds – more rain) doesn't mean the To-Do list has shrunk. In fact, all that rain has revealed several leaks, all of which had to be fixed. Thank goodness for tarps and binder twine, two handy commodities of which we never seem to have too much.

Tack Room in the Unfinished Barn

Way back when Dad and I designed the barn, we decided on a 20X30' building with a tackroom, three stalls, each with a runout, and a wide covered alley-way so there would always be a dry place to tack up, trim feet, etc. There was nothing wrong with the design, but construction of the barn collided with some unfortunate life events (Dad breaking his hip, Mom falling critically ill) and the result was that Dad and I only finished half the barn. So we have a tack room, one stall, and a makeshift second stall where half the walkway should have been. This isn't actually a bad arrangement as we leave the stall doors open and just let the horses come and go. There's enough room to feed inside and they have access to a second shelter a little farther down the hill, but because the other half of the barn is missing, the roofline at what would have been the ridge running down the middle was never finished. Despite temporary patching, when it pours, water leaks in at the top, runs along the beams, and drips all over the tack room.

This week, wobbling on the tall ladder, fingers freezing as they clutched the chilly, wet aluminum rungs, we rigged up a huge tarp so the whole tack-room end of the barn is covered. Tied this way and that with binder twine, it looks like crazed spiders have been at work, but so far, things are much drier inside.

Tack Room in the New Old Trailer

We bought a bigger horse trailer this year, a used steel stock trailer from the interior of BC, which we've been tinkering with since its arrival at the farm earlier this summer. We installed a dividing wall forward of where the horses travel and have been keeping quite a bit of tack in there (due to leakage issues in the barn tackroom – see above). Alas, the gap just forward of the divider was big enough to allow the heavy rains to POUR into the tackroom, filling buckets and soaking everything in range. We fixed this issue by installing a clear plastic anti-rain panel in the gap, but we then discovered we had a slower leak, probably from the seam where the trailer roof meets the front wall (it's a bit hard to tell where the water is seeping in). More tarp and string to the rescue.

The trailer looks a bit silly with a bright blue 'cap' on the front, but things are much drier inside as a result. (I hasten to add that we don't leave the tarp on when we haul horses in the trailer!)

The Old Old Trailer

Before selling our old straight haul trailer, we wanted to re-paint it and reupholster the padded walls under the hay mangers (Ringo, in a fit of madness, or boredom, or petulance shredded them). This was a task we picked away at all summer until we had managed to paint ¾ of the trailer and take apart the padded walls. Then the rain started, leaving the back doors and one hay manger unfinished. Though I was able to take the wall panels up to the house and recover them (they look lovely now, I must say), there was no way to finish painting the back of the trailer until we built a temporary roof of – yes – tarp and binder twine. Actually, we had one of those handy dandy framing kits people use to build little shelters for lawn tractors and the like, so we whipped together a shorter (lengthwise) and taller (heightwise) version of the shelter frame, anchored it firmly to the trailer and several nearby trees and, voila, a primitive paint shop!

We now have no excuses (weather-related excuses, anyway) for not getting the painting finished and the old trailer sold.

Evidence - Muscovy Ducks Can Fly!

2009-11-15T15:33:00.001-08:00

(#142) Feral, originally uploaded by tinyfishy.

They might seem heavy and ungainly, but trust me, these birds can fly! Just ask Audrey Hepburn...

Audrey - please, please come home!

2009-11-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

Missing Duck!

Have you seen this duck?

If so, please call immediately as she is sadly missed by both her human and waterfowl friends.

Imagine my horror when, walking back from the neighbour's place the other morning (we're horse-sitting while they are off cruising in some warm, dry, lovely location...) I spotted Audrey Hepburn strolling down the road! Audrey has always had a mind of her own, apparent since the day we brought her home. She's always the first out of the duck gulag in the morning, and first back in at night. If the other ducks head for the orchard, she strolls off to the field. If the rest of the flock snuggles down to sleep inside the cozy dog crate duck hostel, she roosts in the rain on top. She eats when they bathe, bathes when they nap, and naps when they eat. She is a duck with a mind of her own. The fact that she was strolling along the road meant she had flown up and over the fence around the field and orchard where she and the rest of the flock spend their days grazing and hunting for bugs and worms. Not good. What if some handsome mallard flew past, cocked his head, and quacked? Audrey Hepburn could sail off into the wild blue yonder, never to be seen again... (listen closely... do you hear that ominous music in the background?)

Unlike the other ducks, Audrey is also difficult to herd - she scoots and darts, dives between our legs and heads wherever it is we do not wish her to go. The other morning, our attempts to herd her back home took us into the immaculately groomed front yard of one neighbour and the private breakfast patio of another, Audrey always one step ahead and too clever to allow herself to be cornered. When we got too close, she flapped her trump card, lifted into the air and sailed away. She disappeard from sight into the farmlands of the Hunt Valley where, we feared, she would surely meet her end in the jaws of a hungry dog.

So began a day of searching, calling, fretting, hand-wringing, and self-beration - why, oh why had we not clipped her wings, as we had planned? In a flurry of feathers and indignant birds, we herded the rest of the flock back into the duck pen where we caught each one in turn and clipped their flight feathers. (Curious how to do this? Click here...) None of the other ducks were in the least impressed with our mud-wrestling, feather-snipping antics and, I confess, the whole exercise felt a bit like door-locking after the horse was long gone.

Several trips down the hill left us one beak short until dusk darkened the horizon and Audrey darkened the gate of the duck pen! Yes, our wandering waterfowl returned unscathed, strolling into the orchard as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a wander-lusting duck to meander back into town without explanation. Needless to say we hastily pruned her flight feathers and she remains safely grounded.

Beehive Woodpile

2009-11-10T21:21:00.001-08:00

Beehive Woodpile, originally uploaded by noslopics.

Further to that last post... this woodpile is rather inspiring!

Firewood!

2009-11-10T21:19:00.000-08:00

Alas, this is not my stack of firewood! (The photo comes to us thanks to our friends at Wikipedia)

In my dreams, I have such a stack. But first, wood must be split. Ever tried to split un-splittable wood? As in, the kind of wood so hard that a big, sharp axe bounces off and leaves nary a dent? After one of our neighbour's trees crashed into our yard during a wind storm two years ago, we had it cut into rounds with a big chainsaw (bigger than ours, wielded by someone bigger than I am). I'm not kidding when I say this stuff is un-splittable (the chainsaw wielder speculated the tree was something called ironwood, but that doesn't seem to match up with my best efforts at online identification). For nearly two years the rounds sat there getting nice and dry while we waited for more a more powerful tool than our axe.

Christmas elves last year delivered a lovely log-splitter, but then we got busy and realized we first needed to build a woodshed to keep the split wood dry, and then it was summer and we weren't really thinking about wood fires and the next thing we knew - November! Finally, yesterday we hauled all the rounds up to the new woodshed and started splitting. Whatever kind of wood it is - wow. Even the powerful splitter had trouble dealing with some of it. The innards of each log are stringy and tough and we had to put most of the logs through the torture treatment several times before we could pull or chop them apart! The bark runs horizontally in tough bands, so each log literally screamed when we put it in the splitter and the bark stretched until it snapped.

The logs aren't screaming now. They're burning slowly and evenly and throwing off a great deal of heat in the fireplace. Of course, the big logs (even split, they are hefty things) need some smaller stuff to keep them going, so we've been making our way through various brush piles that we've been accumulating since starting to prune the orchard way back in the spring. Slowly but surely, all those sticks and twigs and smaller branches we've been collecting all summer are disappearing into the fire and the brush piles are shrinking. My back is killing me, but my feet are warm!

Looking for motivation? Here are a link:
How to Stack Firewood (what, not everyone has random piles of sticks all over the place?)

Did someone say 95% certain we are NOT pregnant?

2009-11-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

For an optimist, last week's vet check left a healthy 5% chance of Bonny actually being pregnant. I must confess that given our mare's history over the past several months, my usually unsinkable sense of the possible was floundering just a bit.

You can well imagine my utter shock and delight when, at the the 'just to be certain' vet check this afternoon we saw an actual EMBRYO!!!! The ultrasound image is now hanging on the fridge so we can admire Dark Creek Junior every time we reach for milk or cheese. Turns out the embryo is snugged up right beside Bonny's uterine cyst, which may or may not be a bad thing - only time will tell. So, once again we wait.

Bonny's daily doses of hormones will continue and then, after thirty days, we'll re-scan to make sure that this pregnancy is proceeding normally. Right at the moment it feels a bit like we're holding a lottery ticket festooned with lucky numbers - for the next thirty days, anyway, we can play the 'will the foal take after mom or dad? game .... and make plans for future dressage lessons... and driving clinics... and... and... and... Oh, could it be that we will have an actual foal ten months hence? Stay tuned...

Horseman's saying: Breed the best to the best and hope for the best...

2009-10-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Bonny and Conbrio - 2008

This year has been quite the adventure in breeding - or, rather, attempting to breed - our Welsh Cob mare, Bonny (her full registered name is actually Juglans Canvas Danver). Because the Welsh breed is listed as vulnerable on the Canadian Livestock Conservation list, we wanted to see if we could do our bit to preserve her excellent bloodlines by breeding her to one of the top Welsh cob stallions in North America.

It turns out that North Forks Brenin Cardi not only fits the bill but lives not that far away - near Olympia, WA. I had met Cardi in person at the Golden State Dressage Festival earlier in the year and fell hook, line, and sinker for this handsome, athletic, and gentle boy.

Cardi is a great example of the Welsh breed, which comes in four sizes (designated by letter according to size). Both Bonny and Cardi are in Section D, which means they are taller than 13.2hh. The cross would have been a great one, except that Bonny has been decidedly uncooperative in the breeding department. Let me rephrase that - she has been quite cooperative in the breeding department, just not willing to conceive.

We've tried shipping semen from WA to our farm (THAT was an experience, let me tell you - Fed-Ex LOST our paperwork somewhere en route and the semen wound up sitting around for a very long time before it finally arrived here and could be inseminated by our vet...). Then we tried shipping Bonny to Cardi - where, on several heat cycles over several months she was inseminated at a vet clinic in WA not far from Cardi's farm. She even met him personally so the vet could try live cover. AI only has about a 50% success rate, whereas live cover produces a pregnancy about 70-80% of the time.

Anyway, after months of trying, Bonny was inseminated one last time and we brought her home last week. Yesterday, our vet (Dr. Danica Olenick of Elk Lake Veterinary Hospital) came out to do the ultrasound to check whether or not that last effort was successful.

In order to get close enough to the uterus to see anything, the ultrasound probe is inserted into the rectum... Alas, the results yesterday were inconclusive. Dr. Olenick is pretty sure that the bubble of fluid she detected was just a uterine cyst - but to be totally sure, she'll come back next week to see if there have been any changes. If the suspected cyst actually grows and develops, we'll know it's actually an embryo. Most likely, though, all our efforts at breeding this year will have been for nothing! Very frustrating. Very expensive. And, very disappointing.

As for the foal at the top of the page, that's Dark Creek Conbrio, Bonny's 2008 foal. She's half Welsh Cob and half Gypsy cob, sired by Fair Isle Gypsy Fiddler.

We are delighted to have her (even more so after the trials and tribulations of this past breeding season) and have high hopes for her as an all around riding pony.

In this photo she's three weeks old. Now 18 months old, she's quite full of herself, as many teenagers tend to be, and nearly as tall as her mother!

Each week we give away a copy of a book - this week our prize is a copy of Razor's Edge by Nikki Tate (yes, that would be me). This is my new one and is loosely related to the theme - it does revolve around horses! A mystery for teens set in the world of Standardbred racing, Razor's Edge was actually inspired by a bizarre crime that happened to Fiddler. In the middle of the night, thieves entered Fiddler's paddock and lopped off his tail! Horse tail thievery happens every now and then and to my mind seems such a strange crime, certainly worthy of inclusion in a novel. To have your name entered into the draw for the book prize all you have to do is send us an email at allpointswest[at]cbc.ca

Missed the segment live? No problem - give Amanda at the CBC a day or two and then check the All Points West website for a link to the archived segment.

Note: If you are reading this on Facebook, you can get back to the rest of the Dark Creek Blog by clicking here.

Who Knew?

2009-10-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

So I was reading this article about the benefits of backyard duck-keeping over on the Mother Earth News website when I came across this fascinating gem of information:

Ducks provide valuable plant food via their manure and feathers (worms find molted feathers delicious, pulling them into their holes as they consume them).

I knew about the greatness of manure, but worms sucking the feathers down into their holes? Wow. I wonder if they line their nests with them... It boggles the mind to think about what's going on beneath our feet.

Remember the Tractor Tire?

2009-10-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the biggest of the three we procured from helpful area farmers... Large anough for two people (Jane and Chloe, in this photo) to work inside! We added planks to the bottom so the hay won't fall through and then, carefully, carefully rolled it downhill (HEAVY!), flipped it into position, and filled it with hay. After some wary snorts, the horses overcame their terror of the scary new monster lying in their paddock and tucked in.

We also took out a section of fence between the two horse paddocks so all four can mix and mingle. Watching the herd dynamics around the new hay feeder was very intersting. Bonny and Diego are confidently at the top of the pile - they were first in, eating side by side. Brio is next in the pecking order... she is able to sneak in, her head low, her teeth clacking in submission. Ringo, though, has to wait a respectful distance away until the herd bosses decide to let him come anywhere near the food supply. We did put another pile of hay out for him, but his desire to be sociable and deal with his peers overrode his tummy and he preferred to wait patiently until he was given the signal to come in and join the party.

A great work day yesterday - not only did we finally get the horse hay feeder finished and opened up the two paddocks (which required some re-wiring of the electric fencing), we also retrofitted the goat hay rack with bigger, sturdier, feet - actually two pieces of a massive timber with huge spikes driven through and down into the ground. This, we hope, will stop them from knocking the whole stucture over when they floss their horns.

Forget Backyard Chickens: Try Ducks!

2009-10-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

Mocha

What a busy week we've had here on the farm. One of the highlights was a trip up-island to visit Smith Lake Farm. There, on a stunning 90 acre farm, Clea and Daniel raise Highland Cattle, Muscovy Ducks, and free range chickens. The farm also offers very comfortable accommodation in a completely private guest suite that looks out over Smith Lake. Even better, two horse stalls located immediately adjacent to the human quarters mean travelers can bring along their equine buddies to take advantage of the Williams Beach Community Forest trails. Next time, I won't be making the trip without a horse or two in tow!

What took me on a road trip? (other than the fact I love road trips...) After raccoons raided our flock of Indian Runner ducks, we needed to re-supply. We built a sturdy new duck enclosure so we can shut everyone in at night and then set off to choose the perfect new additions to the farm. We'd already found two handsome drakes to help ease the pain of our Runner Duck losses, but were looking for some breeding females so we could once again enjoy a steady supply of duck eggs. Despite raids by bears, raccoons, mink, rats, and crows, Smith Lake still had various lovely birds to choose from.

Here are the newest members of the Dark Creek gang...

From left to right: Latte, Coco Chanel, Mocha, Audrey, Brown Bomber (aka Joe)

The ducks have settled in beautifully and, so far, are getting along just fine with Perfect Man and Dynamo.

(Dynamo is the one in the front - you can tell by the few black feathers in his crest

and the fact he has a bit more white sprinkled across his back.)

It's good to see all our ducks in a row, trimming the grass in our small field.

Brown Bomber

Muscovy ducks are a cool breed, not related to any other breed of domestic duck (all of which seem to be related to the good old mallard). In fact, if you breed a Muscovy to any other duck breed you wind up with mules, sterile birds that are useful as pets or on the dinner table.

Not that Muscovy ducks are exempt from appearing on a platter. The breed is a heavy bird, not as fatty as some other duck breeds, and is used mostly for the table, though we have yet to use ours for anything other than eggs and entertainment. However, if we (or, rather, the duck girls) manage to produce some ducklings next year, we may reconsider this. We are trying hard to be more self-sufficient in the food department and have been supporting local, organic, free range, meat producers, but it would be even better to raise our own protein right here in our back yard.

Each week we give away a copy of a book related to our theme, so this week our prize is a copy of Keeping Ducks and Geese by Chris and Mike Ashton. To have your name entered into the draw for the book prize, send us an email at allpointswest[at]cbc.ca and let us know why you'd be interested in a book about ducks.

Missed the segment live? No problem - give Amanda at the CBC a day or two and then check the All Points West website for a link to the archived segment.

Note: If you are reading this on Facebook, you can get back to the rest of the Dark Creek Blog by clicking here.