Farm Action

Finally! Something to write about besides snow!

We have had a stretch of warm weather and it has really changed things up around here. After that long season of cold and quiet, we are just bursting with all the newness around us! Green is starting to show and the snow recedes noticeably over the day. There are new sounds of dripping water and the chatters of birds in the morning. Today we were delighted to find that there were cheerful robbins hopping all around our driveway! Unfortunately, in our great excitement we scared them away, but I am sure they will be back.

We have had some exciting farm developments in this last week.

This is the smaller pig (Flora). It looks to me like her belly has dropped. Its hard to see when she is lying down though. They are both looking uncomfortable, stretching lots and eating a little bit at a time all day. I was there not long ago and I have so much sympathy!

I have been taking time to sit with them everyday and just get them used to me being around. They are both due soon and I really would like my presence not to throw them into a tizzy. Slowly they have been making abit of progress, which I think is worth celebrating.



A few days ago one came and sniffed my pants. It doesn't sound very good but its certainly progress from where they were before. Then yesterday and the day before, I was able to give one a quick rub. She was just barely at the point of tolerating it but that is a start!

They can really disappear in the hay when they want to!

We also got our taxes finished up and all our numbers from our farming year tallied. We were really encouraged to see that we made our farm status amount with no problem.

It was hard when we went to pick up pigs. The area we got them from was a big farming area and the farm we went to was 7 quarter sections and known as the little farm in the area. We were driving through with such a desire to be full time farmers and seeing all the people with full time farm operations. It made it feel like such an impossible dream from where we are at.

So yesterday it was a really good feeling to see that we have grown from the previous year. Of course our farming goal is not just to make farm status, but just like with the pigs, you have to start somewhere and we are going to enjoy the journey!

Another really awesome farm development.
Last year we did our farm taxes with FBC which is a farm specific accounting group. They are there to help you all year round and we hoped we would be able to learn enough to do things ourselves in the future. As part of that we got a book keeping system that was really handy to use. This year we are doing things a little differently and don't have that book keeping system anymore. Matt took things into his own hands, and with some tech help from his parents, whipped up some incredible spread sheets.
I have been just raving about them for days! The are so easy to use! Everything calculates itself and you can tally everything by category (like pork, or eggs or hay), or customer or vendors.

Numbers are so important to running our farm as a business and this will allow us to easily keep track of ourselves, and because Matt made them, he can adjust them as we grow and change!

Now that he has revealed his spreadsheet skills I have some gardening spread sheets in mind for him to make...



I absolutely love days that we can go and work outside as a family, and we have had a couple of those recently.
The sun has warmed up the area that the horses have packed down and there is an extremely scoopable layer of manure that has thawed. We spent an afternoon just scooping and piling and dreaming about the compost it will make in the future. Who knew manure could be so exciting.

Little Filly has to be part of everything

Little girls cannot resist soft horse noses. Actually, I am not sure if anyone can...

Tex has been making a point of rolling in all this thawed manure. Some days he is wet and coated and absolutely reeks.

There is always time for petting cats

Little farm girl kept the horses busy and out of our way nearly the whole time

We could have gotten a lot more done this weekend but we got a little sidetracked. There is water melting and running and I just can't leave it alone. Its almost getting compulsive. I dig channels and free puddles, I join them all together and guide the rivers to the culvert. Even when Matt is talking to me, I can hardly take my eyes from these little rushing streams. I have spent far more time than necessary playing in this run off, and its strange because it doesn't feel like time wasted.



And I feel like I have connected with an old friend.

Yesterday I pulled out my favourite, most wonderful, trusty, steel toed rubber boots. All those days working on the farm together, slipping them on all warm and soft from the morning sun, slogging through whatever the world throws at us from the knees down.
Welcome to the world again Rubber Boots, lets see where this year takes us!