Canadiannee
Chillin' with the herd
I've been telling myself for years that I should be keeping a journal - but each year goes by and I don't... almost like those New Year's Resolutions we make but never stick with them! What a GREAT idea to have journaling within a forum, like having a diary that actually answers back!
To begin my journal, I've decided answering the suggested questions will work for me... Although I've done well responding to posts since joining Backyard Herds this week (I'm usually a "lurker" on forums), I'm actually a very shy person, I never like to put myself out there, and I think answering many of these questions will give me a little boost in confidence! *crossing fingers* So please bare with me while I journey into the world of journaling!
1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada which is in the southern part of Ontario. I'm about 2 hours north of the Niagara Falls border and 3 hours east of Windsor/Detroit border. Our climate here is cold in the winters and hot in the summers... but not as cold as our northern Ontario neighbours, which makes me happy... I'm not very tolerable of the severe cold or the severe heat, and would be happy to live with spring and autumn temperatures all year round!
2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
Oh, I am definitely married, although for a second marriage of 15 years, I still feel like we're newlyweds... something pretty darn wonderful about finding your soul mate the second time around! Right now we are a family of 3... my husband, our youngest son Sawyer and myself... My daughter Rae and her husband Stephane and our first Grandson "B" live in Edmonton, Alberta, and my middle son Caleb lives in Grande Prairie, Alberta...
3. How would you define your farm?
Sadly we lost our farm in the recession of 2008/09 - it was a real turning point in our lives and a very humbling experience, but the losses didn't outweigh the joy we have with our horses and livestock, and thus we lease two properties now; a horse facility for our horses (and take in boarders), and a second property across the road for our horse property which is home to our livestock... Our horse property is small, quaint and cute, lol, and our livestock property is enormous, and definitely not beautiful by any means... it's currently our newest renovation project.
4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
Oh golly, I think I am doing what I like to do best... my husband and I are project people, many years in the construction and renovation industry and building and creating is what we do in our spare time... If I took the projects out of the equation, I probably would spend more time riding northern Ontario and camping with our equine babes.
5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
Yes, we have built barns, houses and various types of buildings for ourselves and for others when we owned a construction company... Now I'm finding myself leaning towards the small house trend and showing individuals how to recycle and reclaim building materials to build tiny homes and reduce their debt.
6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
I remember when I was 18 years old and announced to my father that I wanted to become an underwater welder and he almost had a coronary when he shouted "My daughter is not going to be diving under ships and start talking like a longshoresman"... so I didn't pursure my dream of being an underwater welder and instead enrolled in college to become a Tool and Die Maker... I did learn the basics of all forms of welding during follow-up courses to my trade, but not enough to to call myself an expert... and years, and years after the fact, I'm not so certain I'd trust one of my joints to hold!
7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
This one is a toughie... My paternal side of my family have been in the Thoroughbred Racing industry since the 1930's, and my maternal side were all dog breeders... with that much influence, I don't suspect I could of survived childhood without being very passionate about animals and their welfare, care and management. We always had goats, chickens and rabbits on our farm, it was my parents belief that children should have responsibilities, and thus when I married and had children of my own, I wanted to raise my children with the same values and work ethics...
8 Is it a hobby or an occupation?
Our horses have always been our hobby... we were a family that rode together, trained together and shared a passion.... livestock was originally a hobby to fill our freezer and keep me supplied in eggs and milk, now it's become an occupation for myself and our youngest son... My husband works outside "barn life" and my son and I run the barns.
9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?
I'm an information "junkie", and have my little fingers in too many pots... I guess in some sense, I am a "Jill of all trades, but master of none", so in respect to that, I would like to learn the art of "slowing down"... it might not be in relation to gaining more knowledge, but it would certainly allow me to smell the roses more often!
10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
I don't think I could be a chicken farmer... I like having a small flock of poultry and fowl, but to raise and house them on a larger scale, it's definitely not for me!
11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
I am always interested in expanding my self-sufficent repoirtoire!
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?
I am always living on an off-grid property away from traffic, pollution and excessive noise, snuggled into our small log cabin cooking on my Findlay wood cookstove and looking out the kitchen window to gaze over our homestead. Husband is semi-retired and we're living a life of self-sufficiency and the personal rewards of being debt free!
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
Farm tractors yes, semi's no... I wouldn't trust me on the road with a semi!
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
Honestly, we get back to that project information seeker that I am... I have too many craft hobbies to list, and I'm an avid food prepper who enjoys revamping old recipes... Currently I have a leather working studio in our livestock barn where I tool leather and creat custom tack for horses and riders.
15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
Legally we can, although we do have to have a game license for quail and pheasants, and we're limited as small flock farmers to how many animals per flock we can have... We have goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, quail and pheasants...
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
Yes to both... having been a Tool and Die maker, I am an experienced lathe operator in metal... but at home here we have a lathe for our woodworking projects
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
My husband is more the gardener than I am, I'm more interested in the finished produce to can it, dehydrate it and store it!
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Would it count if I said we had rods and equipment? I have a love hate relationship with fishing... I love fishing for food value only, sitting in a boat or on the shore waiting for a bite tests my patience... I'm not a golfer neither for the same reason!
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?
Our livestock barn is 10,000 sq ft with 60 acres, and our horses property occupies 5 acres with a 4-stall barn and a 5-stall barn... both on the outskirts of a city which is moving in on farm land.
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?
?
21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
lol, our farm speciality seems to be manure! And honestly, I'd like to learn how NOT to produce so much of it!
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
The possibilities of this question are endless! It would be like creating a dream-job, and gosh, I couldn't decide!
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
Yes, yes, yes and yes...
24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?
I am interested in finding herbal remedies to replace our societies dependancy on pharmacuticals...whether for our animals sake or our own health.
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
I love the Maritime provinces of Canada... New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland. I like being near the ocean, but it's the small town and friendly communities that draw me in... some places feel like you're stepping back in time!
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
One of my dreams was to learn how to cook and bake on an old wood cookstove... it was a dream I had since I was a little girl when my Great-Aunt had one in her farm kitchen... This past October, my dream finally made reality when I purchased an 1922 Findlay Condor wood cookstove and installed it in our 35' camping trailer that sits at our horse barns... Christmas turkey and all the trimmings were cooked on that stove this year, and I do most of my bread baking on the cookstove while I'm working at the barns each day... It's definitely one of my greatest achievements, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for all woman who lived prior to electricity!
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
My ideal super hero is "Mother"... all Mothers... golly, the hats we wear!
28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals?
I'd say most of our family is interested in our animals, however, there are many friends and aquaintances that come to the barns wanting to see the cute baby bunnies and baby goats, and then ask the question "And what do you do with them?"... and when you say "eat them", the horror begins!
29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
There's not much I don't do in the kitchen... what we produce, we eat in one form or another...
30. What was your best animal experience? Worst?
I've had too many best experiences to keep track of or be able to point my finger and say "That was undoubtedly the BEST!", however, I've only ever had one real "worst" and that was back last July when a tree branch from a large tree on a neighbouring property fell down, crashed into our paddock fence, scaring a 9 month colt we had, who bolted into the heavy metal gated entrance into our arena, flipped over the gate, with his leg caught between gates and shattered both front legs before dying of shock... it was a horrific and tragic accident and a very gruesome discovery, in a million years, I will never forget arriving at the barns that night to do turn in and finding that gorgeous little colt twisted and dead in those gates. R.I.P Harlow!
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
We have numerous books on forging and hunting, but I suspect it'll be something we'll try come retirement time!
32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
I don't know if it's a skill, but I'm going to have to say "Interest"... I am interested in being as self-sufficent as possible, and therefore I am always reading and learning...
33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
Yes and yes, and I also dehydrate our produce for longer term storage.
34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
At this current time no... but solar and wind power are in our plans for next year.
35 What is on your to do list?
lol, it might be best to state what is on my "Honey Do" list Sometimes my husband and I are our own worse enemies when it comes to piling on the projects and having a long "to do" list... Currently we are doing a full structural and interior renovation on the 10,000 sq ft barn, and we just agreed to take on a demolition of a 3-car garage in order to recycle the materials for use in the barn renovation... jeepers, I'm sure if we could squeeze a few extra hours out of the day, we'd take on building the superdome!
36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
No... we've gotten pretty close, but there's just some things that make it impossible, like toilet paper and umm, womanly necessities...
37. In what do you trust?
God
38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?
Long live the DIYer! Pre-recession, I was a "if it's broke, replace it kind girl", post-recession, it now goes on the "Honey-Do" list... if it can be fixed or recycled into something else... I'm all for it!
39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits
I can't see anyone who owns animals or raises livestock not having their attitudes or habits changed... I don't necessarily like getting up at 4am every morning to begin the morn chores, I'm a night owl, I love the quiet serenity and peace I find staying up late while husband and children are fast asleep in dreamland and I can read or work on something quietly by myself... but it's a part of our lifestyle, lol, and if I could teach our animals to tend to themselves, I'd sleep in a few extra hours!
And speaking for 4am roll call... that's it for me! Sweet Dreams!
To begin my journal, I've decided answering the suggested questions will work for me... Although I've done well responding to posts since joining Backyard Herds this week (I'm usually a "lurker" on forums), I'm actually a very shy person, I never like to put myself out there, and I think answering many of these questions will give me a little boost in confidence! *crossing fingers* So please bare with me while I journey into the world of journaling!
1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?
I live in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada which is in the southern part of Ontario. I'm about 2 hours north of the Niagara Falls border and 3 hours east of Windsor/Detroit border. Our climate here is cold in the winters and hot in the summers... but not as cold as our northern Ontario neighbours, which makes me happy... I'm not very tolerable of the severe cold or the severe heat, and would be happy to live with spring and autumn temperatures all year round!
2. How many people are in your family? Marital status?
Oh, I am definitely married, although for a second marriage of 15 years, I still feel like we're newlyweds... something pretty darn wonderful about finding your soul mate the second time around! Right now we are a family of 3... my husband, our youngest son Sawyer and myself... My daughter Rae and her husband Stephane and our first Grandson "B" live in Edmonton, Alberta, and my middle son Caleb lives in Grande Prairie, Alberta...
3. How would you define your farm?
Sadly we lost our farm in the recession of 2008/09 - it was a real turning point in our lives and a very humbling experience, but the losses didn't outweigh the joy we have with our horses and livestock, and thus we lease two properties now; a horse facility for our horses (and take in boarders), and a second property across the road for our horse property which is home to our livestock... Our horse property is small, quaint and cute, lol, and our livestock property is enormous, and definitely not beautiful by any means... it's currently our newest renovation project.
4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed?
Oh golly, I think I am doing what I like to do best... my husband and I are project people, many years in the construction and renovation industry and building and creating is what we do in our spare time... If I took the projects out of the equation, I probably would spend more time riding northern Ontario and camping with our equine babes.
5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to?
Yes, we have built barns, houses and various types of buildings for ourselves and for others when we owned a construction company... Now I'm finding myself leaning towards the small house trend and showing individuals how to recycle and reclaim building materials to build tiny homes and reduce their debt.
6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet?
I remember when I was 18 years old and announced to my father that I wanted to become an underwater welder and he almost had a coronary when he shouted "My daughter is not going to be diving under ships and start talking like a longshoresman"... so I didn't pursure my dream of being an underwater welder and instead enrolled in college to become a Tool and Die Maker... I did learn the basics of all forms of welding during follow-up courses to my trade, but not enough to to call myself an expert... and years, and years after the fact, I'm not so certain I'd trust one of my joints to hold!
7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer?
This one is a toughie... My paternal side of my family have been in the Thoroughbred Racing industry since the 1930's, and my maternal side were all dog breeders... with that much influence, I don't suspect I could of survived childhood without being very passionate about animals and their welfare, care and management. We always had goats, chickens and rabbits on our farm, it was my parents belief that children should have responsibilities, and thus when I married and had children of my own, I wanted to raise my children with the same values and work ethics...
8 Is it a hobby or an occupation?
Our horses have always been our hobby... we were a family that rode together, trained together and shared a passion.... livestock was originally a hobby to fill our freezer and keep me supplied in eggs and milk, now it's become an occupation for myself and our youngest son... My husband works outside "barn life" and my son and I run the barns.
9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more?
I'm an information "junkie", and have my little fingers in too many pots... I guess in some sense, I am a "Jill of all trades, but master of none", so in respect to that, I would like to learn the art of "slowing down"... it might not be in relation to gaining more knowledge, but it would certainly allow me to smell the roses more often!
10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do?
I don't think I could be a chicken farmer... I like having a small flock of poultry and fowl, but to raise and house them on a larger scale, it's definitely not for me!
11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply?
I am always interested in expanding my self-sufficent repoirtoire!
12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world?
I am always living on an off-grid property away from traffic, pollution and excessive noise, snuggled into our small log cabin cooking on my Findlay wood cookstove and looking out the kitchen window to gaze over our homestead. Husband is semi-retired and we're living a life of self-sufficiency and the personal rewards of being debt free!
13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?
Farm tractors yes, semi's no... I wouldn't trust me on the road with a semi!
14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these?
Honestly, we get back to that project information seeker that I am... I have too many craft hobbies to list, and I'm an avid food prepper who enjoys revamping old recipes... Currently I have a leather working studio in our livestock barn where I tool leather and creat custom tack for horses and riders.
15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?
Legally we can, although we do have to have a game license for quail and pheasants, and we're limited as small flock farmers to how many animals per flock we can have... We have goats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, quail and pheasants...
16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood?
Yes to both... having been a Tool and Die maker, I am an experienced lathe operator in metal... but at home here we have a lathe for our woodworking projects
17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing?
My husband is more the gardener than I am, I'm more interested in the finished produce to can it, dehydrate it and store it!
18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives?
Would it count if I said we had rods and equipment? I have a love hate relationship with fishing... I love fishing for food value only, sitting in a boat or on the shore waiting for a bite tests my patience... I'm not a golfer neither for the same reason!
19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country?
Our livestock barn is 10,000 sq ft with 60 acres, and our horses property occupies 5 acres with a 4-stall barn and a 5-stall barn... both on the outskirts of a city which is moving in on farm land.
20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?
?
21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn?
lol, our farm speciality seems to be manure! And honestly, I'd like to learn how NOT to produce so much of it!
22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take?
The possibilities of this question are endless! It would be like creating a dream-job, and gosh, I couldn't decide!
23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet?
Yes, yes, yes and yes...
24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine?
I am interested in finding herbal remedies to replace our societies dependancy on pharmacuticals...whether for our animals sake or our own health.
25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be?
I love the Maritime provinces of Canada... New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland. I like being near the ocean, but it's the small town and friendly communities that draw me in... some places feel like you're stepping back in time!
26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking?
One of my dreams was to learn how to cook and bake on an old wood cookstove... it was a dream I had since I was a little girl when my Great-Aunt had one in her farm kitchen... This past October, my dream finally made reality when I purchased an 1922 Findlay Condor wood cookstove and installed it in our 35' camping trailer that sits at our horse barns... Christmas turkey and all the trimmings were cooked on that stove this year, and I do most of my bread baking on the cookstove while I'm working at the barns each day... It's definitely one of my greatest achievements, and I have nothing but admiration and respect for all woman who lived prior to electricity!
27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be?
My ideal super hero is "Mother"... all Mothers... golly, the hats we wear!
28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals?
I'd say most of our family is interested in our animals, however, there are many friends and aquaintances that come to the barns wanting to see the cute baby bunnies and baby goats, and then ask the question "And what do you do with them?"... and when you say "eat them", the horror begins!
29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs?
There's not much I don't do in the kitchen... what we produce, we eat in one form or another...
30. What was your best animal experience? Worst?
I've had too many best experiences to keep track of or be able to point my finger and say "That was undoubtedly the BEST!", however, I've only ever had one real "worst" and that was back last July when a tree branch from a large tree on a neighbouring property fell down, crashed into our paddock fence, scaring a 9 month colt we had, who bolted into the heavy metal gated entrance into our arena, flipped over the gate, with his leg caught between gates and shattered both front legs before dying of shock... it was a horrific and tragic accident and a very gruesome discovery, in a million years, I will never forget arriving at the barns that night to do turn in and finding that gorgeous little colt twisted and dead in those gates. R.I.P Harlow!
31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs?
We have numerous books on forging and hunting, but I suspect it'll be something we'll try come retirement time!
32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm?
I don't know if it's a skill, but I'm going to have to say "Interest"... I am interested in being as self-sufficent as possible, and therefore I am always reading and learning...
33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve?
Yes and yes, and I also dehydrate our produce for longer term storage.
34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?
At this current time no... but solar and wind power are in our plans for next year.
35 What is on your to do list?
lol, it might be best to state what is on my "Honey Do" list
Sometimes my husband and I are our own worse enemies when it comes to piling on the projects and having a long "to do" list... Currently we are doing a full structural and interior renovation on the 10,000 sq ft barn, and we just agreed to take on a demolition of a 3-car garage in order to recycle the materials for use in the barn renovation... jeepers, I'm sure if we could squeeze a few extra hours out of the day, we'd take on building the superdome! 36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?
No... we've gotten pretty close, but there's just some things that make it impossible, like toilet paper and umm, womanly necessities...
37. In what do you trust?
God
38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?
Long live the DIYer! Pre-recession, I was a "if it's broke, replace it kind girl", post-recession, it now goes on the "Honey-Do" list... if it can be fixed or recycled into something else... I'm all for it!
39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits
I can't see anyone who owns animals or raises livestock not having their attitudes or habits changed... I don't necessarily like getting up at 4am every morning to begin the morn chores, I'm a night owl, I love the quiet serenity and peace I find staying up late while husband and children are fast asleep in dreamland and I can read or work on something quietly by myself... but it's a part of our lifestyle, lol, and if I could teach our animals to tend to themselves, I'd sleep in a few extra hours!
And speaking for 4am roll call... that's it for me! Sweet Dreams!
