a gal and a truck

in 2005 we needed a new car- the van was dying (a million miles on her but the body was the BIG problem) and I thought we'd go with another van. Somehow Big T convinced me to look at trucks instead and we ended up with a Ford Ranger. We got the one truck in Ontario that had NO Bells and Whistles at all. She's standard, the windows roll up by hand, there is no air conditioning - NADA. Big T was going to drive it sometimes - then he realized it didn't fit into the cheapo parking he found for himself so somehow what I thought was his mid life crisis (a little early) became my primary means of transport.
Most of the time I LOVE her. She's blue and driving standard has never bothered me. Air conditioning would be nice about twice a year. Now that we have Vareharri it is so PRACTICAL. Loads of wood, straw whatever already get tossed in the back - a quick sweep and we are back in business. (Apart from in really cold weather it's also a great car to set up at agility trials). She's solid, she's safe, she's not so huge I can't park her...
YAY for Big T 's miserly ways! Or maybe he was seeing into our future?

YET MORE WOOD

warmer today than last week so we couldn't get as deep into the land easily (I dread getting the truck stuck in mud!) but we were able to cut a tree already down along a fence line .. yet another truck full of wood

seems to me that wood is one of those chores that is never done ..wish we'd started when we'd had the 7 acres - now we have a LOT to do

oh well hopefully we'll get a few more half days of wood done this fall then we won't have to think about it at all til next fall

the dogs think it's great - they run and run and stay way the heck away from the chain saw

another load of wood

Sunday we went to to woodlot and Big T cut three trees into manageable chunks to fill the truck with wood to be cut further at the schoolhouse.

Three different kinds of trees so we'll have a nice range of fuel for the stove.

The dogs had a blast - well Hank, Sally and Fitz did - Brody just tagged along at my heels most of the day enjoying the moment as is so typical of him.

it's chilly out ...

and our fire is ROARING and working hard to heat our place...

and we are finally getting the hang of the firewooding thing here ...

today we filled the back of the truck in less than an hour with dead fall from our woodlot - just awesome work - Big T runs his snazzy saw and chops wood into lengths that lend themselves well to being either once or twice back in the driveway - I haul it to the truck and load it - and the dogs run around having a great time

and here is out chainsaw (pretty much - not the actual saw you'll understand I'm sure)


it really is cool to get the teamwork thing down and have all the equipment cooperate too!

the pond is lightly frozen - we should able to slide on it by next weekend unless the weather warms up (gosh I hope so - I could really use a half day in the garden again!)

on being self sustaining...

Been thinking lots..always dangerous in some ways but I'd love to move firmly towards a more "zero mile" diet as I have heard self sustance being referred to lately.
Our garden is a good source of things (in season) rasberries, asparagus, tomatos, rhubarb, peas, beans, lettuce, dill, coriander,chives, basil, thyme, garlic, and I know we can do more pretty easily: potatos, sweet potatos, carrots, pumpkins, squash, peppers, zuchini, maybe even eggplant (I really should start liking veggies more)

but we can zero mile diet other stuff too - eggs, mushrooms, honey, maple syrup and probably a million things I haven't even thought of yet...

I can't wait for eggs from zero miles...

it's a Royal time of year

every year at this time Canada's largest indoor agricultural fair opens it's doors in Toronto. I've been attending the show since I was a little tiny human and have perhaps missed 3 years at the fair (if I couldn't get home from university)

my eyes were open in a new way this year - I was on a quest for useful information for our farm.. there were lots of exhibits I thought would be useful - chickens, goats, maple syrup, chickens, produce...
the info was interesting but geared to a consumer market ...
I got a few interesting web sites and fell in love with Vanner horses
saw some show jumping and bought dog coats ..but got a LOT less information than I expected.

the path is cleared

the pond field lane way looks beautiful

we have a lead on an atv

the roof of our schoolhouse has been repainted (and looks FABULOUS)

we got the chainsaw running

I have more than half the veggie garden ready for winter (and may be out of time for the rest of it - yikes!)

and things just chug along...

it just ticks me off

In the last two weeks I've pulled 7 ticks off the dogs...

YUCK, BLECH and GROSS

the last two were deeply embedded right in Fitz and Brody's eyebrows - they weren't too impressed with holding still enough for me to do the long slow pull that convinces ticks to let go without leaving little biting bits stuck in the dog ... however we did it ...

most of the ticks have mostly been a skin coloured tag - big but not INCREDIBLE - one was a HUGE black engorged thing that was STUCK on Hank - it took nearly 5 minutes of steady slow pulling to convince that thing to release it's grip...honetly it was bigger than a raisin ...

just like the one pictured - EEEEEEEEEUUUWWWWWWWWWWWWWW



off to learn more about ticks - and symptoms of all the diseases they carry ...

until the last two weeks I had seen two ticks - one of our foster dog at the time, Cassie, and one on Sally ...both happened last summer... makes me want to cut all the grass on the farm to lawn length!