Acknowledgement is the First Step in the Road to Recovery

I come from a family of quasi-hoarders.  We are not as bad as the hoarders on TV but I do empathize with their predicament.  Keeping too much stuff that you do not really need is a difficult tendency to manage.  You tell yourself you might use/need/read it someday, but really?  Will you?

The strangest thing about my family's hoarding is that we often hoard things that have to do with wood.  My cousin Matt hoards barn boards.  My father hoards, among other things, piles of old plywood and building materials.  My Grandpa Ed had all kinds of piles of old farm equipment and building supplies on his property back North.  

I hoard books.  They line my living room walls.  I call it my "library" to make it sound sophisticated but really, when it comes down to it, I have a wood related product hoarding problem too.

Baby Seamus in my "library".

To make matters worse, I married a wood hoarder.  I know, what are the odds?!  But, it is true. 

Ian hoards wood logs.  He claims they are fuel for his smoker and camp fires but the piles of these logs get in the way and never seem to go down.  Moreover, Ian is an "organized" hoarder.  He refuses to mix the different types of wood (apple wood with cherry wood with "junk" wood).  This means that his piles of wood must occupy different locations on our property.  For example, there is junk wood for camp fires under a canoe on the side of the house, apple wood in recycling boxes in front of the garage, and a pile of cherry wood on my front porch.  

Until yesterday.

I am on a crusade to make the front of our property look presentable from the road.  After all the tree trimming, gardening, and pressure washing I decided that random piles of hoarded wood in front of the house were no longer acceptable.  So I fixed the problem.

Along with my hereditary "wood products hoarding" gene, I have also inherited a "wood piling" gene.  Just last week, I got a photo from my Dad proudly displaying his winter wood pile at the cottage.  

My Dad's wood pile.

Finally, a time to put this gene to good use.  I relocated Ian's cherry wood pile from my front porch to the side of our yard, piled safely and dryly (his two prerequisites for wood relocation) under yet another canoe.  Did I mention Ian also hoards canoes?

My wood pile

The wood pile totally hidden.  Bet you cannot tell it is under there!

Honestly, I am not sure we are on the road to recovery from our wood products hoarding problem.  Come to think of it, maybe hiding our hoarding under a canoe is worse than displaying it in front of the house.  Am I encouraging wood hoarding in secret?  I may have created a monster.  All trees in the vicinity beware!

Let There Be Light

As the days get shorter, our hens lay fewer eggs. They lay best in the summer when the days are the longest. 

The avian reproductive cycle, which is how a hen produces eggs, is stimulated in poultry by increasing day light.  Egg production increases as day light increases.

This is because light stimulates a part of the hen's brain called the hypothalamus causing it to produce "releasing factors". These releasing factors stimulate the anterior pituitary to secrete hormones known as genadotrophins. Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Leutenizing Hormone (LH) are two genadotrophins produced by the anterior pituitary which affect the ovaries. FSH, and to a lessor degree LH, are responsible for normal ovarian follicular growth. As the follicles increase in size, they produce increasing amounts of estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone acts on LH - which then triggers ovulation. Once ovulation occurs, progesterone secretion decreases rapidly (Pesek 1999).  Ovulation is egg production.

 Hens reach their maximum egg laying potential when the day light reaches approximately 16 hours per day (Zadina & Scheideler 2004).

A lack of light can cause a hen's reproductive cycle to shut down, triggering her to cease egg production until spring when the natural day length will increase to sufficient levels once again.

To encourage our hens to continue to lay into the autumn and winter, I extend their day light by a few hours. I have read that artificial light should be added during the morning hours. Sudden darkness can cause chickens to panic and pile up in a corner resulting in suffocation.  By applying extra light in the morning rather than the evening, chickens will naturally go to roost with the setting of the sun.

The boys were excited to help me set up the light this year.

We hooked everything up and ta da!  There was light!

Now, we will see if egg production increases back to summer time levels. We got seven eggs yesterday and only five today.   I'll keep you posted.

References

Pesek, L. (1999). Avian Reproduction: Triggers and Hormonal Changes. Winged Wisdom. http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww34eiv.htm

Zadina, C. &  Scheideler, S. (2004). Proper Light Management for Your Home Laying Flock.  Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. University of Nebraska–Lincoln. https://www.hort.purdue.edu/tristate_organic/poultry_2007/Light%20Management.pdf

Does Our Compost Man Hate Me?

With gardening comes yard waste.  I have been doing a lot of gardening.  I have subsequently produced a lot of yard waste.  With the help of Grandma Susan and Grandpa Derrick, I bagged this yard waste and put it out for collection by the compost man.  There are a lot of bags at the end of my driveway.

I mean a lot.

Like, more than twenty.  The photo simply does not do it justice.

Our compost man stopped at our house.

He picked up our recycling.  He looked at the garden waste bags.  He looked at me.  He kept on driving.

The bags are still at the end of my driveway.  I am going to have to call somebody.

If You Give a Perfectionist a Pressure Washer...

How do you know it's been raining on the farm?

The wheelbarrow is full of water.

The chicken run has turned into a lake.

There are muddy dog prints all over the floor.

Rainy weather limits the options for outdoor chores.  However, today I figured - if I am going to get wet, I might as well get really wet!

Who knew that if you give a perfectionist a pressure washer, you will guarantee them six and a half hours of entertainment?  Really.  Never having pressure washed before, I did not realize that I was missing out on the most fun chore ever!  It is so easy - you literally wave a wand around, sometimes while standing on a ladder - and it provides immediate results.

My trusty tool of choice.
Thank you Grandpa Don for this amazing machine!

I got absolutely soaked but our house looks spectacular!  When the sun came out for a few precious minutes this afternoon, our house practically sparkled.

So clean.  Not a spider web in sight!

See? Sparkling clean.

Talk about gratifying.  If only every home maintenance activity could be so enjoyable. I wonder what else I can pressure wash...

Sunday Nutty Sunday

A few weeks ago we harvested nuts from our black walnut tree in the backyard.  They are a favourite of the squirrel so if we want any, we have to work fast.

Walnut in the tree.

Ha! We got them before the squirrel!

After removing the green outer shell, we dried the nuts.

Today we cracked them open!

They are incredibly hard.  We used a vice.

Liam helped.

Seamus tried to help.

 It was A LOT of work for meager returns.  No wonder black walnuts are considered a delicacy!

Cracked nuts

Black walnut (left). Regular walnut from the store (right).

Our yield.  Depressing, right? That is a snack size harvest - for a mouse!

They also did not taste that good.  I guess it would be worth it, if we were starving...maybe.  I think black walnuts might be like celery.  You burn more calories getting them into your stomach, that you do from the actual food itself.

We have decided to return the rest of the walnuts to our backyard squirrel. Bon appetit!

Preparing for the Rain

There is nothing like a nice dry barn on a cold, rainy night - if you are a sheep or a donkey, that is.  Today, the boys and I "scooped the poop".  That is code for mucking the barn and chicken coop.  

Chickens love days like this because they get a "freedom day".  With all the coop doors propped open, the hens and Beemster get to free range in the backyard in addition to the chicken run.  

This makes for very happy poultry but sad schnauzers.  The dogs are not allow in the backyard with the chickens due to their respective "conditions".  Charlotte follows the chickens around and eats their poop.  Emily tries to kill them.  Both are not helpful behaviours, in addition to being disgusting.

  

So clean

Sheep eating their bedding.
They prioritize a full tummy rather than a comfy sleeping spot.

Liam and I finished the coop just in time - it is starting to rain!

Who likes the rain best of all?  The ducks!

Getting Back to Work!

It is time to get caught up on some of the work around the farm before winter sets in.
Most of our animals are happy and healthy. Like Charlie here...

I am sad to report that our rooster Bolt dropped dead yesterday.  Not from neglect, I assure you.  It was more likely death by exhaustion induced by his constant philandering.  Beemster is now left to hold down the fort (aka chicken coop).

In my first few days off, I have pruned our grape vines, weeded and edged our vegetable garden, cleaned half of the windows in the house, and weeded half our flower beds.  For example:

After

Before

There is still so much left to do.  I will keep you posted on my progress as I get back to "work" (really, back to fun) on the farm.