The snow finally stopped falling by 6 am. The final count: 14 inches.
A family tradition.
My Thanksgiving Feast!
Steak tacos, with woodstove-heated shells, apple cider, and chocolate coconut custard for dessert!
I hope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoying the time spent together. I am thankful for all my friends and my family. I love you and miss you all.
I woke up this morning to a snowstorm. And by dinner time, there was about 10 inches that had accumulated and it was still coming down. It's supposed to get worse tonight and pile up to well over a foot! Quite a storm if I say so myself! It made for a long, cold workday! Everything just takes longer when you're dealing with that much snow. There were drifts of it in certain spots well over my knees. But I stayed dry and warm in my new insulated boots. I just need to invest in some snowshoes methinks...
Gordon and I went to town after chores. Our first stop was Tim's of course. Gotta get that coffee warm up! I sprung for a large today. Felt like a large coffee kinda day. It probably wasn't the best day to be out driving around. On our way back home, Gordon looked over at me and said, "This day isn't fit for any man, bird or beast and yet here are two fools out drivin around!"
We got home safe and sound and then he headed home early since there was little more work to be done. I did the remainder of the chores and feeding and then went off into the wild to brave the storm and check my traps.
The box sets were completely covered with snow and had about 4 inches piled on top of them. It made them pretty hard to find. Not something I had accounted for when I was making sets last night. But I found them all and, sadly, they were all empty. We'll see how we fair tonight.
On my way back to the house I ventured in to the pine forest. It's quite a neat little spot. It's the Fangorn of Nova Scotia. If you follow that trail in, you'll never make it back out alive...
I do like it in there. The storm was getting stronger and the sky grew darker so I decided it was time to pack it in and head back to the house.
If you click on the picture and look closely, you can see the lights on in the house. It's like my own, personal, motel 6! But less sketchy and much cleaner!
I made it to the warm house and sat by the fire while I ate my supper. Two grilled cheese and peanut butter sandwiches that I dipped in a bowl of hot tomato soup. I swear it was like a Campbell's commercial!
It was quite an adventurous afternoon and a new and exciting weather experience. The snow will probably stick around for quite sometime, seeing as it wont be above 5C for the next week or so. I hope everyone is having a good Thanksgiving Eve down there in the lower 48!
It's becoming more difficult for me to keep this updated during the work week so please accept my most sincere apologies! I'll do the best I can!
I had a pile of change sitting on my window ledge and I found a loonie and a toonie so I thought i'd share!
It's been a long week, full of projects and feeding and all the regular farm chores. No trips into town this week. They weren't lying before when they said it really is a special occasion.
Thursday evening, as I was sitting in my attic getaway, I looked over at the reading lamp in the southwest corner of the room to see 2 teeny tiny spiders making a home underneath the lampshade. While trying to snap a close up of them, they ran up their webs to hide under the shade.
It's nice to have some companions up here, though.
This is what I woke up to, out my window, Friday morning.
The first REAL snow of the season! It dropped about 2 inches overnight. It made working, shall we say, interesting. It started turning to slush by the afternoon and the pastures were reduced to fields of mud. Getting the tractor and trailer out through the pasture I was workin in that day was quite the challenge.
Here is a video of the snow and the sky. Basically, a moving version of the picture above. I just like hearing the birds.
This morning I woke up and did chores and got everything prepped for tomorrow so the feeding of the animals can kind of be on autopilot. Beth comes over and does the barn chores in the morning; I made up 10 bowls of dog food today so we can just put food out for all the dogs tonight and tomorrow; and then all I have to do is make sure the cows have water and change them over to fresh pasture. So that's kinda how I can make Sunday my day off and just coast through. It makes it real nice, though.
I was finished with all the chores and prep work this morning by noon. I had the rest of the afternoon off. The sun had come out and just about melted all the snow. But by the looks of the clouds that rolled in this evening, we'll probably have more snow by morning. Since the day was still young and I really had no set plans, I got to thinkin about what I should do with my free time. So I thought about it and finally decided to do what any farm boy does with an afternoon off. Skin a mink of course! And that's precisely what I did.
I broke out my brand new Case Trapper Skinning Knife; With the bone yellow finished handle and chrome vanadium razor sharp blades. She cut like a dream! I case skinned the mink and it turned out really nice! The eye holes stayed in tact and I cut around the ears perfectly! (I'm really only saying those things for Mike's benefit who I know will be proud when he reads this haha) I rolled the fur up and put it in the freezer to store until I get some other furs and have a tanning day. As for the carcass, I saved it and i'll use it to bait some of my other traps! I was really pleased with how the knife handled, even on a critter this small.
After the skinning fun, I did some work on rigging up some bucket traps. I found some old buckets in the barn that weren't being used and commandeered them for my own purposes. The way a bucket set works is you take a bucket and you put bait in the back of it. You lay the bucket on its side out wherever you are setting the trap and you place a Conibear trap in the mouth of the bucket. When the animal sticks it's head in the bucket to go for the bait, it hits the trap and sets it off and the trap closes on it and kills it instantly. One of the most humane methods of trapping. Dead before they know it. Plus it makes it real easy gathering the furs. They're already dead when you get there so you can just gather em up and reset the bucket!
I ended up modifying 7 buckets total. One for each of my 220 Conibears. After a little bit of figuring and measuring I rigged em up in no time. My primary target species with these sets is coon. I'm stoked to set em out tomorrow and see how they go!
As for this evening, I'll probably go grill up one my round steaks I set out to thaw this morning, have a nice supper, and then just relax and enjoy the night off.
Sunday is pancake day. I get the day off and I get up and make a stack of them golden brown lumberjack cakes and cover em in some maple syrup Beth gave me that was tapped from the maple trees right here in our woods!
You know what the secret to cooking is? I'm gonna lay it on you. You ready? Low heat, slow cooked. Simmer all things and you can't lose. You can always add heat if you need it. Blows your mind, don't it? Food tastes better when it ain't burned! Turnsout!
I don't know if anyone really cared to see me cooking my breakfast. It's a slow news day if you couldn't tell! Not much going on on the day off!
Breakfast on the Ponderosa!
Milk, Tea, Pancakes, Local Natural Smoked Bacon, Ham and Cheese Mini-Frittata.
Anyways, after all that I went walking in the woods. A bit of exploring and adventuring. The weather here has been perfect. Upper 60's and sunny. You just can't go no better. They say this is unusual for this time of year. It gets down in the teens at night. I just don't get the weather here. I'm ready for some snow and some cold. Fall has lingered long enough.
I'll be settin traps soon. I was walking the woods today, scouting the land and planning my trapline. It's gonna be great. I need to break that mule so I can ride her through the woods to check my line...
They also tell me i'll need snowshoes. Give me some bamboo and rawhide and i'll make my own!
A song for my old man. It's a dang good tune. I heard it on the radio today on the way home from town and it made me think of him and I thought it'd be something he'd enjoy! So there ya go pops! Don't say I never gave ya nothin!
Gordon's always telling me stories. Cowboy Poetry, he calls it. He likes to read a lot of them, memorize them and then recite them. We'll be out working and I'll say something that triggers one and off he goes! They're great and have me rollin all day long. He writes them too and he likes to tell me those as well. He's really good at them and I told him he needs to write his own book of Cowboy Poetry! I'll see if I can get him to recite one on video one of these days...
Speaking of cowboys, I felt like a real live one this afternoon. It was the end of the work day and Gordon and I decided we'd go down and check on the horses. Among the horses there is a mule by the name of Chloe. I've been looking for a steed to ride around the farm so I thought, "Well as long as I hold my legs up so my feet don't drag on the ground, I think this little mule will be perfect." She only stands a little taller than waist high so I had Gordon hold her head and I hopped up on her back. No saddle, bridle or reins. Not nothin.
"Hey Gordy. Whatd'ya think'll happen if you let go of her head?"
"You're about to find out, my boy!"
So he let go...and off she took right down the fence line. And I'm bumpin and bouncin all over the place and holding on to what little mane she has on her and she finally got to the end of the pasture and stopped.
"That's a good girl, Chloe. Nice and easy. Let's turn around now."
So she turned..and off she went! This time much faster and she broke into a gallop and started buckin all over the place...and off I went! Threw me off sideways into the pasture and I hit the ground rollin!
By the time I got to my feet, Gordon was doubled over. I don't think the man had laughed so hard in all his days. It brought tears to his eyes.
So that was my afternoon of excitement here on the farm. I'll break that Chloe, don't you worry. And I'll be ridin around Canada on my mule. In to town to get my groceries. Stop by the coffee shop, sprinkle some oats on the sidewalk to keep her from runnin off. Get all dressed up and ride over to church on Sunday. Tie her to the welcome sign! It'll be great!
As for this evenin, I think i'll do a little light bedtime reading up here in my cabin.
We'll be slaughtering one of the bulls within the month, so i'm brushing up on my skills and techniques. On-the-farm processing is the best. Keeps the animal stress free and produces the best meat, especially since all our beef is 100% grass fed. No grain, no corn, no additives.
From good soil nutrients to T-bone supper, right here in our backyard.
It's been a peaceful day. The weather has been perfect. The sun is out and it's just the right amount of warm. Gordy and I took a trip into town this morning. Our list was long and our stops were many. Starting with the most important thing: our cup of coffee and morning muffin. In town we got food for all the animals, food for me (eggs, peanut butter, bacon, soap and batteries. You know, the essentials) vaccine's for the puppies, and a stop at the post office. It took us the better part of the morning but it's always a good time when me and the old fella take a trip to town and take a break from the farm routine. When we got home, the chores were waitin for us. We figured they'd go ahead and do themselves while we were gone but we figured wrong, I guess.
Fur Report: 2 mice were taken yesterday. One, in the trap I set in my bedroom. The other, I found dead in my rubber boot out in the wood shed. I went to dump the straw out of my boot before I put it on that morning and out fell the little mouse, dead on the ground. Easiest 10 cent I ever did make!
I thought it finally time for a quick video tour of The Realm. It's rough and my narration is terrible as usual but please bear with me! These vids are just to give you a visual reference point of where I am when I talk about places on the farm. As time goes on, i'll try to show more in-depth footage of the buildings and places in other videos.
I broke it up into two parts to make the upload a little faster and also to keep my ramblings from seeming so endless! I'll pre-apologize for this one. It's a tad shaky there at the beginning but it gets better, I promise!
And there you have it. Those are the main locations on the farm and a very basic view of the property. There are so many other cool little places on the land that I'll show in due time. I do like Boss a lot, though. He's one cool bull. I bring him an apple every now and then and scratch his big ole head.
At the end of the day, I like to go sit on the top of the hill, at the northeast corner of the horse pasture, overlooking the lower 30.
From there, I look out and watch the colors change in the sky as the day turns to night.
It's such a peaceful and quiet time, enjoying the entertainment that is, creation and relaxing on the soft hillside after a long day's work.
Sitting out there seems to make everythin alright.
This afternoon I had the pleasure of going over to Beth and Doug's house next door. It's a pretty nice day today so we thought it might be the last time before winter to press apples to make cider. They usually do it in October but there were still some apples on their trees for me to use. I climbed up their trees and shook most of the apples down. They have an apple press Doug acquired from a good friend of his that was patented in 1921. Still works like a beauty. You feed the apples into the hopper on the top and you turn the hand crank and it shaves them down into pieces that you press with the hand press on the end of the little machine.
Pretty legit little operation we had going. From the 50 or so pounds of apples we pressed we ended up with about 6 gallons of apple cider. Once it drains into the pan sitting on the ground, you strain it through a cheesecloth once or twice and then pour it in your half gallon jugs. It worked beautifully and now I'll have a sipping drink to get me through til spring!
As for the mink.
While we were making cider, we saw a small black mink running around the yard. It was making straight for the chicken coop and trying to terrorize Beth's laying hens. So Beth wanted Doug to shoot it and get rid of it. He went and got his 12 gauge and followed it into the barn. When he went to open the stall door, it stuck its head out from under the door and instead of shooting a hole in his barn floor, Doug hit it on the head with the butt of his gun. Killed it dead.
I asked them if I could keep it. They were more than happy for me to take it off their hands. I'll skin it out and add it to my fur collection at the end of the season. See if I can't make myself a coat.
6 gallons of fresh apple cider and one dead mink. I don't think it could get much better than that! What a day! I was one happy fella, I tell ya what!
I walked on home with all my spoils from a good afternoon's work and put everything in my deep freezer to store, mink and all.
A few snowflakes came down this mornin when I was out doing chores and feeding the bulls. A cold front from the north blew in last night. It should be nicer next week. But I am kinda ready for some snow...I'm told i'm not supposed to wish for snow because it'll be here and then it never goes away and everyone ends up hating it. But i'm ready for it! As my brother would say, "It's time to break out the snuggly buggly carhartt bo!"
I hung my traps yesterday! They look so nice and ready to be set to bring in some fur! Gotta keep warm up here.
I even hung my indoor traps.
Just picked these bad boys up this afternoon. You can't just get em anywhere. These are special made mini-flat conibear's for bringing in some of the smallest, finest fur in the northeast. I hear talk they're buyin these pelts for a nickel a pop! Good thing my room and the kitchen and the woodshed and the garage and the crawl space are full of em. I won't even need to do chores anymore with that kinda cash flow. I may even make a coat out of em. We'll see. I'll bait these suckers up with peanut butter and set em out tonight. I've been followin the scat trails for days now. Should be no trouble to bring in some fur.
This evening I walked down to one of the horse paddocks at sunset to see the view from the south mountain.
It's pretty magnificent.
Tomorrow I'm off duty and get to sleep in. PLUS we turn the clocks back tonight. Oh sweet fate, how you shine down upon me with your extra hour of sleep.
No, not the band (although they sure do play a few good toe tappers!). It is getting colder. Below freezing in the mornings and as soon as the sun falls behind the north mountain in the evenings, the temperature drops. There's nothing like getting all bundled up in your coat and lacing up your insulated work boots to go out and work in the morning cold; frost covering the fields; clouds of breath coming out of your mouth and nose.
I took that picture out of my bedroom window the other morning. The sky was overcast and the cold wind blew but the cows didn't seem to mind one bit.
The days seem to roll on by. In a good way. I love the work and the land and all the critters in my care taking. Even the puppies who take up half of my bathroom floor and squeak and squeal all through the night.
Tomorrow, I'll be heading over to the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) to meet up with our neighbor, Beth, who works there. She invited me to come help them with the salmon spawning process going on right now at the hatchery. Sounds like an interesting afternoon and a good opportunity to catch some supper!
For those of you who thought that last video of my bedroom was really where I stayed (Nate haha) Are you kiddin me?! Do I look like a broken glasses wearing, stick waving, scarred boy who lives on privet drive? I think not. Here is the real video tour.
See, an actual, human living space. Not a broom cupboard. As time goes on I'll go outside and show more of the farm, see all the buildings and meet some of the animals like Draco, the prized stallion or Boss, the bull!
