WEEK 8: Slow week

It's been a chilly lingering winter.  Not that we get the sub zero temperatures here in this part of Ontario, but because we are close to Lake Erie we often get a high humidity which leads to it being so darn damp outside.

The only accomplishment we had this week was putting a door on the north side of the chicken coup so we can easily open that side of the coup for cleaning. 

Pretty soon we will be ordering our chickens!

An almost complete chicken coup.  The only thing we have left to build is a ramp leading to the door, nesting boxes, and a roosting bar.

WEEK 7: Chickens, rabbits, and seed pots OH MY!

This week we had a day that was fairly mild (hovering around 0 Celsius) so we decided to place the steel roof on the chicken coop, along with some some 1/2 inch galvanized wire mesh on the window and on the back of the coop.

Steel roof now placed on the chicken coop.  The orange flagging tape was so that Aaron would stop hitting his forehead on the sides of the chicken coop...which he almost did twice...he managed to do it only once.

The east side of the chicken coop that is right next to the shed.

Now we can open the window in the summertime to keep our chickens nice and cool :D

 



We also have had a lot of cottontails on our property since we can remember. They frequently feed underneath the bird feeder just after sunset with up to 5 individuals seen at one given time. Aaron took full advantage of the situation and shot 2 cottontails to cook up before the season ends.

A brace of coneys!

Aaron has had experience with cleaning mink, so he went to cleaning the pair of rabbits like a pro.  However, there was the question of how to cook them?  In the end we decided to make hossenfeffer. 

Here are the steps we used:

-soak in water and salt for 24 hours
-drain the water and rinse the rabbit
-quarter the rabbit
-soak in pickling brine for 24 hours (vinegar, salt, pepper cloves, onion, garlic and mustard seed)
-rinse and dry rabbit
-dredge in flour and pan fry until golden brown
-transfer to the pot and cover with reserved pickle brine and simmer for 1-4 hours (we did an hour)
-remove from heat and stir in some sour cream
-serve with mushrooms and rice...yum!

Straight off the stove we were not sure if we like it or not, as every bite seemed to taste a little different. The next day, after reheating individual servings in the microwave, the flavour seemed to be evenly distributed in the meat and we really enjoyed it!

Out of both bunnies, we only saved one hide as the other one was very thin, and was falling apart while skinning the rabbit

The only other activity this week was making more seed pots.  In 2 weeks we are going to begin propagating in the basement :D

WEEK 6: Seed Order Has Arrived

February has come in with snow and a cold chill.  This is a stark contrast to last winter here in southwestern Ontario when we didn't have a winter whatsoever.  A lot of indoor activities to be had this week including more seed pot tubes and thinking ahead for the spring in summer.

Our seed order arrived this week! We will have enough seeds for this year, and the following year.  Expanding the garden is a must now.

WEEK 5: Seed Starting Pots

After ordering enough seeds to feed an army, we are beginning to slowly collect newspapers and create seed pots so as to start our crop downstairs on the growing shelves.  We started off by cuttting newspapers into strips.  Placing a strip on the counter, we would spray water on it with a spray bottle until soaked. To add extra duarability, another strip of newspaper is layed on top and soak it as well. Taking a pill bottle, the paper is loosely rolled up to form a tube.  Lastly, we placed our tubes into a tray to dry.

 

 

Later, we will plant our seeds in soil that will be placed inside the tubes. When they are ready to transfer into the garden, the whole tube will go into the ground and eventually the newsprint will breakdown in the soil. The tubes of course, are open on the bottom for the roots to go down into the earth.

Total Cost: $0.00

WEEK#3 and WEEK #4: Chicken Coop and Seed Order

It's been awhile since we have posted, so here is an update.

During week 3 we saw our yearly January thaw. Almost all of the snow melted and Aaron used this opportunity to work on the chicken coop some more.

He installed the front, south, and back wall, along with the roof sheathing.  The window was donated by Marianne's parents, along with the steel roof.  Unfortunately, these January waves of warm air also brought high winds, so the steel roof is still in our garage.

 

 

The Chicken coop really starting to look like....A Chicken Coop :)

 

This week we also put in our order with the Ontario Seed Company.  Currently, we have a garden that is approximately 12 X 35 feet in diameter.  In 2012 the garden yielded Roma Tomatoes, Beefstake Tomatoes, Green Bell Peppers, Butternut and Acorn Squash, and Cabbage.  This year we ordered:

 

Green Beans

Golden Wax Beans

Beets

Cabbage

Carrots

Red Onions

Red and Orange Bell Peppers

Peas

Rutabaga

Spinach

Zucchini

Acorn Squash

Beefstake Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Roma Tomatoes

Asparagus

Edible Soybeans

Oregano

Sweet Basil Lemon

 

We also picked up some .25 cent seed packs from Canadian Tire that included Romaine, Mesculin and Leaf Lettuce.  We also have some saved seeds from last year's Butternut Squash.

 

Looking at this list, we may have to expand the garden a little bit this year.

 

We also have a back field that primarily consists of grass, along with some Golden Rod, Common Milkweed, some Strawberry, Sumac and Ragweed.  We ordered some wildflower seeds from the Ontario Seed company as well including New England Aster, Butterfly Milkweed, Red Swamp Milkweed and Purple Coneflower to attract more butterfly species. In the summer of 2012 we had species of butterfly that are uncommon to our area including Common Ringlet, Checkered Skipper, Buckeye and Fiery Skipper.

 

Here is a link to the OSC website: http://www.oscseeds.com/

WEEK #2:

Just a couple of photos this week as Aaron continues on the chicken coop. This weekend we had our January thaw with temperatures climbing over 10 degrees Celsius.  A good weekend to get outside and work before the weather gets cold again.

 Starting to look more like a chicken coop! Photo by Aaron Balkwill

WEEK #1: Chicken Coop and Germination Shelves

With only 9 hours of sunlight per day right now, we are beginning the year with a lot of preparation this week.  We decided to have chickens this year, most likely Road Island Reds for their egg laying proficiency. Of course, we have to build a chicken coup first.

Aaron drove into town last night about 8:30pm to hit the local home improvement store… Note to self: the store is open at that time of night, however the attached lumber yard is not.  Picked up 4 bags of concrete mix and headed home. So back into town today: picked up 4 x 12’ – 4”x4” pressure treated posts and a dozen 8’ - 2”x4”s. He paid for regular studs, but instead got loaded with pressure treated. Bonus!

The coup is being built to hold approximately 12 birds, that is 8' x 5' (40 sq ft) and 4 nest boxes hanging off the side. The entire outfit should end up 18" off the ground, with the coup and 10' x 20' (200 sq ft) run completely fenced in with 1/2" wire mesh.

Figuring out the easiest way to put 4 posts in the ground and make sure they were plumb and square to each other, with just two arms…went better than expected. Got the first two posts in buried 4’ deep then measured the second set of holes, a little back of the napkin figuring getting the diagonals (to make things square) and the third post went into the ground with just a little screwing around. Through dumb luck the last post was too easy… He threw it into the hole and measured it off, it was perfect, as in it stood up straight (stuck in the mud at the bottom of the hole) in BOTH planes and was exactly (less than ¼ inch off) where it needed to be making the whole thing square “Quick don’t move gotta get the dirt back in the hole!"

So all the posts are in, filled the top 16” of the hole with cement, tapered the top of the cement so water would drain away from the posts and topped the last few inches with dirt.

 The beginnings of our our chicken coup next to our shed in the back yard.  Not much to look at right now.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill

With snow on the ground its time to start thinking about planting next year's garden, or at least what and when things might be planted.  Some of the things we have grown before have done better when started early indoors, or bought as plugs.  This year we are going to try to start everything ourselves and avoid the cost of buying plants.  I think we are going to start everything in individual paper cups so they can be dropped directly into the garden when it is time.  

Step #1: Germination.  
Luckily we have a decent supply of reclaimed lumber from a dozen picnic tables we dismantled several years ago.  A couple hours spent trimming off split ends and a rough idea of what I wanted to do and it was done. Aaron built a 4 level germination shelf, 18" apart, 10" deep 5' wide.  He ended up painting the shelves with some flat white paint that was left over as the wood was incredibly dry and would be a good idea to separate the wood from any accidental water spillage.  After the shelves were built it was off to the hardware store to pick up 4 x 4' shop lights and 8 x 32 watt T8 bulbs to go in them. The grow lights were double the cost of regular bulbs, though the benefit of grow lights is that they have a better Red/Blue distribution compared to regular fluorescent bulbs.  4 warm colour bulbs (reddish) and 4 daylight colour bulbs (bluish/greenish) were purchased, one of each for each of the four shelves so hopefully together they will emulate more closely the colour spectrum of the more expensive grow bulbs. A power bar with a built in timer on clearance to control the four lights was an easy buy.  We are going to have the lights on during the night as the cost for hydro is less at this time.

Everything is put together and set up in the basement, all ready for seeds!

Germination shelf in our basement.  Photo by Marianne Balkwill