Hello Everyone:
As I write, the big storm rolls into Eastern Ontario…is
this March arriving like a lion? If so,
it suggests an early spring.
News for the past week – the onion seeds have been sown
in the nursery and the first seed order placed.
Next on the seeding list are the leeks, parsley and
celery.
If you are intending to purchase a share of this season’s
produce, order soon. I expect there will
be a smaller customer base this season while we go through these growing pains.
I have received my first inquiry about an internship…if
you are interested in getting a well rounded introduction to small scale
agriculture and access to a ready to go starter farm, be sure to contact me
soon at the phone number or email address below…
We have lived through our first few weeks here without
mishap. The house is mostly settled into
and work has started on the outbuildings, starting with an inventory of the
items left behind by the previous farmers.
Old farms have a way of collecting tools, supplies and spare
parts. Ours is not quite as cluttered as
some that I have seen. The previous
owners had indicated a few items of interest to us, but there were still a few
pleasant surprises.
The woodshed contained a mess of old tools, such as
some bed rakes, spades, and shovels.
I
was especially thankful for the great number of buckets – something I always
seem to be short of. One of these was
full of various irrigation and hose connectors, nozzles, and sprinklers for just
about every application one could think of.
A rack of shelves (looks like a pan rack on wheels from a bakery) held
an array of shears and other implements for use in tree maintenance. An expected find was the great length of
unused electric fence wire and tape; better yet were a pair of spare fence gate
handles. Not expected was the supply of hay
bale twine. If I use this for tomato and
cucumber staking, it’ll last part of a lifetime.
Two buckets are partially full of either some hard packed
ash from the wood stove – this could be used as a soil amendment as it is full
of potassium – or maybe it is unused portland cement from the construction of
the root cellar foundation. Either
material could get some good use here.
The drive shed is bigger and likewise had more (and a
few larger) items. It dates back to the original
farm on this property. There is a very
old tree saw in here that probably dates from the original farm.
In addition, the previous seller left a
riding mower (which needs new tires) and a walk behind tractor (which I
purchased from the sellers) that has attachments for both a snow thrower and a
tiller.
This is where a big supply of lumber is stored: 2x6’s
for building a stairwell in another construction and for making shed sill
plates. 2x4’s for improving a few of
the sheds or making repairs with. Cedar
boards for building a new shed.
As well, there are more buckets, hundreds of feet of
hose and irrigation tubing, bee boxes, a child’s sled (useful for hauling all
this stuff around while I organise the various buildings) and a box of cassette
tapes that went to the township share centre after a quick perusal to ensure
there were no collectible titles.
As for tools and supplies, the big finds were two
chainsaws plus a third chainsaw apparently being used for spare parts, a pry
bar, an ax, and several cans of carburetor cleaner and other greases, gases and
goops for a variety of machinery chores.
Most useful, a heavy table for doing machine work on.
The A-frame was one structure I was quite interested
in, as it is situated close to the growing fields. Having not had the opportunity to see the
cellar portion of this building, I was able to shovel in and break the
ice dam holding the door shut.
Not much
in the cellar, other than it was noticeably warm (being bermed into the ground
on three sides) and having an earthen floor – ideal for allowing ground heat to
escape to the interior. This room is
divided by a barrier that will allow for two types of livestock, or separating
a jealous drake and hen from the rest of a flock.
The upper floor has a lot of gear for honey making
(some of which is already spoken for and some of which we inherit with the
farm. Here is also a sink (a little too
small for my needs) and a food dryer (I’ll try the tomatoes with it this
year). A wagon suitable for holding
seedling trays shall probably get a lot of use here as well.
The most notable outbuilding on the property is what we
call the ‘hexagon’. A six sided
structure two stories tall with attic and cold cellar. More bee supplies, such as a couple dozen
kilo jars, more tools for woodworking – including a battery powered drill and a
very nice carpenters square which I suspect the seller didn’t intend to leave.
Now that the sorting cleaning, and inspecting is done, I am turning my attention to planning how I am going to use these buildings and some of the surrounding landmarks…raw material for the next post.