All posts by Derek

Firewood Again – Part 1

April 23, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

The winter is over but the weather is still somewhat chilly at times. We have burned 3 bush cords of wood end of March so we are back to oil full time. It is usually cheaper to buy firewood in Spring because it is green wood and lots of supply. I am taking a risk of seasoning the firewood myself this year in order to save some money. In fall, I would pay $300 for 1 bushcord but I found a deal of 4 bush cords for $900. Sure enough they are all green wood and a mixture of hardwood and softwood, but that is $300 savings. So we have to stack he wood and season them and hopefully the hot summer sun and wind will dry them enough and ready to burn in winter. The girls all help out in this tiring job.
Ideally, the pile is located in a sunny spot and stacked in a single row. The firewoods are placed either on logs or crates to keep the mositure of the ground from touching the bottom. The pile should be less than 4 feet tall. I like to split the firewood into various sizes so some can be used as kindlings. Finally, I place a tarp to cover just the top out from rain and leave the sizes open.

Garden & Animals

Spraying Fruit Trees

April 13, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

It is spring again, horray! That means many preparation and work as well. One of the things we do today is spraying the fruit trees with the dormant spray kit. The mix consists of liquid lime sulhpur, dormant oil and water. We use a small hand-held-hand-pump pressue sprayer. The spray supposes to controls over-wintering insects, insect eggs and diseases on fruit trees. I am not sure if this is effective at all but simply doing whatever I can to grow the fruit trees in the organic way.
Pressure sprayera and dormant kit

Garden & Animals

Seed Sprouting Progress

April 13, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

Here is how our seeds are doing so far:

50% of seeds are sprouted on the 5th day
On the 13th day, true leaves appear.

Garden & Animals

Start the seedlings

April 1, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

It is April 1 and time to start the seedlings. First we start planting marigold, tomato, cabbage and cauliflower.
Here are the steps:

First we fill the plug sheets with soil. It is a blend of peat moss, perlite and compost. SFG recommends using vermiculite over perlite. I am going to use vermiculite in the outdoor garden but for now, we will use whatever is on hand. Tiffany doing the scooping

Next, we apply a mist to the soil. We don’t want to soak it but wet the surface lightly. Sonia applying the mist

Then we drop the tiny seeds into each hole. Sonia putting in the seeds

We then place the trays on our small seedling station and wait.. Seeds waiting to sprout

Garden & Animals

Spinach Overwinter

March 31, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

If the reader goes back to this post about extending the season, it is now time to give a report.

The spinach and green onions survive the harsh Canadian winter under the plastic cover without any heat provided.
The PVC flex pipes collapse under heavy snow load.
The 1/2″ plastic electrical conduit stands tall all winter. And for the extra $2, I would use it for winter greenhouse.
I learn that the construction 6 mil poly is no good for greenhouse purposes because it breaks down easily by UV from he sun. I would need to buy greenhouse poly.

Here we just have our first fresh spinach of the season. Note that the spinach were sowed last fall and the leaves die back during winter but as soon as the weather warms up, they start to grow again.
Spinach from last year

Garden & Animals

Taking out chicken manure

March 26, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

The weather is warmer now during daytime, although sometimes it freezes at night. Since I have no work at the moment, I start to shovel the poultry manure bedding in the coop and spread them on several places: the blueberry patch, the would-be sunflower spot and around the apple trees. Since I use deep-bedding manure system, the manure has been composted right in the coop for 10 months now, so they should be safe to use.
On the other hand, I am starting to read the All New Square Foot Gardening book again to refresh my mind. I have bought plug sheets this year to start the seedlings and I will use Pro-Mix for starting soil. So far we have started green onions.

Garden & Animals

Seed Starting indoors

March 17, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

We have started some green onions seeds indoors. Ideally we can have a spot for a seed rack, with a fluorescent light mounted on each rack. However, living in a small house we don’t have that luxury. So I find a spot in the basement where I can put 3 seed trays underneath a kitchen cabinet. I installed a fluorescent fixture that uses 2 T12 tube. One cool white and one soft white. It would be better if you can use T8 tubes because the light is more equally distributed.
I use 2 boxes to hold a piece of board which in turn holds the 3 seed trays. Once the seeds sprouted, the light will be turned on for 12 hours a day. It is exciting to see how this will turn out.

Country Life

Replace the well pump

March 17, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

After searching on used pump, I am better off purchasing a new one. I bought the shallow pump from Canadian Tire. I found out a shut-off valve was also burst open so I have to replace that as well. After an hour’s hard work wrestling with pipe wrenches, I was able to replace the well pump. That would be $130 if I hire a plumber.

Country Life

Unemployed and more expense…..

March 14, 2009 Derek Leave a comment

Well, the downward economy finally affects me. I received the termination of employment on Thursday because of shortage of work. I was hoping that I could work 2 more months and apply for the parental leave. I would have to pray for the Lord’s direction on whether I should look for a new job or just wait until our new child is born.
To make thing worse, I just found out the barn pump is broken for the second time. Somehow the door of the shed is opened (may be because of the strong wind). The water in the pump freezes overnight although I have the heater on. The pump is burst open with a big crack. Another $250 down the drain. I was crying “Oh God, no again please”. I will have to buy a new one this time, probably using the Mastecraft Jet Pump from Canadian Tire. Moreover, I will try to install it myself. Hiring a plumber is so expensive.
The more I live on the farm, I more I admire being a farmer. A farmer is truly a jack-of-all-trades. Therefore, if any reader wants to live the self-sufficient life, make sure you either have the money, or the time to learn plumbing, wiring, mechanics, construction, gardening, animal husbandary, etc…… Sometimes I wonder if I am better of living in the city, without spending so much money on tractor, snow blower, generator, well pump, chicken wire, fences (the list goes on and on). Anyway, life is never full of surprise.

Garden & Animals