A real fixer-upper

Farm work takes a bit of a back seat this weekend as we do some reno work on our rental here on the property. We recently had our long-time tenants decide to downsize and move into the suite owned by the former owners next door. This has provided a great opportunity to get a few new faces here on the farm.

Some old friends of ours from church jumped at the chance and will be moving in next month.

The boys left the place in fine condition for what it is. They did and amazing job of cleaning up all of the clutter and stuff left behind by their family (one of them is the son of the former owners). That being said, the place definitely could use some love and attention.

So this weekend will be all about removing a few odds and ends and doing a massive sweep of the place to paint and make minor repairs in preparation for our new tenants.

For all the interesting and potentially dirty jobs involved, I'm kind of excited for it.

Operation: Chicken Fort - Fundamental Foundations of our Fortification

We are always looking for ways to maximize the use of our farm. At the end of the day, it is the use of the farm that provides the money which allows us to live here. Some ideas are crazy. Some ideas are good. A few are excellent and need to be pursued.

We are in the business of wholesaling laying hens (layers). We have a supplier which raises them up island. We pick-up our batches four times a year and they are often sold out well before the pick-up date. Cliff and Susan own a number of layers at their place and make a decent profit selling their eggs to local restaurants. Locally grown food is the bread and butter of what we do as a farm, and Victoria is big on it's locally grown food.

So Cliff put forth the idea to have laying hens. We decided on a number which was both manageable and profitable and set to work. We needed somewhere to put them though and we needed it fast as the next batch is arriving in May.

Work Party Update

I'm about a week or two late on this one. I kept meaning to post up pictures of our work party but I guess I lost track of time...

Way back in the days of yore, about two weeks ago on March 22nd, we gathered the fair folk of the community around us to rally towards one common goal...shavings in field one. Ok. I can't type the whole post like that...

One of the smaller piles at the start of raking.

Moving in the mud

As I mentioned previously, one of our projects was to move all of the Patriots from the rows adjacent to our ditch system into the Patriot field to fill in the gaps. Over time some bushes get damaged and there are a lot of gaps. Moving them will be beneficial in a few ways:

• Being more susceptable to "mummy berry" the patriots along the ditch are the biggest targets. The lack of space on the one side means we cannot spray as completely for the fungus.
• We want to create a visible separation between the varieties for ease of pruning and organization.
• Getting them away from mixed rows with Blue Jays will allow them to thrive without being overwhelmed by the faster growing Blue Jays.