Wilderness first aiders at the ready

We've done lots of learning, lots of practical scenarios and this evening, we passed our group practical assessment, hurrah!

The 7 of us came across 3 victims of a climbing accident, one with a broken shin (protruding shin bone, very nice) and internal abdominal bleeding; one with cuts and grazes; and one unconscious with a suspected spinal injury. It was quite intense and the fake wounds were good! We got them all as comfy as possible and treated what we could, then waited for mountain rescue to evacuate them.

Tomorrow, we have our exam and then we're done. It has been pretty full on, I'm knackered! After the exam tomorrow, I have to spend my afternoon prepping for the ride... oooooh!

The Ride Approaches!

With increasing excitement and intrepidation, not to mention nervous checking of the forecast (still below freezing at night!), I am coming to terms with the fact that The Ride is almost upon me.

Having seen the roads from a driver's point of view, I can assure you that this ride will be no picnic. Oh, and I hear that the bears wake up around this time. But I hope there won't be anything Canada can throw at me that I can't handle!

I'm doing this ride for a variety of reasons that will come out over the course of the trip, no doubt. But one of the less selfish aspects is raising money for a Canadian conservation charity on the ride.  The environment has always been close to my heart and there's lots of it to look after in Canada!

If you'd like to show your support, please have a look at my fundraising page: https://e-activist.com/p2p/yolkyq
All donations much appreciated!

Cringe

After some dry theory on the first aid course in the morning, we started getting into some practical patient assessments to check for injuries. A demo of the Head to Toe Exam was underway, with me as the volunteer patient, 6 other students observing, and the fit young course leader Andrew as the examiner. Andrew pressed on my head and face to feel for breaks, then my neck and shoulders ribs, abdomen, hips, arms and legs. And just when I thought it was all over, I heard "and don't forget to check up the pant legs for blood from a traumatic wound" as my trouser leg was hitched up to reveal the horror of my unshaven travellers' legs to the group. If the ground would swallow me up now, that would be great. 

And if only it had ended there! Andrew then removed my shoes and socks and fondled my sweaty feet to check my circulation. Oh lord have mercy! Have you ever had a stranger try to put your sweaty socks back on your feet whilst you play dead? I wouldn't recommend it as an experience. 

The rest of the day was good, but I might be a day getting over it.

Wilderness first aid

Today I drove to Fredericton. It was a varied and interesting 5 hour drive... sometimes there was a light drizzle, sometimes a heavy drizzle. A few times it outright rained, and at least twice the rain gave way completely to mist. Woohoo.

Once I got to the hostel, I ditched the rental car with mixed emotions (Good riddance you American shitheap! Farewell long boring drives! Oh how I will miss your speedy engine.) And I started to assemble my bike. I have concluded to resume in a bike shop. Enough said.

I had a good evening in the pub with Mary my room-mate though so balance restored!

The next 4 days will be spent on a first aid course in the univeristy here in New Brunswick, which I'm looking forward to, minus the early start tomorrow.

The Melt

About 10 days ago, I stayed in the Aberdeen Motel, by a frozen lake and a snow covered forest. Today, I passed it again on my way through and did a double take... the lake was glistening in the sunshine and there was no snow to be seen!

Here's a before and after shot of a lakeside cabin near to the motel.

Forest & falls pics

Winter wonderland pics

Day with Jocelyne

I wrote this Friday night...

This morning the weather was grey and drizzly, but we met at 9am as planned to head into the national park. The plan was to drive around, stopping at various view points and walks alomg the way.

The first few stops were along the coast. The waves were pounding against the rocks, making for quite a dramatic sight. The rocks here are pink, with lines of white through them. I was treated to a short geology lesson but I don't have the right brain for those sorts of facts so I'm afraid I can't tell you much. However, I do remember seeing wild roses and cranberries and I ate a cranberry.

Our first walk was along a track that hadn't been cleared all winter, so we put snow shoes on and headed into the forest. It was totally gorgeous, a winter wonderland! The trees were covered in ice, each branch and twig encased in its own made to measure icicle. The forest was melting as we walked, showers of icicles coming down from the trees into the snow. 

We headed off the track into an area of scrub and small trees called the Huckleberry Barrens and were wandering through the magical landscape in awe. Every tiny detail was so beautiful, and the tiny details were everywhere! I could have wandered around there all day.

Luckily, we headed off to see another wonder. We parked next to a lovely building in an awesome setting - forest, river, mountain. This is where Jocelyne lived with her family when the kids were little, the lucky devils! We set off down another snowed in track, sinking into the rotten snow and falling over occasionally, a tangle of snow shoes and giggles.

Back in the forest, but very different from the last one. Instead of endless evergreens, we saw white birch, yellow birch, red oak, beech, maple and moose wood. Lots of the living trees were home to lichen, the dead ones food for fungi. Jocelyne showed me evidence of moose browsing and we saw where an unlucky partridge met its demise, leaving feathers scattered in the snow.

At the end of the track was a waterfall, cascading over bare rock to the small plunge pool. We stopped for a few snaps, then headed back.

It was quite a tiring day! Although we only covered around 6km, it was hard going in the old snow. I'm so pleased to have had a day with a local naturalist! I learned a lot about the park and I think I'm starting to overcome my fears of the Canadian wilderness as much as is sensible. Thanks Jocelyne!

I'm camping tonight - woohoo! No internet, but an unlocked toilet block, hoorah.

[Photos to come when there's better wifi]

Afternoon at the beach

After my stressful morning walk, I had lunch and decided (from the safety of the car) do to a second walk. So I went to a beach on another peninsula walk between the sea and a freshwater lake.

Here I am snowbathing by the sea and standing with my coyote beating stick by the lake. I was still scared. Dammit!

I decided that I can't just spend all of tomorrow doing walks with my heart pounding out of my chest, so I went back to the parks authority in search of a guide.

Of course, it's April and there are no guides. But all is not lost! A short, bright-eyed lady called Jocelyn overheard my plea and said that she could take me on a walk in the morning. Yes! She's a naturalist in the park so I can't wait to walk and talk with her tomorrow.

Wildlife in Cape Breton National Park

This morning, I packed my kit and headed for one of the walking trails in the park. I got out the car, headed down the snowy trail and about 50ft along, was confronted with a sign that said "Coyote Habitat" and informed me that in order to stay safe, I should hike with friends and a sturdy walking stick. Not having either of those things on me, I wimped out and went to see the Parks Authority for advice.

The nice lady at the office gave me some booklets and advice about the wild animals and recommended a walk. She didn't seem to think I was crazy for heading out alone, so off I went.

I drove off the highway down a lane towards a car park and saw two moose! So awesome! They were just hanging out by the lane, munching away. I drove past and got out to take a picture but I could tell I was disturbing them so I let them be.

I strolled up to the start of the walk that I'd be recommended and another coyote warning sign knocked my bravado. Not to be deterred, I fashioned a coyote beating stick out of a sturdy dead branch and went on my way. It was about a 5km walk through the snow, along a path in the woods with the sound of the crashing waves on either side.

It would have been beautiful if I hadn't been shit scared. I was singing made up songs to myself the whole way, warning the coyotes through the tune of 'lord of the dance' that I'd smash their heads in if they tried to eat me. Every time I sank a leg up to my crotch in snow and had to ungracefully haul it out again, I would look around to check that there were no coyotes observing this potentially easy prey.

A russle in the undergrowth had my heart pumping harder still and I saw a partridge under a tree, which was lovely.

Alas, I made it back unscathed although very tired and sweaty! 

Goodbye Newfoundland

I was there a week and only managed to see a few tiny corners of the island. It's beautiful, it's remote and it's mostly wilderness. The mixture of cultures in the people's history gives the place a unique charm - there's a slightly Scottish feel about some of the landscape, there's a hint of Irish craic about the way people talk with each other and there's a very welcoming Canadian friendliness. Unfortunately the highways and associated 'restaurants' are distinctly American, but the locals eat well, a lot of them eating fish and meat they hunt themselves and some keeping veggie patches and chickens too.

Many of the people I've met work away from the island for part of the year, there being a lack of jobs in Newfoundland. Those who work on the island are working for the government or in tourism. The big industries were fishing and mining, which have largely been taken over by outsiders.

Having only seen a fraction of the island out of season, I know I have to come back over a summer to make the most of it.

I spent my day on the ferry and in the car, driving back into the Cape Breton fog I left behind a week ago. The winding roads left a lot to be desired of my american hire car, and the state of the roads here is something else! Aberdeen City Council, you have been well and truly out-done. I spent a lot of the time swerving around the road to avoid potholes and twice thought for sure I must have burst a tyre on craters I didn't have time to avoid.

But I made it to the national park (not that I can see any of it for the fog!) and I have checked into my lovely 2 bedroomed cabin, complete with my own kitchen. Yes! Take that, drive thrus and take out restaurants! 

Looking forward to seeing the park tomorrow, if the fog clears. The view from my balcony is already pretty impressive, even in the evening fog.

Hockey

I went to my first ice hockey game yesterday afternoon. It was great! There are loads of school leagues playing over easter week so I was treated to some decent hockey played by teenagers and cheered on over-enthusiastically by the hockey moms! It was fast, short and more brutal than I was expecting for a kids game. One kid called Trevor kept getting sin binned for smashing into the opposition on purpose and his mom was behind me, shouting his support and hurling mild abuse at the refs.

Isle aux Morts photo

Isle aux Morts

I drove down the frost damaged highway from port aux basques to isle aux morts this morning in the bright grey light. Isle aux morts is a village by the broken coast on the south of newfoundland, so named because of the many ships that have succumbed to the mercilessly rocky coast. There is still a lot of snow out here and I drove down the tiny lanes of the village, feeling lost before I'd even got out of the car. There are hardly any trees and the landscape is called 'the barrens'. I'm told it's normally blowing a gale but today the air is still.

I parked next to a deserted building in a dead end lane and got out, feeling a bit nervous of the strange place, only to be greeted by a friendly local and his elderly mother. We chatted for about half an hour! She had emigrated from England when he was young and they have never looked back. The view of a small inlet from their house is just beautiful! 

I left them to their errands and went to find the Harvey Trail that hugs the coast. The trail came and went beneath 3-6 ft of snow but signs, barriers and one other set of foot prints guided me along. 

As soon as I started walking, I fell in love with the place! I wrote this at the end of the trail before I turned back...

"The sun is peeking out from behind the clouds and I'm sitting by the sea in my t-shirt watching the last chunks of sea ice float around. The rocks are stunning limestone slaps with jagged strips of shining quarz and a crust of lichens in turquoise and black. The vegetation between the rocks is a persian rug of red, blue, green, orange and brown. The lichens, mosses, grasses and shrubs have left no patch of earth uncarpeted.

As I was dancing about the rockpools, 4 canada geese flew low over my head from the sea, wings flapping hard, necks perfectly still and straight.

I haven't seen anyone since I left town. This place feels so fantastically remote! In every direction, all I can see is incredible landscape. The only sign of humanity is the path I walked on to get here.

I started to scramble along the rocky cliffs but came back when I realised that nobody knew where I was and I was a very long way from anyone with no phone. I know that if Dave was here with me, we would have done loads of exploring that I'm too much of a wimp to do on my own. It's such a gorgeous day, I don't want to leave!"

The walk back was just as lovely and I had lunch in the village on a rock overlooking a calm bay, listening to the distant waves that were out of sight. 

The Gravels

This morning, Jo and I took the borrowed snow shoes to a friend of Bettina's in Corner Brook. Then we drove to the bus stop and said our goodbyes. I can't believe it! We had 4 full days in the end because of Jo's flight and bus schedule but she has another day to explore St John's before heading home - have fun Jo! I'm so pleased you came. We had a great time and it was awesome to share those initial fears of the unknown with someone.

I drove to Stephenville this afternoon in the hope of a motel I could use as a base for tomorrow's exploring. Alas, all the motels in the area were booked out because of hockey games! So I called a place in Port aux Basques and made a booking.

Not wanting to have made an unnecessary detour to Stephenville, I took a recommendation from a lady at a hotel front desk and went to The Gravels for a walk.

The coastal walk through the forest and around the lovely little bays was stunning! The fault lines in the cliffs are at odd angles, making it look like the land was sinking into the sea. The forest was less dense than those we'd been walking in the last few days, and it was littered with curious rounded boulders. 

Lighthouse trail

After seeing the cove, we started heading back towards the car and came across a sign that said "Extreme Trail. Use Caution. Lighthouse Trail 1.8km". Were we up to the challenge? I decided it probably wouldn't be that extreme, we should give it a go! So off we went.

It started off steep and just kept getting steeper! There was a rope to hang on to, which was just as well. We happily trudged our way up to the summit and were rewarded with incredible views of Bay of Islands!

We stayed at the top for a while having a wander and a trail bar, dreading the steep decent. Then we saw trail markers continuing along the ridge... so we followed. Assuming it was an 'out and back' trail, we didn't want to go too far and have to return. Lunch was in the car and although the pancake breakfast was still going strong, it was 3pm.

Every trail marker looked like it would be the last as we decended the ridge, the trail getting steeper and steeper and more icy as we were now on the north side. We could see something by the shore below and thought we should go there, having come so far already!

The trail was insane in places - sheets of icy snow we decended on our bottoms, rocky sections that forced us to cling on to the rope whilst heading down backwards, like a treturous ladder. we heard growling in the woods amd saw some paw prints in the snow. We were easy pickings for any wildlife on that ice... try not to think about it. 

Still wondering whether the trail would end and force us to go back, we headed down through the trees to... the (rubbish) ruins of a lighthouse! The trail continued past it and we hoped to be lead back to where we started. So icy and slipperly, the last 0.5km took ages! But when we popped out of the trees and saw the car, we jumped for joy and sighed with relief at not having to retrace our steps.

We celebrated our successful mission completion with a 4.30pm lunch in the car, overlooking the beautiful bay.

Cedar cove

Today we drove out to Bay of Islands. It was beautiful! We drove along the bay, parked at the end of the world and took a short trail to Cedar Cove. It was easy going through the forest and we came out of the woods at the cove sparking in the sunshine! Clear blue water lapping against black rocks.

We ditched the bags and did some oggling. Then I came back to basecamp from a short bouldering expedition to find an easter egg hunt on the rocks! A bemused "what's that, a mini egg on the beach?" gradually turned into "no way Jo, you made me a treasure hunt!". So lovely.

Western brook pond

We had a lovely afternoon walk through bog and woodland to get to this pond, with the gorge behind.

Snow crabs and whales

We met some snow crab fishermen readying their nets on the pier yesterday and they told us about a dead whale in the harbour, which we went to see in the afternoon, floating solemnly amongst the ice amidst a flurry of hungry gulls.

Camping

We decided that moose were okay as long as you didn't piss them off, so we would spend a night out in the tent! The forecast was for nighttime cloud but no snow or rain, so last night was the ideal time.

On our morning walk, we bumped into a Swiss lady called Bettina, who was taking her gorgeous black labrador for a snowy walk. Bettina had snow shoes on and was making light work of the trail! She invited us to see the local hostel, in case we wanted to stay there, and told us about a campsite further up the coast. We took comfort in the fact that she didn't think camping was a mental thing to do - she volunteers with the canine search and rescue team! And after all that help and advice, she invited us to her house and lent us two pairs of snow shoes! Amazing.

We took the shoes up the coast and tested them out on a short walk to the frozen beach.  Then we found a lovely trail to a pond and walked that before heading back to the campsite to set up for the night.

It was a nice evening, we made delicious pasta, got a fire going and had hot chocolate by the fire before bed.

Getting into bed is where it started to go downhill. Getting two people in a 1 person tent is tricky enough when you're both under 5ft. Jo is 6ft 1. So we wormed our way into our sleeping bags and lay there like sardines, talking and trying to read with books pressed between our noses and the tent wall. After about an hour, we admitted to being cold and needing the loo. The thought of getting out was marginally less unappealing than trying to sleep on a full bladder, so out we wriggled into the cold dark night in long johns and head torches, did our business whilst scouring the trees for moose, and squished ourselves back in.

Feeling much better and warmer for our excursion, we cosied in to go to sleep. Only we were scared. There were 2 other people at the campsite, so we could hear footsteps as well as the usual disconcerting woodland sounds. In the dark, our ears were tuned to hear the slightest noise and our brains would rush to insane conclusions about what they might mean. We were going to get trampled by moose, attacked by fellow campers and gored by bears!

Of course it was fine. Moose probably don't give a crap about tents. And the other campers were just camping, possibly imagining being attacked by us! But we didn't sleep all that much. Every time I was feeling safe, Jo would nudge me and say "I heard a grunt!".

So we woke up feeling narky but had a good day none the less and ended it eating pizza and going to a bar in Corner Brook before collapsing into our queen sized beds. Ahh, modern comforts!

Creepy afternoon adventure

This afternoon, we started our first trail, scoping it out as a potential day hike and campsite.

The first things we saw on the trail were 1) A big pile of droppings and 2) Bloody massive moose prints!

We started off cautiously down the trail, scouring the trees for moose and trying to joke about meeting one in a feeble attempt to cover up how scared we were about actually meeting one!

The trail was a snowy path cleared through dense woodland, meaning that we couldn't see very far in any direction, and every noise was a potential moose, poised and waiting to trample us to pieces where no one would find us for weeks!

We carried on for a while, crossed a roaring river and found more moose prints everywhere. Then, already freaked out, we found a young lady's driving licence in the path (note the only prints were moose prints and ours) next to a clump of moose hair, a pile of moose droppings and a high density of moose prints. We pocketed the driving licence and headed back the way we'd come!

Having talked to some locals about moose this evening, I think it's okay to be afriad. They do sometimes attack people! It is yet to be determined whether we do a day hike or go camping.

And we're still waiting to receive a reply to our facebook message to young Jocelyn who is missing her driving licence in suspicious moosey circumstances...

Morning adventure

This morning, we drove to Gros Morne National Park, stopping by the frozen fjords for some snaps.  The broken sheets of ice are quite spectacular!

Highways, a ferry and Jo Lester!

I've spent the last 30 hours travelling. I drove to the Newfoundland ferry last night, slept on the ferry whilst it waited out the weather in port and we finally sailed at 3pm the next afternoon.

During the 6 hour crossing, I saw some albatross gliding along gracefully inches above the ocean, and there was some ice we had to go through! Picture of the ice from the boat below...

When the boat arrived in Newfoundland it was 9pm, so I drove for 3 and a half hours in the dark to Deer Lake. Canadian highways that are boring in the day are bloody terrifying at night! They are not lit (which is fine), but they also don't have cats eyes. That means that it requires a lot of concentration just to stay on the road in the right lane. The lane markings are often faded or covered with a light dusting of snow, sometimes there's a single carriageway, sometimes two with a huge gap between. Twice I have unintentionally taken an exit I didn't want to take, and three times I have had my blood run cold thinking I was on the wrong side of the dual carriageway.

To top that off, I was terrified of hitting a moose! Before I set off, a lady said to me "You take it easy now, watch out for the freezing rain, black ice, moose and caribou.  Oh, and don't hit a skunk, the smell will make you wish you'd hit a moose!" [so that you were dead and the smell wouldn't bother you, I assume].

So I made the journey at a cautious speed, scouring the verges for moose. I never saw any, but I did put the brakes on for a few dark bushes, one pile of junk, an odd reflection, and a dark, non reflective advertising sign that was vaguely moose shaped!

The reason I was willing to endure the nightime highway was to meet Jo, who has come out for a week to visit! God only knows why, it's bloody freezing, there's bugger all here, and she just spent about 10 hours on a bus after getting two flights!! However, I'm very excited at the prospect of having a travelling companion for the next 6 days, so I shan't dwell on the matter. We shall explore this barren land together, starting tomorrow!

First hike!

I have had my first taste of Canadian wilderness!

Yesterday evening, after seeing nothing but fog and highway all day, I wondered what I was doing here. But this morning, my faith in the adventure was restored!

The lady at the motel said there was a short trail nearby that would give me a view of the lake. I parked next to the closed Park Office and spotted a sign in the woods that said "Trail. You are welcome to enter the park out of season. Hiking at your own risk". I felt a rush of adventurous excitement and bounded along the first section of the snowy trail.

The snow was dense, heavy with the thaw. The top crust gave way easily and I sank up to my knees in the wet snow with almost every step. Mine were the only footprints so I clearly had the trail to myself!

The lady in the motel said the trail takes around half an hour. It took almost two. The unstable snow on top of broken vegetation, combined with steep slopes, made for slow progress. But the forest was beautiful!

The sun was starting to burn away the fog and I could see the lake below, through the trees. The birch trees had white and silver curls of bark peeling from their trunks. The conifers were boasting their dark green foliage amidst the naked deciduous trees and the broken debris of a harsh winter. A humid mist was creeping slowly across the forest floor, tumbling down the steep hill. It was quiet save the birds and the occasional sound of disturbed snow that would make me turn my head, scouring the trees for moose and bears! In the end, the only wildlife I encountered was a small squirrel, looking at me curiously before scampering off up a tree.

At the end of the trail, I found a viewing platform and a track back to the car park.

What a start to the day :)

Cape Breton

I hired myself a car, picked up supplies and got on the highway this morning, which all went very smoothly. The car has a crappy automatic gearbox but I've been enjoying the cruise control.

The further I came, the more snow there was lying around. To get to Cape Breton Island, I had to come over a small section of raised highway over the water. Whole swathes of the sea are still frozen here in the bays and inlets! And it's been foggy all day, so the drive was pretty boring and the weather is putting a bit of a downer on the idea of doing one of the walking trails on the island.

I'm finding the 'towns' in Canada strange so far. You'll see a welcome sign for a town, then nothing for miles except the odd house! Everything is so spread out, you have to drive between neighbouring shops. There are no pubs as far as I can tell and I haven't seen any restaurants that aren't diners.

There are trees everywhere though, which is awesome. I really want to go hiking, I just don't know where to start! With all the information centres shut, I don't know how to get a map... and I haven't seen any outdoors shops. I will have to enquire at the motel in the morning.

So, here is a picture of the bleak frozen lake near the Aberdeen Motel where I'm staying. Lots of places in Nova Scotia are named after Scottish places. So far, I've been through New Glasgow and Iona, and ended up in Aberdeen. From what I've seen today, the original Aberdeen seems more exciting.

Off travelling

Today I leave the farm!  

After two weeks of wwoofing, I have learned loads about farming, done interesting work, been exceptionally well fed, had a good time with the family and enjoyed the company of the other wwoofers.

There is so much more I could learn here, but I'm looking forward to spending the next two weeks travelling, seeing some of eastern Canada.

I'm a bit nervous about leaving the security of the farm - I haven't had to find accommodation, do any navigation, shop or cook. I haven't even withdrawn any Canadian dollars yet!

There are a few hurdles to jump before I can feel relaxed. I need to hire a car and get money and supplies. If that all goes well, only so much can go wrong. The tourist information centres here don't open until May or June though, so I'm not entirety sure how to go about getting maps, information and camping permits, but I'm going to head to the national park and hope for the best. 

I am sure that it won't seem so scary once I get going... next stop Truro!

Escaped pigs!

It's been a busy morning!  Frank, Julie and Garth are away at the market, so when we noticed that the pigs had got into each others pens and were fighting, we turned to 13 yr old Kathleen to save the day!

The electric fence was broken in 3 places, and we were wading through the knee-deep mud herding pigs and trying to mend the fence.

Kathleen was great, using a shovel to singlehandedly move the mischievous young boar back into his own pen. They're scary! I didn't want to go in there!

After the pigs were back and the fence was mended, we found 3 baby goats that needed fed!

All seems well now, let's hope for a quieter afternoon...

Tomatoes

I planted these 10 days ago and it's great to see them sprouting before I leave. Hard to believe that these little guys will have tomatoes growing on them one day!

Most of the plants here start life indoors, in home-made soil mix, on heat mats and under lamps, with a strict watering regime to give them the best chance.

The soil mix is made mostly from compost from the muck heap, with a few added ingredients. Lime, phosphate, greensand and bloodmeal provide nutrients. (Bloodmeal is a horribly stinky slaughterhouse product - don't tell the vegetarians!) Peat is added, along with the white bits, which keep air in the soil, and golden bits, which hold moisture. Who knew soil could be so complex!

Garfield

There are cats all over the farm, of varying levels of friendliness. Christoph, one of the other wwoofers, calls this ginger tom Garfield.

Garfield likes being cuddled so much that he will sit on my lap whenever possible, even when I'm trying to work!

Shovelling pig shit

There's always shovelling to be done somewhere!  Three little pigs live in this shed and it took three of us an hour to clean it out! They seem to be happy in their fresh hay though.

I knew I liked shovelling, but I didn't know I'd still like it after almost 2 weeks! The only job I don't enjoy is weeding, because it's awkward to squat by the beds and requires patience and precision.

Here's me shovelling one half of the barn (the little piggies are in the other half) and Leah taking the wheelbarrow to the massive muck heap.

The rain rain rain came down down down

It's getting floodier and floodier! (Anyone but my family getting the Whinnie the Pooh references?)

It rained all day and night yesterday, leaving the fields looking like ponds.
In this picture, I'm standing at the far side of the last field looking back at the big greenhouse and the house.

Old greenhouse

We were preparing the old greenhouse for planting today. We dug down to lay hay under the soil - it helps drainage and releases nutrients.  Then the soil goes back on top and is covered in 6 inches of topsoil taken from the old part of the compost heap.

It was hard work doing all that shovelling! But we were rewarded with home made oreo cookies, which are soo much better than actual oreos!

Stanley

Meet Stanley, the only boar on the farm. He's huge! He also hasn't been performing the last month. He's supposed to spend a few weeks with two sows at a time to get them pregnant, but he's been in with these two girls for a month and there hasn't been any sign of them mating yet!

Stanley might be bigger than the ladies but you might not be surprised to learn that he doesn't wear the trousers. They used to have two boars on the farm, but one windy night over winter it was -30 degrees and the sows wouldn't let the boar into the shelter. He was out in the cold and wind all night and died of exposure.

So get your act together Stanley, you're now solely responsible for producing hundreds of piglets!

Oh, he has an obscenely large package by the way, I wanted to share it with you but I thought it was rude to take a picture of his arse.

Hugelbeets

This morning, we were adding hay to the hugelbeets. They're beds made of wood, hay and compost that are great for growing veggies like pumpkin and courgette. The wood releases carbon, the hay and compost release nitrates and the soil becomes rich and warm for perfect growing conditions!

I assume that "hugel" means "hill" and "beet" means "bed" in a language like Dutch, since those words are similar to the German words of those meanings. And the hugelbeets are raised humps, so it would make sense.

We loaded up the tractor to take the hay down to the beds - it's a lovely little John Deere tractor, I want one!

Sunshine!

I've been in Canada just over a week and today was the first day that the weather was properly nice all day. It was lovely! We built raised beds in the greenhouse in 30 degree heat, nipping out into the chilly winter sunshine every now and again to cool down. This afternoon, we shovelled out the goat shed. It took three of us 2 hours, there was so much compacted hay in there!

We let the White Rock chickens out and about today, which they were quite excited about.  The grey mottled ones I shovelled out a few days ago that lay blue eggs were actually the Americanas. I'm still learning!

After all the hard work today, we were rewarded with a delicious pork roast and blueberry cake. The only thing left is to watch Game of Thrones tonight. What an awesome day :)

Slicing bacon

Those pigs make delicious bacon that gets sold in the farm shop.

About 4 pigs are taken to the local butcher to be each month to be slaughtered and butchered. Then the meat is brouht back to the farm. The bacons are hung, smoked, sliced and packaged at the farm, so total food miles by the time the bacon goes on the shelf are only about 20.

Here are Lisa and Frank slicing and packaging bacon. When they were done, we got leftover bacon for lunch - yum!

Mucking out

This morning,  I mucked out the White Rock chickens. They lay blue eggs!