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Muddy Valley Farm

~ Life on a tiny west coast hobby farm

Muddy Valley Farm

Monthly Archives: March 2019

A Successful Hunt

24 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by Jodi in Equipment, Farm Life

≈ 1 Comment

3528E1B4-C4CA-4466-BB0A-5CB181D6BBD0I had to drive up island today to drop off birds and pick up eggs, and I went early to make time for a visit with my SIL who lives up that way. We had a great day secondhand store shopping and lunching in busy downtown Duncan, and to cap it all off, we both enjoyed a successful hunt!

Secondhand shopping demands an entirely different attitude than regular shopping. You can’t make a detailed list and expect to stick to it. Instead, you take pot luck! Our attitude is always something along the lines of “…sure would be nice to find a (desired item) today…”, and we brief each other at the start, because in among the jumble of other peoples’ discarded possessions, four eyes are much better than two. More often than not we fail to find what we seek, but when we succeed, victory is sweet. And often we find stuff we had no idea we needed, until we laid eyes on it. (This can be a problem, restraint is key.)

Secondhand shopping is both virtuous and rewarding. Where else can you reduce, reuse and recycle, support local charities, save your pocketbook and have an enjoyable time with friends, all while rejecting the consumer-driven economy that urges us to buy more and more brand new items, discarding repairable, gently worn or slightly out of style old ones that are often of better quality?

Today, SIL was hunting for a fondue set. Her partner, who is a good cook, had asked her to keep an eye out for one. Success would mean a pleased partner plus yummy fondue, so she was motivated! At the fourth and last store we hit, eureka – in the form of a brand new aluminum fondue set, still gleaming in its factory wrapping, for $10. Score!

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I was hunting for a nice little wood bowl, to make myself a yarn bowl. I’ve been knitting socks this winter, and whenever I split a skein into two, winding each half into a one-sock ball, I spend a fair bit of time chasing the bloody things.

No matter where in my lap I place them, as I tug my line to knit they tend to escape, jumping from my lap (banzai ball!), then hiding under my chair or rolling behind the side table, both scenarios that demand I set my knitting aside and get up to shift furniture and retrieve them.

I knew a yarn bowl would solve my problem, and I also knew I didn’t want to pay the ridiculous $30 or $40 for the nice wooden ones I had seen. I saw no reason why I couldn’t repurpose an old wood bowl.  Also at store number four (my lucky number I might add) I discovered a sweet little hand -turned BC yew wood bowl for the princely sum of $3. Score!

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I am lucky that my SIL has a talented brother, and when I got home and shared my vision he was eager to help. Off he bustled to his shop, bowl in hand, to wield his coping saw and press his drill into service.

An hour later…voila, my new one-of-a-kind yew-nique yarn bowl. ❤️ And it even says “Jo”.

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Satisfying Sunny Saturday

17 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by Jodi in Chickens, Equines, Farm Life, Seasons, Weather

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A warm sunny Saturday, our first since last year, and we all took full advantage. The dogs lounged in the winter field, sprawled in the sun on velvet grass, jumping up from time to time to escort another hungry, hopeful raptor out of barnyard airspace. Somnolent equines sunbathed, twitching an ear now and then. Feathery chicken metronomes ranged in formation across the short turf, clipping the fine new grass with sharp beaks, occasionally glancing longingly at K’s well protected kale patch. 

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That kale! A month ago they were poor frozen kale-sicles buried under two feet of snow. I was sure they would thaw to mush. Today though, plucky little kale trees stand tall, offering their purple green topknots to the sky, worshipping the warm rays. Lean, wrinkly garden gnomes with big hair.

Black Silkie has declared herself broody again. She just finished raising a crop of winter babies! I don’t think she laid more than a couple eggs before she decided it was once again time to set. Tonight I will move her and her eggs to the seclusion of the barn. Otherwise it will be mere days until the rest of the Silkie hens quit laying and join her. With Silkies, broodiness is contagious. And I have hatching egg customers waiting for eggs.

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Dear husband continued work on his shop exterior and from the barnyard I could faintly hear his power tools flare up from time to time, as another piece of metal siding got cut, or screw got sunk, or cedar shingle got stapled to a gable end.

K sowed seeds in the warmest parts of her south facing yard garden, early peas and sweet peas and other hardy annuals. Then hooked up the pump, preparing to easily water her new-sown plots throughout what they say will be a week of sun. A week of sun! If all goes according to plan, those seeds should fairly leap out of the ground.

At midday I drew the Wyandotte flock back into their pen with a handful of scratch, and freed the black chicken flock for the first time since moving my Marans in with my Barnevelders hens a week ago. The Barnie eggs I had hatched to provision my girls with a man or two had yielded a crop of bizarrely coloured cockerels, totally unsuited for breeding. Sigh. Back to the drawing board on the Barnie project. I wish people wouldn’t sell their experiments as purebred hatching eggs.

In the meantime, blending the Barnie and Marans flocks makes for one less coop to maintain, and gives the Marans a more pleasant abode for this time of year than their shady creekside pen. Fertility is poor with the Marans this year, and with fertile eggs in high demand, I am trying everything to make them more comfortable and thus promote happy chicken sex.

The Marans love their new home, with its sunnier aspect and roomier roosts. Egg production picked up immediately. The nestbox arrangement though, needed to be improved. Marans are not petite birds, and the four box diamond DH had built for me a couple years back was a little tight for birds of their size. I was tired of cramped birds staring reproachfully at me as they uncomfortably laid their eggs in those close quarters.

So I dug out a nestbox picture I had admired on the internet, consulted DH to ensure I started off on the right track, hauled out my tools, picked through the used lumber pile till I found what I needed, and got to work.

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I was sure it would take me a couple days to finish my roomier nest box tower but much to my surprise and satisfaction, it was done in an afternoon. Good tools and a bit of experience, I reflected while admiring my creation, sure make the difference. There is honestly nothing better, in my opinion, than an idyllic afternoon in the barnyard, puttering. And a tangible goal met at the end is the icing on the cake!

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Last night when I went out late to lock up after my dear brother’s birthday dinner, there was a dark cinnamon marans egg in the bottom box, and a little Isbar hen installed at the back of the top box, brooding over a single sky blue egg. Nope little lady, you’re not taking over this box for the next 21 days. If you insist, I will move you to a broody box, and we’ll see how well you stick to your resolution.

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Rain Softly Falling

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Jodi in Seasons, Weather

≈ Leave a comment

Let out my birds at noon to free range and as usual my seven year old brahma ran straight to the nearest snow bank. She loves eating snow, the funny old thing. But if this rain keeps up, that might have been her last snow cone this winter.
I’ve missed rain’s silvery trails slicing through my headlamp beam at evening chore time, her gentle patter freckling my face. It has been too long since she last dropped in.
The dark velvety soft night enchants me and although as wet as always, the rain in no way dampens my enthusiasm for this weather change. Spring is in the neighbourhood for sure, I hope she stops by and stays a while!

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