Fall to do list update

Posted on November 3, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Baxter walking on a frosty morning

Back at the beginning of October, I posted my fall to-do list. I’ve had a month, and frosty mornings are coming more frequently. Have I made any progress to being ready for winter?

1. Clean out the vegetable garden

Pruning the raspberries was a big item I was thrilled to check off my list. The squash was our last crop to harvest. Now only clean up remains. A lot of clean up yet.

2. Remove window screens

Screens are off the dining room window. The rest will come down eventually.

3. Wash dining room and living room windows

Done. We can now turn off the outside water any time. Inside, my Norwex glass cloth made quick work of years of grime (seriously, years) and layers of puppy nose smears.

(I’m not affiliated with Norwex. If you’re looking for a good glass cleaner, I can’t recommend Norwex glass cloths enough. As I’m trying to be conscious of what chemicals I use in my home, I love that this uses only water. Plus it works the best out of lots of products I’ve tried for windows.)

Norwex window cloth

4. Put away the birdbath and put out the feeder

Matt and Wiley worked late last night, and they got this done by headlight.

5. Bush hog the meadow, septic and pond shore one more time

My handy nephew is coming to visit this weekend, and he’s enthused about practicing his tractor driving again.

6. Clean gutters

Matt’s done this once. More leaves are coming down everyday though and those pine trees never stop shedding, so I expect there will be at least one more session before winter.

Matt cleaning the gutters with the leaf blower

7. Switch out the mudroom mats

Still to come.

8. Sweep the chimney

The hunt for a right-size chimney brush took a little while. I think I’ve found one that will work, and I’m aiming to grab poles from my parents today.

Chimney brush in front of the hearth

9. Vacuum my car

Still to come.

10. Service the tractor

Wiley did his last mowing two weeks ago–and he was more than ready to be done for the season. He got stuck and I had to tow him again, and he hit a stump and threw a blade. Also, Matt’s not happy with how our little tractor is running. So a pre-winter check up is definitely in order.

11. Build a new coffee table.

Still to come.

12. Pick up the lumber pile beside the silo

Still to come.

13. Regrade back and side of house

Still crossing my fingers that this will come too.

Roughly two months ’til winter. That’s still enough time, right? Now that the weather has gotten colder, I find I’m less motivated, especially when it comes to working outside. I keep reminding myself that everything I do now, I will be grateful for in the spring.

How are you doing on winter prep at your house?

What does it mean to be “off the grid”?

Posted on October 27, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

A bit more than a week ago, Matt and I watched the final episode of Sarah Richardson’s latest show, Sarah Off The Grid. For those that don’t know, Sarah Richardson is a popular Canadian TV personality and designer.

She does beautiful work, and I was excited to see a new show from her. I was particularly excited because this series was all about her and her family building an “off-grid” house. The shows were mostly focused on decorating–that’s what Sarah’s known for mostly and I of course enjoyed seeing the beautiful spaces she created.

I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t share a lot of details on the off grid portion. In fact, I couldn’t find any photos of the barn with its solar array to include in this post (all photos are from HGTV).

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

What they did feature made me think about what it means to be off the grid.

For Sarah and her family, they were focused on being off the hydro grid. A large array of solar panels provides all of the power needed. Woodstoves and fireplaces supplement a heating system that runs on propane. They installed a well and septic system (drilling the well took a few tries as they had trouble finding enough water, and there was discussion of adding a cistern, but I’m not clear if they had to do that as well).

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

For me, when I think of off the grid, I tend to go all the way to self-sufficiency. In particular, avoiding fossil fuels. So I was a bit disappointed to see Sarah’s crew installing a giant propane tank.

I love at our farm that we generate power through our solar panels, we have no need for propane or oil thanks to our geothermal system, and our well and septic handle all of our water needs. We could be self-sufficient.

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

We’re not self-sufficient because our solar panels are not off grid. They feed back into the grid, and we’re paid for the power we generate. We then draw the power we need for the house from the grid. Usage and production are completely separate. Batteries, and potentially more panels, would be needed if we wanted to disconnect from the provincial hydro system entirely (like Sarah was able to do).

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

I’m not sure why Sarah elected not to do geothermal. Perhaps the (small) amount of power required to run the system was too much for their solar panels, which also had to run the rest of the house. Perhaps it was a budget consideration. Perhaps the system required for her (giant) 5,000 square foot house would have been too difficult to set up.

They did take a number of steps to ensure their house is as energy efficient as possible from insulation to lighting to windows. Sarah’s husband Alex shares some of his tips in this video.

Source: Stacy Brandford for HGTV

I was glad to see environmental impact considered throughout the build and the show. That’s a message I don’t often hear on other shows. I wish they had focused on it even more and explained more of their thought process about what off the grid means to them.

Tim at Design Maze posted recaps of each episode, including more beautiful photos.

What does off the grid mean to you? How are you minimizing your home’s impact on the environment? Did you watch Sarah Off The Grid? What did you think of the show?

Fall to do list

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Spring and fall are important seasons on the farm. We’re either working to get things going or working to wrap things up. And all the time I feel like there’s a deadline.

In the fall the deadline is very real because we never know when the weather is going to turn and winter is going to be here. I realize we’re only in the first week of October, and it’s barely begun to feel like fall. It’s not really fair to start talking about winter already, but I already feel like I need to get moving. I have approximately three months until winter officially hits. And who knows how long until freezing temperatures and snow arrive.

Here’s what I’d like to accomplish this fall:

1. Clean out the vegetable garden

Pulling out the plants, a final weeding, lots of pruning, maybe some cover crops or mulch–there’s lots to do here.

2. Remove window screens

I didn’t get around to this last fall, and as a result our windows never got cleaned this spring, and they’re pretty dirty. Pulling the screens off will set me up for next spring.

3. Wash dining room and living room windows

See #2 above. I can’t wait til spring on these two big windows. While we still have running water outside, I will clean these two windows.

4. Put away the birdbath and put out the feeder

The bird feeder is easy now that I have a sleeve in the ground that the stake slips into. However, the bird bath is pretty heavy and needs assistance from both Matt and Wiley.

5. Bush hog the meadow, septic and pond shore one more time

I will also likely light the big pile of brush down at the pond on fire while I’m driving around on the tractor.

6. Clean gutters

Matt’s job. Will likely be done several times this fall.

7. Switch out the mudroom mats

Covering our whole mudroom floor in my large DIY cocoa fibre mat helps to deal with the wet and snow that might come in on our boots.

8. Sweep the chimney

I’m ashamed to say that after three seasons of having a working fireplace, I have never cleaned the chimney. It’s passed time for this chore.

9. Vacuum my car

Between Baxter and the grit of a country property, my car desperately needs a cleaning. Winter will only make things worse, so if I can start off relatively clean, I’ll feel better about myself.

10. Service the tractor

Taking off the mower, greasing all the fittings, changing the oil will ensure that we’re all set for whatever comes this winter.

11. Build a new coffee table.

This has been on my home goals list for awhile, and it’s time to do it. Ideally, the weather holds long enough that I can do some of the work outside.

12. Pick up the lumber pile beside the silo

Last year we went all summer with a big pile of lumber beside the silo. This year, we’ve done it again. Although not quite so big this time around. Hopefully we can move it into the barn without injury this year.

13. Regrade back and side of house

I didn’t get a load of topsoil for my birthday, but I’m not giving up on this one yet.

Oooh. Unlucky 13. I feel like I should find one more task to even it out. I’m a bit surprised there are only 13 things knocking around in my brain. Thinking about fall felt much more overwhelming than that. Sometimes that’s the beauty of writing down a to-do list. It makes the tasks seem more manageable.

Hopefully, that’s the case with this list.

What’s on your fall to-do list?

How to change a tractor tire on a Kioti CS2410

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

One of the issues we’ve run into with our little Kioti CS2410 tractor, Wiley, is his front tires not holding air.

The tires are just rubber tires on metal rims. No tubes. So if they’re underinflated or hit something, we’ve found that the seal between the tire and the rim can start to leak.

We added a tube to the front right tire back in our first winter here. The left front tire we left mostly alone, just checking it and reinflating it regularly.

But after Wiley got stuck at the start of the month, the front left tire wouldn’t hold air at all.

So we popped it off the tractor, took it to the tractor dealership and asked them to put in a tube.

Removing a tire from a Kioti CS2410 is relatively straightforward.

First, with the tire and the tractor still on the ground, we loosened the nuts. Keeping the tractor on the ground ensures that your tire won’t spin while you’re trying to undo the (often very tight) nuts.

We found a normal tire iron was too big for the nuts. Instead, we used our socket wrench with a 5/8 socket.

Once all five nuts were loose, we raised the tractor up with a jack under the front axle. (If you’re on uneven ground like we are, it’s smart to stabilize your jack by putting it on a board).

Then we unscrewed the nuts the rest of the way and lifted off the tire. Super easy.

Wiley did a balancing act for a few days (we stuck some wood under the axle so we weren’t relying solely on the jack) while the tire was at the repair shop.

Once we got our newly tubed tire back, attaching it to the tractor was pretty straightforward.

The hardest part was getting the holes perfectly lined up so that the nuts would screw in straight. It was helpful to have two people, one to hold the tire and the other to handle the nuts.

Once we had the nuts finger tight, we lowered the tractor back down onto all four wheels and removed the jack. Then Matt tightened the nuts with the socket again. Like with any tire, follow a star pattern when you’re moving from nut to nut, rather than going around in a circle.

And that was it. Then Wiley got to go for a little run on his new wheels.

I’ve learned that a tractor–even a small one like Wiley–is indispensable on a farm–even when we’re not farming. We’re very happy to have him back in working order and to not have to worry about flat tires any more.

Happy fall

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Summer is hanging on, with hot temperatures and bright sunny days. But leaves are starting to turn and the trees are showing their colours. And officially on the calendar, fall is here.

Harvest report from Illinois

Posted on September 20, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

You saw on Monday that our last hay harvest of this year happened on the weekend. In Illinois, harvest is also underway, although there’s some variation in the crops. Sarah is here today to share a crop report.

Harvest 2017 is officially underway. I say “officially” but that just means that I saw my first combine this week.

If you remember back to some of my spring posts, we had an extremely wet season.

Of course it affected my planting but more importantly it affected the farmers’ planting. Most farmers either had to wait to plant, planted then had to re-plant, or some were just lucky enough that the first planting made it.

With these three scenarios, I find it fascinating that fields that are usually all ready to harvest about the same time are now looking completely different.

I took pictures on my way home one night of different fields of soybeans all in different stages of harvest.

Not at all ready to harvest:

Starting to show signs of the foliage dying:

And almost ready:

The corn is in similar stages:

None of these examples are from the fields that Steve farms. He says that he is about 2 weeks away from cutting his first beans. I think this is going to be a long drawn-out harvest season.

How are crops doing in your area? Have you seen any signs of harvest approaching?

It seems like this has been a good season for hay in our area. The wet weather has meant it just keeps on growing. The farm across the road had at least three cuts, I think. You have me curious about beans and corn, Sarah. I’m going to have to find a field and take a look.

Get to the choppa

Posted on September 18, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Ahhh, a peaceful weekend morning in the country. The bugs buzzing and the birds chirping. The hum of a tractor in the distance. The sound of gates creaking and horses neighing at the farm across the road. The pop of gunshots and whir of a helicopter. The… um, what was that?

No, the farm has not become a war zone. But we did have an interesting invasion on Saturday when a helicopter landed in the big field.

Honestly, I wasn’t paying much attention. There’s a shooting range a few kilometres down the road, so gunshots are something that we hear fairly regularly. They’re just background noise to me now.

I definitely heard the helicopter. But again, I wasn’t concerned because there have appeared to be helicopter lessons happening over the farm throughout the summer. They fly low and they fly around and round. It’s noisy and odd, but not novel anymore.

However, a helicopter landing on our property is novel, and apparently that’s what happened.

Matt, who was out for a walk with Baxter, had seen the helicopter. However, he wasn’t expecting to see it touch down in our field. Matt and Bax were on the road, some distance from the field, talking with a police offer who had pulled over when he saw the helicopter flying erratically.

The helicopter only touched down for a few minutes, so Matt–and the cop–didn’t have a chance to find out what was happening. And I didn’t get a chance for a picture.

The cop’s comment was, “If it crashes on that side of the road, it’s the city’s problem. If it’s on this side it’s our problem.”

Ummm… if it crashes, it’s a problem period. If it crashes on our farm, that’s our problem. Not helpful input, Mr. OPP.

After an apparently safe takeoff, the police officer went on his way, and Matt and Bax returned for breakfast. Later in the day, Matt commemorated the occasion by finding Predator on TV–hence the title of this post, Matt’s favourite line from that movie.

The rest of the weekend our fields were pretty much back to normal.

Our last hay was baled, so tractors and hay wagons replaced the helicopter. The closest we got to a helicopter was this spinning attachment on the back of the tractor as our farmer was preparing the hay for baling.

Did anything unusual happen at your house this weekend?

Changes

Posted on September 8, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I’m writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, sitting at my dining room table staring out the big window at the garden and the fields beyond.

This is not where I’m usually found on Tuesday afternoons. Especially not the Tuesday after Labour Day when everyone is back to work, back to school, back to routine.

As of the beginning of September, I have a new routine. One that revolves around the farm, family and freelance writing.

I’ve taken a leave from my job and am going to see what I can make on my own. I’ve thought about doing this for awhile, and I’m excited, nervous and grateful to be able to now take this step.

I’m doing communications consulting, editing and, of course, writing. If you need any of these services, I’d love to hear from you. My business is called 129 Communications (for obvious reasons).

Labour Day labours

Posted on September 4, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Happy Labour Day everyone.

Like Studio McGee said on Instagram the other day, I’m “really feeling the whole rest from your labours thing this weekend.”

Of course, we tend to mix in a bit of labour around here even when we’re having a mostly relaxing weekend–a three day weekend too. But sometimes the labour doesn’t go as planned.

Note the dog, who is very unconcerned with his chances of getting smushed by either a car or a tractor or whipped by a snapping chain. I’m glad he trusts us to keep him safe, but dude could have a bit better sense of self-preservation.

Note as well the husband hiding behind the front end loader.

And a final note that this is all my fault. I hadn’t mowed the gully with the push mower as well as I usually do. There was an actual thought of, “I wonder whether Matt can get down here with Wiley.”

Turns out he can, but he can’t get out, at least not when the ground is soft and a little wet.

What are you doing this Labour Day?

End of summer sunrise

Posted on August 30, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Our morning walks have been slowly getting darker and darker. I love summer, so I’m sad to see the days shortening. But I do enjoy seeing the sun rise over the fields rather than heading out when it’s already up. The change of season is coming.

How are you starting your days as the summer winds down? Is anyone else a bit sad that summer’s coming to an end?