Coop update

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

At the beginning of September my Mom asked me what the highlight of my summer has been. I picked three: our cottage vacation, Ellie learning to ride her bike and the coop.

Yes, the coop. Progress has been made.

Here’s where we are at. For the first time in a year and a half we have a wall! For the first time in 13 years we can mow here!

The wall is the most noticeable change, but it’s only one.

Another big task I tackled was grading the area around the coop. Behind the barn was a lumpy, bumpy mess of weeds on top of I-didn’t-know-what. I had covered it all with a tarp last fall, weighing down the tarp with a random assortment of lumber I’d saved when we demolished the old coop.

First step in cleaning up the mess was pulling all of the nails, staples, screws, mesh and chicken wire off the boards. That took a day and a bit. Once I moved all of the cleaned lumber into the barn, I could finally lift the tarp.

The tarp had killed the weeds so I could see what I was dealing with. The lumps and bumps turned out to be a pile of concrete rubble that someone had dumped behind the barn. They only missed the rock pile by about 10 metres. So Wiley the tractor and I got busy and picked up the rubble. Then I raked the ground to level it and seeded it.

This allowed me to work my way around the side of the barn to the gaping hole where the coop was going to be. First step over here was to tar the new foundation wall we’d had built in the spring. Then I laid weeping tile along the wall and backfilled. Thanks to the barn’s newly level backyard, I could drive the tractor to the dirt pile and back without looping around the whole barn.

Finally I could focus on building the wall. The wall took a bit of figuring. It was a big opening and I was building it on my own. After I managed to get the top plate in place, it was smooth sailing from there. Studs went up, then backing for the siding, then house wrap, and then the siding itself.

Fortunately, past owners left us a huge stack of barn board siding, so I was able to use that. In fact, we still have a very large quantity left. I also took the opportunity to move the siding from its original storage spot on the upper level of the barn. I am trying to store all lumber in the basement of the barn, so Wiley and I went to work again and hauled all the siding around to the side of the barn, where it will be easy to carry into the basement.

With the wall (mostly) complete the barn is finally protected from the weather. I am also protected, as pretty much the rest of the coop will be inside work.

Inside work will be starting soon. First, I want to add battens to cover the gaps in the siding. Then I need a door and then I can finally start to build some pens that might someday hold some actual birds.

I also have some professional help coming to tackle some other coop/barn related projects. So more updates to come.

But today, join me in celebrating the coop, won’t you? I am super proud because not only are we making progress, but so far I’ve done it all on my own. (Although you can see Ellie’s been involved as well.) It makes me feel capable and strong to know I can do this and see this long-held dream starting to come together.

What’s been the highlight of your summer? Anyone else working on a multi-step or large project? Do you take the opportunity to tackle other jobs (like moving siding, cleaning up rubble) while you’re working on a related project?

Hay 2024

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Haying is an experience that is always special and fun for us, even after 13 years of harvests. This year, haying has been hard. We’ve had lots of rainy days (and some torrential days most recently). More than enough to make the grass grow like crazy, but not enough time in between for our farmers to cut, dry and bale.

Our farmer cut our first field at the start of June. They finally pulled the last hay wagon away at the end of the month. In between we watched them battle equipment, race the rain, bring on more help, and work very, very hard.

Ellie and I have measured the grass, speculated when it might be cut and then when it might be baled, assessed whether the hay is dry, sympathized with and appreciated our farmers, climbed on hay bales and then jumped off, watched the tractors, balers and wagons, been grateful for this land, and soaked up the experience.

What harvests have you been watching where you live? Anyone else having a wet summer?

Playground upgrades

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Over the summer, Ellie’s playground got a few upgrades.

The treehouse has been a hit, and I’m so glad that I made it for her. It’s large and high (with room for her to grow) and has most of the things she likes (she is very proud that she has mastered the firepole).

She had very quickly outgrown the little playground that I bought for her three years ago, so this spring I sold it. The departure of the playground meant we no longer had swings, so building a swingset was on my to-do list.

But before I could get to the swingset, we did a few other things.

First was adding a simple ladder to her climbing tree. I knew we had a little section of wooden ladder somewhere in the barn. When I stumbled across it one day, I immediately grabbed it and brought it out to the tree she likes to climb (but can’t reach the lowest branches on her own).

A little digging anchored the bottom of the ladder into the ground. A few screws anchored it into the tree. And our girl scrambled up right away. She also enjoys jumping off the ladder. (I’m used to her leaping, so my heart doesn’t completely stop anymore.)

Next up was spreading woodchips under the treehouse. I’d had a load of mulch delivered for this purpose and the pile was where I wanted to put the new swingset.

Unfortunately, when I was ready to move the mulch, the tractor wasn’t due to a flat tire. A shovel, a pitchfork, a wheelbarrow and tenacity got the job done.

First I mowed the grass under the treehouse extra short. Then I covered it with a layer of cardboard. (That person you saw heaving surprisingly heavy bales of cardboard from the drugstore’s recycling pile into the trunk of her car? That was me.) Then I spread a very thick layer of chips under and around the treehouse.

The mulch cleaned up the treehouse so much. No more crazy grass and weeds sticking up here and there. No more contortions as I try to mow under the platform. Ellie also enjoys it as it makes a softer landing zone for her jumping.

With the mulch pile gone, I moved onto the swingset. I had bought a set of brackets and swings off kijiji last spring. I’d even bought the 4×4 lumber I needed to go with them and found the instruction manual online, and then it all sat in the garage for the winter.

Assembling everything was pretty straightforward. Though moving, attaching and flipping 10 foot tall A-frames required some creativity (thank goodness the tractor was back in action by then). My sister also gave me a lift to move the swingset to its final position.

I purposely chose ten foot lengths, even though the manual called for eight, as I planned to sink the A-frames into the ground to anchor them securely. Matt’s Dad helped me dig the holes and move the posts into them. Then a few bags of concrete, some dirt on top and a sprinkle of grass seed, and the swingset was complete.

The final touch for the playground was a flag. The bracket and flagpole have been on the treehouse for more than a year, but I finally sewed up a personalized pennant last week. Ellie helped to colour in her name, and she now loves waving the flag around.

This spot has come together as a great play zone for our girl. Ellie now has a treehouse with tire ladder, firepole and slide, a climbing tree, and swingset with two swings and bar or rings.

A true playground in our own yard.

Beginnings and endings

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

September has made its not entirely welcome arrival. I savour summer. The warmth, the freedom from our schedules, the togetherness for Ellie and me and the rest of our family. Time matters less, and I treasure it.

Last year I chose to “do” summer. I made that choice again this year, and we succeeded. It’s hard to let go of that.

September means routine, school, separation.

In some ways, September is a beginning. Ellie is starting senior kindergarten and for the first time we’ll be apart more days than we’re together. I’m also starting a new job as a college instructor. I’m excited and grateful for this opportunity, and I love watching Ellie grow and become more of her own person. I know we will both adjust and enjoy, but it’s hard to take that first step down a new path.

Over the summer, my university asked alumni to write welcome notes, sharing advice for first year students. As I was thinking about this fall and the changes to come, I realized that some of what I wrote to those young students applied to me as well. I’ve adjusted it slightly to share it here with you.

While you may have your path in mind, life is meant to be explored. Take advantage of those opportunities that come your way–and navigate the bumps as well. They may help you along your route, or they may open you up to a new direction. I hope that you will find the paths that fit you.

Through your life, you will walk many roads. I have changed jobs, switched fields, tried new things, and followed new paths. And that’s okay. The foundation of who I am, the skills I have and what is most important to me stays with me.

Be open to possibilities, today and for the rest of your life. Choose the path that is right for you, right now. Don’t be afraid to change direction. Keep moving.

I wish you all the best this fall, whatever path you are walking.

Vegetable garden update

Posted on July 17, 2023 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

The vegetable garden is a mix of highs and lows right now. A nice change, since the last few years have been all lows all the time.

I’m not quite as high as I was last fall, when the garden was cleaned out for the season and I had grand visions for the possibilities that awaited us. But I’m not in the doldrums either.

I’m working at it.

We are using about half the garden this year. One quadrant has mulched pathways and beds that I established last fall. My mission there has been filling the beds (mixed success) and maintaining the paths (mixed success there as well).

The highest of our highs is a surprise. Three potato plants that appeared at the edge of one of the mulched pathways. I am pretty sure the last time we planted potatoes was 2018, so these have been lurking in the weeds for some time. Potatoes are always Matt’s, so these three plants feel like a gift from him. We’re calling them Daddy’s potatoes, and we’ve pledged to always leave some surprise potatoes in the garden.

The next high is our raspberries. We have so many canes and they are loaded with fruit. One of the highlights of working in the garden this spring was hearing hundreds of bees pollinating the berries. This is also our first year harvesting from plants I transplanted from Matt’s Dad, and the berries are beautiful.

The lowest of our lows is of course the weeds, which are still thriving. I’m reminding myself that they are very well established. It’s going to take effort to knock them back. Thistles and milkweed are our major invaders. (I know milkweed is important for monarchs. We have lots all around the farm and have transplanted many plants this year. I’ve decided they don’t get the vegetable garden too.)

Then we have the plants that I want to grow in the garden. These are not as well established as the weeds. We were a bit late in planting this spring, so they’re all still a little small. We also used our old seed stash, so we’ve had some spotty germination. The old seeds worked great for the tomatoes and watermelon, but the zucchini, carrots, and lettuce didn’t come up at all and the beans and peas are sparse. I bought fresh cucumber, spinach and beet seeds, but the beets didn’t sprout either. (Though I did have a spinach salad for lunch yesterday.)

But speaking of tomatoes, our bumper crop of seedlings led me to open another quadrant of the garden. This one had been tarped, so it was fairly weed free, but there were no rows or paths or beds. I stuck 70 tomato plants in the ground and figured I’d deal with the infrastructure later. But of course as soon as the soil was exposed to the light, the weeds sprouted. The tomatoes are not placed how I want the beds to be, so I can’t work around them to put in my paths and beds. But I’m going to try to lay down some cardboard in between the rows to try to fight the weeds a little bit.

I planted the herb spiral at roughly the same time as the tomatoes, and I mulched the spiral with wood chips. We have had barely a handful of weeds from that whole bed, so contrasting the herbs with the tomatoes has been a great lesson in the power of mulch.

I’m so committed to my no dig and mulch and cardboard and paths and beds that seeing and walking on the exposed soil in the tomato section felt weird. The areas where I spread cardboard and mulch last year are definitely less weedy than anywhere else in the garden. They’re not weed free. I didn’t have enough cardboard to do the whole quadrant, and the cardboard I did have has now decomposed. So the weeds have broken through in spots, but there are not as many and they are much easier to deal with than the bare soil.

I think I entered no dig expecting truly no dig. The weeds would succumb with one application of cardboard. The worms and bugs and plants would thrive. My garden would be lush and beautiful and low maintenance.

The more I’ve studied, the more I realize that it’s a process. Battling the weeds takes time. Finding my balance of mulch, compost, interplanting, succession planting and just plain planting takes time. I believe that no dig is best for the soil, animals, bugs and plants. I also believe we can get there to a lush and beautiful (but not necessarily low maintenance) garden. I’m working at it.

How is your garden growing? What are you growing at your house? Are you a mulcher? Anyone else experimenting with different growing methods?

Garden wrap-up from Illinois

Posted on October 24, 2018 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Sarah in Illinois has shared periodic updates about her vegetable garden over the summer. Now it’s time for her final report, also known as the medal ceremony.

For the third year in a row I would like to sum up how well our garden produced. Unfortunately overall our garden did poorly. While I was complaining about this to Steve he said that some years are just like that, you can do everything correctly but weather doesn’t always cooperate.

As I have in years past 2016 and 2017, I’ll rank my results in the style of the Olympics.

Gold Medal Winners

Kale – Our Kale did wonderfully this year. My step-daughter and I love kale chips and we made a few batches and could have made plenty more.

Broccoli – Steve was in question whether 8 broccoli plants were too many. The answer was no. We had so much fresh broccoli and as much as we eat, we could have used a few more plants. Side note: our favorite way to eat it is coated in olive oil and seasoning and grilled.

Tomatillos – After two years of nothing, I finally got a very productive tomatillo plant. I did learn to make salsa verde and have decided that tomatillos will now be a staple in our garden.

Sunflowers – I didn’t plant any this year for some reason but it worked out because we had several volunteers!

Silver Medal Winners

Tomatoes – Our tomatoes acted so strangely this year. They flowered and came on quickly, then they stayed green for much much longer than normal. Then they flowered again and produced red tomatoes. Not our best year for them, but we still had plenty fresh from the garden.

Green Peppers – After planting about 12 plants, I figured we would have more peppers than we could use. But honestly, we really didn’t have that many. Then when I finally found peppers on the plants they were really soft and past being ripe.

Jalapenos – I was able to gather just a couple jalapenos this year. Much different than the overabundance last year.

Cucumbers – Somehow I only planted pickling cucumbers this year, even after specifically buying different varieties. This is the first year we did not grow our vines up a fence. I would like to bring that back next year.

Bronze Medal Winners

Sugar Snap Peas – I think I picked less than a dozen pods. But stay tuned for a fall planting post from me in the future.

Potatoes – We were able to dig up two messes of potatoes. One was used for fried potatoes and one was used to potato salad for a family get-together.

Blueberries – This is literally all that I picked, but the bushes are new and I have high hopes for next year.

Radishes – I picked a few, but only a few.

DNF “Did Not Finish (produce)”

Brussel Sprouts – I think the area of the garden that these were planted stayed too wet all year. The plants looked okay but they did not produce any heads at all.

Carrots – Nothing. Not even a sprout.

Cherry trees – Ugh! Deer enjoyed my cherry trees. So much so that both trees died. That should be a post on it’s own. I will have to formulate a new plan and buy new trees in the spring.

Cauliflower – The plants looked nice and green but did not produce a single head.

Zucchini – Nothing came up at all.

Expecting to have all gold medals winners is unreasonable but I really would like to not have anything in the DNF category. I’m making notes and hope that next year is even more successful.

How did your garden do this year? Anyone else feel like this year was worse than normal?

I feel like our entire garden was DNF this year, Sarah (#blamethebaby). So I take solace from your results! (And you have my sympathies.) I’m hoping we might yet find some potatoes in amongst the weeds.

A simple deck switch in Illinois

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

In Illinois Sarah is enjoying outdoor living. She and her husband Steve made what turned out to be a simple change to improve their enjoyment of one of their favourite outdoor spots.

I’ve mentioned several times that Steve and I like to spend a lot of time on our deck. We designed and built it the summer of 2013. Then two years later we cleaned and sealed it.

We have gotten so much use out of it, whether it is just Steve and mefr or one of the several the birthday parties, 4th of July parties and girl’s night that we have had on the deck.

As much as we have used the deck, Steve had noticed that it could be improved. When we designed it we had two sets of steps: one directed towards a door of the house that we use often and one directed towards our garden.

However, after a few years of use Steve pointed out that we could really improve the flow if we moved the steps. What first seemed like a huge undertaking was really a quick change up. Thankfully the steps were built independently of the deck so after removing several deck screws the whole set of steps easily moved.

Then taking a few screws out of the railing and using a circular saw to cut it down we were easily able to replace it where we had removed the steps. Thankfully Steve has really good vision, because when he mentioned doing this I thought it was going to be a whole day of work and honestly it took less than an hour!

Moving the steps to a longer side did bring up a small issue. The stairs were narrower than the opening. Steve and I both felt that some tall planters would guide people towards the stairs and a railing wouldn’t be needed.

We found these planters at Lowe’s. To fill them we wanted something permanent that would look nice in the winter so we also purchased these bushes. Then we bought petunias and verbena for color during the summer. We could not be happier with how they turned out. (And yes that is Blitz’s very own baby pool in the background.)

Also I had to divide and move my mums around to fill in where the steps had been. We still need to decide what material and where we want a walkway but overall we are thrilled with the changes.

The deck just feels like it makes more sense this way and we sure like to spend time sitting out there and enjoying each other’s company.

Do you have a gathering spot at your house? Ever had a project that just wasn’t working and you made the decision to rework it? What flowers would you use to fill those big pots?

What a great switch, Sarah. I’m impressed that it was such an easy change for you. The planters are a good solution.

Not so rosy results from this year’s tomatoes

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Unfortunately we’re ending garden week on a low note. I was very optimistic about our tomatoes this year. We had beautiful big green tomatoes. I was just waiting for them to turn red and then I would be devouring my favourite tomato sandwiches.

From what I’ve heard from other gardeners in our area, tomato blight is pretty prolific this year. Many people have lost their crops.

I thought we were going to squeak through, but the blight has now hit us as well. It started with our Black Krim tomatoes–this year’s new variety. The plants died first. The stalks developed brown patches, then the leaves withered. And now the fruits themselves have started to shrivel, darken and fall off the plant–even as a few of them have tried to turn red.

I thought the blight might be limited to the Krims, but it’s now spreading to the Mountain Merit beefstakes and even our usually resilient cherry tomatoes.

To try and curb the blight for next year, I will be ripping out our plants and throwing them on the burn pile rather than composting as we usually do. And rotation is a must to ensure that next year’s tomatoes are away from the blight.

I did stock up for my tomato sandwiches, but I did it at the grocery store, rather than the garden. 😦

Have you had any blight issues this year? How have your tomatoes grown? What’s your favourite way to enjoy tomatoes?

Potato harvest 2017

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Garden week is continuing here on 129 acres. This post is all about the high point of the whole gardening season so far–the potato harvest.

You may recall that we decided to devote a whole quadrant of our 2,500 square foot garden to potatoes this year. We had a whole bunch of seed potatoes–all from our own pantry–and I ended up putting in about eight rows.

The results were pretty much as expected. A whoooooole lotta potatoes.

We grew four varieties: Kennebec, Russian Blue, Basin Gold and red. The Kennebecs are by far our favourite. They fry up nice and crisp for hashbrowns, but stay soft and potatoey inside. Their flavour is also wonderful. It’s a good thing we like them because we had so many we ended up picking them into the wheelbarrow.

The Kennebecs also grew big. One potato will make more than enough hashbrowns for breakfast for both of us. For comparison, Matt wears a size 13 boot.

The Russian Blues are fun purple potatoes. We got a decent crop of them. The reds are the first potatoes we ever tried growing. I think some of the plants were choked by weeds this year because the number of reds that we got this year was not great.

However, the greatest disappointment ended up being the Basin Golds. These were an experiment. When Matt is looking for giant baking potatoes to go with our steak dinners, he picks up Basin Golds.

We had a couple of potatoes that sprouted by the time spring arrived, so we stuck them in the garden. They definitely did not live up to our expectations of giant baking potatoes. First, we only got six potatoes. And second they’re small. Here are our measly six taters with their size 13 Kennebec relative.

The potatoes are all different shapes and sizes.

There was a Russian Blue that Matt enjoyed particularly. Ahem.

And the much more G-rated Mini Mouse potato.

We dried the potatoes for a little while on a tarp on the driveway–supervised by that omnipresent puppy–and then loaded them into sacks and put them in the cold cellar. Last year, we followed a pretty similar process, except we put them in cardboard boxes, and they lasted fairly well.

Hopefully we will be enjoying homegrown potatoes for many months to come. I’m expecting breakfast for dinner–complete with hashbrowns–will be on the menu one evening this week.

Do you grow your own potatoes? Do you have a favourite kind of potato? How do you like to eat potatoes? Any tips on storing potatoes? I’m really hoping that our sacks work well.

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?