Dec 22 2022. Got Jim and Chief out to take a sled ride to the north woods.
Dec 20 2022 Dorothee splitting wood
Dec 19 2022. I was working in the shop on the sunflower cleaner when Dorothee came in from the garden to show me the brussel sprouts just picked from the garden. Pretty good harvest for this time of year.
Dec 17 2022 and there is snow to clean from the solar cells.
Dec 16 2022 The closing wheels.. I just purchase four of them so that I have one spiked on and one rubber. The rubber wheels come off and the spiked ones can be put on easily. I have no idea if this will work so I will wait until the crimping the rye in late june.
The new row cleaners installed Dec 16 2022 .I wanted to part the crimped rye to warm up the soil and get a good trench for the seeds so I have no idea if this will work.
Dec 13 2022 cleaning my sunflowers. I have a small 1.5 diesel engine running it. After this cleaning I decided to install a smaller screen as I was loosing too many small sunflower seeds.
Dec 13 2022. yes if is late in the day but I wanted to get some logs pulled before it rained tomorrow. This is Duke who works very well on him own. I use the chainsaw safety pants and use a screen on the helmet.
Dec 10 2022. Dorothee is bringing Duke back after pulling some logs. Getting ready for some snow and getting the bob sled out.
Dec 10 2022 Just going up to the woods to finish a new hitching post and pull some logs.
Dec 9 2022, Got the corn head off the combine then took Jim and Ginger out to practice pulling logs. Now I have to go and cut some trees.
Dec 8 2022. Got the corn combined finally. It was a bit of a rush for me since I had to combine a field of sunflowers for a friend then come back to our farm and change the sunflower head out and get the corn head before rain on Sunday. It all worked out well.
Dec 5 2022 I just bush hogged the tillage radishes because I want to winter the horses here. I thought that the radishes would dry out faster... and there is quite a smell to them.
Dec 2 2022 Just another photo of the horses in the combined sunflower field.. Note the cover coming up.
So after combining the sunflowers the horses get to eat the clover! The field now has a very thick blanket of crimped rye and the white clover I planted back when I planted the rye has come through very well. Dec 2 2022
Dec 2 2022 Finally got to combine the sunflowers. Very poor crop this year but that was expected as it was a poor field and I had 6 weeks of drought after planting. Note the sunflower head pans.
Paolo taking a turn at discing with the horses. Nov 29 2022
This is Shelby an experienced drag racer using Chief, duke and Jim to see what it is like to disc a field. Nov 29 2022
This is how our office runs so smoothly. Patches one of our cats takes care of the delinquent accounts. At the moment she is resting knowing that all accounts are paid.
Nov 15 2022 the sunflower head I developed many years ago. Takes a lot of time to get the pans put together and the wooden bats on the reel.
Nov 6 2022 The rye is peppered with peas growing which I hope will increase the nitrogen level when it dies in cold weather.
Nov 6 2022 The rye I over-planted in the camelina residue is showing which I hope will be feed for the horses in the early spring. They generally hate rye but fresh green rye is palatable in the early spring.
Oct 6 2022 Dorothee on the new log splitter. Dorothee has been cutting all of our firewood for many years and finally she felt she needs help and I ordered a new log splitter.
Oct 28 2022. Dorothee grew carrots this year! Look at the size of that one! This batch of carrots is for the horses.
Oct 27 2022 Using the coulter cart to over seed the pasture. The coulter cart opens up the field and the planter then follows and the discs go in the same area as the coulter cart has open up.
Oct 25 2022 Decided to spread some compost on the pasture with the horses. They did not mind the tractor.
October 8 2022. We went to Eric County fair and saw the horse pulling context.
Oct 6 2022 Mat Packing the rye with Ginger , Jim And Chief
Mat with Chief, Duke and Jim planting rye Oct 4 2022
Sept 14, 2022. Discing the spelt field.
Sept 13 2022. Was rough getting started but gradulaly got the furrows a little straighter.
Sept 13 2022. Time to get the red clover plowed and ready for rye which will be crimped in the spring and planted with corn.
Sept 9 2022. We have far too many potatoes and look at the size of the one Dorothee has! This is only a small amount that she has harvested.
Sept 8 2022 Dorothee has grow some tremendous onions!
Aug 29 2022 A turnip from Dorothees garden
Aug 29 2022 Dorothee and far too many tomatoes!
Aug 14 2022. Dorothee and her prize peppers. She has never had such an abundance of peppers.
Aug 14 2022. Here is Dorothes' own Eggplant Pizza and what a great meal after haying.
August 14 2022. Will Arlow loaded 186 bales of hay on the wagon. Now hopefully we have enough bales for the horses for the winter. Now to plow the field and plant rye for crimping next spring.
AUG 13 2022. Mat with Jim and Duke racking hay.
Aug 12 2022, Mat with Chief and Jim teddering the hay.
Aug 111 2022 A Jamaican friend Buju driving Chief and Jim
August 10 2022. Jim. Duke and I cut hay today. It was a lot of hard work for all of us. It was quite thick and tough going for the horses but I think we got enough for the winter on this cut.
August 7 2022. April and Kye pounding posts for the chickens.
August 6 2022. Kye driving ginger and Chief with April giving encouragement.
August 6 2022 April walking Ginger.
August 7 2022. This is April from Toronto nailing up the fence for the chickens... of maybe better said to keep out the fox.
July 31 2022. Aric and Duke in training
July 31 2022. Lily and Duke in training.
July 31 2022 Aric and Jessie
July 17 2022 Sunday afternoon Dorothee and I took some time off to have fun with a friendly competition for horses call Chores.
Another contestant getting ready for the stone boat sled part of the horse chores
July 17 2022 Horses and men looking at the fun.
WE had a visitor on the weekend. Here is lily leading Duke.
July 6 2022. The corn is forming a canopy to discourage the weeds. I wish I had been able to plant the corn into the crimped rye.. so next year!
July 5 2022. Swathing the camelina. I use the swather since there are a few weeds and once cut the weeds dry out and go through the combine better. The camelina is not quite mature but it will mature in a few days of sunshine before I combine. Notice the windrows of drying camelina on the right.
June 28 2022. Paolo, Dorothee and Nick. We really appreciated the guys for coming out and helping with the haying.
June 28 2022. Paolo guiding Chief while he pulls a log. This was just a practise for Paolo who had never used a horse to pull a log.
June 28 2022 Paolo, Callum and Nick came out to help with the haying. This day I had run out of wagons the day before but continued baling leaving the bales on the ground which we came back to fetch with the wagon. The previous load we used Duke and Chief to pull the wagon.
June 28 2022, The horses cooling off in the woods to escape the heat of the day.
June 27 2022 On the crimped rye there are a few sunflowers coming up but the lack of rain makes things slow to poke above the crimped rye.
June 26 2022 It was a very hot day and Will came an helped pile bales on the wagon. This haying was difficult. It started with me trying to use the sickle mower on the tractor as I figured it was too hot for the horses. This was a mistake as the hay was just too thick. So I next used the Swather and cut the hay too high giving poor results. I do not like using the swather as it leaves windrows that take too long to dry. I tried to tedder the cut hay and that too gave me problems as it was too thick and again I should have cut it lower. The raking also gave me problems as the cut was too high and the tines caught in the uncut grass below the drying hay..
The kittens have been a great joy to Dorothee and me. They go out all day and then in the evening crash on Dorothees couch.
June 24 2022. It was a very hot day so I decided to use three horses to rake the hay field. Worked out very well.
June 24, 2022. Using Chief and Jim to tedder the hay field.
Jun e 22 2022. Update on the corn I just cultivated. Wish I had planted the corn in the crimped rye, Maybe next year.
June 10 2022. This is the field after the horses ate and trampled it down. The fields previously eaten and trampled are back up and in full bloom.
June 10 2022. The horses have not tackled this red clover yet. I was very impressed with the very dense and tall red clover. I was advised to hay the red clover then in the fall combine it for seed. So instead I let the horses eat it, trample it down and let it grow again.
June 10 2022. This is mob grazing the Red Clover that I planted into the sunflower field. Looked rather impressive.
June 9 2022. Tyne weeding the corn a few days after planting with Jim and Chief.
April 29 2022 Dorothee wondering if our apricots will make it this year. Most years the frost kills the blossoms.
April 29 2022. An early trillium in the woods.
April 29 2022. Dorothee looking at the wonderful display of plants in the woods.
April 17 2022. Dorothee and I took Jim and Ginger up to the woods for a load of wood. If you look closely you can see Dorothee driving the team after unhitching them from the wagon.
April 3 2022. Dorothee and I take a nap after lunch with the kittens. Patches pictured here is a real favourite of Dorothee's.
March 9 2022, Yes we are gathering maple sap from our woods. And it was flowing well.
Feb 5 2022. Note the sled is parked facing away from the farm as the horses tend to be less anxious to go away from the farm and pull accordingly. The hay bale is for driver and passenger comfort.
Dorothee driving the team from the woods with Jim and Duke Feb 5 2022
Feb 5 2022, the battery operated chainsaw. I have two batteries but rarely need them both.
Feb 5 2022. Loading the sled with firewood with Jim and Duke in the background...
Jan 29 2022, The morning starts with lighting the cook stove. Note the rescued water tank on the left that heats our water from the wood stove. It has been well below zero for quite a few days and there is nothing more wonderful than a warm fire in the morning after chores.
Cleaning the solar cells on the pole barn jan 29 2022.
The main pasture on Jan 29 2022, snow and lots of snow.
A dedicated Dorothee out in the minus 14 C shucking corn for the chickens. Jan 28 2022
Ginger and Chief getting oats and sunflower meal after pulling the sled may 25 2022.
Dorothee driving the horses after sledding for the afternoon. Jan 25 2022
Mat with Chief and Ginger pulling the sled in the north woods. Jan 25 2022
Dorothee doing some cross country skiing jan 25 2022 in the north woods.
And yes bowl of oats and sunflower meal after the snowplowing. Jan 23 2022
Jan 23 2022 and more snow so Chief was put into snowplow mode. Note I let the lines go so that I could take the picture but with Chief he stayed absolutely still.
Chief having his oats after the snow plowing. Jan 2022
Chief pulling the V snow plow. Jan 2022
Gandolf visiting his rooster friend who got injured. Jan 2022
Jan 11 2022 I wished for snow for the horse drawn sled and forgot that also means I need to clean the solar cells.
Paolo visiting the farm had his first riding lesson on chief. Jan 10 2022
Jan 6 2022. I got the bin put in on the north side of the north barn and filled it to the top with our oats that I had stored in our seed container pictured in the background. The fork lift is to the right with a bag of oats.
The oats bin being filled with our oats. Dec 6, 2022. My large diesel tractor had starter problems so I used the gas tractor which worked very well.