Sorry it's been so long since my last update, life just runs away sometimes, here goes...
Harriet took Max to the 4H provincial show at the end of August, it was a very long couple of days for him but overall he did very well for such a lively dog. Harriet has had dreams of doing dog agility with Max but with him being so full of life she started with dog obedience. When she was at the show a number of people mentioned to her that he would do well at dog agility so since then she has setup a course in the garden and Max is now weaving through poles, walking over a seesaw and jumping over the jumps.
Max and Harriet at the provincial show
The really hot summer turned into a very wet summer that was still very warm but muddy on the farm. It started turning much cooler in Sept but October has brought back the warm daytime weather but nights are chilly and we've had a couple of frosty mornings. All this means we have to spend all our time at home getting ready for winter. This includes wood collecting, chopping, splitting and storing in the basement, so far we have much more dry wood in than we've ever had in the previous 3 winters but we still need a lot more before we can be sure we've got enough. We have to get enough animal food and hay, oil for the furnace, lots of trips to the tip to clear the yard and more shelters and sheds built to house the animals over winter.
David has moved the compost pile onto my veggie plot so I'm finishing the harvesting and putting manure on for over the winter.
Inside the house we are doing Josh's room still, finishing the wall in the dining room we took out to circulate more warm air and other jobs like guttering and making a boot area for winter. Nothing very exciting but all necessary and time consuming!
The kids went back to school and immediately the boys joined the soccer team and Harriet the cross country team,the season for both sports is so short they fit all the practices, games and meets into about 8 weeks before the icy ground and possible snow! Isaac and Josh's team are doing very well this year and actually winning a number of games, Harriet is also doing well and has measured out a route round our property a mile long to practice each day with Max as her support! She is now up to running 3 miles per day!!!
Two of our pigs had litters a couple of weeks ago so we have 19 little piglets running round the field which are very cute. We have sold a good amount of pork over the summer to lots of individuals and 2 local restaurants. We need to take more to the abattoir but we'll have to wait till they finish butchering all the moose from hunting season last weekend.
I love the colours at this time of year
Some of our piglets and Mum
We also hatched 17 more chicks a couple of weeks ago as we had mainly roosters hatch earlier in the year
Thanksgiving dinner looking yummy...
We are raising turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. The Thanksgiving ones will be butchered next week and are looking very healthy, the baby ones are outside in a pen. Last week we got up to find something had eaten the leg off one while it was in the pen. We realized that a raccoon had found a tiny gap between the grass and the pen and had reached in while they were sleeping and pulled a leg out to eat. This meant war! We got a live trap and baited it, the first night it came back it managed to set the trap off, tip it up and eat the bait without getting caught but not last night! It was well and truly caught.He was very fat and not at all friendly, after taking swimming lessons he is now a fur hat for Isaac!!!
Mr Raccoon looking like butter wouldn't melt!
We also have a skunk living under our front steps and Isaac and Josh had a bear cross the road in front of the car about 100m down the road from our house!
Next weekend is Thanksgiving weekend. David is off for 2 days before to get all the turkey orders ready and the kids will be helping him as they have time off school too. We are going to celebrate at the Phillips on Sunday which we are looking forward to.
