Sloughbottom Stories

Day 28 Grass, before and after the chickens in the hoop have had their way with it. :) Good manure coverage means exceptionally good grass next year! The baby pigs are pretty much free-ranging full time now. I found them rooting in yesterday's chicken area when I went out to do chores. Kalevi's been working on a mobile pen for them, but he's come upon some roadblocks (pics coming tomorrow). The kids are in swimming lessons in town. My parents brought their camper to the regional park and we are camping there for the week. Well, that's not exactly true. My mom is camping with the kids and I'm driving back and forth to do chores. Most people go camping to relax. For farmers, even relaxing is a lot of work. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #pasturedpork

Day 27 - Homemade chicken feed. If it wasn't so dusty I'd eat it myself!! It's gourmet grain, folks! #luckychickens #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe

Day 26 I had to haul water and feed to all the birds with the wagon because...the Ute ran out of fuel and we don't have any in our bulk tank right now. Stella pulled the empty wagon back for me. Heehee Went to mom's garden for another load of yummies. Gave the corn cobs from lunch to the pigs. They devoured them! Kalevi went to town to get a jerry can to fill it up and we went out to round up some cows. (Sounds so nice when I say it that way - mostly it was a lot of bouncing in the pasture and swearing because the fence was off and the cows were going under every crosswire they came across) Brought them home in the trailer and gave them some earrings - RFID tags (radio frequency identification tags) so they can be sold at the auction mart. The RFID tags are the method used for 'traceability' - so the cow's ear is scanned when she goes to the auction mart and she's linked to this tag number wherever she goes, and the tag is linked to us. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #cdnag #traceability ##garden15

Day 25 We drove to the butcher and picked up the 4 pigs we had done. Here is one pig - three big boxes of hams, bacon, roasts, chops, sausage, ribs, and a bit of ground pork. We also butchered a cow today - we tried to load her in the trailer last week but she jumped over 3, five-foot tall gates in the corrals. Crazy cows are dangerous and don't get second chances around here. So she's off to get ground up. Special thanks to Raimo for delivering it to the butcher. After regular chores we spent some time in the garden at my mom's and came home with delicious veggies for supper. I finally shoveled out the chicken bus. I have been procrastinating for 3 days! It wasn't so bad - only a little bit stinky. Now we can drag the bus into the equipment lineup and it will wait for next year's batch of new babies. After evening chores I went to catch Hilda. She saw me coming and headed straight for the shed again...but this time the trick was on her, because it wasn't dark yet. I could see the ground and pick my way through the fenceposts and muddy spots and I caught her anyway. I don't know why she has to test me every.single.day!!! After I catch her I still have to drag her across the yard...but as soon as she catches a glimpse of the barn she walks so fast I can barely keep up, a beeline straight for her cozy outdoor pen with oats, hay and water. She's just determined to be difficult. As we were settling in to bed Kalevi got a call from a neighbour saying we have cows out on the main grid road. Black cows on the road at night are really dangerous...so Kalevi went right away to shoo them back in. Wish him luck! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe #familycow

Day 24 Camping in the backyard! Raimo has cleared out the deadfall in this tree row and it's beautiful in there now. Kalevi and the kids are spending a few nights sleeping outside. It's a small tent so I graciously volunteered to stay in the house. hehehe Raimo also built this cool firepit. I found an old oven rack to use as a grill and they cooked sausages for a snack. Some swallows made a nest in my garden shed and we have been keeping an eye on the eggs. Today there were two tiny heads poking out of the nest, sleeping with their heads resting on the edge. They're so ugly they're cute. And the meat birds are srill enjoying their new digs! I love it. I was informed today that these daily photos were used as an example of positive social media usage in agriculture, at a large youth beef show in Alberta! So cool...thanks to whoever organized that! I wish I could hear what people thought! Some of Kalevi's day - the gearbox wrecked on the baler. Unable to be fixed. Need a new one. $3300. So then he went cutting hay instead of baling. Got a flat tire. Local tire guy came and saved the day (thanks Gavin!!) and Kalevi was able to get cutting again. And then he had a huge hydraulic hose mishap. And as he was walking back he had to outrun, like actually run away from, the mosquitoes because they were so thick. Aah, haying season. :) #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe #camping #staycation #hay15

Day 23 Moved the chicken hoop today. The Ute worked perfectly! I was surprised at how evenly the chicks distributed themselves inside the hoop. It seems *so* big for only 200 birds but they sure made their mark - you can see the poop all over the grass, except the green strip where the feed troughs were sitting. :) After chores I had a slow afternoon. I don't glorify busy, here on this ranch! I like our life to be relaxed. :) we had our Extra Kid today and we spent lots of time playing and the kids bathed for a couple hours - it was really hot and muggy today. Kalevi was baling and needed some help in the field. I brought him coffee, cake, a cucumber, and compressed air. I also brought fuel, but that didn't start with "c". :p So he ate the cake and drank coffee while I pumped the fuel into the tractor (I love doing it) and then he used the air to blow out the radiator that was full of foxtail barley heads. It makes the tractor overheat so he has to keep it clean. Afterwards the kids and I picked up my mom and we went to a community baby shower at our little country church. Nice to chat with neighbours and celebrate a new baby! <3 I did chores late again tonight and the mosquitoes were even worse than last night. They are so thick I had to devise a way to pour water one-handed so I could cover my face with the other. I was breathing them in as I stood there. So gross. After that I went for my evening walk and then relaxed and washed in the sauna that Raimo had heated earlier in the evening. Ready for bed...Goodnight! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe #hay15 #allischalmers

Day 22 I have a few sunflowers almost ready to bloom. I love this stage of flowers the best - anticipation of the beauty that will come if you are patient and nurturing. <3 We got to be buckaroos today - gathering and sorting cows to ship to town. We went to check these chokecherry bushes - Dipper figured they're almost ready. :p Took a picture of my funny red and white cow. She's been around for a few years but just isn't up to snuff - she can't handle the winter like our other cows and she suffers. She came up open this spring (not pregnant). There's two others like her, and we decided they will be butchered in the next few weeks. Thank you, old mama. You done good. And this old mama. Oh Hilda. Her originsl calf Hemmo was out with the herd but somehow found his way back, and is nursing from her again. But the new baby is nursing as well!! Poor Hilda just tolerates it. Project for tomorrow is to sort Hemmo off again. Also. I hate dogs. Look what someone did to my favorite boots. Growl. I went out later than usual to do bird chores, and they had all hunkered down for the night. The chickens in the hoop house were cuddled in three groups - the blur in the photo is the cloud of mosquitoes. The turkeys perch in various spots on their bus. Goodnight! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #muckboots #wildforaging

Day 21 Look what we did!!!!! Dragged the hoop house out to grass and put the chicks in! It's so perfect and I can't believe Kalevi and Raimo built it! * proud * I have been wondering all spring, how long the cap for this waterer would last. There's a small opening at the bottom that you put a small cap onto while you are filling it. Then you put the big lid on and take off the small cap, and suction allows the water to only come out enough to fill the trough at the bottom. Then you put the little cap on the 'keeper' - the white bulge near the top of the waterer. But the turkeys are curious and I figured they'd probably peck it off eventually. Well today it was gone. There's no way to fill it if the hole isn't plugged so I got Pop to stick her finger in it!! It was perfect!! We went to a rodeo to see a couple of our friends compete. Turns out we knew a whole bunch of people there and we had a lot of fun even though we missed seeing our friends ride! Happy Sunday everyone!! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe #kcrarodeo

Day 19 Kalevi and Raimo picked up the freezers we got from an auction sale and put them in the quonset. Ready for the pork that will be coming next week! They also worked on the hoop house - Kalevi welded pieces of chain links onto the base so that they could lace rope through the grommets of the tarp and tie it to the frame. They got the tarp installed and it is tight and secure - looks fantastic!! Almost ready for chickens - just need to install hooks for the watering system, and weld something on the end to pull it around with. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe

Day 18. Bad day. Walk it off. Saskatchewan Magic. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #saskscenery #sunset

Day 17 - the world looks the best through the ears of a good horse. <3 Slightly impromptu branding day. We sold most of our cows to some friends and they needed the correct identification so we can separate them from the rest of the cows. I got to play cowgirl for the roundup...the best part is getting to wear my cool riding boots. :p These folks don't use nord forks like we do around here - they prefer to hold the calf down. The horse keeps the back feet out of the way with the rope, and the groundman holds the top front leg up and places his knee on the calf's shoulder area to keep his head still. Even Pip had a job today - he got to mark them with the big yellow crayon once they had been processed (branded, vaccinated and tagged). My job was piercing ears and applying these pretty yellow earrings. :) Pop helped too - she got to fill up my tagging pliers between calves. Afterwards we cooled off by going for a swim and then we all sat in the grass visiting until dark. Working with good friends fills your soul. :) #sloughbottom365 #ranchlife #FarmVoices #branding15

Day 16 The kids woke up super early today, but we got them back to sleep. Unfortunately the rooster started crowing around 4:30 and I didn't sleep after that. So today I caught him and brought him out to the eggmobile so he can be loud out there, far away from the house. Good riddance! :) he sure has pretty feathers though. I am loving this latch that Raimo made for the chicken house. Kalevi scraped out Hilda's pen today because it was saturatef by all the rain we got and I sure dig want to fork it all out by hand. Fresh ground and a new straw bale...bliss!! When we went out to do evening chores, Hilda was grazing out by the chicken bus and I had the halter with me. So I caught her and tied her to the Ute to drive her into the yard. So much easier than pulling her by myself!! :) Goodnight! #sloughbottom365 #ranchlife #FarmVoices #yxe #familycow

Day 15 Baby chicks are almost ready to go outside! They're big enough that I lifted the legs on the feed troughs today. Here's our chicken camper "eggmobile" and our little brown hens. This one was checking out a piece of grass that Pop was waving around. We went to my mom's to tend the garden and the kids enjoyed their bean tent. Kalevi was cutting hay today and I went to pick him up this evening. He got about 60 acres cut. Forcast is for sun so he's just going to keep cutting! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe #hay15

Day 14 Beautiful Saskatchewan. <3 On a previous daily photo, my friend Cynthia suggested I could plant a cutting of the mint I picked to make smudge sticks. Well I had picked the whole plant so I shoved the roots in my flower pot and now they are growing. :) fun! Activities of the day - Kalevi and Raimo drove to look a tractor. I did my normal chores and then the kids and I had a nap. After supper we brought two loads of oat pails to the barn - one load for the pigs and one for Hilda. Goodnight! #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #saskscenery #wildmint #herbalism

Day 13 Kalevi and Raimo built this box cover for Raimo's truck and went to get some hens! While they were gone I outfitted the eggmobile - made a new, bigger roost, installed the nesting boxes and changed the water system to handle more hens. I was really proud of myself - I used a saws-all AND an air stapler, which are both "scary" tools to use. not so scary once you try them! I'm not sure if these hens had ever been outside before. They are kind of clueless. And....another tick in the "pro" box for keeping the chickens penned in - the dogs attacked one of our original hens this morning. I don't even get it. They didn't even kill her, they just injured her and left her to die and didn't eat her either. Makes me so mad. I have never been A Dog Person but I have been trying. But I'm done. I'm so sick of dogs!!! They are more trouble than they're worth. They have lots of food, water, activities, attention....what else do they need?? GRRR. Raimo found a clutch of eggs when he was cutting firewood. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry

Day 12 2.25 inches of rain. Pretty stacked firewood courtesy of Pappa and the kids. That's all. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife

Day 11 Max has been hanging out on the rebounder. Maybe it gives better air flow to the belly. I put a fly jug in the bus today. The flies found the babies so I need to keep the bugs under control. The turkeys think they are so pretty. Kalevi has been watching the radar and there is a big storm coming. So for the past couple days he's been hauling bales off of the slough before it gets too wet again. Washed the truck before the storm, so the rain can rinse off all the salt and other minerals that are in our well water. Kalevi's idea and it worked great. Looks snazzy. Went to mom's to collect garden bounty. Best part was tiny red tomatoes. Yum. #sloughbottom365 #FarmVoices #ranchlife #pasturedpoultry #yxe