Cedar Woods Farm

We get our share of double yolker (and even two triple) eggs but this morning’s haul is worthy of sharing.
As the picture shows, at 119g it’s twice the weight of a regular large egg (that needs to be between 56 and 63 grams). This blows away our previous record big egg that was at 93g [...]

When I moved the chicken pen to fresh pasture on the grass this morning there was our first egg lying there!
Time to get the nesting boxes built. With almost two dozen hens we’re hoping to get at least a dozen a day when things are at full production. Lots of yummy breakfasts ahead

This morning is one of those classic winter days filled with potential. The sunrise was worth sharing.

Rebuilding a 3 point hitch back blade that I bought for scrap.

This makes 6 calves in a row that I haven’t been around to see born. Sometime mid day (I suspect) Marigold had her third calf.
Here’s a close up of the little heifer calf.
Shortly after I took these pictures I helped the calf up and she had a good suck. I think all is well, I’m [...]

I thought I’d share a view of our new high tech lawn mowers. This model has some highly desirable features:

Autonomous & self propelled
Run on renewable, green energy
Low emissions
Thorough
Self renewable
Fertilizes while it mows

My favourite moma cow Squiggy came through again with her fourth calf today. He seems to be a healthy bull calf who was born without any assistance (from me anyway).
After running out of patience for nature I eventually helped him stand up and before long he was enjoying his first meal.
This first drink is so [...]

It’s been an early spring here this year, and I think overall a fairly mild winter. We looked across a week ago and saw spashes of colour from last years vegetable garden. We were happy to discover that most of the pansies we planted last year made it through the winter and were flowering already. [...]

Daffodils are Susan’s favourite flowers. We’ve planted quite a few about the farm in the past few years and need to put in more. I noticed this morning that they’re blooming.

One thing I like about heating with wood at the farm is that I can fill the “oil” tank in half and hour out the back. My goal is to only burn dead wood. With this warm spell we haven’t had the wood stove going for a few days, but tonight that has to change. [...]

My friend Fred Dawson came over yesterday and we cut a bunch more dead elm trees for firewood. This is most of it.
Susan is very happy now that we have a wood store again … she likes to be warm!

Before:
After:
Stump:
The result:

Today we’ve got our first real snow of this winter. Here’s a few pics of the animals.
The cows don’t seem too bothered. They’d rather eat than get out of the snow.
Lucy is our donkey. She doesn’t eat as much and was sheltering against the fence when I went out.
She was happy to eat the apple [...]

All the wall covering is off the south bay window wall. Was some nasty mold behind there that’s all gone. This will have new walls with proper insulation, wiring, lights, etc. Another big pile of scrap wood to turn into heat in the wood stove.

Clearing out the old kitchen walls and ceiling is taking much more time and effort than hoped, but perhaps that’s to be expected. Today was a big day for Susan as she got to remove the old upper cabinets that she refused to use.
And they’re gone …
With her reviled cupboards gone, Susan attacked the wall [...]

We’ve had a few “off” days (back to cafe to work weekend, provisioning, tidying) but yesterday was back to rip and tear (after finally getting the upright freezer emptied, defrosted, & moved).
This wall was the worst so far to pull out. There was actually fiberglas batt insulation behind the press-board, which unfortunately had 50 years [...]

With a day interrupted by newspaper articles and a time out while a friend trimmed our donkey Lucy’s feet, progress was slower than hoped for. The good news is that, spurred on from yesterday’s demo, we got started at removing the ceiling to see what the beams look like.
They didn’t skimp on the nails at [...]

We’re finally getting started at building the new kitchen at the farm. Although there’s still stuff we need to clear out Susan was bound and determined to start tearing yesterday (the ol’ “Patience my ass, I want to kill something” sentiment). She was so fast with the crowbar I couldn’t get her into focus (that’s [...]

One of the real joys of living on the farm is being self sufficient for our winter heating. I’m way behind in being ready for winter, but today in less than an hour I filled the Treker twice with wood from dead trees around the old orchard.
This will keep us warm and toasty until the [...]

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving. Last night was our first real hard frost of the fall. Fitting perhaps that the wild turkeys were out in the field when I went to take a picture this morning.

Rather than just post the picture I figured I’d create a “View from the Farm” post. This was the view out the window this morning
These turkeys have been hanging around for about the past month. I’ve also seen a larger group with smaller turkeys, which is heartening. Last summer we had several groups of mothers [...]

Labour Day lived up to it’s name for our fourth moma cow “Charlotte” (because she’s a Charolais breed) as she gave birth for the second year. Last year, for her first time around, Charlotte had twins, which is quite rare for cows. This year she had a solid little heifer calf.
She gave birth completely unattended, [...]

This spring, for the first time since we moved to the farm our hayloft was empty.
This year has been a real challenge for making hay, so although the barn is filling up, I’m still short of hay to get me through the winter. I discoved yesterday how challenging it is to try to get a [...]

It’s been a lot longer than I anticipated (or intended) for a garden update.
Everything has been growing quite well. It’s been an exceedingly wet “summer” this year. So far I’ve only watered the garden once, and even then I didn’t water the corn or tomatoes.
The first harvest came June 20th, with this picking of greens. [...]

Making hay is always a challenge. Do you trust the weather forecast? How much should you cut? Is everything going to hang together?
I figure I need about 1400 bales to make sure I can get through the winter. The rule of thumb around here is that you need to have your first cutting done by [...]

This year we’re going to try growing a lot more of the produce that we use at the cafe (www.YellowCanoeCafe.ca). I’m trying to aim smaller if anything so things don’t get away from us. The primary crops will be mixed salad greens, tomatoes, beans, and herbs. We’re also putting in pie pumpkins, cukes, eggplant, corn, [...]

This year is turning out to be the year of both surprise calf births, and heifers. As I was driving the tractor around to move the hay feeder there was Squiggy standing near the fence with a new calf alongside!
From the looks of things she must have been born early this morning.
Squiggy is my friendliest [...]

Here’s a couple of phone pictures of the new calf, tentatively named “E2″.
I never cease to be amazed at how quickly these calves develop. She’s been running around for a few days now. I just let Ella & E2 out into this front paddock this morning. The grass seems long enough now and is growing [...]

Yesterday, likely during the afternoon while I was having a late lunch at the cafe, Ella took care of business on herself and delivered a heifer calf.
We didn’t get home till after supper but Ella seemed to have everything in hand. I was concerned that I hadn’t seen the calf suck, and Ella’s teats still [...]

I expect to have packages of beef available in the June timeframe. I’m still working out the final details.
This is the first opportunity I’ve had to offer beef from cattle born and raised on our farm. My previous beef has all come from calves I had purchased and then raised.
My current plan is to offer [...]

Update: I’m sorry to say that for a number of reasons this didn’t pan out for this year. However, I am confident that I’ll be able to offer this for next year if there’s sufficient interest. Please contact me at Andrew (at) CedarWoodsFarm.ca if you’d like me to let you know for next year. [...]

Susan & Andrew Moizer own Cedar Woods Farm in Carley’s Corners. Cedar Woods Farm is located on 135 acres of heritage farmland south of Merrickville, Ontario that features a combination of cleared pastures, new and heritage orchards, sheltered grazing, and bush. Cedar Woods Farm currently produces natural pasture fed beef, and fresh vegetables in [...]

Update: I’m sorry to say that for a number of reasons this didn’t pan out for this year. However, I am confident that I’ll be able to offer this for next year if there’s sufficient interest. Please contact me at Andrew (at) CedarWoodsFarm.ca if you’d like me to let you know for next year. [...]

I expect to have packages of beef available in the June timeframe. I’m still working out the final details.
This is the first opportunity I’ve had to offer beef from cattle born and raised on our farm. My previous beef has all come from calves I had purchased and then raised.
My current plan is to offer [...]

Yesterday, likely during the afternoon while I was having a late lunch at the cafe, Ella took care of business on herself and delivered a heifer calf.
We didn’t get home till after supper but Ella seemed to have everything in hand. I was concerned that I hadn’t seen the calf suck, and Ella’s teats still [...]

Here’s a couple of phone pictures of the new calf, tentatively named “E2″.
I never cease to be amazed at how quickly these calves develop. She’s been running around for a few days now. I just let Ella & E2 out into this front paddock this morning. The grass seems long enough now and is growing [...]

This year is turning out to be the year of both surprise calf births, and heifers. As I was driving the tractor around to move the hay feeder there was Squiggy standing near the fence with a new calf alongside!
From the looks of things she must have been born early this morning.
Squiggy is my friendliest [...]

Making hay is always a challenge. Do you trust the weather forecast? How much should you cut? Is everything going to hang together?
I figure I need about 1400 bales to make sure I can get through the winter. The rule of thumb around here is that you need to have your first cutting done by [...]

It’s been a lot longer than I anticipated (or intended) for a garden update.
Everything has been growing quite well. It’s been an exceedingly wet “summer” this year. So far I’ve only watered the garden once, and even then I didn’t water the corn or tomatoes.
The first harvest came June 20th, with this picking of greens. [...]

This spring, for the first time since we moved to the farm our hayloft was empty.
This year has been a real challenge for making hay, so although the barn is filling up, I’m still short of hay to get me through the winter. I discoved yesterday how challenging it is to try to get a [...]

Labour Day lived up to it’s name for our fourth moma cow “Charlotte” (because she’s a Charolais breed) as she gave birth for the second year. Last year, for her first time around, Charlotte had twins, which is quite rare for cows. This year she had a solid little heifer calf.
She gave birth completely unattended, [...]

One of the real joys of living on the farm is being self sufficient for our winter heating. I’m way behind in being ready for winter, but today in less than an hour I filled the Treker twice with wood from dead trees around the old orchard.
This will keep us warm and toasty until the [...]

My friend Fred Dawson came over yesterday and we cut a bunch more dead elm trees for firewood. This is most of it.
Susan is very happy now that we have a wood store again … she likes to be warm!

One thing I like about heating with wood at the farm is that I can fill the “oil” tank in half and hour out the back. My goal is to only burn dead wood. With this warm spell we haven’t had the wood stove going for a few days, but tonight that has to change. [...]

It’s been an early spring here this year, and I think overall a fairly mild winter. We looked across a week ago and saw spashes of colour from last years vegetable garden. We were happy to discover that most of the pansies we planted last year made it through the winter and were flowering already. [...]

My favourite moma cow Squiggy came through again with her fourth calf today. He seems to be a healthy bull calf who was born without any assistance (from me anyway).
After running out of patience for nature I eventually helped him stand up and before long he was enjoying his first meal.
This first drink is so [...]

I thought I’d share a view of our new high tech lawn mowers. This model has some highly desirable features:

Autonomous & self propelled
Run on renewable, green energy
Low emissions
Thorough
Self renewable
Fertilizes while it mows

This makes 6 calves in a row that I haven’t been around to see born. Sometime mid day (I suspect) Marigold had her third calf.
Here’s a close up of the little heifer calf.
Shortly after I took these pictures I helped the calf up and she had a good suck. I think all is well, I’m [...]

Rebuilding a 3 point hitch back blade that I bought for scrap.

When I moved the chicken pen to fresh pasture on the grass this morning there was our first egg lying there!
Time to get the nesting boxes built. With almost two dozen hens we’re hoping to get at least a dozen a day when things are at full production. Lots of yummy breakfasts ahead

We get our share of double yolker (and even two triple) eggs but this morning’s haul is worthy of sharing.
As the picture shows, at 119g it’s twice the weight of a regular large egg (that needs to be between 56 and 63 grams). This blows away our previous record big egg that was at 93g [...]

Susan & Andrew Moizer own Cedar Woods Farm in Carley’s Corners. Cedar Woods Farm is located on 135 acres of heritage farmland south of Merrickville, Ontario that features a combination of cleared pastures, new and heritage orchards, sheltered grazing, and bush. Cedar Woods Farm currently produces natural pasture fed beef, and fresh vegetables in [...]

Update: I’m sorry to say that for a number of reasons this didn’t pan out for this year. However, I am confident that I’ll be able to offer this for next year if there’s sufficient interest. Please contact me at Andrew (at) CedarWoodsFarm.ca if you’d like me to let you know for next year. [...]

I expect to have packages of beef available in the June timeframe. I’m still working out the final details.
This is the first opportunity I’ve had to offer beef from cattle born and raised on our farm. My previous beef has all come from calves I had purchased and then raised.
My current plan is to offer [...]

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving. Last night was our first real hard frost of the fall. Fitting perhaps that the wild turkeys were out in the field when I went to take a picture this morning.

One of the real joys of living on the farm is being self sufficient for our winter heating. I’m way behind in being ready for winter, but today in less than an hour I filled the Treker twice with wood from dead trees around the old orchard.
This will keep us warm and toasty until the [...]

All the wall covering is off the south bay window wall. Was some nasty mold behind there that’s all gone. This will have new walls with proper insulation, wiring, lights, etc. Another big pile of scrap wood to turn into heat in the wood stove.

Today we’ve got our first real snow of this winter. Here’s a few pics of the animals.
The cows don’t seem too bothered. They’d rather eat than get out of the snow.
Lucy is our donkey. She doesn’t eat as much and was sheltering against the fence when I went out.
She was happy to eat the apple [...]

Before:
After:
Stump:
The result:

My friend Fred Dawson came over yesterday and we cut a bunch more dead elm trees for firewood. This is most of it.
Susan is very happy now that we have a wood store again … she likes to be warm!

One thing I like about heating with wood at the farm is that I can fill the “oil” tank in half and hour out the back. My goal is to only burn dead wood. With this warm spell we haven’t had the wood stove going for a few days, but tonight that has to change. [...]

Daffodils are Susan’s favourite flowers. We’ve planted quite a few about the farm in the past few years and need to put in more. I noticed this morning that they’re blooming.

It’s been an early spring here this year, and I think overall a fairly mild winter. We looked across a week ago and saw spashes of colour from last years vegetable garden. We were happy to discover that most of the pansies we planted last year made it through the winter and were flowering already. [...]

I thought I’d share a view of our new high tech lawn mowers. This model has some highly desirable features:

Autonomous & self propelled
Run on renewable, green energy
Low emissions
Thorough
Self renewable
Fertilizes while it mows

This makes 6 calves in a row that I haven’t been around to see born. Sometime mid day (I suspect) Marigold had her third calf.
Here’s a close up of the little heifer calf.
Shortly after I took these pictures I helped the calf up and she had a good suck. I think all is well, I’m [...]

This morning is one of those classic winter days filled with potential. The sunrise was worth sharing.

When I moved the chicken pen to fresh pasture on the grass this morning there was our first egg lying there!
Time to get the nesting boxes built. With almost two dozen hens we’re hoping to get at least a dozen a day when things are at full production. Lots of yummy breakfasts ahead

We get our share of double yolker (and even two triple) eggs but this morning’s haul is worthy of sharing.
As the picture shows, at 119g it’s twice the weight of a regular large egg (that needs to be between 56 and 63 grams). This blows away our previous record big egg that was at 93g [...]

Rebuilding a 3 point hitch back blade that I bought for scrap.

We’re finally getting started at building the new kitchen at the farm. Although there’s still stuff we need to clear out Susan was bound and determined to start tearing yesterday (the ol’ “Patience my ass, I want to kill something” sentiment). She was so fast with the crowbar I couldn’t get her into focus (that’s [...]

With a day interrupted by newspaper articles and a time out while a friend trimmed our donkey Lucy’s feet, progress was slower than hoped for. The good news is that, spurred on from yesterday’s demo, we got started at removing the ceiling to see what the beams look like.
They didn’t skimp on the nails at [...]

We’ve had a few “off” days (back to cafe to work weekend, provisioning, tidying) but yesterday was back to rip and tear (after finally getting the upright freezer emptied, defrosted, & moved).
This wall was the worst so far to pull out. There was actually fiberglas batt insulation behind the press-board, which unfortunately had 50 years [...]

Clearing out the old kitchen walls and ceiling is taking much more time and effort than hoped, but perhaps that’s to be expected. Today was a big day for Susan as she got to remove the old upper cabinets that she refused to use.
And they’re gone …
With her reviled cupboards gone, Susan attacked the wall [...]

All the wall covering is off the south bay window wall. Was some nasty mold behind there that’s all gone. This will have new walls with proper insulation, wiring, lights, etc. Another big pile of scrap wood to turn into heat in the wood stove.

This year we’re going to try growing a lot more of the produce that we use at the cafe (www.YellowCanoeCafe.ca). I’m trying to aim smaller if anything so things don’t get away from us. The primary crops will be mixed salad greens, tomatoes, beans, and herbs. We’re also putting in pie pumpkins, cukes, eggplant, corn, [...]

It’s been a lot longer than I anticipated (or intended) for a garden update.
Everything has been growing quite well. It’s been an exceedingly wet “summer” this year. So far I’ve only watered the garden once, and even then I didn’t water the corn or tomatoes.
The first harvest came June 20th, with this picking of greens. [...]

It’s been an early spring here this year, and I think overall a fairly mild winter. We looked across a week ago and saw spashes of colour from last years vegetable garden. We were happy to discover that most of the pansies we planted last year made it through the winter and were flowering already. [...]

Rather than just post the picture I figured I’d create a “View from the Farm” post. This was the view out the window this morning
These turkeys have been hanging around for about the past month. I’ve also seen a larger group with smaller turkeys, which is heartening. Last summer we had several groups of mothers [...]

Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving. Last night was our first real hard frost of the fall. Fitting perhaps that the wild turkeys were out in the field when I went to take a picture this morning.

My friend Fred Dawson came over yesterday and we cut a bunch more dead elm trees for firewood. This is most of it.
Susan is very happy now that we have a wood store again … she likes to be warm!