Cedar Woods Farm

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.

Frosty Field & Wild Turkeys on Thanksgiving

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

Wild Turkeys in the Field 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 and chicks but not this year.

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.

Charlotte & her 2009 heifer calf

She gave birth completely unattended, perhaps as much because I was a bit late getting down to check on the state of things.

Charlotte & 2009 Calf, early feeding

I can start to breath easier once I’ve seen a new calf have a good feed. The first milk is critical as the colostrum contains anti-bodies to get the new calf’s immune system jump started. One last picture:

Charlotte & Calf settled in

Back June 3rd, Marigold had her second calf:

Marigold's newborn 2009 heifer calf

And later in the day as very much a going concern.

Marigolds 2009 Calf, 8 hours old

Along with Ella and Squiggy’s calves these girls are growing up fast.

4 Moma's & 3 Spring Calves (June 13, 2009)

All of this years calves have been female, after a run that started with 5 male calves.The herd is now up to 13 right now (4 mothers, 4 2008 calves, 4 2009 calves and one bull) and we’ve had 10 successful births.  I’ll have to decide whether to keep any of these calves as future mothers.

All in all, it’s still a little surprising for a guy who’d never been next to a calf in his life until 4 years ago. But as boatbuilder Pete Culler said “Experience starts when you begin”. We decided we would have a small beef farm, so we got started and learned as we went.

This spring, for the first time since we moved to the farm our hayloft was empty.

Empty hayloft

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 good picture that captures how much hay is in the loft. The following are the best I could get.

Celebrating the filling barn

Moving fast in the hayloft

There are actually about 700 or so bales up here so far, which is about half what was there last year.

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.

Fresh (Mesclun Mix) Salad Greens

The first harvest came June 20th, with this picking of greens. This is the first time we’ve grown these so it’s been a learning experience.

One of the earlier lettuce beds

This is one of the early beds of greens. It’s amazing how quickly the grass and weeds grow in there as well.

First Cherry Tomatoes & the 50th pound of salad greens

August 3rd I got the first cherry tomatoes. We grew Sweet Million red cherry tomatoes and a couple of types of yellow cherry tomatoes. Susan really likes using the little tomatoes for garnish at the Cafe. I’m quite pleased with the results from the greens. Although we learned that the non-lettuce part of the greens needs to be harvested quite young. They transition to “tough & bitter” remarkably quickly, but when young are my favourite.

Tomato Plant Jungle August 2009

By early August the tomato plants were growing gangbusters. Next year I’ll have to plant them even further apart!

Sweet Million cherry tomatoes living up to their name

Two weeks later and the Sweet Million tomatoes are in their splendor. Every time I go to harvest I eat a handful or two, reminds you of how tasty a tomato can, and is supposed to, be. Makes me mad at the tasteless, watery things that are passed off as tomatoes in stores all too often.

Bountiful Harvest from August 20th

By August 20th the big tomatoes are ripening and we’re getting great harvests such as this one. The Roma tomatoes have been a big hit in frittata’s, seasoned with fresh herbs. I grew Ultra Girl & Brandywine (I think it is) for the bigger tomatoes. I need to find out what type of cucumbers I put in, as they’re very good.

Brussel Sprouts, Eggplant, Pansies, Garlic (L-R)

One of our more unusual “crops” are pansies. The flowers are edible so we’re using them for garnish on salads at the Cafe. The garlic is a co-op with a friend of ours who had extra bulbs but no more space.

A picking of Pansy Flowers used as edible Garnish

I’ll try to get a better picture next time, but here’s today’s harvest of pansy flowers.

11 pounds of green beans

Yesterday I did a picking of all the beans. Interestingly, the first beans we had came from “volunteer” plants that grew from beans that fell on the ground from last year. Next year I’m going to plant beans much earlier. 10 pounds of these went into the freezer. The remainder were part of another of our “100 meter diet” suppers where all the food came straight from the farm: beans, sweet corn,  salad greens, cherry tomatoes and a T-bone steak. We were commenting that since we moved to the farm we’re eating better than we ever have (even from back in the tech “boom” when we had money ;-). Life is good.

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 June 21st to ensure maximum nutrition. With all the rain this spring and the cooler weather I think things are a bit behind this year (perhaps as much as two weeks).

My first field cut June 2nd yielded only 60 bales, less than half what it normally would. The good news is that it’s growing back nicely now so I hope to get a good second cut.

First hayfield cut for 2009. June 2nd.

The next spell of good weather wasn’t until June 22-25 I cut about 8 acres and got another 350 bales. These fields are a bit lower, and are still very wet. The tractor tires were showing water about 75% of the time. The good news is that the long, hot days with a good breeze dried out the grass just fine. Here’s a few pictures taken during the past few days.

"Drivers Eye" view Raking Hay

While I was re-raking one field just before baling I looked back and thought the rake looked a little “wrong”

Cracked frame on my hay rake

I managed to get the rake back to the workshop without breaking completely in half. My friend came over to help bale the first field. He drove and I stacked (as it should be). Here we are heading home with a wagon load of hay and the broken rake on the forks.

Wagon Load of Hay & Broken Rake heading home

I welded up the rake, with a good bead all the way around the joint. It was clear that it was very close to a complete failure which could have been a real pain. Once again happy that I taught myself how to weld many, many years ago!

My New Holland 254 hay rake welded back up

With the rake operational, I could rake the hay ready for baling. I must say that I love the windrows that this rake produces. They look just like the ones in the brochure, even. Susan came out to drive the tractor (on her day off from the Cafe). Stacked another 158 bales onto the wagon. Here’s a birds eye view from near the end.

Susan driving the tractor

And the fruits of our labours

Fruit of our labours: 158 Bales of Hay

Not long after I took this picture we started baling the last field left, the main drive chain came apart on the baler and it stopped un-gracefully. I think the joiner link broke, which is frustrating as it was new last year.

Yesterday was a win-win. Our friend John had been having trouble with his baler. He brought it over and I managed to sort out the problem with his knotter and then we tested the baler by baling the remaining hay.

There were thunderstorms forecast so I made sure all the wagon’s were under cover. The forecast today has changed and it’s looking like there may be another three day window starting tomorrow. So time to fix the baler, get the wagon’s empty and be ready to go again.

UPDATE: added rake repair pic, and I should have kept my mouth shut about the forecast. The rain is back.

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, and more.

I got a good start in mid April tilling up the plots.

First till of the vegetable garden beds

The tractor mounted tiller makes quick work of producing a nice looking bed. The near end of this bed is destined to be covered with our 24×48 foot greenhouse which I’m planning on using as a field-house to extend the growing season. It’s taking longer to get the foundation up, so it’s looking like we’ll be testing extending things in the fall more.

I paid for not getting the field-house up last night when there was a surprise frost warning. We have about 40 tomatoes, a dozen brussels sprouts, and a few cukes in so I was scrambling to come up with row covers. I ended up using a combination of floating row cover I got at Lee Valley Tools, and a bunch of recycled lumber tarps.

Plants covered up for frost protection

As it turned out I don’t think we got a frost, although it was close. Here’s a picture from inside the “caged garden” after I got the covers off.

The view from inside the "Caged Garden"

I used this configuration last year and had no problems with the deer. In a few weeks I’ll plant the beans around the outside to climb up the fences. It was one of those “blinding flashes of the obvious” when I realized that the beans didn’t need to be in rows and I could use these fence panels to provide crop protection too.

More info as things progress, I’d better get back to welding up the last section of the field-house base.

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!

Squiggy's third calf, born May 15, 2009

From the looks of things she must have been born early this morning.

Squiggy is my friendliest cow and this new calf seems to share her mother’s temperament. The calf is also darned heavy as I was panting hard after carrying it around to the front field (with Squiggy following).

They are now enjoying being in the “Maternity Field” that has fresh grass and is in view from the house.

Squiggy & her calf in the "Maternity Pasture"

One of the joys of farming is you never know what each day is going to bring. Some days like today you really luck out.

Here’s a couple of phone pictures of the new calf, tentatively named “E2″.

Ella's 2009 calf, 5 days old & outside for first time

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.

Heifer calf born May 7, 2009

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 looked a bit dirty. It’s important for the calf to get the colostrum in the “first milk” as it contains the anti-bodies to kick start the immune system. I lured Ella into the headlock with some grain, tied one of her hind legs off, and had a go at getting some milk from her. I got a cup or so and tried bottle feeding it, but the calf wasn’t interested. At 1am I gave up.

This morning all seemed well, and I was relieved to see the calf get up and have a feed. So all should be well. The first three days are the most critical.

Ella and her calf born May 7, 2009

Here’s another picture taken this morning. Couldn’t find the digicam last night and the cell phone camera wasn’t up to the job.

I haven’t decided on a name yet. This is our first heifer calf (after 5 males, & 1 female twin who won’t be fertile) so it remains to be determined if her destiny is motherhood or steaks. It will depend on her nature as she develops and the gender of the remaining three (hopefully) calves yet to come.