Away for the Holidays

So I was asked if I could work through the holidays. After talking with my wife and letting her know that she could come out with me as it would just be myself and my night shift there providing security watch she has agreed. So a quick trip home to get her and the dog and off we go for 11 days together out at work. It is great as I only work in the winter and this means no missed pay period and I still get to spend the holiday with her. Sometimes things just work out.

Officially a farmer! lol

Well I think I can say it! I can drive a tractor so now I am an official farmer!  lol  Ok, maybe not yet but it feels closer every day! 

Our new John Deere tractor was delivered a few days ago and I did drive it a little that day to make sure I understood the salesman's instructions but today is really my first time driving the tractor with a purpose.

I knew when I got up this morning and seen the results of our winter storm last night that we got the tractor just in time!! It was -14 this morning, windy and still snowing.  We were expecting more snow so I knew it was time to get out and plow what had already fallen.

I was so nervous and excited at the same time.  I also had no idea what I was doing.  It sounds easy right, get in and plow the snow.  But where to put it, how do I do it.  After talking to Ray briefly on the phone I set out.  The wind was howling outside and it was cold so it was nice to have the cab on the tractor.

After a few swipes of the driveway in front of the house I got some nerve and started down the driveway to the road.  After an hour of plowing, I went inside.  For my first time I don't think I did too bad.  The driveway could probably be wider (Ray would fix this later) and if I had of known beforehand I should have moved the snow a little further out.  But I would say it was a success!

And if it keeps snowing like it is, my second plow will be in just a few hours!!! 
~Sue

Pictures - Left: The tractor on delivery day.
                Right: Taken during my first plow, from the drivers seat

Peace and quiet

There is just something about living in the country that appeals to my soul. At night it is pitch black outside and we sit in our chairs in front of the woodstove listening to the fire popping and read an article in a magazine or a book about homesteading. We have dreamed of doing this for so long and now that we are, it is a dream come to life. On this world, this is our little piece of it and we can do pretty much as we wish and I am satisfied. There will be lots of work to be accomplished and to some it may seem like it will never end but for me and my wife, it is a life worth living.

P.A.L. and R.P.A.L.

Last spring I took my wife shooting at a range for the very first time. I grew up around guns most of my life but my wife was uncomfortable around guns. Knowing that we would eventually be on an acreage she decided she had to try to get over her fear of firearms. Have I ever mentioned how strong my wife can be when she puts her mind to something. Well I should have. So after getting to shoot a 22 caliber hand gun in a controlled environment we decided to get our P.A.L. and R.P.A.L.'s. We both took the courses and passed but decided to wait to see if we would finally get our property before we sent away for them. After moving onto the acreage and we had a little extra time we have decided we need to send away for them. so hopefully we will get them in the near future.

P.S. I wonder how many brownie point I am going to get?  

Critters

We have mice. The property had not been lived on for close to a year before we bought it and we knew there was a mouse problem when we moved in. We set out mouse traps and caught a few but there seemed to be some fairly smart mice that evaded the traps and we were seeing signs of them before I left for work. After I left for my second hitch at work they got into a brand new package of toilet paper in the bathroom and destroyed it. My wife had had enough and did a little research online and built a mouse trap from a 5 gallon bucket, a old pop bottle, a stick and some peanut butter. It seems to be working quite well as she has caught mice in it almost every night since she started using it.  

It's a stand-off!!

One thing I love about being here is all of the wildlife we get to see.

I get a real kick out of sitting at my desk and watching the squirrels run through the pine trees outside.  I don't get much work done but they are fun to watch.

Vixen has also been enjoying the visitors on the homestead.  Mostly she just barks at them and tries to chase them, with no success of course.  This morning I put her out on her tie-out.  Yes, she's a farm dog now but hasn't always been one so she has to be on leash or she will take off.

Anyway, she was awful quiet so I went to check on her.  I always keep the camera close by and this time it was on a small table by the door and I was very thankful for that.  When I looked out Vixen was posed ready to strike looking down the hill.  When I looked up to see what she was checking out I seen two mule deer not far off.  I stepped back inside and grabbed the camera.

I was lucky enough to get this shot.  Vixen and the mule deer were on a stand-off checking each other out.  I was amazed that they stayed like this as long as they did.  Vixen was so quiet like she was frozen in place.

This minute and a half stand-off made my day! I wonder what they were both thinking?

 

~Sue

 

Got Mice?

I have just posted an article on our Homesteading Alberta web-site for a humane, natural trap for catching mice.  If you have a mouse problem this is the best method we have found for catching them.  This trap can be used with or without water.  It depends on whether you are in to catch and release or, how to say this nicely, disposing of them immediately?

Here is the link to the article:
Mouse trap on Homesteading Alberta

Happy hunting!
~Sue

Tractor shopping

Home for days off. I barely managed to get in the drive way with my 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup. Boy we sure have gotten a lot of snow it is no wonder my wife has been so concerned. I found a flyer for a gentleman who charges $55 an hour to plow driveways. So after 3 hours of plowing with his skid steer the driveway and parking spots are free of snow. Off tractor shopping! We are going to look at Case, New Holland, Kubota, and John Deere. We did get a recommendation for Mahindra but as they do not have a dealer near us we ruled them it out. I do like to shop local when ever I can. After comparing features, H.P. and price we decided to go with John Deere Green. It is a 1025R has a front end loader, mid mount pto driven mower, and a 3 point hitch with rear pto. The tractor has 25 H.P so it should be big enough to do everything we need it to do. We are adding a rear blade for plowing snow, chains, and a soft cab. The salesman took my wife into the parking lot and let her drive a model that was close to the one we were getting. We take delivery of it next week.

With all of the snow we have gotten the wood pile is getting to be very difficult to get at as the tarps are weighed down to the point it is very hard to fold back. We managed to get a 12 X 20 portable garage from Canadian Tire on sale for almost 60% off. After getting the tarps off and restacking some of the wood, we were able to erect the shelter around the wood pile fairly easy. Now it is just a matter of making sure the snow doesn't pile up to much on top of it and collapse it.

Snow, Snow, and more Snow

Ok we did some checking and it seems that to have our drive way plowed it will cost us anywhere from $150.00 to $500.00. Ouch, considering my wife is now snowed in with no chance of getting out of the driveway. Started looking for a tractor. Kijiji is a good source but I want something that is easy to drive. We will have to finance it as anything new enough to have hydrostatic drive is still quite expensive. So I have been calling around to the dealers getting pricing. The bigger the tractor the better, needs to have a front end loader, mid mount mower deck, 3 point, hitch and p.t.o. I think we will need one with at least 18 hp. to be able to plow the driveway. With that info in mind when I go home for days off we will be going into the dealerships and getting a tractor.

Off to work

Well, we managed to get 4 cords of wood brought in, It was dumped off to the side of the drive way close to the house and covered in a couple of tarps. The porch got fixed up enough to hold the heat in for the winter and we actually managed to clean up the barn including the loft. And off to work I go. We are on the fence about buying a tractor. We will need one come spring for sure but economically it would be nice to be able to buy it in the spring after I have been able to work for the winter season. Our only concern is snow, we will have to look into how much it will cost to have the driveway cleared when it needs it. With me away at work and my wife never having driven a tractor before she is a little worried about having to plow the driveway with one as well. On another note when we moved we decided it was time to get rid of the satellite dish and only have net flicks via our internet. A decision that we have not regretted. We will see how we feel after a winter as I know that come spring we will be plenty busy enough to not miss it.  

Phone call

Well today started with a phone call about work. We have a week before I will be heading off to my winter job. I work away from home for extended periods of time in the winter. We didn't think that I would be heading out this early in the season but the client that I work for wants to make sure that they get me and not somebody else for the season. Good for the pocket book and I am sure that I will be the first one out again this year most likely 2 or 3 weeks earlier than anyone else. Not so good for our timeline of the stuff we want to get done before I go. Changing and modifying plans start already. We will have to purchase the 4 extra cords of wood that we will need to get through the winter and I had better get my behind in gear getting the porch insulated and cleaning up the barn before I have to leave. I wonder how I am going to get rid of the bats in the loft of the barn and clean up their leavings. My wife will do some research on that while I head into town and get some insulation and poly to fix up he porch a bit.

Plans

My wife and I are planners. We have been talking about what we want to accomplish right away, in the near future, and long term. Sometimes if you look at the whole picture it can get very overwhelming. A friend asked me "how do you eat an elephant?" Her answer was "one bite at a time"

Here are our plans thus far:

Short Term,
 Fire wood we have about 1 cord on hand and will need at least 4 cords to get us through the winter.
Insulate the small porch so we can keep dry and canned goods in it as well as our extra fridge and upright freezer.
Clean up the barn, organize the down stairs, and seal up a window in the loft that is open and clean up bat droppings in the loft so we can store some of our belongings in it. The previous owner must have worked at a tile store as there are hundreds of tile sample cards and scrape tiles that need to be gotten rid of. as well as some useless furniture.
.

1 to 2 years:
Garden plot, we need to test the soil and mark out a garden plot. plow it and then work in soil amendments.
Chicken coop and run, we want to have about 50 laying hens but want to possibly expand that to over 100 if the demand for eggs is enough to justify it.
Pasture for hogs, we want to have 1 or 2 heritage breed hogs on pasture to be butchered for meat. Although if there is a demand for pasture raised pork then we would want to expand that to 7 or 8 hogs.
Stocking the pond with fish and aerating
Rabbits are also something the interests us. We have done some research on raising rabbits for meat but need to do some more before we decide whether we will attempt to raise them.

3 to 5 years
U-pick, we have been talking about clearing 5 to 10 acres and planting fruit bearing bushes and trees to open up a upick operation. We have also discussed starting a 5 acre bird sanctuary to accompany the u-pick to make our farm a destination for locals to come with their families for an outing.
Hobbit holes, We have a pond that we want to stock with fish and on one end the bank is a large hill that would suit a walkway along the edge of the pond and having a couple of houses built to resemble the Homes of the Hobbits in from the movie Lord of The Rings. We could then rent them out to guests or use them as a guest house in the future.

Of course these plans will be changed and modified as we do more research and as money will allow. We have about two weeks to get the short term plans done before I head off to work for the winter.      

Stuff and more Stuff work and more work

After an uneventful trip to Red Deer and back with a trailer load of our stuff we began the process of unloading and setting up the house. Ever notice how much stuff you accumulate in life. The barn wont be used as a wood working shop for a while as it is full of stuff. I am Not a hoarder, all of my stuff has a use and will have a place once I get to build a shop. In the future, at least that's what I tell myself. My wife shakes her head sometimes but that is my story and I am sticking to it.

So with having to work and trying to help my wife set up the house there are still lots of things that we need to look after before winter starts. We need firewood for the winter, I need to insulate the small porch off the house, organize the barn a little better, but most important is do something with the bathtub. It really is disgusting to look at. We don't want to replace the tub right now but it is almost scary to think about using it even to have a shower. I found a product in a hardware store that allows you to refinish the porcelain and with a little elbow grease I was able to make the tub look almost new. All for only $60.00 and now I am not scared to get in the tub.

The Work Begins.

Well we got the keys. We were so excited to get onto our new place we drove up to Grande Prairie to spend the night as soon as we found out we could probably get the keys. We ended sleeping in the truck as all the hotels that would lets us take our dog were booked solid. I know call us kids but we have been talking about doing this for 4 years and could hardly wait.

Walking into the house it had been so long since we actually saw it we had to make our plans all over again. We definitely need to do some painting. The previous owner had much different tastes that my wife and I. The pink walls, switch plates, plugs, floor and trim in the bedrooms and the peach walls, cupboards, switch plates, plugs and floor in the bathroom had to go. I don't think she actually painted , just threw a can of paint at it and then spread it around. Although we did notice that she did brush on different colors of paint on almost every other wall and cupboard. My wife thinks I am mean because I commented she was probably trying to decide what to throw the next can at. You know I am all for originality but I just don't think a creamy purple and pale yellow compliment each other. Need to fix that too. After spending the first 4 days cleaning and painting we decide we had better go get a trailer full of our stuff out of storage. so we could actually sleep on a bed instead of the floor. I am not getting any younger and if I was to be able continue to move, a bed was next thing on the priority list. Plus I hate eating out as my wife is an awesome cook and take out was just not cutting it.

Ray

It Begins !

My wife and I have been dreaming, planning, talking about getting a plot of land and going back to a simpler way of life for 4 years. The only thing holding us back was we had to sell our home. The only problem was we lived on a golf course and nothing was selling. With the economy the way it was no one was buying and nothing had sold where we lived through a realtor since 2009. After being told by 3 different realtors over a 3 year period that we needed to drop our price to taking a huge loss we found Bryce and Penny Kander from Realty Executives in Red Deer. A mother and son realty team who thought outside the box and sold our home in a month and a half for our asking price.

Uh-oh. Now we had to find that perfect piece of land and we only have a month to do it. You know sometimes things just seem to come together. This would prove to be one of those times. We had been looking at land for 4 years but of course all of the parcels we had looked at were off the market. Looking at the M.L.S. boards we found 3 properties up by Grande Prairie that were close to what we were looking for.

And what were we looking for? Well we wanted at least 40 acres, a house that was livable, and well that would do. I used to run a renovation company doing almost any kind of renovation so we didn't need the house to be perfect, just livable. Every thing else that we wanted could be built after we got on the property.

We called the realtor that had 2 of the properties and talked with Jack for a while on the phone and set up a time to go up from Red Deer and have a look at the properties. While talking with him he suggested that he had another property that was close to the 2 we were looking at with him but it was priced 40,000 over what we wanted to spend.

The first property was bank owned as the old guy who owned it had moved into a nursing home and passed away. It was 75 acres, had a home and numerous out buildings, was in the middle of a grazing reserve, and had 4500.00 a year in oil revenue. As it turns out the old guy was a bit of a hoarder and every out building was full of stuff as well as having numerous dilapidated old cars, motorhomes, and old farm equipment. The house was in really bad shape with mouse droppings as well as what looked like dog leavings. At some point the well had quit working and he had put a cistern in the basement for water, the only problem, he had drilled a hole in the middle of the living room floor for the hose that fills it and strung it across the floor and out the outside wall. The final thing that made this property not going to work was a massive crack in the basement wall. The only way to solve the problems with the house was to light a match to it and start over. Even with the price at $154,000 it would be a real stretch to see this property being worth it

The second property was 44 acres with a shop and a older trailer on it with an addition. The trailer was in really nice shape and had been updated recently. There was a wood stove with propane furnace as back up. The shop was 20 x 30 in size with a wood floor wired for 220 but no heat. We walked the property and really liked all the mature trees and open areas. The price at $190,000 was in our opinion much more than the property was worth.

Now on to the property that was well above how much we wanted to spend. At $230,000 we almost decided not to even go look at it. But as we were in the area and were not going to look at the 3rd property until the next day we ended up going. This property had an older double wide trailer with a few upgrades, a 14x28 barn, a few outbuildings, and a 300 x 200 foot dugout. The inside of the home would need some renovations but it was livable with a wood stove for heat and a new propane furnace for backup. The barn really could not be used for animals but would make an awesome wood working shop with good storage in the loft. The other out buildings were all in usable condition and with the property being 87 acres it was a good size with most of it high and dry. The house also over looked a really nice looking lake. Both my wife and I looked at the view and agreed that it was a million dollar view. But still it was $30,000 over what I was willing to pay.

The next day we met the realtor for the 3rd property we had booked to see and drove out to the 160 acre parcel with a house and 20 x 30 shop. The house was small but laid out well and would work for what we needed. A wood stove with propane back up would work well, the kitchen was probably the biggest room in the house which suited us just fine. The shop was heated and had 220 wiring and the dirt floor could be finished with concrete in the future. Walking the property with all of the mature trees and a 25 acre field in hay was exactly what we were looking for. And at $180,000 was with in our budget. We talked to the realtor and decide to put in an offer and finally settled at $167,000 as a purchase price.

On the drive home we called our mortgage broker and discovered with a property of this size we would need 25% down. Uh-Oh. we could probably do 15% but that would be it. Now what? Why oh why wouldn't they tell us that before we went to look. They knew what we had in mind before we started looking, they also knew how much money we had to put down. 1 month before we have to be out of our house and a major set back.

All the way home we talked about the different parcels, their pro's and con's. Right away the first and second property were eliminated. The 87 and 160 acre properties would be the best suited to what we want to accomplish. Could we come up with 25% down? What about the 87 acres with that view, the fish pond, right off the highway, and everything else that it had going for it. Would the owner come down in price. By the time we got home we had talked ourselves into the 87 acre parcel. If we could get it down to a price we could handle and the appraisal came in so we would have enough equity already in for the amount of cash we had to put in,  it could work.

Penny Kander and our great mortgage broker had to jump through hoops to get it done and it for sure didn't happen over night. In fact Penny let us stay for over a month in her cottage at Red Deer Lake until the deal finally went through. We moved onto our acreage at the end of September and we are enjoying our view of Ray Lake everyday. We have a lot of work to do but look forward to see where this journey will take us.