Farm Life

two children in halloween costumes
Brenna

Guys, the best season of the year is upon us: FALL!! Honestly, I am just so excited. All things creepy, spooky, cozy, snuggly, and pumpkin spice-y come out of the woodwork, and I have to say, I’m totally here for it. I love how crisp the air feels when you take your first step outdoors. And how beautiful the leaves look when they change from green to yellow to orange to red. I love how they fall all over everything, and crunch when you step on them. It’s truly magical, you’ll never be able to convince me otherwise.

This fall has been a strange one, I must admit.

As I’m sure you saw, back at The Farm, we’ve already had snow! (Which admittedly isn’t totally unheard of in September, but it’s still a bit early). Here on the other side of the country, it’s been pretty dang hot. My heart is yelling “Drink some hot chocolate! Curl up under a blanket! Wear some fuzzy sweaters!” and my head is yelling “Brenna it’s 34°, run as fast as you can to somewhere with A/C so you don’t melt!” Naturally, my head won, and I have sought asylum inside a local Starbucks, drinking something very chilly, and very non-pumpkin spice-y.

laptop and notes at Starbucks

I think one of the things that makes fall so special is all the anticipation.

Kids and adults alike have returned to school, and there’s a buzz in the air. There are new books, new classes, new friends and new places to explore. The weather is changing (in weird ways, apparently) and there is excitement in the all around. For some, there are lingering thoughts of eating unreasonable amounts of turkey at Thanksgiving. Or if you are Jess, you’re already wired thinking about Christmas. The thing I look forward to the most about fall, is dressing up for Halloween.

Halloween has always been a family production.

I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that this post doesn’t have much to do with farming, but it has a lot to do with family. We have always picked a theme (usually from a movie), and then our characters, and got to work with creating the most amazing costumes. I remember spending hours with Dad looking for the perfect red coat at Value Village for when he went as Captain Hook (Jess and I were of course Peter and Wendy). I remember searching the school gymnasium for Mom on Halloween, only to find her wearing the perfect emerald cloak and pointy hat for her Minvera McGonagall costume. Jess and I went as Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger, and I must say, my accent was perfect! 😉

One of our most famous Halloweens was the year Dad came to the elementary school dressed as Shaggy. Mom had immaculately replicated Scooby Snacks using some coloured paper and a cereal box. My friends were delighted to find that there was still cereal in the box, that Jess and I happily shared. Our Mystery Inc ensemble was complete. We had Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and a gaggle of kids in creepy costumes following us around.

Jim, Brenna and Jess dressed up for Halloween

My parents were always wonderful with supporting Jess’ and my imaginations in a million different ways.

From the books they read us, to the endless imaginary tea parties I invited them to. Or all the times I wanted Mom to comb her hair with a fork (you can thank The Little Mermaid for that one). They always made the space and time for us to explore and play. For a while I thought that Halloween was an extension of that: just another activity for our enjoyment. I have since come to realize that their love of Halloween, the effort and the creativity they put into all of our outfits and experiences wasn’t just for us. It was something they had come to love and enjoy themselves, and they were teaching us to love it too. If you want proof of that, just check out this picture of Mom as Catwoman and Dad as Joker almost 30 years ago! They killed it!

Group of adults in halloween costumes

Nothing gets my creativity racing like planning our Halloween costumes.

Without a doubt, this sense of fun that my parents always seemed to bring to this holiday has had a huge impact on my love for Halloween (and all things costume involved, really). Fall just wouldn’t be the same without us designing our Halloween costumes way too far in advance, and sending text messages and pictures of the final products back and forth to each other. Fall, and Halloween, make me miss everyone back home, but I know that much like every other year they will have something amazing planned for it.

Halloween is going to be very special this year, because we have someone new on the farm: you! We will be sure to keep you all up to date with the plans, plotting and scheming for Halloween, and we are sure you won’t be disappointed! I don’t know how they plan on dressing, or where they plan on going, but I know without a doubt they’ll have a blast, and I can’t wait to hear all about it.

 

Any costume/event suggestions for us? Comment below and let us know what you think would make a good group ensemble for us this year! We would love to hear from you!

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bales stacked in a field
Jim

The Weather

I’m not sure why the change in weather can still surprise me so much. Yesterday I was wearing shorts and hauling hay bales in from the field. The second cutting growth was really coming along. It’s just a matter of time, I thought, and I will need to service the haybine and start cutting this alfalfa. My guess was that this main hay field south of the house ought to produce 200 or so bales. Boy, that’s sure going to come in handy.

Time for second cut

Of course before I can even think to start to cut, I will need to move these last few bales from the hay field. At the moment, they are exactly in my way. Up in the hay yard is where they need to be. If not,  I’ll be spending my cutting days dodging around them. That’s a very messy proposition.

“Just a few loads to go, right Kirby?”

Kirby the Hound keeps me company on some of these hauls. She’s always up for a ride or two in the hay truck. and I don’t mind admitting that I enjoy the company. Although, from time to time she can forget which seat is hers .

So long ago

Well that was yesterday, it’s funny what a day can do.  Today?  Well, today my 200 bale production estimates seem a tad optimistic. Do you remember all those previous years when all that snow fell on us in the middle of September?? Me either. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen this much snow this early. And the weather man is predicting two or three more days of rain and snow. Lovely.

New Production Prediction

So, I’ve downgraded my second cutting estimates a little bit. Instead of that 200 bales I  optimistically guestimated earlier, it’s now slightly less. My new prediction? Zero.

 

Farming can be awfully fickle.  There’s a reason we so often hear the old proverb “Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched”. That’s 200 bales I counted yesterday that I shall never see.

As always, mother nature has the last word…

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fox hole
Jim

It seems there’s always something new to discover on the farm. Sometimes at play, sometimes at work. These discoveries are not always a good thing, but I especially appreciate the ones that are. It’s those that can spark your imagination.

While hauling hay in from the field this year

I happened upon an area on the edge of a hill that ought to have been green. Or at least greenish. It was only week-old hay stubble, so a greenish brown would’ve seemed about right.  Instead of that expected hay-stubble colour, the ground looked sandy brown. In fact, from the seat of the truck it appeared to be completely tan.  It was about 30 yards away, not too far. Off I go, my curiosity just wouldn’t leave it alone. This discoloured area had to be inspected.

As the truck got closer

and the sandy coloured spot became more defined I could see that this was not hay stubble at all. It was sand. The sand formed a small mound directly south of a freshly dug hole.  Since this mound had buried the stubble it couldn’t have been here long, a week at the most.  It’s odd I hadn’t noticed it sooner. As I stood there, looking at that hole I naturally started to guess at how it may have gotten there. In no time at all I found myself carried back in time to some of my most beloved childhood storybook characters: those brought to me by Mr Thornton W. Burgess. Do you know the ones?

Where did this hole come from?

Well to start with it is no doubt a hole, so definitely not Sammy Jay. It’s too small for Buster Bear and I didn’t smell Jimmy The Skunk. Danny Meadow Mouse would never have needed a hole this extravagant and there’s not enough water nearby for Little Joe Otter. It looks about the right size for Reddy The Fox my mind told me. It could definitely be something he might’ve put here. So, using the size of the hole as my guide, I let my mind settle in on it being a fox.

In years past, our neighbour across the road would keep chickens.

And chickens are too inviting for any fox to pass up. So those chickens begat foxes. Just across from their hen-house, on my side of the road, I kept four steel grain bins. The foxes built themselves a comfortable burrow under the wooden floors of those old bins and used to spend their nights terrorizing those chickens. Well, the neighbours and their chickens are no longer around, and with the chickens gone, the foxes also packed up and left. Since those foxes built their home under my grain bins I’ve never actually seen a foxhole, but again, this hole seemed to meet the criteria, size wise.

Being inquisitive,

for three days we had a trail cam stand guard just a few feet to the south of the new hole. Over those three days it would average 192 ‘events’ per night. But it didn’t record anything except 192 different ways a breeze can toss a blade of grass back and forth. It’s crazy how little movement can trigger this trail cam. All those pictures and not a single critter. How disappointing. Actually that’s not entirely true.  I guess there were some shots of ‘Kirby the hound’, our yellow lab. She was equally curious about this site.  But there were no new critters on film. My theory is; they found their new neighbours, us, a bit too nosy and shuffled on to find a better spot.

I have to admit, I am still wondering what it might have been.

As I guess at the possibilities my mind wanders back to some of Mr Burgess’ storybook characters and I can’t resist a smile. I guess in the long run it doesn’t really matter which one it was.  I’m just thankful that Mr. Burgess let them come along and set for a spell this summer, just like he did in his storybooks, all those years ago.  Even if it was just a day or two.

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