Last December Darryl started his new job as chief engineer minor vessel on the Chemanius, Thetis, Penelakut route. This was a huge promotion for him and gave him a rest from the farm every other week. Micheal and Morgan moved back to Saltspring from Texada and mom (Helmi) decided she wanted to move to the farm from Abbotsford and she delivered Holly to Saltspring. Add on top of that record snow falls and record cold temperatures, it all added up to very fun times.
December was also the time all 4 momma pigs decided to have piglets, all the chicken coops, barns and even a horse trailer were filled with over 60 piglets. There were extension cords running to heaters everywhere keeping everyone warm. At the same time we were learning that Bouvier puppies are the complete opposite to Border Collie puppies. Bouviers play with everything and everyone. They love water, fresh or frozen, whatever and they love to dig; flower beds, trees, in middle of nowhere, septic fields. Our backyard looks like we have giant moles.
January – Morgan turned 2 and we switched farrowing piglets to lambing. This years name theme for the lambs and goat kids was sea shells. For a bit of excitement while Darryl replaced the head gasket in our little green diesel pickup apparently a mouse had thought the heater was a great place to make a nest. Needless to say, there was a visit from the fire department and we needed a new front gate after Darryl drove the truck (on fire) out to the driveway because with the record cold temperatures we had all the hoses drained for freezing.
February – last year when I was renovating the house I wasn’t very diligent in filling out my day planner as it was mostly out in the driveway, with the rest of the insides of the house. Therefore, due dates for the cows were all over the map. Tasha, I thought was due in January, finally had a bull calf in late February providing milk for all the bottle lambs that we adopt. The name theme for the calves was alcohol, so we named her calf “Whiskey”. Baby goats started coming and on Valentines we celebrated 30 years together and 24 years married.
March – Britty turned 27 and Micheal turned 34. Sunny had another bull calf “Moonshine” at midnight and we had the sheep sheared.
April – I had the brilliant idea of hatching laying hen eggs to raise with the meat bird chicks however I was 2 weeks too slow and ended up raising them in a plywood box in the computer room providing live entertainment for the 7 cats. Some of the eggs were from our chickens but most were from other farms so we ended up with a very colorful batch of chickens, there are big ones, banty ones, white, black and grey ones, fluffy cheeks, fluffy feet and a bunch of mottled houdans with punk rocker do’s. Juniper gave us our first heifer calf “Brandy” and Blanche gave us another batch of piglets. In December I had attended an estate sale for a friend from the spinner and weavers guild and I told the husband I would take any wool that didn’t sell (because I only saw 4 bags worth). So a week after the sale Britty and I zipped down to pick up not 4 but 20 bags of wool!! There was a large amount of Cotswold, Blue faced Leicester and Icelandic but there were bits of every type of wool that exists plus flax and silk. Needless to say Susan Astill came down and gave me my first lesson with spinning and after a slow and frustrating start, and more help from Sarah and Kylie, my hands finally figured it out and the huge bags of wool started to shrink.
While cleaning the driveway I decided to prune the hedge only to find the stacks of alan blocks we were gifted by a friend ‘that just didn’t want to move them again’. There was one spot in the garden that needed a bit of taming and the blocks worked great.
May – Martha, who we thought was due in March, finally gave birth to another bull calf “Kahlua,” just in time to wean most of the bottle lambs. Holly was still gaining about 10 lbs per month and Hermoine gave us another batch of piglets. There was a 5 guild sale at Mahon Hall that I entered my weaving into and Kayla’s car decided it didn’t need a transmission causing a musical shuffling of vehicles for the rest of the month. The garden finally dried up enough to get the tractors into and we prepped and planted the garden as fast as the plants were big enough.
June – was the beginning of chaos. The rains stopped and the hay stopped growing causing half yields of poor quality hay. Darryl set up all my hay equipment and left for Thetis. Hay season, unsupervised, is a hoot. I managed the first batch of fields with only 1 blown hydraulic hose which Micheal replaced and then I was off to the valley to make more hay. We dropped Cyclone (a jersey x bull) off at Byron farm for a visit and Bubblegum gave birth to yet another bull calf “Cognac”. Tuesday market started and the second batch of meat birds and thanksgiving turkeys arrived. While changing the dirt in the greenhouses we found out just how little wood was left of the beds, so down we went to the mill and new boards were made up. Just for farts and giggles we had a GST audit, accountants are wonderful people especially when they save you from the sharp pencil of the government.
July – we had the added excitement of a few free range cows from the neighbors way down Isabella point road that we managed with lots of help from our close neighbors to catch the bull and meld him into our herd. The cow, however, still hasn’t been caught off the mountain. Darryl brought mom’s new home to the farm and that was the end of the transmission seal for the pavement princess (Darryl’s pretty truck). Then my truck decided it didn’t need a fuel pump making life even more exciting. Darryl’s holiday block finally kicked in and hay season was off to the races with his and her equipment haying all over the island from Fulford to Northend.
August – was as jammed packed as it could be. My cat, Oliver, was diagnosed with thyroid issues. Munchie turned 9. The third batch of meat birds chicks and Christmas turkeys arrived and we finished haying two months earlier than normal. Pulling bales in middle of a thunderstorm is awesome!!
September – the fun kept coming, lambs went to the butcher. Boris, the new ram, went in with the ewes but not before renovating the barn and a fence. Indy was reunited with the rest of the goats. More piglets were born because you can never have too many. Kayla and Matt turned 29 and Mabel the amazing beef cow that gives us a calf every 10 months, had a heifer we named Bailey. I had hired a contractor to reinsulate and plywood under the house which turned into a bigger project to rat proof under there as well. This has made a huge difference in the warmth of the house.
October – Miss Bess had her first calf, a huge bull calf we named “Sambuca”. She wasn’t very impressed with the whole ordeal but she figured it out in a day or so and the calf is gorgeous, he will be raised as a replacement bull for Dartanyan. There was another weaving sale at Artspring and Halloween was the last Tuesday market of the year. Darryl turned 56 and Holly turned 1 and weighed in at a whopping 94 lbs.
November was cold, very cold and froze all the squash still in the garden that weren’t quite ripe enough, so the cows had a delicious treat. The Lions club have built a trebuchet for pumpkin tossing and we are the lucky recipients of all the leftover pumpkins. Everyone gets some; the cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, even the turkeys loved them. Daisy gave birth to yet another bull calf “Cointreau” then developed a nasty case of milk fever. It was touch and go for a bit but I dried her off and her metabolism finally settled out. My cane berry project was finally completed. I moved all the raspberries, thornless blackberries and loganberries to the 6 rows in the small garden then planted the garlic in the beds around them and covered it all with reed canary grass. Fingers crossed they are much happier there than they were on the front lawn.
December – we lost our cat Buster to seizures and I turned 50 and just for fun, Hermoine had, yes, you guessed it, more piglets!!
As the year ends, we are slowly getting into a routine. When Darryl is home we do the big projects and the butchering, when he is on Thetis, we get the smaller projects done. It always amazes me how much of my time involves shoveling poop of one type or another. We had a great market season, mostly because we are the only venders that sell meat but the weather was great (except October). The other venders are extremely supportive and the customers were wonderful. Ideas have been thrown around on how to make 2024 go more smoothly and to make things less stressful.
Merry Christmas and all the best in the new year, from our family to yours – Windsor Farm