Tag Archives: friendship

an awesome farm weekend

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This past weekend was a really fun and productive one here on the farm.  My last post documented saturday’s activities and this one is all about sunday – with even more productivity and more people pitching in!

The weather this weekend was PERFECT for farm work.  It was classic fall weather – a little chilly but absolutely lovely to be outside in.  The cooler temperatures just made the coffee that Julie delivered and the piping hot, homemade soup that neighbour Shelly delivered even more satisfying.

In addition to involvement from the usual crew, brother Ben spent all day outside helping us and my sister Stephanie drove out to spend the day with us and pitch in.  That’s her (left) in the photo above.  I love that photo of us – thank you Julie for taking it!

So, in addition to just having lots of fun together outside, here’s what we accomplished:

CHICKEN COOP
Chris and I finished the interior of the chicken coop!  Well, really it was mostly Chris.  He took the measurements and cut all the wood (power saws scare me).  I assisted by holding the wood and helping nail it in (not always that successfully).  It looks great now (for a chicken coop) and we don’t have to worry any more about our chickens digging around in insulation.  Yay!  Oh – and we saw a HUGE spider in the coop while we were working.  The biggest Chris has ever seen on the farm apparently.  *shiver*  Very appropriate for Halloween…

TREE PRUNING & CHOPPING
We did some major pruning to our big willow tree whose branches were pretty sickly.  Hopefully it will grow back strong and healthy.  The boys also pulled down some alders in the backyard which had an unstable root system and were threatening our neighbour’s fence.  We’re going to use the cut alders to grow mushrooms in (apparently alder wood is ideal for growing mushrooms!). 

RAKING & YARD TIDYING
Stephanie and Ben took on this job with gusto – dragging the cut willow branches to the firepit and raking up wheelbarrows-full of fallen leaves and delivering them to the compost pile.

POTTING PLANTS & BULBS
Julie, Stephanie and I got all of Julie’s herbs potted for indoors as well as potted some of her outdoor plants and tulip bulbs for her deck. 

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And that, I think, completes the work we did on sunday.  The list doesn’t look long, but things took time and we got a lot of visiting time in while outdoors too.  The tree pruning and felling definitely drew an audience :) 

Overall, it was just one of those really great days where it feels good to be alive, outside in the fresh air with great friends.  Loved it!

Stephanie and I concluded the evening with some scrabble and gin & tonics in the trailer.  Thanks for the visit Steph – come out again soon! 

A visit from the masters of Six Masters’ Farm

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Last weekend we had a really special visit from Tony and Marlene of Six Masters’ Farm.  Tony and Marlene make up half of the combined venture that is Six Masters’ Farm.  They’re also our friend Cary’s uncle and aunt.  As soon as Cary heard about our farming plans, she insisted that we connect with Tony and Marlene.  Tony and Marlene are both academics and last year Tony and his farming partner Walter left their previous careers and embarked on a farming adventure of their own.


Six Masters’ Farm is located in Chilliwack, BC, and specializes in beef, duck, chicken and rabbit.  They take great care of their animals, giving them lots of space to move around in and feeding them only natural, chemical free, hormone free and pesticide free food.  They use only pigeon manure which their website states, “…is reputedly the best and most balanced of all natural fertilizers. According to ancient Egyptian texts, the Pharaohs kept this poop under lock and key because it was reputed to have magical properties when applied to the land…”. 

Obviously, all of this information made us pretty eager to meet Tony and Marlene so last sunday night, we had them over to our farm-in-the-making for a farm tour and communal dinner – and most importantly a chance to glean some insight, tips and lessons learned from their own farming experiences.

It was an EXCELLENT visit and we all enjoyed Tony and Marlene’s company.  Both colourful characters (in a good way!) in their own right, Tony and Marlene shared their story with us and all the farming adventures they’ve had so far.  They also shared two ducks from their property and we had an amazing feast of duck (stuffed with rhubarb!), roasted potatoes and salad, lots of wine and a chocolate mousse & raspberry dessert.  Delicious!

I took a lot of notes of what was discussed that night, but I’m pretty sure that notebook is sitting on my office desk at my day job right now, so I won’t be sharing those tidbits just yet, but I wanted to get this blog post up and give a big shout out and thank you to Tony and Marlene!  THANK YOU and please come back again soon!

We haven’t been out to their farm yet, but we’ll definitely make the trip and if you’re looking for some local, healthy, delicious, farm-raised meat, check out their contact info and farm details on their website!

32nd birthday on the farm – mini update

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This past weekend was my birthday weekend and most of it was spent on the farm which was exactly what I wanted.  Full blog posts and photos coming soon, but special thanks to:

  • Chris and Matt C for installing my composting toilet for me…
  • Matt, Chantalle, Chris, Julie, Matt C and Stephy for helping me break in the trailer with candles, birthday medleys, food, wine and games…
  • Julie for hosting her famous sunday morning pancake brunch…
  • Baby Kai and Baby Canaan for the living room dance party (aka bicep workout)…
  • And Tommi and Cary, Tony and Marlene for the excellent farm advice and feasting visit!

It was the perfect weekend and I couldn’t be happier about the fact that I’m spending the next year of my life undertaking this farming adventure with these amazing people on this beautiful piece of property.  I love you all!  xoxo