More excitement ...

Last year was our first year selling at a farm market. Jill heard that the Dundas Farmer's Market after being absent for a number of years was returning on Thursday from 3:00 to 7:00pm and she wanted to give it a try. Guess what .... we we're so successful and Jill enjoyed herself sooo much we are now at the Ancaster Farmer's Market. I guess I better get planning and in shape. With 2 farm markets, farmgate sales (our self serve wagon out front) and our retail clients I have my work cut out for me. Thanks to our neighbours we now have more land to grow produce. We'll now have 4+ acres to grow our compliment of small fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs. Wish me luck I think I'm going to need it.

On the mend

Life is great ... Bennie with his amazing technicolour dreamcoat is doing fine and is on the mend. Male goats are prone to urinary blockages so the Docs at Guelph instructed us to feed Bennie minimal grain and only grass hay. Supposedly alfalfa has to much calcium which can cause a urinary blockage. Since there is a chance that a blockage could return we are crossing our fingers and watching Bennie's diet. As usual Bennie is being quite vocal .... he thinks his meals now are way too bland.

The famous greenhouse builders, Ron (on the left) and John. Looks like John came from Siberia.

Here's picture of the Waterhall Farm greenhouse. Now all I have to do is find a name for this structure. Any suggestions out there?

Last week I mentioned we had a life and death struggle with Bennie our pygmy goat. It was December 12 and Bennie seemed constipated so I gave him some mineral oil. He is usually very vocal but this time he seemed to be singing a different tune. Thank God for wives. Jill has great instincts and thought it was a urinary blockage not constipation and if we don't react fast the bladder could burst and Bennie would be toast. A wise man listens to his wife ... we phoned the vet and as always she was correct. The vet tried to insert a catheter. It sounds comical but it was a matter of severe urgency. To add to the seriousness of it all, the vet stated with honesty that he had performed this process many times but was never successful because the urinary tract in a goat has an "s" shape which the catheter has a hard time navigating. To add more complexity ... Bennie was so bloated we could not find his "pepe". Boy did I ever wish I bought a better endowed goat. After fooling around for about an hour we had 2 choices. Put Bennie down before the bladder burst and caused a painful death or send him to Guelph university. They were the only ones that could operate on him to insert the life saving catheter and clear the urinary blockage. I guess we are suckers for animals ... off to Guelph we went. A long story short .... they fixed Bennie, and everyone there was terrific especially Dr. Judith. Bennie came home Dec. 24 very sore and vocal. What a terrific Christmas present for both Jill and I. Actually that was our Christmas present to each other. We couldn't afford to buy anything else. Seeing Bennie's smile when he came home was really worth it. He's doing well now but we have to keep him penned up for a few weeks until he is all healed up. He hates that and also his special diet .... only hay, no grain for a few weeks and no alfalfa.

This week I have another "must do" on my list ... select and order my seeds for this year's growing season. I just read an article that said there is a shortage of seeds out there because of the poor 2009 growing season not just in North America but also in Europe. It makes sense and the last thing I need to find out is that the seeds I want or need are not available. You may want to do the same thing.

Greenhouse construction is going steady but I'm still freezing my buns off. Man it's cold out there. Last week was fun, we installed the fan housing and the door frame. I'm now looking for a door or a pair of doors that fit an opening up to 66 inches wide. Does any one have such a thing? Please email if you do. It need to be with glass not solid. This week I'm hoping to get the poly installed and with any luck the door(s). Once that's done all I have to do is install the heating system. For the first year it will be a wood stove because I have an 8 acre woodlot. Hopefully I can regulate the temperature. Any advice out there so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire? Hey maybe I can get my wife to do that.

It's January 5th 2010. I can't believe it. My last posting for chatterbox was in March 2009. I told myself I would post weekly but it never happened. First was spring planting, then summer and fall harvesting, then cleanup and then Christmas. It seems I'm always behind schedule. 2009 however was a great year. We started selling our produce at the Dundas Farmer's market on Thursdays, had kids from the CNIB day camp tour the farm and antique shop for a day, and hosted with Chef & Wife in Dundas a Locavore Feast at our farm under a Big Top tent. A lot of exciting firsts. You can see some great photos under "Community" in our web site.

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions but this year I am going to write as frequently as possible. Life is happening and it's exciting times ahead that I would love to share. That greenhouse I spoke of in March. It's happening. I can't believe it. It's actually a bit larger then planned .... 24' x 40' . I remembered from way back when I delivered the Toronto Telegram, an elderly customer said if you are going to build something build it larger then you think .... it will never be big enough. With a lot of luck, help from Ron a neighbour who ran is own greenhouse for over 20 years growing tomatoes and the gentleman upstairs I was able to finish all the cement work for the posts and door sill before the big freeze in December. Over 7,000 kilos of stone and sand mix. Thank God for the pto cement mixer I was able to borrow. They say timing is everything. They are right. Building a greenhouse in the middle of winter while trying to prepare for Christmas is nuts. Trying to put a nut on a bolt in the deep freeze is comical ... gloves are too thick and if you take them off, your fingers freeze and become thumbs. My advice ... build a greenhouse in the summer months not winter. We are getting there however. The vents were installed last week and this week we are installing the fans and the door. With a bit of luck I'll be installing the poly in the next week or two .... probably in the middle of a wind or snow storm with my luck and timing.

Stay tuned ... in the next day or two I'll tell you all about Bennie our pygmy goat and his "life or death" visit to Guelph University before Christmas, our progress with the greenhouse and our plans for the next growing season. Jill and I have started to review all the seed catalogs I received before Christmas. I'm so excited ... really. Go figure, I must be getting old or simple ... who gets excited reading seed catalogs.