Spring Farm Improvements

The Windbreak Birch Entry - Last year, I saw a rustic birch trellis that would look perfect as a front door to the orchard/veggie garden through the windbreak.  The trellis was almost $300 so I took photos and showed it to Mark.  He liked it and said that he could make one, free of cost, with some of the fallen birch trees in our woods.  You can see by the photos, he has finished it - he's not happy with it and will be making tweaks to it but it does create a beautifully rustic and framed front door to the garden/orchard.

 

The Greenhouse and plants - Our little greenhouse is getting a work out.  We have garden veggies plants peeking their little heads up so they will be ready to plant in the garden soon.  You can see that we had to surround the bottom of the greenhouse with hay bales to keep it warmer at night - our temps have dropped to the low 30s each night, until now.  This year, we will start blueberry bushes, strawberry plants, cherry trees, along with veggies and expand each year.

April 15th is planting day in St. Louis and it is May 1st here, so as soon as we return from our St. Louis visit, I'll be planting our garden. We've sent our soil away for testing so we will know if our garden needs additives to build up the soil.  We also are going to experiment for the first time this year by growing some of the veggies in straw bales.  As they decay over the summer, they add nutrients to the veggies.  Our neighbor will be supplying us with bales from his field.  If we succeed, we will be using our own bales next summer.  Our neighbor will be helping us bale our hay and we will be helping him bailing his in a community effort!


The Patio Project - is finished!  Here are a few photos - Mark was siding the wall and wiring the lights.  Our patio looks nicer than these photos and videos show (blame the photographer - ME). It has added nice outdoor living and eating space.  I know we will use this space daily - especially the fire pit.

Mark added lights on the ceiling and he wired it all so that we could have the wall lights, the ceiling lights, and both.  We even have room on the patio to hold the fire pit and the chairs on bad weather days.  I think I like this space mostly because it will be a space where Mark will enjoy sitting back, resting, and enjoying spring, summer, and fall evenings.  In the photo below right, he did sit with me last evening and we had the warmth of the fire, wine, s'mores, and each other's company.  The only thing better would be enjoying it with friends and family too...and you can't ask for anything better than that!

 

Pond Grass Issue - We had our local extension office look at our pond grass.  They advised us that it is Horsetail Reed (it is a native plant and common in this area), which is poisonous to many stock animals, including horses.  We are glad to know now so that we work toward eradication and fence off the pond from any animals we add to the farm.  Since it has rhizome roots and its spores can be blown in the wind, getting totally rid of it is almost impossible.  There are only two ways to kill it - either pull it out by the roots or starve it from light.  We are considering the latter idea because our pond is deep and it grows out to almost the center of the pond.  It would be very difficult to try to pull each stalk out by its roots.  I have learned that it is often used in basket weaving, so maybe I'll just learn that skill and be glad to have the free resource!

One of the two cows that belong to our neighbors, Steve and Melissa, had a calf last Monday night. Here is a photo right after he was born...still wet.  He is actually a roan bull (rusty brown), but you can't tell in this photo. Since it is a bull and not a heifer, they named him Cheeseburger! I'm not joking - that's what they will call him to remind themselves not to get attached to this little furry adorable wobbling calf.  He will grow quickly and won't be so adorable when he is ready to go to the butchers next year.  Then they will think of him appreciatively as they eat their cheeseburger! That is farm life...

Well, it's beautiful outside - 60 degrees at 10am!  It's time to get to work.  Now that these projects are finished, my next task is working to clear the inside of what we call the Cathedral (we named it this as it makes you feel as peaceful as if you were in church) while Mark works to break up the barn floor.  Life is ALWAYS fun at Cold Comfort Farm!

Enjoying Spring

I love that we have four full seasons here.  They give us something to look forward to and to celebrate when it arrives. Right now, you can almost feel mother nature cast off her white snowy blanket and inhale her spring breath. It's hard to believe that just five short weeks ago I posted a video were Mark and I hiked into the Lake Superior Park, a short 1.5 miles away, and took photos and videos of the lake iced over, where we walked on ice cliffs that were over 30 ft tall and extended about 150 yards out on the frozen lake, and that looked like the lunar surface.

 I cannot believe how quickly the snow melted and turned the lake from a very bright white to the most beautiful royal blue, the sun glinting off of its surface. In the video below you can see how the high school and college kids are drawn to the shore to enjoy the beautiful spring weather.  I bet in another week, there will be no ice at the shore at all.

 
I hope I never take this view for granted!  We are now enjoying the 40-70 degree days with lighter breezes and bright blue skies.  Everyone here is smiling and most locals are running around in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops...we're not quite that hearty yet.  Mark and I are still in long sleeves and light jackets - unless we are working in the sun. 

The climate, seasons, and remoteness here make these people who they are - the U.P. makes up 1/3 the physical size of the state of Michigan, but yet only has 3% of its population.  No big box stores - most are locally, family owned.  You can't get everything you want whenever you want.  Therefore, people here have had to become creative, self reliant, and are VERY community oriented.  Neighbors know each other here, call to check on each other, and stop by for a cup of coffee or chat.  They smile and wave when they drive by or see you in town. It reminds me of how Columbia, Illinois used to be in the mid 1960s - before it became a bedroom community for St. Louis, doubled its size, and became in a hurry ALL THE TIME.  Mark and I had been sucked into that life for years, you can't help it, you can have everything your way on your time frame.  It did take some getting used to here, but we are better off for it.  You'll see how as you continue reading this blog...

You may remember me telling you about our neighbors, Judy and Bill, that had asked for us to help them build their hoop house last summer?   Judy called me Friday and asked if I'd like to come over and dig up new strawberry runners (volunteer plants) as she had way too many and didn't want to rototill them under if I wanted them.  We visited as she helped me dig them up; she offered me other "volunteer" plants and then came home with me to assist me in figuring out where the best place would be for our new strawberry patch.  Lovely lady!

Yesterday, I volunteered at the Little Brothers of the Elderly.  We worked on crafts that would be sold at the yearly fund raising event held next weekend.  I helped paint garden rocks and sat next an elderly woman, a high school student, and a little eight year old boy.  I was amazed that young people came (some of the teens without their parents) to volunteer.  On top of it, the weather was in the 60s that afternoon so you would think that they would want to be outside.

I would NEVER have experienced this in Columbia or St. Louis - and I have been responsible at work for engaging volunteers and I would have loved this turn out. Not many would have taken time out of their busy Saturday to volunteer - you couldn't even incent them to give time.  We even had a young lady sit down at their VERY old upright piano and serenade us as we worked - no one asked her to do this - she just asked if she could play...AND she even played classical music...I felt like I was not in 2015!!  I think Mark and I will enjoy attending the fundraiser to support this worthy cause.

On the home front - with all the good weather, we've made more progress on the patio, patio and veggie gardens, and pond maintenance....but that is another posting.  Here's wishing you a wonderful spring day!

Spring at Cold Comfort Farm

It's been quite a while since I've posted.  Over the last four weeks, I've traveled to Wyandotte, MI to assist my sister-in-law after back surgery (I enjoyed my visit with her very much), had a car accident (I was not hurt but my car was), wove two scarves and started a baby blanket while I waited for the repair to be completed, and then drove over 500 miles back home through the worst fog I've ever experienced.  I had no idea that I would experience fog ALL the way through the Michigan mitten and the Upper Pensula, but I did.  It took a lot of driving concentration but I was thrilled I was driving mid week, during the daytime, and the traffic was very light, especially in the U.P.   What a trip!

While I was gone, Mark accomplished quite a bit in our barn.  He worked at least 40+ hours - hard work hours.  Below is the before photo, then a photo "in process" and the after video follows.

Notice the overhead pipes in the picture below that held the milk as it was pumped from the cow and piped into the milk house room into the chilling vats....all those needed to be removed as well.

You can see the overhead pipes are gone and some of the stanchions have been removed

Here is after he cut out the milking stanchions with a metal saw and chopped out the cement base that held them in place or filed down what was left of the stanchion sticking out of the floor to prevent trip hazards or harm to animals.  He also turned off the electricity and removed four electrical panel boxes and all the overhead wiring.  The resulting openness is amazing. 

Now he has to do the same on the upper level of the first floor of the barn.  Then he will break out the cement floor on the lower left side, remove it and the stamp sand gravel beneath it so a new floor can be poured yet this spring.  We will have the cement guy fill in all the floor trenches when he pours the floor so that Mark can build stalls for animals.

We knew that converting a milking barn to an animal barn would take a lot of work - I just wish I could assist him more with this work.  He tells me that he gets more accomplished with me not home than with me here...something to do with his laziness - does he seem to you to be a lazy man???  Has he ever been???  

While I was gone, the temps were in the 40-50s here, the snow is completely gone, and this week's predictions are 60s across the entire week.  We are now doing work on the patio, patio garden, and prepping for the veggie garden and the compost pile.  Mark is still working on the barn, just a little slower.  Hehehe