All A Flutter

If you follow me on IG you will see that we have new residents at Oakfield Farm.

CHICKENS

Let me back up a bit. When we first moved to the farm people would say 'are you getting chickens?'
'YES' I would say at the same time Ed would say 'NO!'
I overheard him one day talking to a friend:
Friend: 'Are you going to get chickens?'
Ed: 'Well Teresa wants them but I don't....So you know what that means.'
Friend:  'you're getting chickens'
Ed: 'yup'. 


However, chickens were not a priority, there was so many other things to do. Now Ed is getting ready to retire and we were planning a big trip in September. The plan was that we would build the chicken coop this year and get chickens next.

Of course you know that didn't work out as planned. COVID-19 meant our trip was cancelled (well moved to next year) so I decided I wanted to get the chickens this year. Ed thought that wasn't possible because a lot of people place orders in May. I knew better though and, sure enough, through a FB friend (thanks Sarah!) I sound someone with 2 week old chickens to sell. 

I was so excited to get them- I just love chickens. We're starting with just four little ones. We were so worried that they would die on us. We've borrowed a heat lamp and set up Guinness' dog crate in the garage. We've put a thermometer on the cage that connects to a receiver in the house so we can monitor the temperature. We set up a cage outside for them to enjoy the weather when It's nice. 

They are ISA Browns

The chicken coop is not completed- turns out that COVID-19 has also led to a real shortage of chicken wire.  Every day (when it's nice out) we carry them one at a time to the outside pen and then bring them in at dinner time. 

I just love watching them. They are so adorable scratching in the dirt, fluffing their feathers and doing little flights. 

Their feathers are coming in but still have down on their heads; making them look like little vultures. 

or velociraptors

The second day we had them I had to bring the tractor out of the garage. I knew it would startle them but thought that they'd be safe in the cage. I started it and, sure enough, they startled. I left and was doing my chores when I got a text from Ed: "why are there only 2 chicks?'

I dropped my pitchfork and ran to the garage. Somehow, two of them managed to squeeze through the bars of the crate and were hiding under Ed's work bench. he managed to get one but the other was way back in the corner. I moved some stuff, grabbed a bucket and crawled as far in that I could get. I managed to scootch her into the bucket, peeping like mad. As I turned the bucket up and began to pull it towards me a paint bucket fell off the shelf into the bucket. A loud SQAWK!  came from the bucket and then silence. 

Shit. I killed it. 

I pulled the bucket out and lifted out the paint bucket. Two bright black eyes peered at me. The paint bucket only fell part way in so I put her gently into the cage that end then wrapped chicken wire around.  Fortunately she seems to be fine. But what are the signs of a concussion in a chicken anyway? 

With any luck we'll have some eggs this fall. 

I'm sure you're wondering if they have names. 

Of course they do. But I needed to figure out some good names. I played with some cute names but nothing was really coming to me. Then one day I was laughing at one of them who is quite bold and she ran at me flapping. 

I realized that her name was Jo. 

Another one is quite shy and often hides. Her name is Beth. (maybe she's not shy, maybe it's a head injury but I don't know which one was stuck under the bucket. 

There's a pretty little one that has blonder feathers than the other. Her name is Amy. 

And the last one is Meg. She just bustles around and minds her manners. 

Pretty sure that you have guessed the theme- Little Women. I loved that book growing up (still do really) and if you haven't seen the most recent movie you should- it's really well done. 

Carmen is a little wary of them but Irish is curious. Of course he takes his role as official farm greeter very seriously. 

Welcome little ones 

Dehydrated Horse Treats

Today I used my new Ninja Foodi to make horse treats. To be honest I had no idea if it would work but I figured that the worst that would happen is that I was out of a few items form the cupboard. It also satisfied my need to bake without me having the need to eat.


Note: I totally made up this recipe.  I didn't measure anything. At all. I did it all by feel.

Ingredients: 
3 medium carrots
1 large apple
handful of dried cranberries

1. Cut up the carrots and apples. I thought about peeling the apples but decided not to. I did cut the core out though.

2. Put in food processor. I put the carrots in first and then the apples and cranberries. pulse until they are the size of large crumbs.

3. Put into a bowl and add the rolled oats. I would guess it was about a 1 1/2 cup. 

4. add in molasses. Just enough to make it stick together. I would guess about 1/2 cup.  Mix it so that it sticks together. If it's too dry add more molasses, if too wet add more oats.

5. Form into balls and then squash into patties. I didn't work at making them pretty. I found that at first they were quite loose but as I worked them they became more 'clumpy'. Next time I'd let the mix 'sit' for a few minutes to let the oats absorb the liquid. Put the patties on the rack.

6. Put the rack in the foodi and set it to dehydrate for 8 hours. That was a total guess but I figured to do it similar to beef jerky because of it's thickness. That seemed to be right. It could tolerate a little longer too.

I was thrilled to see that it worked. They didn't fall apart and were crunchy. But what would the critics think?

I'm calling this a hit. I like that they will last a little longer and are just natural ingredients.

delicious! 

more please

Coping Mechanisms

Like all of you Covid-19 is affecting our daily life. I have started working from home this week.

Working from home has it's attractions. The commute for one. But I'm working harder than I have in a long time. I am connecting with my people and colleagues. I have vacation that I need to use before the end of March but I strongly suspect I will lose it. My plan had been to take some afternoons off to ride. I had planned to have a lesson on Tuesday afternoon. But with the move towards our staff working from home there was no way I could take off. So I had to cancel it.

There is a general worry and stress from this pandemic. The news does not help but it is also necessary. So I try to ration it.

The dogs are happy I'm home and it does allow for me to take walks with them at lunch time.

Ripley loves to take the biggest sticks on our walk

Yesterday Guinness was not himself in the morning. As the day went on he became worse and mid-afternoon, when he didn't want to go for a walk I called the vet. They said to bring him right away so we did. This meant I had to cancel a lesson I had booked for 4:30. 

poor Guinness still wanting to supervise despite feeling so lousy

 The vet took some x-rays. He had a lot of gas in his stomach and intestine but not enough for it to be bloat. No temperature, heart normal. It was possible that he was having some early bloat or he ate something that disagreed with him. The vet gave him some barium mixed with food, some drugs to calm his stomach and we took him home. If he wasn't better in the morning we would bring him back, do another x-ray to see if the barium showed any blockage. About an hour after getting home he threw up a bunch of barium so I don't know how much was left in his system. He slept with us all night so we could watch him. This morning he was much better and now he's completely normal.

spiky green ball helps him feel better

We had a slow feed bowl for Guinness but he broke it. And then bit and broke the next one. So recently we had switched him to a regular bowl. Ed has ordered a metal slow feed bowl from Amazon and in the meantime he's being fed in small amounts. I was so relieved this morning- I was really worried. 

Today is technically my day off but there was work to do so I did a few hours. But I also really needed to do something to de-stress. This morning I baked some cookies. I find baking to be relaxing. 

ginger molasses cookies

Later in the afternoon Julia came over and we tacked up the horses (don't worry, we maintained our social distancing and made use of the hand sanitizer). I really really needed to sit in a saddle and do something physical. 

The ride was awesome. Carmen was pretty relaxed despite my cat hunting in the next field. We were albeit work on our shoulder-in/haunches-in and counter canter. For being so early back to work she felt pretty good. Of course I have no media so you just have to believe me. At the end I was walking her out on a long rein. When we walked down by the brush she gave a sudden start. I just sat there and spoke to her and she gave a breath and then carried on. 

In my happy place

After I hosed off her legs while she stood ground tied. Which made me realize how far we've come. it's the first time I've hosed her this year. 

The world seems to be going to hell these days and it seems that no relief is in sight. But everything is temporary. As long as I have my family (4 and 2-legged) and get to spend some time in the saddle I will be okay. 

I found this advice from Skint Dressage Daddy. It looks like great advice to me. 

How are you coping with all this?

A Very Horsie Christmas

I hope that everyone had a very enjoyable Christmas. I wasn't sure how I felt about mine going into it but it turned out to be a very good holiday.

Last year, my daughter was ill and ended up in the hospital for 2 weeks with acute kidney failure. It was quite scary. This year my son is on deployment to the middle east. But we've been able to connect with him pretty often so that has been good. He called early Christmas morning and we all had a lovely chat.

Ripley crawled up on the couch to listen to her owner

We had a lot of rain and then a sudden drop in temperatures which meant that the ring was hard with icy patches. When I can't ride I turned to baking.

cinnamon buns

homemade ice cream sandwich with a scoop of french vanilla,  whipped cream,
hot fudge & strawberry sauce and grated chocolate sprinkled on top

While baking is fun it's probably not the best coping mechanism......

Ed and I had bought a new mattress so we had agreed on 'no gifts'. 

And of course we immediately violated that. 

He surprised me with a new arial shot of our farm. 

looking at the barn. See the horses watching these guys with the drone?

most of our property from the top. 

this is the one he framed

I love seeing these photos. They show all the work we've done over the years. 

My daughter bought me a lovely riding shirt and then completely blew me away by giving me this set:

I mean, can you even?

It's going to look lovely on Miss Carmen. I think we can safely assume that the person who used to heap scorn on people who dressed their horses in bright colours on their horse is now dead. 

The young woman that Irish is teaching to ride really surprised me with these beautiful signs: 

ignore the barn aisle that needs sweeping,
 there's no point until the stall doors are closed. 

We had a lovely dinner with just the three of us. Later I went out to the barn to do the night feed/clean. I was trying to decide if I should take Carmen out and give her a groom. I normally leave the stall doors open and Carmen usually hangs out at the door but doesn't leave. That night I heard her hooves on the barn aisle. 

Get back I said. Normally she would just back up and sigh. This time she actually walked out. I expected her to head to the hay pile across the aisle but she turned and walked down the barn. I wasn't too worried that she was going to leave so I slowly walked out of the stall saying what are you doing missy?

You may think I'm making up what happened next but I swear I am not. Carmen walked to where I groom her, turned around and stood in exactly that spot looking at me expectantly. She was asking me to groom her! I took off her blanket and gave her good deep groom which she appeared to savour. I then cleaned her stall, restocked her hay and water while she watched me. I put on her blanket and said there you go and she went back to her stall. 

This horse guys, she continually surprises me.

T'is the Season

Christmas is fast approaching and, if you follow this blog, you know what that means:

THE (SOMEWHAT) ANNUAL CRITTER CHRISTMAS PHOTO SHOOT!

I grabbed my antlers and cell phone and headed out to con/ bribe entice my beloved animals into cooperating for the camera.

Irish was, as always resigned.

Irish: is it that time again? Did you bring treats? I don't perform for free you know. 

Irish: What do you mean I'm too close? I have to get the cookies before Princess Greedy Guts take them all. 

Irish: This is the best you're going to get. 

Me: I'll take it! 

Carmen: I heard that there were cookies. 

Carmen: Back up? Why would I do that? The cookies are here. 

Carmen: Okay, I'll trust you but make it fast. Also, don't give any to the dog behind me. 

Guinness:  What? No. It's beneath my dignity as head of security. 

Guinness: Mom, this is so dumb. I'll be laughed out of the Farm Dogs Guild. 

Guinness:  I'm only doing it because I love you. But promise me it won't be on the internet. 

Ripley: I'm a guest. I'm pretty sure that makes me exempt. 

Ripley:  This is not my idea of fun. I can't even look at you right now. I'm telling Dad. 

Ripley: Well I guess I look pretty good. 

Willow:  this is new. I think it' brings out my eyes. 

Willow: Make it quick. My patience is fading fast. 

I know it's silly. But when I look back on the previous cards I smile at the fond memories of my beloved animals. Many of whom are not here anymore. At least not physically anyway.


Merry Christmas from all of us at Oakfield Farm. I hope you have the holiday you want.

Feast or Famine

In good news Ed and I were able to get hay in on the weekend. Saturday Mrs. Hay Guy asked if we could take 200 bales.  Of course I said yes. This is essentially two loads with our truck and trailer. The down side? We couldn't get it until around 5:00. The second downside? After so much cold weather we actually had a heat warning.  The thermostat read 37 at one point (or 98 Fahrenheit). Given that it was 10 degrees last weekend (or 50 Fahrenheit), no one was ready for this level of change.

I rode really early and we were both still sweaty at the end.  Carmen was nice and forward and we played with some trot poles.

so many options with this configuration

My goal was soft transitions and suppleness. We had a few discussions that she didn't get to counter flex by the trees when we were working. I am being quite insistent on her attention and listening. We finished by working on the stretchy trot. If I have her honest in the bridle and going to the bit then she will stretch down and carry herself. If I don't have that then it all goes to pot.

In some ways it was nice to go to get the hay later in the day when it was starting to cool off a bit. The field was by a lake so there was a nice breeze. When we got there there was another truck and people there so we drove down to the far end away from them and started to load. The bales were all stacked in groups of three or four and I honestly didn't think anything of it. About 10 minutes in to loading the trailer and a man came down to us and said 'now I don't mean to be a bad neighbour'.
'uh oh' I thought. When someone starts like that nothing good is going to come next. I had noticed them all looking at us when we drove in but dismissed myself as being a bit paranoid.

It turned out that he had some people with him who he was paying to pile up the hay bales to be picked up. We apologised and said we hadn't realized. He went on about us not taking the bales. I looked down the field and said 'okay, but you have them all piled and some of this hay is for us as well so you can't claim all of it. I'm not going to wait for you to get your portion and pick up what's left'. 

He stalked off and then drove his truck down where we were. In the end, Ed and I basically followed the baler picking up the hay. When we were loaded we left and stacked it in the barn.

I was worried that the quality be less because it's so late but it's great.
I am so relieved.

We debated going back, wondering if there would be any hay left. Ed called and left a message asking if we were wrong about how much we were supposed to get but didn't get a call back. In the end we drove back and saw that there were some bales left (not 100 though). We decided to take them and then call our hay guy and tell him how many we got. As we were stacking our hay guy drove in. We explained what had happened and he said to not worry about it. He also said that there was a small field across the road that we could take. We took some of it then and left the rest for the next day. We left all of that load on the truck and trailer and decided to devour eat supper instead. We let our hay guy know how much we had taken. He shared that the other guy had come to him bitching (well that's my word) that we took his hay. Mr. Hay Guy said that we wouldn't have done it if we'd know because we're not like that. Also, that this guy was wrong to pile all of it like that and expect us to wait for him. So I'm glad we told him what happened.

The next morning I had to drive to the airport to do my Nexus interview (scheduled because I was sure that I would have hay by then!).  When I got back we went and got the last of the hay. By then it was stinking hot again. I wanted to ride so I tacked Carmen up and we just schooled the walk. There's a lot you can do at just the walk and it was a good session.

I was looking forward to sunday and having a day of 'rest'. Which I filled with riding in the morning, ring maintenance, barn chores and tack cleaning. But it was a great day anyway. Carmen was less inclined to argue during our ride and settled in to the work.

sunshine, beer, tunes and tack cleaning. What could be better?

While I was cleaning the tack the neighbours walked their steer down the road. I wanted to see if Irish was any better. He was. For him:

Irish: OH MY GOD. They are coming. Wait, where'd they go? 
Carmen: They went into the woods. It's good now. Maybe I should roll.....
Irish: Get behind me! I'll protect you! 
Carmen: *chomp*sure thing. 
Irish: I'm watching!
Carmen: *chomp* yes *chomp* I have never *chomp* felt more *chomp chomp* safe. 
Irish: are you paying attention? We may need to flee at any moment. 
Carmen: of course *chomp* you stay right there *chomp, chomp chomp*

So after a total lack of sun, hay and riding, I managed to get a surplus of those things this weekend. I am dirty, tired, sweaty and you probably shouldn't be downwind of me.

And  I am very happy. 

Quietly Panicking

You all have, by now, seen my whiny posts about the weather.

Canada day was cold, wet and windy. 

It's been a horrible spring/summer with lots of cold weather and rain. Not only does that make it difficult to school, it's making it really hard for farmers to get the hay in.

I am literally down to four bales of hay.

As a horse person that is basically a cause for a nervous breakdown.

I am fortunate that my pastures are lush but I don't leave them out 24/7. And to be honest, I don't want to. I don't trust that they won't get spooked by coyotes (which are quite large here).  My fields are also not large enough to leave them out that much. I would end up with no grass, just a field of weeds by September. I use my paddocks as part of the feeding program and manage them carefully.

That said I am leaving them out as late as possible. Which, if you have horses that are used to a schedule is causing some consternation.

um, excuse me? My reservation was for 5:00 and it is now past 6:00

The feed they are on is essentially hay + vitamins (fibre nuggets) and can be fed as a hay replacer. So I've upped that too. But that is not a good fix, especially when you have an ulcer prone horse that you want to keep a slow trickle of food into the gut, not all at once. I semi-joked to my husband that I needed something that would drop a few nuggets every hour to keep her going.....

I have been putting them up into the riding ring after supper which has the dual purpose of them eating the grass that is trying to encroach and feeding them at the same time. This morning I plotted out where I can put some temporary fencing. I can't go anywhere with Carmen because I don't have the hay to take with me.

finally, some ring work Carmen can get behind....

This means that I only need to give them some hay overnight. But I look at my dwindling supply of hay and feel anxiety starting to rise. Normally I would have at least 2 loads of hay by now.

truth

The problem is that there hasn't been enough of a stretch of dry weather to cut,dry and bale the hay. At this point if you deny climate change I'm just going to call you stupid, k? I'm done trying to convince anyone that their google search does not actually make them more qualified then scientists who study this issue. 

I called my hay guy this morning and his wife called me right back. She said that he hasn't even been able to get onto some fields with the tractor because they are too wet. That said, she informed me that he was planning to cut a field tomorrow that he normally reserves for his animals and giving some to his customers to tide them over until he can cut the rest. 

This is making me feel a bit better but now I'm watching the forecast obsessively and it might not be safe to mention the words 'rain', 'cloud', 'rainfall warning' to me in the near future. Please keep your fingers crossed. 

Because I am out of options.