Pulling the ripcord. Major life change

Made $108 at the flea market.

I'm surprised at that because usually the flea market crowd are the kind of folks that want four for a dollar and a deal on everything.

We're going to try again next weekend and see how it goes.

Hey.  $188 in revenue for 2 events isn't any bad shake.  Coming from someone who does occasional Farmers Markets/Market Days/Craft Fairs, we found that it takes a solid 4-6 months to figure out what to cater your product to for specific events, and which events really aren't relevant to your offerings at all.  They all have such unique identities and (I hate this word, but) vibes, it just takes time.  Best advice I got was from an old timer selling birdhouses and honey-  Start with as many and varied items as you can handle/make, put 'em on a table, and narrow them down one at a time until you have a plan in-focus.  

Thanks for the pep talk man!

We're going to hit both markets again this weekend. We were kind of in the back 40 at the flea market so we're going to try to get there earlier and scoop a spot closer to the front this time.

Both markets run until mid-September and then shut down for the winter. Should give me time to get out to the woodshop and knock out some birdhouses, cutting boards and nick-knacks over winter. We're just relying on the wife unit's built up inventory right now as I'm too busy putting the house here back in order.

On that note, yesterday I awoke to a wet basement again. Seems that one of the 60 year old solder joints in the plumbing let go. Quick trip to the store for some sharkbite fittings and we're dry again.

Yesterday I made a trip to Saskatoon to drop Jenn's friend off at the airport so she could fly home after helping us out for a week or so. We also bought a gas powered fire fighting pump to have on hand, just in case.

There's an irrigation pond about 200' from the house which I'm going to use to irrigate the garden using the fire pump to fill IBC totes. And just in case there's a grass fire around here. I can at least get some water on it or whatever building it's getting near.

We picked up a couple beehives for next year as well as some supplies to make some repairs around the house.

Our first frost is due mid-September so I spent the morning cleaning and repairing gutters and downspouts on the house and replacing the worn weatherstripping on the doors.

I've also been spending my free time trying to sort out arrangements for my dad. Dying isn't cheap and the funeral industry sure likes to make you feel like a tightwad for not sending a $2k coffin into the furnace with dear ol' Dad.

More to come later.

Been a while since an update, been crazy busy.

Finally found a copy of my father's will. It's just a written out, witnessed will but the funeral director says it's more than good enough.

Still haven't got a death certificate or dad back yet because apparently the coroner needs to investigate since he died so soon after surgery. Oh well, I just hope it's not Quincy, that guy was always back, digging up the guy he buried last week.

Been busy around the farm too. Bought an IBC tote for the back of the truck so I can haul water. There's an old galvanized 300 gallon water tank behind the barn that doesn't appear to have holes in it. I'm going to drag it out and set it up by the garden so I can use it for watering.

I spent yesterday fixing paddock fencing which I'm glad I was doing because our big idiot was goofing around in the temporary paddock and managed to get his feet caught in the fence panel and drag it about 20 feet while he panicked. This opened the panels so that he and the other two decided to go on a tour of the property.

I called the wife unit and we managed to get them caught and put back in the barn. I'm going to be finishing the paddock fence repairs today with any luck. Glad I bought a post auger on Friday.

While I was working and they were in the barn, I heard another commotion. The mini was goofing around in her pen and managed to get all four feet and her head caught under the bottom fence rail. I shoved her legs back under and moved the panel over a bit so she could get up. She seemed no worse for wear.

Later that evening she was looking dopey and not feeling well. Aww crap, what now? She was eating and chewing but not swallowing. We got her out and walked her around, seemed ok. I listened to her gut , shes making whooshing noises so the plumbing is working. We figured she might have gotten some dry grass caught in her throat because she had tipped her water bucket out some time earlier, before the pandemonium and the running on a full stomach may not have helped.

We got the big syringe out and gave her a big slug of water down her throat, she swallowed most of it so we knew that end was working. Put her back in her pen and took her food away for a little bit.

Came back an hour later and she had pooped. Ok, good, that's working. Go away and check again in an hour. More poop, yay, everything is working.

Went to bed and checked again this morning. She's back to her old self agian and everything is working as it should. Looks like she just ate way too much (minis can be little pigs) and wasn't feeling well.

Today I have to call the power company to locate an underground line that I think runs under where the vegetable patch is going. Hope they buried it well.

I'm off to build more fence today.

This showed up in my facebook today and it's 100% correct:

Things I've Learnt About Horses as a non horse boyfriend.

Livery yards are not full of ultra fit young ladies in white jodphurs & show jackets despite what adverts/film/TV would have you beleive.

I can now tell the difference between a cheap pitchfork & a decent one.

2 tonnes is the daily amount a horse E36 M3s.

A bucket that costs 99p at B&Q will cost £9.99 at a horsey shop.

6 months ago if a horse bared it's teeth, flattened its ears & went for me. I filled my pants with E36 M3. Now it just gets a slap & shouted at.

If a horse stands on your foot no amount of pushing will shift it.

The horse is perfectly designed by nature to covert £ sterling into E36 M3. Literally.

If a horse can do something stupid it will do it.

Horses like to knock over wheel barrows piled high with E36 M3.

January at 5am is an awful time of day to be at a stable so I let Her do this.

A saddle. An item crafted out of the finest leather & costing upwards of £1k that never fits your horse.

You can ACTUALLY wear out a pair of Wellington boots in 6 months.

A decent pair Wellington boots that last 6 months cost around £100.

The vet. A nice man that turns up regularly & empties your bank account.

Grooming. It takes hours & is the green light for your horse to then go and roll in mud, E36 M3 & probably fox poo.

Horse dentist. A barbaric man with steel toe cap boots, a bucket of big rasp files who turns up & empties your bank account.

Farrier. A really nice bloke who turns up & empties your bank account every 6 weeks in exchange for putting bits of metal on your horses feet which fall off with 10 minutes of him leaving.

Horse Walker. A giant electrified hamster wheel for horses.

Crop. A whip thing covered in mud & hair & not at like the ones in Anne Summers.

Wheelbarrows. I can now tell the difference between a good one & a bad one. A good one has a low centre of gravity. A bad one falls over as soon as a horse so much as farts near it.

Water bucket. A container holding fresh water into which a horse must E36 M3 at the first opportunity.

Horse Teeth. Giant chisel like things that the bastards like to grab you with the instant you're not looking.

Hunting. A big excuse for lots of horsey people to race around the countryside, looking posh with loads of dogs & never ever seeing a fox. Mainly because I shot it 2 weeks ago. And a nice excuse for yobs in balaclavas to have an outing and desperate not admit to it being a class war, despite the people with the horses having more of an empty bank account than they do.

Being run over by a horse feels exactly the same as being run over by a car. I've done both & can confirm this to be true.

6 months ago, watching my beautiful girlfriend, riding a demented, bronc'ing, rearing fiery horse filled me with dread. Now I just accept it's what happens.

4 hours is the time it takes to use a foot pump to inflate a 7.5 tonne horse lorry tire to 85lb PSI with a foot pump.

Stock fencing. An object that any horse treats as a challenge. It's to be jumped, kicked, leant against until it snaps at any opportunity.

Electric fencing. Decorative tinsel for ponies!

Horse worms. Jesus!!!! They're HUGE! A ball of grass snakes just fell out of your horses bum. Apparently this is because the previous owner used a 'herbal remedy' & not a proper medication.

Don't wrap the lead rope around your hand. Because a dangerous empty bag of Quavers, which are well known for attacking horses, will blow past in the wind causing the horse to bolt in panic & will pull your fingers out of their sockets. This hurts enough to make you vomit.
Horse rugs. Why do we always need another one? What does this one do that the other 76 don't do?

Congrats! Finally another farmer here.

I need to fence couple of new property I bought... $22,000 per 5/acres is really holding me back. Hoping once the economy slows..and material costs come down..we will get back to the $13,000 for the same lot.

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Ouch. I'm just fixing the old board fence at the paddocks.

The perimeter fence will need to be done eventually, one of the locals told me that they just did 10 acres in high tensile wire for under $10k. Not sure if I believe them.

ShawnG said:

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

Ouch. I'm just fixing the old board fence at the paddocks.

The perimeter fence will need to be done eventually, one of the locals told me that they just did 10 acres in high tensile wire for under $10k. Not sure if I believe them.

If what your local said is right, I will pay him airline ticket, free room and board to do it for me. That sounds WAY low. My perimeter are all 5 feet high, chain link. Concrete posts in between, with large gates for freezer trucks to go through, to pick up for export.   Usually its $13-15K per 5 acre lot, with 2 exit gates. Covid prices went through the roof - not to mention all the marijuana growers here (DEA having a ball of a time) .... 

Reason for my permiter fencing is - keeping animals out...mostly.... also buying adjacent land is needed here..as each of my well ($40k before covid) is now $65k, so I need to use same well for as many plots of adjacent land I can get my hands on. 

Time for an update, been crazy busy around here.

Got my car inspected and registered in Saskatchewan. SGI is way easier to deal with than ICBC.

Got Saskatchewan driver's license.

Got my garden patch tilled finally, waiting for my garlic order to arrive.

Ordered some flower bulbs so we can do cut flowers at markets in the spring.

Been doing well at the local markets, not enough to pay the bills yet but our inventory is limited and we're sorting out what the local market wants.

We've got a table at a much bigger market next weekend.

Getting my father's estate sorted out slowly.

Finished the paperwork on selling our house on the coast today.

Dragged an old sprayer and an old galvanized water tank out of the back 40 to use for irrigation. They both old water so yay for the win!

Picked up a new Executive Director of Rodent Control for the shop today. Say hello to Otter:

Hello Otter!

He looks to be well suited to the job.

Well Otter looks MENACING. 

Update:

Got barn cats to deal with rodents.

Got basement cats to deal with mice.

Got Coturnix Quail for meat and eggs.

The cover crop of tillage radish, field peas, annual rye and hairy vetch has germinated. Tillage radish is going to be interesting, it's a type of daikon radish that grows a 30" long taproot which supposedly breaks up soil better than mechanical tillage.

Seed garlic order has shipped.

Put a deposit on a new to us truck, a 2019 Sierra High Country with the 6.2 Ecotec and the max trailer package.

Started plans to build a grow room in the unused garage to start vegetable transplants for spring. The sun is so low here in winter that a greenhouse is a bit useless. An insulated building with the south wall glazed works better than a greenhouse in winter.

Made over $400 in one day at our last market. Hope we can keep that up. People were coming by our booth and saying they had been following us on social media so yay for that!

In reply to ShawnG :

I just planted some cereal rye cover crop Saturday after putting a few loads of manure on. I also bush hogged and disked in a bunch of foxtail grass. My field is badly depleted after decades of rental farming, and I'm hoping pumping up the organic matter will help it. I was first told to give it about 600#/acre of fertilizer. I feel like that would help the plants, but what I really want to focus on is building healthy soil and making it a good habitat for all the microorganisms that make soil work.

That's our plan too, hoping to build really healthy soil that doesn't need synthetic fertilizers.

Otter is too cute! Since he's the executive director, I suppose he lounges in your lap and the barn & basement cats report to him?

Crazy week.

We replaced our dead Suburban with a gently used 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 High Country with the 6.2l and max trailer package.

We bought a tractor, a Kubota Grand L4760 Cab with a loader and bale spear:

We bought a 6' x 12' enclosed cargo trailer to haul our stuff to market.

We received our seed garlic order. Spent a couple evenings processing 30lbs of garlic bulbs into cloves for planting. 

I'll be planting my garlic over the next couple days, then heading back to the coast to deal with my dad's estate.

Our flower bulb order has shipped so we can hopefully have cut flowers at markets in the spring.

We've got a moose on the property somewhere, I've been finding moose poop near the sloughs.

A badger has moved in on the corner by the road. He will be made to feel very unwelcome soon. Can't have a badger around with our animals. If he figures out where the quail are kept, they'll get eaten.

More later.

Is that the factory Chevy hood?  I have not seen the clearance lights in hood before like that.  

Have you started a YouTube channel? If not, you really need to. I would watch your videos and I doubt I would be the only one. Just keep it real without all the fake drama.  

John Welsh said:

Is that the factory Chevy hood?  I have not seen the clearance lights in hood before like that.  

It's an aftermarket bug deflector, not sure who made it, it came on the truck.

I really like the look of it.

Toyman! said:

Have you started a YouTube channel? If not, you really need to. I would watch your videos and I doubt I would be the only one. Just keep it real without all the fake drama.  

 

I've thought about it but I'm not really good with video editing.

Plus, I have a face for radio.

I'll put some thought into it, maybe once I get back from the coast .

Thanks for the support guys!

I am watching your move with interest and taking notes. 

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

Come on out, land is cheap.

In reply to ShawnG :

Convince my wife she no longer needs to run up mountains for fun first. 

In reply to bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) :

They made prisoners of war do that.

Well, I spent today planting garlic.

Two 100' long beds, five rows each, one clove every foot.

I bought this bulb planter tool, it's like a mini post hole auger that goes in your drill. Half a bed in, my Ryobi cordless let the smoke out. Checked the warranty, I bought it in 2014 so I guess I got some good life out of it.

Went to the garage and dug out the ancient 3/8" Black and Decker corded drill and went back to work. Must have drilled about 700 holes with it today.

My back is killing me and I have to do it again tomorrow.

More garlic planting today.

This is the garden:

To give you a rundown, the black plastic area is for walking. This way we don't spend our time weeding pathways and can focus on work that makes money.

Each row is 100' long by 4' wide. Most market gardeners use 30" wide beds because that's the width of the tools on a common walk-behind tractor. Our beds are 48" because that's the width of the CASE garden tractor I use.

When I did the math to place the garlic order, we figured on 10 lbs of seed garlic per bed, based on getting roughly 5 cloves per bulb and planting 5 rows in each bed, spaced at 12 inches apart. We were going to have three beds with one variety of garlic each. One Music (the kind you see in the grocery store), one Rocambole (a bit hotter and spicier) and one Marbled Purple Stripe (best for roasting).

The seed garlic was incredible quality and we got more cloves than we bargained for, enough to do an extra part bed of Rocambole and an extra part bed of Purple Stripe. 

We can companion plant in the part beds because some plants do well with garlic and benefit from the garlic keeping the pests away. We'll probably put some tomatoes in there with the garlic.

We ended up with roughly 2000 cloves (I planted them all, ugh).

We will need to save some to replant next year, so figure 150 of each to be kept for seed gives us 1550 bulbs of garlic left. Figure losing about 10% of that to spoilage, etc. I have 1390 cloves left. $5 per bulb at the farmer's market ends up at $6,950.

The bill for the seed garlic from the supplier was around $750 so that leaves $6200 minus whatever fuel we burned prepping the area.

I have two bed left for other veggies for profit. Probably cucumbers and zucchini.

I still have to build our propagation room and a couple greenhouses before spring.

This winter I'll be sorting out the order for the vegetable seeds and the fruit trees. I've even found a variety of grapes that should grow here. 

Fruit is going to be a long-term investment. It will be about three years before we see fruit from apples, pears and cherries. The raspberrys and rhubarb should give us something in the second year.

Bees will be coming in the spring too.