Bantams, Chatham and Samhain

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain! Big hugs and love to all my pagan friends who will be honoring their ancestors and remembering their dead this weekend.

Myself, I lost my favorite relative, Uncle Gord this year, my very first and favorite hen Poppy and possibly the best cat ever Ripley, plus seven other beloved hens. It was a rough year. :(

The little hen, Peepers from the group of chickens my friend got almost two month ago, is doing well, but damn, she is small. She is obviously a Bantam (or at least a bantam cross). A bantam is not a breed of chicken, it's a size ... a very small size. They lay small eggs, about half as many yearly as a standard size he does. Not a size I would ever buy and one of the big reasons the other little hens got killed when my big ladies landed on them. :( When I buy hens I look for breeds that are big, sturdy and ornery.I think that's important for free range hens.

The hen in the pic below is Peepers, she the Bantam, the two hens on the other side ares standard sized hens, they are Orpingtons. They are pretty well the same age ... big difference in size.

Moving plans for the end of March are going along well. I've been talking to one of my best friends in Chatham and may be moving there. Not sure yet. My friend and I are talking a bit of a business deal, so it may be worth my while, although I would still really like to move to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. I guess we'll see how things work out. If things work with my dear friend than back to southwestern Ontario I go. If not, off to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia I go.

I would really love to move to a different province, but I do have lots of great friends in southwestern Ontario and some really awesome regular customers that I would love to see again. 

I guess we'll see what happens. I'm an easy going person and always up to doing something new.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Hugs!

A Bright New Week

Greetings merry friends!

I hope you all all doing fantastic!

It's a brand new week, full of possibilities and opportunities!

Things are going well here in Coe Hill. The leaves are falling and the trees are slowly starting to become barren. It is very beautiful and a little sad.

Here's some lovely pics from my latest walk to the mailbox ...

We had a pretty big rain storm Saturday night. There was some pretty serious downpours and wind. A old dead tree fell down at the revel fire area ...

On good note, nobody was hurt and the tree will be easy to cut and stack for next years festival fires. 

I have been doing a lot of research on both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and it looks like we'll be moving to New Brunswick at the end of March. New Brunswick offers extremely cheap rural homes (Some as low as $400a month rent), less snow than Nova Scotia (as long as you aren't in Moncton NB), oceans, mountains and vast forests, lots of seafood, and a very friendly laid back environment. My son wants the ocean, while I want mountains and forests, so NB is a great compromise. New Brunswick is also 4 hours closer than Nova Scotia for Ontario friends. 

I am already planning a "Friends Fest" for summer 2016; a week long fest where ever other day those who want will go do something cool such as whale watching one time, visiting the Bay of Fundy one day, visiting and hiking the mountains one day. We could go out on a Zodiac and see whales; that would be epic!

We are super excited for the end of March and are really looking forward to moving! Since giving our notice last week, things have become more positive and upbeat. It's like a cloud a negativity has lifted. I love my landlord/business partner very much, but just because you love someone doesn't mean you can happily work with them. I'm positive they will find someone to replace us that will work better with them. 

Our countdown has begun ...only five months to go!

Hi!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Mine so far has been pretty crappy, but I'm sure it's going to improve.

Yesterday, when I went to let the hens out, I found poor Ivan the rooster dead on the coop floor. I cannot be sure, but it looks like one of the large hens landed on him when they flew down off their perch in the morning. Very sad. It breaks my heart to find another little one dead :(.

We are sadly not getting along the best with our landlords/business partners. We have different ideas on how things are done and we constantly feel like we are being micro managed, critiqued and sometimes even belittled. So, after much much discussion we gave notice today that March will be our last month here (This is a decision made after two months of discussion). We love the property, but the constant negativity is just not worth it. Being happy and free to do our own thing is most important to us. Do we regret moving here? Nope, it has been a great learning adventure and another step along our path, working with others that have different opinions on many things is just not for us. We were much happier on our own. We are super glad that we were able to help get our friends started in their new home and business, and wish them all the very best in their future.

So now what? Hmmmm, we haven't decided yet. We are seriously thinking about moving to the East Coast. We have always wanted to live near the ocean and experience a different province, and rent prices there are quite good (for rural homes). We are of course still planning on living in the country! We have no interest in ever living in a city again.

We considered moving back to south western Ontario, but honestly, we've had enough of it. We would stay in the Bancroft area as we LOVE this area, but rental prices are outrageous and we like to keep our bills as low as possible. So, we are thinking Nova Scotia.

We have five months to find a new place, lots of time ;)

Mailbox Walk

The mailbox is about a 30 minute walk from my home (thanks Canada post for stopping home delivery, you suck). It is at least a beautiful walk (at least till winter!). The trees are so beautiful this time of year!

I took a few pics on my walk to the mailbox yesterday ...

This is Cameron Road (the road I live on). It's a winding up and down road, surrounded by deep forest and about 10-15 houses.

And the mailboxes! They are at the corner of Lower Faraday and Cameron Road.

Bears and Fishers

Over the last week, we have seen a huge increase in the wildlife around here. It is pretty awesome! We've seen bears, deer and a fisher, and have heard both moose and elk.

The cats, Mo and Jo, chased off a fisher earlier in the week. They are ferret-like creatures that are downright nasty. They are a serious threat to the chickens and are known for killing cats. Mo and Jo are Bengal crosses and are brothers. They worked as a team and sent the predator packing.

The bears around here are getting bold. I'm told by the locals that there are a couple hundred bear in the area and that there is a bit of a bear problem here. Bears are awesome, but at a distance! It's about a 30-45 minute walk to get the mail; I have started taking Skully with me just to be extra safe (Skully is a Rottie/Shepherd). I'll take some pics of my mail walk tomorrow (I'm expecting a parcel, hopefully it will be there!)

When I go out for a walk in the woods, I always sing this :)

Thanksgiving day

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone! I hope your harvest was bountiful!

I don't really celebrate Thanksgiving. I figure as a Pagan, I have eight Sabbaths and 13 Esbats celebrations each year, and that's more than enough. 

Today, the weather here is fantastic! It was about 20 today, nice bright sun.I worked for an hour in the morning (doing dances) and then spent the afternoon cutting and stacking wood, and taking some pics :)

I am almost done my winter wood! I'll be done by the end of the week at the latest. I had a bunch of negative people say we couldn't and wouldn't get it done in time ... well, poop on them. They obviously don't know us well and should keep their negative opinions to themselves. For those who were actually concerned and not just being mean, thank you for your concern. We are all good. :) We'll be toasty warm all winter. 

Next, we gotta start collecting wood for the maple syrup boil down in March. Thankfully, that will be done outside so we can use pine, which is plentiful

Now for the photos!

Here's my Puggy Buddha, looking awesome as normal! He's such a handsome guy!

It's a nudie pic! Ha ha! You can't see anything :)Yep, that's me laying on a big boulder. I was trying to get some good pics for the Faerie calendar I'm working on, but sadly the pics didn't turn out very well.

and of course a pic of the hens; Stella is the big one and the three little ones are Poppers, Peepers and Ivan the Terrible.

Wishing you all the very best! Hugs!

Woken by the Sound of Gun Shot

Well, it's 7:30am, I've been awake for about an hour, I was awoken by the sound of gun shot breaking the beautiful early morning peace. It is a disturbing sound and every time a gun goes off, I cringe and my heart is saddened as I know another sweet animal is being killed. :(

Hunting ... that's a pretty controversial topic.

You've probably noticed, I'm a pretty opinionated person and yep, I have strong opinions on hunting.

My opinion, hunting is far better than factory farming, and I'm ok with it IF the hunters are hunting to put food in their freezer to feed themselves and their family. Hunting for "sport" pissing me right off; I don't think the killing of anything should be "sport".

We are omnivores. We are suppose to be omnivores. That is how we were made, how we evolved. Unless we are going to take a vitamin supplement, we actually need meat to survive; our bodies need B12 to make new blood and the major source of B12 is meat (particularly red meat), without B12 we don't make new blood and eventually we die.

I totally get that hunting is more humane than factory farming is. However, it still breaks my heart to hear the gun shots ringing through the morning air, knowing that some dear animal is now laying dead on the ground.

I totally admit I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to meat; I like to eat it, but I need some serious separation between me and my meat source. If I had to kill my on meat I would have to be a vegetarian.

Well, the sun is completely up, it's a cool, but bright morning. The gun shots have ended and things are back to their normal calm. Time to get ready for work. Have a great day!

A Lovely Autumn Day

It was a lovely day today. The weather was beautiful, a perfect Autumn day. 

Cool stuff of the day :)

Cool hoofprint down at the revel fire! Not sure if it's elk or moose, but it's too big to be deer. I asked the Facebook hivemind, so I'll tell you tomorrow what they say.

Cool rooster - This is Ivan the Terrible, he's a hoot and a little too friendly! We'll have to teach him to not fly upon people! (If you don't know, that's my cool son Travis!)

This is also very cool; an awesome Autumn photo of the revel fire area. There is a lot of evergreens here, so things don't completely lose their green :)

Chainsaw and an Axe

We got a chainsaw and a good ax this week. I paid $40 for the Chainsaw, it's a, Echo 14inch, so not big enough to cut the big tree trucks, but big enough to cut our firewood. I paid $20 for the axe, it's an Estwing.

I'm feeling pretty good about my purchases :)

Tomorrow we start cutting wood

I had been watching Kijiji and other classified sites for a cheap chainsaw and ax, but in the end did better simply asking the neighbors if they had an extra they wanted to sell. Much easier and cheaper.

We WILL have our winter wood done by the end of next week.

I'm super excited to be warm and toasty this winter!I love the woodstove :)

Once we get the winter wood done, we still have lots of other getting ready for winter chores to do, such as wrapping the well pipe that comes into the house, gathering wood for the outside woodstove for maple syrup making, putting plastic on many of the windows, etc.

Right now the days here are average around +15 and the nights around +8, so winter is still a few weeks away!

October Election

So, it's almost election time again. Anyone who knows me knows I will NOT be voting Conservative. Harper and his gang of Conservatives have done more than enough damage to this country!

Please take the time to get out and vote this October, it is really really important. Please help return this great country to the country it once was; to a country that cares about people and the environment.

For all the woman and men who care about equal rights: Shush baby! Just look pretty. 17 ways the Conservative government has controlled you like a terrible boyfriend.

For all the fellas who like to see sex workers; the Conservatives made it illegal for you to see a sex worker! (it's not illegal for the sex worker, it's illegal for the person paying for the services now)It has never been illegal

For all those who care about our environment; Harper wanted to dump nuclear waste in our lakes!

Shall we talk about his disrepute for our veterans? ...

Seriously everyone, please vote this election and please please please vote any party but the Conservatives! Harper needs to go!

All these memes were on my Facebook feed today (plus the article I posted the link too)

A Successful Day Freeranging

I am happy to report that the little hens had a successful day freeranging!

A couple of the big hens were pretty mean to them, but they eventually hooked up with Alice (shown in the pic below)and she helped take care of them

I was a little nervous about the cats (cause they are so much smaller than the older hens), but the cats completely ignored them

Cause I have been feeding them for the last four weeks they have gotten super friendly with me. I leaned down and they all came rushing over the see me. They also follow me around like baby ducks :)

The white one is the rooster. It's very important that he gets tamed so he doesn't get aggressive with people.

 The photo below is of Stella, she is a Welsummer. She is a beautiful bird and has perfect camouflage for this time of year.

The little hens went back to the coop by themselves at dusk and are not safely locked away for the night. I pray that when I let all the ladies out tomorrow everyone will be alive.

Dead Hens

Sadly, in the last week two of the young hens I got about a month ago have died. :( One died a couple of days ago and another died last night.

Both of them died the same way; their head through the dog cage bars. Their neck was snapped. I'm not sure if they are doing it themselves or if one of the older hens is grabbing their head and snapping their neck.

I have no idea what to do. This is a first for me. It breaks my heart when a being in my care dies.

A friend suggested letting them out of the cage. I tried that last week and it didn't go well (Dirty Girl outright attacked one and tried to kill it). I'm going to try again today and see if things go any better, but honestly I doubt it. The little chickens are just so small!

I normally get hens at 4-6 months old as it's way easier and less stressful. They are old enough to safely free range when they are about four months old and they start laying when they are 5-6 months old.

I'll let you know how things go today, fingers crossed! Hopefully I'll have a good report tonight!

Enjoying the Weekend

Hi! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I've had a fantastic weekend!Got lots of fun tasks done!

We expanded the family Ritual/Altar area so we could have small group Rituals there, added a small fire pit and included a pine tree in the circle to decorate at Yule.

I set up a second long table inside (as there was lots of room for it), so I had more room for my crafty projects. Right now I am working on making a greenman stump, a plaque and i thought my son and I would do a puzzle. It's nice having lots of room!

Yesterday while out looking for wood, I found this interesting place. I had been told about it, but it was the first time I actually saw it. Not sure if it's an old mine entrance or what. I was very careful around it to ensure I didn't fall into anything. Others that found it before me said they thought it was very fairy, but I found it rather creepy and dark. it's a place I will avoid.

We did find a maple tree half down that we can cut up for winter wood, there is at least 2-3 cords of good hard wood, and it's not too far from the house. That's a huge relief as finding hard wood here is really tough.

All in all, things are going well here. I'm enjoying the peace and quiet very very much and looking forward to a great winter of crafting and wood stove warmth!

Starting to Get Chilly

Last night the temperature dropped to 3 degrees, with a wind chill that made it feel like -1. When we woke up at 8am it was friggin' cold in here! I had dances at 11am, so we decided that we  would start up the wood stove.

This is the woodstove. The heat comes out the top and from the front. 

The side of the stove opens up to put the wood in; it has two doors.

Wow, it works great! It took a bit to warm up the house, but once it did it kept the house toasty warm all day on very minimal wood.

Travis and I gathered another cord or so of wood today. I think that puts us at about 7-8 cords so far. We still need to add another 5-6 cords.

I think it's going to b a nice toasty warm winter this year, no more freezing like I did at my old place!

Hugs!

Ragged Lake

Ragged Lake is the closest lake to my house. It takes about an hour to walk there via the road (as it makes you loop around) or about 15-20 minutes to walk there if you go to the back of the property and cross over the neighbors property.

Ragged Lake is a great lake for boating and fishing. It has a lot of large mouth bass. You can swim in it to, but it doesn't have much for beaches.

The first photo is of an awesome tree; I love how its roots are growing over the stone. It sucks that someone put a sticker on it, it ruins the pic.

The trees are changing colours

Ragged Lake