Chicks

Happy Winter Solstice!

The Winter Solstice is on Friday! So excited! For me, the Winter Solstice is something to be super excited about! I'm not a huge fan of this whole darkness at 5pm thing. At the Winter Solstice the sun is the furthest away from the earth that it will get, and is going to start moving back towards us. On December 22nd, the day after the winter solstice, our days begin to get slightly longer and the night starts to decrease! To me, this is truly something to celebrate!

Happy Winter Solstice Friends! May the Sun's return bless you with love and light!

Power Outage

Nova Scotia got hit with a storm Wednesday night/Thursday.We only got about 20-25cm of snow, but it was mixed with rain so extremely heavy and there was 80-100km winds.

The power went out at my place around 3am Thursday morning and came back on Friday night around 8pm. 

All of my town, Thorburn, lost power Thursday morning; however, the town's power was fixed and back on around 8pm Thursday night. Mine was not. My power was back on about 24 hours later.

Unfortunately one of the 30 foot pine trees down at my pond went down in the storm. As it fells it hit the hydro pole that was near by and ripped out the wires

With being the only house affected by the downed wires, we were at the bottom of the priority list, so I was pretty amazed when they showed up here yesterday, Friday, around 5pm. I thought they'd be a couple more days before they got to us.

The weather had been slightly above zero for the entire storm and the time after.even the night stayed at +1. Not high enough to melt the snow, but enough to make it a wet soggy heavy mess. The ground here isn't quite frozen, so it's really soft under the snow. too soft for the huge hydro truck to come down my quite steep 1km driveway. When the hydro guys first got here (they left their truck halfway and walked down) they weren't even sure if they would be able to fix it due to how soft the earth was! They were thinking they'd have to wait till it either froze or dried! That would of been horrible! Thankfully, that were super great guys and called in a pick up to bring the tools they needed down the hill to them. They had to cut down five more 30 foot tall pine trees at the pond. so sad :( Those trees were so beautiful. The pond looks so empty without them. It tooks them about 3 hours and they got the power back on! YAY!

So thankful! 40+ hours with no power sucks big time! I have guinea heats and ducklings that need heat that didn't have any that I was freaking out about and I was starting to run low on water for the animals. With 80+ poultry, 4 dogs and 4 cats, I go through a lot of water daily. I do have a propane heater so didn't freeze, but it alone doesn't do the best alone for keeping the house warm. We were at about +8. Not horrible, but still pretty chilly. 

Thankfully everyone is ok and all the critters are great :)

About three hours before the storm I got this little lady delivered.

A Bourbon Red turkey hen! She came from Cape Breton. She's super tame and sweet. :)

November 21st

Guinea Hens

Guinea Hens

We got six free guinea hens yesterday. they are about a month old.

I've been thinking about getting guineas for awhile now, but hadn't taken the plunge as they tend to be quite expensive and have a few traits I'm not fond of. however, for free, I figured they were worth a try! If they don't work out, no big deal, I can simply sell them.

Guinea hens are related to turkeys and pheasants. Full grown they are about the size of a standard chicken. 

Good things about guineas;

- They eat tons and tons and tons of ticks, and I have tons and tons and tons of ticks here!

- They eat yellowjackets and ground bees, which I have tons of and get sting by several times a summer.

- They kill and eat rodents, including rats. I have a rat problem here.

- They are amazing watch dogs. 

- They are hilarious

Bad things about guineas:

- They are extremely noisy. From what I understand they'll make me geese look quiet.

- They are bad for roaming far from home.

- They are really stupid

- They are really bad moms

- They can be big bullies that hurt the other birds

- They are naturally very wild and are very hard to tame.

So, hoping for the best! We really have a lot of ticks around here, so if they can impact the tick population they will be worthwhile. They'd also be profitable to breed, as their babes, guinea keets, sell for $20-$40 each! Guineas are in high demand here in Nova Scotia due to the tick problem here. They are by far the best natural predator of ticks around!

Hopefully they'll work out! I'm super happy to have the opportunity to try them without having to purchase them!

More Attacks

So, the fox attacks, not a fox, it was a bobcat :(

This handsome fella is Elvis. He was the beautiful orpington rooster I got after my head rooster was killed by what I thought was a fox. Poor Elvis lasted about 48 hours until he was killed.  It wasn't a fox at all.

My son was away from home, mailing some Etsy orders. I was sitting on the couch doing some online work when I heard the geese start making noise. I looked out the window and saw all the birds moving as a group down the driveway. I got into my wheelchair and moved right in front of the window so I could see what was going on. All the birds were looking into the forest. All of a sudden, a friggin' bobcat came trotting out of the forest with my beautiful new rooster in it's mouth!

The bobcat stopped in the middle of the driveway. I was yelling out the window and the damn thing turned and looked right at the house, and then it casually trotted off into the forest on the other side of the driveway, carrying my sweet Elvis away.

I wheeled into the kitchen as fast as I could, grabbed my crutches and hopped down the hall out onto the porch. I was terrified for my birds. There is a small hill from the porch to the driveway, I tried to hop up it with my crutches, but started to slip back down as it was very muddy. I dropped to my knees and crawled up the hill, throwing the crutches in front of me. I got to the driveway, grabbed the crutches, got back on my feet and hopped down the driveway as fast as I could.

The bobcat was of course long gone, but all my Saxony ducks were at the pond and I was terrified for their safety. Using the crutches I hopped down the driveway to the pond. I couldn't see the ducks from the driveway so again dropped my crutches and crawled to the edge of the pond so I could see. Thankfully everyone was ok!

The whole time I was yelling for help, praying my son would return home and hear me. I had just gotten back on my feet at the pond, when he heard my yells. I was so thankful to have him home!

The whole things was incredibly upsetting. I felt so bad that poor Elvis got killed. I wish I could of done something to help him. I called DNR and am still waiting for them to come out (It's been a week so I guess I won't hold my breath!)

So, sadly eight dead from the bobcat. Just to make the whole thing worse, we got hit again this week and lost another hen, this time to a damn hawk! So frustrating and upsetting!

I locked down the birds for several days and thankfully have seen no sign of the bobcat again. Hopefully he gone! I'm on high alert, watching for him to come back. I'm a nervous wreck!

I'm getting two new roosters today, so hopefully they'll help keep an eye on things!

I'll try to keep you all updated! Hugs and love!

Fox Attack

We were attacked by a fox on the weekend. It killed my head rooster Stalin, his two favorite girls Polgara and Jinxie, my Indian runner drake Yacko, and two of the new hens I got this summer from my friend Melanie. I am so sad. I adored Stalin, he was such a great rooster, and Jinxie was the first chicken hatched here on the farm.

Autumn is the killing season, always lots of predators, had the same thing happen last year. I have been upping security, doing more predator walks, but then my livestock guardian dog Toffee broke her toe (So could only go on short leashed walks) and I broke my ankle, and security went down the drain. Sadly in the Fall you need constant vigilance to keep the predators away.

This is my handsome rooster Stalin. I'm sure he died a hero, fighting to save his girls. He was an amazing rooster, took good care of his girls, wasn't a bully and never showed aggression to us humans. We were blessed to have him.

This is Stalin and one his ladies with chicks last summer. He was a great dad. The little barred rock chick in the photo is Polgara who also died on the weekend. Polgara almost died as a chick when a hawk grabbed her, thankfully my Muscovy drake Rocky saved her. She was a little over a year old when she died/

t

This is Jinxie. she was the daughter of Stalin and one of our Australorp hens, Heckle. She was the very first chicken hatched on the farm. She was about a year and a half old when she was killed. 

And a last photo of my sweet Polgara. She's the beautiful barred rock. She gave us a handsome rooster this summer, which sadly I rehomed a day before her death. I wish I had kept the rooster as I have to get a new one now to replace Stalin. Isn't that the way it always is?

The black duck at the front is Yacko. He is an Indian Runner. He had been here two years, so was only about 3 years old when he died. He was a good drake and his love Wacko misses him very much. So sad :(

Also remembered is Fancy, a lovely 5-6 month old Columbia Rock hen and a sweet co-op white layer hen which I had yet to name. It makes me feel sad that she died without a name :(

Being a farmer can be really hard on the heart, especially one like mine, but it won't stop me! If anyone happens to have a live trap I can borrow please let me know.Thanks!

I'm hoping to get a new rooster today, I will update with his pic when I do! hugs and love!

Dental Help

I am having some serious dental issues that I really need some help with (I was saving up to get the problem fixed, but am now dwindling my savings due to this damn broken ankle.). I'm about $600 short of what I need to get the work done.

 If anyone is feeling generous and would like to help out, I'd appreciate it more than I can say. I've started a Go-Fund-Me page. I really need to get to the dentist asap.

https://www.gofundme.com/p9qqz6-dental-bill-help

If anyone donates, I'd be very happy to do some graphic design work for you or send you some special photos etc.

Thank you! hugs and love!

A Cast

Saw the Orthopedic specialist at the hospital this morning. Got a cast now :( giant bummer. 

I only broke a small bones in the side of my ankle, but sadly because I went over so far my ankle was it was leaning to one side, so had to have the cast to straighten it back out.

I have to go back in three weeks to get xrays again and maybe a new cast.

It sucks, but such is life. 

Hugs and love!

Broken Ankle

I broke my ankle. It sucks beyond words can say. 

I was out walking the dogs at night, stepped down on a tree root, my ankle went over, I heard a snap sound and boom, I was on the ground. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as you'd think it would. However, it did hurt like crazy when I tried to walk and I was about 1km from home. Getting home with a combination of crawling, being carried and riding in the wagon. It was quite the trip! And despite the hurt ankle was pretty funny. 

I iced my ankle overnight and went to the hospital the next morning. I thought for sure it was sprained or a pulled tendon or something. I was shocked to find out it was broken! I have only broken one bone before this, my little toe, I don't break bones, especially from just going over on my ankle!

The doctor didn't give me much info, just said it was broken  gave me this air boot thing and said it would take about five weeks to heal. I was too shocked to ask questions. 

The hospital called today and I have an appointment first thing tomorrow morning with an Orthopedic specialist, so I'll get more info tomorrow.

Obviously a broken ankle sucks hugely for me. I can't take care of the critters and farm and I can't go wildcrafting for stuff for my Etsy store. My son is of course here to help, but it's definitely going to hurt my businesses. :( thankfully, I at least can still work or art and write!

I'll let ya all know tomorrow what the specialist says.

hugs and love!

Geese and Ducks at the Pond

Ducks at the Pond

Muscovy ducklings

Day Old Muscovy ducklings

Muscovy Babies

Suppertime for the Featherbabies

Shameless Self Promotion

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been MIA so much lately! It's been super busy on the farm lately and I've been working really hard on my two Etsy stores, and my art and writing. I'm trying super hard to be a successful business owner!

For those interested here's all my stores, art and writing:

My Etsy stores:
The Happy Hippie Haven Etsy Store
Exotic Dancer Memoirs Etsy Store

I now have three published books and more on the go! All my books are available on Amazon, Barnes and nobles and a bunch of other sites. However, I make the most commission from books purchased on Lulu.

Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer
Mead Made Easy
Animal ABCs

And all my art sites! Sooooo, many art sites! :)

Zazzle:
https://www.zazzle.ca/imphavok
https://www.zazzle.ca/pugwiggles
https://www.zazzle.ca/happyhippiehaven

Cafe Press:
https://www.cafepress.com/ImphavokImpressions
https://www.cafepress.com/PugWiggles

my Greeting Card Universe Store
my RedBubble Store
my Spreadshirt store
my Displate store
my Society6 store
my Tee Public store
my Senor Cool store
my Rageon! store
my Art of Where store

You can follow my farm on Facebook
TheHappyHippieHaven Facebook page

And you can follow me on Twitter and Google Plus
https://twitter.com/imphavok
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TrishCartwright

Hugs and love!

Last Long Weekend of Summer

Powells Point Provincial Park

Travis and I rode to Powells Point Provincial Park yesterday. It's about 16km each direction. We had a great time at the park, but sadly had some bicycle problems along the way which made the bicycling part of the trip sort of miserable. I look forward to going back in a few weeks without the bike problems!

Powells Point Provincial Park is part of the Northumberland Straits. It is the warmest salt water beach in Nova Scotia.

https://www.novascotia.com/see-do/outdoor-activities/powells-point-provincial-park/1743

Those a little snails all over the stone. There was a part of the beach where there was 10,000s of them!

There is a starfish and a crab in the photo

Another starfish. I was hoping to find a dead/dried one for our Etsy store, but only found live ones. This little fella was alive and just waiting for the tide to come back in.

There was a part of the beach that was covered in 100,000s of mussels shells. I've never seen such a thing! 

This is an European Green crab. He is an invasive species and is causes a lot of trouble along our coasts. There was piles of them on the beach, but thankfully the seagulls seem to have figured them out and were eating them. 

A hermit crab

So many shells, barnacles and snails!

A huge snail! Sea snails and much bigger than the land snails we normally see!

Travis and I :) 

Melmerby Beach Provincial Park

My son and I took a big bike trip to Melmerby Beach Provincial Park yesterday. It was about 32km round trip. It was quite the trip for me and my health problems, but we went slow, took lots of breaks and had lots of drinks and snacks.

https://www.novascotia.com/see-do/outdoor-activities/melmerby-beach-provincial-park/2095

This is the route we took.Google says it's a 54 minute ride, but it took us about 1 hour 20 minutes to get there and about 2 hours 15 minutes to get home.  It's a LOT of hills. Basically, we were either going up or down, there was no flat areas.

It was a lovely beach and really great in the morning when it was almost empty. In the afternoon it got pretty busy. We got lots of great shells and some cool crab exo-skeletons.

Mead Made Easy

My third book was officially published today! YAY! So happy!

It's a book about how to make mead and it's the first book of a DIY series my friend Steph and I are doing. The next book in the series (Which I am working on now), is about how to care for chickens

They are small short books, so priced accordingly (it's $7 for the book)

Mead, the ancient drink of the Gods. An almost forgotten art. Learn how to make mead simply and easily, with minimal tools, much like the ancients use to do. 

Mead Made Easy is part of the "Made Easy" series. It includes step by step mead making instructions with photos; secret family mead recipes including a "Weed Mead"; an in-depth look at the tools needed, types of yeast and the mead making process; and even a Norse Full Moon Mead Making Ritual. Mead Made Easy is the perfect book for beginners interested in mastering the ancient art of mead making!

http://www.lulu.com/shop/patricia-cartwright-stephanie-mitchener/mead-made-easy/paperback/product-23720847.html

Memoirs and Photos

Time for some shameless advertising!

My "Memoirs of an Exotic Dancer" is available in both paperback and in PDF format

PDF version on Etsy

Paperback version on Lulu

check Lulu for coupon codes! they often have one for free shipping!

For those interested, I also am selling a photo/video pack of 1300 pics and about 20 videos. They are all the photos/videos I've taken over the last 10-15 years. It's $25 for the set if I send them via email or $35 if you'd like them on a flashdrive/DVD/SD card via the mail (Shipping included). It's about 4GB of photos/videos. If anyone is interested, feel free to email me at:
roguewolf-imphavok@hotmail.com

Hugs and love!!!

Muscovy Ducklings

Fighting with a Chronic Illness

I'm an active person. Always have been. I like walking and bicycling, and I love hiking. I like being outdoors. I don't like sitting around doing nothing. I've got businesses to run, I can't afford to sit around doing nothing!

Unfortunately, over the last few years, my health has left a lot to be desired. It seems like I just keep adding chronic illnesses. :( I now have sarcoidosis, asthma, COPD and pernicious anemia. The Doctor thinks I may also have IBS and Fibro. Unfortunately, none of them are things that can be cured. My lungs are badly scarred from the sarcoidosis and I'm constantly huffing and puffing. No matter how much exercise I get, I sadly never increase my lung capacity or my stamina. It just is, what it is. It can get pretty frustrating at time. However, I am very stubborn person and I always believe that I am capable of doing anything I set my mind too. I just push through it the best I can. I refuse to let these stupid illnesses slow me down or dull my sparkle!

When I'm active, I fatigue easily and when I get tired, my dexterity goes and I get really clumsy, and I trip and fall down a LOT. I overheat really easily and I bruise at the slightest bang. I'm also incredibly weak compared to pre-illness me. What I could carry five years ago, I can't do now. It's like these miserable illnesses have sucked my strength out of me.

I got this bruise on Monday when I rode to town. On the way home, I was getting off my bike to walk up a hill and was simply so tired I didn't lift my leg high enough and ended up falling over sideways with the bike on top of me. I have to walk up all hills as sadly I just don't have the strength/breath to ride up them :(

I hurt this leg on Wednesday's trip to town. I was walking the bike up a steep hill on the way home, and started to slide back down as I didn't have the strength needed to push the bike to the top. The bike started to slide, my feet slipped and the bike and I went down. :(  I usually hurt myself coming home as that's when I'm most tired.

Usually my awesome son Travis walks my bike up any steep hills for me, but damn, I hate that! I hate having to ask for help for something I should easily be able to do! I hate making his job harder. I hate being a burden! I am a kick ass warrior who is so pathetically weak I can't push my own bike up a steep hill. So upsetting! I refuse to let these stupid illnesses win, but yet in some ways they are. No matter how hard I try, my strength slowly gets less and less. No matter how stubborn I am, how determined, these stupid illnesses still win way too often.

After Monday's trip to town I ended up having a horrible melt down. I got home feeling good, was in the house maybe 10 minutes and all of a sudden started shivering and shaking all over. I was gasping for breath, and my lips, chin and cheeks were vibrating and numb. My legs cramped up. I was boiling hot and freezing cold at the same time, and felt faint and dizzy. I have no idea what happened. It was very scary and I thought I was gonna have to call 911. I used my rescue inhaler and thankfully about 30 minutes later I started feeling better. however, all day Tuesday I spent laying on the couch, couldn't even sit up long enough to use my computer. Was totally exhausted.

Such is life with a chronic illness. Every day is a battle, some days I win, some days I lose. I just keep fighting the best I can. Life is too precious to do otherwise. 

People often tell me to slow down, or not to go hiking or bicycling because I may hurt myself. I would rather be covered in bruises and out enjoying life than stuck inside. Inactivity and being nonproductive makes me depressed and blue. I'd rather be in pain and feel good mentally than have minimal pain and feel depressed. 

Life is a gift and we all have our struggles, do what you need to do to be happy. When it's all said and done, I think what is really gonna matter is how happy we were, how much we enjoyed our lives.

hugs and love!

New Muscovy Baby Pen

Sunday, July 8

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Muscovy Ducklings

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada day friends! I love Canada! Feel mighty blessed to live in such a great country!

Sorry, I haven't blogged in a while. Been super busy with the farm. Here's some stuff that's been happening ...

As I have finally retired from dancing, I decided to stop colouring my hair blonde. I have been coloring it blonde for over 30 years. I'm sick and tired of all the fuss. My natural colour is brown, so I went for an auburn. As the roots come in, it should slowly change back to my natural colour. I spent 30 years keeping my appearance in way to make other's happy, i am overjoyed to finally get to do my hair the way I want to. I just can't be bothered with all the fuss anymore.

I saw this cute fella on my way to tow. It's the third snapping turtle I've seen this year

I managed to grow some rose bushes from seeds! Very exciting. I'm just letting them get a bit bigger than going to plant them in our front garden. I love roses. so beautiful!

My turkey Mindy hatched a chicken. We've named her chick Turkey. she's a proud mama and her and her Tom George are doing a great job caring for it. It's gonna be the toughest chicken around!

My puppy Toffee is getting big! She's already over 60 pounds! She's 6 months old today and is a giant trouble maker! I am looking forward to her being an adult!

chicks, chicks and more chicks! I have about 25 chicks at the moment! I want to sell eggs at the Farmer's Market next summer so need to add about 20 new hens to my flock. The breeding has been going great this year. Gonna file my taxes as a farm this year. :) 

Two Indian Runner ducklings. Some new lines to add to my flock.

My new Muscovy drake Crunch. Crunch was gonna be dinner for someone that lives down the street so I took him! I needed a new drake as mine is quite old (Another rescue) and fertility has been down this year. Crunch is gonna help take care of all my Muscovy ladies :)

This is Crunch, his lady Cookie and my old drake Rocky.There was  a few fights when Crunch first got here, but they are slowly working it out. there is more than enough room and ladies for both of them!

This little duckling is an American Black Duck. It's a wild duck I found. It went to the rescue "Hope For Wildlife".

More chicks!

Chicks

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Chicks

Tire Greenhouses

I LOVE living in Nova Scotia; however, putting in a veggie garden can be rather challenging here as the growing season is a bit short. We can get frost well into June. Some plants need more time than the growing season here allows and I simply don't have enough room inside to start everyone early. this year, I decided to try making old tires into little greenhouses.

I dug up the earth under the tire so the plants roots should be able to easily expand into the ground and filled the tire with soil I purchased from the store.Then I simply stapled on some clear plastic. I stapled it on about 3/4 of the way around, so I could still lift it up to check the plants and water them. 

It has worked fantastic! The black tire seem to attract the sun keeping the soil warm, while the plastic keeps the plants safe from frost at night.

My pumpkins and watermelons seem to be doing great! I just put a rock on the unstapled end at night to keep any frost out. The plastic also keeps my pesky chickens out!

I planted a bunch of my veggies in tires last year and found it worked great; it was pretty well maintenance free. I didn't have to weed them, so it sort of worked like a raised garden bed. It was also easier to protect from my trouble making poultry. 

I was concerned that the plants could get contaminated by the chemicals in the tires, but after much google searching I was reassured that tires had to be burned to release toxins and using them for plants was perfectly safe :)

Using tires for mini greenhouses worked great, was extremely cheap and easy to do!

Hugs and love!