Monday Lovin' {{WORDless Wednesday - October 28}}

A day late... I know.. but Wednesday wasn't my day either according to the random note Sammy left for me:

Ah well... Monday's coming!

Jeanette

On learning and growing...

Its a post all about ME this morning... *gasp*!

I feel as though I have been handed a "golden ticket" this week and am unsure of what to do with it exactly.  Derek and I were discussing farm plans and long term goals and I came to realize that this present year is really open for me to explore and learn things that I want to learn.

I wasn't planning on full time kindergarten - our older three ladybugs were in the full day, every other day kindergarten program, so my days when they were in school were spent doing all the things that needed doing so that our days together were spent, well TOGETHER.  I hadn't planned on full time kindergarten working so beautifully for Krista - in fact, I preached that I planned to keep her home once or twice a week if she seemed at all tired!  It hasn't happened as of yet.

I am also taking a break from Girl Guides - an organization that I believe in and myself enjoy.  I have kept my membership and am always available to help out, but have stepped down from leading weekly meetings.  Though I do often think about the families I have been blessed to meet over the years, I am feeling good about my little rest.  And of course, I know that Krista begins sparks next year and there is a good chance that I will too!  :)

So, this is where I find myself.  A year before real "heavy" farm responsibilities, eight hours a day to myself and a husband that is encouraging me to go out and take classes or workshops!  (I am so blessed).  This is why I feel like I've won something, I'm just not too sure WHAT yet!

Organizing my thoughts, I've decided:  I would like to take classes or workshops but not a full course load - I've been and done college and now have a family and a full time working husband; not looking to add stress right now.

I've decided: I would really like to explore homesteading/self-sustaining skills both in creativity and animal husbandry; knowledge that would benefit our family farm in the years to come in practical ways as well as allow us to bless others.

Thoughts of different things I COULD do versus things I SHOULD do...  Let's face it, why have a family dairy cow if I don't really enjoy making cheese?  Do I like making cheese?  I don't know, I've never tried it.  Spinning my own wool?  Sounds enticing but I haven't shorn a sheep since college and that was many years ago!  Canning and preserving?  Sounds easy and frugal but is it?  Apiary - we NEED bees!  Writing?  Enjoy it on a personal level but not within a time frame - (read: my irregular blog posting!)

So here I am with the quote of a "journey starting with just one step" in my head and my heart telling me to leap and I am frozen in place!!

Deciding how and where to begin will surely be the toughest decision.  What would you explore?

Jeanette

Twelve Week Chickens! {{WORDless Wednesday}} October 21, 2015

Well hey there!

If you don't follow us on Instagram you are missing out on a daily dose of CHICKEN love.  :)  So to mark their twelve weeks here at Schnick Acres, the WORDless Wednesday post this week is some photos of me enjoying coffee with the flock this morning.  Enjoy!

They really do like my sing song -baby talk voice... really they do!

Whatcha doing human?

That APPLE on the back of your phone.. I can eat that, right?

Scratch and Peck,...repeat.

Digging under leaves for worms and yummy bugs.

This is a rooster - the chicken just in behind is a hen.

Derek's ducks really don't care too much to hang out with me; they prefer their own private conversations around the duck pool, but maybe next time I'll showcase them - they are pretty neat.

Have a wonderful Wednesday,

Jeanette

A blog POST about POSTS!

Hey there!

Get ready for a photo heavy blog post... about, well POSTS!

Years ago, Derek and I had built a horse paddock when we lived in Southwestern Ontario.  Soft sandy soil, flat level ground.  We augured those holes and swore we would never do it again!  :)  Living now on the escarpment and KNOWING we do not have soft sandy level ground Derek looked into other ways to put in fence posts... much to his delight he found a rentable hydraulic post pounder that is towed along behind a truck or tractor.. it screams MAN-GADGET!!!

So, paddocks were planned on paper, wood requirements calculated and purchased and "post pounder" rented.  Yup, even the name is fun to say and chortle at.. "Post Pounder".. Ok, I regress...

Beautiful week of rain leading up to the big day(s) made us happy thinking if the little soil on top of the rock is softened that'll make things easier.  The Thursday morning before Thanksgiving was sunny and warm and perfect for making trips to pick up our orders of posts and rails.

Load... drive 8km...unload...repeat!  

We made five trips and the only trip that had me really white knuckling was trip number four that included the majority of our sixteen foot fence rails.  Yes.  Derek loaded sixteen foot, one inch thick cedar fence rails into his truck... and it handled them great - with the exception of just one SCHNICKism.  

Although not entirely a SCHNICK doing, the boards that were meant to take the weight of the rails were put onto the tailgate and not the truck bed and we ended with a crumpled tailgate.  Derek will tell you it needed replacing anyways.  But, boards made it safely and we were ready to go.

We had marked our fence lines the evening before and carried on well until Derek's question of "Honey am I straight?" had me giggling but when he next called out, "Jeanette, AM I SQUARE?"  I was in tears and it was definitely time to call it a night.  

Derek and I had a lot of help on this project.  I love how curious our chickens are.

But the real hero was my father in law that came down to help with the posts.  Friday was a holiday from school and I just don't know that Derek and I could have gotten the job done without Steve's help.

 

They got a real rhythm going.  Position and level the post, pull the lever.  Repeat.  I was expecting this machine to put a constant downward pressure onto the post to force it into the ground but it actually does what it says.. it POUNDS!  The heavy hydraulic weight moves to the top and then comes crashing down onto the post moving it down into the earth!  I had a slight case of MAN-GADGET envy at times.

So here is the back field all posted.  We had planned to have one acre fenced divided into two pastures for animal grazing rotation.  At about 6pm on the Friday evening, Derek and Steve found a vein of ROCK just eighteen inches under the surface.  Soooo... fence lines got moved out eight feet... and then another eight feet until they found the edge of the rock run and earth deep enough to sink posts.  What a job.

There were also some large rock beds in the front paddock that needed to be worked around.  This front paddock will have the fence rails and sand and be used for horse jumps and flat work.  Looking to get the couple of posts in the rock area deep enough, Derek rented a jackhammer and fired up the generator.  The rocks might have been a ploy to get out and play with more MAN-GADGETS... I'm not sure - after overhearing the word 'DYNAMITE" in the men's conversation, I'm not questioning the jackhammer.

And by Sunday we had posts in holes and turkey in our tummies.

No rest for the wicked as they say.  On Monday we began boarding the fence around the work-ring/front paddock.  Measuring 54inches the top rails were hung.  Sixteen foot boards really do help you feel muscles you forgot you had.

To do the second and third rails eighteen inches apart, Derek constructed a Schnick-Jig that would hang on the board above and hold the rail at the proper height!  

After a slight tweak to make it possible to remove the jig after the board was in place, the SCHNICK-jig was a lifesaver and we had the complete 100 x 70 ring boarded by nightfall!

The back pastures will be run with wire and electric fencing at a later time and the last thing to be done to the front paddock fence will be cutting the tops off the posts.  Last we time we did that, Derek stood with a chainsaw in the back of a pick up, bouncing up and down while I drove through the field to each post.  We were young and silly then... I'm sure we will find a  safer way to do it this time around...

 ...we've grown up a bit you see.  ;)

Thanks for following along,
Jeanette

BARN update...

Happy weekend - and Happy Thanksgiving to all of our fellow Canadian friends.  xo

A little update around the acres...

Remember our dear barn?  Above is the condition it was in when we moved in in June.  It is a nice sized barn that has four horse stalls within its walls, but it had been used as a teenager's games room by the previous owners - so it needed a little reorganization.

We began by pulling off some rotten boards from the inside of the barn and power washing the exterior boards - replacing ones that needed replacing.  Purchasing sixteen foot barn board and using the table saw as our own personal lumber mill in typical Schnick fashion.

And of course our little ladybugs were amazing helpers...

Directing Daddy on the tractor... and balancing Dad's tool belt with a stuffed kitty.

By September we had a very nice looking barn with discussions of whether to paint or replace the steel roof.. that is an ongoing conversation at this point.

 With perfect seasonal timing, we moved work indoors as autumn hit with a run of rainy cool days.  Derek really has done ALL of the work inside the barn up to this point.  Well, Derek and his feline helpers.

With one stall back in place, the other two were left open and used as Derek's workshop.  His first goal was to insulate and replace the walls in what will become our tack and feed room and replace the broken wood floor boards.  He worked away and after a weekend we had a lovely room - including a replaced window that keeps the room toasty.

As you can see in the above photo the far wall is still plywood awaiting its new boards.  That project waits patiently as we moved outdoors this weekend to put in some livestock fencing!  More on that to come...

THANKFUL that you are following along,

the "Schnicks"

Wordless Wednesday- October 7 2015 {{Chicken love}}

Just a little something for my husband who witnesses my affection for this chicken we've named Crazy Toes and for my friend that jokingly stated that she thinks I may spend "an unhealthy amount of time in that barn".  lol

Happy Wednesday!!

Jeanette
(and flock)

Nicole's school writing assignment.. aka PARENTING WIN!

Good "Chilly-Autumn-October" morning!

Do you know those days when your kindergartener or grade one child brings home wonderful works of art that are full of love for... YOU?  The mom or dad!  Those precious pieces of adoration that extol all the wonderful traits and efforts that you as a parent had thought had gone unnoticed?

It has been a fact of life for us that as our girls have aged, these "pump you up-feel good" backpack surprises have become fewer and fewer.  And thats okay.  BUT when your almost teenage daughter openly shares what she has written about you (and most notably IN FAVOUR of YOU, her God-given parents) you just have to read between the scratchy lines and jump for joy...  

With Nicole's permission, I am sharing: "Writing Assignment:  Write about someone who is a hero to you.  Explain why.

My heroes do not wear capes or leotards; they don’t have super powers.  My heroes help me with my homework and help me when my sisters are being annoying.  They put up with my mood swings and don’t nag at me when I don’t do what they ask.  My heroes are my parents.

My parents don’t have superpowers but they manage to take care of 4 girls, 2 dogs, 5 cats, 40 chickens and 10 ducks, so I’d call that a super power.

They are not always the most reasonable and the only colourful super hero type clothes my mom wears are colourful socks she knits and wears with burkenstocks.  My mom knits a lot of things, she manages to keep up with demand for sweaters, hats and gloves that my sisters and I want; I’m still trying to convince her sweaters for chickens is not a good idea.

Next, my Dad.  He can build anything and I actually mean that.  My mom and the rest of us built the chicken coop, but my dad did most of the work.  My parents both put up with my weirdness and they love me and somehow my sisters a lot. 

My heroes are my parents.

By: Nicole

Ahhhh... smile.  I have so many points to debate - the most important two of course are my choice of footwear and chicken fashions, but for this morning, I choose to bask in the glow of pre-teen love before the next mood swing occurs.

Happy Friday All!

Jeanette