Christmas Letter 2014

One more week and the winter solstice will be upon us, and then as Hannukah draws to an end, Christmas. Whichever one you celebrate, light and hope abound, as well as a lengthening of the days for those of us in the northern hemisphere. It is also the time to look back and assess the past year as we get ready for the New Year. We hope that 2014 has been a good year for all of you.

This last summer we especially enjoyed Joe’s visit when he visited with Mum. I think all our South Dakota family and friends enjoyed his energy, openness and enthusiasm, with some using the opportunity to learn more about autism. We all appreciated his patience and loving way of teaching us. Unfortunately he missed the 4H Achievement Days by a couple of weeks, where we got to meet Temple Grandin, Joe’s hero. Summer is usually about visitors for us and it was fun to celebrate two birthdays in one party for my brother Jim and Anita’s eldest son, Michael. Just missing the party but still here for Jim’s visit, we loved having the Ward family visit from Texas and especially appreciated Alec and Jim playing guitar together; it made for some magical moments.

Expanding our vegetable gardens and increasing the size of our flock of layer chickens enabled us to share, sell, barter and encourage local folks to bring their children out to learn where their food actually comes from. Baby goats, lambs and baby chickens are an irresistible attraction to both young and old and, through our Facebook page of Two Old Broads, quite a few people were involved in naming bottle lambs and kids. We met new local people as they ordered eggs and/or veggies and got to know some better than before. It was also a great excuse to spend time chatting with friends as we dropped off bags of goodies. We introduced people to vegetables previously unknown to them, supplying recipes to bring out the best of the veggie as well as encourage them to come back for more…… the biggest success, without a doubt, were the leeks. Our trees produced apples for the first time and we are fortunate to have friends who also enjoy cooking and shared their tried and tested recipes with us.

This year we decided to stop raising sheep. In our efforts to become self-sufficient we rarely ate our own lambs and the physical work involved, while still possible, will become more difficult as we approach the next decade of our lives. This seemed like a good time to stop and we wish the young man who bought them much success as he enters the sheep business again. We will keep our goats, they are so much more intelligent than sheep and therefore easier to manage. Instead of sheep, we looked for a meat source that we would enjoy and which we would be able to take from birth to freezer without external help and without periodic feats of strength. We now have rabbits and I have no doubt that baby rabbits will draw as many local children as the lambs. We are hoping Jon’s family will come to visit next summer and that Addie will stay with us for a few weeks and be a part of all of the activity, even if Lily will miss her older sister.

Anita enjoyed a visit to South Carolina to stay with middle son, Brian. She was treated as a queen and, as well as getting to see Brian’s new house, was taken to Savannah, Georgia where they enjoyed being tourists together. It was a special time and she enjoyed calling and telling me about the difference in temperature as much as recounting the day’s activities. It is never easy for us to get away, with animals, gardens and weather all making it difficult and the timing of this trip was perfect. It is good to see all three sons living happy, fulfilled and rich lives, even if distance separates them all and work makes trips home difficult. In these times it is a blessing that they all have work they enjoy and that keeps them busy.

Winter sees us no less busy than any other season but the activities seem more leisurely; the sewing room becomes our center of activity rather than the garden, especially in the build up to Christmas as we make those ‘special’ gifts. Moving into the New Year, locals will see us in shelter belts, cutting down dead trees to bring home for firewood. You may ask why we do this in winter but we find the lack of biting bugs a bonus and the snow allows us to bring the chunks of wood to the pickup in the sled. At our age we have to work smart!

On Two Old Broads we took up the 100 Happy days challenge, posting photos each day of the subject that made us smile. It very quickly became apparent to us that not only can we easily name those blessings, but that sometimes we had to choose which we would post as we have so many blessings in our lives. We both have Mothers that are healthy in mind and body, our families are involved in our lives and we have a wealth of friends and acquaintances, some of whom we have never even met! The internet allows us to stay in touch and has even enabled us to rekindle old friendships that have been dormant through changes in our lives.

2014 has been kind to us and we eagerly look forward to 2015, hoping it will be kind to all of you.

So, did you learn anything?

Yes, we did!

Firstly, we would like to say a big 'Thank you!' to everyone who bought vegetables from us this year. We really appreciated getting to meet some of you for the first time, getting re-acquainted with others who bought from us last year and of course getting some extra chat time with those of you who we have known longer. A farm stand would give us face-to-face time but one of the reasons we deliver our veggies is that we enjoy spending those few minutes getting to know YOU! 

This year we grew what we thought you would enjoy, the good old favourites of potatoes, beets, chard, kale, carrots, cabbages, broccoli and kohlrabi but we threw in a few twists, we grew golden beets as well as red beets and it seems they were a hit with some of you. We certainly appreciated the earthy, milder flavour of the golden beets as a change from the red ones. We grew both purple and white kohlrabi and found that many of you agreed with us and preferred the white ones. We had big beefy tomatoes as well as grape and purple Cherokee tomatoes. We learned that many of you appreciate the older heirloom varieties even if they don't look as pretty or as uniformly round!

We finally convinced nearly every one of you to try leeks and they were a big success, as we saw you all coming back and buying in bulk to freeze or dry for the winter season. The last few bunches were sold at auction and we gave the money to ICAP (Inter-lakes Community Action Partnership) who will use the money to buy fruit for the Clark Backpack program (What is the Backpack program). A big 'thank you' to everyone who made a bid and next year we will be looking for more ways to raise money for that cause. Meanwhile we are enjoying the idea of you all keeping warm in the coming months eating your potato and leek soup.

A couple of you with southern connections expressed disappointment in our not having okra, believe me, you are not alone! It was our worst year ever for okra with the cool temperatures not allowing for any germination....one lonely plant was all we got. The sweet potatoes weren't much better and it was clearly not a summer for growing southern food. Next year!

While the southern food was less than exciting we have to brag about our onions. They were huge, they were tasty and they were popular. Some of you got excited about the red salad onions, while others shuddered at the red and ordered only the Big Daddy onions. We were happy to cater to the different tastes and enjoyed hearing just what you were going to do with them. There was even one of you (and you know who you are) who regularly bought Big Daddies even though you claimed to hate onions!

A big lesson for us was that we needed more chickens and we did listen to you, we invested in more hens. I think everyone who bought veggies asked about eggs and we never had enough, so it is good to see our baby hens maturing and starting to lay. Now we need to get them through the winter so we can supply eggs to all of you next year. Hopefully they will still produce a few eggs through part of the winter.

Now it is your turn for feedback. What would you like to buy from us that perhaps we didn't grow or didn't grow in large enough volume? We heard that some of you follow a paleo diet, some of you like to start your day with blended concoctions that you swear keep you on your toes......what would you like us to grow to help those healthy diets? We have a pretty wonderful seed supplier, so if the weather and our gardening skills are up to the challenge we would like to hear from you on our Facebook page about your needs or requests. 

We may be a small community but we can be a healthy community and we would like to help supply you with those veggie needs!

Again, a big 'Thank you' for supporting us with this new venture and we look forward to supplying even more of your needs next year.

Tick repellent for dogs and humans.

Anti-tick spray for dogs and humans: DO NOT USE ON CATS!!

Almost fill a 16oz spray bottle with water and add the following:

3 drops of dish soap (to act as emulsifier)
20 drops of geranium oil
10 drops of the following essential oils:
oregano
grapefruit
eucalyptus
peppermint.

Shake bottle before spraying and re-apply after the dogs get wet.

DO NOT USE THIS ON YOUR CATS!!!

Regular updates on Facebook.

We know that a number of you have sent us requests for photos and updates of lambs and baby goats, we also receive mails asking about sales of our vegetables or our soaps.

If you would like to be a member of the group that receives these updates please go to Two Old Broads on Facebook and like our page. You will then receive them in your own Facebook newsfeed.

Gauging when we will start lambing

Come take a walk with me through the corral and check out the girls.

Just click on the link above.

Check out the the blooper here

Baby it's cold outside!

Brits are accused of continually talking of the weather but it is always a topic round here where we enjoy 4 seasons of extreme weather. This winter has been the coldest in almost 30 years, not so much that the thermometer hit an all time low but that our daytime highs have been consistently lower and windchills have had us with winter warnings more days than not. I keep a record and December saw us with 15 days where the daytime high was below zero F ( -18C) and most of them were in double digits below zero F. January hasn't been much kinder with 8 days not climbing above the magical number of zero F and it is only the 12th of the month.

Vehicles won't start, animals need to be cared for and protected from wind chills that regularly hit -40, fires needed to be tended and when we did get to town, the regular cry from folks was "You girls staying warm out there?" We had to cancel our New Year's plans because of the cold but also the wind which had blown up a ground blizzard and there was no way of knowing which township road would be driveable. One memorable Saturday had us racing from town only to be caught in a ground blizzard with zero visibility. There is no turning round on a township road, you try to get home or you sleep in the vehicle, those are the only choices. Leaving the vehicle even when we were less than a mile from home spells certain death in those conditions. We were very glad to get home safely, even if the last few miles took us longer than the entire 45 mile trip usually takes. It was as bad a drive as any I had ever done back in the days when I drove truck in the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries. 

Comments from our Southern and European friends include the often repeated phrase of "Oh I couldn't live there!", yet we continue to enjoy our 4 seasons. The extreme cold is preferable to the extreme bugs found in the south. The extreme cold with those dramatically beautiful days, we have more sunny days than not in winter, are far easier to bear than the endless grey, wet days of the UK. At least we know with absolute certainty that the cold will give way to rain and mud season, also known as spring, the precursor to summer. I remember the winter rain in the UK as bleak and relentless, giving way to the warmer and more promising spring rain that eventually gives way to the rain and thunderstorms of summer. Guaranteed rain if it should get too hot too quickly! Yes I will take our winters because the other 6 months of the year are just too beautiful to miss.

The cold does take its toll and today I went out to re-wire the heat tape in the automatic waterer. It couldn't be done during the extreme cold when everything is so brittle and it is possible to do more damage than the repair could fix. I was on my own, as Anita works nights this weekend. I shut all the animals out of the barn, replaced the lamp that heats the water pipe where it emerges from the ground and got ready to turn off the electricity. Goats are curious creatures, they like to know what is happening, they want to be part of any outdoor activity....and gates are never a successful way of keeping our goats out of the barn. No sooner had I opened the base of the waterer to replace the bulb but the 4 youngest goats were pushing their heads passed me to get a good look. Their horns are quite long now and they successfully pushed me out of the way. I yelled and they retreated, only to be replaced by their mothers, who have very long horns. I had no intention of playing the lead role in our own French farce, so closed everything off, hoped the light bulb will keep the water liquid and put the new heat tape on the 'to do' list for when there are 2 of us. Goats 1: Me 0....I understand the friends who refuse to have goats as they don't want any animals more intelligent than they are.

We were concerned about our chickens as winter started, we just don't have enough of them this year to keep the heat up in the chicken house and this extreme cold has us even more concerned. There are no heated chicken waterers for sale that work well, we have tried them all and they all have at least one fatal flaw that takes over when it gets too cold. I have our 5 gallon chicken waterer wrapped in heat tape, the tape is protected from the chickens by duct tape, this keeps the reservoir from freezing with the added advantage of heat tape having its own thermostat, so it only works when needed (all the time lol) The entire thing stands on a large cookie tin, inside the tin I have installed a simple light fixture, the heat of the bulb keeps the water in the tray liquid. I'm not sure what we will do when the ban on incandescent light bulbs makes them impossible to find. Warmish water has obviously helped the chickens stay alive but the real winner has been the cat food we use as scratch feed, with a 33% protein level they can scratch and supplement their regular feed. They look healthy, they sound happy and as soon as the temperature soared to 30F they started laying a few eggs again. We haven't lost a single chicken yet, so we have high hopes to get them through the rest of winter.

We sew, we stoke the fire, we teach the dogs new commands, they teach us new games, we watch films and TV shows on netflix, we read, we get a regular 8 hours of sleep each night, we cook and when the weather permits we get out and enjoy the day. It is amazing how good 20F ( -6C ) feels after a week of -20 F ( -28C ). We both have snow shoes now, so we have been practicing and enjoying the freedom of movement they afford us. As a good friend told me on the phone "at least we don't have to worry about you girls going hungry if you can't get out for a few weeks". We have enough food until next harvest and beyond! We enjoy each others company and keep our minds busy, once the seed and poultry catalogues arrive we start to dream and plan for spring. The only one with cabin fever during the extreme cold is Milton, who becomes an absolute turd when he can't burn off his excess energy outdoors; but even that makes us smile and enjoy the moment. We have so very much to be thankful for and we both see the glass as half full, and that, for the most part is what makes us so happy in the life we have.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, we hope that 2014 will be the year that tops all others for you.

Our blog has been terribly neglected and we apologise to the faithful who kept returning to see what we were up to and were disappointed at each visit. Time flies (especially for these two old broads) and before you know it a year has passed.

Last year was sprinkled by many firsts for us. The first time my brother came to visit.... Jim, the one who writes and plays the music for this blog. It had been nearly 20 years since we spent time together and it didn't take us long to get to a place where we were enjoying each others company. He was a great sport and got involved in everything we do. His visit was in September, garden producing in full swing, still time to enjoy the warm weather and he was good enough to tackle the start of a pressing project, rescue the garage from total collapse this winter. He must have enjoyed his visit as he plans to return in June and his son will be visiting in August, along with my Mother.

We extended our gardens to include a separate stand-alone stretch along the fenceline that borders the pasture. It runs right up to the chicken house area that allows us to use the hydrant we placed there in 2012. Our biggest struggle was prairie grass and its persistent roots but, as usual, we started the garden out with potatoes for its first year. A good practice as potatoes not only break up the ground for you but also add more nutrients to the soil than they take out. We bank our potatoes regularly to stop them from being sunburned so they are usually accompanied by leeks that also need banking. We got a really good deal from Dixondale Farms and planted 1800 leeks, all of which did splendidly.

The abundance of leeks led to a new endeavour for us. We planned to start a Farmers' Market in our local town, yet never actually got to any location! Our local town has a rummage site on Facebook, and each time we advertised the available vegetables, we were sold out before we even got to town! Many locals had never used leeks before so we gave the first samples for free, accompanied by a recipe for leek and potato soup. Everyone came back to buy more, so we consider that a success, along with everything else we sold. I do believe folks will be back this year to buy their eggs and veggies from us. Perhaps we should think in terms of  moving toward a CSA rather than Farmers' Market, so our customers would receive a weekly box of goodies for as long as the season lasts.

Leading up to Christmas we sewed and crafted, fulfilling soap orders from PetalCraft, Anita making shirts, jammies, jackets, baby clothes and doll clothes. My sewing talents are not as diverse but I quilted and finished projects from last year as well as getting a quilt top ready to send to the lady I use in Missouri who does such a lovely job doing the actual quilting. If anyone needs the name, just let me know, she is a treasure and does some remarkable work. While this latest quilt is away being quilted, I have a new one cut out and ready to sew together. So far it has been a cold winter but we are never bored.

Seed catalogues have arrived and we plan to put in our orders by the end of this month. We love sitting and planning, ordering, double checking that we will have enough food for the coming year and now ensuring we have the seeds to grow all the vegetables that people have shown they like to buy. In the deepest part of winter we prove that we believe in spring and plan for the future by ordering all these seeds. As a friend recently said "Gardeners show their optimism at this time of year".

We bought snow shoes this winter and I am loving them. Today is too windy but I am determined to enjoy them, not just for chores but also to go for walks when the sun is shining and the wind is down. I plan to arrive in the spring moderately fit and healthy! We are blessed with some lovely countryside and some beautiful, if cold weather, which you can see in the video link below.

Enjoy our views on a cold sunny day

Again, we wish you a happy 2014:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May your God hold you in the palm of His hand.