Shed in the making

Well I'm not going to write a whole lot as I'm quite sure that there are very few readers at this point. I can't even remember the last time I posted on here. Here are some pictures of the shed from this past weekend. We've been making very good progress and I'm now waiting for some supplies from Hammond Lumber to do the floor in the shop area. I still need to dig a trench for the power, and run some cable so that I can wire things up for the shop. I'll be ready for bed pretty soon so I think I'll end this now. Hope you're all well. Ben

It's been a long time

We've been a bit lax in posting here, so I thought we had better fill everyone in on what's happening around here. We are still contending with new snow on very consistent basis, and to be honest we are getting a bit tired of it. We have heard that the total snow fall for this winter in Jay has been about 130". Last weekend I took a shovel around the back of the yurt so that I could dig out Abrahm's window which was entirely covered in snow all the way past the awning! Our window was not far from that either and even the windows on the south side which are quite high off the ground have snow up to about the middle . As I write this however we are having quite a good rainfall which has knocked down the snow piles somewhat. It's been fairly warm here for a while as well and so we now have the pleasure of dealing with a muddy driveway. We know spring is on the way, but it's a bit hard to imagine at this point. We're pretty ready to be done with the snow since this will also mean the end of snowmobile season. Way to many and way to loud is about all we need to say on that matter.
We have just sent out our first flier for Full Circle Farm which is the name of our place. We'll be offering a few vegetable shares in a CSA setup this year as well as pork and soap shares. We're quite excited about being able to really start farming this spring, but also a bit overwhelmed. The snow of course does not exactly help in spring preparations, but we are lucky in that we will have a bit of established garden space courtesy of our neighbors Leslie's aunt and uncle. We will be working up some more ground as soon as things are dry enough and that is also part of the pork share plan. Our pigs will be enlisted in working up an area of future garden which is quite a handy way to do it, and they are quite good at it!
Leslie is still enjoying school which she finds generally not too difficult, but still a lot of work. She has recently started to do a bit of fiddling (violin) with a friend of ours who has a couple of gigs lined up for the coming months. It is great for her to get back to playing and to have something other than farm or school to keep her creative juices flowing.
I've been in a welding training program since the beginning of February. It has been fun, but also very challenging. I had never welded anything in my life before starting this program. I've learned quite a lot already, but realize that I have much more to learn. It is nothing like woodworking, but it is quite rewarding. I'm quite close to getting my first structural certification, and after that I will move on to pipe welding, which from what I hear is more difficult. I have about six weeks left in the program and then I'm expected to head out into the field and begin work on a huge project for the company I'm working for. We will see what happens in that regard as the job site is about 2 hours away and they are expecting overtime right from the beginning. I've mostly been interested in this program so that I will be able to make repairs around here on farm machinery and the like, but we'll see. At this point I'm just hoping to learn as much as I possibly can from my instructor who is an amazing welder.
Abrahm continues to busy himself with all matter of toy machines from tractors to trains, but he is also developing a great love of books. It's great fun to sit with him and ready book after book. He's still not very interested in talking, or I should say not interested in speaking English. He often keeps up a pretty steady commentary in his own tongue. He is picking up words hear and there and also showing much more interest in mimicking sounds and words that he hears. I still find it amazing to watch him learn and experiment with new things. A good reminder that the world is truly an amazing and rich place. I forgot to mention that he has also started to help me bake bread. He has a great time wearing and apron and measuring and mixing the ingredients. He also has a great time consuming the end product!
Well I think that is all for now. We are looking forward to a trip back to Minnesota in less than a week. Which will be a wonderful chance to relax and reconnect with friends and family.

snow, snow, snow, chainsaw, chainsaw, chainsaw

These are the things that dominate our life lately. This winter has been abnormally snowy. It seems that every few days we get dumped on with another storm. Full-fledged storms, not just dustings of snow. Our trusty skidsteer has generally done well with clearing the snow, and we have some impressive mountains of snow at the end and edges of our road. The one flaw in our plowing plan was that we had a spell of very warm weather in late December, which took the frost out of the ground. All that soft ground was covered again with all the snow. So the edges of the driveway are pretty squishy. We've found out just how squishy by sinking 7000 lbs of skid steer into it. Many times. Marco, the logger who has been working here, commented that every time he came there was a new hole beside the road. He was exaggerating, but not much. We now have a set of tracks, which are in the process of being installed (the 30-minute estimate on the instructions was a bit optimistic, as we ended up having to get an extra piece for each track so that they'd fit around the tires). Anyway... it's much colder now, there are reflective markers at the edges of the road, and we're cautiously optimistic that our days of miring the skid steer in the muck are behind us.

Besides pushing snow around, we've both been spending a lot of time with a chainsaw, thinning and clearing in the treeline between our house and the field (soon to be field, pasture, and garden). Marco has been working to get the biggest trees thinned, and we're tackling the smaller-diameter stuff. Marco took out 3 truckloads of pulpwood out, and we traded that for his felling and hauling out a nice pile of pine that we will mill for lumber. The stuff we've been taking out wasn't even worthy of the pulp truck - smaller firs and poplar, mostly. It's very satisfying work - like weeding, but on a much bigger (and mechanical) scale.

I'm back at school -so far I haven't told any patients that my main experience giving meds (and shots, especially) has been on farm animals! Ben starts his welding training/job in a couple weeks. Abrahm continues to explore and entertain. He's still enthralled by all things mechanical, with the exception of snowmobiles (thank goodness!). I ordered seeds this week, doing a joint order with my first farm employer. For anyone interested, Fedco Seeds carries no varieties owned/distributed by Monsanto - it makes conscientious ordering much easier! I'm not quite ready for spring yet, but it sure has been fun poring over seed catalogs.

Thanks for checking in!

Leslie and Ben

Our kitchen smells like food, not sawdust!

Ben is hard at work making verenike with his mom - all you Mennonite blog readers can appreciate what's going on there. It's so nice to smell cooking smells rather than construction smells. Not a whole lot new to report, but we've had some requests for pictures that show how the house looks as a whole. We don't have a wide angle setting on our camera, so it's a bit hard to capture. So you'll have to imagine... The loft covers the bedrooms and bathroom, and a small alcove. All the other space is open, with kitchen to the left and living space to the right as you stand in the door from mudroom to yurt. The bottom two pictures are taken from the loft, and the top two are from the main living area. For anyone who is challenged by imagining this, you'll just have to come visit and see for yourself! :) Glenn and Arlene can verify that there is indeed space for guests to sleep in the loft, or on the pull-out couch if you can stand sleeping that close to the stove.

The pictures show our Christmas tree - it's a bit scrawny, but you can sure see all the ornaments! It's actually a salvaged top from a felled tree for the pulp truck, so we didn't have to cut another. Dad suggested that maybe the skidder had already run over it, contributing to its flattened side. But it works well in our little house. Mom and Dad came to hike and find their Christmas tree too, and they were a bit more discerning in their choice...

I put up a few pictures from our snowshoe outing this morning, our welcome sign made by Uncle Will (who, with Aunt Tini, have dubbed us "the Yurtles"), as well as a happy boy who received his pedal tractor from Glenn and Arlene this morning. After an initial squeal of delight, he was in awed speechlessness.

Merry Christmas!

We're in!!!!!

I am happy to report that we have moved in are enjoying yurt life so far. There have been a few glitches, but it feels great to be here and not having to make a trip morning and evening every day.We actually settled in for good on December 11th, and have been getting things finished since then. Leslie just finished up most of the baseboard and much of the other trim is done, though the windows still need work in the trim department.
We've actually been able to enjoy our place a bit these days as well. We get out and snowshoe or ski most days, and the weather has been great. I've heard a number of people say this is the most snow that they can remember for the month of December. It sounds as though it's supposed to warm up a bit, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have too much melting.
As is our norm we have also moved on to other things which in this case means that we have started to do some cutting in the woods between our house and the field. We are looking at sights for a barn and other buildings as well as just doing some much needed thinning. It's been great to get out, but the snow is deep enough that sometimes it's quite hard going, especially when lugging a big chainsaw around. I've been looking at chainsaw mills so that we will be able to mill some of our own lumber. I haven't gotten one yet, but hope to soon. We'd like to build a shed this winter so that we can have a bit of storage other than the yurt itself. Also hoping to get a space to set up a small biodiesel making operation.
We're all well and Abrahm is getting used to living in the yurt. He still loves to be outside and loves to get in his backpack carrier for a good adventure. He's still very heavily into tractors and trucks and has gotten a few new ones for Christmas already. Mom and dad got him a pedal tractor for Christmas which he doesn't know about yet, but I'm sure as soon as he sees it he will want to head out and start plowing the field. We'll probably keep it down in Leslie's uncle and aunt's barn, and I wouldn't be suprised if he wants to move down there so he can ride whenever he feels like it.
Sorry we don't have any pictures this round, but we'll put some on soon. Oh I almost forgot. It is official that this is our residence since I've now managed to bake a few loaves of bread, and spend much more time in the kitchen than I have in months!

We have water! And it's HOT!

The title says it all,
The plumber came back today to finish up the connections. There was not a whole lot left to do, but the weather has been snowy and wintry for the last few days. Our plumber has been busy dealing with heater problems and well freeze ups so when they said they could come today I didn't hold my breath.They've been great though and they sure came through. After he left today I finished things up by hooking up the on demand water heater. So not only do we have water, but we can have hot water if we want.
We've been busy with all sorts of things in the last while, and have now gotten things moved out of the storage unit (just in time to not pay for December). The unpacking has been happening everyday, and with the completion of the bookcase we have gotten most things in place. I'll be working on the trim in the next few days. We have gotten the curved pieces of trim in place, but I need to get the other pieces of base board in so that we can move things against all of the walls. It doesn't make much sense move in until we can really get things set. I have the lumber though, and so hopefully I can get them in the next day or so.
Things are getting very close, and it will be a great to celebrate Christmas in our own place. If we continue with the weather we've been having it will be a white Christmas. We had a great snowfall Sunday through Monday, and finally finished up yesterday. I think we ended up with about 10". Leslie and Abrahm went out this afternoon for a snowshoe adventure, and it sounded like they had a great time. I'm looking forward to getting out in the snow as well, though I'll probably be hanging on to a chainsaw. Lots to do!
Abrahm continues to entertain, as you can see from the photo. He's a very busy fellow, and his current favorites include tractors, trucks, and stuffed animals. Often these things all go together as we have witnessed all manner of animals piloting tractors, and trucks.

We're getting there!

Well once again it's been a long time since the last post, and this time I don't have a very good excuse. Can you believe the main reason for not posting sooner was that the counter tops in the kitchen weren't clean so I couldn't get a good picture?
That sums up how things are going these days. We've come quite a long way since the last post. The floors are finished, the painting is mostly done. Just a bit of touch up and trim to paint. The last being a bit difficult since we don't have any yet. As you can see though we have a wood bin in the mudroom which was being filled as it was being completed. That happened earlier today with the help of Matt, Sean, and Sarah. It was great even if the skid steer has a flat tire, and could not be used to haul wood from the pile to the mudroom. Will's tractor did stand in duty on that front and we were done in no time. Thanks everyone!
We've been busy putting together our kitchen from IKEA, and finishing up lots of other little things. We also got our phone hooked up a few days ago. So soon we will have high speed internet as well. A first for us.
Last weekend I took a couple of days off and went to take a class on low impact forestry. It was a great class and well worth the time away. The emphasis was on the horse logging side of things, and I learned a great deal. I got to do a bit of logging with a great Belgian draft horse named Molly. Having never driven a horse before she went easy on me and no one any worse for the wear at the end of the day. I've always been intrigued by those big draft horses and this certainly makes me think that I might like to try farming and logging with one or a team in the future.
We have begun to think about a barn and other building which would certainly be a prerequisite before horses came along. We plan on doing some major thinning in the stand of trees that is close to the yurt this winter, and hopefully that will help us figure out some more specifics about barn and other building placement. The guy who has been doing some logging on our land in the last few years is also going to do some more cutting this winter and we'll see if we can arrange something with the local mill to either have some of it milled or some sort of swap for milled timbers which we hope to use in the barn construction.
It's been getting colder around here and as you can see in the picture we've had some snow which Abrahm has quite enjoyed. It's been staying pretty warm in the yurt with the wood stove so far, but we haven't had a major test yet.
Hopefully the plumber will be back the early part of this coming week to hook up the last things and then we will really be getting close to moving in. Not really interested in paying another months bill for the storage unit.
Hope you're all well and had a great Thanksgiving. Time for bed!