We've Got Goats!

Does that make me a shepherdess?  And Farmer Man a shepherd?  Something else to add to the resume!  We made a trip to San Clara, Manitoba today, heading north away from the flooding to Brambles Nubian Goat Farm.  We came home with four young goats, three for us and one we transported for someone having a hard time making the trip themselves.  Our three are four to five month old doelings, all 75% Nubian.  We got two blondes and a brunette!  The other ladies' young buckling has a gorgeous spotted brown coat - very handsome.  All the goats were placed in the chicken pasture and seem to be settling in well with some nice hay.  Rocky the Rooster keeps cruising up and down past them, but he seems okay with it all.  We hope to get the girls bred late in the Fall and have babies and milk in the Spring.  Then, we're going to make lovely goats milk soap to add to our Farmers Market table.  I'd better go check on them, again, they made need some petting to help them settle in!

At Least Someone is Enjoying All the Water!

It's becoming a Spring tradition.  Blaze's first swim in the dugout.  I guess the water has to warm to a certain temperature before he'll take a dip because the water has been fully available for a while.  I don't mind this Spring rite of passage because the water is fairly fresh, with none of that green slime that appears in the Summer.  That means Blaze is wet and rather dirty, but he doesn't smell bad!

Booting Up the Greenhouse!

In the sun room, plants above, plants below!

Tomato seedlings all lined up in the greenhouse!

Our little sun room is just stuffed with seedlings.  We've got folding tables with grow light stands on top and grow lights attached to the bottom of the table top.  We've got an extra table in the kitchen.  And we really need to be potting up to larger sizes!  So, Farmer Man started up the furnace in our little greenhouse a couple of days ago and he's been moving flats into it between rain showers!  The greenhouse was constructed by Farmer Man's father from re-used items like windows from his trailer.  It is not particularly energy efficient so we wait as long as we can to start heating it.  We also had to wait this year for it to dry out; because of a high level of snow fall it was flooded early on.  Farmer Man potted up tomatoes and ground cherries and then moved them directly to the greenhouse.  Room inside now to start potting up the peppers and to start the herbs!  We've got to add watering the greenhouse to the chore list - sometimes it's easy to forget to pop in there.  Now, we just need a little sun and things will really get growing!

Holy Smokes! The Parsley is Alive!

Over-winter parsley.

Greek Oregano

Thyme, coming back!

Self-seeded spinach.

In between showers (! yes, Manitoba is flooding and now it is raining!) I took a walk through our gardens. The eastern part of our fields was just about ready to till; the western part, particularly the slope that leads to the dugout and around the dugout is still very wet and mucky.  Now there is rain forecast for a couple of days, so tilling will be delayed again.  The dogs needed a good walk and because our road has become a major thoroughfare due to other road closures in the area, it was better to stay on the Farm.  We have thirty acres to stroll around so a good workout can be had, albeit many muddy paws were made!  Some delightful surprises awaited me.  The Parsley is alive and flourishing.  Walking through what was the herb section last year, I was quite surprised to find Thyme, Greek Oregano and the Parsley looking very good.  The Mint (no big surprise there) and the Comfrey have also come back nicely.  These have all come through a long cold winter with no mulching or fussing.  We love that!  Admittedly all the herbs are on the north side of a substantial row of raspberries, so snow was probably trapped and held there.  Also a welcome sight: spinach that has self-seeded and will be ready to eat quite shortly!  Sometimes it pays to not be to quick to clean up beds after harvest is finished!  Our trees haven't quite leafed out yet, so fresh spinach will be delight!

Hort Day in Hartney and a New Hardy Rose!

One of my favorite things each Spring is speaking to different gardening groups.  After a long Prairie winter it is just great to meet up with people just as rarin' to garden as I am!  One of my absolutely favs is Hartney, Manitoba's Hort or Garden Day!  Always a great turn-out, lovely people, and some super local vendors.  This year I was speaking about compost as the best fertilizer/vitamin pill for your plants, and compost tea as a great way to stretch out your compost.  As well as other things...I have a bad habit of going off on tangents, sometimes.  Perhaps wasn't the most scintillating, sexy topic but nobody appeared to be falling asleep, even if it was directly after lunch!  Thanks, Hartney, for having me over!

 I arrived a little early and had a  great chance to shop around: some beautiful plants, local soaps and lotions, some really interesting berry vinegars and sauces.  The big score is a new rose from the Morden/Parkland family of super hardy roses!  This one is called 'Marshall's Peace Garden Rose', named in honor of the late Henry Marshall who did great work for the gorgeous International Peace Garden.  I had cruised by the table as it was a little crowded.  One of the gardeners in attendance told me I had to 'Go smell that rose!' I back-tracked and saw a lovely double white rose; it smelled awesome.  I was sold the moment I saw the 'Northern Garden Collections' tag.  This means the plant has come to us through Jeffries Nursery in Portage la Prairie; these people are doing some awesome work in introducing hardy plants for us Northern gardeners.  The rose, I was thrilled to discovery, is a sport of 'Morden Blush', a gorgeous, pale pink double rose doing very well in my garden.  With part proceeds of the sale of 'Marshalls Peace Garden Rose' going to support the International Peace Gardens, this made this purchase an all-around good thing!  I have many of the Morden roses and I assure you this one has the best fragrance of all - I wish I had a flowering one here now!  Well worth adding to your garden!  And if you are in the area and have never been to the International Peace Garden on the Manitoba-North Dakota border - that's well worth your time, too!  What a great day in Hartney!

Water, Water Everywhere!

The difference in the landscape around Brandon, just in the last few days, is stunning.  Simply stunning.  What was good farm land is now lake.  At Optimist Park (!), the local soccer field, the goal posts have disappeared.  Eleanor Kidd Park's lovely pergola is almost completely submerged.  You know how tall a goal post is - that's how high the water is sitting in the soccer park!  The City of Brandon issued a warning yesterday that those by the river must now prepare to evacuate.  We'd all hoped it would never come to that, but I'm afraid we're now dealing with a 'worst case' scenario.  I've posted about the flood here and here.  The second link has a photo taken in the same place as the bottom photo here; you can see the difference in level on the signs for our local park.  Thing is, apparently some mistakes in calculations were made in Saskatchewan so a lot more water is coming our way than was previously thought.  The crest is still five or six days away.  Already the dikes on 1st and 18th Street are leaking, Veteran's Way may be swallowed up and many homes and businesses are threatened.  We got a message yesterday afternoon that our neighbours at Evergreen Valley Nursery were in trouble.  Water was rising at a rate of an inch per hour!  Unfortunately, our neighbors at Grand Valley Strawberry were over run and and the water was working it's way to Evergreen, including their home.  Grand Valley Strawberry's road was gone so there was really nothing that could be done to help them as water swirled around their home and buildings.  We spend some time yesterday helping to fill sandbags that were then being ferried to Evergreen Valley, where another group was placing them.  If you are in the Brandon area and can help - they'll be filling sandbags at the RM of Cornwallis office, two minutes east of Brandon on Veteran's Way.  As well there's a call out for volunteers to help sandbag at Donnie Ditchfields' and Dave Barnes' at the East end of Rosser.  Apparently you can park at the Green Spot Garden Centre.  Check eBrandon, which has been great at posting updates and having up-to-the-minute info on where help is needed!  If you've got any time to help, your neighbors would really appreciate it!  

Kids and Kittens

Things are picking up around Aagaard Farms, as the snow melts and things get warmer.  Our garden plot renters are starting to drop by, to register and to see how the gardens are doing.  Michelle was by to drop off her registration a few days ago; she had her four children in tow.  When asked if they would like to see the kittens in the barn, well, the kids were enthusiastic, to say the least!  Michelle's youngest is only around two, so we had to keep an eye on her.  Michelle's oldest is about six, her second is maybe five; they helped their two younger siblings by holding the kittens.  Much 'ooohing' and 'ahhhing' ensued.  Nothing like kids and kittens!  Of course Rocky started crowing over in his pasture, and our next stop was to see the rooster and The Hens!  Love giving kids a tour of the Farm!

We've Got Mushrooms!

Wow, this is easier than I thought!  In just a short time, we've got Shiitake mushrooms.  Posted here about receiving a mushroom log from Richter's Herbs.  With just a little maintenance, we've got mushrooms!  And lots of things bubbling on the surface of the log, which should become mushrooms soon.  The process has really been quite simple: make slits in the bag the log was shipped in, run water through the bag, find a cool place with indirect light.  We've had to keep up the humidity which we've achieved by wrapping the log, on a seed tray, in a clear plastic bag.  What's really exciting:  the oyster mushroom log just arrived!

It's Official - Earth Day in Brandon is Cancelled!

As I sit here watching a snow storm, yes a snow storm, just received the email that Earth Day 2011 in Brandon is cancelled.  They will not be re-scheduling this year.  Good thing I celebrated vicariously by reading other people blog posts and Twitters!  According to organizers of the Facebook event page, the white spruce seedlings can still be had by emailing Tom at t.keep@brandon.ca or calling 729-2171.  Too bad, but really...it's snowing!

Earth Day 2011 in Brandon - Maybe...

Word came this afternoon that our Earth Day celebrations may be canceled.  Scheduled, well, re-scheduled for Sunday, May 1st, Mother Nature seems to have decided to rain and perhaps snow for the next twenty four to thirty six hours.  Oh, good!  Driving into Brandon today I noticed that the flood waters have seeped past the barricade on 1st Street, just north of the bridge.  Rain is not really what we need right now!  Stay tuned, we should know whether Earth Day will proceed by Saturday night and we'll post it right away.

Come Swimming in Our Local Park?

Manitoba's Spring Flood Watch continues.  We are completely safe here at Aagaard Farms; it doesn't look like an unusual Spring at all around the Farm.  Thanks for the emails and calls (Hi, Verlene!)  Some of our neighbours are not quite so lucky.  Pictured is our local park 'Cornwallis Park', in the RM of Cornwallis, along Veteran's Way, just outside of Brandon.  It is a lovely little park, usually along the riverbank.  At this time, it is one big lake, almost up to the highway.  Grand Valley Strawberries, the upick strawberry farm, is in the trees to the left of the picture and is sandbagged and seeping!  Around Westman, I am of the understanding that officials believe we have crested and the water will not get any higher, barring big rains.  Other areas of Manitoba are still waiting for the crest.  Thing about flooding of this magnitude is that the repercussions will be felt for years.  Farmers will not be able to get on their land to plant, the crop may never be finished this year, the farmers will have no money to shop for anything so businesses in the area will see a drop in business and may have to lay off employees.  Effects are far reaching, because we're all inter-connected!  Let's hope it dries up quickly!

It's a Great Day: Kittens and Garlic Are Growing!

A Happy Easter Sunday to all!  We're finally having a day with the temperature hitting double digits (in Celsius)!  That should help get rid of the last of the snow!  We've been out for a wee stroll around the farm.  The garlic is up!  And we've had excellent germination.  We love our garlic for cooking, and we just can't bring enough to the Farmers Markets.  We planted almost double last fall - so good to see it coming so well.  A short row of 'fancy' garlics is about an inch taller than 'Music', our standard.  Those are showing a bit of frost damage on the tips but seem to be growing strongly.

Also had a peek at the kittens in our stroll.  They are growing well, too!  Starting to rather clumsily wander from their 'nest'.  They are soooo cute and a perfect experience for a lovely Easter Sunday!  We hope you all enjoy your day!