Today marks 1 month since fire claimed our buildings and returned them into the earth at Myrah Farm. Not in a morbid way: anyone who knows me knows that I am someone who keeps track of dates. I love checking my progress and remembering where I was and what I was doing 1 year ago, 2 years ago, 10 years ago. When my Gran passed away last summer I got her "Nature Notes" book where she recorded happenings and observations on the farm. It was so neat to look back: "January 22, 1991: Paul, Stephanie and Teri visited the farm, -42*C". So, I started my own book for recording things and have been doing so since January.
One month ago we awoke as usual to our farm with all buildings intact, and one month later we awake with still stinking ashes which are being overtaken by grass growing between the burnt timbers and endless metal hardware turning to rust. But, I DO like the phoenix metaphor- up from the ashes rose a caterpillar tunnel! This field burned and then Jon tilled it and we just put the plastic on this tunnel yesterday morning. We awoke at first light to rain, and decided to wait. When it stopped raining, we got a 2 hour window with very little wind and got the plastic on. We've never done it with only 2 of us so we were a bit nervous, and didn't want any unnecessary encumberances. The first photo is the critical point, plastic on and not tied down. I have heard of people losing their plastic like a kite in a tree this way. It's over $400 and a trip to Winnipeg to get more, so we really didn't want that to happen!
We hurried to get the ends tied. They are twisted opposite directions (or the same, depends on how you look at it) on either end and then held by two t-rail posts on a 45 degree angle: like a big tootsie roll! Jon got the ends so perfect that the ropes didn't have to cinch in much (our first attempt of this on Tunnel #2 wasn't quite this good!). Jon had the ropes all ready and so we threw over and tied one set, then then other, and then tightened the first. When things are well made and square and carefully measured it all goes very smoothly! It turned out Perfect.
Here's a peek through the lilacs. The tunnel looks short in this photo, but is 12' x 100' by 7' tall. We watched the sun set sitting cross legged on the ground inside last night and commented on what a neat and excellent design it is!
It has added a new focal point to the farm, which means I'm less likely to look at the rubble, which makes me happy! View from the compost pile, I had a swelling of love for this farm when I looked up and I had to take this photo.
Two turkey vultures circled me while I planted potatoes yesterday. It was really neat, they are such gigantic birds and float so interestingly on the wind currents. I was alerted to their presence by huge shadows ripping across the field and looked up to see them soaring high above the farm.
I planted some red potatoes for us yesterday, the German Butters are up! I also planted Linzer Delekatess, Satina, Yellow Finn, Agria, Charlotte, and Nicola for our friend Greg who is a master gardener with limited space to grow potatoes and squash, so we are growing the seeds here for him. Exciting to try some new varieties, especially ones that are selected for flavour. The Charlotte potatoes came from seed from France, I think the story was they were the most delicious he had ever tasted! We'll see if the terroir here can produce some epically delicious spuds.
I had a conundrum yesterday that I solved in a funny way. The neighbour has 4 baby (4 week old) kittens. I wanted to visit them. The car is at Mom's and Jon was at work, so I took the tractor! It was funny ripping down the road. Of course I caught a train- less than a mile to go and it's inevitable that we wait for a train every time! He was happy to see our new tractor, and the kitties were adorable! Mitch would have been the first on the scene if I hadn't been home the day of the fire, he pulled in the driveway just behind the fire department. We are grateful for our neighbours and excited to have gotten to know them better because of the fire.
If you look VERY closely, you can see two black ear tips just to the right of the building. We came up on the fox kits last night, rolling around and jumping and playing with each other. There are FOUR! Shortly after I took this photo they noticed me, barked, and all four tumbled back under the building. Ironically, this is the building where the chicken coop is going. It's like someone building a rooftop restaurant on your house! I have a contingency plan if the hens all get eaten. I suspect the foxes will leave them alone like last year, but as I'm not willing to remove them from the property I am taking a chance.
Life just carries on, where something ends there is a new beginning, like these baby robins I found last night. In the pigeon bin there are two full grown babies, 3 tiny babies, and 4 egg clutches: so it appears the ones who lost their home in the barn have moved in. Trees grow, trees fall down, we planted a Fat Albert Spruce last night and have to find the perfect spot for out showy Mountain Ash. The farm is like a living organism, always moving and shifting and changing, and so we just keep trudging ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment