Pair of Sandhill Cranes grace the farm

(clickon photo to enlarge)
For the last couple of years we have seen a Sandhill Crane visit for a few short days in the spring and fly away. However this year three cranes appeared and stuck around for a while. What a ruckus they made. Lovely sight and amazing sounds. We figured they were either one female and two males or the other way around! Which do you figure? Anyway as of yesterday there are only two left - one has left. We now have a distinguished pair in residence and are fortunate to witness early morning dances and all. I hope they stick around and have chicks! We don't possess any fancy cameras so you have to be happy with this picture above. Enjoy!

This week has been filled with preparations for the upcoming season. Ken and the lads...we have three strapping young men on the farm helping now...have all the oats and clover planted into last years fields. These will be plowed down in the fall as green manure.

The garlic, chives and rhubarb is all about 5 inches tall. Have been enjoying the chives with the potatoes.YUM!

On Sunday we visited Severn Sunset Eco Farm to learn a bit about raising chicken. Oh boy we learnt a lot. Andy and Heather were very welcoming and spent time with us showing us around. We have ordered our laying birds and they arrive in the third week of May!

Major web site update

So finally it has happened. We have made a major change to our web site!

Folks were saying that our produce list on the site was toooo long and hard to use. Folks have been asking what our next plans were for the barn and culinary studio. So now we have made some changes over the Easter weekend and it is much better...more concise and easier to use and hopefully answers all your questions better.

Let us know if we should make any more additions. The revamped site is a whopping 46 pages long already.

So syrup season is behind us and we are in the middle of getting a chicken mobile built. Yes we hope to have free range layers this year. Will post on this shortly. In the meantime hope it stops raining soon...cause we have to get on the land.

Wonderful Field to Fork Event

Its been a while since we posted on this blog and that is because we simply have not had the time!!! Sooooo busy!! The raspberries have come and gone as have the peas, snaps and snows. We are into corn and the first of the winter squash. Summer is almost done already and fall is around the corner! But today's post is something we just had to do....Sunday, August the 15Th...the first of the seasons, Savour Muskoka Field to Fork Event was held at Brooklands. We also inaugurated our "culinary destination" in the old log house! The whole event was a grand success! Everybody loved it and had a wonderful time. Delicious food, wine, beer, fabulous music and tonnes of fun. A big thank you to all who came and made it a very special afternoon (over 250 people that is)! I too spun out of control jiving on the grass and landed me and my partner flat on our backs!! But guess what...you only live once..and we got up and kept on jiving!!!

Strawberry Festivals & Rain!!l

Its been a while since we have posted to this blog and thats because we have been swamped!! In more ways than one. The weeds are trying to take over, the strawberries season kicked in and demanded picking, we became shorthanded for help, the rain kept coming and to top it all we had to prepare for the Strawberry festival! Today is another new day and the sun is out and things are looking brighter indeed! We have new help, the weeds are getting under control, its does'nt seem to be raining and the G8, G20 and the Berry Festival are behind us!! Saturday of the festival was rained out and we had to postpone the main event to Sunday. Lots of folks came out and picked all day. The festival was great...lots of pie, cream, hamburgers and fun. Now the Raspberries need picking!! The summer this year is moving very fast indeed!!

Saving turtle eggs, the zoo and a heap of knowledge!

So,we had the privilege of hosting the TO Zoo's "Adopt a Pond" team on the farm today. We all learnt a lot. Here are a few pictures that say it all! It started by a walk-a-bout with Ken to rece the farm for the actual workshop, looked at some turtle nesting sites and deciding that the Big Mama nest needed to be moved because it was in the driveway! Then Erin & Bob from the zoo made a terrific presentation in the barn about habitat, turtles, frogs and such, with visual and actual modles of these wonderful creatures. This was followed by the delicate task of relocating Big Mama's nest to a safer place. All in all an awesome day! Feel
really sorry for you folks that could'nt make it!!!

Painted Turtles, the Zoo and Strawberries

So we have been frantic and busy and trying to catch up to the way spring is progressing! Sooo fast!! All the summer flowers are almost out in bloom (I mean the ones that usually blossom in early July)and the turtles have come come and gone...meaning have crawled out of the swamp, dug their nests, laid their eggs and returned to where they came from....almost 3 weeks earlier than usual. Or so we thought! Tonight we spent time cleaning up around the farm, mowing the lawns etc, as tomorrow is our first big day of the season....the strawberry patch will be open to pick-your-owners and the most importantly the Toronto Zoo is coming to the farm!!! To educate us about wetlands, ponds and the creatures that live in them. So here I was motoring along on the lawn mower and there on the edge of the road in the short grass I spotted a painted turtle laying her eggs. The lawn mower disturbed her and I think she abandoned the nest..which by the way had eggs in it. So we put a bucket, a cage and a stone over it, to protect it from the skunks, coons and even our dogs overnight and hope the folks from the zoo will know what to do. Will keep you posted.