Mom and Dad visit - May 2019

Mom and Dad came "just for fun" in May, and we really appreciated they took the time to come and reconnect and enjoy the kiddos.  It's always fun having company and we try to make it special and memorable by doing a few extra outings.  First off was a trip to the Crownest Pass!  We had a little picnic at Lundbreck Falls in the beautiful sunshine.

 From there we went a bit further to the Frank Slide in Frank, Alberta. This is the location of Turtle mountain. The mountain that moves - and slid down and covered the village of Frank. It's always an interesting stop and fun to go to. Mom and Dad fully appreciate local and Canadian history which makes taking them places enjoyable even though we've been before.  The kids are also always up for showing family around!  💕

We also went to the Lietch Colleries, also in the Pass, which is an old coke refinery and mine site.  It's really well put together for tourists and free so it was also a lovely stop. 

 It has become a bit of a tradition when Opa and Oma are out to go bowling and then out for dinner.  The kids do not forget!  So we hit up the Taber bowling alley and threw some balls, before heading to BP's.  As it happened, it was also our 12th wedding anniversary and Opa treated us all, so it was a very special day.  For our anniversary Opa and Oma also insisted that Andy and I head out to shop in Calgary for a day while they had all the kids.  Having no family around it is normally very difficult for us to do anything without the kids so off we went for a full day while they took care of the kids at home.  I probably will never hear about all the things they heard. Ha. 

Seth got to spend some quality time with Opa learning about his music program and how he is making 4 part harmonies for the psalms.  When we came home everything was calm and quiet so I'm sure 5 kids for the day was really no big deal 😀 .  Thanks again, it was so generous of you.

 We decided to also head out to Waterton National Park as we had never gone there with Dad and Mom.  We hadn't been back since the forest fires and were quite shocked at the destruction and look of the park. Not much left to see, most of it was closed down and not really too much point to go back.  Oh well, still a nice drive.

Thanks for coming Opa and Oma!  

Lots of love to you,

God be with you 'till we meet again.

from the Bijlsmas

2018-2019 4H year

Caution: Photo overdose from last years 4h season!
Seth's second year and Tristan's first year with the Grassy Lake 4h multi club. This year was not only a steer for each boy but also a lamb.  We really enjoy being part of the 4h group and find it good for the kids.  It not only involves animal husbandry but book keeping, community involvement and public speaking.

Seth with his steer for the season - Mr. Beef

Tristan and Sir. Loin

The steers join the farm in November and the lambs come in March.  Peter and Paul were a fun addition.  It was really quite hilarious to watch the boys dragging their sheep around by halters, trying to get them to learn to walk. They became like dogs, following them around the yard.  I'd find them tied up at various stations with a little water bowl beside them.  If you ever want something funny to watch, I'd say try get some sheep halter trained!

Freshly washed and clipped

Getting ready for the show

They had to have pajamas to wear the night before the show to keep them clean.  I sewed these ones for them.  😆😍

Show and sale time!  

The first weekend in June marks the annual Taber 4h show and sale.  Big weekend for all involved. Piles of work but also piles of fun. 

Tristan came in 4th with his lamb. #119.

Seth won a ribbon for showmanship.

Selling the lamb in the ring.  Pleased as punch about it.

Tristan showing his lamb during the sale.

The steer show and sale!

Andy helped the boys to wash and dry their steers getting them ready for the show. 

And of course during it all, I got to hang out with the others.  Marla sat on the bleachers with me enjoying multiple snacks.  Abby and Rowan had friends there and were off playing most of the time. Rowan gave us a good laugh with his money and vending machine escapade.  He took $10 along and put it in the vending machine to get a bucket of candy out. He got not only a bucket of candy but also a pile of change which he thought was amazing so he kept throwing it back in till he ran out and ended up with 6 (!!) buckets of candy which he was extremely proud of.  And all this at 9:30am.  Of course his parents were quite horrified and after Andy snapped a picture with Rowan's wonderfully happy face, we removed most of it.   That is what memories and childhoods are made of.  Amazingly fun adventures which parents don't approve of ;))

All in all, the weekend was successful with good memories and great sales.  What a fun way to end the year. 

Feed mill construction and completion

 The past year led to some rather large changes to how we grow our birds - which I touched on at the end of the last post. Andy was growing more and more frustrated by the lack of control he had over the ingredients in the feed and also the lack of competition in the feed industry.  Having neighbours to the north of us with their own swine feed mill peaked his interest in seeing what could be done to make the farm more cost effective as well as interesting to run, given a person could source their own ingredients with top of the line ingredients.  All of this suits Andy's personality to a T.  After a year of research and planning, we finally started on this large project, permits in hand.  It is placed behind barn 1, so the building and bins are not in the way of the yard.   The project was started in April of 2018 and was finished January 1st, 2019, ready for the first flock of this year.

Truck after truck load of concrete was poured over layers of rebar to provide strength for the heavy bins.

We enjoyed watching the progress.  The guys who did the work were amazing and willing to try anything.  Below is the trench that was dug for the blower lines.  One going to each barn.  That in and of itself was a massive job, with huge messes, but it cleaned up well.

Used drill stem was repurposed for strong and cost effective blower lines.

Finally time for the bins to be placed!  It was very exciting to see it all come together.

Inside the mill is a network carefully orchestrated to bring exact measurements of grain/peas/corn into the rollermill, mix it with oil, canola meal, soybean meal, RMB meal, and micro/macro nutrients following carefully made recipes and then blown out to the specific barn.  

Power cords waiting to be connected in the breaker room.

We are one month away from using the mill now for one whole year.  It has been a really good addition to the farm. The entire mill can be run from one desktop computer and thru Andy's phone.  The whole process can be monitored online and also shut down and started up when needed also thru the phone. When we were on holidays this past September we could monitor the mill and ingredients from the other side of the globe which is quite a concept. We are fascinated and interested in the statistics coming in flock after flock - mortality is consistently very low and the birds have healthy guts.

We have learned so much and plan to keep learning to make the best economical and business decisions we can.  It has definitely made this farm more techy and less boring.  :) All of that is good news.