Brainwaves

Frost covered eyelashes and frosty impressions of ferns upon the windows welcome us to winter solstice. 

I always believed we should use winter solstice as the marker for when the new year is but perhaps that’s just the farmer in me.

This past year was a beautiful one with many challenges and many successes on the farm and in life.

This past year we improved road access to one of our main production fields which has become the first of multiple orchards we are building on the farm as we move deeper into no-till and regenerative agriculture practices.  The access...

One of the worst blocks he had seen said one of my supervisors. The blow down was everywhere. A wind event with big spruce that were aging.

I was in this block or forest rather, to assess trees for pathogen and timber volume. I had worked all over in this region for a few years now out north of Fort St. James.

The area had a dominant pine landscape which was mostly dead, with lots of pockets of nice spruce stands. This was the land that the term “moonscapes” comes to mind when a block is finished.

The ultimate challenge...

Nightshift at -40

It comes nearly every year. Some years it’s December. Some years it’s February and others it’s January. 

You never know when nightshift at -40 will happen but it happens nearly every year. 

When your farming livestock it’ll be waterers freezing up, axing holes through ice, thawing frozen pipes, tending to frostbitten ears or combs of animals and praying the new babies don’t arrive. Hourly you check the animals if wind speed is up. Wind is the big problem. Most of the time buildings and animals...