Think global, shop local

Yeah, it's a tired and overused phrase but I saw something this Christmas that irked me.  A certain store which will remain nameless but rhymes with Mal-Wart was open 24 hours.  "What a convenience" you might think, but you'd be wrong.  Long-term this is not convenient for anybody other than the people down in the US collecting the money as it works its way across our border.

Stores like that one are the reason why you don't see any mom 'n' pop stores anymore.  They're responsible for the slow death of the private retailer.  You get really low prices, but we all suffer in the long run.  Cheap plastic crap made in a sweatshop somewhere, bought en masse and imported by a large US-based warehouse and then distributed to all of their little tentacles across the land.

It's sad when you think about it.  Our ever-growing hunger for rock-bottom prices has come to bite us in the behind.  Because we want cheaper produce, we import it from California and Mexico...this means that your average farmer can't raise a crop of just about anything because nobody will pay that farmer what his crop is worth.

Ever had a fresh strawberry?  I'm not talking one right out of the plastic package at the store, I mean one right out of the field.  Have you ever noticed that strawberry actually tastes like a strawberry?  But, because we as a society have decided that we want food that costs less at the expense of good flavour, and possibly nutrients, we have these little red balls of blandness imported from other countries and artificially ripened either while in transit or when they get to the warehouse.

So, next time you hear of a farmers market in your area, go check it out.  They're seeing a large resurgence in popularity as people realize that fresh produce, eggs, and meat taste much better than stuff that's been in a container for a week before it even gets to the store.  You'll find crafts, home canning, and many amazing offerings from these markets, and the money you spend stays in your community.  That's something that doesn't happen when you shop big-box.

I raise dinosaurs!

That's right.  When I go out to do my morning and evening chores, I take my life in my hands. I enter the domain of the most feared predator to ever thunder across the earth.

Thanks to Uncle John's Bathroom Reader I learned that chickens are the closest living relative to the T-Rex.

Mind you, mine seem to be a little more relaxed than that big fella from Jurassic Park, but you never know...one day I might not come back, and my hordes of little layers may well run rampant.  If you hear of a bunch of dinosaurs destroying Nanaimo Godzilla-style, please accept my apologies, and know that I died trying to save you all.

On that note, I bought some shavings from a friend today and placated those carnivorous beasts with an offering of fresh bedding.  Melody the horse got the same treatment, but she didn't have the same predatory look in her eyes when I freshened her stall.

Dichotomy

Once upon a time, a young (and devilishly handsome) man had a whirlwind of activity disrupt his normally mundane and relatively peaceful existence. Shortly after the dust had settled, Brad found himself moving from New Westminster, BC to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, BC.

Certainly not the first move of my life, or the longest, but one that would completely change my way of life. I was living in an apartment. Working as an assistant manager for a retail movie rental company. Scraping by, but still almost to the point of being comfortable.

After a not-so-brief stint of living at my parent's place, I met a woman by the name of Erin. Erin's family has owned a farm for the last seven generations. Along with my daughter Caeleigh, we moved in with Erin. Soon I had my own coop of chickens and was helping feed cattle.

A gazebo was built, complete with firepit. This undertaking helped my father and I grow closer, finally having a large project to work on. I've never had any interest in building things, in fact things I did build were either too rickety to stand, or didn't look like the original plan I had going into it.

Recently, I've acquired a much larger coop and the current chicken count is somewhere close to 70. There's also a horse on the farm now, and the very real possibility of a second horse being added to the family.

This little blog is to keep you updated on the mundane and not so mundane happenings around the farm, from new additions of livestock (recent hatches too!), to new buildings and happenings.

Thanks for reading!

"Farmer" Brad