It is the middle of November, and here we are...ready for winter! Yes, you read that correctly. We are ready for the cold weather and the white stuff that is usually already upon us by this time. That might sound a bit odd, so let me explain.
With Carol and I both working jobs this year, we realized that we just weren't going to have the time to do all the seasonal chores around the ranch that we've had in years past. Last year we struggled through, bringing up hay one pickup load at a time every weekend during the winter. Same with firewood.
When not hauling hay, our weekends would be spent cutting, transporting, splitting and stacking the firewood, that we use to heat our house.
And don't get me started on trying to plow out the driveway. Our little tractor is fighting out of its weight class when it comes to plowing our 2km driveway. We would be much better off with a giant tractor, but until our finances improve some more, we have to "run what we brung" (use the equipment we have).
So, one challenge at a time. We found a great hay supplier in Armstrong who would deliver all the hay we'd need for the whole winter for less than what we were paying for just the hay alone last year (not including all the diesel burned in the truck). The challenge with this scenario is that we needed someplace dry to store the hay in - a hay shed! We've known that this outbuilding would be required ever since we moved up here, but we just haven't had the time or money to build it. We had to protect our investment in the hay, though, so we bit the bullet and I started digging post holes.
Eight post holes, 4 feet deep, to anchor the 14 foot, pressure treated posts that would eventually support the hay shed. We had decided on an design similar to the loafing shed we built for the horses, but 3 times as wide and 2 feet taller. It would be 12 feet across by 36 feet wide, enabling us to store almost 400 small square bales. I was able to dig 1 or 2 holes after work each day but it was hard work, using a pry bar and a clam shell digger. The ground was very rocky making progress slow. At this point, a miracle happened! Let me explain.
Our friends Bud and Lea Thorson had told us about HelpX, a website that matched travellers willing to work for room and board, with farms and ranches looking for some temporary help. We put our little ranch up as a potential "host" and within days had agreed to host Joanie Lizotte and her boyfriend, Jo, for a few weeks starting in the middle of October. We were a bit hesitant at first, having never done anything like this before. We needed the help though, and it seemed to be a pretty good idea. We shouldn't have worried. The whole experience was great! Jo is a chef and Joanie is not afraid of hard work in the least. The two of them helped us finish the hay shed build; cut, split and stack all the firewood we'll need for the winter; move and re-stack the hay in the new shed; clear our horse paddocks of much of the wood and detritus that has always been strewn around; prepare and serve meals from our kitchen that would rate rave reviews from any high-end restaurant you can name; paint our interior doors; clean up our basement; befriend our dogs and horses; and become our good friends. We only hope that they enjoyed their stay with us as much as we enjoyed hosting them. Thank you, Jo and Joanie!
Our tractor has a snow plow blade that attaches behind the machine and plows a path just inches wider than the tractor itself. It does a great job but has one flaw. Since our driveway has ditches on the sides for most of its length, we have to be careful not to slide/fall into the ditch with the tractor when we're snow plowing. It sounds simple but when the snow is so deep you can't distinguish the road from the ditch, it makes it extremely difficult to keep the cleared path as wide as possible. Since the blade is behind you, the tractor finds the ditch before the plow so the operator tends to shy away from the edge, resulting in an ever narrowing cleared path. Front snow plow blades for tractors run in the thousands of dollars so we needed a cheaper answer to this problem.
Our Bobcat ATV is excellent in the snow so it made sense to look for a solution based on that vehicle. I found a Canadian wholesaler for KFI products - UTV Canada, in Edmonton. KFI is the US manufacturer of the great winch mount we bought and they make an awesome line of snow plow products that have mounts to fit our Bobcat. I was able to order a complete kit - 6 foot plow blade, adjustable heavy duty UTV push tubes, and a mount for the push tubes that includes a 2" hitch receiver. I also ordered a set of heavy duty chains for the Bobcat to keep things moving when it gets icy. So far, we haven't had the opportunity to find out how all this gear works! Hopefully, we go all winter without knowing, but I suspect that is just not going to happen! Stay tuned until after the first big snowfall.
We received a big dump of snow on Tuesday and then another few inches on Friday night. Now, as predicted, the temperatures have fallen dramatically and the sun has been bright, hanging low in the cold, clear skies.
