6 Feb 2023
Yes, we’ve been blessed with warm weather and in many cases have even had times when we didn’t need a fire and the furnace ran very little! Thank God for that!
It does raise a concern however!
Be sure to clean your Stove mud Chimney.
I find after a stove and chimney sit, unlit and unheated, for a bit, that’s seems to be when we are most apt to have a chimney fire! Maybe someone who works as a Firefighter can explain that better? I know Bear River Volunteer Firefighters must have a comment? Maybe help shed a light on why?
The Critter that decimated our Chickens
No, I don’t mean Roscoe! Look on the wall and you’ll see a large, pastel, wild ranch mink and on the night of the 23rd of December it slaughtered 21 of 42 chickens in our Coop! Didn’t eat them, just slaughtered them! They, I’ve been told, suck their blood and leave the bodies! It was awful! It didn’t end there however! That *”** Mink got two more on the night of the 25th!
Needless to say, it’s wasn’t a very happy Christmas!
Honestly, I was in shock!
Chopping Wood Allows Me To Reconnect … With My Dad
My Dad and I didn’t always see eye to eye, but the older we both got the more we come to understand each other. We still didn’t agree on everything, nor see eye to eye on everything, but we did become best friends after Mom passed no before he died in 2013.
This is, my Adopted Dad, and Mom, I’m referring to of course.
They took me in when I was a year old baby, and just after having my fingers cut off! That’s right! By a sibling, in my birth family, and I tell people it was the best thing that ever happened to me! Yes! That’s right! I’ll be writing about it in my Autobiography, Born a Pauper, Raised a Knight, that I hope to finish writing this year!
One of the things Dad did well was to Make sure we had a good supply of well seasoned firewood. He tried to tech me how to do things, like handle an axe, and other manual tasks. I was just never gifted that way! It frustrated Him.
Today, I think he’d be proud, seeing me cut our firewood, split wood, and run the farm!
So, yes, cutting wood, chopping wood especially, is almost meditative and it allows me to connect with my Daddy!
Elvaretta (Rice) Harris 1922 - 30 Dec 2022
While we never met her in person, we feel like we knew Her.
Elveretta, Mrs. Harris, and her Late Husband, Jack, and their family, have blessed us with this place we call Briden Farm.
Yes, bought it, but they left their mark on it. In a good way, and we’ve since been blessed to meet both daughters and some of their family. Caye has always been there to encourage us, and has answered all our questions about the ,any plants and other things pertaining to the place here. Greatly Appreciated.
Her presence will always be felt here,
at Briden Farm, as will Jack’s.
I get the feeling Elveretta loved all animals, great and small.
So, You might say, our year ended on a bit of a sour note!
Yet, I don’t think the Harris’ were ones to let tragedy get the better of them, and I’m sure they faced many hardships here, along the way, as did those before them.
So, as the song says, “We’ll Rise Again!”
So, on a lighter note…
I started the Year learning to Levitate!
Or at least using the “Live” photo option on my new iPad!
Yes, we had to get new iPads. Our old ones were about 5 and 10 years old and quit just before Christmas!
So, while December ended on a sour note, it was still a good year. 2022 was a good year for us. Especially the expansion of Briden Farm activities to The Barn Property.
It’s been good for our …
Briden Farm Goat Herd
Not to mention us, and of course our…
Briden Farm Pigs
However, thanks to Dorothy, we all know that…
There’s No Place Like Home
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is one of my favourite Books, and one which has, I think, somewhat subconsciously inspired me to become a Farmer!
Thus, I’ve started reading it, out loud, and Live, on the Wisdom App, you can find us there at wisdom.app/bridenfarm and if you miss it there, you can listen to it on Briden Farm Podcasting.
Someone TP’d The Barn!
No! Not really!
Although it did look like it!
It’s actually the snow melting and sliding down the groves in the Metal Roof! Something Eh?
It was definitely interesting driving up and seeing it.
Come Hangout Sunday Night’s at 9pm Atlantic
It’s been an interesting start to the year. A fun, and busy one!
I’ve already mentioned our being invited and becoming part of the Wisdom App Community.
It’s like a cross between Radio, a Social Network, and a Live Chat for Podcasters, and their friends, family, and followers!
One of the other things we’ve been working towards is building our Briden Farm Clubhouse. A place, online, where our friends and followers, as well as other homesteaders and farmers and their people can come together to chat and l,earn from each other and support each other. Imagine a place where you can discover nearby growers and producers and make use of their best provisions. A place where Homesteaders and Farmers can connect, online, with each other and potential customers. Now, click here to join the Waitlist for our Briden Farm Clubhouse.
We’ve also joined another online Community on the FiresideChat App. It’s like a Live Podcast crossed with an Interactive YouTube Channel. We hope to be broadcasting Thursday Nights at 9pm. It’ll be recorded so you can listen live, or listen later.
Find us on Fireside at Be part of the show:
https://firesidechat.com/bridenfarmfiresidechat
Briden Farm Fireside Chats
From Fireside to Woodstove and Ashes …
Drying Wood In The Oven before Burning and Using The Ashes afterwards…
Ashes serve many purposes one we use is Spreading Ashes on our Gardens, and the other we plan to use them for is for soap making. Till then we’ve found ways to make soap making a little easier and here are some of our …
Briden Farm Soaps
Not exactly sure what we’re going to charge for our Briden Farm Soaps, but we are open to suggestions! What do you pay for specialty soaps? Goat Milk and Shea Butter for example!?
We also have Eggs! Lots of eggs and at present they’re just $5/Dozen. Just have a look…
Lots of Beautiful Free Range Eggs
Having extra eggs has meant our being able to make some nice dishes like this…
A Quiche We Made
Having Milk and Eggs makes it a real treat, especially when we make …
Oatmeal Pancakes …
Oatmeal Pancakes
It’s taken me a few weeks to write this particular issues of our Briden Farm LiveJournal as I started it it on 20 Jan 2023 and it’s now Feb. 6, 2023. We’ve just come through what will, hopefully, be our coldest weekend with -27 Celsius Temperatures!
Needless to say, it was too cold for Man or Beast!
Although when the temperature started to rise the warmer temperatures were appreciated by all. Including Holly…
Holly The Snow Dog
Holly absolutely loves the Snow!
30 Seconds before that photo was taken She had a snow mask on both sides of her face!
So, now, hopefully things are going to warm up!
Thankfully the Snow Moon was last night and very little snow!
The Snow Moon
If You have questions about anything you’ve seen here, or have to contact us for any reason, please call Brian at 902-907-0770
Please also take time to visit our Website: BridenFarm.com
Oh! One last thing!
Can You PLEASE visit our YouTube Channel and subscribe?
We’d sure appreciate it..
https://www.youtube.com/@bridenfarm