Springtime is a really active time here on Westwind Farms.
The moment the sun pops its nose up over the eastern tree line, everyone and everything is up and at it. I usually manage to nibble my breakfast and consume the first of my morning coffees out on our front porch.
One need only to stop and listen and you can hear the buzzing of busy bees as they fly from one dandelion flower to the next, collecting nectar for the honey they make in the multiple hives that we host in a bee yard at the back end of the farm.
Some of our customers get a little excited when they see bees that are friendly, as it is not at all uncommon for them to fly closely as they search for flowers. But tame bees seldom sting if left alone, and it is the wrong thing to do to start swinging your arms and swatting at them.
One of the more pleasing things that I was able to accomplish this past week was the planting of 50 whip-sized native sugar maples along the full length of the fence that borders the proposed back lane. When the money tree allows us to build the partner fence along the other side, we have hopes of duplicating, though staggered, the row we have just planted.
Fifty holes is a lot of digging. When we plant trees, we dig to double the depth of the pot in which the tree is grown and put a shovelful of composted manure into the bottom and place the sod upside down on top of this. Both act as sponges to hold water when it rains and nourishes the new roots as they spread out their long, finger-like supporting roots in the earth.
Let me admit here that, as usual, I had some exceptional help in digging the holes. My help, this time, was sourced through Wwoof Canada (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). They come to live and learn on organic farms, and in return for their help, they are given free accommodation and meals.
The two that we are blessed with at the moment are a boy from Germany and a girl from Finland. Both are anxious and enthusiastic, speak English quite well, and I guesstimate to be in their early 20s. They joke about the similarity of working out in a gym when doing heavy work such as cleaning the stables or, in my case, digging holes in which I plant the trees.
They both have a fondness for animals, and any free time they have is spent out among the many animals, talking to, petting and grooming them. They are getting along well with the training of our two Great Pyrenees, which are no longer puppies, as they are six months old.
We are quite pleased at Westwind Farms in being able to show them how animals, though slated for food on the table, can and are being raised healthy and happy in large paddocks and pastures. Our free-range laying hens now live in a structure on wheels that can be moved to new grassy pastures, weekly or daily as the need so arises.
By the way, as a passing thought, I have invited both of these young folks to come back in 50 years to taste the maple syrup tapped from the trees that they helped plant while here.
Take care, ’cause we care.
barrie@barriehokins.ca
519-986-4105