Camper Problems

Buying a used vehicle - of any sort - always comes with quirks and our home on wheels has been no exception. Little things mostly. Like the thermostat inside that controls the temperature. It comes on nicely, but never shuts off. I love heat, but even I can call this too much. I'm a pretty handy gal, so I made a little trip over to Poulsbo RV. It is a whole different world than home re-wiring though. You have to have an exact replacement and no, they're not interchangeable. They were very helpful and pulled out a handy little book with pictures of a few dozen different styles. Finally found the one I needed and no, it's not in stock. Tuesday. As it turned out, the thermostat was working, we just weren't setting it properly.

In all, we are almost 52 feet long.

That is not to say the 5th wheel doesn't have it's issues. We've got a faucet that leaks, so for the moment, we keep the water pump turned off and the shower head has a crack in it that spews water everywhere when you turn the shower on. And the electric water heater isn't working. Hmmm, water. I guess a few more things to find at the RV shop. We also need to do a little maintenance. The roof needs to be washed, sealed and re-caulked. Normal stuff.

Now, on to finish up packing!

OTR: Port Townsend, WA (On the Road)

Oh Port Townsend. There is just so much to write about you. PT is a quaint little Victorian town on the Olympic Peninsula. They have a vibrant arts community as well as many local farms and gardens. We've always lovingly called PT the little "granola town". This time we stopped and stayed with Farmer Scott's parents, Bob and Donna who live in PT. This was a fun, exciting adventure for us - where to start...

Can you see that little lump in the grass?

Easiest I think is sharing about for this trip is the little baby fawn. An hour after we arrived and parked, one of the neighbors noticed a little baby fawn inside his fenced garden area which was closed up. He opened the door and let the little fawn outside. Well, it could barely walk and stumbled across the road to kind of crash into a cyclone fence of sorts. It lay there for hours while we all kept our distance and watched. Animal control was called and we were told to wait for 24 hours to see if mom would come back. Agh - the agony of waiting and watching this poor little baby and yet we knew better than to get to close or to even touch it. Hours and hours go by and still nothing. We ended up going to bed, continuing to peek out the window and still nothing. As we woke up the next morning though, the first thought was to check on that little fawn. Who was now missing. The boys scoured the area where it was and there were no signs of trauma and so we all decided it was momma who must have come for the little one in the middle of the night. Phew! Another adventure in PT.

Dakota on the top of one of the many bunkers.

View from the point of Ft. Worden. Mt Baker in the background

The next day brought one of my favorite things - real life home schooling! We set out with lunch and a map in hand and were off on our almost 3 mile hike around Fort Worden and exploring all the bunkers on Artillery Hill. I need to say, I'm not a history buff. Or war buff either. But walking through these bunkers, seeing the places in the ground, where very, VERY large guns were housed and hidden to keep our country safe, is nothing less that amazing. You can almost picture the men walking through, loading the weapons and practicing their shooting. Fort Warden, Fort Casey and Fort Flagler made a fortified triangle at the entrance to Puget Sound. If for some reason someone was able to get past one, they surely could not get past all three. Luckily, it was never tested. The forts never had to fire on any enemies.

Still, learning first hand, living, breathing, United State history (and Washington state history as well) is one of our favorite things to do.

Dinner at the Owl. Photo credit Bob Logan

All of this fun and really, there was one more thing that we enjoyed together and that was The Owl restaurant. They make the most amazing sandwiches, salads, soups and pasta. They use local, organic chicken as well as locally raised beef from small farms. I don't know the people who own and run it, but it is now one of those places we look forward to visiting while in PT and truly one of those "must visit" locations. All in all, it was a great trip and we enjoyed our sunny days in Port Townsend.

OTR: Sequim, WA (On the Road)

Time for a new blog series: OTR or On The Road. We'll be posting about the different towns, farms and people along the way. Our first stop was actually part of our test run: testing out all the systems in our RV to make sure we know what works, what needs tweaking and what needs serious help.

Sequim, WA. Sequim is a small town of about 6,600 people located between Olympia and Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula.  It is the gateway to the Olympic National Forrest and self proclaimed Lavender capital of North America. There is nothing made with lavender that you can't find in this town!

All of that and it is also home to some of our dear friends, Joyce, David and DJ. Farmer Scott and Joyce have been friends since junior high school back in Ohio and although we don't see them often, we call them dear friends. Joyce works currently for the government keeping our borders secure and David has his own business, NW Rifleworks, as a master gunsmith. We were privileged to see some of his custom work - WOW! Anyone needing repair work or custom gun works, you can contact David at 360-683-7273.

We had a great visit in Sequim and enjoyed seeing the Olympic Game Farm with all their "wild" animals on a prior visit. They have animals that wonder around and you drive through, in your vehicle, and can feed them. I remember we had a motor home back then and the kids went through ALL of our bread feeding the different animals. They LOVED it! 
OK, it may seem a bit weird, but we also enjoyed this very cool gas station we stopped at on reservation land owned by the S'klallum Indians. What made it so fascinating was not only the beautiful landscaping, interesting architecture and great deli, but the mammoth totem poles as well. Here, Dakota and Evan take a few minutes to check out this totem pole named, The Salmon Bringer, designed in 2007.

Besides a few cranky attitudes (yes, mine too) and hard time sleeping in an unfamiliar bed (for now), we ended up with a great first outing and a good outlook for the next adventure.

Stockpiling in 240 Square Feet

For those who know me, one of the questions we've received over and over again goes something like, "where are you going to store things?" normally meaning pantry supplies. I stockpile. Yep, I'll admit it. As much as I love growing our own food - both vegetables as well as meat - there are things I buy as well. Sheesh, I love a good deal. I have growing boys who eat. A lot. Although, looking at them, you would think they were starved, but really, they eat a lot. And a lot of cereal to start their day with, because let's face it, how many days in a row and how many different ways can you eat eggs. OK, I'm not thrilled with their choices, but come on, we have to pick and choose our battles and as long as they eat, I'm fine with buying Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Honey Nut Cheerios or Honey Chex, but I absolutely refuse to pay $4-5 a box for them. More often than not, I won't pay more than about $1 per box after coupons and special sales.

Not fully packed yet, but this was for our trial run.

Same goes with things like pasta, sauces, snacks, toilet paper and other consumables. One of my requirements for our camper was storage space, because the last thing I wanted to do was spend a small fortune on food while on the road. So here I go ... trying to learn how to stockpile those things that are not necessarily necessities, but those "convenience" foods.


Fresh foods and meats are going to be purchased every couple days and hopefully, from small local farmers.  Our refrigerator/freezer is about the size of a small apartment size. SMALL.

Our camper has storage! Here is my new "pantry"... Not the same as the lovely walk in pantry Farmer Scott built me for Mother's Day so many years ago, but it'll do.

Storage drawers underneath the dinette seats.

They were also very clever in finding those "extra" spaces, like underneath the dining room seats, pictured above is one of them. Yes, I do have enough cereal, thank you. I'll post more later but at least wanted to share these photos with you so you know that yes, I will be fine for storage. 2,400 square feet to 240 square feet. Life is changing.

City Chickens - Raising Chickens Workshops

Scott loves his chickens. He loves teaching others about them almost as much. It never ceases to amaze me at how farm life can become so addicting. Not only are we addicts, but we know there are many more folks out there that have picked up our addiction. Did you know that Farmer Scott has been speaking at the local food co-ops and the farm about raising city chickens as well as suburban chickens?

Scott started last summer giving informal, educational lectures about raising chickens. They went over so well, that we had a couple people share the information with their local food co-oops and now Scott has been speaking and teaching about raising chickens - the good, the bad and the ugly parts of all of it.

Apparently he's done well and people have been learning as he's been asked back a few times now. If your group is interested in more information about raising chickens, please drop him a note at scott at willowsedgefarm dot com or call 425-402-6781. We will be traveling in different parts of the US, so even if you think we're out of the way, drop us a note - we'll see if we are going to be in your area and when.

Norwegian Fjord Care and Costs

Today, we're chatting about horses and their costs. We all know horses are not a "cheap" hobby, but many underestimate the costs. While one of my dear friends doesn't think twice about spending $150,000 on a good German dressage horse - she is a Grand Prix level rider, after all - most of us have more modest budgets.

this is not what you want your Fjord to look like

In this economy, when people see so many "free horse" ads, they wonder why on earth they should consider paying $4500 - $7500 for a Fjordhorse from a reputable breeder or owner*. I really do understand that, so here I thought I would write a little about all those unknown expenses that go hand in hand with horse ownership. I don't do this to scare anyone off of buying their first horse, but rather, to help give light and full disclosure to what you are really looking at.

I will preface all this with a little background. From the age of 6, I was raised with horses. My parents owned a boarding stable and there were a variety of horses under our care. We had many, many free horses come through the farm. When I used the term "free" I also include those cheap horses as well. Can I start by saying, for the most part, the free horses are some of the most expenses horses people have ever had?

What you get with a free horse.
You are getting someone else's problems. Period. Very rarely, will a good horse be given away. Almost never out on the open market, but maybe between dear friends or loved ones. The free horse will need to be retrained. Board and train together cost between $600-$1000 month in the Seattle area. Less in other parts of the country, more in others. I know of a facility in our own town that charges $1600 month. And no, one month won't take care of these issues. You are looking at a minimum of 3 months and really, to do everyone good, 6 months is a more realistic approach.

You will also have farrier and vet bills. All horses need these, but typically, free horses have been neglected in these areas. Many horses need shoes (Fjords, by the way, are one of those few horses that rarely will need shoes). These are used to protect the hoof walls and keep the most important part of your horse safe and sound. "No hoof, no horse" as the old cowboys used to say. Shoes will run you $110-150 every 6-7 weeks. Vet bills ... well, with a typical farm call around $70 you know your bill will be well over $100 for the most basic of calls. Free horses will typically need vaccines, de-wormings, teeth floated and more.These are all things that need to be done regularly, but the free horses, typically need them NOW.

I'm going to leave it at that. You and I both know there are soo many more things we could discuss, but I'm going to leave it there for the moment to show you what you can have. :-)

A typical, good quality, Norwegian Fjord horse will set you back about $4,500. - $7,500. You may or may not be getting top quality for breeding purposes, but for this money, you should get a sound, reliable, ready to go riding companion. You will still have some time getting to know each other, but this horse shouldn't come with nasty vices or bad behaviors. How much were we just talking about for training costs?

One of the greatest joys I have found with the Fjord horse is their ease in care. We never discussed the cost of feed above as most barns will include up to xyz amount of feed for your monthly boarding cost. We keep ours at home and I cannot even begin to say how excited I was to know how much less they eat. We work our horses 6 days a week and other than supplements (like us taking vitamins), they get hay only. Good quality, but still, no grain, per se.

One of our other joys is not seeing the vet as often. As much as we love our vet - he's great - quite frankly, I would rather have the money in my bank account. Or buy a few extra treats for the ponies and the tack room.

Overall, the price you pay will have a direct correlation to the horse you will get. Think twice about that free horse you see in the ad....

Corinne

*You can find a reputable breeder or owner by doing your research: get on the Fjord email groups and ask. Ask the seller to provide you with references. Call breeders and ask about reputations - for the most part, this is a very small community and we know each other. There are many wonderful breeders and owners I would happily give a reference for - or even buy from myself. We are not out to "bash" others, but if we know of a particular person selling bad horses, we will not give a reference for them and put our own reputations on the line.

My very first ponies!

In all the packing and re-packing of the move, one thing I found and my heart jumped with delight, was an old Poloroid of my first pony ... or ponies to be exact. Nugget, or Nuggy as we called him, was my first pony, and Spicy... 

Nugget came trotting down Maltby Road right into our driveway. My parents drove around asking and found his owners. They came and picked him up. Two days later, he was back at our farm and this time, the folks offered to buy him. Oh what an adorable, rolly-polly pony he was. A Shetland Pony without as much of the attitude.

circa 1977

Later came Spicy. She's the one on the left. Looks a little like a mini Fjord, eh? She was a Shetland WITH the attitude! She was completely untrained and with a little guidance, she learned how to walk, trot, canter and buck with us riding her. I love her. And I hated her. Still, I loved her more. She was the one however, that I let my friends ride when we went out to play.

I remember so many fond memories, riding with my friend Patrice - and we're still friends today! Still both addicted to horses, but now with hubands and children to take on the journey with us.  To this day, thinking of these two ponies, warms my heart. I cannot even imagine my childhood without them. For those parents sitting on the fence, thinking only of the $ going out, think again. There is so much for a child to learn - both in responsibility as well as loving and caring for something so special.

On the Road to Visit Small, Family Farms Around America

We are a little over a month out now from hitting the road in search of our new farm location and doing some US History while we are out and about. One of the things that we feel so passionate about is visiting other farms. Seeing how they do things, sharing what we have learned and just encouraging others as we go.

We are so excited to finally be able to hit the road and visit other Fjord farms as well! It's been a personal dream of mine to visit other Fjord homes and see how they live. We've been to see a couple in Wisconsin, Washington, "Fjord Heaven" - more on that one later - but what about the rest?

Is there a farm that you've been to in the mid-west or south that is a must we should stop by and visit - horses or not?
Is that you? Would you host us? We'd love to write a story about your farm here too! Help us start a revolution and share the small farm story.

Share your farm thoughts here.