Skijoring on the farm

Sara and I skijoring on the farm

Winter life on the farm can be fun and exciting. We have three horses on the farm and use them for pleasure riding. This year we decided on a new way to have fun with the horses!

Sara recently discovered a new and exciting way to exercise our Arab horse; the sport skijoring has a skier towed by a horse, this is an actual Olympic sport, and we found how fun it was to ski behind our horse! The sport was first demonstrated in the 1928 Winter Olympics. The sport has the horse pulling the skier as they maneuver themselves through a number of obstacles and jumps. The World championships have been held in Whitefish Montana since 2009. I told Sara we will have to make our way up to the championships someday, we can call it a learning expedition!

Admittedly I have no plans of entering into any event but I can’t lie it is an incredibly awesome experience! What we did was relatively easy; we used an old water ski tow rope and tied it off to the saddle horn. Sounds simple! Horses are interesting animals as they have personalities and sometimes those personalities can become crystal clear when you have them do something they’re not accustomed to doing! Our Arab has always been a little spooky when it comes to sticks, leaves and other small snake like creatures; tying a rope to a saddle horn and pulling a skier behind him was going to be an adventure! He has mellowed over the years and spooks less but every so often he splays his feet to hug the ground when something has spooked him. It can be exciting as a rider when this happens but we had no idea what to expect with this new idea.

The first time we tied him to a skier he did a good job; he was a little scared but we took a ride down one of our fields and through the woods. We had a small amount of snow but the experience was definitely a positive one. We didn't have a lot of snow for this first attempt which made maneuvering through the woods a little tricky, remember those sticks appear as snakes to our Arab! Despite our fears or my fears he did a great job! Sara also learned how much more difficult it was to ride him while towing a skier behind but she maintained control and did an awesome job.

Our next adventure took place Christmas day with a good six inches of fresh powder on the ground, we knew what we were going to do. We took out our Arab and saddled him up. It was snowing, a light snow, and definitely a cold Wisconsin wind was blowing. Our daughter was first to go. She put on the ski boots and as her mom got the horse ready, it should be noted, Sara, my wife, is the equestrian master in our house and without her knowledge we probably wouldn’t be doing this. Sara rides amateur jumping and has a trainer and I am curious what he would think about our doings? Once we had the horse ready we moved out to the field with the skies and tow rope. Sara tied the rope to the saddle horn as Dawson mounted her skies. My job was to photograph and video their performance. Honestly at this point I wasn’t going to do it, I figured our daughter would enjoy the run and I wouldn’t have to slip out of my warm winter boots into a pair of ski boots. Plus I had made the initial run with the horse a few weeks back and figured it would be best if our daughter got the experience. Once I saw them coming down the field I knew I was going to be skijoring shortly! Watching the snow fly as our daughter skies were gliding down the field was enough for me. Watching the horse canter through the snow is another delightful site, snow flying everywhere and all you can hear is the horse’s breathing and his hooves pounding down to the ground.

So it was my turn and looking back I am glad I decided to do this. I put on my ski boots and even chuckled as I realized I was wearing my Carharts, farming winter wear that is quite warm but not made for skiing! All my life I have skied and I guarantee if I would have showed up at any ski resort wearing this outfit, people would have chortled as they watched me ski. Heck even I was laughing! I carried my skies out and Sara was already tied off from before. I stood ready to go and off we went. The start is a little slow as the horse is getting ready and Sara is getting adjusted. Soon we were trotting and next cantering down the field. Like I stated before the only sound you hear is the horse, and the skies gliding along. Snow is flying off the skies and you are maneuvering the skies as you need to turn. Once we got down to the end of the field we headed into the woods. The snow covered trees and light snow made the experience surreal! Once we glided out of the woods we headed into our west field and went around the outer perimeter of the field; earlier this year Sara had mowed a path around the field and it has been used by horses for the last six months. At one point I told Sara "sharp corner", meaning she might want to slow down a little so I could make the turn, and it was when I learned she was already doing that but the horse was trying to get away from the guy chasing him! Needless to say I managed the turn and we moved along at a nice pace. Once we got through the woods and back down the field I was on fire with excitement, this had been an experience I would not soon forget and look forward to our next skijoring adventure! Enjoy the videos I know we did!

 

 

Winter Harvest

It has been a while since I wrote about the garden! The final results for the garden this year are for the most part positive. It’s now December and as of 4 days ago we harvested the last of the garden; we managed to harvest 75 lbs. of carrots, 20 lbs. of parsnips, 4 ½ dozen leeks and a few beets. Not a bad haul for dismantling the garden in the spring and moving towards a Hugelkulture style! The leeks were started, along with the parsnips, in a cold frame I had built earlier but due to a huge wind storm in the spring I lost part of the seedlings! I figured I would not make up the loss but went ahead and replanted new seeds and transplanted the ones that had made it through the high winds into the newly formed bed. This was also true for the parsnips. Despite mother nature’s best efforts we managed to grow leeks, parsnips and carrots all season! When it came time to harvest the temperature outside was dropping (around 20 degrees f), it was drizzling rain and we had already had a hard freeze for the season. I usually leave root vegetables in the ground until the first or second hard freeze. I believe it converts the sugars and makes them sweeter! Sara went through 3 pairs of gloves in 2 hours of harvesting the carrots! My favorite time in the garden is harvesting the bounty but sometimes it can be a bit on the extreme side of liking as your hands are freezing and wet! Despite the uncomfortable conditions I have to say Sara was a trooper; even when I felt we had found all of the carrots she went about making sure every single last one was harvested!

Freshly picked carrots, parsnips, beets and leeks

For the last three weeks I have been bringing home coffee grounds and filling the beds with the grounds. Keep in mind the beds are formed with logs and contain sticks inside of the soil; the sticks create air pockets and help to keep the soil lose. The issue with using wood however is that wood tends to suck nitrogen out of the soil! To supplement this I am adding some nitrogen rich nutrients, coffee, mulch, compost and later I will add horse manure to the soil. When spring comes and it is time to plant, we will use a broadfork to lift the soil up, but we will not till the soil. The permaculture  process is to attempt to duplicate mother nature and mother nature doesn't till soil, she stacks on top continuously and as each layer is added it breaks down below.  This winter I will plan a rotation for the beds, not planting the same items but to move them to a different bed. The rotation is another way to give plants important nutrients left behind from the previous plantings. There are guides that will help in determine what should be planted after tomatoes have grown previously in one bed and provide information on where the tomatoes should move to next.

Fresh processed leeks!

The planning for a garden should happen in January and by time you complete your plan you should be purchasing seeds and investigating good seasonal planting dates. Some items may need to be started early and require you to plant indoors; this is something  we start this year and hopefully get to in time. Last year I wanted to plant celeriac for example but due to not getting the seeds started in time it never happened! This year however, I plan on getting those darn seeds started!

 

Admittedly our garden is a big undertaking and does require some planning; but you can start out small and manage your garden without it taking up all of your time. This is the time of the year you want to think about what you want to grow next season. You can order your seeds from various sources depending on your needs. We like to purchase non GMO seeds and heirloom seeds whenever possible. This is our choice but certainly you can grow what you feel best suits your needs. The other important decision to remember is one we are still learning; what to do with a successful harvest! Where in the world do you put all of those carrots and leeks! I like to can some of our produce but as a chef I have learned that canning removes a lot of the great nutrients and flavors of the produce. So, the next best thing, is to freeze your produce. We do this but often find ourselves out of freezer space! I suppose it is a nice problem to have and we do manage to cook with our produce and eat it before spoilage occurs.