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New Place

Faster horses said:
PureCountry said:
Thanks alot folks. Really appreciate the kind words, and all of you are welcome around our fire anytime. :wink:

jodywy - I asked a an older rancher neighbor to this place if the highway to town ever drifts in with snow. He squinted his eyes, cocked his head to the side a bit, rubbed his chin whiskers and said, "I saw a snow drift once. The winter we went out to Regina, Saskatchewan to spend Christmas with the inlaws."

I will always remember that comment from that man, as it was the 25th of April, 28 degrees Celsius, green grass around our feet, and a big reason why we picked this spot.

Gcreek - thanks for all your advice in our search for a new home, greatly appreciated, and we'd love to have you for a visit sometime.
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Wow. No winter? :shock: How far are you from gcreek?
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Heck, I'm probably 5 or 6 hundred miles north of gcreek and enjoy a better climate! It's all about elevation and microclimates! :D
 
Faster horses said:
PureCountry said:
Thanks alot folks. Really appreciate the kind words, and all of you are welcome around our fire anytime. :wink:

jodywy - I asked a an older rancher neighbor to this place if the highway to town ever drifts in with snow. He squinted his eyes, cocked his head to the side a bit, rubbed his chin whiskers and said, "I saw a snow drift once. The winter we went out to Regina, Saskatchewan to spend Christmas with the inlaws."

I will always remember that comment from that man, as it was the 25th of April, 28 degrees Celsius, green grass around our feet, and a big reason why we picked this spot.

Gcreek - thanks for all your advice in our search for a new home, greatly appreciated, and we'd love to have you for a visit sometime.
Click to expand...

Wow. No winter? :shock: How far are you from gcreek?
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There's winter there, it consists mostly of fog and sunless days. :wink:

In a week you'll have a direct overnight spot for the next time Mr. FH gets a wild hair to come north. :D

You are more than welcome PC, hopefully you aren't hunting me with a shootin iron in a year or so. :lol:
 
Jigger Boss, we left AB for several reasons. Water isn't great, in quantity or quality, and it's getting worse.

Then there's the fact that the ranch I grew up on and loved is now surrounded on 3 sides by huge chemical farms which makes it very difficult for us to get, or keep, organic status on our land, which is very important to us.

Then there's the other side of the farm that faces across the Battle River Valley at the huge tank storage facility south of Hardisty. Takes up most of my view that direction now from almost anywhere on what used to be our land.

So, all in all, where I grew up and what I loved just ain't what it used to be. So we went looking for a place with better topsoil and growing conditions, a safe and plentiful water supply, and a place that was organic/direct marketing friendly. We ended up in southern BC. :D
 
As for being shadowed, that was also a part of the appeal of this farm. It's in a wide open part of the valley. It's not a real wide valley, but the whole farm is on benches that have full southern exposure. Grows great hay, and we'll have a strawberry patch going next year.
 
I just looked up Grand Forks, BC on the map. You are barely out of the state of Washington.

It looks like a dream place, Pure Country. I'm curious why it was on the market. Perhaps the owners were elderly? We missed seeing you on our last trip to Canada/Alaska, but hopefully that won't happen again. We are planning another trip to Canada, just not this year. When are you making the big move?

I have come up with a saying that goes like this, "you don't change and everything changes around you." Sounds like that is what happened to you with the addition of tanks, etc. where you grew up.

We wish you the very best. Life is an adventure, always.
If we were young, I think we would do exactly what you are doing. FWIW
 
Hey PC, nice move. You will really be able to do some creative stuff there. Now you are half way between me and Eastwind and I am overdue for a visit to Eastwind. Checking your ponderosa out on the way could be a fun distraction on a long drive.
 
Adding some pics. The move is over, the unpacking continues. Pretty amazing to be turning cows onto grass that's 18-24" high, and has already yielded 2 cuts of hay. I can get used to this.

Waving goodbye to the old place.


Drove through the night to catch up to the cattle liner and get the girls out on grass. Seeing the sunrise for the first time on the new place was a fairly indescribable feeling.



Wife and kids got there a bit later, so we enjoyed breakfast and coffee on the deck looking over the yard and Kettle River





Got the irrigation going right away. That's been a learning curve.




Couldn't resist the urge to string polywire and set up a fencer for some creative grazing. Cows haven't complained about the BC grass yet.







Kids at the new school with a couple new friends, what a great day.


Heavy mist this morning in the valley. Hope you enjoy the pics

 
I certainly did enjoy the pictures! What awesome-looking country. You and your family have been blessed, PC.

I can't imagine a winter up there without snow, so I hope you show us how nice the winters are when the time comes!

What did you do with your old place?

What was the temperature there today? Is it cool, like at gcreeks and Debbies place? Got to 95 here today. Can't wait for a cool-down. And rain. It needs to rain again. Soon.

Best of luck to you and yours in your new digs!!
 
Did you bring the hawgs and poultry too? Glad you made it.

One thing I didn't ask was if your irrigation is gravity or pump? Are you getting a welcoming downpour overnight and this morning? Doesn't sound very nice for southern BC as far as chance of flooding.
 
Sold all the bacon bits this spring, didn't want to push the boundaries until we're settled in. We'll be back in the poultry business soon, the oldest boy has been hounding me to get a coop built. Luckily the place came with one of your typical BC Real Estate Agents Special "Rustic Cabins". I'd only call it a cabin for a mother-in-law if she had a cauldron and tied her broom to the hitchin' post.

So, the "Rustic Cabin" is going to become the new Poultry Palace.

 
Oh, irrigation, it's all electric. We're on the valley floor. There is a nice place next door that has land going up the side of the valley with a creek gushing out year round. They're renting us their grass on the river flat for fall grazing, and we talked about damming up their creek and doing some irrigating out of it because they have a licence for it. Would sure save on the electrical bill every month.

And yes, it's been raining off and on for a couple days. We haven't gotten much in total, but it's keeping the temp down in a reasonable range. These shaggy haired cows didn't know what to do when it hit 36 degrees the other day. They laid in the shade for hours.
 
Really really impressed and happy for you guys! And really really jealous! :lol: :lol: Our cows would die of shock from all the grass and lack of ledges and boulders. :wink: I admire your courage and enthusiasm. It must be a big step to take but the rewards look amazing. I wish you the best as you adapt and apply all you know in your new operation. Kudos to ya and your family from the H's :D
 

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