Merry Christmas ..............

This is always a busy time for every one. But I am glad you took the time to come for a visit here on our blog. It is appreciated.
I hope you are able to spend some time with your family. Christmas time is always special to me. Matt and Amanda come over from Fredericton. We think of Dianna & Jordan and Mary & Isaac as well at this time and wish that we could have been all together, but that was not to be this year. We hope, the Lord willing to Celebrate all together again next year.
We did have a nice get together with the rest of the Nieuwhof's at Marten and Karen's last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. There was lots of food , as usual, and good company. Amanda decided that it would be a good idea to exchange presents at home too right away. So, that's what we did. It was hard to get Caleb and Damaris to go to bed after that. They wanted to stay up longer and play with all the new toys. Well, that was understandable.
These are some pictures I took at home. Top: Matt, Caleb and Amanda. Beside:Pete, Damaris, Mom and Rebecca on the floor. And a good time was had by all.
By the time you read this blog, it will likely be Christmas for you as well. I hope you well get to enjoy to time with family as much as I am.

p.s.

I started a new hobby. Wine making. Finally a hobby that will save me some money. Below is what the first batch of white wine looks like right now. Not that white, is it? It looks more like grape juice at this point. But I'm told this is the normal colour.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you...............

And then it was winter..........

Winter has arrived on P.E.I. A little early. We were not ready for this yet. Still have quite a bit of plowing left to do. I guess it will be snowplowing now. But it was a great time for the kids to play in the snow. It was great snowman snow. You know, the sticky kind. They had lots of fun with snowball fights. Caleb made a ninja snowman. And Damaris made the Pillsbury snowman.We had about 25 cm of the white stuff. Enough to have some good fun in. Klaas even had to go out and blow snow with the big tractor. Hope he had fun. Just a taste of things to come.
It is supposed to go well above zero this coming week, with 10 to 20 mm of rain coming our way the middle of the week.
I won't mind that so much, but it will make quite a mess everywhere. Oh well, we'll deal with that when the time comes.
Grading is going to start next week as well. The prices are looking good. Hopefully the cullage will not be too high. It is starting to look like a decent year. We pray all will go well this winter, and that we may be content with what we have.
May God bless you this coming week in all your endeavours........

Some pictures of post harvest activities........

Just because digging is over does not mean that all the work is done. We still have about two weeks of outside work to do before we can sit back and relax a little bit. I took a few pictures of that for you.
The first picture showes a field that was covered with hay mulch. We cover the fields to help prevent soil erosion. Marten has been at this for the last couple of days. He was working to far away to get a picture of him doing it. But here is the result anyway. Looks like the field is nicely covered.
In this picture, Tineke is ripping up the headland. The heavy truck tracks left in the field from harvesting get loosened up again.And then we get to the plowing. Klaas and I are at it with two plows. A lot of times we are going behind one another. It gets a little complicated at the ends sometimes. But we have got that down to a science. I drive in the back, and never have to stop. Klaas seems to be able to get in the furrow again before I complete my loop on the headland.
Later in the day we had some sea gulls over for a snack. They took off an hour or so later and left lots of tips, mostly on the windows.........

Busy times on the farm...........

Hi there all you faithfull readers. Glad you are still checking up on me. We finished digging on November the 6 th. And now it is time to clean up around everywhere before the snow falls. There is plowing to do, balebusting, manure spreading trying to figure out how to ventilate all the different piles of potatoes. All the buildings are full to the door. So today we started grading some today. And slowly we will get more room again.
We finished harvesting the greenhouse yesterday. Nice stuff for planting.
I will try to take some pictures of the yard out back. All the machinery that is normally in the shed, is parked outside. Machinery everywhere. You can hardly turn around. I hope you all have a great weekend............

Still digging potatoes...........

Sorry, no pictures. We are still digging. This is like the fall that never ends. It will be another week for sure, before we are done. Big crop. All the storages will be full. The Lord willing , we should be done by the end of next week. This is starting to remind me of digging carrots. It is heavy going, and we had a few breakdowns this morning. Slipclutch malfunction, the bolts fell out, and half hour later I blew a tire on the digger. So by lunch time, I was still doing my first round. And then it rained. But all in all, we still dug 25 loads by 10 o'clock. Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend..............

Digging potatoes at Blue Bay Farms........

A little update on the digging process. It is going fairly slow. But overall, the crop looks good. Definitely something to be thankful for. Specially today, on Thanksgiving. I hope that everyone was able to spend some quality time with family and friends.
Matt and Amanda were home for the weekend. We really enjoyed their company. But the time goes by so quickly. Specially when we are digging during the day. At least we had a good dinner together on Saturday with everyone. And Salsa and nachos last night.
And as I had promised, here are a few digging pictures.
Here, Klaas is wind rowing 4 rows of potatoes together in between the two that I pick up with the digger.
This is a truckload of
Red Norland potatoes leaving the field. In front of the tractor, you can see the two rows that the digger picks up. By this time, 8 rows have been deposited in between, so the digger picks up ten rows at a time.Above you can see the unloading line at the farm. Here the dirt, rocks and other undesirables get picked out. It takes about 18 people to make all this equipment work efficiently.
This last picture shows the binpiler. As the name suggests, it piles the potatoes in the bin. Beats doing it by hand.........

Notice................

We are busy digging the Red Norland potatoes. It is a big crop. Minimal losses due to rot. Thanks to God, it could have been a lot worse.
And by the way......... Caleb has posted a new blog. Just in case you want a new chapter story to read.
Greatings all, until next time, when i hope to have some pictures too.............

Open Farm Day results...........

Hi all,
Open Farm Day went very well. We had over a hundred people visit. It is a good way to meet the neighbors from across the road. And their new neighbors as well. They moved in about two months ago. I never knew. We had a model tractor for a doorprize.
There were 73 ballots left over, after we took all the doubles out first. Klaas phoned the happy winner shortly after six, and he came down right away to claim his new John Deere 8330.
There were lots of comments about our digger collection of steel.
Most people figured that the round object seated on the yellow pedestal was indeed a cannonball.
We will wait for some official say in this matter from our family expert.
Digging came to a halt today. All was going well until we started the Red Norlands this afternoon. The first load was fine, but when we topped the hill, the potatoes were skinning too much yet. And with a little bit of rot and blight in the field, we decided to wait until next Monday before we start again. So there is your update in that department. I hope you guys have a great week...........

Open Farm Day tomorrow.............

When you read this, it will likely be all over. We were asked this summer if we would consider hosting open farmday again. Since it was the year of the potato and they did not have a potato farm yet. So after some thinking, we decided to host this event for the second time. We did it two years ago as well. It is really enjoyable, but it takes a lot of work to get ready for it. I'll post some pictures on the next blog, maybe even tomorrow, so be warned, two blogs in a row.
We started digging a few headlands yesterday, the potatoes were still skinning a bit. The crew is coming in on Monday and hopefully we will be able to start digging the seedplots. I could put some archived pictures in for that, but I'll wait for the real ones. We had one interesting find however. Diggin right clos to the shop, we noticed a round iron object in between all the Gold nuggets. Yukon Gold that is. If you look at the pictures I would like you to tell me what you think it is.....

Roguing Seed Potatoes......

These days on Blue Bay Farms are mostly spend in the fields. Roguing seed potatoes is a very important job. The job consists of finding virus infected potato plants, and then remove them from the field.
The top picture shows the roguing crew. From left to right: Rebecca, Tineke, Pete, Marten and Klaas. The empty seat is mine.
These pictures were taken in the field in front of our house. The variety is Prospect. A processing variety.
And this is a picture that shows a Mosaic plant. A potato plant infected with PVY (potato virus Y). You can see how much smaller the plant is. It is going to have a small yield. Therefore it is not desirable to have these in a potato field. That is why we rogue them out.
The last picture shows Prospect on the left and Yukon Gold on the right. In the background you can see all the mussel buoys in the bay.

Hi to you all..

Or the few ones that are left. Summer has arrived on PEI. It is really warm, at least for us. It was around 30 degrees , and high humidity. You folks in Ontario and below that have our sympathies. Hope you stay cool.
The potatoes are growing fast. they could use a shower now. But the dry weather is keeping blight in check.
As most of you probably know, Sarah Terpstra is biking across the U.S. in the Sea To Sea Bike Tour. If you want to follow her progress, here is her blog address.
http://sarahterpstra.blogspot.com
They are at day ten.
All the best for now and have a great week........

Yippey......

We are done planting. Sorry, no pictures. But it is a great feeling to be done. We finished late yesterday afternoon. And today is dedicated to paperwork, cleaning, grading and putting equipment away. More later, we have to eat now........

Change of siding............

We finaly have our new back door in place. Got it late last fall,and then it sat in the barn for the winter. I wanted to finish it before planting. The top pictures shows you how nicely things are greening up here. The flowers are starting to grow as well. We certainly had enough rain lately.
Also put some new siding on the house, as you can see in these pictures. I kind of like the rustic wood look.
Planting has come to a standstill. Last Friday afternoon and Saturday we planted about thirty acres. And we have not turned a wheel since. It was nice yesterday, but is raining again right now.
Matt and Amanda are coming here tonight. We are all looking forward to that.
The stockcar races are starting again tomorrow. Weather permitting. It was cacelled on Monday because of the rain. The farm is sponsoring Walter again this year. I hope that he has fun, it is certainly entertaining for the crowd. Well folks, I hope everyone has a good weekend...........

The Crisis in Agriculture..........

This past Thursday we went to an event in Charlottetown called: May Day, MayDay!
It was organized by the West Prince Chamber of Commerce. In support of farmers, rural businesses churches and schools. The situation with Island Farmers and farm related business here on PEI is serious. After the second year in a row of low commodity prices, a high Canadian dollar, too many potatoes on the market, the closing of the only hog processing plant on PEI and poor beef prices. The Island farming community came together in front of Province House to plead their case with the government. It was very cold, drizzly weather. But about 400 people came out for this very important gathering. Premier Ghiz came out to address the crowd. But not much was accomplished. The PEI GOvernment can't fix this with a big cheque, he said.
We knew this already, but what else can be done, that is the question.
Many speakers had passionate words to say about the quality of rural life that is quickly coming to an end. One young farmer come up and said that in his area, last year there were six small family farming operations. This year there will be only one left on his road. And sadly, that is becoming more frequent, as you talk to other farmes from different areas. The financial crisis in farming today is equal or worse then the thirties were. Something needs to happen. And it has to happen REAL SOON. Or it will be to late for many!
What will happen in the big cities where there is no awareness, if the farmers are not there to feed them anymore. Are they all going to be content with the fact that their food now comes from China and South America? What if the borders are closed for some reason? We need farmers in this country. And all we ask for is a decent living like everybody else. But it seems with the pricing of our products, we depend on others to set the price for us. But when we need parts, then too, the price is set. The problem is, that the margins betwqeen cost and return have overlapped the wrong way for too long. We are no longer able to support this cheap food policy that we have hear in North America. It is time for change. Or life on PEI as we know it today, will be a thing of the past. And that would be a shame. Anyway, let me introduce you to a few people in these pictures.

In this picture, in the white shirt on the left, is Dr. Gary Morgan. He is a vet. from the O'Leary area. With the guitar I believe is Gary Gallant, a dairy farmer from the West Prince area. He sang the song May Day, MayDay for us. It summed up in a few words the serious situation that we find ourselves in today.
The above picture shows you the amount of people that turned out for the event. It was good to see this many show up, eventhough the weather was very poor. It showed the government that we were serious.
This last picture is one for the books. Never before have I been at a meeting where the Federation of Agriculture and the National Farmers Union were standing side by side and coming with a joint resolution to bring to the premier. That actually didn't happen until a little while later, after the meeting was moved inside the House. When the premier was finaly cornered for the third time that day, he started to get the picture that this was serious. Not just a bunch of upset farmers. But mayors, church ministers, equipment dealers, feed company owners. A representative portion of rural PEI. Including farmers.

Our friends have arrived............

Well, the big day has finaly come to P.E.I. It means that spring is here to stay. The weather was just beautiful yesterday. Nice and sunny, and warm too.
Elisabeth said that gardening is earlier this year.
The kids were having lots of fun out, looking for worms in the gardens. They made a wormfarm with them. Hmmm...maybe a new crop for me. Hope your week is going well. Ours is.
This Sunday we are going to visit with Matt and Amanda. That should be exciting. We are looking forwaed to it. Back home again Monday night after a stopover in Moncton.
Have a great weekend everyone.........

Spring is coming.......

Dear readers

It looks and feels very much like spring today. I played catch with Caleb and Damaris today. The grass was a little spongie yet, but we had lots of fun.
The land in front of the house is steaming as I write this. Another sign of spring. Although we are a long ways away from planting potatoes. The ice on the bay is starting to thaw. There is a dark line from the bridge to behind UK's place. The ice in the straight is going away as well. Soon it will start to warm up again. The picture was taken in the National Park above North Rustico.
I'm getting some comment spam lately. So I have decided to change the way that I post your comments. For now I pick wich ones get published. The comments will go to my e-mail account first and then I post or delete them. We'll see if it works. So if your comment doesn't show up right away, that is why.
Have a great week.......

Belated Sleighride Fun.......

It was a while ago already that we went on our sleighride. But I finaly got the pictures developed. And I decided to share them with you.Those Percheron horses looks pretty huge upclose. The team on the right weighs in at about four thousand pounds together. They have no problem pulling a big sleigh. The one horse open sleigh that we had out is for smaller groups, like us. We were only five of us. Jim said that he had a pretty busy winter.
Jim also made a big hill for sledding as well. We all had a go at it. Lots of fun was had by all. The whole week was a fundraiser for Sarah. She is going to try the bicicle trip across the U.S.A. The Sea To Sea Biketour. It is organized by the Christian Reformed Church. We wish her all the best.
They start in Seattle WA on June 30 and finish in Jersey City,NJ. on August 30. http://www.crcna.org/pages/sea_front.cfm
Here is the website in case you want to check it out.
And then I found this picture yet from when Jordan and me went snowmobiling on the Island. It looks like that is all over for another year. So the pictures will have to last until next winter.
It is still pretty busy on the farm, most of the tablestock is gone. And we will be starting to move more seed in the next few weeks.
We are not growing carrots this year, so one thing less to get ready for. I'm sure it will be lots busy anyway. Hope you guys have a great weekend..........

A nice sunny day...........

The weather certainly cooperated today. Nice and sunny and not too cold. First we went North to Balmoral. We saw a lot of awesome nature views. Like the ones below. There is lots of snow every where. Some of the cottages along the trail had about four feet of snow on the roof.

Picture perfect. Lots of fun was had by all. This is what you call: Getting right into it. We had a few laughs over that. It is all part of the fun.
The trails were really good. Hard base with a few cm of powder on top. And then the groomer goes by to make it all smooth as glass.You can see that the guys are getting tired. Some of these groomers are running 24/7.Here is a nice action picture of Klaas. He seems to be having fun. The last bunch of pictures were taken in the Mount Carleton Park area. We drove right trough there. Some more spectacular scenery. A picture doesn't do it justice. You can see how much fun we all had.
Lots of thumbs up!
It was almost eight o'clock when we finaly got back to the hotel.

Friends forever. Klaas and Andre.
A quick shower and then a bite to eat yet. And a Corona of course. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the timely updates. We are going for a short run tomorrow morning yet. And then we are heading home for supper. See you all soon...

Gone sledding............

In New Brunswick snowmobiling.

That is the place to go to get some serious sledding in.Here we are getting ready to leave. That was fun too. Just when we got to the bridge, they closed it to high sided vehicles. That included us. Oh yeah, they also told me that I had to report to the scales. Apparently, I have to go over all the scales because I have a tandem axle trailer now.As you can see in this next picture, you have to fill up with gas whenever and wherever you can. These pictures were taken at Island Lake. It is in the middle of nowhere. It is a camp that is running on a generator. Andre looks quite at home on the sled, eh? He's just lovin it. It is great fun to be out with the three of us. The next picture is of Governers,
They have about four feet of snow everywhere. You actually have to walk down into the place. They were glad to see us. We were their first customers for the day. So we had lunch there. It had been snowing lightly all morning , but that changed after lunch to freezing rain and ice pellets.
It makes for interesting visibility. We made it safely back to the Host, where we could relax and plan the next days activities. Hopefully the sun will be out tomorrow, then we can see some of the mountain scenery that we couldn't see today because of the weather.
And by the way, this was the only moose we saw today. Lots of tracks on the trail, but no real moose. Maybe tomorrow. Have a great day, and thanks for your visit today.