Egg zactly!

I know this is supposed to be about furniture, but there's other stuff that goes on here, like collecting eggs and related activities.  The furniture is still being built, the "hall tree" just about ready for the photographer.
             To the average person, eggs are just a small part of their life, a grab off the grocery shelf and a few minutes tossing them into a cake recipe or into a frying pan.  Not so for me............keeping chickens is a full time job.   Once per day usually in the late afternoon or evening I go collect the eggs and feed the hens,  every day, 7 days a week, that is if I want them to keep laying which is the whole idea.   A couple of times per year the coop gets cleaned out fencing gets repaired etc.
             I originally got into laying hens to create farm income  so I can maintain farm status saving us about $1500 in property taxes.   Really I get a lot more out of those hens than just the farm status.  I have an "egg run" on Wednesday's  which gets me out to town  delivering eggs.  Everyone enjoys good fresh farm eggs and they're easy to sell,  all my regular customers are always happy to see me.  We chat for a minute and it's on to the next drop.  It's a fun way to get a little social interaction.
              I remember my Uncle in Holland, the one with the corner store saying that when they had to quit home delivery service he cried.  He had worked in the store right from when he was young.  One of the tasks that he did was going out to the farms and picking up eggs.  They were repacked and sold in the store,  he had a huge wicker basket fastened to the front of his bicycle that he used to transport everything from eggs to ....well, I've had a ride in it!   Gerrit loved going to the farms and delivering groceries and picking up eggs or whatever was needed.   It was his connection to his community, yes people came to the store for their supplies as well, but he loved going out to the farms, chatting with the farmers and hearing how things were and what was happening.
             I don't exactly have a corner store, but I have a little bit of the same  routine, feeding the sheep in the morning and evening, collecting eggs, washing and packing them and then delivering them once per week.  I feel I'm doing my bit to add to local food production.   I dream of growing more food and marketing it, but so far it's just been a dream.  One doesn't do these kind of things to make money, yes the chickens make a profit but not an income.   I think we all like some routine in life and keeping  100 laying hens is one of my routines..............I just hope no one ever overhears me chatting with them while I'm collecting the eggs.
              The birds are so friendly and eager.  As soon as they see you they come flocking to the fence hoping you're bringing a bucket of scraps. Sometimes I let them run loose in the garden and the yard and they follow me around not wanting to miss anything.  I remember one spring I was trying to level some manure piles in the garden prior to rototilling.   Where ever I moved a bit of manure or dirt, bugs and worms would be exposed and the hens were right there not wanting to miss a single worm.  Eventually I had to lock them up because I couldn't move with the tractor for fear of squishing a few.     Cleaning out their coop is another time when they're right under foot, not wanting to miss anything remotely edible.
                   You probably think...........what's the big deal just some chickens.  I guess you have to have kept some to appreciate them.   There are problems though......like when an eagle or an owl decides to come and eat your hens one at a time.  I hardly dare say the word "raccoon" here as I haven't had any trouble from them for a couple of years.  One winter I lost 35 birds to raccoons.   One good thing is I've managed to stop the ravens from stealing eggs.   I built a little wooden tunnel about 3 feet long leading into the chicken coop which the ravens haven't learned to negotiate.  Nothing more frustrating than watching ravens flying out of the hen house carrying an egg in their beak.
              So my routine in the morning is first get the eggs soaking and have a cup off coffee with Brenda while checking the state of the world......(emails, facebook, flicker, etc) .   Then wash and scrub the eggs, have breakfast and get on with the day life on the "farm"

the old Dutch game of "sjoelen"

              Sjoelen, is a game played with a "sjoelbak",  a wooden tray about 16" wide and 80" long with 4 slots at the end into which you try to slide 20 wooden pucks. The game is a great mixer of young and old, pro's and amatuers. I think it's still known and played in some Dutch circles but I don't think you'll find one at a gaming store.

              I have fond memories of playing it at my Uncle's place.  They had a corner store in Aalten, Holland, and once every few months we would visit, and quite often the "sjoelbak would come out.  It was usually on a Sunday that we were there, church would be over, it would be coffee time, the men were smoking the women serving coffee and baked goodies from the store shelves.   We were used to home baked cakes, squares etc. but when you ran a corner grocery store one didn't have time for baking. My Aunt and Uncle were run of their feet with their store from early in the morning till late, so when it came to Sunday visits and one of them wasn't engaged in a conversation for a minute or two they promptly  feel asleep.

             Sunday mornings was pretty good though, they'd had a little nap in church during the sermon and were fueled by coffee and the adreneline of getting the high score in sjoelen.   So in a cloud of cigar and cigarette smoke the game is on the table and everybody takes their best shot with the score recorded on  a pad of paper.  No one was excluded, if you were too short to see over the table they stood you on a chair.  The pucks are about 1 5/8"  in diameter........perfect for a 2 year old to fling down the board and Oma............if she could still hold a cup of coffee could still make those pucks slide.  When it was my Aunt's turn,  they would holler for her to get out from the kitchen and shoot pucks.  Usually her shots were furiously fast without much thought given to aiming and scoring because she had meat browning in the pan or something on the boil.

           My uncle and the rest of us would really get into it though........shirt sleeves would be rolled up, the coffee when it came would sometimes be uncerimoniously "slurped up" because the game was on!  When the pucks started piling up at the end, my uncle's last few shots looked like they came out of a cannon sending the pucks flying and creating "bokjes" .   A "bok" is when one puck ends up resting on top of another or stands up on it's side and gets to be reshot.  In the real world a "bok" is a male goat or a "buck" in English and,  hence when one puck rides up over another they call it a "buck".  Pretty plain and simple in those days...............if you still don't get it.............ask your dad.

            The game winds down when the smells of lunch are too strong to resist anymore and the scores are added up to find out who's the champion.  My uncle slips through into the grocerystore and comes back with a variety of cartons of yoghurt and pudding out of the cooler and the winner is allowed to chose one as a prize,  is very ceremoniously presented with it and told to take it with them to the dining table.  There it sits like a trophy during the meal letting everyone know who the champion was, while the other containers humbly wait on the kitchen  counter for "desert time".   After lunch, the pucks are counted to make sure one didn't roll of into a corner they're tucked in a little cigar box and sjoelbak is slid under the bed in the guest room ..........till next time.

           Fast forward 50 years, we have a sjoel bak............of course!  and it comes out when company and family is over.  The younger ones get a chair to stand on and Oma can still get the pucks down there.   The game is played with one person shooting pucks and one or two people tending the end, sending back "bokjes"  and giving advice about where to shoot and keeping score.

     Like I said at the beginning, it's a great mixer of people, doesn't require  batteries or a computer or a screen to play it on.   You get one model and it can last a few generations. nothing like the games of today which are expensive need constant renewing and updating and only show you how to kill the enemy or crash your car...............don't get me going..............

Anyone interested in trying it out can come and have a go on it at my place.  If two or three people would like one I'll set up and build a few again.

Till next time,  Henk.

New kid on the block.............red!

Just uploading some more photos of our sofa tables.  Just finished the red one and am pretty excited about it.  Anyway, back to work.   Henk.

Kinsol Valley Farm......home.

                I guess there's a first for everything, walking, talking, riding a bike, going to school, driving, first kiss,.......you get the idea.  My head filled pretty quick with firsts.............give it a couple of seconds  and I'm sure you'll have the same.

               Well..............you guessed it, this is my first try at doing a blog.  It seems lots of people do it, so technically it can't be too hard.  I used to correspond quite a bit years ago with some friends and family using that archaic form of communication (pen and paper)...........I filled sheets and sheets.............I'll try to not do that here and bore any reader.   Isn't it funny how your own thoughts and opinions always seem much more understandable than someone else's.

                 Kinsol Valley Farm is on Southern Vancouver Island just out side of Duncan.  We're out in the country on a gravel road and the property borders on the Trans Canada Trail.  We've got a few sheep and 100 laying hens, an orchard and a big veggie garden. When we take the dogs for a walk, often we go south about 20 minutes and end up at the Kinsol Trestle, one of the world's largest wooden trestles.  It's wonderfully quiet out here


                   I've done carpentry all my life, but when the need arises I tend to do what ever comes along.  At present construction is a bit slow and I have some time on my hands which I've decided to fill with making furniture.  Over the years I've accumulated some tools, the shop is finally warm and dry, and my partner Brenda has always liked finishing furniture...........so here we go.

                  We've come up with a few pieces of furniture and a few different finishes.  We hope to expand and build all sorts of different pieces as well as do custom pieces.  Everything is built with simple solid Spruce or Pine wood.  The work is glued, screwed or nailed or biscuit joined together.  Simple, strong, honest........no thin veneers, plastics or particle board.  Table tops and pieces wider than one board are simply made by laminating boards together.    The finish is done with a few coats of paint, or stain and completed with a clear sealer coat or a couple of coats of wax.  We give the furniture a comfortable warm look.

                    Like I started off saying .......this is the first time doing a blog, so it'll look a bit "bumpy" at first.  The photos of the furniture need to be a bit more professional, but that will come.  This will give you a bit of an idea as to what  we're up to.      We have a few pieces of furniture  ready, and more are coming out of the shop everyday.  Here's a list
:
                Sofa table     48" x  18" x 30" high
                End table      24" x 18" x 22" high
                Settee            42" x 15" x16" high
                Step Chair     16" high seat, flips to reveal 2 steps.
                Various stools and benches  10" to 16"  high and 12" to 36" long
                Coat rack and hat shelf  about  36" long,  can be made any size.    
                A " Sjoelbak ", if you have some Dutch heritage, you'll know what kind of an animal this is.......it's really a great family game, and I'll talk more about this in a few days.  Take care, Henk. 

                If you would like to know more about our furniture, order, purchase, or just have a chat, here  are a few ways to get in touch with us.

                           Henk Scholten and Brenda Brown,
                           4041 Mountain road.
                           Duncan B.C.    V9L 6N4

                           Ph. 250 746 7371      email  henkinsol@yahoo.ca     or  bjbooks101@gmail.com