Spring on the Farm

Posted on 28th June 2022 in adventure, animals, foto story, nature, photojournalism, Red Spruce

Today it’s nearly the beginning of July. The summer solstice has passed and it’s shorter days from here on forth for another half year. On the farm here, we have a litter of piglets nearly ready for weaning, our first calf of the year was born a few days ago, Rosie our Great Pyrenees dog is about to give birth, lambs are almost all at the target weight of 90 lbs, and the grass is ready to cut if only we had a few days in a row of sunny, dry, and windy weather for the hay!

I’m definitely starting to feel more like a farmer. I think we all are here. We have chores that definitely involve animals. We have learned a great deal about fencing and the importance of it to keep the animals where you want them to be and safe. I watch the weather religiously and keep an eye on animals for any symptoms of something wrong. I also sweat through my shirt on the regular and enjoy a cold beer on the patio at the end of a day.

It’s been quite a test of my devotion to photographs these last few years as I learn to re-integrate the camera into my arsenal. Most days I’m covered in something that I don’t want to get on the camera. This means carrying a camera has been a challenge for me. It’s also a challenge carrying all the things I like to keep on me, my every day carry stuff. As of right now, I have started to put everything into a ruksack that I take with me everywhere. Inside there is my Lowepro camera bag keeping my camera behind a second wall of defense. It seems to be working, but also quite heavy! But I use it like one would a jacket: I take it to where I’m working and hang it on some hook I can find and then go about my work.

Perhaps these photos will show some of what we’ve been up to where my words cannot elaborate.

Highland Cows - Red Spruce Farm
Shawna our Highland cow with her new calf
Click here to read more.. »

Doi Inthanon, Thailand

Posted on 6th February 2020 in adventure, nature

I first heard of Doi Inthanon from a fellow on a big bike.

I used to sit in a smoothie bar, Jojo Smoothies, that my friend Korn owned. I would sit in there working on my computer usually, editing or writing or coding, and have my GIANT cup that Korn would make me a smoothie in.

Sitting there, I began to meet people that would come in. They’d order their thing and then casually walk in, not sure if they should sit down or walk back out or what. I’d be there, and usual etiquette is to sit not too close but close enough to get brought into a conversation when one is happening.

He had his big adventure bike and was talking about how he had come to Thailand for 10 years in a row to tour through Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and how now it was all different. Regulations and borders. “The tallest mountain in Asia is right at your doorstep! And there’s a killer bike route that takes you from Doi Inthanon all the way up the border of Myanmar to Pai, and then back to Chiang Mai.”

I also sat in Jikko Café most of the mornings where I had my espresso and got to meet the people that came into there. We kind of started to have a group of us that would hang out or do some adventures together. One day, G and Tak came into the café and said: “Ned, let’s go to Doi Inthanon.” “I’m in!”

We woke before light and were probably 3/4 the way there before the sun came up, so we beat most of the other people that make it a busy destination. The whole way there and back I was all eyes for the road we were traveling. Truly a beautiful country and landscape. So many things to see.

This is what we saw while hiking around on Doi Inthanon.

Click here to read more.. »

Across Canada 2019

Posted on 1st January 2020 in adventure, nature, wandering

In the summer of 2019 my girlfriend, Crystal, and I drove across Canada to pick up a load in a cargo trailer from long term storage to bring back across Canada to our farm. For me, this had been the fourth year in a row to make this exact same trip, but for Crystal it was her first time being past Northern Ontario driving.

We slept in the empty trailer on the way West, which was an absolute luxury. We tried to pull off the side of the road so we wouldn’t have to get a campsite, but it was during the time of the nation wide man hunt for the two young fugitives from Vancouver Island so we were always just a little bit on edge when we’d find a nice place to stop. Nothing like a little danger to keep a trip exciting. I like to put little camp symbols on our oversized map so that in future years we know where a good campsite is. It’s probably not necessary because there are campsites in nearly every town, but sometimes you’re sitting there thinking to yourself: “I know the campsite was somewhere in this part of the country, but I just don’t remember the name of the little adorable town it was located in.” So there, on the map, is a little camp symbol that solves the mystery.

I think one of the more memorable things for me was when we stopped in the Fraser Canyon of BC to look down the canyon on a particularly beautiful turn in the river, and behind us we hear a few rocks tumbling down. I was worried because the truck was below those rocks, but up up up we see some goats following an ancient trail. First a big male goes to show the way, then a few females, then about 5 little kids make their way across! What a sight! Sometimes it’s easy for me to get caught up in our modern industrialized and urbanized world and feel like our wildlife is a thing of the past, that we no longer have any, and then seeing something like this makes me realize that there is still something out there untamed, wild, free, true.

At this point, we were on our way to Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island. Seeing the wild Pacific Coast one last time was pretty special for us. I remember growing up I always wanted to live in Vancouver. The wild old growth forests and the gnarly roots everywhere was to me something very special. In fact, it was in the mountains around Vancouver that I really started photographing as I hiked endlessly. For Crystal, it was her first time seeing the giant cedars and firs and the wild, rugged coastline of the open Pacific Ocean.

And just like that, it was time for us to zip back to Atlantic Canada and back to the farm.

Outside Sault St. Marie, Ontario
Click here to read more.. »

Our New Farm, Red Spruce

Posted on 6th January 2019 in nature, photojournalism, Red Spruce

This year has been a year of building, that’s for sure. Almost everything has really taken a back seat to building. I’ve only now had a chance to take a look at some of the photographs I’ve taken over the time.

Let me step back a second.

In 2017 we bought land in Nova Scotia in Pictou County. We live in Poplar Hill. In 2018, dad and I arrived to meet Bart here in late April and we at once began planning and building.

It took quite a while to really get things rolling. There was brainstorming, frustration dealing with last minute contractor cancellations, permits, and schedules to deal with – the ever ominous: “I should be able to make it there next week.” But with the three of us, joined by mom in the early part of summer, we kept moving forward. When we weren’t able to work on the house, we worked on out buildings. In those early days we would drive into town almost every day to pick up supplies, which was frustrating for all of us. It took us quite a while to get into the mindset of anticipating what things we needed to buy to keep us busy for a few days rather than just one or two days, and also buying enough supplies for the full job at once, rather than one step at a time. We also had to head into town nearly daily for groceries since we were living in a small cabin with no electricity, and a shower at the Pictou County rec center (which we are still doing to this day).

So many things have happened that I’ll kind of just rattle off here. Perhaps it would be better suited in the intro of a photobook.

We got a dog, an Australian Shepherd, we named Ruu. Alex Knicker joined us for so much of the summer giving her more than willing helping hand; I’m sure her blood has been imprinted in the planks used here many times over. We bought a tractor to use with our new-to-us disc harrow, sickle bar mower, wood chipper/shredder, and successfully spread lime and seeded the working land (~30 acres) we have here – yes, I did get the tractor stuck a few times which Bart, like a champion, helped me dig out. Bart bought a 4-wheeler, I bought a dual-sport motorbike. The tools, oh the tools! We build two 8’x12′ cabins, and one 12’x16′ chicken coop), one outhouse, and we are now almost complete building a 1800sq.ft (main floor) insulated concrete form (ICF) house (just about finished hardwood flooring and tiling the bathrooms). There are deer that cross our field daily now, and a few days ago we saw a coyote looking curious. There is a group of white breasted snow birds that are regular here now this winter. The raccoons have hibernated, as have the pheasants.

What a learning experience.

I still sleep in the chicken coop. There’s definitely a few reasons why I do, but the biggest two are that the house isn’t quite ready for living nor do we have a live-in inspection done, also, in the coop I sleep with the dog (and sometimes cat) on my legs.

Spring at the creek
Click here to read more.. »
comments: 6 » tags: autumn, dog, land, red spruce, spring, summer

Coast to Coast Part II

Posted on 26th September 2017 in adventure, nature

During the summer of 2017 my father and I traveled 20000 kms from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia and back again. The crossing itself is about 7000 km, and we spent a considerable amount of time driving around in Nova Scotia, too. My initial plan before I left this summer was to go from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia back to Vancouver Island and then back to Nova Scotia where I would move into our new house. Well, the second part of the journey across didn’t really happen since we ended up buying land without a house, so now I’m sitting here trying to decide what to do for the winter.

For the entire journey we stayed in Canada. Canada actually has quite beautiful roads – the trans-Canada for the most part has double lanes and smooth roads.

The order of these photographs are in the order that I took them, so you can kind of follow our path along as we went.

One of my challenges of this journey was to try and get some lifestyle photographs, which I really did fail at horribly. I am trying to train my eye to see casual settings to take photographs of, that I am a part of. I know it exists somewhere in remote triggering with my phone and setting the camera up on a tripod, but I still definitely haven’t come close to mastering that. Maybe I just need a sidekick with a camera…

Do you have any locations I should go to next spring when I’m doing the trip?

 

Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

Click here to read more.. »