2023 Year End Update
From pasture Pete to pastor Pete and other odd things from the homestead
Well - we have an update! It’s a Christmas Miracle!
It has been an eventful year at Foxhole Farm. That’s the name underwhich Pete christened the farm business. Truth be told I’ve been loath to write an update until now, as the projects have been slower going than anticipated; a formal update at any point along the way would only put a spotlight on that frustrating reality. But now that I look back over 2023, there is some significant progress to report.
Of course, in an ideal world we would keep the flame alive through an ongoing slow burn of periodic updates. But, at this stage, with all the balls in the air, that hasn’t been realistic.
I also made a silly promise in our last update series in 2022 that I would write a part 3 that would include our experience transitioning into small town life. Since I only produced part 1 and part 2, maybe I’ll include a bit of that cultural piece here. Or maybe I won’t. Let’s see how the word count is looking when I complete the updates. And from here on out, I’ll stop making silly promises that I can’t meet.
On to the updates…
Update 1: Mushrooms march forward
Last we left off, we shared that our next steps included a task that contained a deceptively simplified description: “..securing funding for the mushroom lab and cranking out some crops to start our market development in earnest.”
When I look back at that statement, the naivety is glaring. The irony is the absence of the most laborious part that took the better part of the year and continues into 2024 – the design and development of the mushroom lab itself! It has been a process punctuated with pauses and restarts due to a combination of supply chain delays for specialized equipment and troubleshooting logistical challenges in the development process itself.
…the design and development of the mushroom lab itself! It has been a process punctuated with pauses and restarts…
I mean, let’s face it – Pete had to become an overnight expert in multiple fields, wearing and swapping hats of various experts; one day he’s an HVAC Engineer, the next day he’s a carpenter, then he needs to know how to operate a homemade boiler and rewire PID control systems. This, all while also fostering a talent in developing a mycology grow, managing market access and navigating various bureaucracies in insurance and bookkeeping. Of course, there was also the demands of life – homesteading chores, homeschooling, and an additional vocation Pete picked up which is described in Update 4. That is all to say that you truly discover how impressive and underrated our humble Canadian farmers are when you start to imitate them!
Anyways, the main infrastructure for the lab is a reefer c-can container. Although we had no need for the refrigeration unit, the insulation of the reefer was critical for managing the cool of winter and heat of summer for the mushroom crops. The timing for ordering and delivery was the first tricky hurdle among many. There was a narrow window of opportunity in which it could be successfully delivered – this window threads the needle on three tensions, the availability of the unit (which was unpredictable in the early 2023 logistics environment); the ability to receive delivery in the brief moment between ice melting off our hill and the ground thawing into spring road-bans; and, finally, the challenge of finding someone who could move the can from where the long-haul shipper would drop it to its gravel pad on our hillside hideaway. Ultimately, the c-can was sourced, delivered and placed in a divinely contrived warm snap in very early spring that had cleared the road of problematic snow, while leaving enough ice in the ground for firmness to transport the heavy load without it sinking into the muck.
The timing for ordering and delivery was the first tricky hurdle among many. There was a narrow window of opportunity…
The final leg of the journey was handled by a colourful local. There are very few options for service providers in our region. The prim and proper tow companies were too timid to attempt our driveway.
Luckily, there is a gentleman who doesn’t mind risking your property if you ask properly. The reefer-can pushed the limits of his flat-deck tilt-bed truck but with his expert level of swearing and our persistent petitions to the Lord, he was able to drive the can up the hill and around the corner backwards while balancing the tippy nature of the rear-heavy reefer unit.
He and his young apprentice had the whole operation completed in about a half-hour.
And there it finally found its rest, nestled on the west side of our property.
Excitedly Pete brought me over to admire the new feature that would indelibly adorn our forest view.
My heart sank.
It was a monstrosity. An eyesore.
It looked like something just lifted off a barge in somewhere in a South America (Argentina, I learned shortly). Probably used to smuggle drugs, maybe even people.
Along the sides were giant letters telegraphing “Hamburg Süd.”
“You couldn’t pick a nicer looking c-can structure?” I asked.
“No. In our price range, we had to buy used. We bought what was available,” said Pete, reminding me about the supply chain crunch that was compounded by a pandemic. “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”
“You couldn’t have it flipped around so those letters are at least facing the garage?”
“Not without the entrance facing the wrong way,” said Pete. “Come on! Aren’t you excited that it’s here!? We can get started on the mushroom dream!”
In the face of the dents, rust and branding, enthusiasm is truly a God given gift.
Needless to say, the first step was painting the ugly thing.
Throw in sorting out the humidifiers, some lights and some PVC venting and he is almost ready to stumble into growing.
For inquiring minds, we will begin with baby steps - oyster mushrooms and lions mane.
Update 2: Installing solar power
The circuitous journey to solar power was finalized just recently with installations beginning in June. It probably wasn’t any lengthier than a typical solar installation job, it was just that my timeline expectations to have solar by the height of summer (air conditioning season) were madly out of sync with reality. In any event, I’m pleased it is now fully installed - just in time for winter clouds (said in a tone of jest).
In fact, our first power outage with solar was subverted just the other night – there was a sudden blink of momentary darkness followed by the comforting hum of lights and appliances rebooting.
It's fun to obsess over how much daylight makes how much power and what appliances drain our batteries the fastest. The most fascinating is a spike of energy use first thing in the morning. I wondered if Pete had a secret chemical manufacturing facility, or maybe an underground printing press and communication station happening on the side just for extra layers of preparedness. But the spike was all due to the coffee maker.
The program that monitors the solar system has been really eye-opening.
Update 3: Homestead Miscellany
Chickens are not dying
We’re pleased to report the remaining chickens remain alive and well, producing a bounty of eggs. We water-glassed many of them so more can be available during the winter when production declines.
Everyone says they taste identical to fresh eggs; I’m skeptical but I hope it’s true and we will test them out in February. So far our winter has been extremely mild, and though production is markedly lower, it has declined less significantly than it did last year. With everyone working and learning at home we go through a lot of eggs in our household. The outcome matters. Alternatively, we can just get more chickens now that we’ve figured how to keep the predators away. Really though, the chickens became totally free-range (in the forest no less) which speaks to the ferocity of our rooster more than anything else. For those who haven’t seen the clip from our nanny Deidra – who came back! YAY! – this is a snippet of life (while Pete and I were away for a weekend) doing farm chores under the shadow of a formidable rooster.
Three Sisters garden was cool
We dialed back the gardening this year to just a few crops so Pete could have margin for advancing the mushroom lab. He decided to pursue what’s known by the Iroquois and Cherokee as the Three Sisters Garden – a combination of corn, climbing beans and squash.
This was in addition to a small asparagus garden which takes at least two seasons to mature. This last minute addition to Pete’s homestead chore list was courtesy of an thoughtful birthday gift from our nanny Deidra who had no idea such a gift involved some extra labour beyond the day-to-day. We don’t have our plan for a perenial garden designed yet and there are few flat spots and no deep soil nor rock-free areas for putting one. But in the end the effort was all worth it! (says the person who didn’t do much of anything but admire the end result from a distance).
Update 4: A pastoral call
The decision felt like it came out of left field. At least in the context of everything going on. And yet in the broader context of our lives, it made sense. Pete came to me out of the blue one day and said, “I’m thinking about applying for that part time bookkeeping/admin position with the church.” My mind swirled with doubts and anxieties. How much time will that pull him away from the mushroom lab we are investing so much money and time into? What about our communications consultancy? Why would we add this to our already full plates? It took me an adjustment period of several weeks for the deeper vision to sink in – a career change into ministry, starting with these humble baby steps.
It wasn’t totally out of left field. Over the last decade Pete has been a very zealous student of the Scriptures and has a way of clarifying and contextualizing theology and history. Additionally, anyone who has spent any lasting time around us knows we can’t avoid the deeper conversations, how God has shown up for us time and again, and the role of biblical spirituality in contrast with other belief systems in the unfolding events of the human story.
This past spring, I started to catch the vision in a deeper way after watching Pete deliver two mini sermons (one on Mother’s Day and one on Father’s Day), which were compelling, convicting and motivating. It was clear he had a nascent oratory skill and a proclivity for the pastoral (pasturing and pastoring!). This has been especially so in recent years, with increasingly more people coming to him for life advice and spiritual guidance. We used to joke that he needed to improve his “bed-side manner” when “treating” people who were struggling (often due to problems of their own making, which he wouldn’t hesitate to point out), but the recent shift of our lifestyle has softened him considerably.
This past spring, I started to catch the vision in a deeper way after watching Pete deliver two mini sermons… which were compelling, convicting and motivating.
We used to joke that when we were in the city, every time something emerged in the news that validated his decades long concern about creeping global fascism, he was like the small dog barking in the window. Every new movement outside (aka world events) would set him off. Now when stuff happens he just closes his eyes, smiles and says, ‘I live in the woods.’ I guess a man with a mission ought to keep his hand on the plow and focus on making sure things get done (Pete added that part).
For Myers Briggs nerds, he was formerly, and consistently an ENTP personality type (the Debater - as labelled by 16Personalities). Following a hunch that things were shifting within, we recently took the test again. I could have sworn he was going to come out as an ENFP (the Protagonist) but was astonished to learn he had morphed into an ENTJ (The Commander). Something about moving to the woods, starting a farm, homesteading and homeschooling had a way of forcing him into being more of a planner than a reactor. His need to plan for replacement parts, anticipate changes to seasonal market demands and availability and the increasingly unpredictable geopolitical environment got him start thinking further out than he was used to.
As a side note, I’ve remained a steadfast ENTJ (A Commander - now there’s two of us, which can sometimes be a problem) for the last 15 years. Not much has changed about my daily rhythm - I’m a consultant, in 2023 I continued to sit in front of the computer, share ideas over Zoom meetings and write plans and products. Little to no character development going on over here (well, maybe that’s not entirely true; there have been some monumental shifts within but nothing that literally changed my personality type).
Anyways, for reasons we’ll chalk up as the mystery of God, the leadership of our church invested in training both of us for ministry leadership through Lifelinks’ 9-month Accelerated Ministry Preparation program which continues until June 2024. We’ve been busy with a lot of extra reading and homework, but it has been exhilarating and eye-opening to explore systematic theology among a number of other avenues of study that have come to our attention through the particularities of the faith community out here. We’ll see where God takes us in this unexpected journey!
For reasons we’ll chalk up as the mystery of God, the leadership of our church invested in training both of us for ministry leadership
Approaching a fitting conclusion
As we near the end of this blog, the word count has exceeded 2000 which is over triple what is acceptable in the world of blogging best practices. Despite that, our objective is not so much about amassing a steady, faithful readership beyond dedicated friends and family, it is clear we won’t have room for the promised but elusive article about transitioning into small town life. Let’s see what 2024 holds!
For those who have the stomach and scope for some saccharine seasonal storytelling with a side of sermonizing, we have a separate serving we called the Jacoby Christmas Miracle. You can read it here.
Either way, we want to wish you and yours a very merry Christmas and a delightfully eventful 2024! Thanks for tuning in!
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Luke 1:37