#13 Cat washing and onion look

No matter who I told about my plans for Canada - whether it was my students, my circle of friends, or my family - at some point, it was always said that in Canada I would definitely be somewhere in the woods, alone in a cabin, chopping wood in a flannel shirt and with hardly any civilization .... and what can I say?! Hello! Here I am.

I did not expect to actually experience such a low-energy farm life in the winter. It's really crazy how little energy the family manages with here.

Water

Water is bought here in huge water tanks. One holds 11,000 liters and costs 2,000 Canadian dollars. The farmer has nine of them near the farmland for the main supply. The costs are, of course, enormous. Just this summer, the tanks had to be replaced six times because the summer was so dry. Saving water is of course extremely important, which is understandable. Only a very thin stream of water comes out of the tap, so sometimes you have to wait a really long time until the teapot is full.

The next paragraph deals with going to the toilet, if you don't want to read it, you can skip it :D

As for the toilets: For small needs, you can simply relieve your bladder outdoors anywhere here. The farmer says it's good for the soil and it saves water. If you have a slightly bigger need, there are several outhouses scattered around the area. These do not have toilet flushes, but wood shavings are used instead. If you think it must smell incredibly bad. No, the principle is actually mostly applied here in Canada, even without wood shavings. So it's not like in Germany where you have a toilet house in public parking lots. There is already a little house, but with an outhouse. So for me, it wasn't a big shock. But let's just say.... now it's not so warm anymore and you freeze quickly.

The absolute horror for me is the shower. You can heat the water here with propane (not 30 degrees.... maybe 15 degrees), but that doesn't change the fact that you stand there in the freezing cold only dressed in flip flops. That's why I have a water canister in my yurt now and with the help of my teapot, I can heat the water and still clean my body with a classic cat wash without being exposed to the cold. So I do take showers here, but just not every day. In Germany, an average shower head consumes 12-15 liters per minute. So if you want to reduce your water costs, you can also try the cat wash and skip one or two showers. I actually tried it myself a few weeks ago for a few weeks.

Electricity

The electric energy is "generated" here with the help of two solar panels. Actually, they are sufficient, but if there is 5 cm of snow on them or it is cloudy for several days, the power can also go out. In this case, we also have a generator that runs on gasoline. At the latest, when we suddenly have no light on cloudy days, we know that the gasoline is running out.

And speaking of snow. As most of you have already noticed, it snowed here for the first time. It was so funny, I received many messages saying "Oh, so much snow." "Wow, that's a lot".... and to be honest, that's still nothing for Canada. I don't even want to know what it looks like in the more northern regions. On my first farm, for example, it was already -13 degrees. These temperatures are only very rarely reached here on Salt Spring (last winter once). So in that regard, I can consider myself lucky that it's not quite so cold here, but also that it snowed is a rarity. Usually, it rains here in the winter months, but since we are on the mountain of the island (highest point only 30-40 minutes on foot away - photos will follow some other time), we were lucky to get all the snow. The city down by the sea was almost snow-free when we were there recently. It is always five degrees colder here on the mountain than in the city.

And even if it's not so cold yet, sometimes it's still too cold for me :D Especially the nights are not my favorite time. It's amazing how quickly wood can burn, so I have to get up several times during the night or stretch a bit (I put my bed right next to the fireplace so I don't have to get up) to add more wood. The couple (who also woof here) told me that they don't freeze at all. Well, what can I say: First, they are two people and second, they simply have seven (!!!) blankets - I wouldn't freeze either. I currently have three and from tomorrow four. These are three wool blankets and one main blanket. Although the idea of having four proper blankets doesn't sound bad either. During the day, I also walk around like an onion. As some people always say: There is no bad weather, only bad clothing - and yes, I don't get cold so often when I work either. With one pair of underwear, long underwear, sports pants, sweatpants, and possibly rain pants, as well as a shirt, a sweater, a vest, my main jacket, and maybe a rain jacket, I actually rarely freeze. Perfecting the onion look, guys! When I arrive in the real winter, I will probably wear ten layers.

And it's amazing how warm a greenhouse can get in the winter (when the sun is shining), then you work there with a shirt and preferably in shorts, it's really warm inside, and different types of vegetables can still grow there. Today, for example, we harvested the last cucumbers (price per piece: 5 dollars, by the way). Occasionally, little cute frogs jump in your way there.

What else is going on? I have to chop wood at least every two days. But I really enjoy doing it so it's not a problem, unless ...

In the next lines, a murder from a podcast is being reported. Simply skip the next five lines if you don't want to read it.

... while chopping wood, you hear a True Crime podcast where it's being told how the victim is shot twice in the head from close range, and then BANG! a shot is really fired. Boy oh boy, that was a very inappropriate moment for the shot. Because it is completely normal to hear gunshots (from hunters) in Canada - several times a day here. This is probably because the deer population is very high on the island, as there are no large carnivorous wild animals and thus many deer can be shot here - or the neighbor simply shoots as badly as I do and therefore has to reload again and again.

Furthermore, Wednesday is always 'worm day'. The compost is removed and the worms are collected to put them back in the trailer. It's not the cleanest job, but time flies by very quickly, and since the farmer has a really big fireplace for the worms (I believe it's the biggest one here on the farm), it's not particularly cold in there either. Although 10 degrees already feel warm here and you have to take off your jacket. As I said: Onion look.

Since the farmer was surprised by the snow, it was also necessary to winterize the pipes outside. For this purpose, a deep trench was dug. Wood chips were then placed there, then the pipes, then wood chips again, then a layer of soil, and finally wood chips again. Through these layers and the process of wood decomposition and the resulting heat, the pipes are (hopefully) kept frost-free. However, it was too late for the water line to Tilly. So we simply had no water in the kitchen and common room for two days until it got warmer outside and the pipe thawed. As I said: Pure adventure here!

So now that the next sauna is coming up soon, I say goodbye and see you soon.

Samuel

P.S. WLAN is too weak and the sauna is calling, so the post will be uploaded on Saturday.