Squirrels Haven

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Squirrels Haven Join us in our adventure of city slicker to farm life. Located in Ste Genevieve Manitoba.

We would love you to join us in our blunders and successes as we learn to navigate living on 12 acres of land, complete with forest, gardens a creek annd animals!

29/11/2025

The strange things I see on the cameras. Lol. Good morning Aspen! 😂

We know the cold is coming. It's almost December, we've had an extended stretch of amazing weather, but we all know, goo...
27/11/2025

We know the cold is coming. It's almost December, we've had an extended stretch of amazing weather, but we all know, good things must come to an end.

So today I got all the coops ready for the animals. The heater is set on a temperature sensor, the exhaust fan is set on a set temperature as well, but soon to run via humidity instead of temp alone. The main coop has fresh bedding, the goats have a fresh bale of hay, the heated water bowls are plugged in and ready, one inside, one outside. The goat shelter is sealed off from drafts, and the smaller barn is open, with all windows sealed from drafts (baby goats due in January and I'll need to seperate the boys from the girls), and hopefully this barn will be used by the rogue roosters I need to go and hunt for every night. It's too cold to play "find the roosters".

I plan to set up some Christmas lights in the mini coop just to add some festivness in the chicken run. I just need to find where I put them.

We are officially winter ready and the birds seem to be ready as well as everyone insists in being indoors now. Lol.

We've been busy over here the past week. We had contractors in the house all last week, insulating and framing the basem...
11/11/2025

We've been busy over here the past week. We had contractors in the house all last week, insulating and framing the basement, plus insulating the attic and one of the two storage wings upstairs. We are now up to code.

I got the bees prepped for winter today and have the battle wound to show for it. All I did was give them some fondant! They apparently didn't appreciate the food offering.

I groomed 2/3 of the dogs today as well, and the boys set up some drywall. Now my shop and laundry room are mostly complete with walls. Flooring is next.

The ladies are looking a little plump right now, and we are expecting kids in January. By the look of patches, she may be hiding 2 or 3 on there. No udders yet so we are just keeping g watch for now. The boys are stinky as ever (well Aspen specifically), and sprocket is cute as a button.

I've convinced all of the extra roosters I have that the coop is a way better place to sleep then outside in the elements. They finally agree. It took a few days though.

All is well at Squirrels Haven and we are almost completely ready for winter.

It was inevitable, winter is coming... Today the temperatures are substantially cooler. So even though I'm battling yet ...
06/11/2025

It was inevitable, winter is coming... Today the temperatures are substantially cooler. So even though I'm battling yet again ANOTHER germ, the coop needed to be winter ready.

Hubby and I emptied the old coop bedding with the assistance of our son about 2 weeks ago, I got fresh bedding in there and got everything cleaned and ready to go. I prepped the goat shelter last week sealing up all the edges with plastic to allow for a draft free shelter. The ladies will be moving into the main coop in mid December likely as we are expecting babies in January according to my best calculations.

Boys will be seperated into the smaller
Coop and and allowed to roam, ladies will get the tlc treatment of heat, light, and extra warmth sharing with the birds. For now as long as temperatures remain milder everyone will remain in the goat shelter away from the main coop.

I've got a little more tweaking to finalize everything on the main coop, and I've got the smaller coop windows to cover with plastic. But, the coop is ready for the chilly nights over the next few days. We've got lights, all windows are closed and drafts are sealed up, dry bedding is added and we are 99% ready. I've also "snow prepared" the run so we can shovel or use a snow blower to make paths for everyone.

What's crazy, just these additions today of the closing windows and sealing drafts in the coop ... The temperature already increased in there. I literally needed to unzip my jacket! Lol

I got a lot of herbs in my recent loop pick up, so I've dehydrated them and am now making a "chicken" herbal mix to add ...
29/10/2025

I got a lot of herbs in my recent loop pick up, so I've dehydrated them and am now making a "chicken" herbal mix to add to their food, as well as it doubling as an insect repellent which I can scatter around the coop and nesting boxes as well.

So far it contains thyme and mint, I'll be adding garlic and whatever other herbs I end up with in my loop pick ups.

27/09/2025

Crisis averted! Electric fence is worth its weight in gold when you live in a forest. I plan to put a trail camera aimed at the bees going forward.

The first batch of 100% farm grown tomato sauce is about to be made!I saw someone do this method, vs the pot method, and...
16/09/2025

The first batch of 100% farm grown tomato sauce is about to be made!

I saw someone do this method, vs the pot method, and thought it's a fantastic idea! Cook everything in the oven, then put through the food mill, viola! Sauce! I added an extra ingredient after the photo, to help with Stephs MS symptoms. Lionsmane mushroom powder.

Ingredients : tomatos, onions, garlic, parsley, oregano, basil, celery salt (made with lovage and salt), Lionsmane mushrooms and I sprayed the pan with olive oil, plus I did a top spray of olive oil as well.

I'm choosing to cook for a longer time at a lower temperature for better favour. 300F for an hr (standard recipe is 350 for 30-60 minutes - higher or lower temperature and time as per your flavour preference).

Doesn't this look amazing! For someone who HATES tomatos and onions..... Tomato sauce is delicious!

13/09/2025

Go home you robber bees! Find your own syrup! Leave mine alone.

Well, the ladies are looking rough, but it's time to start thinning out before winter. Less mouths to feed. These gals w...
07/09/2025

Well, the ladies are looking rough, but it's time to start thinning out before winter. Less mouths to feed. These gals will return to their glory after their molt...

My loss is your gain. Most of these are 2yr old hens, regularily laying, mostly beautiful green eggs, or light brown eggs. There may be the odd 1yr old in the mix or blue egg layers.

Asking 💲2️⃣0️⃣/hen FIRM. Roosters.... Make me an offer! Lol. There is some birds not pictured that I'll also be selling off around the same ages. Some bantam hens specifically. I'll try to get as many photos up as I can of whom I'm selling. Also roosters available... There is like 6 young ones who need new 🏠. Not super "human friendly", but not mean EVER (I don't keep mean genetics). Easter egger roosters, will make amazing flock protectors... But for now, they are little. This year's hatch.

More pictures to come....

I'll keep this post to my page ONLY for 3 days, then I'll add it to the farm pages

Operation garden clean up complete, all tomatos are picked! .... Now all that's left is carrots (they will be fine in th...
06/09/2025

Operation garden clean up complete, all tomatos are picked! .... Now all that's left is carrots (they will be fine in the garden still), and smothering the remainder of the garden due to an insanely invasive w**d.. I'll be removing the chicken fence shortly and letting the animals in for a feast. I also rescued a few more herbs, which got potted and moved to the greenhouse, so I've got plenty of fresh herbs in the greenhouse now.

The garden was a total bust for me this year, I started late due to the greenhouse build, and the frost came extra early, so most things I didn't even get a harvest from.

My most productive things were radishes, and one crop of beans. Lettuce early on was great. Tomatos are all green, barely any peas, no cucumbers, no zucchini, no pumpkins. Herbs did very well however.

Next year I'll have an early start and be ready for the season, the greenhouse should be bursting at the seams come planting season!

01/09/2025

Organic, home grown, cat approved, dried catnip coming soon. It should be ready and packaged within the week.

I'm getting it in the dehydrator today.

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