As Charles Dickens said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." So much has changed, so quickly that I am not sure where to start...We are in our fourth year in British Columbia, and while we were thriving in Port Moody, we felt a pull to Vancouver Island from our first visit. We visited many times with those sort of wistful thoughts... just maybe we could wind up here someday. Well Robert and I decided it was time to sit down and pencil in someday. With lots of shifting, planning and our blind faith, that someday came this July. We moved to Fanny Bay on Vancouver Island, it is a small town of 744.
Settling in Fanny Bay is comforting to us and we love the fact that we indeed are here now. We are living a back to basics lifestyle. We started "The Thibaudeau Family Farm", Not only did I give up my high heel shoes for rubber boots, I have been caught in town with hay on my shoes! We live on 4 acres with many animals that will help in providing us with a sustainable life.
We are raising over 100 heritage laying chickens; Chantecler, Silver Laced Wyndots, Jersey Giants, Americanas, and Red Rocks provide us with a beautiful array of egg colours including blue! We also have 12 Isa Brown commercial hens that we rescued. They were not going to stay, we had the separate from our flock, but they have managed to work their way into my heart. They are like the Chorus line of the laying hens. I have named them after gemstones; Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, Opal, Emerald, Aqua(Aquamarine), Diamond, Topaz, Amethyst, Garnet, Peri dot, and Turquoise. Of course there are only a few stars that stand out and can be named. They are a very gentle chicken and give a jumbo brown egg. As well have a flock of Bantams, they are a miniature chicken, very ornamental and they lay a pee wee egg that is adorable. We also have 5 Roosters for breeding. We had to cull back the roosters and took 8 in to be processed for the dinner table. It has been a little quieter around here. You couldn't imagine how loud 13 roosters could be...and they start before dawn!
This is a Bantam Hen with 10 Baby Chicks born on the Farm on September 5th
The Chorus Line Isa Browns
"Kellogg",this Bantam Rooster was one of my favorites, he was the first Bantam I named. We lost Kellogg to predators this winter... We will miss him.
I have been throwing out a treat of Hen Scratch for the birds to start getting my raised beds ready for spring. It is working out great!
This is a collection of Heritage Eggs from the farm. We raised our flocks from chick...so we are so excited that they have come to point of lay and we are finally getting eggs.
We decided to get a couple Muscovy Ducks to organically take care of slugs and other garden pests on the farm. What we ended up with was a Breeding Flock of 9 Ducks, two Males, Black Bob, The Drake; and 7 females; Mable, Tanya, Lucy, Phoebe, Cocoa, Belle, and Buffy. We have Blue Ribbon Stock. Black Bob and Tanya took first place in their respective classes at the Coombs County Fair. Mable was our first to try and set on her eggs this year, without success due to both her and our inexperience. Tanya however has set on eggs and we should see baby ducklings March 14th.
Black Bob Blue Ribbon Winner at Coombs County Fair 2009
Duck foraging for bug and slugs. 
Hanging out by the creek.
Duck Houses.
We raised 19 Nicholas White Turkeys for our first try. Twenty One arrived on the farm on September 11th as day old chicks. We lost two in the first week. At Christmas we took 12 in to be processed for the dinner table. The remaining 7 went in to be processed January. We made turkey sausage, ground turkey, roasts and cutlets. This year we will be raising 50.
Christmas Turkeys ready for sale.
The turkeys loved the apple peels leftover from canning.
Turkeys in the backyard.
Day Old Turkey Chick
We have three dogs and a barn cat. Kumi is a Maremma Sheep Dog. Her function on the farm is to protect the animals. She is doing a great job! She loves helping to round up the birds. Ridick is a stray kitten we adopted as our barn cat. He lives outside and keeps us mouse free. Kumi and Ridick are best friends. Jay Jay is a peek a poo, and Willow is a Jack Russel cross, they are Julia and Domenic's dogs.
Jay Jay and Willow Play Fighting
Kumi and Ridick Snuggling
Kumi
We arrived on the island too late to start any kind of gardening, although we were blessed with the abundance of blackberries, red grapes, and apples. We made Wild Blackberry Wine, tomatoes, jams, jellies, applesauce and applepie filling. It was fun to dip my feet in and do a bit of canning this year.
This coming harvest season should be plentiful. We have an orchard with plums, pears, cherry and hazelnut trees. Wild Blackberry and Raspberries. We are planning a vegetable garden as well.
So far we are having fun on this journey... don't forget to follow us.
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