Photos from Ukraine

 The staff and students in Ukraine have facebook so we are always updated on things in the village. Garry usually has a video chat with Max every week, so he is updated on crops and whether they can sell them. The answer to that is usually that they can't get enough for them to cover the cost of growing them. This year they only grew as much corn as they needed for silage to feed the cows. They hope to sell the sunflower crop, when it's harvested at a decent price, it was the one crop that has been easier to sell since the war started. They were worried about having the funds to pay someone to combine, but someone that owed the farm money got some cash and paid them. Max says people in the village are learning to get along without money. 

There was a birthday party for one of the new girls that came last year, in the photos you can see many of the students who have been around for years, and some of the new ones. Two new guys arrived recently to our little community.

That's the birthday girl with Sasha and Leila

Looks like a hotdogs and watermelon picnic. Garry is planning another visit to the village, probably in November. 

Arrival

 Last year we found out that Max Rudei (our farm manager in Ukraine)'s brother and family were living south of Kherson where the Russian army was in Ukraine. They escaped through Russia (they have relatives in Russia) and were living in Poland for the last year. They applied for the Canadian visas for displaced Ukrainians, and finally they were able to fly in August 30th. 

Garry picked them up at the airport in Winnipeg and spent a couple days helping them do all the paperwork and applying for various things you need living in Canada. They are very happy in the apartments at the farm and the kids have started school. We had to drive them the first week until the bus started to pick them up. 

Roman doesn't know much English, but his wife Tanya has some (about as much as I do Russian) and the kids studied it last year in Poland. Roman is working on the farm, milking cows and even driving truck sometimes when they were doing corn silage last week.  Tanya has started doing some calf feeding now, too. 

We were at the farm for more than a week because Garry was driving truck for silage chopping, but he was ready to head back to the lake and do some fishing. I am finally feeling normal again after more than a month of recovering from being sick. 

Catching up

 If you are wondering why there have been no posts in July and August, I (Teresa) was very sick in July with what turned out (after almost a week in hospital at the end of the month) to be two tick borne diseases, Lyme and babesiosis. If you are as unfamiliar as I was with the second one, there were parasites multiplying and destroying my red blood cells, causing fevers of 103 F 39 C, and I was very sick. Three weeks after getting out of the hospital I am almost feeling normal. I had a lot of naps for a while. 

Everyone is doing fine in Ukraine, I hear there are a couple new orphan guys coming to the farm this week. The wheat was harvested in early July and now they are making corn silage. Here's a few photos.

I believe Max was trying to show Garry how tall the corn crop is this year. It looks good. 

Last week they were selling cheese at a nearby village for a festival, and the booth looked great. That's one of the two ladies that helps Elena make cheese, Oleg and Elena. You can see the labels- Garry's farm- on the cheese and the front of the booth. 

Here's a few photos from a birthday picnic.

I still haven't met little Sofia. She turned one in July. 

Drive time

 Garry and I just returned home from a ten day drive to New Jersey and back. His niece was getting married on Friday, and we arrived the Sunday before at my dad's house. My two sisters came out and we went through a lot of the stuff in the house. Amazing that we got through as much as we did, because if you stop and read old letters from the 1970's, WWII and the Civil War, it slows you down. 

We brought home a variety of things, including a rocking chair that was my great grandmothers and a table that belonged to my mothers aunt that I plan to refinish. The pickup truck was full!

It was nice to spend time with family, his father, all of Garry's siblings (in photo above) and many of the nieces and nephews were out for the wedding and the beach party the next day. 

Everything is fine in the village, the crops are growing and all are safe. We got a cute video of baby Sofia crawling around recently. Vlad in the army had a recent injury and was in hospital, it didn't sound too serious. He received a heroism medal and a promotion earlier this year. Here's a couple photos from the village church and a picnic after earlier this month.

Hello

 It's been a while, we have been at the lake a lot. Everyone is fine here and the program in Ukraine is doing fine also. The village is still safe, the crops are growing. They even had the local school kids tour the farm one day in May. 

Cheese and other products

 Here's a sample of some of the cheese products the farm in Ukraine is selling. They take orders online and deliver every week to the two nearby cities, Zaporosia and Dnipro.

That braided one is the type that's smoked in the first photos, it's a salty smoked string cheese, and makes a tasty snack! Here's some cheese in the packaging, ready for delivery. The ones that start with M are mozzarella. 

You may notice that they have labels with Ferma Garry on! or Farmer Garry, Garry's farm. Garry said he brought a label home, but he lost it somewhere. I can't decided if he's a little embarrassed or a little proud that they named it after him. 

 Looks like there's some butter in there, they make that also. Here's some other products they sell, along with whole roasting chickens. The kolbassa is made of beef, chicken or a mixture.  Some ladies from the village come help make the vereniki (you might say perogies) they sell those frozen.

Spring planting

 We have enjoyed watching the ice melt on the lake at the cottage over the last week. Garry is ready to get the boat back in the water to go fishing every morning. Or as soon as he helps the boys get the corn planted on the farm in Manitoba.

Amazingly, since most years, we plant in Ukraine weeks before here, Max is just getting the fields cultivated and ready to plant sunflowers and corn in Ukraine.

 He said they haven't have three dry days in a row since Garry left. However, he is very excited about how good the new alfalfa seeding looks that was planted in mid- March when Garry was there. 

Of course, only a farmer can appreciate seeing those tiny plants. Apparently the rain was good for the alfalfa.

And the oats, too. 

They did finish the second side of the barn roof.