Hobby farm life, and the battle of the bugs

May 29, 2015 9:59 am Published by Devin Dake-Outhet 1 Comment

Intro

My name is Devin and I have just finished my first two weeks working for West Fraser’s 100 mile office. I am working in the Planning and Development department.

How I got the Job

I applied for the internship way back in October. Two employees from West Fraser then came to my school, Selkirk College in Castlegar, and interviewed myself and several other students. I got a phone call a few days later and the rest is history! Now I’m living 20 minutes outside of 100 mile House in a small rural community called Forest Grove. I live on a 10 acre hobby farm that has three llamas, ten goats, and a couple of small dogs. It is nice and quiet and the stars are amazing.

Sunset at the Farm

First week

After filing out a bunch of paperwork and going through some basic safety training we got to go out to the bush the next day! We were shown some basic layout techniques for designing a forest cutblock. The best part was no bugs yet! On the third day, Fawn (the student I’m working with) and I went out to the bush on our own and started laying out a block to be harvested. Fawn brought her dog, Blue, an Australian Shephard and Border Collie mix. Although slightly older for a bush dog, Blue is a trooper and kept up with us. We were working in that same block for the rest of the week and got to see a variety of trees and terrain.

Lunchtime!

Second week

Mosquitoes! Lots of them. Well the peaceful, tranquil days of forestry work have come to end for now. Replaced with a never ending hum in your ear and bites to your skin just to remind you that there are lots of other creatures that live in the woods. Fawn and I have been assigned a few areas in the 100 mile community forest and we moved into a new zone this week. It is a very wet area full of swamps, which is why the mosquitoes are so bad. Also it has started to warm up and the overnight lows are now about 0 degrees celcius so the bugs aren’t dying off at night. Hopefully the bugs aren’t this bad all summer although I’m sure I’ll get used to them after a week or two!

Weekends

On my days off I have been fishing and swimming (still a little chilly!) on the 108 mile lake. I also went to the 108 golf course driving range. The next weekend I discovered some great mountain biking on a network of x-country single track trails near the 108 mile lake. Seems there is lots to do in and around the town of 100 mile house.

108 mile lake

Next few weeks

I’m looking forward to learning more about the forest industry and develop my skills further. I’m excited to see new areas and terrain. The joy of working in the forests is that every area is a little bit different and therefore has its own challenges. You are always keeping your mind (and body!) active. There are lots of skilled and experienced employees working for the company and there is much to learn from these people. So far my time with West Fraser has been great and am looking forward to the rest of the summer.