Winter 2016/17
Taking some time off over winter while the preload settles.
Erin and Sophie descending through a snow drift from the barn site preload.
February 2017
The local beauty of our Fort Langley Hall on a peaceful winter morning.
Enjoying the fabulous winter weather on the pond at Eagle Acres!
Site Preparation – Aug 2015 – May 2016
Excavation begins to strip the native soils and organics from the proposed site.
The first loads of sand for the preload arrive.
Brian admiring the first lift of sand. Or the heavy equipment!!
The location for the new barn was determined on the basis of conventional dairy farming practices, curb appeal for our visitors, parking area for visitors, and most daylight hours. Due to this decision an area of the barn will sit over an area of thick peat from 1000’s of years of mother nature and the Fraser River deposits. As a result Geo-technical engineers were involved from the start to develop a plan to compress the peat soils so the barn can be constructed without any structural damage from further shifting or settling. Excavation of the top layer of organic material was moved to other areas of the farm and then sand and structural fill was brought onto the property to build a 6-7 metre high pile of weight. Gauge readings are taken at regular intervals to calculate how much the soils are compressing.
1/2 of the heavy machinery fleet used to accomplish the entire preload.
A 50 mm steel pipe used as a gauge for monitoring elevation changes once the sand is placed around it. There are 5 of them on the site. 2 @ 2 m and 3 @ 5 m.
A visible crack in the preload means the earth below is compressing.
The tip of a 5 m gauge before final sand placement and packing.
The site all finished and packed with a roller.
The Heifer Years
These 3 aerial photos show the property from the time when Brian & Erin were expanding their herd size from 25 to 50 cows. A driveway was added on the outer perimeter for access to the new heifer barn and the reclamation of the swampy logged area was started. Originally, the property offered about 15 acres of useable land, now that full reclamation is finished it provides 28 acres of prime farmland. The southern most portion (bottom of pictures) of this property is beautiful thick forest on a northern facing slope. The Property was re-named – Eagle Acres in 2015.
Bare Farm Land These 3 aerial photos show the property (8796 – 240th Street, Langley) from when Brian & Erin Anderson first started feeding their herd of 11 original cows in 1999. This property in these years was referred to as – The 40. The northern half (top of pictures) of the property was arable farmland. In 2004 a large portion of the swampy bush land in the centre was logged before the Anderson’s purchased the property. The bush area was converted into arable farmland over the next several years. In the summer of 2008 the Anderson’s constructed a large barn to house their growing herd of heifers as replacement stock for their dairy herd. This property then was re-named – The Heifer Farm.
