Category Archive: farming
Daisy and “Ribbons” table runner
On the left is Daisy at 4 months (I know -not French, but she said that is who she is) and Beau on the right when he was 2 months. I find it interesting how long those little noses grow. Daisy has become quite playful. She gets so excited when I come to see her that her whole little body wiggles. However, today, Lacey let her know that she (Daisy) is at the bottom of the totem. She didn’t hurt her, just rolled her over.
Here is the “Ribbons” table runner for which I tested the pattern. It is available from the Quilt Pattern Magazine in their October issue. It measures 20 x 53 and is easily made larger or smaller. It looks so very different in different color combinations and it would be fun to have a different holiday on the reverse side. I love testing for this company because I can choose which ones I want to test and the colors. Therefore I can make items that I can use.
New faces on the farm
WE HAVE NEW FACES HERE ON THE FARM!!!
This new face does not yet have a name. Since they are from the French side of the Pyrenees mountains, I was looking for a good French name for her. So far, nothing I’m really fond of. It may turn out not French. She is 4 months old and since this was the first time away from home and family, she is SCARED.
She found a corner here to hide where she can also see.
The sheep wanted to meet her, but she is leary.
Let’s try again
And 2 pygmy goat kids have taken up residence. They were purchased by people who didn’t realize how much time it takes to care for animals. They asked if I would take them and they came named Betty and Billy. They are cute and they should fit in as they were born in April, so still young and flexible.
Stuck sheep/garden update
This stuck sheep showed some real talent in getting her head in here. She had to move forward while turning her head sideways. However, getting her out took 2 of us. One to pull her backwards and the other to twist her head. She just kept pushing forward. There are always lessons to be learned from these sheep.
Once we helped her out, she was very happy to join her friends in a meal of grain.
The garden is giving us very large cantaloupe this year after starting out with giving us personal sided melons. These are two people melons. I am definitely saving seed from these.
This is the end of the cucumbers though there are still a few more zucchini and peppers in the garden. This week, we will clean out some of the beds.
No photo as it seemed dangerous, but the honey bees are battling the wasp who would like to rob the hives. Next year we will be putting up wasp traps.
All day dozing and winter food prep
Today was more food prep for winter and for the weekend. So the applesauce was canned, rice cooked, greens cooked, and split pea soup made. Laundry was washed and that’s about as domestic as I could handle today after the gym.
lt’s difficult to see in the shade, but this little fellow and his great big brother worked in the pasture all day. The day started with someone not closing a gate, so all the Cormo
sheep decided to form one group in the pasture without a fence between them. Fortunately there is only one mature ram here so they are just getting the chance to breed a bit earlier than had been planned. It could have been a disaster if we had had more than one mature ram. I will mark my calendar for 150 days from today though I don’t think any of the ladies were ready. There is always some type of excitement and that doesn’t even include having a dog that got out and was checking out the neighborhood.
Sunday, the plan is to seed the pasture that is ready and possibly finish dozing and seed the rest of the pasture next week. These things always take longer than expected and don’t seem to go exactly as planned,
Shabbat Shalom Enjoy they day.
Dozing begins
It is so dry after 2 months of no rain, that if it has even a hint of green one knows from a long distance that it is nettles growing. So the dozing begins. They have taken down all the blackberries in the top pasture and tomorrow will finish removing the nettles in this pasture. Then they will plant what they estimate to be about 3 acres. The weather forecast is for rain and in the 60s all but one day next week. Absolutely perfect weather for pasture growing. I am getting excited about this as I’ve waited a long time to get this done. The sheep will be excited in the spring.
There is so much farm cleaning and repairing right now to get ready for winter. I’m hoping to get back to the sewing machine next week, when the weather isn’t encouraging me to be outside. I think my sewing studio is missing me.
Nothing done
Some days it seems as if I worked all day and got nothing done. Since that has been a persistent feeling this month, today, I decided to write down what I did.
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Cleaned and stemmed the grapes, laid them on trays and put in freezer, (I’ll thaw them out and dehydrate when the cucumbers are done -to make raisins)
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Loaded the dehydrator with cucumbers chips.
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Cleaned and cooked collard greens
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Took food scraps out to sheep
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Went to the grocery store
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Fed the bees
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Picked an apron full of apples, cut and cored them to cook (too many earwigs in them so lots of discard)
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Took scraps to sheep
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Went to upper barn, fed sheep, put soap in the barrel with soaking fleece and filled with water.
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Mopped kitchen floor
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Made lunch (finished lunch at 2 PM)
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Sat down to watch some “Back to basics summit” homestead videos
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Fed dogs and sheep in both locations
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made supper
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cooked apples
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made just over 3 quarts of applesauce
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husked popcorn – Isn’t it pretty
That looks better, I really did do something and feel justified being tired. Off for a nice relaxing bath and then put the feet up and watch another sewing video. Maybe tomorrow, after gym, and a few basic chores, the rest of the sheep will get wormed and we will start deciding which rams to put with which ewes. They are definitely getting interested.
Devastation and a scarecrow
Devastation is the only word to describe what is going on in the path of Irma. We have been to some of these islands and the people were very poor before this storm. I can’t even imagine not being able to get clean water. The sadness of it seems to bog me down. So after picking up my co-op order of rice and dates, feeding the bees which has become a daily need, and dealing with the garden produce,
I decided to start work on this happy scarecrow. It was designed for turn under applique which is not going to happen here for a small seasonal wall hanging. So I am putting seam-a-seam on the back of pieces and re-cutting them. This has a lot of small pieces, but it should go fairly fast. There are enough pieces cut for two hangings so I’ll have one for me and one for a gift.
Ankle brace and long ago
I spent two afternoons getting this ankle brace fit. I somehow injured the tendon that goes by the ankle and so for at least the next 6 weeks, I will be wearing this. It does slow me down some. But hopefully it will give the tendon time to heal.
This afternoon, I was looking for felt that I think I have to finish the twinkling snowmen wall hanging when I found a box that was put away long ago and I wasn’t even missing. In it were some unfinished projects. Imagine that! One was labeled as a quilt that a daughter was going to make. However, she only chose fabrics and didn’t actually start. So that was easy, I just put the fabrics back with the other fabrics. Project done. 
Then there was this Fall pattern with pattern pieces pinned to it and not put back together very carefully. So I will try to figure out what was going on here and possibly finish it. The pattern is dated 2001, so I know that it is not older than that and might be 2-3 years younger.
I did make a trip to the grocery as it has been so very dry that we are having to supplement this for nectar from flowers so the bees don’t starve this winter. 
Then I went to the bee supply store. The item on the left is a “J” hook to use when looking inside the hive and the thing on the right is a “bee protein patty” which I’m guessing has peanut butter in it. The screen is for making the entry hole smaller to keep the yellow jackets from storming into the hive and stealing.
We froze a few more bananas for “nice cream” which we enjoy on hot days.
And, because you asked, this is what the cucumber chips look like when they are ready to eat.
September’s OMG plus other goals
ELM STREET OMG
This project has been in the making for 3 months and this is as far as it has come. So this will be my primary focus. I’ve stalled because this will take thinking and doing some unfamiliar things. All those spots in the photo on the left are little twinkling lights. Perhaps linking up to Elm Streets One Monthly Goal will give me the push I need.
OTHER GOALS: September’s sewing/quilting goals will be more modest as we have much work to get the sheep and pastures set up for breeding. We also will be finishing up the gardens in the next two months. Grapes are set to start picking in another week and tomatoes, cucumbers, and other items need to be harvested and put up. Then there are the new greens for winter which are just peeking out of the ground. Hopefully, we will get the water and propane lines finished that we started. Then we are still waiting for the big dozer to come in and clear more land that will be put into pasture. So the next two months will be extremely busy.
2. I haven’t chosen a project yet, but there will be one for Hatched in Africa
3. If there is time, I’d like to get another of the Sunbonnet Sue quilts quilted and bound.
TODAY: I occupied my time picking up some bananas at the grocery and two 30 mile round trips to pick up the grain that I had ordered. It comes in 40# bags and I was on my own today. So I was pleased to find that I could handle the 26 bags and get them where they needed to be.
I am also doing a fair amount to studying to find exactly what these sheep need to produce the best wool. It seems there is some controversy on this, so I’m doing some research.