Category Archive: farming

2016
04/26

Category:
farming
Life

COMMENTS:
1 Comment »

I started my morning by announcing to DH that I needed a day to play and wasn’t planning to do anything “because I had to”. So the first thing I did was sweep all the non carpeted floors – because I wanted to, which made me feel better.

After breakfast, I realized that all the stuff piled on the table and night stand was bothering me. Therefore, that’s what I wanted to take care of – which I did. And which took me until time to go to the gym. Now there is very little on the nightstand and these are organized. Plus I now have a spinning area once again. Somehow, papers and “things” get tossed on top of each other until I feel I have no room to breathe. Still this was play because I didn’t have to do it – I wanted to. And we have been in the car so much that neither of us wanted to go anywhere.

The class we attended at the gym was strength training with about 30 seniors. It started out easy. The others have been attending for some time. We copied what the leader was doing – or tried to. Apparently this will get better as our strength isn’t up there with the others. So now, we have signed up for one day of yoga and two of this strength training (at 11am – which kills my day and maybe me.) This was not on my “play” list – but was on his. I keep thinking that someday I will learn to like exercise, but it still hasn’t happened.

After lunch, we rested while he read more James Harriot stories. Those stories will never grow old. We really just lazed around most of the afternoon which was very pleasant. After supper, we put the animals to bed and look what I found when getting the hay.

Do you see her way up in the back. I’m not too concerned since we no longer have a rooster. Tomorrow is the dentist and the eye doctor, so we will be out all morning, have a late lunch and I always need a rest after the dentist. I like the dentist as a person, but I so DISLIKE going to the dentist even for a cleaning.

2016
04/22

Category:
farming
Garden

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This is on the other side of the driveway from their pasture and it’s either let them out on days we’re home or we have to mow and weed eat. That’s not a very difficult decision and they are so happy to be weed eaters. It is so interesting to watch them eat. A taste of this, then a taste of that.

And here is what happens when I walk toward them. They think I must be coming to give them grain. They were wrong tonight, but managed to push the gate open and were waiting for me to grain them.

Can you see all the yellowish “weeds”. Really they are tiny maple trees that all have to come out this year. By next year their roots will have buried so deep that they will be very difficult to pull. They are all through the blueberries and grape patch, so I have hired someone to come and pull them.

I tried to do some heirloom sewing today and just cannot see well enough to do the kind of job I like to do. It will be another month before they will check my eyes and write a prescription and then another week until I get the glasses. Right now, if I had it to do over again, I would pass. I’m just a bit discouraged by all this. Maybe I just need some chocolate. Most likely, I need to trust that God knows what is best.

2016
04/15

Category:
farming
Life
Shopping

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Husbands are such interesting beings. Often times one gets surprised. For instance, we are trying to supplement this lamb. DH comes and asks what he can do to help. I said he could refill the 2 gallon bucket. So he picked it up, promptly tripped over the 2×4 opening and the 2″ of water remaining in the bucket landed where I was sitting. No one was injured, but we were both very surprised. Ah, marriage is filled with such interesting moments, and the only thing one can do is laugh and know that life is a roller coaster of interesting happenings.

The lamb is a fighter, but still quite dehydrated. By this time, his ribs should not show. His little tongue wants to go out the side of his mouth instead of forward under the teat or nipple. He will get a tube feeding again tonight, which he very much hates, but it could make the difference for him. May I repeat that teenagers of any species should not be trusted. These teen moms were a bit young for this, but she is protecting him and doing her best. Her body just wasn’t quite ready.

This morning, daughter #3 and I went shopping. We both needed – no wanted – items from Costco and elsewhere. The guest room is shaping up. Still needed are pictures and books and perhaps a lamp. I think I’ll get a couple of my brother’s photographs for the wall. They are incredible.

My prayer is for each of you to have a marvelous week end.

needed

2016
04/13

Category:
farming

COMMENTS:
4 Comments »

Sad day

Fiber making is hard work – sometimes happy and sometimes very sad. This morning, this little fellow’s mom ran off without him. After a visit to the vet, we learned that she probably knew he was born defective and that’s the way of animals. We don’t really know what was wrong with him, but he was running a high fever and without a necropsy, which might not have shown anything, we don’t know. I suspect the problem was in having a teen mom and dad whose bodies were not really ready for this. The other lamb born yesterday is also battling. His mother seems to have very little milk, so we are supplementing him and will see if he makes it to the morning. Losing an animal never gets easier.

Yes, fiber making aka farming is hard sometimes.

2016
04/12

Category:
farming

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Surprise!

We are taking care of a friend’s sheep as well as our own for awhile. DH likes to go let them out into the pasture in the morning. He came back and told me that a new lamb was there. We did not expect any. So I went and looked.

Not one, but two new mothers. I called the lady whose sheep these are and asked her why she didn’t warn me. Are you ready for this? Her answer was that, yes, they had a 10 month old lamb ram in their with the ewes, but he was too young to recreate or so they thought. Just shows that teen boys of any species are not trustworthy. So we have enjoyed laughing about that – oh and by the way, both lambs are ram lambs.

And here is part of the crew making sure all is well.

2016
04/08

Category:
farming
Life
quilts

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Four patches

They don’t look like much at this point, but there are 3 seams in each piece and they take time to do. I have about this many more pulled out to stitch and the drawer will look like this and will fit again.

Meanwhile the sheep have been having a wonderful time grazing the weeds.

Sheep are interesting in that they take a bite of this and then of something else. It’s rather like if you eat a bite of carrots, then a bite of potato and continue around the plate.

2016
03/29

Category:
farming

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SUNSHINE

Marvelous, glorious, beautiful sunshine in the Pacific Northwest!

So today we let the sheep roam to find goodies outside the pasture, which means I wandered around with them to be sure they didn’t get into anything they weren’t supposed to, or be on the driveway leaving pellets. It’s much like watching small people and making sure they stay out of trouble. But oh, what an enjoyable morning we had. Here they are back of the house by the hoop house.

And here they are by the raspberries which are fenced off as last year we found they love raspberry leaf.

Julliette, a quesant sheep, still thinks she is a dog as she was originally raised by dogs, so when Beau came on the deck, so did she.

And when Beau wanted in the house, so did she.

And the party is over and they are happily back in the pasture.

2016
03/28

Category:
farming
food
Garden

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FOOD

The runs to the feed store are getting more frequent with more mouths to feed.

These were careful attendants, making sure that the food was put away correctly. And the sheep are also watching from the other side of the car – behind the fence.

I did buy a couple herbs as shown here. In these trays, I have several vegetables as well as some flowers. They are ready to be transplanted to larger containers, but not yet the garden

And some 20 cauliflower starts as everywhere I went, the seed had sold out. I must order some though as I will want to plant more. I have a some lettuce, potatoes, and cabbage on this side. Just enough to get buy until the bigger crop comes up.

2016
03/27

Category:
farming
Garden
Life
spinning

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Today’s Rodeo

Sometimes, this place really and truly is a zoo. Today, we had to give some of the sheep shots and others got larger coats, which they need every 3 months. We didn’t have enough coats the right size and so will order more and 4 still need to be sheared plus the alpacas. And our ram has decided that at least one girl was missed and he should take care of her.

But look at this heavenly wool. It is a dream come true and hand spinners love it. This and the enjoyment we have from watching the sheep make it so worth the little troubles.

Before the rodeo, we had a couple strong helpers out here turning the garden beds, in which we hope to get the potatoes planted this week. The garden is also getting vermiculite and possibly peat moss this year. The weather report has sun through Saturday. which is good, as we are a bit behind. We didn’t use most of these beds last year, so they had two years of growth on the weeds. That was a huge mistake. We should have at least covered the beds with mulch.

2016
03/18

Category:
farming
Life
Sewing

COMMENTS:
6 Comments »

Alpacas and a pillow

Once again, it is Friday and I am oh, so glad. 3 alpacas arrived today. Here is a photo of the girls. The male was not wanting a photo shoot. The exciting thing is that in a couple months, I should be able to show you a new cria photo.

Category Archive: farming

A play day?

I started my morning by announcing to DH that I needed a day to play and wasn’t planning to do anything “because I had to”. So the first thing I did was sweep all the non carpeted floors – because I wanted to, which made me feel better.

After lunch, we rested while he read more James Harriot stories. Those stories will never grow old. We really just lazed around most of the afternoon which was very pleasant. After supper, we put the animals to bed and look what I found when getting the hay.

Sheep and weeds

And here is what happens when I walk toward them. They think I must be coming to give them grain. They were wrong tonight, but managed to push the gate open and were waiting for me to grain them.

Interesting creatures

Sad day

Yes, fiber making aka farming is hard sometimes.

Surprise!

We are taking care of a friend’s sheep as well as our own for awhile. DH likes to go let them out into the pasture in the morning. He came back and told me that a new lamb was there. We did not expect any. So I went and looked.

And here is part of the crew making sure all is well.

Four patches

They don’t look like much at this point, but there are 3 seams in each piece and they take time to do. I have about this many more pulled out to stitch and the drawer will look like this and will fit again.

Meanwhile the sheep have been having a wonderful time grazing the weeds.

Sheep are interesting in that they take a bite of this and then of something else. It’s rather like if you eat a bite of carrots, then a bite of potato and continue around the plate.

SUNSHINE

FOOD

The runs to the feed store are getting more frequent with more mouths to feed.

These were careful attendants, making sure that the food was put away correctly. And the sheep are also watching from the other side of the car – behind the fence.

I did buy a couple herbs as shown here. In these trays, I have several vegetables as well as some flowers. They are ready to be transplanted to larger containers, but not yet the garden

And some 20 cauliflower starts as everywhere I went, the seed had sold out. I must order some though as I will want to plant more. I have a some lettuce, potatoes, and cabbage on this side. Just enough to get buy until the bigger crop comes up.

Today’s Rodeo

But look at this heavenly wool. It is a dream come true and hand spinners love it. This and the enjoyment we have from watching the sheep make it so worth the little troubles.

Alpacas and a pillow

Once again, it is Friday and I am oh, so glad. 3 alpacas arrived today. Here is a photo of the girls. The male was not wanting a photo shoot. The exciting thing is that in a couple months, I should be able to show you a new cria photo.

And LOOK! I turned this into a pillow, so I am ready for next year. – not late, just very early.

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