Category Archive: farming
No, I don’t yet know how to drive this 4 wheel toy, but we have a farm helper that can do anything. He will be using it to seed, fertilize and in general do what we need done that we can’t do ourselves. Our piece of property is a lot of uphill/downhill terrain. I will learn to drive it, because if a sheep gets in trouble a way from the barn, I am not able to carry it, but I could load it and get help.Euro style scarf finished
This Euro style scarf is finished. It was a fast and easy knit, however, I did learn that if I’m not paying attention, I don’t count accurately. The pattern is a multiple of 5, which isn’t hard, just had to pay attention. This is very, very soft in the Cascade yarn. I will block it later.
This is another suggested way to wear it, which I won’t be wearing as I don’t go to formal events.
After finishing this, i spent 3 hours cleaning barn stall floors, so did not start anything else. And I will admit to wanting to eat something totally off program, but I won’t.
My day
Haltering babies: So much easier to tie them to the 2 x 4 and let them learn they aren’t in charge, than to let them pull you around.
My today
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Feed dogs at both barns
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Drive DH to gym and wait
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Ordered bird netting for berries
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Made day’s list
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Went to grocery store
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Went to office store
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Came home, made lunch
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Picked up co-op order
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Went to feed store to get more sheep collars
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Cheated and Napped
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Spent 2 hours working sheep with halters
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Put coats on some of them
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Fed, watered all sheep
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Watered in hoop house
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Picked and washed kale
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Picked and washed 2# cabbage and leaves
No one gets between these pushy, shovey, 150# girls at mealtime!
TIRED YET?
I still have a few things left on my list that didn’t happen – maybe tomorrow. But then some of these same things will appear on tomorrow’s list – like the sheep. This gives you an idea of why I don’t get much quilting or other hobbies done.
Early to bed tonight. I have 2 young men coming in the morning to help with the weed whacking (I think/hope they’re coming).
Weed whacking, phone
Did you know that you need to periodically clean out the little hole where you plug into your smart phone. I didn’t which caused me a trip to AT&T to find out why it wasn’t charging. It had too much dust and dirt to connect.
I am feeling hemmed in by the weeds which have grown as tall as the flowers, so today, the weed whacker and I spent some time together. But it is so overwhelming and really very difficult to find help.
And because today the computer is somewhat behaving, here is a photo of the green and cream colors that I cut for the quilt, plus the picture of 4 blocks put together.
Other than that, I cleaned a stall in the barn and worked on more lamb halter training. They do not like those lessons.
Farm life is busy
ese
DH went to the gym alone this morning. Beau wanted to go for a car ride, but settled for a good brushing and a treat
When we were through, this office waste basket was full of discarded dog fur and he was happy with his treat of string cheese. And I bet he feels a lot better in this warm weather.
Even mini farm life is busy, and especially so with this beautiful weather we have had. There is always so much to do. And the dogs don’t get brushed often. There are the lambs that need to be halter trained and the stalls that each need cleaning at least twice a week if I want to keep the work doable for me. There is the fencing, and the weeds, thistles, nettles and most of all, we need a garden, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, and an herb garden in addition to the hoop house we have. This year we are moving the garden that has been on the hillside up to a flat area, so that means creating new beds. There are hanging baskets to water and flower bed weeding to do.
These are all extras in addition to the normal feeding and household duties. I have accepted that I cannot do it all without help.
So today, I hired two young men to layout the new garden beds and plant somewhere around 300 potato starts and one hundred onion bulbs. It feels so good to have them in the ground now. Sometime in the next the two weeks, we will plant corn, green beans, and squashes in the rest of this area. They will return to help with the nettle, thistles and weeds on the fence line
While they were doing the new garden area, I was able to get the tomatoes tied up as well as weeding in the hoop house. It should have been done 2-3 weeks ago, but it is done, and now, I need to keep up with it. Already the kale is getting out of control. I picked the parsley and it is time again to pick the peapods and once again, I managed to plant more lettuce than we can eat. But neighbors, chickens, and sheep are always willing to help.
These are called Egyptian walking onions. The little white bulb lets on the end bend down and plant themselves into the soil, thus reseeding themselves over and over. They are a hot onion, so I use them in cooking.
Busy days
These busy days created a very busy week. Some of the highlights included:
Shopping for us and the dogs.
I was lured by 3 of these lovely hanging baskets.
We looked at the babies with a large marking crayon. A stripe down the back means that this one will be finding a new home. A mark on the head means this one gets to stay here and will be re-evaluated later. Sometimes, it is a difficult decision.
Oops, escapees. It would have been okay earlier in the day, but I don’t enjoy trying to outwit them at the end of the day.
Lasagna and cake for lunch tomorrow.
Gorgeous flowers for my special day from my son’s in-laws.
If you are small enough, your whole head fits into the feeder and you get the prime feed.
It seemed we had an appointment every day. I have most of the winter plants cleaned out of the hoop house now and can put more summer plants in. It’s time to get all the fruit trees fertilized, and get the outside garden ready to plant in another week. It seems the days are just going to get busier for another two weeks. I’m praying for enough energy to get it done. Then I’m hoping it will calm down enough to get back to the studio.
I’m so glad we get a day of rest at the end of each week – Happy Sabbath to each of you.
Road work, tagging
Road work has been the “item” the last two days, the men have been working on this road which has been a big mud problem. It is 300 plus feet long and in the wet winter can try to eat a vehicle. Midweek they will be laying the gravel. (and I’m betting we will be on a starvation diet after this expense). But what a treat it will be to walk up to the barn from the house (you see the garage in the distance) on dry ground.
Yesterday after sweeping, mopping and other household chores we spent considerable time
tagging the babies that are big enough – actually we were a bit late in tagging and had to watch to see which lambs claimed the rights to which mother. Rams are tagged in the right ear, ewes in the left. This is Kaarstan, a keeper. She is gorgeous and will be shown this fall. She was born February 13, so is about a month and half. They grow so fast.
Dinnertime is crowd time.
We pray each of you has a wonderful Passover, Easter, or maybe just a wonderful Sunday tomorrow.
Spool soufflé quilted
After having looked at this on the quilting machine for the last month plus, I am excited to have finished the quilting. But the binding will have to wait a bit yet. I somehow injured my ankle so we spent nearly 4 hours going to urgent care. They were extremely busy. The outcome was that I just need to stay off the ankle as much as possible and see what happens. I am so very fortunate to have a neighbor who has offered to clean the stalls for me this coming week. By mid April, the pastures should be in good shape and that will cut the work load.
Younger and stronger
Yes, all this sheep work is exercise, but I bought the sheep to “make me younger and stronger” by keeping me moving and that is what they are doing. They need me to be able to care for them. My muscles are slowly growing. Now I need to learn to better prioritize so that I still have time for quilting and the food garden as well as sheep care. Bottle babies don’t help the schedule. I need their mothers to care for them. I had to laugh when a neighbor stopped by to see the lambs and said “well, I’m 76 and when you get my age…….”.. I didn’t want to ask her how old she thought I was. I am her age. That was a great compliment even if she didn’t know it. And it makes the hard work worthwhile. I am noticing a difference in balance and walking and plan to continue improving. I am happy.
There is so very much to learn in caring for these wonderful animals, that I am in a constant state of learning. These 3 sets of Shetlands were combined today as the mothers and their offspring are now bonded. In 2-3 days, they will be able to go out with all the sheep as the little ones will then know how to dodge the big sheep.
Lambs and a workout
Lambs photos will follow. But first a photo of a good workout. As you can see there is much hay, straw, and poop to remove from one of these pens. So today, this was most of my workout. The mother in the back with lambs was the other part. She wasn’t interested in coming in for two of bonding. She is the 4th new mother in 3 days.
I had a request for lamb photos and these are what I was able to capture today.
I did find time to gather in a 4 gallon pail of Swiss Chard. It seems nothing discourages this vegetable, which is good, since it is actually good for the body. It is now cooked and in the freezer.