Category Archive: sheep
She may be small enough to pick up and carry – she is only 2 months old. But halter training is not her thing and she packs a lot of strength already. She rears up like a horse, then slams to the ground, working very hard to get away from this thing that controls her. The halter is not her favorite thing. I know that if she doesn’t learn it now, she will be an out of control adult. Her life and my life will be much easier once the rules are learned.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.
Impossible girl progress
The “Impossible girl” sock progress is slow but steady. The instep is now done and I am on the home run to the toe.
I started to lay out the beds for the potatoes and onions today, when I realized I didn’t have the twine I needed. I went to the hardware store and they directed me to the feed store. At the feed store, I found an employee who told me they don’t keep it out on the floor, only in the back room, until someone asks for it. How do they sell it that way?
So having purchased it, I made my way back home, where I found the sheep migrating (with help) over to the neighbor’s house. They wanted the back yard mowed down. Then the pasture seed arrived and we had a good visit with the people who delivered it.
Now it was suppertime for sheep. They know when suppertime is and as soon as the gate was opened, they were in a mad dash. Look at this lamb who has learned how to jump over the side into the feeder. This is one of my show lambs and I need her to stay relatively clean. The side now has another board on it, so she can’t get over it.
The birthday
The birthday gifts included several gorgeous floral bouquets plus a hyacinth plant and a fuchsia hanging basket. There were other gifts including a myriad of well wishes. Thank you so very much.
The birthday guests. The table is really only about 8′ long, but the way this photo was taken makes it look very long.
This is more realistic, but still makes the room look much longer than it is.
All I need now is a housekeeper, a cook, a gardener/grounds person and a secretary. I might then get caught up, but the treasurer hasn’t approved those expenses,
Ava, my first Cormo, wants me to be near her when she is out eating weeds.
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.
Chores aren’t exciting
I was startled awake at 4.30 this morning by something screaming. When the sun came up and I was able to go see what was going on, I found the animals all safe and Daisy was not letting the rams out of their night enclosure. I’m assuming she had a run in with a coyote and the coyote lost.
Because we are still clearing land of blackberries for pasture, the coyote dens are being destroyed, which leaves the coyotes looking for new dens. Hopefully, they will decide the dogs are not worth the risk. There are many acres next to us loaded with wild rabbits. They will just have to talk to the coyotes who are in charge and see if they will share some of that land.
Chores are not exciting, but part of the day. After going to the gym this morning (I have to go or DH doesn’t go, and that is important for him), I went up and did the exciting chore of cleaning the messiest stall. If I clean it twice a week, it is not difficult. But if I leave it for a week or more, it gets too deep and then it is work.
These two babies thought I needed watching, or maybe they just know that after clean-up comes dinner. By the time I fixed meals, went to the gym, cleaned a stall, and watered the hoop house, I had used up my energy for the day, so I am spending the evening knitting. It may be another week before I get back to the sewing machine. I had wanted to finish a quilt this month, but ……so far it hasn’t happened and I’ll be out of town for the weekend.
Tomato and other plants
These tomato plants have been in for three weeks and are doing very good, so today I planted some tiny little sauce tomatoes that are barely up, but it’s now or it won’t happen. Tomorrow I will try to get some more peppers in. The peas, onion, garlic and cauliflower are doing good. The kale is ahead of me.
I took out most of the winter broccoli to make room for something new. 
I picked a large amount of kale. It is amazing – first you plant and water and fertilize, then you get to wash and process the food. This all seems to take so much time. Grocery store food is CHEAP. But what we grow is better.
When I got to the fairgrounds there were still many unsold fleeces to be picked up.
I was happy as half of mine sold. The fleece that went with this rosette was sold. Though I know this day had 24 hours, like every other day it seems it has been a long day.
Kirsten was the judge for the Shepherd’s extravaganza 2018 here in Washington. She judged more than 300 entries yesterday and today. We entered 14 fleeces. I was disqualified because of a break in the fiber we missed. The others all received blue ribbons. One of the Shetlands will receive a third place ribbon in the primitive breeds. We are delighted with the results.
These are two of the Cormo fleeces. I’ll be getting either the sales papers or the fleeces of any that did not sell on Sunday evening. It has been a long 2 days.
I have finally started a new pair of “impossible girl socks”. The designer, Madeline Gannon, says they remind her of the “Impossible girl” on Dr. Who in a BBC series. So the socks are not impossible, the girl is. I need to look for a label for the yarn as I can only tell you that it is wool with a bit of nylon.
Ava’s baby is the last of the Cormo babies this year. She was a hefty 11# 1 oz and had to be assisted into this world. Two of us really held onto those back legs and pulled. Wet lamb legs are very slippery.