All the Fleece

All the fleece. I want all the long and curly fleece I can get.

When I bought my Cotswold sheep I was introduced to the beauty of long wool with curly flocks. It was only a matter of time that I dive into the most luxurious of the long wools.

We took a semi-short drive to North Carolina yesterday to pick up the newest additions to my wooly family.

Teeswater Sheep.

 This is my new ewe named Cracker Jack.
She is very sweet and has a beautiful soft fleece. She was shorn in Feb, so you can see how much she has grown already.

This is the baby whether to Cracker Jack. His name is Sparrow. Born in Feb, he is already full of soft fleece and is very sweet.

We also got this little girl lamb.
Her name is Dani.
Also born in Feb, she is just as sweet and beautiful. She does have a pinch of Cotswold her in her as well.

Then I needed to buy a ram and lucked upon the most beautiful Teeswater ram around!
His name is Hercules and he is a beauty.
I plan to breed all of my ewes to him this fall.

When we got them all home, we put the mama and the babies in one paddock and we put Hercules in with my other sheep.

He is quite happy to be with my Wensleydales and Cotswolds, and they can all get to know the newest ewe and babies through a fence. I didn't want to risk my Cotwolds picking on those sweet lambs.

I have been working on some lock spinning and knitting with curly locks from my Wensleydales. I hope to have a nice project finished soon for a show and tell.

Until then, we have expanded the flock and it promises to be a rewarding decision!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll!

Spring Doozy

The only thing I dislike about spring are the wild storms that come through. Last night we had a doozy blow in, and although there were no tornados, it left its fair share of damage.

 We stood on the porch watching the chicken tractor closely because we had 45 pullets in it when we heard a loud crash.
This huge tree fell on the metal carport we use to park the tractor.

This morning I had a chance to assess the damage. The tractor seems fine but the carport is trashed.

I have already had a conversation with my insurance agent.

The tree fell just enough to damage our wooden storage shed too. 

I know we are actually lucky that no people were hurt and that we never lost our power. 

Now to do chores and see how best to repair the chicken tractor.

I really thought it was going to blow away during the storm. I am grateful it did not, but I do need to repair it the best I can today.

Hoping everyone is safe after last night's spring doozy!

Happy Wednesday Ya'll!

Doing the Best I Can

If I was a busy person a year ago I can honestly say that I feel busier these days but with less to show for it, except this little guy counts for 99% of my time.

          *Ace is wearing a sweet beanie knitted by my good friend Martha. It's made from angora yarn she spun from her bunnies.*

I had honestly forgotten how much time babies consume, and this guy is no different. Warm weather is on its way though and Baby Bear loves to be outside. The last 2 weeks have been busy here as we start the post winter, clean the crap from the yard and get ready for baby animals process.

We sent the remaining of our pigs to process and then started the much needed clean up of fencing. These pigs challenged fencing every single day. We had a mess of barbed wire and pallets. 

Once the pigs left we spent a day pulling up electric wire fencing from the woods and pulling up pallets. We plan to clean it all up and allow it to recover. We will not run pigs again until fall so that will give it time to recover and us time to run new electric wire.

We did have sad news when we discovered a heifer, who was due in April, had miscarried her calf.

Of course these things always happen in the dark, so finding her dead baby was nearly impossible. We discovered the heifer, Chance, with membranes dangling when we took hay out for the cows. 

Because I feared she might have a calf inside we called the vet, only the vet was on vacation. I was able to call another vet out and he confirmed she had miscarried. 

We gave her a shot of lutalyse to try and get the membranes expelled.

I was disappointed that we did not get a live calf but happy Chance was okay.

The next day we did find her dead fetus in the 20 acre field we rent. On the upside, she is milking well.

Her membranes finally expelled after 5 very smelly days.

The day after Chance lost her calf I woke up and decided to move Molly closer to the house. Molly was due any day and I was worried she might suffer same fate as Chance. 

I was happy to walk out and find Molly had calved during the early morning hours. She had a healthy bull calf, a wagyu cross, at her side.

We did move them both closer to the house, but Molly has been a great mama cow and her calf is doing great.

This is the first official start to my beef herd.

Between these happenings we had two birthdays to celebrate!

Quinn turned 19 years old! 

Indiana turned 17 years old!

We celebrated with a huge family dinner/party.

This week I am finally catching up and taking a deep breath. I am getting our lives back on a routine, no thanks to the daylight savings time change, and I actually went grocery shopping yesterday.

I cleaned out my fridge and was feeling good about my day yesterday. Have you ever just really felt like you had it all together as a mom? That was me yesterday......until this happened.

That is Zeb wearing overalls that are about 3 sizes too small. He refused to take them off too. 

When my girls were all little I was really good about keeping their clothes folded and tucked neatly in their drawers, and I was always good about switching out clothes seasonally and taking out clothes they had outgrown.

I don't know what happened when I had the boys. I honestly try not to enter their rooms for fear I will see something that needs purging or cleaning. Apparently I am past due needing to remove clothes they have outgrown.

Mom fail.

I redeemed myself by ordering both boys a new pair of overalls though.

Thank you Amazon Prime.

                                                     *Valentine soaking up some sun*

                                                   

It has been freezing cold here the last few days, but I am confident spring warmth will return soon, hopefully, because we are very low on hay. 

The cows are starting to shed their winter coats and the grass is really trying to grow.

Just a few more good days working outside and I think the yard will look decent again :-)

Now to spend the remainder of my day tending to this guy.

Happy Thursday Ya'll!!

Sami

Bee Prep

Monday was the perfect weather for some outside work that needed to be completed.

I have three packages of honey bees arriving from a local beekeeper in April. I have plenty of equipment but, like everything on a farm, they needed some upkeep before the bees arrive.

Since I am including honeybees in my bug curriculum this year for the younger kids and because I want the kids to grow up with a strong knowledge of beekeeping, I enlisted their help with equipment preparations.

The boxes all needed a good scraping and cleaning up and a fresh coat of paint.

I have always used white paint in the past, but the children and I thought this was a year for color.

The boys put on large, old shirts to protect their nicer clothes and went to town painting the boxes.

Earlier in the day we went to a local store and I let them pick out 3 colors.

It was all fun and games until Luna and Kid starting chasing each other. Luna got green paint on her head and backside. We rinsed it off and then she rolled in dirt. Dogs!

It was a great day for the baby to be outside too. He did nap between tasks :-) Actually the sunshine was a great immune system booster for everyone.

The next day we gathered the equipment, added new frames, and set up our new bee yard near the blueberry bushes.

This are will be expanded some, and we will be fencing it with a permanent fence to keep the cows out.  

All of the kids help set the hives up and I was happy to be working outside with my crew.

Today we gathered all of the bee suits and washed them. This weekend I will gather and organize gloves and veils.  I do need to order some new gloves for the boys still.

We also decided to set up 2 nuts around the property in hopes of attracting a swarm. We bought a paste called Bee Charmer as a lure for the frames. Every day the boys go check the "bee traps" in hopes that we get a swarm. I really hope we do because it would thrill the kids to watch! IO am thinking n early spring might set off early swarms. It was a nice 77 degrees today!

Finally, the German Shepherd baby starts her obedience training in a week. I am excited to see where this dog goes in life. For now, she is the best companion a baby could ask for :-)

Happy Friday Ya'l!!

I'm a Little Redneck

* Disclaimer: This post is not meant as an insult to my family or friends. It's written with nothing but pure affection.*

At one time we lived in a quaint and lovely neighborhood. There were sidewalks and the mailboxes has pretty, glowing gas lights.
There were block parties and impromptu cookouts with neighbors.
We had perfectly lined flower beds all around the house, and I would plant seasonal flowers every where.
At one time....

Now I have this kind of yard.

                                     

This is not a Gentleman's Farm.

I am not complaining, mind you, that we are out here on a farm, but this week has really shown the stark difference in our life style now. The neighborhood life had a way of hiding our red neck.

So this week my young pigs escaped their fencing...again. They have been escape artists since we brought them home. We have never had issues with keeping pigs within electric fencing, but these guys refuse to stay put.
They escaped a few times so we finally just let them roam the property until Devin arrived home from work. Yes, these things always happen when he is out of town. At any rate, for two days I had pigs enthusiastically rooting up all of the mulch from around the swim pool.

Then several times I would here Hilda, the pet pig, squeal. I would run outside and catch those pigs biting and chasing poor fat Hilda. She doesn't move quickly enough to get away from those young ones, so I would proceed to run outside, wearing pajama bottoms and slippers, carrying a metal rod so I could beat the pigs off Hilda. Add to this picture that I always had the baby in a sling while screaming at those bully pigs and you have there my reality show moment. Redneck at its finest.

Devin got home and because we are redneck frugal environmentalists, we recycled wood pallets into a fence.

Who needs a t-post driver when you have a tractor bucket? Now that is actually just working smarter, not harder.

Now those little pigs have two layers of fencing to keep them contained.

Of course I really want these pigs out in the woods, but unless they respect electric fencing, they will have to remain in this  lot. One day at a time will have to be my motto with these guys.

The very next day we got rain. Lots of rain. We were over 20 inches short in rain for the year and there have been numerous wildfires in the area. The rain was very much needed.

According to my redneck poor man's rain gauge, we got about 3 inches.

Yeah there are days when I miss my perfectly pretty yard and all the amenities of a subdivision, but I do love this farm life too.
I embrace the redneck, really, because it means I can improvise. I can be creative. I can be frugal. I can get the job done, no matter what.

And those pallets were slated for the dump, so we really did recycle and that makes my Inner Hippie happy.

Happy Friday Ya'll!!!!!!

Before the Baby Arrived

Before the baby arrived, I had planned to update on farm life here, but blogger was being a pain. Today I plan to update.

We got 3 new piglets. We still have 2 large pigs that will be processed soon, but I was able to get 3 babies this fall as well.

Because we did not want the babies in with the larger, forested pigs we set up a new area and fenced it with three strands of electric wire.

Apparently this was not enough fencing for these little guys as they were escaping constantly. I would wake in the morning and find them scattered across the pasture. We finally locked them up in this dog kennel until we could secure more fencing.

Devin ultimately used barbed wire and more strands. It is working so far. They will stay in this area until the big pigs are processed, then I will move them into the forested area.

Loading up these guys from the kennel and transporting them across to their new paddock was lots of fun, i.e. pigs are really great at squealing!!

We are fortunate that they love Willow and they love milk, and this makes moving them even easier.

We no sooner got the piglet challenge conquered when my bulldog Duke suddenly fell ill. We came home one evening from eating out when we noticed he could barely walk. We initially thought his leg was hurt.

The next morning he could not get up without howling in pain. It was his back. We carefully loaded him up and headed for the vet.

A few x rays revealed that he had a possible slipped disc. It is difficult to see slipped discs on an x ray, but there were no other findings that would cause the pain. The doctor gave him a steroid shot and we left the office with more steroids and some pain pills.

He was noticeably better the next day and has improved since. He is still stiff jointed in the morning, but he is getting quite old for his breed. We are hoping he remains mobile and healthy.

There are weeks when it always seems like "something" is happening....that's life and that's agriculture.  I am hoping for boring weeks for the remainder of the year :-)

Happy Friday Ya'll!

The Sorrow, The Loss

I always say that when you have great days on the farm, enjoy it. Relish it. Never forget what that great day feels like.
Eventually you will have a crappy day, and you will need those great days to keep you going.

I have suffered my share of losses, mostly chickens and calves, over the years. I have had days when it was too rainy, too dry, too hot and too cold. I have suffered through days of being unsure of my decisions and days of not knowing what the next day would bring.

There have been days when I really missed the easy going neighborhood life, the long family vacations and even the spur of the moment adventures away from home.

Some days I feel completely isolated from the *outside* world, like I have not a single friend with whom I can visit and share stories.

None of those days, however, can compare to the complete devastation I experienced yesterday. Devastation that I am still feeling today, deep in my gut and my soul. I am so sad and so full of despair at times that it is difficult to even breathe. My only solace is that I know farming and caring for livestock has its ups and downs. It is not for the faint of heart, in fact it is for the full of heart.

My sweet ewe, Lila, was not a sheep I wanted to breed this year. She was my most valuable ewe in terms of money value and heart value. Her fleece was a delicious combination of Teeswater and Black Wensleydale , and it had a soft sheen like no other I have seen. She was a dominant ewe in my flock, yet she was very gentle. Her only flaw was that she was not a good mother, therefore I was done breeding her. Her life was to be spent on the farm giving beautiful fleeces and that's it, until she decided to break from her paddock last fall and find my ram.

4 hours with my ram was all it took to make sure we would be watching her closely all spring waiting for lambs, usually triplets. Last week she appeared over due and ready to lamb at anytime, however she experienced a vaginal prolapse. The vet came to fix her up and we determined she was not yet in labor. Since then we kept a close watch on her, every 2 hours.

She was fine. She was grazing and eating and keeping with the flock, until yesterday. I noticed that she finally separated herself from the others about 7 am. She wasn't eating and she had a slight discharge. Finally, she was in labor. I removed her sutures and continued to monitor her every 30 minutes. She never seemed to be in distress and I was happy to finally get the pregnancy over and have lambs.
It only took a 30 minute time frame for her to collapse. To perish. In only 30 minutes she was no longer standing, but on her side and completely dead.
What did I miss? What did we do wrong?
It was too late for anything to be done to save her or the lambs.
Just like that my sweet, favorite ewe was gone. All hope of three babies was gone. Weeks of anticipation were replaced with utter and complete loss. Emptiness.

In that very moment I questioned everything I was doing. The sorrow, the anger, the disbelief instantly makes you wonder if you chose the right life out here on this land.

I need the great days, or at least memories of those great days. Those days when a calving goes perfectly and a cheese tastes fantastic. Those days when all the hens are laying eggs and the meat birds weigh more than expected. The days when all the hay gets stacked in the barn before it rains and all of the milking cows stand perfectly at milking time.

Today I reflect and cling to those good days, the great days, because the sorrow of losing Lila seems too much to bear. Am I being overly dramatic? Maybe, but I am not faint of heart. I am full of heart, much like most of the farmers and horse people I know.

Am I doing the wrong thing by farming? Should I give up? Maybe. You know it is hard at times, and it can feel daunting to keep up with everything at times, but I can't quit.
 I won't quit.
Deep in my gut I feel sad and powerless, but deeper still my will is strong.

Rest in Peace sweet Lila.

Valentine

I am happy to announce that our calf is getting stronger each day. No doubt the super nice, spring-like weather we had the past several days contributed! It might have been too nice since I see little leaves budding out on my Japanese Maple tree. Cold, rainy weather is headed this way again tomorrow.

We also have a new milk cow, although she is not *ours*, but we are keeping care of her and milking her.

Valentine belongs to my farmer neighbor. She calved a little over a week ago and lost her calf to the elements. She had no problem calving and she is young and sound. Because my neighbor doesn't have time to milk a cow, he offered for me to keep her. This was perfect timing since my cows are getting low in production and I am making lots of cheese these days.

Valentine is a large cow, especially compared to my other ladies, but she is super nice. In fact we joke that she is half cow, half hound dog.
She really took to Devin over the weekend and follows him around until he scratches her neck.

Like most new milk cows, it took a couple of days to get the *milking* routine down, but she is good as gold now.

She's a welcome addition to the farm, and we are really enjoying her milk! Now, if we could just get spring to arrive early!

Happy Hump Day Ya'll!