Maggie's Farm

Button Kind of Day

2012-01-27T17:14:00.001-05:00

Matt took me to get closet building accoutrement today. I am one step closer to actually having a closet. An Irish ancestor of Matt's, as the story goes, left home to marry her first beau because she "wanted to have her own closet." I have been waiting to have a closet for about five years now. The clothing situation has become rather desperate since I rescued a truck load of clothes from the possums that were invading my tractor shed. I hate to let good clothes go. You never know when times will get hard and you will need a fresh outfit or two. I hauled quite a load up here from New Jersey (by way of Pennsylvania, but we won't go there - I hated Pennsylvania). I may be a shepherd from the wilds of upstate NY, but I like to look nice when I go to work. Matt built this nice apartment for me, but has not found the time to build a closet. Everything has either been hanging from bare nails, or has been stored in piles and tubs, making it difficult to plan my outfits. Finally, he promised tomorrow, I will have real racks and poles to hang my things on. I can hardly wait, but will have to, until morning. In the mean time I am amusing myself with mashing clay and cutting out Bundaflicka Buttons. I will be doing a bit of sewing the next few weeks and need buttons for my Bundaflicka knitting totes. Here are a few that are ready to pop in the oven. The wind is blowing out there and the rain we've had all day is turning to snow. Good time to fire up the oven to help the wood stove keep us warm while I play with clay.

Love...

2012-01-26T22:06:00.000-05:00

Happiness is a roaring fire on a cold, wet, icy night, and a warm puppy to keep you company and heat your belly!

Soapy

2012-01-25T11:13:00.002-05:00

Every once in a while I buy a bar of soap from another soapmaker to compare to my own. Actually that's an excuse. I love handmade soap. I mean, I just love handmade soap. I've always been drawn to it. There's something mystical and magical about the chemistry of it. It goes even deeper than that. I purchased a bar of Canterbury Cabin Soap at the Plowshares Crafts Festival and am using it now. This is very nice soap. I like the large, hand cut block - 5 ounces, a very hefty size. The scent is "Patchouli Spice." Hmmmmm. I like the brownish, bronze color, probably from the "spice" part of the scent oils. I cannot, for the life of me, and I want to be magnanimous about it, discern any patchouli at all. I checked the web site and there is a notation about how prohibitively expensive patchouli oil has been the last few years - and don't I know it! Maybe she held back on the patchouli and went heavy on the "spice" for that reason. I adore patchouli and won't mix anything with it. If I pay that much for patchouli I want patchouli to knock me over. I held off on making Patchouli soap for a year or so after the crop failed in India and the price spiked to $200 for the 16 ounce bottle I need for a batch. It has come down considerable now, but half price of ridiculous is still expensive. I like my soaps to have a definitive aroma, not a nebulous blend like "Patchouli/Chocolate/Raspberry." Sometimes you end up with soap that smells like none of them. My soap is also creamier and I'm not surprised. I don't know any soap that is as creamy as mine. I add as much shea butter and honey as I can, along with the goat milk, which makes for a very creamy soap. I like the large chunks of oatmeal Canterbury Cabin put in this bar. It makes for a lovely exfoliant and interesting texture you would never find in commercial soap. I was relieved to find that her soap is not lasting any impressive length of time. I worry that other soap makers have found ways to extend the life of their soaps. Nothing to be concerned about - mine lasts and lasts. I found some molds gifted to me from my dear soapmaker friend, Laticia Mullin, and think it would be fun to make some "man in the moon" soaps and "leafy rounds." I might make a basket of lavender hearts to put out at Maryland for Mother's Day gifts. I have the ingredients to make several batches of soap and have to get cracking on it. On deck is Spruce Cedarleaf (an essential oil that is new to me this year - I like the piney scent and the name is very musical), Vanilla (essential oil, not a scent oil!), Rosemary (old favorite I haven't made in a while), Cinnamon (this time with a bit of orange spice in it) and, as always, lavender. I have a batch of Patchouli that needs wrapping but for now it is so wonderfully aromatic on the rack where I sit and type on my computer that I've left it out to "cure" for a very long time. I am totally out of Garden Rose and need to order the oil. I give so much soap away over the holidays, and trade away some more at shows, I find myself woefully short when Maryland rolls around. That's okay - 'tis better to give than to receive.

Sewing Again

2012-01-25T10:56:00.002-05:00

I had stopped sewing for several weeks. Puppy duty combined with extra duty in the barn conspires against my time at the machine. I had an order for three bags from a goatherd in western NY which got me sewing again. I realized I missed the hum of my little machine and the constant refilling of my ONE bobbin (the Singer is as old as I am). I have to start sewing in earnest as Maryland Sheep and Wool is right around the corner. There is gorgeous, luscious wool roving everywhere you turn, and much of it is raised by shepherds like me (unlike the Wool from Undetermined Origin that I steer clear from). Nobody, I mean nobody, has Bundaflicka Knitting Totes, however. I have to make a good showing. It's been more than ten years since I made the very first tote, a gift for Lisa Palmer, Mia's bestie, who worked as my aide when I taught knitting and quilting at the Morris School District's upscale summer program. Lisa was getting ready to go on vacation to Mexico and needed a tote. I said, let's make you one, and here we are. She said she had to have some kind of closure and I made a red heart button out of the Fimo clay we had in the classroom. I have a picture of that tote somewhere...I used to make a lot of heart buttons but people had very strong feelings about them. Some customers would say, I love that bag but hate the heart button - can you change it? I liked the hearts as they are very Swedish and work well with the fabric closure strap around the fat part of the button. Once in a while I make hearts to put in the box of Bundaflicka Buttons I keep at the booth now. If someone doesn't like a button on a bag I offer to sew on another one of their choice right then and there. Some take advantage and leave happy. Mia told me she is putting some of the Bundaflicka Bags I've given her over the years on Ebay to sell, and is getting hits on the listings. I'm happy for her if it gives her tuition money, but sad to see them go. They never wear out and I like to think of them as being handed down in the family. I am trying to use up the fabric I have in the house now. Once again I am shooting for 40 bags or so for Maryland. It is foolish to expect that I can sew more than five per week. When I did an analysis of my time on a day when I go to school it goes something like this:

One hour of chores in the morning.
Half hour to make and drink lots of strong coffee, wash, get dressed.
Hour and a half commuting, there and back again.
Six - seven hours in school.
One hour making stops on the way home.
Two hours of chores at night.
One hour human food preparation, eating, washing up dishes (maybe).
Four hours for playtime with dogs & cats, staring at the stars, watching TV, sewing, spinning, sorting through fleeces, Facebook, Yahoo and Blog, doing my laundry, checking the barn, etc.

Let's see does that leave any time for sleeping? Tally it up...six hours for sleeping. Sounds about right. I can't imagine making something that is entirely frivolous, just for me. Not since I've had sheep. Do the sheep pay for themselves? It depends on how hard I work, and I'm not working hard enough to make them pay exclusively. If I put coats on the sheep and sold raw fleeces, I would do better. That requires extra hands to help me hold them and catch them while the right size coats are fitted, changed when the wool grows longer, etc. My yearling lambs from last winter are growing amazingly thick and soft fleeces from my ram, Romeo, who is half Merino and half Bluefaced Leicester. He is stunning. Thankfully I have something good to come out of that horrifically miserable winter. I still have PTSD from last year and still can't talk about it. Someday I may have to. Only one more birth this year, from the ewe who was living out back with the boys. She should come any time now. Aside from the lamb/s coming from that lovely ewe, I will have three lovely wethers - Joseph, Gabriel and TJ - and one cute little ewe, Robin. They are growing very nicely and will leave the maternity pen as soon as I can get them tagged, wormed and another round of vaccinations. I will have to step up sorting of fleeces, washing, dyeing and shipping to the processor for carding. I need to call Jim Baldwin and set up a BIG shearing soon. Fortunately, Loren is around to help and, if I'm lucky, maybe I can get Kimmie Cornerstone and crew to come from Ontario. I think I should finish with last year's fleeces first. Yikes, I get tired thinking about it.

Sadie and Her Bone

2012-01-23T12:51:00.000-05:00

I gave Sadie a nick-name - "Jaws." Her razor sharp teeth have us screaming OUCH!! when she clamps down on our fingers and toes. I gave Sadie her own chew toy - a lovely leg of lamb for her very own. Now she can chew to her heart's content. I have a hard time keeping Reba, Sadie's mom, from sneaking it away and claiming it for herself. Luckily, I have a few more available for Sadie.

Pooped!

2012-01-22T17:29:00.001-05:00

Sadie is just the cutest thing on four paws. When she is not sleeping, she's playing with Reba and the kitties. When she's not playing she's looking for something to eat. That Bloodhound nose of hers is always sniffing around for food. Sadie quickly decided that canned food is MUCH more delicious than dry food and is willing to wait for the good stuff. I have a couple of kitties I feed canned feed to in the bathroom (to keep the dogs from stealing it) and Sadie knows what's going on. There's no keeping her out of the bathroom. Sadie likes the kitties, especially the way she can hold them down with her paws and chew on their ears. My kitties have been too nice to scratch Sadie - so far. There's always a first time...I like to take naps with Sadie. She sleeps on my shoulder and neck and makes the cutest little breath sounds. There is nothing cute about those razor sharp teeth, and Sadie knows how to use them...

Kink in the Neck

2012-01-22T12:42:00.002-05:00

This cute little hen can't hold her neck up any longer. She is ancient, I have no idea exactly how ancient, but I've had her for around four years. She was in a crate which was standing on end and full of tiny little chickens - Old English Bantams I was to learn later - who were waiting to go to auction in a friend's front yard. I had stopped in to visit my friend and she told me someone didn't want them and gave the crate full to her. She didn't want them and offered them to me. I said sure, mostly to get them out of that crate. I had no idea what kind of chickens they were, but they began to impress me as super-duper fly catchers as soon as I let them loose in my barn. Prior to obtaining the Bantams, I couldn't walk through my barn with a cup of coffee without it being covered with black swimmers. I only have a couple of the crate birds left. They mated with my purebred catalogue hens and produced some smallish but very energetic roosters which I am still trying to catch. My favorite way to catch the buggers is to put a bowl of cat food in the window sill. The hungry cats jump up to get the food, but the nasty roosters zoom in to push the cats away from the food and proceed to eat it all, making for some very unhappy cats and very annoyed Maggie. I sneak up behind them and clap my hands on either side to hold down the wings, hold them very tightly and toss them in the chicken room for "processing" later. If I have heavy leather gloves on to protect me from the sharp talons, I can get them by the legs, in which case they squawk and flap wildly, which would probably scare any predator into letting go. This little hen might have produced some of the pesty roosters I'm dealing with, but that's okay. I'm sure she gave me lots of eggs (when I could find them hidden in the hay) and a few hen chicks, too. I found her in the barn unable to hold her head up. It's very difficult for her to forage for food and I'm afraid the other hens in the chicken room would be mean to her. I keep her in a box in the heated room adjacent to the barn. Her neck problem causes her head to rest leaning back all the time and she looks straight up at me. A kitty occasionally jumps in to keep her company and drink her water. I was delighted to find an egg in her box the other day, a thank-you for making her end years a little easier.

Wood Detail

2012-01-21T16:12:00.000-05:00

Loren split a good amount of wood for me today, after he built the dandy hay feeder. Matt supervised the splitting of the wood and helped me tote enough inside to get me through next week. The new hay feeders will allow me to put out enough hay at one time for the whole day. The nicely sized split logs will make it much easier to heat the house. Loren likes splitting wood - lucky me.

Finally...

2012-01-21T15:59:00.002-05:00

Loren W. came today and built a terrific hay feeder out of the 16 ft. goat/sheep welded panel I bought at Tractor Supply yesterday. He improved on the plan I had to make an angled pie shape feeder. With Dolly, my petting zoo rescue, watching intently (Dolly loves anything to do with food) Loren bent and rounded the panel up so it will hold more hay. He put secure sides on it and a brace on the top. The feeder holds three bales with no problem. The 4" squares are perfect for the little ones to pull hay out of while the big sheep eat from the top. Loren is coming back tomorrow to build another feeder out of the same panel. I'm thrilled that I have two sturdy, functional feeders out of one $45 panel fence panel. Loren is bringing over a grinder to smooth some of the rough edges on the feeder. I am thrilled on one hand and disgusted with myself for not making this happen a long time ago. When Loren finished with the feeder he set about splitting enough wood to get me through next week. Matt Redmond supervised the wood splitting and gave his Building Science Subject Matter Specialist Seal of Approval to the feeder. When I manage to get more panels home Loren is going to build several feeders around the barn and help me with some other projects. It is a great relief to me to know Loren is available for this kind of help. Matt is living in Syracuse during the week to avoid commuting three hours a day in dangerous weather conditions, and with travelling on weatherization business, well, I could use an extra pair of hands. Plans for tonight - The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep in New Hartford. I'm looking forward to this movie about Margaret Thatcher who I heard speak at the Virginia Military Institute when my Eric was a cadet there. She was a powerful woman who spoke for two hours, extemporaneously, about a variety of things from politics and the IRA to waging war in the Falklands. My St. Elizabeth College friend, Maria Biancheri, and I drove home from Lexington, Virginia, in a freakish blizzard which closed the highway and sent us limping along country roads all night to New Jersey. It was so much fun.

Snowing

2012-01-21T07:31:00.003-05:00

Woke up at 5:30 with some ridiculous language going on the TV...one problem with falling asleep with it on. There was some awful MF this and FU that and I thought I was back in school. Not a pleasant way to wake up. I snuggled with darling little Sadie, who sleeps on my shoulder just like a kitty cat. I am so enjoying this puppy time with her. I can understand why people only have one child to lavish all their love and attention on. I always wanted a dozen kids, but it didn't work out that way, so I have dozens of animals. Sadie has very soft, velvety skin and ears that are like long, delicate flower petals that hang from either side of her head. She has the sweetest little snout, with those wrinkles of bloodhound skin on her nose, making her absolutely delicious to cuddle with. The pads on her paws are the softest rubbery little buttons. We spent a half hour playing on the pillow before I had to get up and put on some lovely classical music. I was putting it off as long as I could as I knew that as soon as my feet touched the floor all the dogs would jump up ready to go out. It is just as cold as I thought it was...around zero...with a gentle snow falling. Sadie HATES the snow. I keep taking her out just in case she might decide to pee on the frozen iciness, but so far no good. She can't relax enough to let it go, and jumps up on my leg or runs to the door to get back in. Thor barking at the inside dogs who have just run past his door in the barn doesn't help. He must look like a great white nasty polar bear to little Sadie. I carry her back in and snuggle some more. My fire situation is not good. I bought two fabulous cords from a teacher at work, but the logs are too big for my stove. Her husband, God bless him, threw in some small logs, but they are long gone and I can't keep spending big bucks on store bought firestarters. Believe you me I will invest in a maul and a new axe head to start splitting some of these big logs. The axe head I have is dull as a rock and bounces off the log. It will be awkward at first but women have been splitting wood from the beginning of time so I can do it too. Loren W. is coming today and I am very hopeful. Randy never showed up with the hay feeder he swore he built for me so I can only imagine it never existed. The pricey one I bought from a feed store before I moved here has completely fallen apart now with the rungs posing a threat to the eyes of my animals. I had the carpentry students build me one a couple of years ago but it lasted two weeks. I almost brought it back to the carpentry teacher thinking how can these boys build a house for people if they can't build a simple hay feeder but I just told him about it instead. They had glued it but not screwed it. Matt laughed when he saw it in back of the truck, but the Master Builder never got around to building me a hay feeder himself. Enter Loren, my former student, who did a good job of painting part of my barn last summer. Loren is coming over to put on together from a panel I bought at Tractor Supply yesterday. I went there after school, which requires driving across the city of Norwich, in the wrong direction from my farm, which I hate to do, but this hay situation is ridiculous. I walked through the yard and picked out the panel I wanted - four inch squared of sturdy welded wire, eight feet long and five feet wide. I got the name and number from the tag and went back in to tell the clerk. While waiting for the line to die down I walked around getting some things I needed like puppy food, rabbit pellets and wormer, and bumped into my dear sheep friend Lisa Merian. Lisa introduced me to this area, and helped me find my farm. I hardly ever get to see her as she lives in Bainbridge, an hour south of Norwich, and I am almost an hour north of Norwich - therein lies the problem. We both are so tied to the farm that the only real frivolous visiting time we do is at sheep shows between waiting on customers who, thankfully, keep our farms alive. Marie Merian, Lisa's mother, is recovering nicely from her broken hip and getting around in a wheel chair. Marie is a world-class knitter and rug-hooker who we went to all the shows until recently. She takes care of all the little lambs who need extra TLC, tube and bottle feeding, and holds down the home front while Lisa travels to schools with her fiber art teaching. Lisa and I talked for a while and she commiserated with me on the hay feeder issue. I asked some TS guys if they would cut two panels for me and help me mount them on the top of my Blazer. The one in charge said we will cut them but we can't be responsible for mounting them on your truck. Lisa kindly said she would help me, and I bought bungee cords to do the job. The TS guys decided to help me anyway and we all got the panels secured. I left them there for Loren to take off when he comes today. We'll fashion a hay basket and tie it together with the spool of wire I bought and secure it to the wooden stanchion. Raising sheep is all about clever management and building of the proper equipment - something I've never had, but dream of constantly. Speaking of dreaming, I think I will lie down for a little while and watch the flickering fire, which, thankfully is showing some flame. I managed to get outside in my nightie to dig deep for some smaller logs in the Two Blondes Wood Pile. I think next year Mia and I will separate the smaller logs from the bigger, and maybe we will both be splitting wood. "Wouldn't" that be fun for her to tell her friends in the upscale fancy hospital where she works? There is a lovely Lake Effect snow coming down, making my beautiful barn look like something in a Currier and Ives calendar. I wonder if those calendars exist any more? Farm Family Insurance sends me a barn calender every year, but none of the barns are as pretty as mine. They may be landscaped with flower beds and perfect windows, but I doubt if there is as much love going on inside, along with the pain and drudgery. I won't live as long as I need to live to really make something out of this place, but it's all about the Quest, isn't it?

Bottles?

2012-01-19T06:42:00.000-05:00

The alarm woke up Sadie who started wiggling on my neck which woke me up. I ran out of logs last night, didn't carry enough inside, and was too tired to go out and get more. The apartment will hold heat for a little while, but I will have to either tote in more wood and get the fire going, or break down and turn on the thermostat. Think I will put it on 40. The critters have blankets and sofas to snuggle on. Yes, the sofas in my house are great big dog couches that they share with humans. I'm hoping to get to the Salvation Army in Syracuse to check out the sofas sometime soon. I don't dare buy new furniture with all these animals - that would turn my hair grey pretty quick. I got the milk mixed for Joseph and Gabriel then realized I left the bottles in the barn. When they see me they go NUTS for their milk, but now they will have to carry on a bit longer while I bring the bottles back inside to fill them up. I am determined to get out the door in a reasonable time today so I don't have to push the envelope on icy roads. I might even stop at Stewart's and get the skralings some cheap bread for peanut butter sandwiches. Our school cupboard is bare with no purchase orders coming from the school - hard times for all - so anything we eat is purchased by yours truly. My normally magnanimous nature is not nurtured by the student's naughty behavior, so we don't eat much in school besides duck eggs every morning and maybe popcorn in the afternoon. The kids call my eggs "poo eggs" because they always seem to have a bit of poo stuck on them. I think that's kind of cool because it drives the city slicker kids crazy. Yes, we are in Northern Appalachia, but we still have city slickers. They don't have any money, but still make fun of people like me saying we smell and are generally not cool. Heh, heh, heh. It is I who think they are not cool, but I will never tell them. I'm going out to get some fresh sheep dung on my shoes and sling those bales.

Sadie

2012-01-18T17:40:00.001-05:00

Sadie does not care for the snow and ice. It hurts her little paws and she jumps up on my leg as if to say, please, please, don't make me stand in this stuff. I take her out whenever she whimpers, as per Mia's instructions, but it's too cold and wet for the little darling to relax and pee. I put a sweater on her when I took her out after school today, but I don't think she liked it. She stood there, stiff and still, and I brought her back inside. I'll continue to take her out for potty training, but I have a feeling it will be newspaper for now. When Mia takes her back she can take over the supervision. In the meantime, Sadie is supremely happy living inside with her mother to play with and kitties to chase. I was so worried about leaving her alone during the day, but she has plenty of company and is happy to see me when I'm home from school. Sadie is so silky soft and cuddly, and just so smart, happy and playful. She looks the most like Reba of all the puppies, with her Bloodhound snout, long ears and smooth coat. She knows her name and loves to nibble on my ear. When Sadie says my name I'll really be impressed, but not at all surprised.

Cold Tonight

2012-01-18T17:29:00.001-05:00

I don't mind this kind of cold, in fact I kind of like it. Twenties at night, low forties during the day. No problem. The barn manages to stay just above freezing inside, even with the end doors always open so the sheep can go out and eat snow...and get out in the event of fire, heaven forbid, if the silly darlings know enough to rescue themselves. Last night the bunny water was not frozen, and the spare kitty litter containers I keep filled just in case the power goes out and my well pump doesn't work were not frozen either. I can put a coat on over my nightie and do morning chores instead of the three layers I must wear in order to function in minus 20. I stoked the wood stove only twice during the night and built it up before leaving. When I got home at four after a quick stop at the little market in New Berlin I had just a few coals burning and got it going again quickly. The house was cool but nothing in danger of freezing. I drove to work in snow this morning and it was slower going with the roads covered with ice for the most part. I am wearing my Icelandic Design sweaters now and they are just right with the lining and a turtleneck underneath. My class room is in the corner of the wing with many windows, making the room nicely cool for wearing wool. I rarely turn the heat on and luckily my aides and students don't complain. I have one more lamb coming from the ewe who was out back with the boys. Her udder is damaged from past mastitis but it is still swollen from impending birth. I had one ewe with past mastitis who luckily started giving milk again from one teat. It's always a relief. I hope this girl does the same thing. Her fleece is amazingly soft and I'm looking forward to shearing. I would like to have all last year's fleeces skirted but that is wishful thinking unless Kimmie Cornerstone comes for a weekend to help me. Alas she has a job now and her kids are very busy with Air Cadets, parties, sports and activities, just the way it should be. In a nice stroke of luck, the lambs born last year, the Woeful Winter when lambing lasted four months, fathered by Romeo, the BFL/Merino black ram, have incredible fleeces. The Merino gave them wonderful density along with the Bluefaced crimp. Oh, how I wish I had the extra hands to get coats on them. I might have a show fleece from one of them someday. Out to chores while I still have some daylight. I put a little chicken in the oven to roast and make the house warm and fragrant, and to make a little gravy for the White Boys. Not that they need any pampering with all the fresh goat and sheep meat they are eating currently. I gave Thor a new rib cage this morning and he looked at me in wide-eyed-wonder as if to say what did I do to deserve this???? I know he enjoyed it anyway....

Lucky Break

2012-01-18T09:03:00.000-05:00

Lucky me, I didn't have time to miss the puppies too long. Little Sadie has come back to me for a visit while Mia and Andrew adjust their living situation. No problem for me. I'm loving the chance to enjoy one puppy. The wild hoarde was wonderful, but having the time to lavish love and affection on one "child" is sublime. She is so smart and playful. Reba rolls around with her, play fighting and having the kind of fun she couldn't with the whole litter. Sadie slept wrapped around my neck last night, with Izzy cuddled up to my belly and Reba at my feet. The wind roared and blasted the sturdy barn, and the creaking was music to my ears. Life is good.

Too Quiet

2012-01-16T09:37:00.000-05:00

The puppies are all placed in their new homes and initial reports are good. Pictures are coming in from the kindly new owners. Gosh, they are cute puppies and so healthy and happy. Reba is taking the departure of her pups very well. I can't detect any anxiety at all, and teat discomfort seems minimal at this point. I have not even noticed her looking for them. Who knows how many litters she's had? Maybe she's used to her babies suddenly being gone? There won't be any more litters. Reba's job will be to keep me company around the farm and hold down the sofas with the rest of the dogs. On deck for this morning- suit up again and get out for more watering. Animals get thirstier in this cold, dry weather and not all of them eat snow like sheep. Goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, cats and dogs all need water. When I threw down bales this morning the sheep attacked them like they've been starved for days. Hardly! The thermometer told me minus 10 F. this morning, a little warmer than yesterday's minus 18. Sunny weather continues, but a weather system is moving in tonight making for icy conditions while driving to work tomorrow. Have to get to the Louis Gale Feed Mill where I can get almost everything I need for everybody, except for lamb milk replacer which I will have to drive miles and miles for. Joseph and Gabriel are almost ready to wean off bottles, but I don't have the heart to do it cold turkey. I reduce to two watery bottles for a few days, then one bottle, and so on. How old are they now? Have to check back on this journal. They were the first to be born. I am missing the puppies, but how in the world can I be unhappy when they are being showered with so much love this morning, and many years of mornings to come?

Puppies to Grow Up With

2012-01-15T18:37:00.001-05:00

Is there anything sweeter than young kids and their new puppies? They will be friends for life.

Mission Accomplished

2012-01-15T18:30:00.002-05:00

It's been a long and happy day. The puppies woke me up at 3:30 - 4:00. Rosie and Molly had succeeded in climbing out of the puppy box and the other two were making a big fuss. I lay in my bed, just like I did thirty years ago when my baby twins were making a fuss in the wee hours, hoping they would quiet down. No deal. I was up. A quick check out the window at the thermometer told me why I was cold in the apartment - minus 18 F., and we're not talking about wind chill. I got the fire built up quickly and picked up the fussy babies. Today is the day they would leave us. No more puppies. My sadness was tempered by the joy in them going to such good homes. My long-time fiber artist attorney friend, Carolyn D'Agostino, arranged this match with her high school friend, George Yostpile, in West Babylon, New York. As luck would have it, George's sister-in-law was also looking for a puppy. How fortunate the puppies would be related by marriage and see each other at holiday gatherings, etc! We met at the Sloatsburg rest area on route 87 just north of the New Jersey line. The weather, although bitter cold, was perfect. I was shaking with excitement when I handed over the puppies, one by one, to the combined families who ALL came to pick up them up in a giant church van! It was just too good to be true. The kids immediately ran back to their van to get blankets to wrap the puppies in, or stuffed them inside their jackets. Mia and Andrew pulled in and the joy was complete. Andrew had a carrier and a back seat full of new puppy chew toys ready for Sadie. Shoshanna will go to Mia's college friend Corey's parents in Harmony who just lost their aged Springer Spaniel. I couldn't dream up a better scenario for Reba's puppies if I tried. We all hugged and said good-bye, then Mia, Andrew, Matt and I visited for a while in Starbucks. Mia is busy studying for her Nurse Practitioner boards coming up, and Andrew assured me that the 1% is still playing golf (he sells insurance to golf courses!) After a nice chat the young couple drove off with their babies and we started home, snacking all the way on the goodies in the giant gift basket from the Yostpile and Valenti families. I have delightful images of their kids cuddling and loving on the puppies. It seems like yesterday we took Reba in after she had languished in the field across from Hollow Road for I don't know how long. Now she is lying on the sofa watching the Giant's game, in no apparent distress at losing her puppies. I think I will suffer more from puppy withdrawal. Reba was a fantastic mother to them and her job is done. Now she will live happily ever after on my farm.

Bye-Bye Puppies

2012-01-14T06:04:00.003-05:00

I didn't look for them but they found me. What a blessing my puppies have been these last few weeks. I remember when we went to see this poor dog, lost or abandoned in the neighbor's field. I still have no idea where she came from, or how long she was out there in the elements, but Reba lives here now and is supremely happy on the farm. I don't think Reba will miss the puppies. She was a fabulous mother, but she's tired and needs a rest from her ordeal. Reba loves her leisure time on the sofa, or at the foot of my bed. She follows me around the barn when I do chores, and now barks protectively when she hears things. For several weeks at first she did not bark at all and I was worried. Reba has some annoying habits, like pushing through a door ahead of me when I go outside, but I know she just doesn't want to be left behind. I can deal with her abandonment issues. I feel very satisfied and grateful the puppies are going to good homes in the suburbs of Long Island and New Jersey. They will go to the vet when necessary, have dog toys to play with and wear cutesy designer outerwear and canine accoutrement. Sure, they won't have sheep poo to eat or come home dragging carcasses and bones of various varmints, but that's okay. They will have ID chips implanted and contact info velcroed to fancy collars, with dog licenses always up-to-date. Their nails will be naturally ground down by all those walks on development sidewalks by yuppie runners, and have favorite fire hydrants and mailboxes to leave calling cards on. Every Christmas the puppies will have stockings hung for Santa Claus, fluffy new LL Bean plaid doggie beds, and nifty food bins that let fresh kibble fall as needed. There will be tins on the counter with tasty treats in cellophane packages and the puppies will learn tricks to earn their goodies. Most of all they will be loved and adored by nice, responsible, employed people who took pity on a homeless country mutt and her predicament, and were willing to drive hours to fetch the darlings and give them forever homes. Sure, they could afford to buy whatever breed of purebred puppy they want, from breeders who charge ridiculous sums of money and ignore the fact that there are thousands of homeless dogs waiting for homes. Instead, they adopt needy but adorable angels who are blessed with the variety of genes that will make them healthier and live longer than dogs with the fancy pedigrees. I thought about keeping one of Reba's puppies as my "code" will not let me purchase dogs from breeders but allows me to take in dogs who are homeless and desperate. I have my hands full, and I want Reba. We're both a couple of old ladies who are just looking for a little peace and comfort in life.

Scrambled

2012-01-13T15:02:00.001-05:00

I like to make scrambled eggs for my class every morning, and fully intended to do so today had I not left a bag of eggs on the barn floor somewhere as I rushed to get out the door. The weather forecast was ominous, and the storm hit a half hour before I left. I hate to drive in bad weather but it was too late to call in and the sturdy old 4WD Chevy Blazer was waiting for me with a full tank of gas. I put on silk underwear under my jeans and threw boots with heavy socks, mittens, hat and a coat in the truck - just in case I had to hike. Gusts of wind were causing the stove to back draft despite the updraft fan and I was concerned about the puppies breathing smoke. What to do, what to do. I cracked the window thinking it would help the stove draft. The puppies could cuddle in the box with their soft blanket and be happy chewing on the meaty goat leg I gave them. Oh, they are so cute...but they are taking over the house. I remember picking up Tanner and Java, who lives in Canada now, from the farm down the road. It was so bitter cold, and they were living outside in shed with their litter mates, unlike these pampered puppies. Speaking of bitter cold, it is back with temps diving this weekend. I'm sitting at my desk contemplating my long drive in the snow on roads that have been snowed on all day. I have no choice but to get out in it and make my way home, hoping I will find everyone okay when I get there. It was a good day in school, all in all, and I work with such terrific people. I'm waiting for Friday Euphoria to set in...but there's a slippery drive home first.

Grazing in January

2012-01-10T09:16:00.000-05:00

Mild weather continues and the sheep are loving it. I let them out to graze over the weekend and they thoroughly enjoyed the icy coating on the grass provided by the pretty "lake effect snow."

Hello Monday

2012-01-09T09:33:00.001-05:00

When I make it back to work after a weekend on the farm I feel like I'm dwelling in a parallel universe. School is so clean, brightly lit, and orderly compared to the farm. Everything is vibrantly colored plastic and sparkling tile, with ceiling lights everywhere and floors you can eat off of. I have so many friendly people to talk to. Not that I don't have anyone to talk to on the farm, but they don't answer back in English! Hello Monday morning. Funny how you come back around again and again. When I make it to my classroom, which is on the far wing, in the farthest corner of the school from where I park, and get the key in the door, and get my coat hung up and a quick peek in the mirror to make sure I got the make up in the right places, I take a deep breath. Every single species of creatures are fed, watered and contained for the day, no easy feat, until I return to them, hopefully, at the end of the day and do it all over again. The rhythm works for me.

Mia on Mount Marcy

2012-01-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

What do graduate Nurse Practitioners do when they are not studying for boards and caring for patients on the ward? They hike the Adirondacks in the dead of winter! Mia and her husband, Andrew, hiked to the summit of Mount Marcy yesterday and spent the night on the mountain. I hope they make it back down safely today, and back to New Jersey without incident.

Hungry Boys

2012-01-08T07:58:00.002-05:00

Joseph and Gabriel are still on three bottles day - soon to become twice a day. It's just so hard to listen to them scream, and scream they do, but soon it will be weaning time. They get a morning bottle before I leave for work, and have to wait until I get home, get settled and get the afternoon bottles mixed. I've been giving them a night-night bottle before I turn in, but that's the one I'll eliminate first. Milk replacer is prohibitively expensive - $33 for a small bag if I buy it in New Berlin, $20 if I buy it at Tractor Supply. I'm on my second bag. Thankfully TJ and Robin are doing fine on their mother's ample udder. All four lambs are eating hay and grain and thriving just fine. I took the sweaters off as the weather is wonderfully balmy and the lambs are growing a thick little coat of baby wool. It's snowing now but the forecast is for another above normal week ahead.

Where Is She?

2012-01-08T07:52:00.003-05:00

Joseph and Gabriel are out there waiting for their bottles. I have them ready, but I'm enjoying this leisurely Sunday morning just a little longer. Cold in the apartment this morning, and I broke down and turned up the thermostat. The wood fire thing is wearing out. I don't have enough kindling and starting the fire is always problematic. The logs in the two cords I bought are wonderfully hard and heavy, but a real chore to haul inside several times a day, even though we've hauled them up the stairs and into the room outside of the apartment. Fire starting aides are expensive and my stash of scrap wood is gone. I should go up on the ridge and collect sticks for kindling before we get any snow, if we get any snow. I love a wood fire - there is nothing like it for lovely, intense heat, and much less costly than the electric back up I have here. With such a big barn to light up, and the big bath tub I love to fill up with hot water every morning before work, I'm using electric like crazy anyway. I'm resisting going to the back pen to see who's left from the purge yesterday. I can't bear to say their names because they are gone. Cute little boys who I might have been able to keep if I had enough hay to feed them. I confess I engage in some useless and non-productive "shoulda-woulda-coulda" at these times. But here we are, and I can only manage to have so many sheep and goats. The reality is I can only afford to have so much of the fiber processed, and I only do so many shows where people buy carded fiber for spinning and felting, which limits the number of animals I need. Then there's the "extra pair of hands" issue. I just wish I had wethered little Dexter, who is in heaven now. He would have been such a good old-age companion for his mother, Dolly, who adored him so. I need a sheep partner to remind me of things like that. I'm still hoping to find an intern to live here and share the experience. Matt is devoted to Weatherization, and who could blame him. I went to the Louis Gale Feed Mill yesterday and Teresa, the clerk, said Hey! I saw Matt on TV yesterday! In the meantime, two little boys, who are already wethered, are yelling for their bottles out there. I better get out of this nightie and this warm apartment, and take care of them. I hope I get to keep the four lambs I had this year. They sure are cuties.

Puppy Love

2012-01-07T17:18:00.001-05:00

The puppies have had their evening nursing and feeding, and have played "outside the box" for a while and are going back to bed so Mommy and Daddy can get the heck outta here and go to the movies. I want to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy which just came out and promises to be a good escape movie. Much too much farm drama today, with 15 boys processed and packaged with parts already fed to dogs and coyotes. Randy and Doug Dungey, along with the Wild Irish Boy, worked all day on cutting down my numbers and getting some meat in the freezer for the dogs and cats to enjoy over the winter. No, I don't eat lamb or mutton. Never had a taste for it, and don't now. I'll offer some to Sister Grace and Sister Bernadette next door, but I suspect they still have some in the freezer from the last time we did this. The White Boys say, that's okay - more for us. The puppies are too little to gnaw on rib cages and leg bones, and will be going to their respective homes shortly anyway. For now it's their pricey Science Diet Puppy Chow and mom's milk.

Happy Doggies

2012-01-07T16:46:00.000-05:00

I thought I would never have to do this...but too many boys on the farm and the hay stack is getting smaller and smaller. Randy and Doug Dungey came today and made a tough job a little easier to take. Thor, Finn and Knut are very grateful for the legs-o-lamb.

Everything is Relative

2012-01-05T06:18:00.001-05:00

Ten degrees is warm compared to zero. The first intense cold snap took a bit of adjustment for sheep and shepherd. I was worried about pipes freezing, hoses freezing, animals freezing, but we got through it. The right clothes help. I get dressed twice in the morning - first, to go out and do chores and that requires several layers of silkies, ski pants, turtleneck, sweater (just the right sweater - it's a very personal thing - now it's an angora/wool pullover knitted for me by Lisa Merian's mother that fits just right under my Carhartt) hat and thick gloves. The jacket pockets are necessary to hold scissors and the gloves which I have to take off to get a hold of the baling twine in order to pull the big bales across the barn to the boy's end, and when I have to turn the nozzle on the hose. I use leather work gloves with fleece inside as they are thick enough to afford me some kind of warmth and don't get wet. Joseph and Gabriel get their bottles first. They jump up and go nuts when they see me come out. I'll be happy when they are drinking water but I haven't seen it yet. I drag the hose out and fill water containers that are hanging on the fence first. One would think the sheep would be less thirsty in the cold but it's quite the opposite. Ducks, chickens and rabbits all need water before I climb up into the hay mow to drag bales. The bales fell off the elevator track and fell in a giant pile. I can't pull the lower bales out from under the ones on top so I have to climb up to the top and throw them down. These lovely bales are thick and heavy, around 50-60 pounds at least, which require a mighty heave to get them down to the floor of the hay mow. Then I have to drag them across the barn and throw them down the ladder chutes. I climb down the far ladder and cut the bales open to pass flakes to the silo room for the boys...cute little boys whose destiny is to go in the freezer. I'm making sure they are enjoying life for the short time they live it. Then it's climb into the duck pen to retrieve the beautiful, large eggs from under the one duck who wants to hatch them and is keeping them in a lovely feathery nest of hay. Funny there is only one duck desiring to do this as there as several females. She is taking care of five or six eggs for the others. I then cut the bales for the sheep on the near side of the barn and distribute some to the kindergarten pen that contains the lambs, and carry hay over to the rabbits and little Sidewinder, the pregnant goat, who has her own pen. All this goes on while the barn cats are waiting for the little handfuls of food I give them in the morning to keep them happy. I know they are catching mice and rats as my barn is blissfully free of rodents. Thank you Kitties. Don't need rats chewing on electric wires or killing my chickens. Only then can I come back inside and think about getting myself ready to go to work. Today is a rare day that I got my clothes ready the night before. It's usually a free for all with me sorting through piles and piles for something clean and relatively wrinkle free. I like getting a little dressed up for work as I'm quite the opposite at home on the farm. Little do they know at work what I looked like an hour before I arrived there, thankfully. All this is making me realize I should get out there and get this show on the road.

Back to Work

2012-01-03T06:52:00.000-05:00

Okay, quit whining and just suit up and get out there. Snow last night, temps diving, hope the hose didn't freeze in the milk room. I was up every two hours to stoke the fire. Will have to turn the thermostat on before I leave for work, first time this year. Temps diving all day but warmer by the weekend. I wonder if we will have the minus 20 we had last year. I know it screws up the natural scheme of things but I can tell you I don't mind this milder weather. Yes, I wanted a sheep farm in upstate New York but this morning I am really dragging my behind and trying to get it in gear. I hope my students are in a good mood today. They should be as they have a beautiful, heated, clean, well-lit building with good food to eat and people (like me) who are nice to them, care about them, teach them necessary things, play basketball with them, etc., but it doesn't always work that way. Gotta deal. I hate to leave the puppies - they are just sooo cute. I let them play for a couple of hours out of the box but they've got to go back in where they are safe while I'm at work. I hope Reba gets in and feeds them sometime during the day. She's getting pretty tired of them so she might now. I know those pups will be very happy to see me when I get home.

Kitty Drama

2012-01-02T18:33:00.001-05:00

I saw some cats on top of the water heater in the milk room and shooed them away. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, a cat took a header off the top of the water heater and became wedged, head down, in the corner of two walls. The crying was pitiful and I was frantic. The 80 gallon water tank is mounted as close to the corner as possible without any room to reach behind it. I tried dropping a blanket from the top down to the cat but that was no good. She couldn't turn around to climb up. Matt was about to leave to go help a friend mount snow plows onto his trucks in Syracuse and was anxious to leave. What would I do? Luckily for me, and the kitty, he felt sorry for the cat and grudgingly disconnected all the lines. It took half an hour to drain the water tank to make it light enough to move. With great effort, Matt tipped the big tank back while I reached in and grabbed Kitty by the tail and yanked her free. She, a cute little calico female, was bruised and shocky, but thrilled to be free. I brought her inside for TLC and Matt hooked everything up again. He tested all the lines to make sure I had water and went on his way. Don't know what I would have done if Matt was not here, short of calling the Brookfield Fire Department. Wouldn't that be funny - all those farmers in my milk room to free a cat from a water heater. Farm drama...

Cabinets, Interrupted

2012-01-02T18:19:00.001-05:00

Matt built this cabinet unit and got it mounted today, but has decided that it is not perfectly straight and wants to take it down and rehang it. I think it looks fine, but he says he won't be able to live with a crooked cabinet. It's off less than an inch, but that's too much. With the barn ceiling and walls a little less than perfectly aligned, it's tough to get anything to line up. I'm very excited about my cabinets which will alleviate much of the clutter in the kitchen. I would like to have doors on the unit, but the lower cabinets are store bought stock grade and it would be tough to match them with this lovely real maple wood Matt used. I have so many lovely hand made pottery pieces that I'd like to show off. We'll see...

Chicks in January?

2012-01-02T18:13:00.001-05:00

I was afraid this would happen. The hen sitting on eggs on top of my haystack hatched her chicks today. She somehow brought three chicks down from the top of a huge pile of bales, all the way across the barn and dropped them down to the floor below, an incredible fall for a tiny chick. I found them huddled under Mom at the foot of the hay mow ladder. Matt helped me gather Mom and chicks and put them in a rabbit cage in the heated room adjacent to the apartment (also called Kitty City). With temps going down to single digits at night I don't know how long the chicks would survive, even with a very doting mother stopping to heat them up under her feathers periodically. This way I can protect them from the cold and cats and make sure they get water and feed. I pull all the eggs from the ducks (6 today!) and ladies in the chicken room, but I have no control over the free range girls who want to hatch eggs in hidden places.

Tractor Garage

2012-01-02T18:02:00.001-05:00

We wanted to get this done before the big snows came. When this farm was a working dairy the poop wagen would be backed into this shed to have the manure poured into it from the gutters that run the entire length of this 240 foot barn. Now the shed houses our vintage 1946 Ford 8N tractor. The rear blade is for snow plowing. With 8 to 12 inches forecast for tomorrow the tractor will come in handy. The shed has sliding doors which will take some work to get back in order. The kitties will appreciate having one of their favorite hiding places shielded from the snow. I'll put boxes of wool in the back of the shed for the kitties to snuggle in when the temps dive.

Kitchen Shelves

2012-01-02T12:56:00.003-05:00

Matt is building me some much-needed shelves for all my "stuff." I own a lot of dishes, pots, pans and other kitchen paraphernalia and this is a good start to getting semi-organized, a common New Year's resolution. The shelves are very much appreciated and I know they will be very strong and hold a ton of weight. The DeWalt saw was a Christmas gift for Matt several years back. Mia and I went to Home Depot looking for power tools for Matt. That was really funny - two blondes on a mission with no clue, I mean, no clue as to what to buy. The salesperson told us to get this, but a stranger tapped me on the back and said, Ma'am, you should get this one, I'm a carpenter, and I know that your husband will like this other one. So I got that one and Matt has been happy with it for years. Work boots and Carhartt clothes come and go, but good tools last forever.

Wooly Puppies

2012-01-02T10:45:00.001-05:00

While the NY Giants were having their way with the Dallas Cowboys last night, I was spreading my luscious black Bluefaced Leicester fleeces on the floor for skirting and picking. The puppies woke up from their naps and decided to "help" me sort through the wool. What absolute darlings they are, play fighting with each other and romping around the floor. They decided that wool is the absolute bomb - I agree!

Starting Over

2012-01-01T09:03:00.002-05:00

I like the cyclical nature of our calendar and the opportunity to flip the page on a year and start over. I'm wary of hard-fast "resolutions" but will try to amend certain bad habits and steer myself in a better direction. The warm weather continues here and I find myself very grateful for it. It's much easier to endure a harsh cold winter when you can hunker down inside and keep warm. When you have animals outside and no choice but to get out there and take care of them it's a whole other ball game. I have a tractor on the farm now, with a blade for snow plowing, if we get any real snow this winter (that's okay - there's always next winter for snow). I can drag dead sheep up to the dead pile with it instead of stashing them behind the barn until spring. Implements will be hard to find for a 1946 tractor, but, hey, my tractor is paid for and didn't cost as much as a house. I'm hoping to skirt some fleeces today, and get that pork loin dinner going while taking down the Yule Branches (not quite a tree). Puppies and falling needles don't mix well. The little monkeys are running all over the place. I feed them their ground up Rachel Ray Nutritious dog food slurry, then put them to nurse on Reba, then let them run around and do their pee/poo so they don't soil their box. Then the babies are put to bed. They are growing like crazy and are so happy, healthy and responsive I have no doubt they will make fabulous family dog companions. Reba will live happily ever on Maggie's Farm.

Really?

2011-12-31T15:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm drying wool outside, on December 31. I'm not saying it got completely dry, but it's halfway there. The kitties kept trying to bed down on the wool spread out on the drying rack. Don't blame them..it's very soft.

Still Grazing

2011-12-31T15:00:00.003-05:00

My flock is grazing on green grass as late as December 31 in upstate New York. Who'd a thunk it? This time last year the hillside was covered in snowy drifts and the sheep were in the barn for the winter. When I opened the gate today I had to shoo them outside. Once a few of them saw the gate open, they ran up the hill, doing mule kicks and acting like they had busted out of jail. Temps are due to dive next week and I don't know how much grazing we'll be doing in January, but for now it's positively wonderful to see the woolies on the hillside.

1946 Ford 8N

2011-12-31T14:49:00.001-05:00

My very first tractor arrived on the farm today. Matt has been working on it for a year or two now in his friend, Ron's, garage in Syracuse. This tractor will enable us to get those awful thistles mowed as they come up and take better care of our fields. Long range plans include hay making equipment (yes, you can make hay on a small scale with an 8N) and a generator that can be powered by the tractor. Matt says if cars were built as well as these little tractors we'd drive them forever.

Have a Happy

2011-12-31T09:08:00.002-05:00

I took the very last, I mean the very last, of the piggies out of the freezer for a New Year's Day pork loin roast. This roast has travelled a bit. When the power went out for three days at the end of August, I took what was left of Winkin, Blinkin and Nod over to my school and stashed it in my classroom freezer. It took three trips from the parking lot in HOT weather but I got it done. I figured my students would enjoy the bacon, ham and ribs and I would enjoy watching them feast. Better than tossing bad meat. I journeyed home to find the power back on. Oh, well, we did enjoy it, with students cramming half a pound of thick sliced bacon in their mouths at a time, and aromas wafting through the wing driving people crazy with hunger. The one piece that was left when I prepared to go home for Christmas holiday was this pork roast. Figured I would share this with my family. I miss the piggies. They were the easiest and cheapest animals I have ever raised with the greatest return for my efforts. It was very gratifying to carry those buckets of slop and see it disappear with grateful grunts and snorts. I hated to see them go to the abbatoir five months later but they were as big as Volkswagens and going any where they wanted to go on the farm. I came home to find them roaming the farm, and the Sister's flower beds, one day and stood at the bottom of the driveway with a big stick to keep them from going in the road. The stick didn't phase them - they could have knocked me right down, but they liked and respected me and stayed put, lying on the grass with Izzy standing guard. I finally got them back in their pen with a bucket of corn. No more piggies, and that's okay. I understand why so many people raise them. Happy New Year everyone. I hope your coming year is juicy sweet and delicious.

Goodbye Bushka

2011-12-30T10:12:00.002-05:00

Childhood nicknames die hard, especially when we don't want our kids to grow up and we are confronted with the fact that the cuddly little kid he once was is gone forever. Life goes on. Chaplain/Father Aaron (AJ) and I saw Mission Impossible yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly. I mean, it was great. I can't find anything wrong with it, aside from the expected gratuitous violence in a spy/action/thriller, and I was on the edge of my seat. I like TC, always have. Home to chores after a stop at WM.. What incredible prices on things like cat food, milk and paper towels. It's the store we love to hate, but I give too much money to the little local markets on a regular basis to feel guilty about abandoning them. Home to chores and a freaky farm accident. I was climbing the hay mow ladder with a passle of kitties milling about waiting for the scoop of food I was carrying. One cat was knocked into the void and came flying down with claws splayed. One paw caught me in the lower lip and chubby cheek. The nails were fairly well embedded requiring me to pull them out of my face. I managed to hold on to the scoop of food and get down the ladder. Lots of blood and me really pissed off. AJ says I look like The Joker. Oh, well, thankfully she didn't get my eyeball. I'm rubbing lots of Shepherd's Friend Hand Creme on the cuts to let the lavender get in there. Think I'm looking at a scar, but there's an old Jewish saying - "This should be the worst!" AJ left for New Jersey this morning after the puppies woke him up at 4 am. The little poopers are fat and happy. I'm looking forward to them going to their homes shortly. They are four weeks and I'm thinking maybe 6-7 weeks and they are out the door. I'm feeding them the pricey Rachel Ray Nutritious High-Dollar Dog Food blended into mush with warm water. Reba loves it, too. She keeps whispering to me that it's time for them to go, but we need a little more time on the teat I tell her. Reba says what do I know about kids dragging on the teat, but I tell her, oh, yes, I do know about multiples dragging on the teat. Let's not go there. I'm enjoying watching the end of the year news wrap-ups on the TV shows. I have a GIANT fiber run in the works - burnt orange, pumpkin orange, dark purple and brown BFL wool, alpaca, kid mohair maybe with a tinge of teal thrown in. That's my fiber Modus Operandi - another color that you wouldn't think of putting in there. God Forbid I make a BORING run of Mother Fiber. I get so bored spinning with these mono colored runs I see so often. I'm ditzy with fatigue, having gotten up so early with AJ, and rather dotty with all this picking of fiber. I'm not even finished with last year's fleeces. I've got dye pots going, and a long queue of wet fibers in bags waiting for the drying table in the former guest room that was taken over by my business. I know Father AJ would have been much happier in a room of his own, instead of the living room sofa next to the puppy box with dogs, cats, TV and his mother on the other sofa. I told him that's what we do in upstate NY in the winter - we sleep around the stove! Mia says her friends think I have a factory of my own to make all this wonderful stuff. Little do they know I've driven many away with my creative clutter in this tiny apartment. We work with what we've got, don't we?

Blustery

2011-12-28T08:17:00.000-05:00

Cold and windy with some icy/rainy snowing. The puppies are prancing and playing on the floor. I'm loving this cute stage and thankful I can be home with them for a few days. AJ called from Atlanta saying he's about to board a flight to Newark. He'll pick up a rental and drive up from there. I hope it's a sturdy vehicle but I doubt it. AJ is a good driver but he also likes to get where he's going. We're going out to dinner tonight with Beastie Boy. Very much looking forward to it. I'll try to get some things done in the Maggie Cave today, but for now I have a lovely black Bluefaced Leicester fleece on the floor, shielding it from the puppies as I pick at it. There's another cup of foamy cinnamon cappucino in the microwave waiting for me. I have five big blocks of Patchouli soap to cut up and set out to cure. It's garbage day so I'll have to suit up and get it down the lane to the dumpster. The bottles are ready for Joseph and Gabriel. My four lambs are growing like crazy and eating hay. I'll have to pull their sweaters off them soon. I'm sure Sidewinder, my angora goat with a crooked spine is pregnant. I'll catch her and put her in a pen so I can keep a close eye on her. With this loooong barn that has no light at the end an animal can give birth and I wouldn't know right away. With temps diving tonight that could be problematic. I make sure I walk the entire length of the barn each day. Thank you Lord for my big barn, but it does present challenges.

Rain

2011-12-27T21:31:00.000-05:00

A gentle rain is falling, which is forecast to turn to ice later on tonight and in the early morning. Thankfully I can stay home. It's so warm I don't have to wear a jacket in the barn. I don't think this will last for long. My friend sent me some kind of weather projection map that says we are in for a major snow event January 4. We'll see. I have to figure out where to put Knut and Finn inside the barn. Once the drifts pile up I won't be able to get to their igloos on the north side of the barn. The boys love to live in the barn, but Knut is a little high strung and has been known to bark at the sheep. I'll figure something out, which seems to be my mantra these days - I'll figure it out. I've been picking fleeces, which is great if you have all the time in the world to pick, pick, pick. I have two dye pots of pumpkin orange on the stove. My Wacky Weaver friend, Susan Dunn-Lederhaas, has requested another orange run. Fine with me as I adore orange. I've been scrounging around for fleeces in the hay mow grain room and found some lovely, but challenging, BFL fleeces along with some gorgeous brown alpaca and some red llama from my sainted Chris. The BFl fleeces had felted on the sheep, which often happens when Bluefaced Leicesters are rained on. BFL felts if you look at it. You have to be careful washing it as it can felt while you are getting it ready for the dye pot, or rinsing it afterwards. I gave the puppies a piece of felted wool for their box and they are all trying to lie on it. So adorable....

Marvelous Mohair

2011-12-27T09:54:00.001-05:00

Mohair comes a close second to wool as my favorite fiber. Mohair, which comes exclusively from angora goats, is very strong and lustrous. If you are blessed with some softer mohair it is fantastic blended with wool to give it strength and durability. If you add mohair, especially mohair from a colored angora goat, when spinning yarn for hand knit socks, you won't wear holes in the heels and toes. The animals are wonderful, and have lovely horns that are great for catching and holding them for clipping or hoof care. Ah, yes, the hooves. Angora goat hooves have to be trimmed much more often than sheep, and the animals require a delousing regularly or the beastly mites will ruin your mohair. Mia helped me do hooves and give Ivomec to three goats yesterday before she left to go back to New Jersey. Goats need copper in their diet to be healthy and grow good mohair fleeces. Copper is deadly to sheep in large quantities. So there are management issues to consider when raising both species. I'm hoping Father Aaron will help me do a few more goats when he comes to visit tomorrow. AJ was always a good goat catcher as it requires a bit of agility and quickness to catch up with these fleet-four-footed wild creatures.

Fleecy Day

2011-12-27T09:40:00.002-05:00

Ahhhh, stuck at home with puppies, lambs and some very needy fleeces. Sometimes I wonder just how long I can keep this up. When I don't want to do something it's the Devil's own job to get me going. I worry that I won't want to pick fleeces any more. It's a nasty job and people just don't realize, unless you raise sheep yourself, just how much work goes into preparing these fleeces for sale. Forget about raising the animals first. I dragged some old (last year's) fleeces into the apartment to work on in front of the TV. Gosh, I know how to make a mess, but it has to be done. My Bluefaced Leicester wool is labor intensive in that it is so buttery soft it attracts all kinds of debris that must be picked out, and the teeny tiny crimp must be pulled apart before washing to get the lanolin and dirt out. The BFL fleeces are not the fluffy, open, large crimped Romney fleeces I used to work with, but there is no wool as creamy and soft as this lovely breed with its amazing elastic quality. Winter is the perfect time to fire up the dye pots. I bought an old electric stove for $100 out of the paper five years ago and use it for dyeing fiber. Two burners, incredibly, are still working. When I have the giant pots simmering with wool, angora and mohair, they heat up the milk room where all my plumbing is. The barn kitties actually lean up against the warm pots to thaw themselves out. We haven't had any real cold yet, but I think January/February will see some good freezes. In the mean time, some cuties are keeping me company and they think my raw fleece on the floor is just peachy.

New Moon

2011-12-26T21:18:00.000-05:00

I don't know where the day went. I decided to make Mia a batch of Shepherd's Friend Hand Creme to take back to New Jersey. Her co-workers are always needing a jar for their chapped nurse's hands. Mia helped me catch three goats and work on them today. She doesn't mind holding their horns while I clip mohair and doctor hooves. We have the nicest conversations about all kinds of things - her patients and their families, co-workers in the hospital, etc. There is always drama in a hospital setting. I love hearing her stories. It's incredible to me that someone loves to hang with me and my animals. She really gets the farm thing, and shares it with me. The day flew by as we worked and soon it was time for Mia to pack up and start her 4 hour ride back to New Jersey. We marveled at how lucky we've been with this mild weather, not having to worry about driving up to the farm and back. Since Frank's NY Pizzeria was on Mia's way out of town, we decided to have our favorite eggplant parmigian for dinner. What a lovely time we had, eating the delicious food and chatting with Frank. Mia took off and I motored back to the farm, somewhat dismayed at the fact that it was me and the critters again. There was a large, round gray silhouette of a moon in the sky, with a glowing orange crescent new phase rounding one side. Venus glowed brightly to the west of it. Living on the farm, in the middle of nowhere, leaves one the opportunity to ponder the celestial bodies and be reminded of our insignificance and short time on earth. After a very brief time of sitting and staring I set about doing chores and here I am, in for the night at nine o'clock. I have two very dirty and gnarly baby soft Bluefaced Leicester fleeces to pick apart. Everybody is good for the night.

Just Ducky

2011-12-26T07:35:00.000-05:00

I'm about to put on a coat and boots to go out and check for eggs. I want to make Mia some breakfast, maybe more Swedish pancakes. I still have some more local maple syrup, and Laurie Marks gave me another bottle for Christmas in school. You just-don't-buy-the-fake-stuff when you live in upstate New York, syrup capital of the nation. The ducks seem to be acclimated to their pen, and lay eggs in the pans provided. I feel a pang of guilt when the recent warm weather brings the earth worms up out of their holes on the hillside - a favorite treat of my ducks. I give them cracked corn, egg layer feed and green hay to eat, but I know that's not nearly as much fun as the wiggly, squishy, juicy fellows in the ground. I'm not sure how many males vs. females I have or I would toss the boys out to go fend for themselves and leave the girls in the pen to spoil. Wish I could tell the difference. So far there have been no eyes gouged out or real feathers pulled. We'll see how it goes. Now to go get those big, beautiful eggs.

Christmas Night

2011-12-26T07:18:00.000-05:00

The malls were dark and empty, as they should be on Christmas Night, but the theatre had a healthy queue. Mia and I had a lovely veggie meal in Mitsuba, the little sushi place next to the Marquee Cinema in New Hartford. Sure, I would have loved playing games and continuing the Christmas cheer at home, surrounded by friends and family, but I haven't had that option in many years. I only had the most precious little girl in the whole-wide-world to keep me company, so what to do with ourselves after chores? We both wanted to see War Horse, the new Steven Spielberg movie, which was, as the NY Times Theater Review confirmed, a very visually beautiful representation of bucolic English countryside. When the heroic horse, Joey, is sold to the Army to save the farm it kind of went down hill for me. What else did I expect? The same thing happened to me years ago when I took my young twins, AJ and Mia to see Empire of the Sun. After Spielberg's ET I thought surely this next movie of his would be suitable for kids. After all, Empire was about a kid surviving the war. It was definitely NOT a movie for kids and War Horse is certainly not. I bailed when Joey, who the viewers were thoroughly attached to by now, was about to charge the German Gatling guns. I whispered to poor little Mia that I would meet her in another theater when WH was over. She later said I did the right thing, as the WWI segments did not get any cheerier. How could they? There was a scene with an Army chaplain administering to the soldiers in the trenches that was particularly upsetting for Mia, as her soul-mate and placenta-mate, Father Aaron, would be doing the same thing. The Army shooting young deserters who escaped on Joey and his friend, the black horse, didn't help. Anyway, Mia was just as sweet as she could be, even when she couldn't find me since Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was playing in TWO theaters and I didn't see her looking for me at first. When we did hook up we motored home to the safety and security of my little farm in the valley, where we did more chores until midnight, and where no animals would be shredded by guns and politics. I fight my own wars here in terms of foot rot and hay bills, but, thank you Lord, no guns. No Steven Spielberg for me next Christmas. We drank too much egg nog loaded with Jack Daniels, thank you Mia, chatted about everything under the sun, and played with the puppies until we couldn't stay awake any longer.

Christmas Chores

2011-12-25T16:24:00.001-05:00

It may be Christmas but the animals still need taking care of. I couldn't resist asking my very willing farm girl helper to assist me with some hoof care. While I had Monkey's boy, Jon-Jon, captive I couldn't resist getting some of the thick, lovely mohair off him to feed my dye pots. I left his chest and neck covered for protection from the cold. The boys have two shelters to huddle in from the cold - one, a silo room and the other a section of the barn where they can see their girlfriends (but can't have them). Mia is so much fun to work with. She loves the farm and chores are never work to her, but a way to help her mommy and be with the animals. We caught several boys for hoof care. Now that the ground is icy and hard the goat hooves will be better off.

Country Christmas

2011-12-25T16:04:00.001-05:00

Just before dark on Christmas Eve, when we were waiting for Mia to arrive, Mattie and I took the doggies up on the ridge behind the farm to find a Christmas tree. We couldn't find a complete tree in the dusky light, so Matt cut a lovely branch to tie to a support beam for our Christmas tree. Mia put the lights on it and suddenly Christmas was upon us.

Christmas Puppy Love

2011-12-25T15:58:00.000-05:00

It's a beautiful thing to see a child of 31 go absolutely ga-ga over a box of puppies on Christmas morning!!

Christmas Angels

2011-12-25T15:53:00.000-05:00

My Christmas angels take many forms. One big Christmas angel is really enjoying four little angels who blessed us with their presence this Christmas. Who can resist those warm little pink tongues and fluffy fur? I am so happy Mia was able to make it to the farm for Christmas. I'm having so much fun I don't know what to do with myself.

The Brookfield Baptist Church

2011-12-25T15:44:00.000-05:00

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The Brookfield Baptist Church, Christmas Eve 2011, with Mia and Mattie.

Christmas Puppies

2011-12-24T14:26:00.001-05:00

Four weeks old and growing cuter every day! Two, maybe three are spoken for. Have you ever????

Jersey Boy with the Irish Tattoos

2011-12-24T14:13:00.000-05:00

Matt and I went for a bite at Panera in New Hartford before seeing Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at the Marquee Cinema. Matt was very impressed with the fact that Lisbeth Salander rode around on a 350 Honda, identical to the one my son Eric gave Matt ten years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, although I thought it could have been cleaned up a bit and still have the same intrigue and impact. Oh, well. I'm looking forward to seeing it again when it comes out on cable. We had a bit of sushi before heading home to the farm. I thought I would find Matt in the tractor shed stroking the 350, but so far not yet. I have to figure out how to clean up this place and get a Christmas tree in the next couple of hours. I used to obsess about Christmas weeks in advance, but now I seem to have gone in the other direction. With school, sheep, slinging bales, soap, creme and puppies, there is not much left of Maggie to go around. Let us not lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas - loved ones big and small.

Happy, Happy

2011-12-23T13:46:00.001-05:00

Matt and I are celebrating our 13th anniversary with dinner at Panera and a showing of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. We spent the day doing thoroughly dirty farm projects like moving the last of my six cords of firewood up the lane and getting it stacked and moving my Marie Antoinette hay cart out of the way of the snow plow. You'd have to see it to understand what I'm talking about. Matt put a temporary ball on my new/old Chevy Blazer to also move my cargo trailer full of Mother Fiber away from the garbage dumpster. It may be rusty and dented but it's the only cargo trailer I plan on having in my career as a wool merchant. One dirty job leads to another. I have another pot of mohair simmering on the dye stove in the milk room. This fiber thing is addictive. I'm almost ready to send out a HUGE run of purple/turquoise/flaming orange mohair, which will not be next-to-the-skin yarn, but still gorgeous fiber. I used to poo-poo my colored mohair as too coarse, but lately I think it's the best fiber I have here on the farm. I'm looking forward to seeing Dragon Tattoo. It seems I am the only person in my school who knows nothing about the books or movies, Swedish or English. Everyone has read the trilogy or seen the Swedish version of the movie but me. I think Matt will like it, too. Next time we'll see Mission Impossible for him. Gotta run and do a mass of chores before we can head out.

A Little Snow

2011-12-23T06:49:00.000-05:00

Had a nice surprise this morning...a surprise dusting of snow. This warming trend continues with more rain than snow. It's miserable as far as muddy conditions go. I feel so sorry for the animals stuck in the muddy fields with that soaking iciness coming down on them. A hard freeze with a lovely snow pack to walk on is much easier on them. If I could I would bring them all in my wonderful, old, classy dairy barn. It's cold as heck but the animals are dry and out of the wind, on a hay pack that soaks up the pee. Sure I would love a new modern barn with hay feeders and freeze-proof watering facilities, but this is what I have, and a new barn would not be nearly as beautiful when coming over the hill from Brookfield. I got the dogs out and puppies fed, a messy process as I am grinding up kibble in the blender and spoon feeding them mush. They are a bit too little to put the bowl in the box with them. As it is much of it ends up on me, with Reba sitting next to me licking it off the baby's faces as I wiggle little spoonfuls into their wrinkly jowls. I'm anxious to get them on dry food so Reba can dry up and the little ones can go to their new homes. I'm a bit overwhelmed with yet one more animal chore. My day will be spent trying to clear the decks here and get ready for Christmas, as humble as it will be here on the farm.

Puppies!

2011-12-22T21:50:00.000-05:00

The puppies are growing like crazy. I am feeding them puppy chow moistened with warm water and ground in the blender once a day. Reba is still feeding them but not as much. We are almost four weeks old. The puppies are showing personality traits and are playing with each other. Three are spoken for, with two going to Long Island and one possibly going home with Mia and Andrew in New Jersey. If they are anything like their mother, Reba, the puppies will be terrific companions and house dogs. I'll miss the puppies, but I'll still have Reba McIntyre, who found herself lost in a field next to my farm, for who knows how many days and nights, but is now fat and happy snuggled up to me on the sofa every night.

Gifts

2011-12-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

Gifts come in many packages. I received some lovely Christmas gifts in school today and I am very, very grateful to my friends at work for being so kind and generous. I came home to find gifts of another kind in the hay rack Darryl Parkinson built for me - a nest of chicken eggs. Several of the free range birds think this rack is rather cozy as I've had some in here before. Works just fine as long as I don't toss a heavy bale of hay on top of the eggs. I've been taking eggs to school every morning to make scrambles for Mr. Potter and the students. My duck eggs are great for that purpose, as they travel well with the hard shells and I get a LOT of food in one egg. Sometimes I have TWO giant yolks in one duck egg. I've provided the ducks with bins to sit in which they utilize for almost every egg laying. I get a thrill with each laying of a duck egg after a year of having them hidden from me all over the farm, but I still appreciate the little chicken eggs in the hay rack.

Bubble, Bubble

2011-12-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

I have a pile of wool and mohair fleeces on the floor of the milk room, waiting to be picked, washed and boiled in the dye pots. There are times when I go dotty picking fleeces, I mean, it really drives me nuts to the point of lunacy. Other times I find it extremely absorbing and relaxing. Tonight was one of those times. In the middle of chores, I grabbed a bag of mohair and stood in front of the stove, dropping the locks into some lovely turquoise dye. When that pot was full I picked another fleece and washed it in hot soapy water, my usual procedure. I like to fire up the dye pots in the winter when the heat of the giant pot helps keep the plumbing, and my cats, warm. By the time I'm done with chores, the pot has reached near-boiling and I can turn it down to simmer. It will cool over night and I can dump it into the washing machine to rinse the dye out. The cats often sit on the stove top next to the pot. Somehow their feet don't burn and they love the warmth. It hasn't been that cold yet, but we all know it's coming.

Chow Time

2011-12-22T21:11:00.000-05:00

The sheep are in the barn eating enormous amounts of hay. I sling bales morning and night. When the sheep are not eating they are lying about, growing beautiful wool fleeces on their backs.

Lilly Loves Apples

2011-12-22T21:01:00.000-05:00

My old apple orchard woke up this fall and produced a huge crop of delicious apples. I heard that apples were abundant all over Central New York. My sheep gained a nice amount of weight going into the winter from all those apples. Nobody loves apples as much as Lilly. I bought a bag for her and took one out to chores with me tonight. Guess who smelled the apple in my pocket and came running over to eat it. Lilly has quite a set of teeth, as she is one of the oldest sheep I have ("long in the tooth"). I have to be careful how I hold the apple or risk losing a bit of finger or two. I hope we have another good apple crop next year. Lilly would be sooo happy.

In for the Night

2011-12-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

Everybody's fed and watered, quite the accomplishment considering there are about a dozen different feeding stations that must be attended to every day, some of them twice. The four Christmas lambs are doing well after their banding today. Joseph and Gabriel came running over for their bottles as usual. I hate this job, but tails that are left undocked are a fly strike hazard (flies lay eggs in the manure that cakes on the long tail) and rams that are left uncastrated are a management problem. Both areas should be taken care of when the lambs are very young, and the areas that are to be banded are very small. I had an awful time getting Gabriel done, as his testicles were rather high up. Luckily Matt was able to hold him so that gravity assisted in the job. I had to hold the elastrator open while fishing for the marbles with my fingers and holding them down while letting the band close around the pouch, on top of the little nuggets. It's very easy to leave one testicle up, leaving the ram lamb intact and able to do "damage." I want these boys wethered so they won't give me more lambs and their wool will be nicer. Lambing takes a lot out of a ewe's fleece, understandably. Wethers do nothing but act like bullies and produce wool. I got Christmas lights up around the front door. I'm not an "around the door" type of decorator, but it looks rather nice I have to admit. My beautiful star is still up on the silo but the light strands don't work. Maybe Mia and Andrew will help me take it down and fix the lights. They are not coming until Christmas Day, but who cares? It will still be beautiful. Growing up in Somerset County, New Jersey, just 35 miles west of Manhattan, at a time when, yes, there were dairy farms everywhere, kind of like where I live now, farmers often had Christmas stars on top of their silos. I never got mine that high, but on the side of the silo is nice, too. I have a lot to do tonight but the body is telling me to lie down. I want to make Patchouli creme and put together gifts for school. We'll see how it goes. Somehow the day ran away with me and I never got my Sunday NY Times. Maybe Mia got it and can bring it to me after everyone in her house reads it. Good TV on tonight - Dexter and the season finale of Homeland.

Happy Birthday Opa

2011-12-18T15:03:00.001-05:00

December is a very tender month for me. So many memories, among which is my Opa's birthday. He was born in rural central Sweden, the tenth of ten children and his mother died shortly after. I don't know too much about my grandfather's life in Sweden. His brothers and sisters drifted off to America and he followed. Most of them stayed in Brooklyn, where my Opa learned to be a cabinet maker and builder of pianos. Before he settled down, however, he traveled the American West, working the harvests in the Dakotas. He would tell us just where to place your back pack while jumping on a train going 40 mph. When he needed money he would put down a hat and find somebody to bare-knuckle-box with. Opa was a big, strapping, strong Swedish farm boy. He married another Swedish girl and set about having a life in America. My Opa, called Opa because my parents lived in Germany after the liberation in WWII and my brothers learned German as a first language, was very proud of being American. I only heard Swedish being spoken quietly in the kitchen. English was their language now and they would use it. I crossed the Verrazano Bridge countless times while growing up, attending family parties in Brooklyn. I can sing Happy Birthday in Swedish perfectly, but the language was never mine, and with almost all the Swedes gone, I won't be learning any more. Opa would like the fact that his descendants are so very Americanized. He would never understand the farm thing. Life on the farm in Sweden must have been very difficult. They were so poor and their little farm could never have been divided up for ten children. Opa chose to live and work in the city. He was so proud when my father became a Civil Servant - a NYPD rookie. That's okay. The farm thing is mine, all mine. Not too many understand my dream. I know Mia does. She loves the farm. The Swedes are still in my range of vision, like so many clouds hovering above me. I know I have their sturdiness and industriousness...but they would never approve of my housekeeping.

Fat and Happy Puppies

2011-12-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

The puppies continue to eat, sleep and grow. They are starting to have play time with each other, making little barks and yips, but they mainly eat and sleep. I think they are too rolly-polly to do much walking and running yet, but it will happen soon. Matt replace the baseboard heat in the "work room" where I plan on keeping the puppies when they need room to run around. With temps diving - 2 F. this morning - heat is good. Matt alsoconnected the electric to the front porch so I can have a stoop light and Christmas lights. I better do it now, while the sun is shining on the porch for warmth and my hands won't freeze. We also got shots and tail/scrotum banding done on TJ, Robin, Joseph and Gabriel. Not a pleasant job but it had to be done. All the lambs are sturdy and strong. My Patchouli soap is setting in the molds, and should be divine. I love the stuff so much I put the soap pot in my bath water so the little bit lining it would not be lost. I have to bring wood in for the night, continue the emptying of the van, and make a batch of Patchouli creme for some orders I have received. No problem there, as I would love some myself. I'll try to get chores done before dark, which is shortly after four, so I can get in for the night and get things done in here. Christmas is here, as simple and homey as can be on the farm. I like to think how the baby Jesus, when he opened his eyes for the first time, looked into the faces of sheep and goats. Lovely faces they are. This Christmas we are blessed with PUPPIES to play with, along with my beautiful lambs.

Sleepyhead

2011-12-16T06:28:00.001-05:00

Reba's puppies are opening their eyes, but I'm not sure how much they are focusing on. I will be taking them out of the big plastic tub soon so they can look at things around them. I have the perfect room for them to "grow up" in before they go to their new homes. So far two, maybe three, are spoken for. Mia and Andrew are coming over Christmas to possibly pick out a friend for Finn. These puppies will be sturdy farm dogs and do well in any environment. I keep thinking the dad must have been a Rottweiler, but who knows? They are making little barks and whines - so cute. Reba is spending less time in the box with them, making me think I might need to offer them food sometime soon. Have to check with the vet about puppy feeding and shots. Reba is a wonderful dog who follows me all around when I do chores. I forget about her and turn around and there she is. How delightful to have a dog who is such a loyal companion when I'm here alone so much.

They are So Busted

2011-12-14T22:11:00.001-05:00

The ducks are in lock down. I feel bad they are not outside enjoying this lovely warm weather, but I had Kim and Darryl here willing to help me round up the three groups of ducks roaming the farm and I took advantage of the opportunity. I'm spoiling the ducks with corn and egg layer feed along with fresh green hay. They like to sit in the containers I provide. So far they are getting along fine, with no feathers being pulled out or eyes pecked at. I like having the eggs where I can collect them easily and not hidden all over the farm. Ducks tend to bury their eggs in the hay, making them even harder to find the lovely, big, delicious gifts. Now they are all mine.

Lined Up for a Drink

2011-12-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

I moved the water jugs closer to the milk room door so I could reach them easier with the hose. I hate dragging the long black hose around. It gets dirty in the muck and kinks like crazy. Nothing like dragging it into the chicken room, turning it on and a trickle comes out because it's kinked far away. I had to go with the hanging water containers to keep the ducks out of the sheep water. The ducks loved to turn the water black. Now the ducks are in lock down and the sheep can drink in peace.

Tucked In

2011-12-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

Mom has TJ and Robin tucked in for the night in a corner of the kindergarten pen. I'm about to tuck myself in for the night after my Cheerios and milk. Temps are still warm for this time of year and rain is expected tonight. Everyone dry and warm in the big barn.

Duck Eggs for Dinner

2011-12-14T17:34:00.001-05:00

I had four duck eggs again today, and think I will scramble some for dinner. The lovely warm weather continues and I don't have the problem of every drop of water in the barn freezing, along with pipes. Rain is coming tonight along with the accompanying dreariness. The lambs - TJ, Robin, Joseph and Gabriel are doing fine. I wish I had time to knit four bright red sweaters for them and make a Christmas card out of it, but don't think it's going to happen. I have some gift basket orders to get out in the next day or two, and with doing chores morning and night, and working at school, along with keeping other animals happy, there's just no time to sit and knit before Christmas. Christmas will be quiet this year, as it usually is, with Mia and Andrew coming Christmas Day and AJ coming in on the 28th. I looked at the ten day weather forecast and, incredibly, I don't think we will have a white Christmas, even way up here in upstate New York. This time last year we had four feet of snow already. You know what? I can deal with it. The snow will come soon enough. I should hike up on the ridge and look for a little pine seedling to use for a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I treated myself to a Christmas present - five used Hildegarde von Bingen CD's. She was a 10th century Abbess, herbalist, mystic and composer. Her music is magical to me. I play it in the barn while I'm doing chores and I'm happy.

Beastie Boy Makes Good

2011-12-13T15:47:00.002-05:00

Matt, AKA Beastie Boy, is in New Orleans at the Department of Energy Annual Conference. He is representing NY State Weatherization along with a contingent from Matt's NYSWDA Training Center in Syracuse. The group flew to New Orleans to spend a week learning from and teaching energy people from all over the US. Matt is presenting his famous "OSHA 101" show to the assembly twice over the week and participating in panel discussions as a Building Specialist and Subject Matter Expert. In March the Obama stimulus money runs out and the wild rush to initiate programs to save energy and keep the masses of New York State warm will end. For now, the dedicated and hard working people of Matt's agency will push the envelope on behalf of the aged, handicapped and underprivileged of our state who struggle to keep warm over the harsh winters of Northern Appalachia. Matt and his trainers have provided many young people with the skills to find jobs in the energy field and have saved millions of gallons of precious oil by showing people how to weatherize their homes. We're very proud of Mattie - our Beastie Boy.

Pile Up

2011-12-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

Lilly and her pen-mate, Magnolia, are doing some job sharing. They are guarding their lambs who are piled up against the cold. The sliding door where Thor sleeps is just on the other side of their pen. They are making sure Thor doesn't eat their babies. Little do they know that Thor will keep coyotes from coming into the barn and eating the lambs!

Bottles!

2011-12-13T06:44:00.001-05:00

Awake at 4:30 so I wrapped soap for a while and got the bottles ready for Joseph and Gabriel, Lilly's Christmas lambs. I'm not fond of the idea of making bottles, like the marathon bottle season I had last year, but I'm confident my numbers will be small this year and more manageable. Joseph, the monster of the twins, at 10 pounds plus, is showing signs of being a "Sh*thead," which is a lamb that figures out he can sneak milk from another mom by going in for the teat from behind. If mom can't see that it's not her lamb, then he can get a drink before she notices and butts him away - just what I'm hoping will happen with the other nursing ewe in with Lilly and her lambs. I didn't come up with that name, and don't know who did, but it's appropriate. A similar sheep term, "jug," means the little pen a lamb and mother are confined in so junior can get at the milk source easily. And so it goes. It's 10 F. outside and 34 in the barn. No frozen water. I left the big pot of almost simmering water on the dye stove in the milk room to prevent freezing in there and found a kitty snuggled up against it on top of the range. Joseph and Gabriel took their bottles well, a relief as I didn't get out there for a 2 am feeding as I planned. They are strong lambs and should do fine going from 11 to 5 without bottles. What I'll do from 8 to 4 when I'm at work is beyond me. Haven't figured that out yet. For now I'll enjoy sitting on the hay with a lamb in my lap, nuzzling his wooly head while he sucks on the Pritchard's Teat, taking in that lovely lamb aroma and forgetting my worries. I found 4 duck eggs in the pen and will make myself some scrambled eggs, loaded with dill. Yum. It occurred to me that if I could figure out who is male I could let them go to fend for themselves around the barn and leave the females in to pamper them and take their eggs. The Pekins are so similar in size, and all white, that it's hard to tell. I think my Swedish Blues are female and I know the single Rouen is a male. Something else I'll figure out in time when I don't have a thousand other things to worry about. I counted six roosters that escaped the Great Rooster Slaying of last weekend. I could easily have grabbed two of them and wrung their necks this morning, but I just didn't have it in me. Maybe tomorrow. Life goes on for now.

Mucking Out

2011-12-12T14:13:00.000-05:00

There is just no end to it. Where there are animals living in the barn there will be hay and poop to shovel out. My grandson Luke was great at helping me muck out the barn. With no machine to help with the job the only way to attack it is with a scraper, shovel and fork. Kim and Jared Parkinson helped me get the walkway to the milk room cleared - one of the few areas I like to keep concrete visible. With big snows coming soon we were lucky to get several wheel barrels out to the dumping area before it's blocked by drifts. Many hands make for light work and good company is always welcome.

Power Couple

2011-12-12T11:50:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I was blessed with a visit from my sheep friends across the border, Darryl and Kim, with their fantastic kids, Jared and Lindsay. Kim and I did the Plowshares Craftsfair together last weekend and she told me the whole family would be back to help me cull some of the annoying roosters - weather permitting. My rooster population has been out of control for some time now. Darryl grew up on a chicken farm and is well acquainted with the bully-birds who terrorize the hens and steal the barn cat food. With snow about to hit any time, I tried not to get too excited. The weather held and my friends appeared, tool bags and Multatelli Coffee in hand. Darryl got to work in the barn and the first thing he did was pull an old broken hay rack out of the dirt. He used an amazing tool called a Sawz-All to cut it up and build a new hay feeder. I was mesmerized with his industry and craftiness in making this simple device I have been wanting for years. Throwing hay bales on the floor of the barn is like throwing money away, with the sheep stepping on and peeing on the costly food. Darryl did not stop there. Without saying a word he went around the barn, covering broken windows and holes with sheets of plastic, pieces of plywood, or inserting old windows. Whenever he saw the opportunity he grabbed a rooster and gave it a swift and humane neck twist. At the end of the day twenty roosters lay dead in the feed sacks I had saved. Darryl and Kim helped me round up my 13 ducks which had been laying their eggs all over the farm, mostly in places where I had no access. It took a bit of doing but at the end of the day all 13 were residing in a neat pen next to the chicken room where I can feed them properly and collect the valuable eggs. There were four this morning! Duck eggs are highly prized, with large golden yolks and thick whites. Between repair chores and rooster slaying, Kim and I mucked out the milk room walk way and hand-sheared Monkey and Sidewinder. Now I have even more lovely mohair to play with when the winter storms blow in. With Lilly about to give birth any second, and one mom with twins in a small jug, I asked my friends to help me make a kindergarten where moms and lambs could be safe and separate from the rest of the flock. Good thing we got that done, as early this morning Lilly had a pair of great big ram lambs!! Talk about perfect timing...

Christmas Past

2011-12-11T08:36:00.000-05:00

I'm waxing nostalgic over Christmases past this morning. My mother was really big on Christmas. She would decorate to the hilt, with branches of pine and magnolia everywhere, resplendent with big, shiny glass balls and lights. One year she had a giant box of magnolia branches shipped up from her native Georgia. The older I get the more I realize how talented my mother was, and how much of my taste reflects hers. My mother loved natural things, and would never, ever stoop to having an artificial Christmas tree. It would never do, and I've followed suit all these years. Mom loved figurines of all kinds, and we had little choirs of carolers and angels on every available table and counter space. She adored tall tapers and candelabras. It's a miracle we didn't burn the house down. Mom was an RN and did shift work, but somehow she always managed to put on an EPIC Christmas. She would bring home huge boxes of Christmas cookies from the Gaston Avenue Bakery, just down the street from Somerset Hospital, but she always baked her own pound cakes, Southern style, with pounds of butter and sugar. Boxes of fruit cakes would come in the mail from our Georgia people - not my favorite but I think I would like them now. Huge stockings were hung on the fireplace, and were stuffed full of presents on Christmas morning. I feel a piercing stab of guilt over the Christmas Mom had to work all night, then came home to me throwing a tantrum because my stocking was filled with fancy underwear instead of toys. I heard her coming in the front door, so weary and slow coming up the steps, and I met her at the door and threw the lacy garments at her. I tried to throw the rest in the fire. She didn't say a word and just ignored me, but I know it must have made her so sad. What I would give to have that Christmas morning to do over again, and to have that underwear! I will always appreciate the gigantic effort my mother exerted to make our Christmases special. I remember desperately wanting to hold on to the day, afraid for when Christmas would be over. Christmas here on the farm is not nearly as fancy as Mom would like it, but the natural beauty is breathtaking, even without the glitzy glass balls and tapers in sterling candelabras. I have the most beautiful Christmas tree I've ever enjoyed, right outside my window, worthy of Rockefeller Center - stunning without a single light on it, swaying in the breeze and sheltering lots of little birds from winter storms. I think I'll clip and few boughs for a front door wreath.

This Time Last Year

2011-12-11T08:13:00.000-05:00

We had much more snow this time last year. There was a good start on the 12 feet we were to get over the winter. Snow is not a bad thing for sheep. They love to eat it, as if it were a giant snow cone that fell from the sky for them to enjoy. Snow, as cold as it is, does not chill animals like an icy rain. The drifts keep them close to the barn and I don't have to worry about any escapees over the winter. Goats do not like to eat snow, but if there is no other water source they will lick it. I still put out water to make sure everybody has enough.

The Big Boys

2011-12-10T17:24:00.000-05:00

Zack, my purebred Border Leicester ram, is the father of TJ and Robin, my new twins. He is extremely handsome and has a lovely, thick curly fleece. Romeo, the black Merino/Bluefaced Leicester ram, is also very handsome and carries a thick, fine fleece. Don't think he got his licks in, as we removed both rams on August 1. We know that was too late by at least one birth, and Lilly is all set to go. Hopefully that's it for this winter. With the temps going down I don't want any lambsicles when I come home from work. I do love my Big Boys. They are both very friendly and have never butted me or shown any ram-like behavior. Zack is still trying to get through the heavy gate and fence assembly that prevents him from doing any more damage.

Cuties

2011-12-10T17:03:00.002-05:00

T.J. and Robin, my new Bluefaced Leicester/Border Leicester twins, are coming along nicely. I'm already planning to partition off a bigger space for them in the barn where there will be space for them to romp safely away from all the big sheep. It's pretty cold out there, but with sweaters on and milk in their bellies I'm confident they will be fine. I'm waiting on Lilly's lamb and trying to keep her strength up with cracked corn snacks and molasses water. Lilly is an aged ewe and is rather thin. Fingers crossed she has a single, and it comes when I am around. That would be a miracle, unless she waits for Christmas break. I could not be that lucky. Robin is just precious. Don't you love those pointy, Bluefaced Leicester ears?

Okay Robin

2011-12-10T07:48:00.001-05:00

Robin, my trusty sidekick in the classroom at BOCES, says she gets frustrated when she logs on and there is no new post for her to read. Hi, Robin, I know your face is turning red right now. It's Saturday morning and I have so much to do I don't want to think about it, but I had a good start. I goofed off last night and laid on the sofa a while, playing with the puppies and watching silly TV. I pay for all these movie channels and sometimes it's "57 Channels and Nothing's On," (Bruce tells it like it is). I drifted off at 10 or so after bringing it what I thought would be enough firewood. The big log I dragged in here to get me through the night wouldn't fit in the stove. Have to learn to split wood, but my old joints shudder at the thought. I haven't turned the heat on yet and have a bet with myself as to how long I can go without turning the expensive electric baseboards on. I filled a giant dye pot up with water in the milk room and brought it to boil before turning it down to simmer. Figured it would give the leaky room enough warmth to keep the pipes from freezing in there. We'll see. I woke up three times in the night to stoke the stove and check the barn. Everybody doing fine and no new lambs. Shooting for negative population growth this year, with some severe culling. Just can't winter over this many any more. Thor, Finn and Knut will be very happy doggies. If I have sheep in the freezer I just throw a quarter in their igloos and they chow down for days. I was creeping around the great wooly bodies in the wee hours this morning, with my headlight making an eerie glow in the dark. It's one of my favorite times in the barn. T.J. and Robin, the new lambs, are doing great. Their sweaters keep them toasty warm. I love to slip my hand under the knitted wool and feel the warmth. I named them after the two people who make my very challenging job workable. My classroom aides back me up, watch my back, help me teach and keep me safe. They are the ultimate professionals who, I hope, will someday think as highly of me as I do of them. There is no way to adequately thank them for what they do for me every day. I have to hustle here and get some orders ready to take to our little post office in Brookfield. Have a lovely day everyone, and enjoy your holiday rush. My Christmases on the farm are very quiet and reflective, a mere pittance of what I used to enjoy in the old days, when the kids were home and I was living in my center hall Dutch colonial with five bedrooms and four bathrooms. I would decorate to the hilt and drive up and down in front of the house to check out how the tree and mantle looked from the road. Now we tie a branch to the support pole in the barn and hang some balls on it. How life has changed....but now we have the magnificent hillside and land all around us to be our Christmas decorations, with sheep in the barn - our symbolic manger. Can't get more Christmasy than that.

Lamb Envy

2011-12-09T12:35:00.001-05:00

Ewes are often envious of another mother's blessed event. They want to be mothers themselves. I've had situations, when multiple sheep give birth, where a lamb wanders off and latches on to another ewe. It can be tricky to bring the lamb back to the real mother, especially if the new mother has licked off the lamb and allowed it to nurse. This ewe is clearly desirous of the lovely little ewe lamb that was born a few hours before. Once in a while I try to get a mother to adopt a lamb and it doesn't go well. We have to do our best and use all our collective experiences and intuition to help all lambs survive. I don't anticipate many more births as Zack and Romeo were removed from the flock the beginning of August. Fingers crossed... I'm trying to downsize, not increase, the flock. Still - nothing is cuter than frolicking lambs to love while I'm home on Christmas break.

Holiday Surprise

2011-12-09T09:12:00.001-05:00

We thought we took the rams out early enough, but apparently Zack got his licks in first. I went to the way back of the barn last night to throw a bale into the boy's field, and look what I found. This lovely Bluefaced Leicester ewe had a little one by her side, and another one behind her. One of each! I gasped in delight. They are unexpected but very much appreciated. I have Christmas puppies and now I have Christmas lambs! I got the little family into a jug and a nourishing drink of warm molasses water into Mom. She has a good working udder and both lambs are nursing fine. I was hoping to get some colostrum out of her for my Lilly, who is surely pregnant but has no udder. The twins had taken all she had to give and, being in the back of the barn with no water source, I will have to wait for her to make some more. I put sweaters on the babes as the temps dipped low and a freeze was certain. I'm lucky it's Friday and I will be home with my lambs. I bet there will be another birth or two this weekend. Maggie is a shepherd on Lamb Watch.

Fat and Happy Puppies

2011-12-07T08:54:00.000-05:00

Reba's puppies are growing like crazy. What chubby, contented little puppies they are! I'm plowing all of Reba's favorite foods into her, like cottage cheese, turkey soup, chicken parts, etc. She hates dry kibble, which is a doggie staple on the farm, so I have to spice it up for her. I figure a happy mom will make for happy puppies. What a blessing it is to have the cute little pups at Christmas time.

Community Spirit

2011-12-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

The community spirit of the Syracuse Peace Council is infectious. I enjoyed listening to the Community Choir and making friends with the locals. Now that I can find my way to Syracuse I want to check in at the Salvation Army Thrift Store and the used appliance shop my washer came from. If I could only find that super-duper sewing machine repair guy...

Political Weekend

2011-12-05T12:24:00.001-05:00

The Syracuse Peace Council is the longest running social justice organization in the country. I was proud to support them with my participation in their Plowshares Craftsfair. Teachers are by nature political and militant (one of the many reasons why I fit in so well in that profession) and I enjoyed rubbing elbows with the Peace People. There were people available to register voters, get them alternative loans, and avail them of legal services if necessary. Kimmie Cornerstone bought me an anti-fracking poster to put up on the farm.

Happy Bag Ladies

2011-12-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

I caught a couple of Bag Lady pics at Plowshares over the weekend. I completely forgot to take pictures of the wonderful people who buy my Bundaflicka totes until the end of the day yesterday. Kim is not a camera person and I get busy talking to customers and they slip out with the bags. Pictures are especially meaningful to me as I have a record of the tote, many of which are one or two of a kind. I get a kick out of looking at who buys what type of tote. The totes are very personal and a lot of hard work. One lady said she kicked herself all year long for not buying two totes last year. She came back to this year's show and picked out two, still reminiscing about the "totes that got away." After purchasing two she went out to her car, then turned around to come back and buy one more. That lady is a bag maker herself, and confesses to have "a hundred bolts of upholstery fabric," but hates to do pockets. She likes my pocket assembly in the inside of the totes, which does serve to separate mine from the masses of bag makers.

Clan of Candace

2011-12-05T11:49:00.001-05:00

Yours truly, a proud Clan of Candace member, will be sporting some lovely new earrings created by the talented Candace Cain of Munnsville. Candace is working with copper now and the new earrings are so interested and different. I love to see the beautiful felted scarves Candace makes with my fiber. I'm very fortunate she likes to work with my wool and mohair. Candace also makes unusual milk weed Christmas ornaments, knitted hats, copper shawl pins and heavy-duty potholders. I was thankful the Peace Festival committee continues to let us have spaces next to each other so we can visit and help with booth sitting.

Amazing Threads

2011-12-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

Kim Parkinson, AKA Kimmie Cornerstone, spins my Mother Fiber (because Wool is the Mother of All Fibers) into many beautiful things. Kim's work was on display at the Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival all weekend. There will be many warm and stylish heads, necks and hands in the Syracuse area thanks to Kim's hard work and artistry.

Syracuse Peace Festival 2011

2011-12-05T08:57:00.000-05:00

The 75th annual Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival was a rip-roaring success. Kimmie Cornerstone and I enjoyed a fun-filled weekend of crafts, entertainment and shiny-happy-people. We demonstrated spinning on my Robin wheel and Kim's drop spindle all weekend, to the amazement and delight of the crowds.

Pound Puppies

2011-12-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

The Pound Puppies are growing like weeds. Every day they are plumper and heavier. Reba is such a devoted, loving mother. She lets me pick up the puppies to nuzzle but is always watchful and wary. I love the sounds they make, little whines and yips and curious grinding noises. I suspect the Pound Puppies will have their eyes open by Christmas. What a blessing to have them at this time. They always bring a smile to my face.

Christmas Window

2011-11-30T14:54:00.001-05:00

Our "Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night" window is coming along nicely. It is simple and understated, yet beautiful, just like the story it depicts. We had quite a few compliments on our primitive felted sheep. The burlap bag lining the bottom looks good. Mrs. White, our school librarian, set up a screen to show The Nativity Story continuously in the window. The movie gave me the idea for this display. I tell everyone who asks that the angel Gabriel first told the shepherds of the birth of the baby Jesus. Yes, shepherds, and their sheep, are very special and are as old as time itself.

What's Happened to my House???

2011-11-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

My chicken room is begging to be cleaned out. The chickens are not happy. Granted, this is the time of year when most chickens are taking time off from laying. Egg laying is directly related to the amount of daylight the chickens get. We are quickly approaching the shortest day of the year so one can't expect too much from the girls. I wanted to muck out their room to encourage them to start laying again once we being the long climb back to the light. I would also like to be able to go in the room to take care of them without sinking in the muck myself. The room is about half done. The valuable chicken manure is spread over my future flower beds to soak in over the winter.

Pooped

2011-11-29T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's hard work taking care of five hungry puppies. Reba is such a good mom. Beware to any cat who comes near the puppy box. Reba jumps up and grabs the cat in her snout causing the poor surprised feline to panic and go nuts. It's quite a noisy commotion that, so far, has not resulted in a dead cat. The puppies do squeak and complain at having the teats ripped out of their mouths and mom stepping on them in her desperation to "get the cat."

Holiday Pound Puppies

2011-11-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

I love the Pound Puppies. For now I have them in a Rubbermaid tub. I need to build some kind of sturdy wooden nest box for Reba and her babies pretty soon as these puppies will grow like crazy.

Anxious to Return

2011-11-28T15:36:00.000-05:00

I'll be getting back to the Holy Myrrhbearers to see the nuns and their four legged friends as soon as I can. I just loved their confident, supportive and spiritual natures. I came away envious at the way they can separate themselves from the worldly woes that plague so many of us. They are never alone.

Holy Myrrhbearers Steers

2011-11-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

Mother Katherine is very proud of her steers and showed us how she uses a yolk to work them around the farm. Father Aaron and Mia gave the boys apples picked from the ground. It was hilarious watching them navigate the long, curly tongue of the steer who was trying to pluck the apple from the hesitant human. I tried to show them how it's done with an open hand supporting the apple and pushing it up into the steers mouth. That was a bit much for my Jersey Tomatoes to do, getting that close and coming away rather slimy.

Holy Myrrhbearers Saanens

2011-11-28T15:25:00.001-05:00

The Saanen goats on the ground of the Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery provide the nuns with all their dairy needs. They are milked twice a day and give gallons and gallons that are used for various kinds of cheese - but no soap, to my surprise. I brought the nuns some of my own. Mother Katherine also has some cashmere goats from my friend Pam Haendle in Brookfield. She likes to have fiber available for artists who may need it for different projects. Some Romney sheep from my long time New Jersey friend, Beth Robinson, live at the monastery, along with True North Farm Icelandic sheep that belonged to Jimmy Longedin. I purchased some Icelandic yarn from the gift shop to knit socks for myself someday.

Mother Katherine and Her Sheep

2011-11-28T15:21:00.000-05:00

Mother Katherine raises several different breeds of sheep and the Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in Otego. I truly found a kindred spirit in Mother Katherine as we have so many sheep acquaintances in common and revel in anything fibery. She and Sister Deborah took us around the farm introducing us to the sheep and Saanen goats who all have names and histories of their own. Many are rescues who will live out their lives on the grounds of the monastery. Mother Katherine is a Sheep Whisperer who intuits the needs and desires of her flock. I was mesmerized with stories of sheep who wait for a certain Saint's birthday or the upcoming visit of a bishop to give birth. She really gets into their heads in a way only sometime who spends their lives in prayer and with the animals can do. I was very impressed with the kindness and hospitality of the Holy Myrrhbearers nuns and plan on returning on my own very soon.

Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery

2011-11-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we met Father Aaron at the Holy Myrhhbearers Monastery in Otego. This order of American Orthodox Christians lives a monastic life while raising various breeds of sheep and Saanen goats. We worshipped at the noon service then enjoyed a delicious vegetarian lunch with Sister Deborah and a visitor who was staying at the monastery on retreat.

Washing Away the Woes

2011-11-28T14:22:00.000-05:00

There is something so absorbing and restorative about cooking up a batch of soap. The miracle of chemistry always inspires and impresses me. Mia snapped a quick pic of me pouring the molten goodness into my primitive waxed paper milk carton molds. I've been making soap this way for around 15 years. It just seems to work for me.

Two Blondes Wood Pile x 3

2011-11-28T14:15:00.000-05:00

As Mia and I stacked wood last Friday we realized our pile was leaning. We decided to make a pile next to it to hold up the first pile. When that leaned we built a third. There is still more firewood at the end of the lane to be brought up to the barn door. It sure was fun working with Mia. We laughed and chatted the whole time, catching up on her patients and clinical situations. I just love it when Mia comes. AJ followed on Saturday and it was wonderful having them both with me on the farm.