Stopped Snowing

It's stopped snowing, after 24 hours straight. The sun is out and we are shovelling. I'm confident this won't be the last storm for us. It can snow here until May, then suddenly the sheep are out on the green hill and it's a hundred degrees! Winter lasts forever and summer comes in with a blast (bringing the flies with it).

I Love Yellow

I dyed this fiber Sunflower Yellow by Jacquard and it is just wonderfully happy and beautiful. Most of my Mother Fiber consists of a few different colors and fibers blended together, but this is just plain Bluefaced Leicester wool - a joy in itself - dyed Sunflower yellow. I don't know what I will make from it, but it makes me happy just to look at it.

Snow Storm Tote

I've had this fabulous, high end, chicken print fabric for a while now. I have this thing about chicken fabric, but really good chicken fabric is hard to find. I adore it but blues are really hard to match with other fabrics. I finally found this dottie chenille on fabricguru.com, at 75% off and it goes perfectly. I cut out two yesterday and got this one together this morning. I predict someone will have their knitting in this tote by summertime. It's a chicken thing!

Snow Day!

Robin, my classroom aide, and I were wondering how we were going to make it through the month of March. There are no holidays, and only one "staff development" day. Matt, the person I'm married to at the time, is jealous of my snow days. I told him I went to college - full time - for SEVEN years to have these snow days. Besides, I don't lay on the sofa watching movies when I have a snow day. I take care of critters, I make stuff, and I make stuff. I know, I know, I should clean the house - but I don't have anywhere to put all this stuff. Until my carpenter husband, who says he's not a carpenter anymore, builds me some closets and cabinets, I'll continue to battle the STUFF debacle...or should I say "fiber art accoutrement." I don't think he will get out to work today either. There are four or five foot drifts everywhere and the snow is still coming down hard. I woke up at 5 to a cold apartment and went right to the wood stove to stoke it up without thinking about what I was doing. Well, I didn't get the pipe heated enough with a kindling fire before I put the logs on and got some serious back puffing. With the windows frozen shut, I was staggering around with painful tearing eyes trying to get some air into the place. The little bathroom window let some clean air in along with icy snow, which felt good at first. I eventually got the stove working but it will be a while before I can see properly. I tried to get the doggies out but they had to jump over a big drift which I didn't want to jump over. I held Pip and Tanner's leashes (they are the runaway dogs) while they climbed up on the drift to pee. Holly sailed right over it like a missile and did her business. Izzy wouldn't even try. He is very good at sneaking little pees here and there so I don't see what he's doing. Ordinarily I would take them out to where the sheep are to pee on the hay, but the White Boys are in the barn and would eat Pip for breakfast. You know that story. Better get out to do the bottle lambs. One observation last night while I was sitting in the jug with Tiny Dancer. The lambs and kids who are nursing from their mothers are eating hay. The bottle lambs are not. They just wait for the next bottle. I wonder why? Maybe the fat content in the milk replacer holds them. I have three sheep to deliver, I think. Why the I think? One has such a thick fleece I can't really tell, and she moves away from me so fast I can't feel her udder. Better get out there and check for new lambs, and quell the screams of the bottle babies.

Bundaflicka Totes of the Day

Snowed in on the farm = time to sew. Two totes done today. Snowing hard outside now so who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?

Kitty Friends

These two are too cute. Just toot sweet!

Tiny Dancer

I took Tiny Dancer's sweater off this morning as it was quite warm in the barn. Now it's snowing and the temps are diving - again. It's up and down with the weather. Our sheep yoga is going well but mom won't let the baby nurse unless I am in the pen and have a hold on her in some way. Tiny Dancer likes to see me coming as she knows she'll be able to nurse. We'll see how long this lasts. If I let them out of the pen, Dot will say "I'm outta here." I have the other bottle babies down to three bottles a day. They grow so fast and soon they will be hundred pounds plus. I'm trying to enjoy them while they are so cute.

Duck Eggs!

When I brought home the ducklings I never thought about eating their eggs. They have very large yolks and taste similar to chicken eggs. The bacon was also raised on the farm. I try not to think about it coming from Winken, Blinkin and Nod. I like to think they are living somewhere else, happily romping through the fields the way they did here.

Bag O' the Day

I'm sewing while it's snowing. First bag hanging and waiting for a button. Second bag almost done. Time to give bottles and do a barn check. Love being home in the snow.

Sheep Yoga

My newest ewe lamb, Tiny Dancer, is coming along nicely. Rather than tie up her mother, Dot, I get in the jug (pen in sheep language) and lean her against the wall of vertical boards (old cow stanchions). I circle my arms around her, one around her chest and one around her rear, then hold on to the boards. TD runs under her and nurses vigorously. Dot struggled at first but now that we have a routine she eats hay while I hold her. I rest my head on her belly and listen to the churning and burning of hay going on inside her. I can feel little Tiny Dancer doing her rhythmic butting and nursing underneath. Poor Dot, TD has rather sharp teeth but her mouth is so small I can't easily get a file in there to take the sharp points off. When she is finished nursing, which can go on forever, I give her a little leftover bottle from the other three chow hounds (and two lambs who are pretending they need bottles) just to make sure she's getting enough. Her sucking is not the best, more smacking and licking than actually sucking, typical of some teeny tiny lambs. If I have time I enjoy our special time together but workday mornings are rough. On deck for today - lots of sewing between critter care and tidying up a bit. I have to get my show schedule on my site via Jeremy, my web guy. It's different this year. I have to finish a couple of bags in new fabrics and take pictures for my Colorscape application, due this week. I LOVE that show, and it's sooo nice and close. Work people come through and are able to see to products of my "alternative agricultural lifestyle." Last year some of them just stood and stared as if to say, oh, this is what she does.

Storm Coming

We got hay in and I got out to the post office and feed mill before the weather comes in. Looks like we are missing most of the rain today but snow is forecast for tomorrow night and Monday morning. I know this teacher is thinking "what if?" for a snow day. We'll see. When I was loading up at the Louis Gale Feed Mill in Waterville, I thought I might as well go up to Utica where I might find 100% sodium hydroxide for soapmaking at Lowe's, and make a stop at Price Chopper instead of throwing money away at the cute little local market in New Berlin. I can get a pound of fresh spinach for $2.99 instead of $3.79 for a tiny package. While I was there I wandered through Joann's and found the perfect, unusually colored purplish, lining for a fabric I'm dying to make a bag out of, but, as luck would have it, my coupons were home. A nice saleslady tried to find me a leaflet with coupons but they all started tomorrow. Bummer. I picked up a few blocks of Fimo polymer clay for Bundaflicka Buttons. The cycle starts again with the Maryland Sheep and Wool the first weekend in May. I'm doing New Hampshire Sheep and Wool this year, the weekend after Maryland. I don't quite know how I'm going to get there, and Kimmie Cornerstone is not sure she can make it. I wish I had a "driver" I could count on to stay awake and drive me hither and yon. The last two years returning from Md. Sheep and Wool in the middle of the night, trying to get home for work Monday morning, I fell asleep at the wheel. Kim noticed it and decided she's not afraid to pull a trailer after all, and took over. I can't imagine why! Out to the barn with afternoon bottles go I. Little Bella is not coming along the way I would like. She should be bouncing around now and instead lies around. I have her back on an antiobiotic as I fear joint ill again, and Nutri Drench for vitamins and minerals. I'm at a loss as to why she's not thriving. I know she's happier inside with me and the dogs. In the barn she looks so depressed and curls up with her head down. I need to find a new sheep vet and don't quite know who to call.

Lambs in the Barn

My barn is full of beautiful lambs, over thirty of them, and a handful of goat kids. Most are big,sturdy, wonderful lambs who leap and bound all over the place. Some are on the smaller side, but they will catch up. Some babes use another mom's back to relax and take a nap.

Tiny Dancer

This darling little girl, born yesterday morning as I was rushing off to work, is doing her best to bond with her mother, Dot. Dot is not really interested, but this ewe lamb is sneaking drinks from underneath, from behind, any way she can get it. I am supplementing with a bottle just in case she's not getting enough. I'm hoping Mom settles down and let's Tiny Dancer do some extended nursing soon. I hold mom and pull her back legs open to let the baby get to the teats, which are high up and under the leg, but I don't think I need to do that much longer as the baby is finding a way to navigate herself.

Care Package

Mia sent me a package which arrived today. It's always a thrill to drive up and see something waiting for me on the milk room steps with the kitties. I don't know where she found the time to put together a box and mail it. She just got back from her honeymoon and has to catch up with school and go right back to work. Mia has to work EIGHT weekends straight to make up for the time she took to get married and go on her honeymoon! What a hardworking girl! I opened the box to find chocolate from Switzerland, Swiss coffee, two home and garden magazines in German, and the J. Crew fleece lined boots I bought from the Key in Cazenovia which are too big for her. Matt ate the chocolate and I will make the coffee in the morning. I already wore the boots out in the snow with the doggies.

Izzy Underfoot

Izzy has to be involved in everything that is going on around the farm. He is everywhere, always paying attention and ready to "help" if needed. To Izzy "helping" means driving the sheep somewhere. Izzy is really good at driving the sheep in one direction. He's not too good at bringing them back the other way. That's okay. Izzy is totally in love with me, and wants only to be at my side. When I was sitting in a jug with the new ewe lamb, helping mom and babe get the nursing thing going, I turned to see Izzy, peeking in the back as if to say "I'm here if you need me, and even if you don't need me, I'll be here anyway!" Money can't buy the kind of love I get from Izzy. Izzy and I will be ready to bed down together soon. It's been a long day. Izzy fits just right in the small of my back, or up against my belly. To think Izzy was "returned" when he was purchased as a purebred Rat Terrier puppy, then used as payment to a handyman who handed him off to his mother-in-law, who broke her back in a truck accident, then begged me to take him! Thank Goodness I did!

Long Day at the Office

I knew if I posted something nice about teaching things would go south, and they did. What a day at school - must be sunspots going on, creating magnetic forces that drive kids wild. It was all over the school, not just in my department. Thank God this day is over. What joy to come home to chaos of my own making. Stopped to mail some Maggie's Farm packages but forgot to drop my Netflix in the mail. Came home to find a Mia Care Package on the steps. She sent me two German home and garden magazines, much like the British Country Living I like so much, along with two pounds of Swiss coffee, a chocolate bar to sweeten up Beastie Boy, if that is possible, and the fabulous J. Crew boots I sent her a while back. They are too big for her, so score one for me. My lambs were SCREAMING when I came through the barn door. I did my quick scan to check things out. I had left little Bella in the barn, in an empty lamb jug, for the day. She is a little chubby from milk replacer and I thought she could go all day. Bella did not agree. She should be eating some hay now, like the other lambs, which will help develop her rumen. I want her to get used to living with sheep, but she does not seem to be relating to them yet. I've had sheep who were successfully reintroduced to the flock after growing up with me in the house, for example Fiona and Baby Thunder, but they always had a certain aloofness with the other sheep, and would rather communicate with humans. Some concerns - Bella doesn't move around much in the barn, but rather lies down curled up and stays still. I suspect she was kicked or run over one day last weekend and this might be why she is wary of sheep traffic. She gets stiff and has trouble standing when I pick her up. Inside the apartment she walks around and stretches her legs. We'll see how this goes. I suspect this will be resolved when the grass is green and she can be outside. The new lamb born yesterday morning, still no name, is not nursing from mom yet. I could tell by one glance that the bonding situation is not going well. Mom was on the extreme other end of the jug from her lamb. Not good. Luna and Linus, born the day before, are snuggled up against each other in their jug. New Mom is a reluctant, ambivalent first-time mother who does not want a lamb around her tiny little teats. She has milk but doesn't want to give it up. After work today I got in the jug with them and held mom while putting the baby up to the teat. I squeezed out some milk to entice baby to latch on, but she's not very aggressive. However, when I give her the bottle she likes it just fine and nurses vigorously. Bella might have a little girlfriend. I can't let a beautiful little ewe lamb go hungry. She might bring Bella "out of her shell." We'll see. I'm tired tonight but want to do some sewing. Heavy weather coming in the form of rain/snow showers. I can't seem to tote in enough firewood. It's so much work but wood stove heat is soooooo nice, penetrating, dry and warm. Better get to it.

A Nice Surprise

Every once in a while there is a reminder of why I do what I do off the farm. If you knew the young man who drew this you would know why it was such a nice surprise.

Minus Twelve

I didn't think it would get quite this cold again, but it did. I can tell it's cold when I open my eyes and my nose is frosty. I stoked the stove at 2 but by six it was pretty much out. Matt is still sick to die in the bed with some kind of flu/cold syndrome - please don't let me get it. I hustled with bottles, coffee and got the doggies out to pee. Their paws froze quickly and they did their business as quickly as possible. You should have seen them run for the door. Out to give bottles to my very demanding lamb crew then get down hay. As I was running back into the barn, thinking I might get to work on time today, I heard a tiny maaaaa, maaaaa. It cut into me like a knife, and there she was - a repeat of the night before. Tiny little newborn, cord hanging, with no apparent mom claiming her. I climbed over the fence and found mom, far off, lying down, with enough of a mess on her behind to tell me she's the one. I popped the little ewe lamb into a jug and went to get Matt out of his sick bed. I hated to do it but I needed another pair of hands to hold the gate open, hold mom while I nursed her out, etc. Matt was more willing than I anticipated and I got the job done in record time. Sweater on, colostrum in belly, cord dipped, Nutri-Drench given, etc. New moms often want to "escape from the pain" of childbirth. They don't understand why that big, painful thing came out the back of them and need some assistance in bonding. This baby was licked off, but I'm not even sure who did the licking. I flew into the apartment to get dressed and likewise flew down the road to Norwich. Thank Goodness I heard the tiny cries or she might have frozen, or been so severely chilled by the time somebody found her that reviving her would be very tricky. So I'm grateful this morning, and also grateful the 25 miles of road I travel to Norwich was wide open - I think I passed two cars - and the cops were getting warm inside a coffee shop somewhere.

Luna Has a Boy

I had to stay after work today for a Therapeutic Crisis Intervention meeting. Don't ask!! My quick stop at the market in New Berlin put me home at 5. As I banged through the two milk room doors with my packages, I did a quick scan of the sheep as I always do. Everything looked okay. Dumped my groceries inside, gave my sick husband his bananas, chocolate donuts, locally baked artisan rye bread, changed my clothes and got the doggies out. The wind is fierce today and the temps are diving. I said a little prayer of thanks that my animals are inside where they are warm and dry. Once the dogs had peed and pooed I got hem back inside and went out to the sheep with my bottles. As I was feeding the little ones I notice a baaaaaa on the other side of the maternity fence. I looked over to their side and spied a little one with cord still dangling. He was a little pitiful, going from sheep to sheep, looking for his mother. Nobody would claim him. I went around examining rear ends and shure enough, I found mom - Luna! Luna didn't seem overly interested when I held her little ram lamb in front of her, but she did talk to her - a good sign. With Matt on the sofa I was concerned about catching Luna. He managed to come out for ten minutes to hold the gate to the jug open so I could get her inside with her baby. I got a cup of colostrum from her cute little udder and filled up the boy's tummy. I put one of Kimmie Cornerstone's new sweaters on him - oh, it's so cute - and gave him to mom. She was happy with her own hay and bucket of warm molasses water. I left them to get acquainted and went about my chores. They are bonding nicely, with mom making baby-talk to him and nuzzling him with her nose while he poked around her udder finding out where the next drink comes from. If they were loose in the flock she might never have mothered him, but enclosed together it's quite the tender scene.

Lamb in the Air

I took Bella to work with me yesterday, Tuesday. She is just too young to go all day without her bottle. Pretty soon she'll be okay going that long stretch, but not just yet. I asked the auto tech people put a wheel bearing in the day before and they said it would be sometime this week, maybe Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. I left her in the car, in her favorite box with her sweater on, towel underneath, and my warmest sweater on top of her so she would be warm and could smell me, her mother for all intents and purposes. I parked in a nice sunny spot and went inside to work. A half hour or so went by and two of my students excitedley burst into my room. Mrs. Alexander! Did you bring a sheep to work???? Apparently, the auto tech teacher took my van in right away and found Bella. She caused quite a stir. The kids told me the teacher said, "Haven't you kids ever seen a lamb before?" Bella was left in her box, in the van, and up on the lift she went. When it was time for her mid-day bottle, and my lunch time, I went to auto tech and asked where my car is. It's up on the lift they said. I wanted to feed Bella and check on her, so they brought the van down. The little pointed ears appeared as the car lowered. She was VERY happy to see me, and drank her bottle like a champ. I took her out of the box to stretch her legs, and she peed on the floor and made a few teeny tiny droppings. The teachers said not to worry and threw some of their funny dust on it. After Bella made some new friends in auto tech I carried her to the classroom, students following. Shortly after there was a knock on the door and there was the principal. She was not thrilled about having livestock in school, and told me to keep her hidden. She surprisingly did not tell me not to bring her to school again, and she made a remark about the sheep droppings in auto tech. I said, but we are a vocational-technical school, and she said, but we don't have an animal science program. She's the boss! The principal left and we went about our business. Bella was an angel and tip-toed around our room like a little ballerina. She had lots of stories to tell her lamb friends when she returned to the farm. I'm not sure if they believed her when she told them about going up high on the lift. Bella had fun that's the important thing! Matt was home sick today with a cold, so Bella could stay home with him. It couldn't have been as exciting as her ride on the auto-tech lift.