Christmas Past

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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???

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

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

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

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.