Author: Rose
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The Gates Are Up!
Larry got all of the gates for the last section of the elk fence (except for one) up this week. We’ll either have to add more dirt under them or add an additional piece of wire. They’re set as close to the ground as we can get them, but the ground slopes enough to make Continue reading
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Rams Out
The three rams we used for clean-up breeders were behaving very well, and we had increased their pen size. Today, we put them back in with the ram lambs. The older boys are big enough that none of the little ones will challenge them. They’ve settled who is boss. It reduces the electricity cost this Continue reading
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Monmouth Cap
Here’s another Monmouth cap, knit from the top down with our Black Welsh Mountain bulky yarn. The first two photos show what it looks like before fulling it in the washing machine. The third one shows it after washing. Continue reading
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Winter’s Back!
These pictures show the farm less than 24 hours after our January thaw. We woke up to about four inches of snow, and it was still snowing hard. It got a lot colder, too – around 15 degrees! So much for the thaw! Winter is now officially back. These pictures show the main driveway looking Continue reading
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January Thaw
We always get a thaw in January. The days turn warm, the snow melts, and we have a mini mud season. I know it won’t last – it’s just a taste of the spring to come. We’ll probably need to add gravel to the driveways this spring. It’s amazing how gravel disappears so fast! The Continue reading
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Sheep Postmortem
We lost a ram lamb today. He’d been looking off for over a week. We’d separated him to a small pen to keep an eye on him. He wouldn’t eat or drink, but he’d eat fresh snow. We gave him Nutridrench, propylene glycol, and warm malt liquid. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He Continue reading
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Fence Wire
The weather has been warming, and much of the snow has melted. Larry and Andrew got two sections of the fence wired up. It’s not tied off at the posts yet, but it’s in place, and it looks wonderful. Continue reading
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Chicken Decisions
Well, I’ve decided on the chickens. I ordered one full box of 100 red broilers for meat, plus one quarter box of 25 pullets for eggs. The breakdown was 11 Golden Campines, 4 Spangled Russian Orloffs, 4 Silver Grey Dorkings, 3 Anconas, and 3 Welsummers. I’ve requested them to be delivered during the last week Continue reading
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Chicken Dreams
Gardeners wait for seed catalogs to arrive in the middle of winter, but for me, the first sign of spring is the arrival of chicken catalogs. Full of promise, plus breeds that are rare, common, colorful, and plain, the chicken catalogs hint at the coming summer. The poultry world is at your fingertips! All of Continue reading
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Pruning the Trees
In addition to building excellent fences, Larry also prunes fruit trees. We’ve gone through the orchard and marked the trees that are in the best condition, and Larry will prune them hard to reinvigorate them. It’s going to be a big bonfire when we finally burn all of the branches this spring! Continue reading