Category: Farm Life
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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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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
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A New Year Starts
Larry came out on New Year’s Day to deliver the gates for the elk fence. We are storing them out front so they’re easy to get when the snow melts. We also had to dig out the wire and move it to the new fence line. Larry wants to take his tractor home, so we… Continue reading
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After the Wind and Snow
Well, the wind blew the snow, and then there was more snow. This is the hay barn. We rarely get winds that blow the snow this far inside. Even the back side lane, which should have been protected, got a lot of snow. The pile next to the tractor is from the driveway just in… Continue reading
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Christmas Blizzard
We’re under a blizzard warning now. Ken plowed the driveway yesterday, but it snowed again. Here’s one of the ewes covered in snow. The sheep are doing just fine. They enjoy eating the fresh snow. They’re eating a lot more hay than normal, but it’s been cold and we have plenty, so I’m not too… Continue reading
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Clean Your Ears
We got almost a foot of additional snow last night. Here’s a picture of Winnie cleaning one of the ram’s ears – he seemed to enjoy it. Continue reading
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A Lot More Snow
We got a lot more snow today. The sheep all love it – after all, it’s fun to eat snow cones! Continue reading
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The Smell of Winter
When doing chores this evening, I was reminded of the smells of winter. It’s the calm before the storm due tomorrow, and the smell of coal smoke is in the air. I can only catch a faint whiff. It’s not like 30 years ago, when a day like this had an overwhelming smell of coal… Continue reading
