Sounds in the woods

I love to hear the wind blowing in the pine trees, such a sad song. There is also a lonely owl that hoots late in the evening, no one answers him, but he keeps on hooting. There is a hawk nest just west of the house, really close, I have seen the male and female cruising in the air screeching softly, sometimes being chased away by a couple of crows. They have raised babies the last few springs, I worry that they will catch my hens, but I haven't lost any that I know of. I have seen them on the ground trying to sneek up on the less crafty hens, but the kittens seem to be harder on the chicks than the hawks. Then there are the crows clucking, cawing, sometimes imitating a turkey sound. I love crows, they are the comedians of the wild fowl. The squirrels are not afraid of me, the feed that is spilled on the ground is too tempting to run away when I show up at the back barn, so they bark at me, like I am supposed to run away. Sometimes I walk up on a herd of deer and the lead doe will snort and stomp at me to stay away, if I don't move we will be eye locked forever, until I give in and move, then they all snort and run away. The field larks make the most beautiful song ever heard, I have one pasture that we mow late in the year to avoid running over the nests, it is a song bird breeding ground. There is a hawk that has taken up residence at that pasture, but maybe the Pyrenees that guards the place will keep him at bay and he won't be successful at taking the most delightful sound on earth.

Jump start

Sheared another doe this morning, a very pretty light caramel doe out of Sassparilla. Maybe 6 more to shear.  Got a jump start on tomorrow's big meal late this afternoon. Made sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, cookies, 2 gallons of sweet tea, biscuits and corn bread for the dressing. Tomorrow  I'll cook the turkey and bake an apple pie after feeding and caring for the sheep and goats, that always comes first, even on holidays, can't concentrate on anything until I make sure all is well at the barns and everyone is happily eating their hay. So much to be thankful for, as always on a farm there are so many blessings, everyday. And you know it's not anything you could ever do, there is a God that keeps you humble and thankful. I've seen so many miracles of the first breath of a lamb or kid or calf or colt, and held them in my arms when they took their last breath. I used to cry for days and tell myself if I had done this or that I could have saved that one. It took me a long time to figure out, I have no control of this life. All the things that happen to you make you who you are, just be glad to have had the time living the life you love.

Cleaning the store

Moths are like dirt, they are a part of life. It is not anything to panick about. The actual clothes moth is tiny and hard  to find. Not to be confused with the bigger miller moths or pantry moths that fly around the lights at night, they are harmless to woolens. The damage of the clothes moth is easier to detect than the moth, holes in the fiber and a silvery trail left behind. Usually  they damage a small area on a raw fleece, the solution is to skirt off the damaged part and wash the rest of the fleece. The best preventative is to keep your woolens washed when not wearing them and store in a sealed plastic bag. I spray my raw fleeces and my processed fibers 3-4 times a year with an organic garden spray that is safe for food. I spray the walls, floors, baskets, everything. This does not harm the beneficial insects. Never store wool in paper bags, moths will lay eggs in the folds of the bags.

Bo Peep has lost her sheep

My sheep are always standing at their feeders in the morning, waiting on their breakfast. I was in a hurry to get everyone fed and hay out as it is the annual flea market at Peachtree Handspinner's Guild meeting today. I didn't want to be late. The lead ewe saw me coming and started her beeeehhhing as she kicked her heals up and ran off the hill toward me, she is always watching for the next meal. I only counted 21 sheep when I started throwing grain into the feeders. I walked up the hill with my bucket of feed and more came running, that made 32, still 4 missing, I was getting worried, I have been hearing coyotes running just at dusk the last few days. I walked all the way to the top of the meadow to find the last four grazing on a small patch of grass, they have to go way out now to find anything to eat, they saw me and knew it was chow time. Needless to say they all beat me back to the feeders and gulped down their grain so fast one got choked, for just a few minutes.

Pale comparison

I haven't had eggs for weeks, since my hens stopped laying. I was so excited yesterday when I found some locally grown brown eggs in the Purple Mountain Natural Food Store. I was really looking forward to a breakfast of biscuits, fresh jelly, bacon and scrambled eggs. When I cracked open the first egg, I was so disappointed, the yolks were a pale white, when whisked they looked like I was cooking milk. The taste was just as pale. You never know how good something is until it is gone. The tomatoes are gone also. But the turnip greens are better than ever, I hate to think what the greens in the grocery store taste like.

Dreary

A dreary Monday, we had to drag all the feeders in the barn to feed the goats today since most of them have been shorn and it was wet and chilly, everyone seems okay, had to haul hay into the barn as well, when you are naked and it is 52 degrees and raining, eating is the best way to keep warm. Only about 14 does left to shear, I should have tried to finish them over the weekend, but I needed a break, so I could go to the grocery store, pick-up grand kids, cook, and cook some more, wash clothes, all those things you do when you are not working. Hope the rain is over, I need to wash and dry wool to card before the next guild meeting, looks like I will have to build a fire in the garage wood stove to dry things down and warm the fibers that need to be around 65 degrees to run smoothly through the carder.

Ready to be shorn

More does ready to be shorn hopefully in the next few days, about 35 or so left, if the weather holds. We've been going at it hard this week and maybe will get through shearing all the goats. I'll take a break before shearing the sheep but I would like to get them done before the end of the year. We did shear the ram and 2 wethers that are up at the barn with the billies. Their fleeces are clean and fresh, nothing compares to fresh wool, such a good smell and handle. Mohair is better after a good washing, just looks and feels better. I am hoping to get the smell out of the billy fleeces, some of them are so nice, still a kid fleece on them at a year and half of age, just a little stinky.

In the sheep world

In the sheep world wrinkles are a good thing as far as fiber goes. The more wrinkles the more Merino blood and the finer the wool. Dan the Cormo has more than his share of wrinkles making is super hard to shear, there is just no way to get in those wrinkles without nicking him. His neck has wrinkles going side ways and up and down.Then the wrinkles continue rolling all down his sides from front to back. I am not able to shear him, I have tried, but I cut him too bad. He's not the prettiest boy around but has the best Cormo fleece I have seen, he doesn't have the black greasy tips making it easier to wash. It's incredible how fast and how much wool that small guy can grow in 7-8 months.

Sheep shearing

The sheep flock is almost ready to shear, their pasture grass is long gone, and not much is growing since we have had no rain. I wanted to over seed some clover and other grasses onto the pasture this fall, but without rain it would be a waste of money. I have many bags of compost and all the barns need cleaning, so there is plenty of organic fertilizer ready to spread. Haven't turned the ram in yet, so there may not be any lambs this spring, just depends on how much I can get done before it is too late for breeding them. The calender  just isn't in sinc with with the weather and I can not stay ahead of my chores. It was just way to hot to clean barns this summer and shearing was delayed until it got a little cooler. Now it's a challenge to get everything done before winter sets in.

She's up

KeeKee's up and almost back to normal, still doesn't put weight on her right fore leg, but she's moving around her pen and eating, ready to get out, she will be in there quite awhile, until she get stronger. She couldn't take another butting. With the weather report saying it will be back in the 70's, we will start shearing again today. I love this time change in the morning, as it seems like more daylight and earlier, but the evening is not much to speak of. Lost my tomato plants over the weekend, just doesn't do any good to try and cover crops on this windy hill, by morning the plastic will be at the end of the drive way. Still have the greens and lettuces for fresh eating. Almost have a bobbin of yarn spun from one of Jewell's yearlings, it hand cards beautifully and easily, I'm thinking it will be a hat to wear to the barn. Needle felted a few small pumpkins to sit around my space at the gallery to give it that fallish feeling. Still so many fall chores to do, hope the weather stays fair for a good while and the holidays don't rush in too soon.

Georgia weather

Waiting for the weather to warm up a bit before shearing more goats. The already shorn ones are doing fine, but it will be back in the 70's in a few days. It is a shock to have a mohair coat removed when it is cold and windy, and such a big change in just a few days.  Watched the weatherman last night, he said we wouldn't have a frost until Friday night, so I didn't cover the tomatoes, we were snowy white with frost this morning. That's Georgia weather. Decided to keep the dye pots going and bring the wet fleeces in by the wood stove to dry since the wind is blowing the wool off the outside drying racks. This is good wool selling weather, everybody needs a wool scarf to keep the wind at bay and wool yarn to knit with by the fire.

Next on the list

Getting the kittens and Barney cat spayed and neutered are on my list, found a nice home for one of the females, she had a job offer as a mouse patrol. The newly shorn bucks were up and out eating hay this morning, they are shivering a bit, but shivering is a way to warm you when you are cold. It's amazing how fast the hair will grow back on an angora goat.There will be an inch in a month from now. If the goats are not shorn they will get sluggish as the hair gets longer, lice will eat on their skin, and they will hang the locks of hair in their teeth trying to bite at them, sometimes a horn will get tangled in the locks as they try to scratch. It's like a load is lifted off them when they loose the heavy coat and their metabolism increases. The body tells them to eat and start the growing process all over again.

Today

This week is the beginning of doing the things that have been put off to another day. Got a real shearer to come out and start on the billies. We got 10 adult and 3 kids shorn, hooves trimmed, deloused, banded the ones that weren't going to make breeding stock and vaccinated them. Adult billies have strong thick necks and will take a toll on you wrestling them around, so it is hard to get very many done in one day. They are a little shivery tonight but I bedded the barn down with wheat straw and they have all the hay they can eat and a cup of grain, they are in good shape and can stand the change in temperature as long as they have good shelter and staying full. Hope this front moves out fast and the sun returns. I'm whooped, going to eat vegetable soup from the freezer with hot cornbread, hit the shower and go to bed. Some good news, KeeKee can get up on her back legs and move around a bit if I put her grain bowl on the other side of her pen.

Warp the loom

I am almost a year behind on a scarf for a friend that ordered it for his sweetheart last Christmas. What a nice gift to give. I have put it off for so long, shearing, kidding, then it got hot in May, then hotter thru summer, then shearing again, get ready for SAFF, and now I am out of excuses so yesterday afternoon I warped my knitter's loom and wove 2 black kid mohair scarves and tonight they are in the dishpan soaking in warm water. After rinsing and slapping them around on the table a bit I will hang them out to dry and by tomorrow they will be good to go. Since I have woven two, one will got to the gallery for sale. Black Magic and Valerie are the doe kids that produced the mohair that is so soft next to the skin. Black Magic was spun into a two ply yarn for the warp and Valerie a curly spun single yarn for the weft.  So, add up the time, bred their mothers in the fall, fed and cared for them for 5 months of pregnancy, stayed close to the barn every two hours for two months checking for newborns, assist birthing, dry wet kids, give vitamins, strip udder on doe, make sure kid finds milk, dip navel in iodine, pen doe and kid , carry feed and water to pen everyday, after 4 months wean kid, at six months shear kid, wash fleece, spin fleece, warp loom and weave scarf, tie fringe and wash scarf. Smile.