Jonquils in January

Yesterday I noticed the Jonquils blooming and it was 70 degrees, today a tornado passed through the north end of the county. We had flooding rain and wind. Tree frogs have been calling the rain up for over a week, you can count on tree frogs to bring on the rain. Sounds crazy, but it's true. No damage here except mud and leaking barns, probably some ruined hay. Sheep and goats stood in the barns all day, waiting for hay to be put in the feeders, no one went out to graze today. The dogs were under foot, they can feel or maybe hear the storm coming. Kay is terrified of them, couldn't eat until the storm was gone. The weather is the hardest thing for a farmer to deal with. Can't do anything about it. When you see old farmers that can't stand straight, bent over from all the years of going against the wind, you know they made it by bending but never breaking.

Foal Watch

Went up the hill at midnight last night to check and pen Airielle. Her foaling date is near and the weather is going to be rough for a day or so. It was a beautiful night, very bright moon and soft billowy clouds moving fast, not too cold. I found them on the very top of the hill grazing. She followed me to her barn, freshly bedded down and surrounded by corral panels so she can go out or stay in. I gave her a few more flakes of hay and a bucket of warm water. Not much of a bag yet, but I think she is getting ready. Sweetheart called for me, I went to her pen and she wanted lots of neck scratching, realizing she is back home. When I picked her up at the hospital she heard my voice when I walked in the barn and looked toward me. A lot of stress in a strange place for her. When we went out to go home she saw the trailer and jumped on and ran to the front. My animals depend on me to take care of them and sometimes that means a little love to go along with the feeding.

Sweetheart

Sweetheart spent eight days in the hospital. I spent 8 days before that, trying to turn her around. It was much more serious that I thought. She came home today 17 pounds and 3 babies lighter. Not sure if the dead kids caused her to get so sick or if her sickness caused the kids to die. It could be her body could not support triplets. She got off the trailer and started grazing and hasn't stopped yelling I'm back to all the goats. I think she will recover. She is very lucky to have a doctor so interested in her well being. Sweetheart never gave in, never went down, never quit. It is not feasible to pay for vet help on a goat and sheep farm but if I have an animal willing to fight I am willing to help. Just hope she is able to have kids next year.

A story to be told

A beautiful crisp, sunny morning and just perfect day. A day to enjoy and get caught up on some chores and make new friends. Five doe kids went to a wonderful new home where they are going to get excellent care and lots of love. It's exciting to help new breeders get started especially when they will become spinners, knitters, and weavers. You have to hope they will pass on what they learn and we never forget where our fiber comes from and how fabric is made. That it doesn't magically appear at the mall or store. When you buy animals and fiber from a farmer, there is a story behind every animal, every fleece, every yarn, every scarf, every piece of fabric. A story that needs to be told before it is forgotten.

As good as it got

It was a blury week of rain and cold wind, not even the sheep would go out of the barn. That meant I had to set up hay racks and haul water in the barns, in all of them. No respectable goat is going to walk through standing water to get a drink. I mean it did not let up for 5 days. The bucks in outside pens were flooded. I have major mud problems and have to wait for the ground to firm up before I can get across it. We were all glad to see the sparkling sun come out today and the air felt so clean, it should be clean, well over 4" of constant rain.

Herbal treatment

Sweetheart is my boss doe, very greedy, she can block an 8 foot feeder full of grain, and she did. Now she has acidosis, not bad, just doesn't want to eat and is not chewing her cud, that is bad. Have been cutting browse and bringing it to her and she is picking through some of it. Decided to ride her down to the woods and let her pick her own medicine. She ate a few things, mostly roamed through the woods. But, the ride made her nervous and she pooped big pellets, so all is normal there. Her mother was the boss doe until she got old, then Sweetheart took over the job , looks like she will stay in her own personal pen and there will be a new boss doe.

Twins

Twin's have a special bond. Rosebud's twin does are always together, calling for each other if one is not in the other's sight. Not only do they sleep together, they curl up with their head laying on each other. If there are twins with a doe and buck they are separated for life, but if the buck is wethered and allowed to live together that bond is reunited. Cookie Doe and Tootsie are always together even as adults, they have their kids within a day of each other, their heat cycles are in sinc. Cookie Doe left Tootsie to go to SAFF one year, upon returning home they greeted each other and slept together that night. Goats always know their family members after being separated, even after years of separation, they will reunite.

Cold mornings

The ducks are not happy with the cold mornings. Takes awhile to get all the water tanks warmed and buckets deiced. With the short daylight hours there is not enough time to get a lot of work done other than caring for the stock. Got to keep them happy. Happy sheep and goats make good fiber, good fiber makes spinners happy, happy spinners buy fiber, shepherd buys feed and hay, the local economy keeps going, people have a job, (people that want a job). Too cold to work with wool outside so decided to wash fleeces inside, small amounts of fiber soaking in buckets. It works good for Cormo fleeces which is easier to get the grease out of the tips in small batches. Takes longer but the results are good. Have dye pots of tea dyed wool and pomegranite going on the wood stove. Not many days in the year I can stoke the stove up hot enough to set the dye, but the warmth and aroma felt good today.

Mud

Wanted to go to the handspinner's distaff day, was packed and ready to go, but listened to the weather report that called for more rain. Have been scaping boot sucking mud for the last few weeks and knew I needed to try again before it got muddier. It has been too muddy to get in there without getting the tractor stuck. So spent most of the day scraping and pushing mud, great fertilizer for the garden. Everyday brings us a little more daylight time. Today hope to get the sheep bottom pasture cross fenced and new gates hung, plan to move doe kids and some does that are not bred out of the lambing-kidding barn to the bottom. Lambs and kids will be dropping the first of March so the shepherdess needs to clean the barn and set up the nursery,get ewes shorn, vaccinate ewes and does, get lambing supplies ordered, the list goes on. It all takes a lot of time.

The battle

Time to take down all the felted ornies and decorations. Sprayed the woolies with an organic bug spray and left them to dry by the wood stove. After they are dry I will pack them in plastic bags and then in a plastic container. It's also time to wash all the handspun yarns and scarves that have been to festivals and fairs collecting dust and salts from all the handling. Yarns can go in a dishpan of warm soapy water soak and rinse, then dried by the stove and packed away. Wool is organic and moths love it as much as I do. In the unwashed grease state it is usually not bothered by moths, but once washed and spun, knitted, woven or felted it has to be protected. Washing and storing is the safest way to keep moths out of wool. As long as there are no moth eggs laid on the wool to hatch out and feed on the fiber it will last forever.