It’s been a while…busy, busy times…

It feels like forever since I’ve recorded anything at all on this blog or in any other way…

In the last month, we’ve taken 3 trips to N.J., which is a lot, at 6-7 hours per trip!  First for the closing of my church,  second for the baptism of my sister’s son and daughter in law’s twin boys, born in August, and just last weekend to our son’s for his and Vicki’s 10th wedding anniversary party, which was a doozy…we went to bed at 11 p.m., discovering in the morning that they were up until around 3, kids and all…having lit a bonfire in their back yard at 1:30, and given the kids sparklers to play with…their neighbors must just LOVE them.  We went from there to friends’ house in Pa., stopping on the way at Peddler’s Village, which has changed drastically since I was there 15 years ago…it used to have a lot of upscale shops with nice clothing and furniture and accessories in it…Now, it seems full of shops with stuff for people with too much money to know what to do with to buy, collections of things, like those ugly choir singers I can’t stand…a bunch of about 8″ high people, singing out.  In the old days it was choristers from a choir.  Now it’s people in all sorts of outfits from all sorts of walks of life, also singing out.  Surely, with children starving around the globe, there are better ways to spend one’s excess money!

And speaking of which, I’ve gotten catalogues from both Heifer Project and the Episcopal version of it: offering ways to buy animals, mosquito netting, educational materials, etc., for people all over the world who are in need. These things are designed not to provide meat per se, but to provide, say, a goat or two, or a flock of chickens, which will give smallholders a way to produce food, fleece, and meat, over time.  I try, each year, to purchase something, and encourage people in whatever church I am in, to do the same. At St. Thomas’, Hanover, I had the church school make applesauce breads and sell them after the service (baking them during the service so that people couldn’t resist the mouthwatering smells!) to raise money to buy animals for these needy folks.  At our current church, it doesn’t seem very feasable to do this, but I think I’ll try anyway.  There are only very young children,not able to bake…I’ll have to think of  other ways…it’s a project dear to my heart…which brings to mind the fact that sometime between now and the end of the year, I have to make a quilt (I WANT to make a quilt) for the local fire company auxiliary to raffle off. Last year’s quilt made them almost $600, more than I could afford to give.  Another pet project.  There’s been so much going on that I haven’t had time even to think about quilting.

Tuesday, John left for work, and 2 minutes later, had backed up and beeped: it seemed there was a sheep caught in the fence.  It turned out to be my jacob ram, and he was dead…though I would estimate not very long…I got him out, repaired the fence, and took him to friend, Mark, in Cornish, who uses the pelt, the skull and horns, and either uses the meat himself or gives it to someone who could use it.  This time, since he just recently put three of my sheeps’ meat into his freezer, he was going to give it away.  No waste, I like that.  It sounds tragic, but put it in context! (Occupational hazard: never read a piece of scripture out of context!) The ram had been in with the girls for 23 days, was due to come out on Thursday, and taken to Mark to kill and use anyway.  BUT, as this was an accidental death, I remembered I had farm insurance, called my agency, a very cooperative group of people, and long story short, a check is in the mail.  I am very careful about making claims, for I feel that people abuse their insurance, and make claims for every little thing, sometimes, even, I suspect, lying about the cause of death of an animal to get money from their policy.  All of which makes insurance costs go up, up, up…so I am conservative about making claims.  I’ve claimed three animals in 15 years…several others I could have claimed, but didn’t.  The end result would probably have been that my costs would have gone up very high, making it an unaffordable thing, and we are more comfortable with out homestead being insured.

Thursday, ram-taking-out day, John and I loaded the coopworth ram (after an intricate maze of green gates afforded us a way to move them, and isolate him in a small pen right next to the truck) and headed to Boz’.  Boz is my butcher, who also has a small flock of coopworth ewes.  Since Cicero was my last ram on campus, and I don’t keep the rams with the ewes, it wouldn’t have worked to keep him…plus I’ve used him two years, so Boz will keep him and will butcher a few lambs for me next season for free in trade for the ram.  Next year, I’ll get new rams, either lambs or experienced, mature ones…haven’t quite decided yet.

Four of the turkeys go to the butcher (Joyce, my neighbor) on Monday, and three of them leave Monday night, sold to various folks.  The other four remaining will be butchered shortly thereafter.  So, slowly, I am getting down to the winter animals: 14 theoretically bred ewes and 9 chickens, eight layers and one roo.  Two other roos from this year’s hatch will go to Joyce with the last four turkeys.

I am busily knitting mittens…when I get enough done, I will put them in the washer and felt them. I’ve been trying various kinds of yarn, all of which will hopefully felt.  I will be doing the Cornish Farmers’ Market Christmas market on December 19th.  Yesterday, I got some little Father Christmas needle felted ornaments from Cindy to add to my booth. I’ll also get a couple of woven blankets from Dori.  With my and Sue’s knitted stuff, I should have a good variety of stuff…

It is raining out this morning…it was teeming, but now has settled into a steady light rain, due to stop sometime this afternoon.  It is warm and toasty in the house.  I may just go try a third loaf of whole wheat bread on my new Zojirushi bread machine.  Last week I made white bread, which turned out great.  The two loaves of whole wheat left something to be desired, but the second was better than the first.  Today, I’ll try with a little less flour and hopefully, that will do it.

Before the last trip to N.J., I went to Borders and found a set of CD’s of the works of Jane Austen, read by various women, including Anna Massey, whom I love, and Joanna Lumley, whom I don’t particularly like in movies, and others.  I’ve been listening to one of the CD’s with a short story called “The Watsons”, something I’d never heard of before.  And now, I’m listening to a collection of creative writing “letters” from various people written by Ms. Austen.  I am looking forward to reading the others.  I’ve also gotten a copy of an unfinished manuscript called “Sanditon” AND a version finished in 1975 by “another lady”.  It is not seamless, and the stuff by the other lady is perhaps more dramatic and less everyday, but less clever than Ms. Austen’s bit.  Now, I’ve ordered a new rendition of “Sanditon” finished by yet another author.  I’m eager to read it and see where it leads.  Last night we watched a travelog DVD in which it was mentioned that Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral, which I didn’t know. Perhaps next time we’re in England, we’ll make a pilgrimage…it isn’t far from the Cotswolds, our current destination.

Back to knitting and bread making…

What a weekend!

Well, actually, it started midweek, when friends from N.J. came to visit. We had a great visit; went out for pizza one night and to see “Julia and Julie” (“Julie and Julia?”).  We had seen it before, but found we liked it much better the second time.  Doug liked it so well, he hunted up the recipe for raspberry cream from Julia’s cookbook and will attempt to make it.

They left Friday morning for N.J., and we left Friday afternoon.  Saturday morning we arrived in Fair Haven, for this was the weekend of the closing of my former church in N.J., Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion (always a mouthful on the telephone…)  It was a sad occasion, but a happy one as well.  The bishop did a wonderful job of praising the people for their 125 years of ministry, well done, and of “knowing when to fold ‘em”, so to speak. I saw many of the folks who were there during my time…many have died, a few have moved away, but there were many left to catch up on.  It was good that we were there, for us and for them.  John was crucifer, and I participated in the service, reading lessons and “concelebrating”. ..or at least standing up there while the bishop celebrated…(He, like me, thinks concelebration is a little silly, so we didn’t all do the abra cadabra bit.)

We left there about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon and headed home through sometimes torrential rain, arriving at 10:30 or so, and collapsing straight into bed.  Next morning we slept in. (I didn’t get up til 6:20!) I went to get Lizzie at our neighbors’ house, came home and got a phone call from the folks who bought the last four lambs and hadn’t picked them up yet.  (Supposed to be Halloween.)  Peter came and got the ewe lambs, and then, with nothing to stop me (as in, where would I put the ewe lambs?) I spent several hours putting the sheep in breeding groups.  John came out to help with the last step, putting the rams in with their respective girlfriends.  I went out later to see what was up: Gandalf, the jacob ram, had two girlfriends, willing…I saw one bred, the other begging.  But poor Cicero, the very horny coopworth couldn’t interest any of the four ewes he had in his pen, no matter how hard he tried.  Hopefully, later, at least one of them agreed to “make babies.”

I was stiff and achy last night, for sure, but this morning, I am almost back to normal.  Chores to do as soon as it gets light, and then…not sure…maybe to Carol’s to knit, maybe to Sue’s…maybe pick up some fencing…(If I do a little each day, it won’t seem like such a terrible task.)

The sheep will stay in breeding groups til somewhere around the 18th-20th, and then, both rams will go.  I’d like to sell the jacob ram, but doubt I’ll be able to…at this time of year, most people already have their rams!  We shall see.  In any case, I expect to spend the winter with just one group of ewes and some layers…a light and easy set of chores.  New rams next summer/fall.

Show season…

Last weekend was the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival, at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds.  It was a marvelous show!  On Saturday, they had the biggest “gate” they’ve ever had!  And it was teeming almost all day!  That meant that only serious fiberholics were there…we did very well…

Monday I took stuff back to Sue’s, then that evening, met my friend, Mary, from N.J. at the train. She had taken the Vermonter up, as she usually does, and as usual, it was late…but quite a bit later than it’s usual lateness…there was a fire on the train in front of them or something…Anyway, Mary and I had a great few days together, catching up on family, doing theology, eating Chinese, driving around looking at leaves, drinking tea, and talking the whole time.  When we lived in N.J., Mary and I got together each week usually to talk, while our children played together…we also exchanged babysitting for each other.  I got the better deal: Valerie was a lot easier than John and Peter.  I have a great poster Mary made for me years ago: a photo she had made of the three kids in one of her trees, blown up to 3 feet by 2 feet.  It’s a great picture.  Mary left yesterday, I came home and made some soup and some stew for dinner.

Today I drove to Sue’s to load up for the New Hampshire Monadnock Region Wool Tour, which is Saturday through Monday, 9-5.  Six women open their farms, invite their friends, have demos of all kinds, and there are lots of fiber, knitted goods, yarns, rovings, and good stuff available to buy.  The Wool Tour is around Hillsboro, NH…if you want to go, go south on 10 from Newport, east on 31, and when you get to Washington, there’ll be a sign indicating a right hand turn, down to Audrey’s farm: alpacas, donkeys, peacock, geese, sheep, and Sue and I, along with several other vendors…you can pick up a tour guide there for the rest of the tour…or go to www.WoolArtsTourNH.com.   Maybe we’ll see you there…if you go, introduce yourself to Sue and to me.  (Sue is the owner of HodgePodge Yarns and Fibers…there’s a link to her blog from mine!)

Next week, starting Monday, the chickens go to Joyce’s to be turned into freezer chickens…I’ll bring her some each day for two or three days, along with a lot of ice, which she needs to cool them down fast.  She’ll give me back chickens in plastic bags…

And sometime next week, I need to load a ram and two ewes into my truck and deliver them to another friend, Mark.  Slowly, slowly, we are getting down to winter population. The seasons pass, one by one, on the farm.

Winding down…or so they tell me…

Harvest time is in full swing…Boz finally came on Tuesday and got the two pigs.  I picked up the pork yesterday; we had a very succulent pork roast last night…I know, I know, Tom, Friday!  But I got my days mixed up and we had fish on Thursday, so I dispensed the Friday rule for once.

Last Saturday we went to a most remarkable concert at the Lebanon Opera House, not one, not two, but FOUR Brandenburg Concerti played by a remarkable group called the Camerata New England, who were joined for another couple of pieces between the concerti by four talented high school string players, giving them the opportunity to play with really good instrumentalists.  They were wonderful…and all stood (except the cellists and base players, of course), and moved around a lot in place (body movements) which was at first disconcerting (no pun intended) but then became part of the concert, somehow…In some cases, I think it was the lead signaling the others and keeping time for everyone to follow…Anyway, it was a great concert and a reviver of spirits brought low waiting for the butcher to show up. (I sure would rather have a definite date, rather than “I’ll call you,” but he’s very good, comes to the house to get the pigs, and does a great job of cutting and wrapping, so…Not knowing exactly when is hard, because the sheep all have to be moved to accommodate his truck’s getting to the back pasture, and they were running out of pasture by the time he got here…Plus, I have lambs to go and had to catch them…for he said I should bring them when I pick up the pork, and they’re heavy, so I need help lifting them into the truck.  Turned out he wanted to wait on the lambs til Monday, so tomorrow night, we’ll put them in the back of the pick up, hopefully.

Tuesday I went to spinning, picking up fleeces from two friends along the way to sell at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival (first weekend in October, Tunbridge Fairgrounds)…and in Wilder, was rear ended by a white haired lady who was beside herself with embarrassment.  Neither of us was hurt.  Both cars have damage.  Just another minor inconvenience for the most part.  Lucky for us, we could both drive away and had no injuries.

Last week I received the news that my first church in N.J., Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion (a mouthful to answer the phone!), is closing its doors…not enough people to sustain the plant and pay a priest…this is very sad…I have NEVER come across a church where the people are so wonderful, so willing to roll up their sleeves and do whatever needs doing in the community, so willing to read and grow and so accepting of everyone who comes through the doors.  Today, we visited a former parishioner there, who moved back to Vermont (she had lived there before N.J.), and talked of the church…and many other things.  We are hoping to get down there between now and the last service, which I understand is to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the church, Oct. 24th. I’m sort of surprised that all the old rectors and vicars have not been sent invitations to come to that service and celebrate with the congregation…

Monday, six lambs go to the butcher.  The meat birds are growing fast and furious, are now eating 40 pounds of grain a day, plus four buckets of water…About four more weeks and they go in the freezer.  The summer squash continues to come in, but with no pigs to feed them to, they go to the neighbor; I don’t like summer squash.  I’ve been using the potimarron squash to make soup with and freeze…as we finish a chicken and I have the carcass to make broth from…

I think it will really be several weeks before things really WIND DOWN, but at least I’m getting stuff done little by little.

It is supposed to be 35 tonight and possible frost…It’s been chilly all day…but after this night, the weather is supposed to moderate again…Never got my winter sweater off today…

Okay, need to wind down with Netflix…and knitting…

Highs and lows…

Well, this is our anniversary week.  Thursday, our actual anniversary, we went out to dinner, a high point…Yesterday, we went to the Caledonia Fair in Lyndonville, up in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.  The Northeast Kingdom is still pretty rural, and so we enjoy going to this fair, which generally has a large agricultural component, along with the inevitable rides and sales booths full of mostly junk.  The animal population was way down, though.  Walter, of course, brought his own tent full of his birds, prefering to keep them away from the birds in the poultry house.  He had pheasants and guineas of several kinds, and some chickens I’d never seen before, and peacocks…all looking good.  The poultry house was pretty full of barnyard chickens, for the most part, and ducks, and rabbits, and, for some reason, a horse.  So far, so good.  The sheep and goat house had a few goats, including some Dwarf Nigerians which made me miss mine…(I really liked the goats, but didn’t like milking them, and overwhelmed with a bum knee and tons of expenses, I sold them.  Probably, I should have kept them…but I couldn’t see keeping something that didn’t pay for itself.  Some day, maybe I’ll try again.  The sheep there were few and looked like crossbreds. There was one crossbred jacob ewe, fat, big headed, funny looking.  And six or so plain ol’ sheep.  Not a good showing.  No swine; they had banned swine because of swine flu, mistakenly thinking they are related.  And there were about half as many cattle as usual, only two teams of oxen that I could see…disappointing. A high point of the cattle barns was the brand new little bull, l/2 hour old, born there a little while before we arrived.  Should have gone to the cow barns first!  And another high point, which we look forward to, is the turkey dinners, home cooked food (as opposed to the “foodish” sorts of things, including deep fried oreos–blech–that are usually served at fairs).  These folks put on a complete turkey dinner, all homemade, with homemade pies.  The Methodist Church in Lyndonville has been doing this dinner at this fair for 72 years.  It is always good, and the people are always friendly.  I recommend it to anyone going to that fair.  We also spent some time looking at campers, if you want to call them campers–great huge, motor homes, rather, sleeping 8, two baths, bigger than my house, in places, or so it seemed.  One pop up but no smallish campers that you could actually pull behind a normal big car or small truck.  Disappointing.  I don’t dream about luxury homes on wheels, just simple campers.

Got home, did some chores, got dinner ready, and proceeded to get ill…some sort of intestinal bug.  Not food poisoning, since I ate nothing John didn’t also eat and he was fine…Also, achy bones and nausea and general all over tiredness, in addition to the diarrhea thing.  (More than you want to hear, right?)  Well, at least I can’t say I got swine flu from the swine at the fair, since there weren’t any.

This morning, after dreaming that all the chicks were drowned in a pool of water in their tractor (in a fairly low place) in the night, and a second dream in which the pony was missing (we don’t have a pony, by the way), the cat was missing, the chick shelter was destroyed, the chicks and chickens dead or running around like a chicken without a head (Hah!), and the sheep shed out on the field (there isn’t one) was destroyed, with dead and injured sheep lying all over the place, I got out there this morning to find all well, except that the light bulb in the chicken tractor where the chicks are had exploded. I picked up the pieces, fed everyone, and am now back inside, where I think I’ll stay, taking it easy today. I have a new book to read by one Flora Thompson, called …hmmm…can’t think of it…it’s about the English countryside in the pre-auto days, though I’m not sure exactly when, turn of the century?  Gladstone is prime minister…1880’s? 90’s?  Not that good about history, though I do know that would be during the reign of Queen Victoria…but then so much was for so long.  (It interests me that the three longest reigning monarchs–I think–in England were all women: Victoria and the two Elizabeths.)

While out there, I checked out the pig fence to see where a good place will be to put the green gates to contain them when Boz comes to shoot them, bleed them, and take them away, early next week.  I think I found the perfect spot. Between now and then, I have to move the sheep, give rabies shots to the four little girls going with me to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival next month, take down fencing and mow, to clear a path for Boz’ truck…but none of that will happen today.  Today, I’ll just look up the rabies vaccine and order some.  I used to get it at my vet’s, but my vet has decided not to do farm animals anymore (no money in it!) and now has even decided not to supply me with meds when I need them.  (In order to make a good profit on such meds, he’d have to order a lot…) I’m thinking I need to change vets which is unfortunate.  I really like the vets and techs at Springfield Animal Hospital.  But I can’t see going to one vet for the farm animals, since they make almost no money from me on that front, and keeping the money-making animals (pets) at Springfield. It seems to me only fair that the vet who takes care of my farm animals deserves to also treat the animals which bring in the geld.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Okay, time to go lie down a bit and rest these achy bones.  Hopefully, this bug will pass sometime today.  We were supposed to go see Harry Potter 6 again tonight…now it will depend on how I feel.  And we are supposed to go to a picnic (which I’m sure will be indoors, with all day rain predicted) at Cedar Hill, where John’s mother lives, but I suspect I will not be attending that either. No point in giving a bunch of nursing home folks the thing I have.

Summer is winding down. It was not light at 5:30 this morning!  Some of that was the storm/cloud cover, but also, I notice it is getting dark at 8:15 or so, as well…That’s okay with me.  I’m not all that fond of summer.  Enjoy what’s left of it…

Fruits of the Harvest…

Yesterday, I received notes from three different people talking basically about the gifts we bring to each other with our presence.  A sort of Bread of Heaven concept…We connect in deep ways, sometimes only for a second, which transforms our lives…and today, out in the garden, I realized that sense of “consolation without previous cause” as St. Ignatius called it, also applies to other species connecting with us.  The sheep who recognizes my sadness and comes over to look deeply into my eyes, the marvelous bounty of the garden, plants giving their fruits to me to feed me and mine.  Only three days ago, I picked 18 gallons of beans.  Today I picked another 3 gallons, roughly.  There will be another couple of smaller pickings and then, the beans will bloom again, and there will be more beans, from that one little 20 foot row in John’s garden. In addition, today, I picked two more cabbages, another cauliflower, and (couldn’t resist) a potimarron squash (Is it ready yet?  Is this an okay time to pick winter squash, or should I be waiting til after frost? Just before frost? Leaves to die back?)  I also picked two hubbard squashes which are enormous and turned blue.  I asked three people when to pick them, and got answers ranging from as soon as they turn from green to blue, and like pumpkins,after the vines have died back.  I give up.  I decided to let most of them sit there until the vines die back, but cut the two big, blue ones now, for a comparison.  I still won’t be eating them for awhile, I would guess, but I wanted to see if it made a difference to let them stay on the vines…sweeter?  Anyone out there: opinions helpful!

Early this morning, after chores, I washed about 20 skeins of yarn, which I skeined up yesterday, just back a week or so ago from Friends’ Folly Farm, who did a remarkable job of spinning these shetland fleeces into yarn.  They also made rovings for me from a couple of jacob fleeces, streaked, not homogenized, colorwise.  I can’t wait to spin that.  It looks like I”ll have lots of yarn to sell at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival!  Once it’s dry, I’ll take a photo of the yarn, so you can see how lovely it is.  It is somewhere between DK and Sportweight yarn.  I would guess size four or five needles.  I’ll have to experiment.  The caramel colored seems thinner than the moorit (brown) color.  I think it might well make a lovely shawl…

I’ve made the potato salad and cole slaw for tonight’s dinner.  I actually have to BUY meat.  I went to the freezer and found that all the meat that’s left until Sept. 1 is two pork roasts, three pounds of bacon, one flank steak, and three chickens!  THat’s cutting it pretty close.  The beginning of September the two pigs go to the butcher, and when I pick them up, four ram lambs go.  In October, the chickens get slaughtered, and in November, the turkeys and any other lambs left and not sold for breeding stock go as well.  And we will get our beef.  All set for meat for the year. I’d have more left, except I brought a lot to our son and family, last time we visited, and I paid Joyce in pork for the turkey poults!  I haven’t bought meat at a grocery store in two years: not even sure how much it costs these days!  I guess I’ll find out.

I sent photos of the four ewe lambs I still have for sale for breeding stock to the woman who does my website.  I haven’t been able to get photos of the ram lambs: they run away when they see me coming.  There are two really nice ones, one spectacular one…until you get to the fleece, which is lovely, but freckled, which means he can’t be registered…GRRR!! And one who looks like his lateral horns will not clear his head, so freezer meat!  I wouldn’t mind selling the two nice ones, but this year I’ve not had a single inquiry for lambs for breeding.  Oops, not true, Megan bought a ram lamb from me for breeding, but not through the internet.  I’m wondering just how useful this website is!  It certainly allows other breeders to see what I’ve got, out of curiosity, but in three years, I’ve had one inquiry about breeding stock from the website.  Hmm…

Okay, time to go to the farm stand and get two bushels of tomatoes to can, since our tomato plants all got early late blight from somewhere in the neighborhood, via wind.  We raised our plants from seed, but someone, I guess, got theirs at Home Depot, where the plants were infected with the early late blight. (It’s called late blight, but came way early this year. If it comes on time, late, it isn’t an issue, but early, it kills all the tomato and potato plants. )  So far, the potatoes look okay. John dug up some yesterday, because they were looking browned out, but I thought it was just the “harvest time brown out” which apparently it was, since the potatoes were all just fine.

Any idea on how to cook potimarron squash?  I found a recipe for soup on line and made up one which I liked even better…I guess I could bake it in the oven with cinnamon or something…I am such an inexperienced squasher…I hate zucchini and all summer squash.  Just in the past couple of years, I’ve come to like butternut squash in soup…that’s as far as I’ve ventured.

Farmwife chores…

Okay, it’s started…the season when I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Yesterday, I canned 7 quarts and 9 pints of beans.  There will be more to do today, but I’m waiting for John to finish picking the beans before beginning today’s canning, which probably means I won’t get to it ’til after lunch.  He is already behind on his chores, so I doubt he’ll have them in in time for me to get them canned before leaving for Donald’s at 10:30 or so.

It’s also time for more banana bread making, as I have a ton and a half (slight exaggeration) of bananas from Black River Produce. There’s only so many that the chickens and pigs will eat before they go bad!  The turkeys won’t eat them…Haven’t tried the sheep.  So, yesterday I made 8 loaves; most are in the freezer at the moment.  I left two out for tomorrow is my turn for “coffee hour” at church.  Today, I’ll make another four loaves, but have to wait til the afternoon, since I gave most of the eggs to Kirk to take to his next destination on his family roundabout trip this week.  Temporarily, I’m out of eggs!  By this afternoon, hopefully, there’ll be another half dozen eggs, which will just do it for the banana bread.

Donald called last night, and today I’m going to his place to help him decide what to cull and what to keep.  He has different flock goals than I do, doesn’t register his sheep, but is a good friend, and it’s fun to go have tea with him and check out his sheep.  (Probably when he says, which of these two would you keep, he keeps the one I don’t choose! But who cares; it’s always fun to go talk sheep with another breeder.)

Tomorrow morning I’ve volunteered to help neighbor, Julie, who is on the board of the Weathersfield Historical Society (yawn), with the “Frippery,” a glorified yard sale they hold each year.  So, I’ll be busy smiling for a few hours in the morning, and taking money from people looking for bargains.  I seldom get to this event, and haven’t really helped with it.  Interestingly, JOHN is a member of the WHS, but I am not.  Nevertheless, it’s ME they asked to help.  I will never understand these people!  I’m sure there’s great value in what they do, but they seem to obsess on details of the past.  (I know, I know, those who pay no attention to history are condemned to repeat it, or something like that…Santayana? Spelling? A LONG time ago…)

It is a glorious day, my kind of Vermont summer day: cool this morning (50), bright and sunny, no humidity, high supposed to be around 75.  A good day to get stuff done, either inside or out.  I don’t know how people manage canning in hot, humid N.J. and places like it.

High Summer

My sense is that global warming, or climate change or whatever you want to call it has resulted, at least in the NorthEast, in a shift in weather by about a month.  Winter doesn’t really seem to start in earnest until January or late December, instead of the mid-November of 15-20 years ago, and high summer, with temperatures in the high 80’s and 90’s is now coming in August instead of July.  It may be just a temporary thing, but it surely seems consistent over the past several years.  Today is the second day of what I call high summer: hot and humid, might hit 87 or 88, who knows.  Yucky.  A day I try to get everything done by 9 a.m. and stay in the rest of the day.

Yesterday morning, I managed to catch two out of four of the remaining ram lambs, and my nephew caught a third last night. Overnight they spent in the winter chicken pen, which is an old dog enclosure, 10 x 10.  This morning I transferred them to nice, fresh, lovely pasture, where they are discovering that there is, indeed, life after mother.  Then, I went out to the ewe pasture and managed to catch the last of the four.  GREAT!  I got him as far as the recently vacated chicken pen, remembered I’d forgotten wormers, put him in the pen, and went to the house to get wormer.  While up there, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and filled a bucket with water to bring to the turkeys.  On my way back to the chicken pen area, one hand carrying a big bucket of water, the other a bunch of bananas (for the turkeys) and the wormer, I saw the little ram lamb, beating the side of the chicken pen, which was secured with some baling twine, unfortunately, that had been there since last fall, and hence, was not in the best of shape. By the time I made it to the entrance, he had snapped the twine, squeezed through the opening, slid through the straight wire, perimeter fence, and was hightailing it back to where the mothers were.  I managed in the next ten minutes to get him (oops, split infinitive, not good according to Mrs. Rossiter, my high school English teacher) back in with the mothers without his either seriously tearing up the fence, or letting the mothers loose.  I’ll give him a few days’ rest, hoping he’ll forget what a terrible person I am, and then try to get him again.  Luckily, he is the youngest of the four, not four months old yet, so hopefully, there will not be any unwanted breeding.  It is not likely the mothers are cycling yet, but better safe than sorry.  So, what started out as a very successful sheep day, ended up with one wrinkle.

After finishing chores, I went to John’s garden, thinking to check on the beans.  I picked beans down one side (wide row, two sides and middle of row plantings) about l/2 way, and ended up with a big bucket of beans, hardly a dent in the first crop.  But I was tired and the bugs had gotten the word out that there was a human feast in aisle 9 of the grocery garden.  I brought the beans in and “snapped” them, put them in a plastic bag in the frig.  About a gallon.  Tomorrow, John will pick the rest, and I dare say there will be at least another two or three gallons, which means I’ll spend the morning canning.  Too hot today, and so far, not enough to fill the canner.

Kirk, my nephew, and his two young children, Ethan, age 10, and Emma, age 8, are visiting for a few days. This morning, they took off with hammers and chisels to find minerals at several sites they found on the internet.  They will be gone a couple of hours.  I get to rest a bit.  Basically good kids, though last night, Ethan, tired after a long day, had a bit of a hissy because the bed he was scheduled to sleep in had “girlie” sheets on it, which meant, of course, he couldn’t possibly sleep in it.  But he did, albeit on top of the blanket, for we all know if you are 10, almost 11, and you sleep in girlie sheets, you could end up not developing the proper male parts or something!  This morning, he is showing no signs of having been emasculated, so I guess he survived. Yesterday, we went to a shearing at my friend, Suzanne’s in Norwich…blade shearing by Kevin Ford, and then to the ever popular Montshire, where they had a blast.  They may wish to return to the Montshire today, or go swimming at the local pond or Dottie’s pool, or hang out in the woods…whatever.  Then, they’ll go visit “Gram”, John’s (and Kirk’s father’s) grandmother and then we’ll head out to a simple dinner somewhere.  Tomorrow a.m. they leave.  Oh, I forgot the most important thing!  Ethan with Emma’s help, will gather eggs.

The day is kind of overcast, with a grey sky and lots of humidity already.  And very still; I’m sure the bugs are out in force. THank God for these nice thick log walls and lots of insulation in the roof, and the dehumidifiers upstairs and in the basement.  The house is at 65, and will probably stay there all day.

You should see my hubbard squash: they are huge!  Okay, time for some quiet reading.

Pictorial tour, high summer…

Well, it rained again last night,  and there are thunderstorms and torrential rain scheduled for this afternoon, not terribly convenient as we are going to a commitment service of two friends, with an outdoor reception afterwards…which, I assume, will be transferred to the church hall!

But for right now, though overcast, there is a little breeze, which is keeping the bugs down.  I spent part of the morning transferring the turkeys to their new pen, out of their nursery, then came inside, wet and filthy and smelly, got cleaned up, and answered my email.  Then, I decided it was a good day to go take some photos of some of the bounty around this place.  First, my perennial garden…

A daylily in bloom, one of many varieties, whose name I have long since forgotten.  Some I remember,some I don’t…oh, well…I keep promising myself to get better, more permanent markers for them, but I never seem to be in the right place at the right time…

Some phlox, again, one of many varieties…I didn’t buy this one; someone gave them to me years and years ago, and they didn’t come with a name.

Red monarda (bee balm)…with some filipendula in the background.  I love it when a second monarda flower grows out of the middle of the first.  Did you know that filipendula is a precursor to aspirin?  That if you ache, you can make a tisane out of the leaves and drink it?  Or so I remember from the herbalism course I took.  My friend, Pam, just gave me a bit of variegated leaf, white filipendula…quite lovely.

Ligularia–the Rocket.  I first learned about these in an Alan Bloom book on perennials maybe 25 years ago, and have had some ever since.  I like them a lot.

The turkeys in their new pen, trying out the roost, exploring the grass, looking for bugs.  One of them has already “flown the coop” and is wandering around in the ram pen.  Theoretically, when he wants dinner, he’ll come home.

Cicero (coopworth, just part of a brown lump at the far upper left, and Frodo (jacob) rest while Gandalf comes over to see what I’m up to.

My very limited, very haphazard attempts at gardening this year (and always) are producing some hubbard squashes, two here pictured.  (Now, I doubt very much I’ll EAT them, as I’m not a squash fan in general, but who knows.  After all, I’m now making and eating butternut squash and potimarron squash soups, so maybe I’ll advance to whatever one does with hubbard squash.  If not, my neighbor, Dottie, will be happy to have them, and I can say I grew hubbard squash.  The potimarron and butternut squash seeds were planted later, are just starting to flower.

Then, in contrast, there’s the order and preciseness of John’s garden.  Why, he even knows where he planted what!  Showing here are the asparagus, long since gone and now going to seed, beans (variety: Jade. This row will produce enough before frost for me to can 50 quarts and freeze another 25 quarts or so for my son and family, and probably give away a significant amount.  Jade is a marvelous variety. John discovered it years ago,and it’s all we grow now. Very disease resistant, very prolific, very tasty.) and tomatoes, which he’s working on in the photo.  You’ll notice there aren’t many weeds. He’s out there every day weeding and picking bugs off.  What you can’t see are the beets, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, carrots, lettuces, radishes and melons…I think that’s it, oh, no, lima beans as well…I guess I’ll have a lot of “putting food by” to do later this summer, into the fall.

Elizabeth Ann Fischer, my dog, walks with me up from the front where the gardens are, to the back, where the pigs are.  Lately, I’ve begun to hope that Lizzie is finally becoming civilized. She’s coming when called, behaving, and even helped me corral a little ram lamb who stayed behind when I moved the sheep pasture yesterday.  She’ll never be a Margaret, but she’s growing into a very nice Lizzie, finally.

Jack and Jill, up on the hill…they are getting big, especially Jack.  This year, instead of two girls, we tried one girl and one castrated boy.   Matt assures me there will be no boar taint because he’s castrated, and he will yield more meat.  More meat, I can guarantee. He’s already MUCH bigger than she is.  They are happy in their large area behind the house, with room to run and root, and play.

Last stop, over by the carport behind the barn:  John has planted his leftover Asiatic lilies in the midst of the dahlia bulbs.  He is planning on putting a garden in with a stone wall in this area in the future.

Well, that’s it for today.  I didn’t walk down to where the chickens were, nor to the lower meadow where the ewes and lambs are…that will have to wait til another day.  Hope you’ve enjoyed your tour.  Have a great day!

The Jungle Recedes…a little, for now…

Keeping up with mowing, where the sheep AREN’T, is a constant and steady chore.  Each day, I mow a bit…the edges near the woods, around the fencelines, around the vegetable garden, the “lawn” (a fancy word for the same stuff, which is growing around the house), …ongoing maintenance.  In addition, when the sheep are finished in a particular pasture, I need to mow it after them…sounds silly, but truth is, there are some things they won’t eat, largely, invasive annuals, and if I mow them down, they don’t go to seed and produce more of themselves.   So, I mow…every day, practically.  I’m about to put the sheep in a patch of blackberry brambles out beyond the far pasture, part of reclaiming more of the land for pasture for the future.  John will mow through the woods today, a swath, so I can put out the fencing.  Then, the sheep will go in, and have a ball eating blackberry and other shrubbery.  Blackberry and wild raspberry type bushes are very good for them, a toner and tonic for their reproductive tracts, and nourishing food as well.

In the next two weeks, I have to put up fencing on John’s pasture (his part of the front, where he raises veggies and fruit trees, but where there is also a lot of unused pasture, which he graciously lets me use, though he tries to micromanage the use of same, suggesting when I should move the animals…well, it IS his pasture!) for it is time to separate the boys from the moms.  There are six or eight of them, can’t quite remember, offhand. At least two are not registerable, and I think I have them sold for meat.  One is iffy: he is gorgeous, but has a fifth horn, a scur.  Should that scur fall off, he will have perfectly spaced four horns.  When I catch him, I’ll check it all out.  And there are three or four left who are good breeding ram potential, at this point.  Horns coming in nicely, good conformation, excellent fleece and markings…hopefully, I can sell at least one of them, if not more.  (The thing is, you only need ONE ram and maybe a second, in case the first gets tired.  All other rams are superfluous, unless you have a spinning flock of wool wethers, which most people don’t have…it’s hard to make wool wethers pay for themselves, unless you knit a LOT!)

On the veggie scene, John’s garden is looking pretty lush: the tomatoes have small fruits on them, the melons have started blooming, the beans look about ready to bloom, the raspberries are just about ready to burst forth in succulent redness. (Which means, for the next few days, I have to take the rest of LAST year’s raspberries–about 8 quarts left, I think–and make them into raspberry-banana bread, or have John make them into raspberry ice. )

In my little garden bed, the experimental hubbard squash I planted looks prehistoric: the leaves are huge, the fruits are 8″ long or more so far, with a few smaller ones bringing up the rear.  The butternut and potimarron squash plants are coming along, not quite ready to bloom.  I’ve recently planted the vacated ram pen with zucchini and sweet peas and sunflowers and dill and basil, with a few other things thrown in (called getting rid of all old seeds).  The seedlings are coming up.  I’m not getting a high degree of germination, but then, these seeds are at least two years old, at best, so ANY plants are a blessing!

I solved the “how to get the chicks out of the cage” problem, simply by putting a ramp from their cage to the ground: mama immediately hopped down and out, and the babies followed, enabling me to clean up their nursery and dispense with it.  The chicks are doing fine, growing like weeds, seem happy, are not disturbed by the other hens or the roo.  All is well in chicken village.

The turkeys are growing like weeds as well. It’s about time to transfer them as well.  They are running out of room in their chicken tractor, AND I will need same for the meat birds in a few weeks.  The turkeys will go in the goose pen behind the sheep shed, where they’ll have lots of room, lots of greenery, lots of bugs, and the rams just outside their pen to amuse them and be amused by.

Off to church, then back home to make more raspberry banana bread (stuff currently in the oven is due to come out any minute!), and possibly off to St. Gaudens in the afternoon for a chamber music concert by some people named Fischer, who spell it like my great grandparents spelled it, always an incentive for me.  Silly, but hey, I can be silly.

Like Susan (see “The Shambles…” link), I am knitting in between all this farm stuff.  I’ve been working on some socks for Josie, who has the booth across from us at the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival.  I’ve just about finished the three pairs she wants…and another pair for me, with yarn I bought in York.  I’ve spun up one ball of the Wensleydale fleece I got in Leyburn (Wensleydale), and got all enthused about giving away bits to others, so managed to give away most of it…which was my purpose in buying it, but still…

Tuesday, spinners are here…I guess they’ll get raspberry-banana bread for tea!