Battle of the Moles

   My dilemma in the barn now is how to outsmart the moles. I see little foot prints and paths in the snow leading to my barn, I have holes in between bricks in the barn floor, but alas I cannot catch those little devils in traps. They have dug wonderful little tunnels under the bricks on the floor, even enough to push some of the corners of the bricks up, which was my first clue that they are indeed moles. Usually I catch quite a few moles in traps earlier in the fall, but this year they waited until the really cold weather to set up housekeeping in my barn. While at Tractor Supply picking up provisions for the animals last week I bought brand new traps, thinking they smelled something foreboding on the old traps. Still nothing! I've tried cheese, peanut butter, but still no luck. I fill in the holes in the floor but new ones appear, so I know the moles are having a great time while I am not around. I then decided to bring in my secret weapon, Teddy. Teddy is the garage/shop resident tabby cat who lives in a very warm, heated workshop. Although he catches mice and moles in the garage, he wants no part of an unheated barn. So the battle of the moles continues... Thanks Teddy!

Mole pathways to the barn in the snow

 

Tunnels under bricks on floor

Teddy, the secret weapon, to tired to catch moles

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the ice sculptures I took in Stowe last weekend, while visiting my daughter. No chance of them melting anytime soon.

 

Diamond ring ice sculpture

Musical clef ice sculpture



 

The sheep are still enjoying the afternoons outside even in the frigid temperatures. Here they are on a sunny 10 degree afternoon, happy to get out of the barn

 

 

Hopefully the groundhog won't see his shadow on Sunday and he'll stay out! Can we really anticipate spring will be right around the corner then? I hope so.

 

A Little Bit of Spring

   Last week's weather was in the 30s and 40s, but now it seems maybe I imagined it after all. I did take care of a lot of outside chores while the weather cooperated, so that it is a good thing. It felt so good to be outside last week that I looked for things to do, this week wild horses couldn't drag me outside. Barn chores are all done in a hurry this week. With the temperature outside merely minus 2 degrees while I write this blog, I am happy to be inside at my computer. 
   While it was above freezing last week my pussy willows actually started to swell on the branches, so I brought some inside, put them in water,and I now have catkins opening up. In about two weeks I should have fully blooming branches of pussy willows.Probably just in time for Valentine's Day.

   Another spring surprise I have in my house is a blooming pot of hyacinths. My husband was cleaning off our basement stairs, just before Christmas, and found a real treasure. I had put a pot of purple hyacinths that had bloomed last spring (a gift from my husband) on the stairs to plant in the fall and had totally forgotten about them. When my husband found them they were poking little green shoots out of the dry soil. I watered them and put them in a sunny window, and now we have spring in minus zero weather. They look so beautiful and smell glorious. Just what we need this week!

 

   We had another accident with the wild birds yesterday. A downy woodpecker hit our kitchen window and really stunned himself. I sincerely thought he was dead, but after a warm up inside he was back to the feeder eating suet again. Since this window isn't even in line with their flight to and from the feeder, I don't know why this has happened twice already this winter. Both birds survived, so all's well that ends well I guess.

 

 

   With no real warm up insight it is a great week to warm up the house with some baking. With the tremendous amount of Christmas baking that I did, I took a break from one of my favorite pastimes. With the temps close to zero today, I plan to use my oven as an extra heat source. Today I am baking a "Harvest Cake" a recipe I found in a magazine years ago. If you care to try baking this moist, spicy cake the recipe is as follows:

 

Ingredients-

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

16 ounces pumpkin

2 cups flour

1 large apple peeled and chopped

1/2 cup pecans

1 cup raisins

 

Grease and flour a tube pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Mix together sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, ginger, oil, and eggs. Add pumpkin to mixture and stir well. Stir in 2 cups of flour, 1//2 cup at a time. Stir in apples, pecans, and raisins. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60 to 70 minutes.

 



Trying to Stay Warm

   The main topic of conversation in so many parts of the U.S. is the frigid temperatures this winter, and The Farm at Mill Village has been having its share of extreme temperatures too. It seems to have been so long since we have had a morning that has been above the zero mark on the thermometer and the days out of the single digits. My husband and I are watching our winter wood supply dwindle, and are hoping for moderating temperatures. Out of all this cold, wind and snow came these absolutely amazing snowpeople made by Mother Nature. I took this picture a week ago, but they have since started to fall apart. These snowman are really three trees that became covered with snow and took on the form of a snowman family courtesy of the wind and wet snow that fell the week before. It was a 4 degree afternoon when my husband insisted that I come to see this phenonemon. Of course I was hesitant to leave the comfort of the wood stoves, but I ventured out with my camera to see. What a "cool" and magical sighting and right at the northbound on ramp at I89 exit 3.

Mother Nature's Snowfamily

 

   Charlotte is finally home, our resident pregnant ewe. She came back to the farm last Sunday. We made it back from the farm she was being bred at in N.Y. with  only about an hour to spare before last Sunday's ice storm started. She is doing beautifully and is so happy to be back in the fold of her flock. She looks very radiant and pregnant-I hope! She is a chubby girl with lots of wool so it will be hard to tell when she starts showing. She is due April 20th, so we will be having the sheep sheared in the beginning of April. Hopefully the weather will be warm for the delivery of her lamb or lambs. (Hard to imagine warm weather right now.) Since Charlotte is a twin and the ram who fathered the lamb is a twin the incidence of her having twins is higher. That, and the likelihood of Old English Southdown Babydoll Sheep having twins raises our expectations for two lambs to be born in April, although we will be happy with one healthy lamb.

   The cold weather has made sitting on the couch in our library studying seed catalogs a frequent event. Too cold to be outside but craving to be gardening, this is the next best thing. When I finally think I have decided on most of my ordering, a new catalog comes in the mail. Case in point, yesterday's mail brought a catalog from Select Seeds of Union, Ct. filled with pictures of their heirloom flower variety seeds. I fell in love with so many of the tried and true varieties that I feel another order is eminent to this company. I usually place my order for the cutting flower garden with Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow, Maine, but I will order some seeds from this company as well this year.

   The other pastime that has been a source of joy in the cold weather has been watching the birds at the birdfeeder. We seem to have detered most of the problem glutonous pigeons with only a few  remaining each morning. We continue to shoo them away and are enjoying all the little birds feasting at the feeder. Nothing too unusual yet this year, just the usual gold and purple finches,tufted titmouses, cardinals, juncos, nutthatches, woodpeckers, bluejays, and of course the ever friendly and chatty chickadees. When I take the labs out for a walk we are nearly hit by the chickadees in midflight, so close we can hear their wings flapping. I think the downy woodpeckers are at the feeder eating suet everytime I look out, but what a pretty sight. So remember to feed the birds during the cold winter months. They will appreciate the food to stay warm and will reward you with their colorful antics. The bird feeding has inspired me to needle felt many of these birds with the wool from the sheep. Please visit the farm's website at www.thefarmatmillvillage.com to see some of the birds I have created. Stay warm!

Downy woodpeckers