Happy Birthday George and Martha

   Today is George and Martha's first birthday. They are now officially sheep and no longer lambs. Wow, where did that year go? The breeder I bought them from named the twins George and Martha. What else would you name lambs born the day before George Washington's birthday? We knew immediately we would keep those names. They are the friendliest and sweetest sheep we have, and they always seem to be into something to make me smile.

Martha (cream colored) and George

 

   I am starting to feel the excitement of spring preparations. First off I ordered 6 new day old chicks to add to our flock, 3 silver laced wyandottes and 3 golden laced wyandottes. They will be arriving on April 11th.

Silver laced wyandotte chicken

Golden laced wyandotte chicken

 

Secondly, I have been starting some flower and vegetable seeds. Most of my garden seeds are direct sown outside in the spring, but I do start tomatoes, peppers and some of the cutting garden flower seeds such as the celosia, stocks, delphiniums, and johnny jump-up violas inside weeks before they will be transplanted outside in the spring. I reuse my plastic seed starting pots and trays each year. I prefer plastic pots to peat pots, because they retain the water better and do not have the tendency to get moldy like the peat pots do. I first sterilize the pots and trays with Clorox to kill any bacteria from last year's plantings. I just do it in the sink and spray them with Clorox clean-up spray, being sure to rinse the Clorox off completely. I then just air dry them and then they are ready for the seed starter potting mix and new seeds.

 

   Use a bucket and mix water and seed starter potting mix until you get the desired consistency of damp but not soggy soil. Then fill pots and plant seeds according to the directions on each seed packet. Some seeds need light to germinate so they cannot be covered with soil, while other seeds require darkness to germinate, so they will need to be covered with soil. Be sure to carefully read the packets!

 

   All trays should be covered with clear plastic wrap (such as saran wrap) until seedlings emerge, then it is important to remove the plastic wrap so the seedlings are exposed to the air and can grow. At first misting the seedlings with a water bottle is acceptable, but as soon as they start to develop leaves and begin to form roots, watering from the bottom tray is advised. A fluorescent light hung closely over the young seedlings is a must for growing strong healthy plants. Depending on a sunny window will yield spindly plants which always strain towards the light. I know this first hand!

   A very weak liquid fertilizer should be used in a couple of weeks after seedlings emerge, but again follow directions very closely so as not to burn out the tiny plants. Now just sit back and enjoy the miracle of nature. Have a great weekend and maybe start some seeds!

 



 

  



 



Stress and Anxiety

   Lately I have been experiencing the trials and tribulations of owning animals. First of all, Charlotte our two year old pregnant ewe has been losing patches of wool since shortly after she came back to us after breeding. I noticed loose patches of wool when I got her home on her left hip and next to her tail on her right side. Those loose patches fell out and there was Charlotte with a bare butt in sub-zero weather. I really worried when more patches of wool fell out, and after talking with other sheep owners decided it was time to call our sheep vet. It seems since she is eating ferociousy, acting normal, no fever or illness, no rash, no bugs or parasites, and the wool is growing in again that my vet's diagnosis is that our Charlotte is stressed! It seems that sheep can lose patches of wool when they go through a traumatic event, and for Charlotte leaving our farm and her flock and being bred for the first time was way too much of a stressful event. So now that she is home among her friends she is doing fine. We just need to be patient for her wool to grow back in, which for now looks like peach fuzz. Poor Charlotte! She is also eating some extra mineral supplements to help her along.
   My next animal fiasco involves my 2 year old chocolate lab, Holly, who has decided she can not stay home alone ( although two other dogs are at home) without chewing some item that belongs to me or my husband. This is the dog who did this for her entire puppyhood but upon turning two years old suddenly stopped her bad behavior. Well, it's back! I finally could have a life and go places without worry, but she has suddenly regressed. Last week we lost a slipper, my leather baby shoe I had in my sewing room on my grandmother's antique sewing machine, and a leather work glove. She doesn't just chew them, she swallows them! She ate the fingers off of my husband's suede and cloth work glove he left drying by our woodstove, and threw up each of the five glove fingers on our bed at 4 a.m. two days later. My beautiful little 55 year old baby shoe ended up in our backyard after her morning walk. No need to go into details on that return! So now Holly must stay in a crate when we go out or go with us. The diagnosis on this animal? Seperation anxiety. So, I have two neurotic animals on the farm. One is stressed and one has anxiety. Guess what? Now I am stressed and I have anxiety! I guess these animals are just coddled too much, but who can help it? They are just so cute and so sweet.
   Enjoy the brief weather warm up we have been promised later this week!

Holly got to go shopping at Tractor Supply to buy an owl to scare away pidgeons, because she can't be trusted to stay home without supervision.(I guess she got her way- again)

No longer a pair of baby shoes- just one.

Another sub zero morning. No chickens out this day!

Still snowing..

At least Holly enjoys the snow.

 

 

 

Valentine's Day

  

 

   I love Valentine's Day! I guess I love any excuse to put out some holiday decorations. This year I missed my Christmas tree so much that I created a "Valentine's tree". On one of our warmer days, (When was that? You are asking) I went outside and pruned off some of the gnarled branches from one of our ancient apple trees. I placed the branches in one of my antique crocks, put on a strand of white lights from our Christmas tree, decorated the branches with some glass heart decorations and there you go... a Valentine's tree. I put it in my dining room a couple of weeks ago and it really has cheered up these frigid days.

 

   This year my husband will receive some homemade treats for his Valentine's gift. I baked some homemade sugar cookies this morning and decorated them with little hearts. It gave me a reason to use a red rolling pin my husband bought me for Valentine's Day a few years ago. I know, a rolling pin for Valentine's Day? How unromantic, but when you have a penchant for rolling pins, it's a great gift. I saw this rolling pin in a King Arthur catalogue and wanted it so badly, but I didn't want to spend $40 on this "guaranteed not to stick to dough" rolling pin. Guess what? It doesn't stick! After a cup of coffee and a to die for danish at the King Arthur Flour's cafe, with beautiful classical music in the background, my Valentine bought me my red rolling pin. I have a small collection of antique rolling pins, but there is not one that I use to make anything with, so I really love this gift and always remember that Valentine's Day when I use it.

 

The Valentine's Day rolling pin.

Collection of antique rolling pins.

My biggest antique rolling pin- from a Brandon,Vt bakery .

 

 





   My husband will also be the recipient of a huge box of handcrafted dark chocolate mint truffles, which I have come out of retirement to make for him, courtesy of "The Chocolate Moose", my old chocolate shop. I will be more than happy to help him eat both of his gifts!

        Happy Valentine's Day!!

 

The recipe for the sugar cookies is as follows:

 

 



 

It's homemade, if you make it at home!!!

 

To Bee or not to Bee

   To have bees or not to have bees that is the question I have been presenting myself with for the past two years. I am totally in love with the idea of keeping bees for honey and beeswax, pollinating my gardens and fruit trees, and helping to restore the declining honey bee population. What I am not in love with is the extra work and commitment of taking care of the bees, and not to mention the monetary expense of the wooden hives, bee keeping equipment, bee keeper's suit, and yes, even the honey bees themselves. I also have been contemplating putting in a garden of 20 to 30 cold weather hardy lavender plants. The bees just seem like the perfect companion to the lavender plants for pollinating and then reaping the rewards of lavender flavored honey. It seems like the perfect pairing and yet the more I read about beekeeping, and I am reading everything I can get my hands on, it seems to intimidate me more. I think I will plant the lavender plants this year so that they can get established, and put off the decision of beekeeping until possibly next year. I change my mind on this predicament almost daily, so we shall see. I did just find out about a beginner's beekeeping class being held locally in April, so that will be my first step.
   I ordered most of the flower seeds for the cutting gardens, and all of the vegetable seeds for the kitchen vegetable garden this past weekend. I anticipate they will arrive in the middle of a snowstorm they usually do, but that is what makes it more thrilling.
   On Saturday morning my husband and I were on Music Mountain Road in Stockbridge, Vermont when I spotted a large flock of robins. Yes robins on February 1st on a mountain in Vermont! The field was free of snow since it had a southern exposure, and there were the robins. I lost count after 20, but I would say there were close to 30 of them. So, with the local groundhog in Vermont not seeing his shadow due to the cloudy, dismal day we had on Sunday, I would say we may have spring just around the corner. Oh wait, aren't we predicted to have two snowstorms this week?

This week's pictures of winter on the farm: