Getting the barn ready for Winter

 

   As we go through this rainy, chilly weather pattern it makes me realize that a lot must be done in the barn, duck, and chicken houses to prepare for winter. My winter hay supply will be arriving in the barn, so I must reorganize and make room for the neatly stacked bales of hay which will dominate the first room of the barn. Where will everything go? Why do I always end up putting gardening tools and supplies in the animal barn instead of the garage designated for the garden paraphernalia? Well, everything will have to be put back into place and the hay will arrive to feed the animals.
   The animals are all doing well. The vet paid her visit for yearly exams and shots, and declared all are healthy. It is always a relief to hear that from your vet. Annabelle, our 4 1/2 month old Jersey heifer, has now been weaned off of her twice a day bottles and has been mooing her protests but has finally resigned herself to only eating grain and hay. Poor Annabelle! The sheep are getting their winter wool and are beginning to look like a flock of cuddly teddy bears. Oh, so cute!
   I recently had another small harvest of lavender and was able to make one more batch of lavender oatmeal soap. I have my fingers crossed that the 24 lavender plants I planted in the spring will winter over. I will mulch them with straw for protection and hope for the best. So far, they seem very well established and have grown more than I thought they would have in their first year, and I had three generous harvests from which I could make soap, lip balm and dried lavender sachets. I am already dreaming about all the lavender products I will make next year.

dried lavender sachets

 

 

home-crafted lavender oatmeal soap

 

return of winter wool

 

Poor Annabelle, no more bottles just hay and grain.

 

Let it Rain!

   These couple of days of much needed rain have given me a break from the gardens and a few hours to catch up on some inside chores. I even spent Sunday afternoon in my sewing/craft room planning this year's Christmas presents to be made.
   My beets have all been just about harvested, maybe a dozen left in the ground to mature some more before pulling them out. They have been tender and sweet and my husband and I have really been enjoying them. One got away from me and became a giant. I don't know how I missed pulling this one up sooner, but now it is way past the suggested eating size of "slightly larger than a golf ball", as stated on the seed packet. It is now the size of a large turnip and probably pretty tough to eat. You can see from the picture next to the quarter it is past it's prime, but a gigantic root crop just the same.

 

 

   My gardening nemesis, the Japanese beetle, arrived in full force in July doing devastating damage to my roses and fruit trees. Oh, how I hate them! I don't use any pesticides in my gardens and the beetle traps you hang in trees seem to import more Japanese beetles to the property. My grandfather used to pick each and every beetle off of his roses, in his extensive rose garden, and throw them in a glass jar with kerosene in it. Well, I guess that killed them! There are so many Japanese beetles here this year it would be a nine to five job for me to hand pick them off. One lucky break this year has been no sighting of tomato hornworms. Those I do pick off by hand to save the tomato crop.

Another rose ruined. 

 

   I hope everyone is enjoying this rainy day, I know the gardens are! Maybe not the animals that are confined to the barn, look at the faces on the sheep who were summoned to the barn when  a thunderstorm was approaching yesterday.



No Baby This Year

   It is with much disappointment that I write this post to say that Charlotte my two year old Old English Southdown Sheep is not pregnant, nor was she ever. My veterinarian was here on Wednesday to give her a booster shot for the impending birth of her lamb, so that the lamb would receive antibodies from the mother sheep to protect it from some fatal diseases. We decided to do a sonogram just to make sure that she was pregnant and no baby! Nothing! No baby, no enlarged uterus, no placenta, nothing. Apparently her increasing girth was a little weight gain do to her recent increase in grain consumption necessary at the end of  a sheep's pregnancy, and mostly her thick wool due to such cold temperatures this winter. I am so disappointed, but slightly relieved since I was getting nervous and stressed about assisting with the birth. Then, when I emailed the farm where I took her to be bred with the news, I found out they had successful live births where the lambs then succumbed to hypothermia and died do to this frigid spring weather we have had. My disappointment of no lamb this year would not even compare to the devastation I would feel if I lost a lamb after being born. I guess this was meant to be. I will try again in the fall during breeding season, and will also have Martha and Francis to breed as well, since they will be old enough too. I will look into breeding with a ram closer by though since the drive to New York State was just too stressful for the sheep (and the owners).
   On a happier note, I saw two bright yellow goldfinches at my feeder this morning. Seeing them in their spring plumage was so uplifting. The birds are really singing in the morning while I am doing the barn chores now. It is just so great to know we made it to spring! Now we need to get rid of the snow and mud and we will have something to celebrate. The barn has had a bit of water coming in this week due to the snow melt, but as long as we don't get any heavy rain we will manage. Have a great weekend, thanks for reading the blog!

The sheep, and their duck mascot, have made a path through the mud and snow to their favorite spot, but no grass yet to their dismay!

Although the ground is frozen, the chickens still love to look for bugs and worms.

Spring Chirping

   Have you noticed the birds chirping lately? I have a pair of cardinals who nested and raised a family of three in a bush in our yard last year. Well, they seem to be thinking of doing the same this year. Every morning just as the sky begins to lighten up I hear them calling back and forth to each other. I'm not sure what this ritual means, but the bright red male cardinal sits on the very top branch of the highest tree on our property and calls out to the female. I love it! But why does it have to be the tallest tree? I wonder. The gold finches were at my bird feeder yesterday chatting away in the sunshine as well. Although the gold finches have fed at my bird feeders all winter they just seemed to chirp now and then, yesterday was the first I had heard them doing their little giggle and chatty talk that you hear them call in the spring and summer. It is so great to hear the birds announcing that spring is on the way! And now I am seeing robins everywhere.
   It is time to put my "lambing kit" together for Charlotte's lamb delivery next month. All the things you need for the impending birth of a new lamb. Things you will need, and items to assist in the birthing that you hope you will never need! So with the old adage "better to be safe than sorry" it is every shepherd's job to have everything on hand for the  "just in case" scenario. I'm praying I will only need lots of towels to dry off the little lamb and my camera to take lots of pictures. That would be perfect.
   I've finally used up all my carrots from last year's harvest. My frozen basil supply is just about depleted, as are my beets stored in my cellar. I seem to have only frozen green beans left (which I am sick of) and about 1/4 of the onions I stored away. I think the onions and basil were my most "go to crops" this winter, so I will plan accordingly for this year's garden for use next winter. No green beans!
   This past week I have had quite a time keeping the sheep from trying to eat Francesca's duck feed in her duck house. George and Martha are the main offenders, but Charlotte and Francis are more than willing to follow their lead. They think nothing of squeezing into the duck house for a snack. It is really a tight squeeze with a year's worth of wool on, but they manage to do it. We had a Jersey cow who figured out how to open the door to the nesting boxes in the chicken coop to inspect the eggs, then she would slam the door shut again. All day long... bam, bam, bam. I wanted a farm to have the pleasure of raising animals, not to be yelling " get out of the duck house" or "leave the eggs alone." It is funny though and makes life interesting.

George squeezing into the duck house for a snack- yes, he gets all the way in!

Why isn't George in the barn eating hay? He's in the duck house!!

 

My new favorite garden find. A 1940s repro tin can of Nutscene garden twine from Great Britain. I hate to use- it is so cute!

 

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:

 

 

 

 

  

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

 



 

 

 

 





Harvesting and Storing Beets

The past two days have been occupied with numerous garden chores. Unfortunately my bee balm, which was the most prolific this summer that I can ever remember, now was covered in powdery mildew. Yesterday I cut it back to the ground so that it would not infect the other herbs that reside next to it in my herb garden. I had the added surprise of finding a huge creepy spider. I actually took a picture of the underside of it, although I thought it was it's back. My mind said "What is it? Is it poisonous?" I didn't wait to have it bite me. I killed it. O.K., here come all the comments, but I panicked.

 

On to the beets. The first of my beets have been ready for harvest for the past couple of weeks and we really have enjoyed them, but I don't think my husband wants to eat them every night. Beets are great keepers into the winter. If you are lucky enough to have a root cellar they stay firm and sweet with just a couple of precautions. We live in an 1880s house with a dirt floor and a brick and stone foundation, so we have the perfect root cellar.

Pull the beets by hand and trim the tops to 1/2" from the beet itself. Pack them in a wooden box, or in my case I use an old wooden bushel basket. Do not use a plastic tote because you need good ventilation to prevent your crop from getting moldy. Pack the beets in soil, sand, or wood shavings. I place the basket of beets and wood shavings on an old table. This way they are up off of the ground to avoid mold, but still benefit from the cool, dark conditions. Check your beets regularly and remove any moldy or soft beets.

I planted the beets at different dates throughout the summer so I can harvest up until frost. I usually have fresh quality beets for up to 4 months after I put them in the cellar. This year I planted "Soldier Beets" and "Detroit Dark Red" beets. Both are vintage heirloom varieties and really dark red and nice and sweet.

 

 



                                                  Going home at the end of another day!

                                                Visit us at www.thefarmatmillvillage.com 

 

                     



 

 

                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Francis

Our farm is home to a delightful small flock of registered Old English Babydoll Southdown Sheep. These sheep are truly the sweetest breed of sheep and their compact size makes them so much easier to handle than bigger breeds. They really make wonderful pets, are producers of ultra soft wool , and are earth friendly lawnmowers. These are the "original" Southdown sheep, one of the oldest breeds of sheep from England. The demand for larger cuts of meat from the sheep resulted in breeding a larger Southdown in the early 1900s. These Old English Babydoll Southdown's are the diminutive size, not the modern large breed Southdowns. For me, looking at their smiling teddy bear faces everyday always makes me smile, you just can't seem to help returning their happy outlook on life.

 

Francis is our newest member on the farm. She has been here almost 2 weeks and has fit in beautifully with the other sheep, although still a little shy with me. She is 6 months old and has become fast friends with another 6 month old lamb we have named Martha. They seem to be inseperable, always running, jumping, playing, and especially eating the apples that have started falling from the two ancient apple trees in their pasture. What a life!

 

She has become especially fond of our resident duck, Francesca, who thinks she is a sheep. As you can tell, Francis is even thinking of taking a swim with Francesca, well at least definetly a cool drink. For more pictures of life on the farm visit www.thefarmatmillvillage.com