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

 



 

 

 

 





First Frost

It has to happen sooner or later, tonight South Royalton, Vermont is predicted to have the first frost of the season. The weather forcasters are predicting temperatures to be in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees. Don't forget to bring tender potted plants indoors if you want to keep them a little longer. Also, cover any crops you may still have in the garden that you want to prolong the growing season of. I think I will bring in my nearly ripe tomatoes along with the ripe ones and put them on window sills to finish ripening. I have two huge potted herbs in the herb garden, a rosemary plant and a lemon verbena plant, that I will bring in. Other than the tomatoes and herbs, I think it is time to let nature take its course. By mid-September I am pretty tired of being a slave to the gardens. I am looking forward to putting the gardens to bed for the winter, and spending a cozy winter baking, quilting and wool needle felting, all in the comfort of two woodstoves.
The Tunbridge World's Fair is just a memory now, but despite the first two days of rain and mud, sunshine returned for the weekend. I was very pleased to receive blue ribbons for all of the herbs I entered, as well as my huge potted begonia. Our hens, despite their setback from the fox attack in August, received a second place red ribbon for their eggs.

Prize Winning Eggs

Blue Ribbon Parsley

 

The first place blue ribbon for my wool needle felted downy woodpecker and nuthatch was my greatest accomplishment. Although it feels so good to win a blue ribbon for things you have grown in the garden, there is no comparison to the feeling of winning first prize for something you designed and created yourself without the benefit of a pattern or instructions. I am already dreaming of next year's fair and what I can enter. I have never entered any of the vegetables I grow, so that is on the top of my list.

Wool Needlefelted First Place Birds

 

View the rest of my wool needle felting at www.thefarmatmillvillage.com