Saturday, March 7, 2015
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Sunday Morning Shearing
Today is Shearing Day. There's no one on the Island that does sheep shearing(that I'm aware of anyway) so its a matter of getting on the list of who ever is making the trek over to shear Quadra's sheep population. This year I got on Garrett's list and he did a great job even though the sheep's wool was damp despite me having locked them in the barn for the last week. He apologized saying that it wasn't his greatest work and I told him that they were missing their winter coats but still had all their parts so I was happy.
Zeus was first to be shorn. He was happy to get out of the barn and into the grass when it was all said and done.
Bubby getting her first shave
Lavender waiting her turn
Fairah kept Lamb Stew company while mama was being shorn.
Lavender was very uncooperative this year
Zeus was first to be shorn. He was happy to get out of the barn and into the grass when it was all said and done.
Bubby getting her first shave
Lavender waiting her turn
Fairah kept Lamb Stew company while mama was being shorn.
Lavender was very uncooperative this year
$65 later, the sheep are shorn and their hooves are trimmed. Not a bad deal at all.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Lamb Stew
The long awaited lamb arrived today between the hours of 10:40am and 3:10 pm. Of course. Because I wasn't home during that time. Lavender probably heard my car leave the driveway and said, OK GO!
I had been checking her daily for the last week knowing that it would be any time. Last night she was running circles in her pen and the ram, Zeus was being an ass; butting her and herding her. I enlisted the kids to help me and we moved the 17 young chickens from the stall next door and put them in the coop with the big birds. Then with lots of encouraging(and threatening) we managed to get Zeus through the gate into the other stall by himself. I put down fresh wood chips and told Lavender she could lamb any time. So she did.
She's a normal scrawny little ewe lamb with the tiniest little curls of wool. It won't be long before she's fat and frisky and running around the field with her mama and her half sister, Bubby.
I had been checking her daily for the last week knowing that it would be any time. Last night she was running circles in her pen and the ram, Zeus was being an ass; butting her and herding her. I enlisted the kids to help me and we moved the 17 young chickens from the stall next door and put them in the coop with the big birds. Then with lots of encouraging(and threatening) we managed to get Zeus through the gate into the other stall by himself. I put down fresh wood chips and told Lavender she could lamb any time. So she did.
She's a normal scrawny little ewe lamb with the tiniest little curls of wool. It won't be long before she's fat and frisky and running around the field with her mama and her half sister, Bubby.
The kids are already begging me not to turn her into lamb chops in the Fall. I have reminded them that even though she's adorable and little now she will be fat and dorky looking like her half sister by the Fall and we're a food farm not a petting farm. Okay, we're a petting farm too. Who am I trying to fool? But someone has to earn their keep around here because the dogs and the cat certainly are not!
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
I used to blog...sortof
I literally have no idea where the winter has gone. All of the sudden it feels like spring and I'm supposed to be doing spring things but I haven't done the things I'd planned to do through the winter. I think life must go faster in your 30's.
So anyway. Its ridiculous that I haven't blogged since I butchered the pigs. The pork is delicious by the way! Here are young chickens I hatched in November. I had 23 eggs sitting on my counter that I couldn't be bothered to wash and put in the fridge so I put them in the incubator instead. 17 of them hatched. My roosters are earning their keep. Unfortunately, most of these birds are roosters. Which means I will have some chicken in my freezer in another month or so.
Last weekend I'd planned a brunch for friends at my house. I took out this 12 pound bag of pork to grind up for sausage patties.
The first Australorp to hatch in a batch of 39 eggs the kids and I drove down to Duncan to acquire.
Saturday night(the night before the big brunch) one of my kids woke up with the flu. She barfed all over her dog. Dexter wasn't quite sure what to do with himself covered in barf. I gave him a bath and he felt somewhat better.
More chicks hatching!
Today is a day off from work. I decided that rather than 'waste' it I needed to get some stuff done. Its not very often I actually accomplish what I write on my list but I did it and more. My house is still a pig sty but my list didn't say anything about cleaning the house.
Fuzzy butts on their way out to their cozy new home in the barn.
So anyway. Its ridiculous that I haven't blogged since I butchered the pigs. The pork is delicious by the way! Here are young chickens I hatched in November. I had 23 eggs sitting on my counter that I couldn't be bothered to wash and put in the fridge so I put them in the incubator instead. 17 of them hatched. My roosters are earning their keep. Unfortunately, most of these birds are roosters. Which means I will have some chicken in my freezer in another month or so.
Last weekend I'd planned a brunch for friends at my house. I took out this 12 pound bag of pork to grind up for sausage patties.
The first Australorp to hatch in a batch of 39 eggs the kids and I drove down to Duncan to acquire.
Saturday night(the night before the big brunch) one of my kids woke up with the flu. She barfed all over her dog. Dexter wasn't quite sure what to do with himself covered in barf. I gave him a bath and he felt somewhat better.
More chicks hatching!
Today is a day off from work. I decided that rather than 'waste' it I needed to get some stuff done. Its not very often I actually accomplish what I write on my list but I did it and more. My house is still a pig sty but my list didn't say anything about cleaning the house.
Fuzzy butts on their way out to their cozy new home in the barn.
So I guess that's about it. My next big project is fencing a chunk of the yard for the chickens to have safe free ranging away from the dogs when I'm not home. One day all the things will be done.
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