No rest on this Sunday!
There was no rest for anybody at the Fancy Fibers Farm on this Sunday. Cyndi and Deanna arrived for their Beginning Wheel Spinning class an hour early. I love eagerness! Ken was preparing to mow the front yard, but graciously agreed to give them a tour while I tidied up the shop classroom.
And it was off and running from there! I barely had them started when Ken announced that a new baby had joined us, so it was off to the barn we went! Baby Jonquille (Thanks to Shareholder Barb for the name!) was waiting on us. She was all legs, such a skinny little thing, and having a devil of a time standing up, especially when her mama kept trying to clean her up and knocked her down in the process.
Baby Jonquille
While we were in the barn, we noticed a goat in the big chicken coop who looked suspiciously like she was getting ready. I made a mental note to check back on her, and our spinners went back to their wheels.
Meanwhile, Kathy from Waxahachie and her husband had arrived to take Wilber, Moose, and Calgary back to Waxahachie with them where they will be brush clearing machines. Ken helped me haul Calgary up on the shearing stand so that I could give them a quick lesson in trimming goat hooves, and we said our goodbyes.
My next stop was to play gatekeeper so that Ken could get the tractor and mower back out to the back 7 acres and mow, mow, mow. Bless his heart; the unevenness of the pasture practically beat him to death. I will be THRILLED when we get it all mowed (there’s one good day of mowing left), so that Farmer Willard can bring his big beautiful John Deere out here and start plowing it for us.
On my way back to my spinners, I stopped in the barn, and was just in time to oversee the birth of Baby K, another ewe kid. Things have been so busy, I haven’t come up with a name for her yet. A color that begins with K, anyone?
Baby K
With Ken bringing in the tractor and mower, and the spinners spinning, then plying, then wet finishing their yarn, we found ourselves at 4:00 when it was time to feed and put out hay, and take one last look around. Bodacious looks like she could lamb any minute. She’s been panting since Thursday, but just won’t give those babies up. I feel bad for her. She ate a hearty dinner tonight, so maybe in the morning!
We stood out and watched the critters for a while, then gave up and came in. As Ken is fond of saying, he’ll have to go back to work tomorrow to get any rest. Around here, there’s no rest for the weary!
More pictures:
Boysenberry in his diaper and belly belt
Bear seems to have drawn babysitting duty over Carmine
Breakin’ in a new Farm Hand
Brandon putting out hay
This is Brandon, my new Farm Hand. He’s been over here several times, working for a few hours here, and a few hours there, but yesterday he got his first taste of an 8-hour day on the Farm. He survived.
There was much to do and I was glad to have him around to do it. Feed had to be unloaded from the back of my Suburban, and the bags emptied into the feed barrels.
The animals had to be fed their grain, and hay put out twice.
The barn had to be cleaned out. Old straw, etc., had to be swept and shoveled off the false floor, and piled in a garden bed that I’m building up. The alpaca’s poop pile in the barn (why in the barn? grrr) had to be dug out. As friend of the farm Sue observed, Brandon’s choice of shape for the hole is a little suspicious.
The dug out alpaca poop pile in the barn
My husband will know where to start looking if I turn up missing!
All that poop and dirt had to go somewhere to break down. Brandon moved some of it to the garden bed, and then constructed a compost container for me out of pallets.
No doubt he would have liked to have had better tools than my small rusty saw, but he stuck with it. I found out that he’s a whiz with a drill driver.
The finished compost corner
All in all it was a great day of work and visitors. We said goodbye to Ameretti and Jellybean as they went to their new home with a loving new mom in Oklahoma. Sue and her granddaughter had a good time holding the babies (we have 9 on the ground now, with more to come!), and I warned Brandon of bigger jobs to come. It’s good to have good help!
All of the animals continued with their meanderings. Here are a few shots of what else was happening.
Who and what are you?
Ebony (left) and Falu (right), little ewe lamb sisters
One of the hens sharing Princess's supper
Lily curled up in a hay trough
This and That, Feb. 20, 2012
The Winter Fiber Fun Retreat has come and gone, and a good time was had by all. Or at least by most everyone. As my friend Laura likes to say, some folks would complain if they were hung with a new rope. The classes were wonderful, the building was brand new (need I say more?), and the company was fabulous. What fiber person wouldn’t want to spend the weekend doing fun fibery crafts with other people who love fun fibery crafts!?
Julie's mask from the needle felting class
In the meantime, while I was away from the Farm, Ken found Blizzard a new home. He is now responsible for guarding a group of Nigerian Dwarf bucks. I’m sorry I didn’t get to say goodbye to him, but Ken made sure they were good people before he let them take our Blizzard boy.
The Farm Store looks like a tornado hit it now that I have unloaded all of my inventory from the back of the Suburban. Tomorrow I will start putting it back together, and make a run to the feed store for much needed grain. I had warned Pete at Farmersville Grain & Hardware that Ken might be up there asking what I usually buy, but he managed to make it through the weekend without buying food. I wonder if everyone got fed? Hmmmm….
Early Friday morning I’ll be leaving town again and headed to Baton Rouge to learn Acadian Weaving techniques. Look for me to incorporate some of what I learn into the weaving lessons I offer here at the Farm and in McKinney at The Artist’s Loft.
March will be super busy with Dye Day, fiber arts classes, the birth of baby goats and sheep, and the shearing of the goats. Check out our Farm calendar for all the details, and plan to come see us!
2012 Shares are still available for purchase. This is going to be a great year to be a Farm Shareholder. I’m calling it the Year of the Baby. I have a special stash of cria fleeces (from our alpacas’ first year), and we will add to it both lambs’ wool and kid mohair. You can’t do any better than that for softness! Also, we are expecting our first batch of Suriland yarn from the mill any time now. Our Yarn Shareholders will LOVE the softness + elasticity of this special blend!
As always, we would love to have you come out to visit. Give us a call, and let’s set something up!
Blizzard!
This is Blizzard.
This is Bear.
Can you tell by looking at them what they’ve been doing?
Yep, rolling around in the mud, fighting. What started out as a playful romp, for some inexplicable reason turned into a tussle! Thankfully, they didn’t do any serious damage to one another.
What to do?
Well, the idea is to find Blizzard another home! He is only a temporary resident here. A few Saturdays ago, I got a call from the guy who owns the Dairy Queen here in Farmersville. He said that he had picked up a male Great Pyrenees off of Highway 380, and he wondered if the dog was one of mine. [You know you live in a small town when people know you by your dogs.]
He went on to say that the dog had no collar or tag. All of our dogs have collars and tags, but still, I’ve seen Bear slip his collar, so at the time, I couldn’t be sure the dog wasn’t one of mine. I asked him to hang onto the dog until later that afternoon when I finished teaching in McKinney and could come take a look.
Once I saw the dog, I knew he wasn’t one of mine. However, he couldn’t stay with Mr. Dairy Queen, and had to go somewhere, so I loaded him up in the Suburban, brought him home, and named him Blizzard in honor of the man who found him.
MudBud and Bear checking out the newcomer
Despite the sign I put up at the feed store, no one has claimed him.
So here we are with an extra dog. Did I mention that he is an INTACT male? I have him scheduled for surgery, but the first appointment I could get at Cause for Paws is still 3 weeks away.
In the meantime, Blizzard’s life here is a mixed blessing. He does just fine as long as he stays on Bear’s good side. There’s no telling what causes a playful romp to become a fight, but they are apparently sorting it out. We have put Blizzard in the backyard on numerous occasions, and he always squeezes through the gate bars to get back out into the barnyard with Bear and the girls. Life out there can’t be too bad if he keeps going back!
We are crossing our fingers that we have found a home for him with friends who are moving to a place nearby in March.
Let’s hope he stays out of Bear’s way until then!
Moving Day for the Critters!
Today was moving day for the critters. The ram lambs have starting curling their lips up, so it was time to get the boys and girls separated.
First to move was old Stitch, the ram. Ken managed to manhandle him using his big ol’ horns. He has always been a loner, so he went alone to the east pasture.
Next, Takoda, Onyx, and Odin had to be relocated to the east pasture. Good-ness! You would have thought we were hauling them off to slaughter. We tried food. No joy. More manhandling.
The third part of the shuffle involved the sheep. All the adult ewes had to be separated from the lambs, and the two ewe lambs had to go with their moms. Catching them was easy enough (food). Moving them not so much. More manhandling.
Finally, little Gateau, our only buckling, had to be snatched up from the north pasture (away from the does) and brought into the barn pasture. A big board secured with wire closed up the small place between the fence post and the barn where the lambs and kids slip through from one pasture to the next.
Bear slept through it all. Poor Ken was exhausted.
And now, let the bawling commence!