Friday, August 19, 2016

The porcupine is back after a few days of being gone.

Stormy's crew contently grazing.
The porcupine is back! And she brought a friend.
She is not afraid of me, but 'he' definitely is!
Up the tree he went. She just kept on foraging.
'He' is hiding in the cherry tree.
He is much darker than her, 
and a bit smaller.



Nice little pose she gave me.
Look at those claws!
All the better to climb the trees with!


She considered going up the tree, but
decided I wasn't a threat.
Just a couple of night shots of Stormy's crew.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Breeding has begun (Warning! Picture heavy!)

I know it may seem early, but if I am going to get to use Stormy myself this year before he goes off farm to breed, then I need to start now. I am hoping this is the year Magic FINALLY gets pregnant. This is her 3rd shot. If it doesn't happen this time then she needs to find a new home. She is a beautiful little Romney with a nice fleece, but she needs to earn her keep on this farm and that includes giving us lambs when they are young.

I have one OLD lady in with the lambs that we decided to retire this year. Her twins took a lot out of her, and she is still a little on the thin side. The llama and the alpaca are in with the lambs for now as well. I don't trust the Horned Dorset ram not to hurt them. The Romney and his son, no problem. But Christopher tends to get possessive about his girls!





 Just a simple hoop house made from 2 16' cattle panels
tied together after being bent into a 1/2 circle. The pallets
add a little stability as well as keeping the sheep off the 
electric fence. They probably won't use it, unless it is raining.
I assume most of them will sleep under the trees in the grass.
But, I could not give them an option!


 Stormy, the Romney ram, is not sure
 he wants to be away from his friends yet.
 The lamb area with the green house (former
chicken house, now wool house) in the background.


 Cloud. An antique Romney wether. 
Not sure he wants to be in with Jeremy.

 Up behind those rocks is the llama and alpaca.
They are trying to figure out why they are there
and not in the regular area with all the girls.

 Ted E. Bear (front right) is looking at me as if
to say, 'What ever I did wrong, I am sorry and
won't do it again! Let me come back in!!'
 Jeremy (Stormy's son), Cloud and Ted.

 A nice shot of one of the breeding groups 
with Jerry's (new to him) mower conditioner
and 1 ton dump truck, as well as his Jeep.


 This is how we move our boys from pasture to pasture 
and from farm to farm. A simple dog collar and leash.
They get excited when they see the collar. 
They know something good is going to happen.
They actually will come over and wait to have the collar put on.
 Christopher (Horned Dorset ram) 'lost' his girls.
They took a left on him and went down into the pig area.
So, I went out, put him on the leash and walked him 
down to where they were 'hiding'. There is a LOT more
green out in that area after having pigs in there 2 
different years than there used to be! 










 The sheep standing off by herself on the right is Magic.
The one that has NOT gotten pregnant, yet.
Hopefully this will be the year!



 Cloud, Jeremy and Ted.
I need to repair a coat for Ted.

 I expanded the lambs area up to the garden and 
wool room. Below are the 4 lambs we kept this year.
From left to right, Carl the Cow, Mary, Cara (Carl's 
twin), and Patty Duke. I need to repair another
coat for Patty Duke. I hope to get everyone
coated again this year. I was quite disappointed
 in the amount of VM in this year's fleeces. :(

Looking down the driveway.

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Look what followed us home

from Orange, MA today. 2 hours down, 2 1/2 hours back.







God is so good! 
The price was more than right, and it only needs a $100 part.
Ordered!

On the way home we had to go over a bridge under construction.
We were blessed with an opening with no cars coming towards us.
The mower conditioner is 12' 6" wide. It took most of the bridge.
It will mow a 9' swath. As nice as the disc mower is, this will
be better as the disc mower is only 4' wide. That means we can 
now cut a field in 1/2 the time.

Next piece of equipment will be a round baler.
One thing at a time!

Monday, August 01, 2016

Busy and disappointed

I've not been here lately as we've been busy in the hay fields. But, today is a rainy day, as was yesterday, and I am going to try to get something done around the house. Some soap making would be good. Just need to get myself motivated...

Yesterday was a hang out by myself while his nibs moved equipment from one field to another with his friend John, and catch up on some recorded TV. My body and my mind are both hurting, so I am not doing much. Not yesterday anyway.

I've been doing most of my posting on FB.
 https://www.facebook.com/Ewe-I-Farm-208179205917180/
But, after yesterday, I don't know how much I will be there either. I made a comment about how disappointed I was by people, and I got slammed by someone for it. She at least did it privately. I know she is feeling her own pain, but she does not understand my pain. More and more I understand why people take their own lives. (No. I am enough of a bitch that I will be here for a while.) I have since taken my post down. I just don't know if I want to share anything personal anymore there or here. My personal is so tied up in the farm that there usually is no real distinction between the 2.

So. I will be in and out of here. Most likely more on the wool page here and on FB trying to move inventory in order to pay for new (to us) equipment. And, who knows? (Only God. That is for sure!) I might not have a job by the end of the year and will be online all of the time trying to sell fiber, yarn and soap. (It is all in God's hands.)

Off to see if I can pick myself up and get something done today. Back to work delivering mail tomorrow. In the meantime go check out my photos of our newest resident. A young porcupine enjoy the clover on the front yard. I shot ~8 minutes of video of her/him, and took a bunch of stills.

https://www.facebook.com/WoolnEwe/
http://eweifarmfleece.blogspot.com/

TTFN

Hope y'all have a great August 1st! And, that August is better than July!!!

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