Finally another arrives :-)

Finally! Another lamb---and a live lamb. Yeah!
She's a little bitty thing--a little over 5 pounds. A bit small for my preference but her mother absolutely refused to eat any of the grain we offer during pregnancy to the ewes. So considering that we have fed hay since August, with just a small bit of green grass during some warmer spells---I am happy with the health of this lamb. She is very vigorous, quick to get up when born to nurse and the most interesting color lamb. Moorit (brown) with a grey undercoat gene from mom and dad which gives her a soft dove grey or "violet" cast to her coloring. Very cute. My daughter says she doesn't care that I won't name them people names---SHE is calling the lamb violet since that is what she looks like. Well, violet technically is a color so we can call her that I suppose. Dove would be cuter but we don't register them with a name anyways---just with farm letters and a number only. Kind of cold isn't it--but much easier in the long run.
The ewe who lost her lamb to the cold weather the other day---was SURE she was going to be this one's mother. She was trying to steal it before it was even finished being born. She was licking and nickering to it. When we took the lamb and it's mother to the barn, Princess tried to come over the fence with us to follow. Sad. She will be a good mother next year though.
It's also a good thing we happened to be home since this one had the lamb in the same spot and still even today it is cold under the tree in the shade there---and windy. The lamb was starting to shiver by the time we got them out to the sun. Just imagine the other lamb being born while it was still dark instead of 11 in the afternoon. Poor little thing. Last year we had hot hot weather at this time, this year cool, with cool breezes. Because of that and after "falling down on the job" and losing my other lamb --I am now walking the pasture at 3 a.m each night to check if lambs have been born. Better safe than sorry again.
Well, this lamb was a total surprise today since I have ewes much much larger and with much much bigger milk bags---so maybe we will be on a roll here soon. 7 more to go: 4 more yearlings and 3 more adults left.

Some more flowers

Finally after the nasty freeze we get some more flowers to bloom. The poppies are late this year---these buds were actually almost ready to bloom right at the frost. Luckily they were hardy enough to wait until we had this warmer weather. There are currently two as of this morning with many many more buds in the waiting. Sometimes they bloom at the same time as my hesperaloe and they look gorgeous together. I don't think they will bloom concurrently this year---I will have to wait and see. I will take a picture if they do since they are really attractive together.

The poppies that have invaded the yard will be a bit later to bloom since they don't have as prime of a location. This batch in the picture has a brick wall with most of the day sun to help warm them, so they are always earlier than the others. There should be pink in there too, but over time the reds have a tendency to beat out the other colors (they say). I will have to wait and see if the pinks actually will come back again. Pretty though aren't they irregardless of color. I like them.

Real ID

For our children and grandchildren we need to keep fighting things like this or they will not have the opportunity to grow up in a democratic society. It only takes a few bad apples in the bunch to corrupt our government---especially if we allow laws like this to be passed to help them get started.
Remember what Ben Franklin said:

"Those that would give up a necessary freedom for temporary safety deserve neither freedom nor safety."

Isn't that exactly what we have been doing the last few years??

So here's something for you to mull over and hopefully make a public comment on. Even better---contact a friend and tell them about it. Read more here.

The REAL ID Act requires every American to have a standardized driver’s license -- a de facto national ID -- to fly on commercial airlines or enter government buildings. It also requires driver’s licenses to have a “machine readable component,” that will be read everywhere, from retailers to airports.

This component -- combined with state databases of drivers’ information -- will create one-stop shopping for identity thieves. More importantly, it will invade people’s privacy by allowing easy tracking and monitoring of ordinary, law-abiding Americans.

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed regulations to implement REAL ID. As required by law, the department is now accepting public comments on these proposed regulations.

Anyone in America has the right to submit comments to the government on this proposal. The government hasn’t made submitting comments easy, but that just makes your comments more valuable. And we’ve made it much easier to submit comments than it normally is, with a step-by-step guide and talking points.

The number of comments will be watched by many influential Members of Congress, not just your own. So today you really have a chance to make a difference on the national stage. The extra impact is definitely worth the extra effort!

If you would like to submit comments see this page for information on how to do it.

Little Lost Lamb

Lost a lamb today---hypothermia. Yeah, yeah I know your thinking "hypothermia when it's been warm the last few days??" Yes, it does occur. No matter how you look at it---even 72 degrees can be cold when your wet and little and in the shade with the wind. Mom, being young, didn't lick dry well enough so she got too cold. I tried---but couldn't save her---poor little lamb. Though she made attempts to try and get going when I found her and picked her up (thank you Mikey) her mouth was like an ice cube---and even a hot bath in a plastic bag to stay dry, warm air from the hair dryer and warm milk couldn't help. Glucose was what we needed, in a shot, into the intestinal cavity---but it was too late. Next time--I won't forget that little trick like I did this time. Good looking ewe lamb too---black spotted, big and chunky with a fleece that was already long and thick thick. Bummer.
Mom's been out there looking and calling for her---by tomorrow she won't remember any more.
Well---let's hope for better luck next time. Think positively! And though I was sure you didn't really think you wanted to see a picture of this little gal even as cute as she was--hopefully my next entry of lambs will come with pictures of bouncing "babies". Or at least nursing ones. Standing still will even work for me currently :-)

Have good day.

Let the whining begin

As much as I have whined about rain (or lack there of) it still doesn't change the fact that it is not coming down. Not only has it effected our trees---we lost some-- but it has also effected our ability to raise our livestock. Purchasing hay SUCKS.
I hate it when people around here say "oh I am so glad it isn't raining this weekend---we want to go to the park". Do people not realize that, whether they are vegetarian or meat eater, that ALL food is effected by rain---or lack there of??

Now we are making the news. Albeit--somewhat local news, and I am not talking about the 30 thousand acre fire in south Georgia near Okefenokee swamp that all are talking about.
From what I gather---it's so bad they are going down to the state capital to see what can be done. I don't know----maybe the state government can buy us some rain.

Here's a clip from a local paper that explains briefly our problem.

Northwest Georgia is driest part of state

Severe drought conditions have developed across the northwest and southeast portions of the state with rain deficits for the year of up to 11 inches in some parts.

The driest areas of the state include Floyd, Polk, Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa counties in Northwest Georgia and the counties lining the most southeast corner of the state, according to state climatologist David Stooksbury. LaFayette in Walker County is seeing the biggest rain deficit for the year so far 11.27 inches below average, he said.

The conditions developed despite storms that dumped up to 3 inches of rain on parts of Georgia over the last week.

The Greater Rome area has seen 10.03 inches year to date, more than 11 inches under the average year-to-date total through April. April alone usually brings an average of 4.81 inches to Rome. So far this April, only 1.36 inches has fallen.

There’s a 30 percent chance of rain in Rome today, according to the National Weather Service..

“It’s been dry since the first of the year, and I don’t see much promise for conditions to improve,” Stooksbury said.

The state remains under partial outdoor water bans. Outdoor watering is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at odd-number addresses and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at even-number addresses.

The state drought response committee is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in Atlanta to discuss conditions and further action.




Maybe someday---the very reason I moved to Georgia (rain and trees) will occur again with regularity. Until then it's purchased hay for us and watching our grass not grow. Great if you don't want to mow now isn't it? Sucks when you raise animals.

By the way it's also been extremely extremely windy too---very odd for here---so it makes it even more dry dry dry.

Did you know.....

That we are famous here? If only for a brief moment in time, Chickamauga, Georgia --the town that I live in---hosts part of the Tour De Georgia. If you don't know what that is, well it's o.k. You would probably have to be into professional road bike racing to know about it or the town's part in it though.
The Tour De Georgia---growing larger every year---is the "kick-off" to the European road bike racing season including the Tour De France and I will add this: For non-European road racing, Tour de Georgia is one of the "oldest" races at five years---supposedly a huge achievement.
Our town just happens to host the individual time trials for the event. Last year Lance Armstrong came to visit us here in our fair city. I know---you're impressed aren't you? Well, let me tell you even more impressive things: famous riders from around the world including Argentina, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and other parts of Europe and South America come here to do the time trials. Most of whom go on to compete in big name events in Europe including the Tour De France. Interesting huh? I told my son that is what he should do for a living---exercise, tour the world and have sponsors pay his way just so he can ride a bike for 25 miles or more each day. Well, maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be. And just in case you still are super impressed let me tell you this: If we leave our home in the morning before the race---we can't go back to our house AT ALL. No matter what. AND-- we can't leave our house with our car. Oh we can walk---but even if it's to go to a job they won't let the car out or back in. Luckily it only last for about 4 hours so it's not too bad and as I said: you can see and get autographs (not my thing) of famous road bike racers too. Also---since the time trials start at the school my son and all his school mates get to get out of school for the day and walk around in their free Tour De Georgia t shirts. Hah! now I KNOW I have impressed you :-D Maybe next year--I'll remember my camera since you can walk right up and talk with any of them. As a matter of fact since my road is a dead end AND a hill---they turn around in our drive way while warming up. To funny huh? To bad I don't really know who they are.

Here are some links if you would like to read about it:
tour de georgia
another here
and The new york times

An accident

Well we lost one of our birds to a "predator" recently. A hen of course! Unfortunately the predator that got her was the big hulking Pyrenees that guards the sheep. We came outside to work and here come Mikey ambling up to the fence with his "toy" in his mouth, looking very pleased with himself of course. "Great fun! by golly" his posture was saying at that moment---until he saw me. I must have had a horrible look on my face because my husband said that as the dogs eyes came up and saw my face that's when he realized what he had done. He had one of those "eyes get big, mouth drops open" moments and dropped the bird promptly. Of course that is when the yelling began. Did he get in trouble. He high tailed it down to a little "rain" shelter I leave in that pasture for the new lambs and crammed himself into it for a number of hours afterwards.
The dead bird was unfortunately a large grown cuckoo maran hen. Bummer. Why is it never the roosters?
The next morning I saw him with another hen pinned down and as soon as I yelled his name----off he ran to sit in the shelter again for a while---I didn't even have to come in the pasture. I guess he decided to punish himself :-)
So....we now know he understands that what he is doing is wrong. We just have to finish breaking him of the "thrill of the chase" part.
Ahh the joys of pet ownership. Or livestock in Mikey's case---because he is more livestock than pet to us. Good dog overall---but a big bad chicken chaser currently.

By the way---no lambs yet! I have ewes that groan when they lay down now. Must be any day soon---the torture of it though.
Hope everyone made it o.k. through all this freaky spring weather.

Speaking of which and just to round out this post: we lost peas, kale, some artichokes, some tomatoes and I am not sure about the asparagus. Hopefully the asparagus roots are big enough to send up some new shoots again. The artichokes should make it---but some lost their tops. The tomatoes that were under wall o waters or doubled up poly spun made it---the others are goners since I didn't have enough to cover all of them. I will buy more poly spun soon since it's much easier for a quick cover than the wall o waters. Freaky spring as I said---and still "unseasonable" here. Odd.

SHOW ME THE.....

LAMBS!
I want to see my lambs but my sheep are not co operating this year. I have heard this is happening to many other people. Must be an extension of the screwy weather we had in 2006---that year just keeps going on.
My other two sets of lambs are doing great and growing very well. As a matter of fact since I put them in a special "I had my lambs" pasture----they have become their own little flock. Sometimes one mommy has 5 bouncing, kicking, jumping, sproinging, twisting baby lambs trailing along with her while the other mommy is across the pasture.
As I went out this morning and came back in with the same news of no new lambs I said to my son "don't know why I bothered---their just going to hold out FOREVER!"
Donkeys---stubborn donkeys. That's exactly what I am raising right now!

Someday- maybe- I can post more pictures of lambs and finish this whole lambing season. Their killing me here with the suspense of it all though.
Maybe I should hold on to the thought that they are "brewing" up twins or triplets in there and that's why it's taking so long :-D
Anyways---warm weather is coming for us. Today will be a great day to work outside again.

A little bit about me

I notice I have a new scar---unfortunately on my face. It's nice and long and goes almost from my ear horizontally to almost my mouth.
One thing we have learned in the raising of sheep: If it tries to get away don't let go 'cause' you will never catch it again---they know when you aren't done with them.
So I think I took that a bit too far while hanging on to a sheep that got itself in a position to flee during shearing. Strong they are and knocked over I became---first whacked in the ear then stepped on. By the way: when those horns connect, even on accident, with your ear cartilage---It hurts. Pretty badly actually. Also by the way---I didn't feel the stepping on part. Though the cheek bruise did kind of hurt later. Anyways---since today I went to get my "new" old haircut back---I realized just how visible the scar is without my hair to distract from it. Oh well---I am better off without all the hair anyways---it really wasn't very flattering and as I am only an average looking person I look much better with short hair even if the cheek scar is now more visible. If nothing else when people ask "how did you get the scar on your face" I can tell my story of being stepped on by an almost sheared sheep. High drama did occur and the story is an interesting one especially when you can tell it in person with all the theatrics that it deserves.
Hope your weather is beautiful and exactly what you want. Good day :-D

What a camera

O.K---so I have to say I really like my Sony Cybershot. For a $200 camera it is pretty snazzy.
Yes, I am sure if you spend quite a bit more you can get more features and even better pictures but for my small business this is all I really need. We have a friend who takes family photographs as a sideline business and her camera is in the $2000 range. I didn't need that for sure.
Anyways---I really realized how nice the pictures are when I posted these pictures of my Icelandic fleeces for sale yesterday:






The detail is great---the fleeces never looked so good on my web site before. WOW! Makes you want to touch them doesn't it!
Then we took some pictures of the animals and well: Man! they look good too. I am impressed. So I feel for the sum of money I ended up spending, and after much procrastination on my part to spend it, that I got a pretty nice camera. Another thing I like about it: rechargeable lithium ion battery. I HATED buying double A's all the time for the other cameras we have had. This battery is SO COOL---just plug it in for a bit and your on your way to picture taking again. Now I just need to purchase a memory stick for it so I can take more pictures at the 7.2 mgpixels range. I of course don't have to procrastinate over which one of those to buy---the memory stick will be the easy part.

And the mystery hen is.....

Here is the mystery hen that we received back in February from Murray McMurray hatchery. We thought she was an Old English Game Hen but I think we where wrong since she doesn't really look like one anymore. Anyone have a guess as to what she might be?
You can't really tell from the picture but she has white legs---very white legs---if that helps anyone figue out what she is. She's turned out to be a pretty hen though and we like her personality. We will see how she is as an egg layer.
The chickens can still make it through the field fencing that makes up one side of their pen. They have readily taken to going into the pasture to forage for bugs and things since they figured it out. Recently we put the pregnant ewes into that pasture and Mikey---our pyrenees---is in there too. Periodically he will decide to give one of the chickens a "close up" inspection---much to their dismay. Hopefully he won't accidentally squoosh one of them in his zeal to sniff them all. It wouldn't be on purpose if he did---and so far no casualties have occurred. I am optimistic they will all make it through what Mikey considers to be a very serious job that he MUST do.

Mrs Bluebird in my nest box

Well today I finally purchased a new camera and we have been out taking pictures with it. It's a sony cybershot and I love it so far. A friend let us borrow his to take some pictures of one of our rams with and we liked it so much---we bought one.Not only did we take some "before" pictures of parts of our house we will soon be working on but also some of our pregnant sheep (no, no more lambs yet!! They are crossing their legs I guess..) and also some of our lambs. While out walking in the pasture taking pictures we came upon Mrs Bluebird sitting on her nest. There were two eggs the other day and I was going to check and see if she laid three yet----to my surprise she was sitting. To her surprise---I took a picture :-)

Here are our lambs that are almost two weeks old. They will be almost grown by the time the rest of the lambs hit the ground at the rate the other sheep are going. The two ewes from the set of triplets, then the ram from the set of triplets, then Maple's twin black mouflon ewes. The triplets are bad---we have "named" them the three T's: trouble & times & three---because that is what they are. They are EVERY where in the pasture and the minute they get really far away---the ram lamb will cry loudly for his mother. When they re spot her---off they race to get to her only to start the whole episode over again.
The twins on the other hand stay closer to their mother but they jump and bounce all over the place. One of them (they look so alike we can't tell them apart yet) has decided that her goal is the eventual scaling of her mother's back. She has been unsuccessful so far---but I imagine one of these days she will fly over the top of her mother.

Please Excuse Me

Please excuse the fact that I have not posted in a couple of days. Please excuse the fact that I am not replying to your comments. We are extremely busy here with pastures, sheep, garden, visitors coming to see the sheep and other animals, friends from out of town and family soon to come. I will be back soon I hope with something interesting to talk about---unless you want to talk about how to cement in gate posts? Pull lambs out of ewes with your arm in up almost to your elbow? How to chain saw trees in a driving storm as it tries to take more of your fence down? (why is it that a tree never misses hitting something when it falls???)
Hope everyone is having a good early spring and have a Happy Easter weekend.

Interesting new blog

Here's a new blog. Even if you aren't political check it out. It's just starting and the format is not just one person's view point. It is suppose to be a "debate" format. If I understand it, as long as you follow the rules, anyone can post about a political issue that is bothering them. It's brand new so there's not much to read yet---therefor easy to check out.

Patriots and Tyrants

Rain!

So we finally got some! Rain I mean. Have we needed it! Do you know how hard it is to raise grass fed animals when you don't have rain to give you grass? If you don't have rain---more than likely your neighbors don't either which then makes it hard to buy hay to supplement with. At least we are starting to see some grass cutting beginning around here and ours is slowly growing. But I guess it might be back to having hay in the garage again (and the barn and the driveway under tarps and....you get the picture).

So far, even with the nice inch of rain we received yesterday, we are still down NINE inches for this year already. That's just this year----it's not including last years drought statistics. So hopefully we will be getting more soon. HOPEFULLY the rest of the country will have a better rain year too since we "compete" with them for hay if it gets really bad.

Yesterday when we went to buy feed---we noticed that they had alfalfa cubes again (finally!) Only these cubes are coming from Canada. Not very sustainable is it. We of course bought some---it's what we supplement the cows with to make sure they get good nutrition. That just goes to show you how bad it is when a "major" feed company is getting it's supply from out of the country now. If you think about it---it's still cold there. So someone worked a deal for stockpiled feed. It was 2 dollars a bag cheaper too.
Why are we buying feed you ask since we advocate raising "grass fed" animals? Well that would be because we have had to purchase hay from so many suppliers (at least 7 this year alone) that there is no way to know the quality of the hay or test the quality of any batch you might buy. Liked it? Tough! There's no more once you decide you do and you want to buy more---everyone else figured it out too and they told the others who where looking. So, it's find another supplier and start over again.
Even though it seems simple---making hay is a very complex art form. I know--hard to believe. Just cut it and dry it you say. That's not how it works though. Let me give you a small idea of the complexity--we won't even go into minerals and soil testing that help raise nutrition levels in the grass blades.
First the farmer needs to understand the optimum time to cut. All grasses have periods where the protein level can be high (say 18% on average) and low (tall, stemmy most of the seeds have fallen off to the ground). Basically when the protein is that low---it's just straw. If you don't quite know the difference: hay is grass blades and straw is the stalk of a grass that has grown and gone to seed, then had the seeds removed. As in wheat---after you cut the stalk and thresh off the grain (where all the protein has gone to basically) what you have left is a stalk of straw.
So after deciding the correct time to cut---not to early and not to late---the farmer needs to cut and dry the hay. Dry it too long and the protein levels can be dramatically changed. The sun bleaches vitamins and minerals out too. Leave it to wet and when it's baled---it will mold. A very very dangerous issue for animals. Mold in feed can cause respiratory problems, abortions, ill health and low growth rate. Besides the fact that it is problematic to breath for the farmer feeding it too.
Then the farmer has to store it correctly. We were offered a round bale from last summer for $20 recently (the average price of a fresh round bale is $25- 45 dollars depending on a few issues). We of course didn't take it. Why? It was stored outside. It was practically black on the outside from "composting" in the field. I am sure it would be slimy and bug laden on the bottom---because that is exactly what happens when things compost like that.

All these things contribute to acquiring the "perfect" bale. In years like last year and possibly this one: you grab up as many good ones as you can, when you can, and store them for future use. No chances taken that you will be the one that ends up with the above mentioned $20 bale. In actuality---I would have fed my animals straw first before that bale. Along with some grain (more than I generally feed though)---they would have been just fine. Unlike if they were fed that $20 bale of crudgy hay. Yuk!

So on goes the turning of the world---and the acquiring of hay. Hope everyone has a good day---and pray for some of us to get more rain!

Last night (or very early this morning) we had another set of lambs born here. Two black mouflon patterned ewe lambs. They are big girls too. One is 11 pounds and the other 9 and 3/4 pounds. Most would say that I am overfeeding my ewe since her girls were so big but I had this issue with Maple last year too. I watched her feed extra well this year because of last years lambs being large, but she just seems to grow large babies. Since she doesn't have a problem giving birth to them---I suppose it all works out in the end. They will stay in the barn until tomorrow just to watch them--then out to pasture they will go. Maple is a great mother and I don't worry much about her lambs. She feeds them well and she is extremely watchful of danger.













Here are two newer pictures of my triplets. The middle girl is missing since she kept moving around and I couldn't get a good picture of her. They are old enough now that they are starting to play---a bit of bunny jumps and a small amount of head bumping by the ram lamb. This group is in the barn in a makeshift larger area. The girls are still a bit smaller and I would like to make sure they are to big for the hawks to check them out before letting them out of the barn. The Pyrenees is suppose to watch for things like that---but he does sleep so....better safe than sorry. Isn't that ram lamb interestingly patterned? He's perfectly spotted for those that prefer a one color fleece since the face is really his only "spotted" part. If he were human I could see him as a heavily freckled little red headed boy---since his spots are more freckly than spotted.

Well--my next ewe isn't due until this next week. Possibly.
That's if she took at that breeding.

So it's out to plant potatoes this morning---the last batch. I have fallen a bit behind getting them in the ground but this is my very last batch. Some I have had in the ground for almost a month (I bought those local) and they are already up and are going to need some more hilling soon. Hopefully we will get rain soon. It's going to start getting dry here if we don't.

What's Blooming !!

These are pictures of two of my lilac bushes flowering. I grew up in New York so lilacs are one of the flowers I remember best---because really---who could forget the scent of them!
They are also one of the flowers I missed the most growing up in the south.
Then one day I was looking on line a few years ago---and I stumbled on the solution to my problem: a low chill lilac that was bred for California known as Syringa Hyacinthaflora (I think they are also know as Descano lilacs---but I could not remember for sure since I could not find the original story about why the man who bred them did it.)
Traditional French lilacs can be grown here in my area but some years they will not flower if we have too warm of a winter. The hyacinthafloras however, have flowered every year for us---warm winter or not. There are a number of different colors to choose from including dark, medium and light purple, dark and light pinks and white. Another plus for these lilacs is that supposedly these are pretty good about not getting mildew and are also somewhat resistant to borers. So if you live where it is warmer and would like to grow lilacs---the hyacinthaflora group might be the one for you.

Besides the lilacs blooming along our driveway we also have these other plants blooming:

Forsythia--so bright yellow!
Cherry, apple, peach and plum trees blooming (apple trees smell delicious!)
Dogwoods---we have white and a stunning dark pink
Maple trees (I think it is them dropping pollen EVERY WHERE--dusty dusty)
and of course a few tulips, crocus and dandelion---the guaranteed bloomers :-)

I also have buds of blooms getting ready on my clematis, peonies, hesperaloe parviflora,
pink double flowered poppies along with hostas starting to peek up out of the ground. Soon we will have quite a show going on flower wise.

Our pecan trees are also just starting to leaf out. We usually watch the trees to tell us when we have passed our last frost. Big trees---pecans, oaks, maples etc seem to resist putting out leaves until it is really really safe. What signs of nature do you watch for to tell you when warmer weather is truly here?

My first ever!

Here is Ms. Rosalie and she DID have triplets!!
The brown one with the white face is a boy---cute isn't he? The solid brown one and the other spotted are two smaller females. The little ram tried to kill them all by jamming himself up at the "door" but with some pushing and pulling on my part---they all got out fine. A bit of tangling had occurred as you can imagine when there are three sharing one small space :-) Let me assure you----Rosalie is one of my smallest ewes. It was definitely a small space to share! That is why I kept wondering if she was having triplets---she was so big!
This is my very first set of triplets. Not only am I excited about that but I got two spotted lambs too!! Cool huh? I will probably keep one of the ewe lambs since this was one of my most promising "worm resistant" breedings but I don't have room to keep all of them---so a ewe and the ram lamb will go up for sale. Precious though aren't they---makes you want to keep all of them.

Spotted Icelandic Sheep

This sheep shows off one of the (beautiful) reasons why I chose Icelandic Sheep to raise.
Oh I could say it was the dairy reason or meat, fast growth lambs or hand spinning fleeces but I would not be being completely honest with you.

A number of other sheep might have been chosen by my husband and me. A variety of breeds could have done as well is some of those departments or even better: Laucaunes are better milkers after all....but of coarse not better at meat, fleeces or fast growth lambs.

But we didn't choose any of them: We chose Icelandics.

The tipping point for us was the color of the Icelandics---so many many colors--- and the SPOTTING. I love the spotting and the oddest part is, that even though Havvah was my very first spotted sheep, I have never bought or bred another spotted sheep! This year though Havvah has been bred to a spotted moorit (brown) ram ---so I have my fingers crossed for a spotted ewe, or even two, from her. We also have not gotten a ewe from havvah---just a ram. So a spotted ewe from her would be wonderful! She isn't due for a while longer---less than a month though. So I will keep my fingers crossed until then hoping against all hope that it is two wonderfully beautiful spotted ewe lambs :-D

P.S excuse all the posting about sheep for the next month----we are heavily consumed with gardens and sheep during the end of March to end of April.

SmallMeadow Farm Icelandic sheep, Irish Dexters and heritage chickens

Shearing--Suri's Icelandic fleece

This is our ewe Suri who is not quite a year old yet. Please excuse her odd look her she was not happy about having her picture taken and so she didn't put her best smile on :-D
Those are two pictures of her fleece which is for sale. The bottom right picture shows the color better since the angle of the camera and sun bleached the color a bit on the second photo. This fleece is a little over 3 pounds and very very soft. Suri has a dense fleece---and gorgeously colored too I think. She is a black mouflon ewe but she is out of a line called "hynkill" which means her fleeces get a brownish cast/fading to some of the black ---adding dimension to the color. Suri's "hynkill" pattern also means that almost no "mouflon" pattern shows up--mouflon means her belly and chest can have white on them.
We were a bit surprised when we "snatched" her up to shear her. Her fleece was so thick and it came off like butter--yummy. She was a good girl too while we sheared and you can see she is a bit less tufty than the other shearing picture I have posted. By the time we get to the last sheep---we will be pros (until the next shearing session in the fall Hahahaha).
Anyways---this beautiful Icelandic fleece is for sale---$36.00 plus shipping. It is has been lightly skirted (no mats, no manure and most seconds taken out) but will have some vm in it since she was not covered. It is the second shearing from a ewe lamb so it is still very very soft . Suri's line seems to have nice fleeces overall anyways--young or old which is one thing we like about them.
I do not have this fleece listed on my web site yet, so please contact me through my email: alandtc (at) catt.com if you are interested in it. The "at" is really one of these "@". We have so many spams putting our address up that I try and write it that way as much as I can.

SmallMeadow Farm Icelandic sheep, Irish Dexters and heritage chickens.

Busy busy busy

Well the chicken coop is finished and their area fenced. We just have to attach the gates and figure out a way to keep the hawks from eating them while they are still small. I think we will put in T posts and drape some mesh fencing stuff across so they will have a place to "dash" under. The yard is long ---50 feet x 25 feet---so if the young chickens are in the far corner they can't make it back to safety before the hawks can get them. We thought about a flight disrupter type thing for the hawks---but couldn't figure out a temporary solution that wouldn't end up being just a perch for them to sit and pick off the birds! So temporary cover will do I think. Anyways---I am glad this is done. Now the birds in the garage need to get just a bit bigger to go out with the others---they seem to be a bit slower growing.

Passing through

A pair of wood ducks decided to stop by today and visit. They are so very pretty I wish they could stay---but they can't and wouldn't want to anyways. Besides the pyrenee who will try and catch them so he can smell them and look them over , we have never been able to get any "pond weeds" started to provide cover for animals along the edge or in the pond. The hawks then utilize the very open aspect to pick off any baby anything down there. Our ducks two years ago lost all 10 of their babies in a day and half to the hawks because of it.

Wood ducks I am sure are smart enough to find a better place to nest and then visit us for a bit of fun and frolic once in a while---which we enjoy immensely. Maybe I will break down and plant cat tails and/or equisetum this year to solve my cover plant problem, it's just that I didn't really want a "marsh" aspect where poisonous snakes could hide.
I was hoping for lotuses to get started---but my last one died (thank you drought---one more good thing about you). They wouldn't really provide cover for wood ducks anyways. Oh well. Another year---right now I will just enjoy their visits until they decide to start nesting.

Trees

Today my honeylocust trees and siberian pea shrubs arrived from the Kansas Forest Service.
They look really really good--so there's my recommendation. They were actually a better price and are a bit bigger than the seedlings I ordered last year. Hopefully these will be a bit more successful than those were. We will fence these in better --no lambs eating them through the fence or cows knocking over the fence. We also now have the 30 gallon sprayer to pull along with the John Deere to water with if we have another drought like last years. I am looking forward to planting them but I might wait just a few days and see if it rains as they say it might. We didn't get rain the other day that they called for so---it's not looking promising here yet. Another dry spring will really be a booger. Especially since I have peas and kale etc that would probably all like a drink of rain water, not that nasty ole tap water they may end up with.
One thing I have always enjoyed doing no matter where we have lived is to plant trees. I love trees. I know I should enjoy grass more since I have livestock but trees are just so beautiful and offer so much. Besides---I have lived most my life in the south and trees are welcome respite in the summer. We have a gorgeous black maple here that is a dream to climb---each branch is practically laid out like a ladder so you can get really high into it. When I was a child in New York there was a huge weeping willow in my friend's yard. We would use it as a fort since it was so thick with branches that touched the ground and bent over---no one knew you where in there. Except they probably heard us---since no playing child is quiet :-)
When we lived in Texas our older neighbor told us that to plant the 3 large pecans that shaded both of our yards, they had had to dynamite the holes in. That was in the early 40's and our neighborhood was on an old limestone "lake". How many times I wished I could dynamite a hole for projects we did there! I guess the theme of my post is memorable trees. I am sure most people have at least one tree---good or bad---that they remember well from their past.
Here's to all the trees that have shaded us, fed us and let us play in them. Also to those yet to come to do the same thing.

SmallMeadow Farm Icelandic sheep, Irish Dexters and heritage chickens

Almost Done

So here is the chicken coop almost finished (does that seem to be a theme?). Finally! It lacks, as you can see from the picture, paint and trim. The trim is just to finish closing up the corners. Telephone post don't make perfect corners so trim is needed for the bit of gapping that occurs no matter how well you do the siding---besides it does make it look nicer.
Last-- paint is needed for the other three sides. I would have finished more yesterday but I knocked over my roller and tray and it landed "peanut butter" side down. Of course everything stuck to them and so they had to be rinsed off. Now they are calling for rain today ---which is fine with me since we can always use it. I think I will have my son finish it after it dries off though and pay him for it since he is always looking for ways to earn money. By the way---the building actually looked "cooler" when it was wood colored since they metal showed up better in a kind of contemporary way. We personally don't like the color BUT I was determined it would be cohesive with the other buildings. Someday a better color will come......(hear the song "someday, over the ......) My husband complains about it each time he looks at it though.

Lastly, the trim will go on, since I want the wood under it to be painted first. I hate putting on trim that is not painted on both sides and the wood underneath is also not painted. Seems like a warping waiting to happen---to me anyways. All in all I figure there is about 2 to 3 more hours of work, at the most, left on it. Not too bad.

Yesterday after I dropped my painting accessories, I went down the road and picked up some wood chips from the local sawmill. We have painted the floor of the coop but obviously the wood chips will make it smell better, keep the poop from sticking to the floor and also: fresh chicken poop is slippery.
So now the oldest batch of birds are ensconced in the coop. I think they like it---there's more room than their cage had. This weekend I will put up their fence and let them go out while I am working in the garden but for right now I have to wait for the paint (the fence will attach against the house) and also be out there since they are still walking nuggets. They have lots of room currently in the coop but it would be a bit tight for all of them to stay in (all day) once they are full size---even after we weed out the extraneous roosters. Good thing they will have a fenced yard to go out into and we have fairly nice winters.

I have to admit I am glad they are out in the coop now. I am also looking forward to when the other batch goes out. The second batch is not fully feathered yet though and who knows what the weather will do. Between hay in the garage all winter, then two batches of chicks and the last of the hay left in the garage, it has been a super pain trying to get to anything or do any work in there. I will be glad to be able to re clean and organize my garage in the next month or two. Yeah! I know it's odd to look forward to that but when you are constantly moving this, that or the other thing to find something or tripping around all the displaced items well...argh.

I will take pictures of some of the chickens soon and post them. Some of them are beautifully marked. The "mystery" hen we received and thought was an english game hen----I think we were wrong. She is very attractive with white on her breast. I will post pics and maybe someone will know what she is. One of my cuckoo maran roosters from Murray McMurray is gorgeously marked and most of the feather footed cuckoos from Ideal Poultry are too. The feather footed though are wild and flighty---I lost 4 of them as chicks (over a week old) since they would stampede just trying to get far away when I fed and watered. We will cull all of the feather footed roosters since I don't like the "personality" and breed the hens to the non feather footed cuckoos, including the nicely marked one from Murray McMurray.
The Delawares we have found are very good at foraging----they will practically take your hand off if they are hungry while you reach to get the tray out of the pen. I like them---we can even reach in a pick them up without really any fussing from them. Nice birds. Very curious and human comfortable. I have two roosters I like well out of them---both nicely colored and grew quick. So they will be my breeders. These birds will actually move down to the barn to live so they can eat flies, barn bugs and small feed room mice. After what I have seen of these birds in the pen: they will be great mousers. I don't think I need that barn cat now.
The wyandottes are a bit more reserved, but not really flighty, and very attractively colored. So much white speckling on them. Some of them look like they have freckles. Their pretty neat really. We will see how they are as foragers and I will decide if I am going to keep them or sell them as pairs.

Good day all


SmallMeadow Farm Icelandic sheep, Irish Dexters and heritage chickens

Shearing: electric or blade?

Today we sheared a few of the sheep. We started out with an electric shearer and freshly sharpened blades but only finished two ewes. My husband hurt his elbow recently (he actually has tennis elbow though he does not play tennis) and so it was bothering him to help me with the shearing. I am not experienced enough to hold and shear the sheep by myself---I need more practice to do both at once--so we quit for the day and cleaned up. I can however hand shear (also known as blade shearing) and since two rams are penned along our drive eating the grass there I decided they were good candidates for the slower process. At one time or another I have hand sheared every sheep I own. Some of the sheep are easier than others to do it on since they don't "fidget" too much. I like doing the blades since I feel more comfortable getting some of the easier to cut parts (cut as in bleeding). Like near hocks,elbows and bendy places---which I have cut before.
Above are pictures of me shearing Guy with the hand shears. He is the easiest one for me to do out of all of them since he is an extremely calm ram. I do actually tie him while doing the job, but I don't have to. If I don't tie him he will snuffle in my hair and face while I bend over him. Then while snuffling in my hair or face he will turn towards me---which doesn't help when trying to get his rump or back legs. Guy's haircut was almost finished today but he will need to get a few parts done the next time the electric blades come out. Like on his belly, which I have never learned how to give a close cut on with hand shears.
Guy has the most gorgeous color fleece. People love it when they see it. Notice the grey under color. Guy does not carry grey---his brown is a special color that has a grey cast to it--like a taupe color but better. It is a color that seems to come from one of Barbara Webb's lines and I was lucky enough to accidentally get two sheep with it. Guy and my ewe Princess.
My sheep never do look as professionally done as those that hire people to shear--they always have head and leg "tufts" sticking out. Sometimes even slightly uneven sides. Oh well---nobody is perfect. We find it difficult to find professional shearers though---so we went to a school and had someone teach us. I think I need to go back since I have forgotten some of it though. Practice makes perfect I always say.... but I don't do it enough and I forget some of the technique in between shearings. It takes a couple of sheep just to get back in the groove each time, but doing it ourself is still better than worrying if we will get someone to come and do it at all.
Today was not a good shearing day as I started out with my finest wool sheep and my most aggressive newly sharpened blade (having forgotten not to do that from a previous time). So of course they both got a bit nicked up, which makes for a stressful shearing anyway. That is the other thing I like about hand shearing---much less able to take out a hunk. Though when they are really sharp you can still accidentally cut them.
Please don't think that all sheep are cut every time and bleeding hunks of flesh when finished---but sometimes they do get nicked up. And for as bad as they feel---I think we feel worse. Well maybe---they don't answer when I ask them. Though Rosalie,one of my ewes sheared today, must have forgiven me since she came over for a pet later that evening for no reason than to get a pet. So she either has a short memory (likely) or she forgave us (hopefully).
Here she is: sweet little Rosalie. We didn't photograph her "war wounds"---they are on the other side. We switched to a 20 tooth comb half way through her fleece---we were to dumb to catch on sooner.
Now that she is sheared I can safely say she is not going to have triplets. She just doesn't look big enough for triplets---but she does look bigger in "person" than in this photo of her. AND you get to see her "tufties" that I left behind :-D

















SmallMeadow Farm Icelandic sheep, Irish Dexters and heritage chickens.

We're back (but not in the saddle yet)

Well, we are back from our vacation and I can say we had a great time. We went to the "National Irish Dexter Show" and had a very interesting time. While we were there we saw many many different body "types" of Irish Dexters. Young, old and new babies---very interesting to compare all of them. Of course, some we liked and some we didn't but it helped us to figure out where we would like to go with our own eventually.
We also met some Irish Dexters. That's a dun heifer checking me out in the pictures above. She also liked my new bright yellow boots that I purchased at the show. I never could get a picture with her mid lick and her tongue out---nor the funny look on her face after she quit licking. Maybe the turquoise boots I wanted, but were not in my size, would have been more to her taste.











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I also took some interesting (to me) pictures. I like the colors and structure of them so I may frame them and hang them on my wall. I have a number of them that I like so I will whittle through and cut and paste and see what I come up with. When we were leaving and the light was bad not far from where I photographed the "oxen rd" pic----I saw one just the same but it said "giraffe rd". To bad I missed it---I could have had a matched pair :-)

The weather was of course beautiful, balmy mid 70's with mid 60's at night and even better----it was raining when we got home! We need it so badly we are practically doing rain dances so what better way to end a vacation than to come home to something you need so much!

Well, I have lots to comment on this week plus a slew of things to do since I was gone of course. First of which is shearing my sheep---though now I have to wait until they are dry to do it. Painting my chicken coop will be the other thing----we now have fully feathered "big" birds in our garage. Birds more than ready to see their new home as soon as it is in move in condition. (of course today was windy AGAIN! What's the deal here???)

Hope everyone had a great week.
http://www.smallmeadowfarm.com

Sorry

Sorry for not posting regularly this week but we are going out of town and have been trying to set everything up for the kids and others to take care of with ease. I more than likely won't be posting while we are gone since I do not think we will have internet access. Have a great weekend and week everyone---may your weather be exactly as YOU NEED. Notice--that may not be what you want hahahaha

Discrimination?

So last night we went to the monthly city hall meeting. I found out that I should attend this meeting just hours before it started. Supposedly the subdivision down the road with 24 homes in it wants to be let into the city we are on the edge of.

Just so you can understand let me explain some issues. We currently live on a dead end road. To get out of this town we have to drive down our road and then choose which road to turn on. No matter which way you choose---you HAVE to go by the city school and through the city. There is absolutely no other way out but through the school zone. Now this school is "special" because they are 1. very small 2. don't have enough city residents to fill it (they actually bring in children from out of the county) and 3. have excellent testing in the state with only a 2% drop out rate and an extremely active principal. In other words--for a public school- it is highly coveted to get into. So much so ---that it can increase the value of your home by about 5% just being in the city limits. That's a lot.
Anyways--for some reason in the past 5 years three subdivisions (one about 5 years--Tenet, one 2 1/2 years old--Franklin and one putting in roads now--name unknown) have been built on the mile and a half stretch that is our road. Then there is my home plus 6 others all with acreage at the very very end. A few other small home with acreage are scattered in between.
We, along with the others with acreage and Franklin are not in the city. Franklin wants in bad --as do we up at the end. Most all our children attend the school (with an added cost of $500 set to go up to $750 next year) but you have to wait for years for approval (as some do) or "know" the correct person (my son's best friend's father in our case).

Last night--when all showed up---somehow it fell to me and my neighbor (both unprepared for this) to speak on behalf of the people wanting in. The answer---after 20 minutes of how expensive an individual house costs a city was NO! HELL NO! Basically said by one man---no one offered up a vote on it or anything. Of course statistically they had us since we were unprepared---which we won't be next month I assure you.
The two biggest "glitches" in their reasoning though are: One---because of special circumstances which I won't go into here, the city residents pay ZERO taxes. A business covers them and they don't want to have to make those (poor) citizens pay taxes so we (paltry little expensive us) can have the privilege of being in the city. "It wouldn't be FAIR" according to the "man in charge". These residents haven't been paying taxes since---get this---1990. What is funny is they have let some "well known friends" build subdivisions---all with $300,000 homes---to come into said city---including Tenet and this new un-named subdivision that are on our road. (Have we ever heard of Grandfather clause and add new/different rules for others??????)
Also the second reasoning is that if they let us in they would then have to "discriminate" (his words not mine) against other people wanting their subdivision or home to be let into the city. Discriminate---my ass. That's exactly what they are doing to us. I have lived here over 3 years so why is a yet un named subdivision being let into the "poor financially strapped city" when my neighbors and I can't be????? It's a load of mierda (that's the Spanish equivalent of shit if you didn't know). Apologize for the language but this burns me up to the top. I absolutely completely DETEST anything that smacks of "special treatment" for individuals. Don't get me wrong---I never said I didn't benefit from it once in a while----but I don't agree with it. I would rather my son got into the school because we lived on a dead end road a mile and half from the school than a friend had to speak up for him. As a matter of fact for almost two months I beat my head doing it that way. Then Joe called for us and the next day----literally---my son was in. The only other school was an 18 minute drive away---stupid huh??

Next month---we won't be unprepared. My husband and some others are helping us pick apart what was said and we will address EVERY issue this man brought up. His reasoning is unsound anyways. BUT we will point it out with efficiency. He also has a temper. When I pointed out that he was in turn discriminating against us by allowing the new un named subdivision in even though all of us were/are already there---he practically yelled at me that: "a man has a right to do with his property what he will" Yes, he does. I will wholeheartedly agree with that BUT---that man had to get permission to split that property into a subdivision for 24 homes FROM THEM. So who's discriminating????

Thanks for the vent---love this blogging for that reason!

National Public Radio

I listen to public radio every day. I think they have some of the better news since they don't do just local but national and international (without the weeks worth of angst over whether or not Anna gets to be buried in Bermuda).

So today when Liberty Ark sent me the following I was happy to contact NPR since I feel they would do justice to the issue AND it would help the cause.
Please contact them: it was an easy little form to fill out on line. Tell them to run the anti-Nais Texas rally story.

TAKE ACTION: ASK FOR NPR TO DO A STORY ON NAIS

We’re starting to get national attention! National Public Radio’s (NPR) All Things Considered did an interview about Texas’ anti-NAIS rally last Friday. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to edit the story and it was not aired. But their attention is on NAIS, so now’s the perfect time to ask them to do a story!!! Go to http://www.npr.org/contact/, click on "Recipient: NPR Program" and then choose "All Things Considered.” Tell them that, even though the rally is past, NAIS is a hot issue nationally, and one that their listeners want to hear about!

And here’s the link for submitting story ideas in general - http://www.npr.org/about/pitch/story.html

News coverage of the Friday even is here:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;
jsessionid=74579E59860AA9FCF1204EDB0EB09397?contentId=2556671
&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Are they really concerned with our health?

Here is a link that came up on the ISBONA chat that I am a member of: FDA rules override warnings on drug use.
Please read this and feel free to make a comment to the FDA if you like.
Obviously as many of us have suspected for a while---they do not care about us or the impact of their decisions on us. They may not officially have a public forum on this---but you can write. You can also right your representatives about this issue too.
Have a good day all.