Top Three Unexpected Country Moments of 2011

I know we are already well into the second month of the year, but while spinning some wool this evening, I was inspired.  And I haven't been inspired in a while (hence, no posts) so here it is.  Three of the top unexpected country moments of last year.

3.  At spinning group back in December, we were going around the circle for show and tell (I know, sounds elementary, but it's how we get to see each other's work and share ideas and upcoming events).  We get to Mother K, who is a nun and shepherd of actual sheep at the local convent.  Mother K had spent all day tending to the animals and had basically decided she needed a break for a while, so she came to  spinning group.  She stated somewhat sheepishly (no pun intended), "Nobody there knows I'm gone."  Then in a more playful confident tone, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to seek permission!"  Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by this statement as country nuns are people too and need breaks just like the rest of us.  And they certainly aren't infallable either.

2.  The husband of a friend of mine who is a nice guy and a "real" farmer and do-it-yourselfer (rough around the edges, slaughters his own beef cows, owns multiple tractors, hays his own fields, fells his own trees, builds his own house) stopped by one morning asking me for advice.  The questions were initially about nursing school, which caught me even more off guard, because it was the last thing I would expect from this person (he was looking into pursuing a "real" career).  We stood around for a while, looking at the pigs, talking about farming, the new USDA-approved slaughterhouse opening up, the harvest, etc. like any country farmers would do.  Huh.  While my darling husband has been able to navigate this road much more easily than I (no doubt in part because he is male and the perceived "head of household"), it only took me 5 years of running a small farm to earn some farmer respectability.  Not bad, in the grand scheme of things.  Kristin Kimball writes about a similar experience on her farm in The Dirty Life (I can't quote it exactly because I lent the book out to somebody but I don't remember to whom!). 

1.  My darling husband and I were sharing a quiet meal together in the kitchen one December day when the dogs started barking.  Old Farmer J down the street (another "real" farmer) was at the door.  He wanted to know if we were interested in a Kitchen Table discussion about local food and fiber.  Here is a guy who has worked on a farm his entire life, who puts up 10,000 bales of hay a year,  sells his own grain mixtures and basically lives off the land, and now is spear-heading a local movement.  While we have bought hay and grain and lumber from him for the last three years,  he is probably the last person I would put under the label "visionary".  And yet, here he is, driving up and down the valley, stopping at all the farms, big or small, wondering if we would be interested in such a discussion.  The group has already met twice, and what a lovely range of farming personalities.  The group consists of a couple life-long, honest farmers; there are several yuppy farmers; there are the farmers who want to be organic and use environmentally friendly practices; there are farmers who want to raise exotics; there are farmers who want to barter; farmers who want to sell their goods down in NYC.  We have already decided to set up a farmer's marker right in our little village on Thursday afternoons during the growing season.  Goods ranging from fruits and vegetables to honey to the fiber arts to meat to homemade goat milk fudge and breads will potentially all be available for sale.  Even if it never really gets off the ground, the fact that this particular person had a vision and acted on it is a testimony to all that is good and surprising in the world!

Catching Up

I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post.  Obviously, things have been a bit busy on the farm. The poor weather conditions have not helped much.  It was the second wettest April on record in our area, which prevented us from doing much of anything outside (fencing and planting). 

First, kudos to our friend Doug who was watching the farm while we went to visit my darling husband's family.  One of our ewes gave birth while he was on call and he went above and beyond to try and save one of the two lambs.  When all was said and done, each of the new moms gave birth to twins but only had one survive.  We have four rambuctious gamboling lambs now.  Two of them are as of yet unspoken for and will be ready for processing in October (if there are any takers out there in Cyberland).

We also constructed (largely in the rain) the chicken tractor for our broilers.  The plans we followed can be found on this website.  While perusing plans for chicken tractors I was surprised at how many plans included pressure treated wood!  The plan we used actually calls for EMT (electrical metallic tubing) which is both light and sturdy.  Our final product looks pretty much the same as the one on the website, and it seems to be keeping the birds in and predators out.  However, it was somewhat frustrating to construct (did  I mention it was raining the whole time?!) as the structure wasn't entirely stable until the hardware cloth was attached.  All the birds are now out of the shed (see this post about shed usage), which is a good thing, as it was getting to smell rather ripe in there!

Sheep shearing is behind schedule as well.  Usually, we have sheared the sheep and sent them up to the pasture by now. But with the late birth and the wet weather shearing isn't scheduled to happen until mid May (just days before we get our piglets). 

The good news is that the horse did get shod, so he is ready to go (once it dries out) and there is plenty of lush green pasture for everybody. We also have asparagus coming up!  And I also managed to sew the curtains for the kitchen window (five years after moving into the house).

Next on the never ending list:  plant the peas, carrots, onions and potatoes (and actually write down the garden plan), assemble the 1979 Ashford spinning wheel I was able to find over April break and enjoy the few moments that the sun actually shines!

Lamb Tales

It's lambing season again, which translates into a fine line between letting Mother Nature take her course and interfering when necessary. Before we go on, let's meet the flock.

Tess is the middle black mama with the horns (white stripe on her face).  Rachel, her mother,  is to her left (our right) (grey with white stripe).  Our dearest friends owned the ewes before we did and this picture was taken at their famr on our wedding day (durng the reception).  We inherited Rachel, Tess and Uma (who passed away last year after a difficult birth).  

Our first year of breeding Tess delivered healthy twin ewe lambs.  Above is Tess's daughter, Velveeta (09), who is now due any day with her own lambs.  Uma delivered a singleton ram lamb (shown below on the left) and Rachel delivered a singleton ewe lamb, Velma (below on the right).

Velma just gave birth on Monday to two ram lambs.  One is thriving, but the other died on day 4.

Tess's 2010 lambs; also two ewes, Wanda and Wilma, both of which will be bred next year. This photo was snapped when they were just minutes old.  Wanda (black) isn't even up on her feet yet.  These yearling ewes now act like typical teenagers and are really quite obnoxious.  However, Tess has been an extraordinary mother (Uber-mom) and has delivered healthy twin ewe lambs consistenly for the last 5 years.  Her lambs this year will be her last and she will go out to pasture with Grandma Rachel.

After our first successful year of breeding the ewes, 2010 brought along some significant difficulties.  Uma needed much assistance delivering two very large lambs (and she was early).  We had the vet, her former owner and a plastic surgeon (I know, I know, but he was the husband of the vet) all present, but she eventually succumbed.  We tried to bottle feed the lambs, but both ended up dying in the first three days.

Luckily, Tess pulled through a week later with Wanda and Wilma, without any difficulty.  While we had thought that Rachel was bred as well, she ended up not having lambs.  At the time we weren't sure how old she was, but it turns out she was 9 at the time, probably well past her fertile years.

After last year's issues, my darling husband and I ordered all sorts of lambing supplies through Premier so that we were sure to be ready in the event of any emergency.  The earliest possible due date was Saturday March 26th and my parents were actually watching Bud and the farm while my darling husband and I were both on business trips.   They were a bit concerned about how to handle a pending birth, but we assured them Mother Nature usually took care of it.  All they had to do was set up the jug, towel off the babies, bring mom a warm bucket of water with molasses, snip the umbilical cords,...and..and..and..

Luckily, the lambs weren't born until 12 hours after my parents had left.  I had decided to take the day off from school as Velma looked like she might be sick and I had a vet call planned.  It turns out Velma was just in labor!  The lambs looked pretty good from the start, but by Wednesday morning, we found the little one was suffering from hypothermia (he probably wasn't getting enough to eat).  We brought him inside and tubed him (thank goodness for YouTube videos) so that he would get the required nutrition.  Tubing is a daunting experience for someone who has never put a stomach tube in before, but it was actually quite simple and painless for the lamb.  We kept the lamb in the bathroom for the day with a heat lamp on him and by midafternoon he was jumping around.  Thinking all was okay, we reintroduced him to mom.  He seemed fine, but was having trouble nursing.  I bottle fed him every four hours, but he suddenly died sometime between 6 and 9am on Wednesday.  The other lamb seems to be thriving.

Now, we are waiting for Tess and Velveeta.  Hopefully, all will go smoothly.   Through conversations with many shepards both in person and on Homesteading Today, it seems that Mother Nature will go ahead and do what she may, and perhaps that is for the better.  Often times, a lamb is not meant to survive, and interfering may only prolong the pain and suffering.  Taking Velma as an example, it may be that as a first time mom she was not producing enough milk.  She also may have had some
"issues" coping with twins her first time around.  Now, she is able to devote all of his time to her one lamb, and is doing a fine job of it. 

When Death finds its way to a farm, it is often difficult to not blame oneself or to think "What could I have done differently to prevent this?" It often makes me feel as if I'm doing an inadequate job.  But we have to remember that Birth, Life and Death, are much more powerful than a single farmer is.  All are part of the Great Circle of Life, and all need to be respected, even admired.

Of Dirty Living and Rent-a-Rams

I finished Radical Homemakers over the weekend, and I'm looking forward to reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball, an author who left the hectic life of NYC to work and live on a farm in Essex, NY.  The general idea of removing oneself from the extractive economy and towards a productive economy is powerful in my mind.  Honestly, I looked at the painted plywood counter tops in my kitchen the other night from a whole new perspective.  My counter tops are certainly functional and they don't really look that bad.  In fact, unless I point it out, people don't tend to notice. 

Whether this can be attributed to merely reading a book, or the alternative healing treatments I've been receiving, or a midlife crisis, my whole philosophy on enjoying life is not-so-subtly shifting. 

A friend just mentioned that there is a movie out, Affluenza, which I look forward to seeing.  Apparently, its basic premise is that affluence has become a disease.  Again, Shannon Hayes does a much better job at illustrating this whole idea in Radical Homemakers.  People simply aren't considering the hidden costs to living by the philosophy of always wanting/feeling they need more, more, more.  They're so focused on the destination, that they forget about the journey.  Our children are also trained in this idea, starting from the very beginning of their formal education.  Get good grades so you can go to college, and be successful (make a lot of money?).  Today, kids are in it all for the grades, not for the learning and they readily admit this to their teachers.

On a lighter note, our rent-a-ram, George, arrived yesterday.  We're breeding Tess, and two half sisters (one is Rachel's daughter, Velma the other Tess' Velveeta; both born in 2009).  "Auntie" Rachel who failed to get knocked up last year, is spending some quality girl time with the two ewe lambs from this year, far, far away from George.  Hopefully, Tess, Velma, and Velveeta will throw twins. This will mean our flock may double in size next year, and our lamb/wool operation could significantly increase.