Monthly Archives November 2012

Flock Talk – Shetlands and a Goat and losing daylight

Flock Talk – Shetlands and a Goat and losing daylight

November 26, 2012 | 3 Comments

Gypsy and Sassafras posed nicely for me in the midst of flock maintenance tasks. I don't know about you but I still haven't recalibrated my daily routine to daylight saving time and I really hate doing evening chores as darkens settles on the farm. Since the flock still has plenty to graze, they're not particularly fussy about what time we show up. But watch, that will soon change, once we get some snow cover – and that could be later this week. There are fluffy flakes swirling outside my window right now as I type. Mike has set up the
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Flock Talk – Rams on Frosted Pasture

Flock Talk – Rams on Frosted Pasture

November 19, 2012 | 1 Comment

Frost carpeted the pasture this morning, the heaviest of the season so far. This was the view from the kitchen window. We should get above freezing within an hour. If it stays sunny,well then it's a good day for taking down electronet fence. Tomorrow Andy's coming to trim the rams' toenails. Now that we've had severall hard frosts, it's also time for a final de-worming of the flock, to clean out any intestinal cooties. Although there's still plenty of grass up here by the house at the top of Patten, it might be prudent to move the rams back down
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Martha’s Vineyard is new home for these sheep . . . .

Martha’s Vineyard is new home for these sheep . . . .

November 12, 2012 | 7 Comments

Last week a small flock of ewes departed from the farm. Cormo ewes Chanel, Dolce, Sienna, Nimbus, Lucida and Helvetica hopped into the back of Andy's truck for a journey to their new home – on Martha's Vineyard. About eight weeks ago I was approached by a sweet couple who have some improved acreage on the island. They visited Springdelle, to meet us and my flock. Mike and I spent several hours talking sheep with them, showing them our ewes and answering their questions about keeping fine wool sheep in New England. I had assembled a small group of ewes
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Sheep Stuck in a Bucket

Sheep Stuck in a Bucket

November 7, 2012 | 14 Comments

This may be an odd way to start up again after a rather long blog hiatus, but I thought you would like seeing what greeted me yesterday morning when I stepped into the barn. I had left a grain bucket  in the barn. Java stuck her big poufy head in the bucket.The bucket stuck on her head. They were all very relieved once I extracted Java from the bucket. Aside from occasional sheep nonsense, the flock is doing well. We've had a busy summer (as summer tends to be on a farm) and  a fall full of the unexpected. I'll
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